Thanksgiving in NYC

Happy Thanksgiving 2010!  Andy was on call today so we had our first Thanksgiving in NYC.  Andy and I decided to take the kids to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  We decided to watch it from just inside Central Park so we didn't have to deal with the crowds and craziness.  The kids were able to run around and all they wanted to see were the giant balloons anyway .

Andy and I made a yummy turkey dinner that we all enjoyed.  We watched a movie, read books, and the kids went to bed.  Perfect day.

A NYC Tradition

On Wednesday afternoon, the night before Thanksgiving, the kids and I took our bike and rode across the park to Central Park West to see the balloons being inflated for the  Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  We arrived with about a million other eager New Yorkers around 3pm. 

We turned the corner and saw Spiderman!  So exciting!

At least I was looking.

The kids just stared at everything that was going on around them.  



This is what Horton looked like before he was inflated.



All the balloons were lined up down the street.

Buzz Lightyear!

We had so much fun and Drew and Katie were really excited to see a bunch of their favorite characters.  

Fun at the Bronx Zoo

This past Saturday, Andy and I took the kids to the Bronx Zoo.  It was a beautiful day to be outside and the kids had so much fun running around all over the place. 

Katie and Andy loved watching the giraffes.

Katie had the best view!

Drew found some rocks to climb on.

I love that they are doing the same thing!

So cute.


 We saw a really cool 4 D movie called Dora and Diego's 4D Adventure.  Andy and I liked it as much as the kids.  Swiper no swiping!


Andy and Drew wearing their special glasses for the movie.

Not quite The Nanny Diaries.

Emily with Drew when he was 6 months old.
  

Emily meeting Katie on her birthday.

Emily was my babysitter for Drew when I used to work.  It seems so long ago, and I can't imagine leaving my little monkeys and working now, but I actually liked my job and it worked out really well.  Looking back now, I know that it worked so well because my job was flexible and my nanny was Emily!   I will never forget meeting Emily after she (and about 100 other people) answered my craigslist ad looking for a nanny for my 3 month old little Drew.  We met at a Starbucks and I instantly liked her.  I knew she was the one.  I know, I know...cheesy, but leaving your firstborn with someone was/is a big deal!  All we had to do was to get Andy to approve. I remember introducing Emily to Andy and watching nervously as he interviewed her. I could tell she was nervous as well, but she did a great job and we offered her the position of taking care of our precious baby.  Now, over three years later, we are still very close. 

When Emily babysat Drew, they had so many fun adventures together.  They would go to the playground and the zoo, paint and do projects, read books, sing and dance, go for long walks, and just be silly together.  Emily was always happy and enthusiastic about everything and I knew Drew was in good hands when I left for work. When Drew sees Emily now, he goes absolutely crazy. He gets so excited and runs around like a lunatic.   Emily loves Drew and Drew loves Emily and I love watching them play together.   Emily has become like a sister to me and I am so lucky to have her in my life.  Plus, she is my most loyal blog reader:) Here are a few photos from when Emily came over for dinner the other night.


Katie, Emily and Drew.



Drew doing his favorite puzzle with Emily.

Emily reading Knuffle Bunny to the kids before bedtime.  Emily bought this book for Drew when he was about Katie's age and it is still a favorite.

Our week in Maryland

We are moving down to Maryland this August 1st and I am a little nervous about our move. I love our life here in NYC and I can't imagine us living anywhere else.  However, I am sure that I will get used to all of the changes next year in the suburbs.  All of my suburbia-living friends and family tell me that I will love it and will forget what I even liked about living in NYC.  We shall see.  Anyway,  one of the biggest changes next year will be that Drew will be in Pre-Kindergarten.   Because of the way the admissions process works down there, we actually have to apply for school now for next fall.  So, I packed up the kids and we headed to Maryland for the week. 

We were able to stay at Andy's parents (Granny and Far) house during our visit. One of the things that I am most excited about in regards to our move is that we will finally be close to family! Andy's parents and his sister and her family all live in Maryland in the area where we are most likely going to live.
While I went to a few admissions open houses and met with a realtor to start figuring out where we are going to buy a house, Drew and Katie stayed with Granny.  They absolutely love Granny and Far and love their house----friendly cats and dogs everywhere, a huge backyard ready for them to explore, a beautiful piano that they love playing, and cousins over all the time! Andy's sister Niki and her husband Alex were away in Peru during half of our visit and their four kids were staying at Granny's house as well.  It was a house full of craziness and fun!  George (who is only 9 months older than Drew) and Drew were so happy to run around and go on adventures together.  They had the best time just being boys together. Niki's other children, Isabel, Alexandra and Julia all took turns playing with Katie.  She had so much fun being the center of attention.

Granny, George and Drew making cookies. 

Drew and George playing football.

Drew and George cuddling on Far's chair.

Drew playing Granny's piano.

Katie with Peanut Butter, one of Granny's cats.

Isabel and Katie having a tea party.

Katie and Alexandra.

Katie playing dress-up with the girls.

Katie, Julia, Drew and George having lunch.

Granny and Katie running in the backyard.

I found the school that I want Drew (and eventually Katie) to attend so now I have to submit the application and wait for an interview and group playdate in February. I guess we will be heading back to Maryland again soon! 

One-on-one with Katie

When Drew goes to The Art Farm on Friday mornings from 9:30 to 12, I get to have one-on-one time with my sweet girl.  I found this amazing deal on Doodledeals about a month ago and I signed up Katie for it.  The deal was $18 for four Music for Aardvarks classes and a fun CD. (Again, this is a great deal for NYC toddler classes.)  There was even a class that was from 10 to 10:45 on Friday mornings.  PERFECT. So far we have gone to three classes and Katie loves it!  After class, we usually head to lunch or shopping. We have really enjoyed our Friday morning adventures, just us girls.

Katie alone in the double stroller. I had just told her that we were going to music class!

Katie and the other kids playing during music class.

Katie loves to dance in the middle of the circle while the teacher is singing.

Katie really likes the teacher, Dan, and loves when he plays the guitar.

So cute!



Art Farm

Last summer, Andy and I decided that Drew wasn't going to start school until the fall that he was 4 years old. (I am actually looking for pre-k programs for him in the DC area now for the 2011-2012 school year!)  However, we thought it was important for Drew to have some sort of away-from-momma experience this year so he can start to get ready for going to pre-k next year.  I did a lot of research and even though there were many options, most programs did not have what I wanted. They either had 2 or 3 day required programs or were just too expensive. Then I heard about The Art Farm and it seemed to be a perfect fit for us.  Even though they have tons of different programs and activities for kids of all ages, I was most interested in their Friday morning Open House program.  Open House is a drop-off program (for 2.5 years and older) from 9:30am - 12pm that follows the same structure each week:
      Animals 9:30-10:15 --The kids visit the petting zoo on the lower level and get to play with the animals. They also learn about one animal each week.
     Baking & Art 10-11 --The kids head to the kitchen and activity room where they cook yummy food (think pumpkin ravioli, peach scones and raisin bread) as well as make an art project each week.  We have made it a tradition to hang up these projects in one place in his room where he proudly shows daddy and anyone else who comes over.
      Music 11-11:30 -- The kids go into the playroom and dance to music and play with musical instruments.

      Snack 11:30 - 12-- Snack time! 

Art Farm has been a HUGE success! He has gone a total of eight Fridays so far and he loves it.  There were two weeks in a row that he did not want to go, but he has gotten over that and now asks when it is Art Farm day.  When he gets there, he finds his favorite teacher, gives her a hug, holds her hand and then gives me a kiss good-bye.  When I pick him up he tells me everything that he has done and shows me everything he has made. Katie loves dropping off Drew at Art Farm and it is obvious that she wants to stay,  but I decided that it would be best if this was Drew's thing, since it is the only activity that he does completely on his own.  The other nice part of Art Farm is that it gives me the opportunity to have one-on-one time with Katie once a week. 

Also, Art Farm is actually affordable!  NYC preschool and preschool alternative programs are extremely pricey and it is ridiculous what parents have to pay.  Art Farm's open house program is only $30 (if you prepay for 10 classes at a time), which is a steal (again for NYC prices) and I have been really impressed. The teachers are wonderful and have taken the time to get to know Drew. Also, I love how the combination of animals, music, art, and cooking fits in perfectly with Drew's interests. 

We are going to finish up our 2 sessions that we have left for this semester and then we will sign up for the winter and spring sessions.  Hopefully Drew will continue to have a positive experience. 

Scooter time

This kid is just too cute!

Katie loved riding Drew's scooter during Drew's soccer classes this fall.  These videos were from the middle of October.  She is even faster now! 

I think that she was trying to ride her scooter onto the soccer field at the end of this one!

Soccer!

Here is a video from Drew's Super Soccer Stars class from back in October that I am now finally getting the chance to upload.  He is so cute!

Unfortunately, this past Thursday was our last fall soccer class.  Drew loved it and I promised him that we will sign him up again for the spring session.  

Drew on his last day of soccer, proudly holding his Super Soccer Stars stickers. 

Sleepy time

This is what I get to see every night during storytime before Drew and Katie go to sleep...so sweet. 

Cuddling on Drew's bed.  Of course they both have to have their milky! 

We miss you 310.

Nicholas, Drew, Katie, Katelyn, Gabi and Colton

Drew and Katie were so excited to have their friends from our old apartment building over to our new apartment for a big playdate this past Tuesday.  Our playdate consisted of 6 kids and 3 moms: Betsy and her kids Katelyn and Nicholas and Kika and her kids Gabriela and Colton.   Our old apartment building housed all of the orthopedic residents from Andy's residency program.  We lived there for five years during his residency and we loved it!  The housing was subsidized and therefore VERY affordable, the building was in a great location and the apartments were huge. We also had a subsidized on-site parking garage that was accesible from the lobby where I could get in my own car, hit the garage door opener, and just drive-away!  For those of you not in NYC, this is extremely rare.  The best part was that we had lots of built-in friends with common interests. It was like living in a dorm in college except everyone had jobs or kids or both.  Drew's best friends lived down the hall and downstairs.  My closest friends were their moms and the other residents and their significant others. It was everything you imagine...lots of spur-of-the-moment playdates,  many late-night chats, frequent borrowing of eggs and sugar, and tons of just plain hanging out. It was also great to start my adventure as a new mom with lots of other moms around for advice and to share in the joyful and not-so-joyful moments of being a mom. Plus everyone was a doctor or married to a doctor or in a relationship with a doctor so we all understood the crazy lifestyle.  When Andy finished his residency and took a fellowship at another NYC hospital, we had to move out of the housing, but I know that we made some friends for life.  Even though we love our new apartment, sometimes we miss what we had at 310.  


Katelyn and Drew playing with the garage.



Gabi and Katie playing with the barn.

The kids had so much fun playing together and Betsy, Kika and I loved getting in some quality girl talk. Although we have played together with them many times since we moved, this was the first time all the kids were in our new place and Drew and Katie were excited to show them around, have lunch and of course take out and play with every toy in the apartment. 

A bike for three

Since September, the kids and I have been riding our bike for three everywhere and it has been so much fun!  I usually rotate who gets to sit in the front, because they both prefer that seat.  Our apartment is only 2 short blocks from Central Park so we have been riding in the park a couple times a week all fall.  We also use our bike to explore all the different playgrounds in the park, to go to the American Museum of Natural History, and to go to the Central Park Zoo. It is great because once we get to those places I don't have to worry about a stroller, I just let the kids run around and explore.  I always take a back pack with me full of snacks, water, my wallet, and Katie's diaper/wipes.  Therefore, the kids always HAVE to take their backpacks with them as well, which means we are pretty crowded on the bike. Drew acutally is too tall for the front seat now, but he loves it so I am going to use it until it gets too cold outside for bike riding. Although we get a ton of strange looks and exclamations of "Oh look, there is a little one in the back" as we ride past people, we have really enjoyed our biking adventures.  This morning we went to the AMNH.  It was a little cold out so the kids were all bundled up. I didn't realize that Katie's helmet was in her face till I saw the pictures. Although she doesn't look happy in these pictures, she loves the bike.  As soon as she hears me talking about going for a bike ride, she runs and gets her helmet and shoes! 

  

Mystic, CT

On our last full day in Connecticut, we were all excited about spending the day at Mystic Seaport.  I had never been before, but I had heard great things about it from my sister-in-law and my mother-in-law. Drew and Katie are really into sailboats and tugboats thanks to one of our favorite books, Little Toot, and they have always loved everything to do with water, so I knew that they would have a fun day.

Entrance to Mystic Seaport

We enjoyed the beautiful views!

The kids loved climbing on everything.

Captain Drew!

We loved going in the lighthouse.

They also had a wonderful children's museum.  It was packed with lots of puzzles, books, and interactive activities all having to do with the sea. The kids loved it and would have been happy to stay in the museum all day. 

Captain Katie! 

Drew "fishing" in the museum.  This was a big hit!

We spent the entire day, except for a quick lunch break at Friendly's, at the Seaport.   There was so much to see and do and we didn't even get to half of it!  It was a perfect way to end our trip to Connecticut.