Mary Poppins

Grandma Chenn and Marc's brother Andrew were in town this past week, and we decided to check out our first Broadway show as an entire family. We have not been brave enough to bring Owen in the past- so now that he is so old and mature (21 months), we decided to give it a go.
We chose Mary Poppins, and had a great time. The production did not begin until 8:00 pm, so I spent an entire week slowly getting everyone's bedtime pushed back so they could handle being up until the curtain fell at 10:45 pm. Owen did surprisingly well- with the exception of the one time Marc had to take him out in the hall to let him run off some energy in the second half.
This production was a lot of fun for the girls to watch, "step in time" was our favorite scene- the girls loved the man who danced on the ceiling. They also loved watching Mary Poppins "fly" above the audience.
I did have a beef with one part of the production. I wasn't too keen on the naked sculptures in the park that suddenly come to life (obviously not in the original Disney movie:). My girls (or any child for that matter) don't need to see a man dancing around with just a fig-leaf for covering. Okay, so he had a skin-tight leotard on too- that left nothing to the imagination.
I will say, with every Disney Broadway production I have seen- there has been something absolutely unnecessary included. Why?? Am I a prude?
Anyway, overall, a good experience. The kids loved it, and Owen fell asleep within seconds of hitting his stroller. The girls fell asleep shortly thereafter in the subway car home- and were delighted to have Grandma Chenn along for the ride to snuggle up to.

A Sign

Marc: This is a sign that you are spending too much time on your Blackberry! He is going to kill me when he sees this picture (especially bc he doesn't know I even took it). He fell asleep the other night making a rental car reservation. Poor Avis phone rep.....
To his credit, he is now 1st Counselor in our ward. Life has been a little more busy around here.

Wedding: New Canaan Style

We headed up to New Canaan, CT a few weekends ago for the wedding reception of some friends of ours. I LOVE New Canaan. I was convinced this was where we were going to live when we visited NYC 2 years ago during Marc's internship with Goldman Sach's. I then took a look at real estate prices, and commute time (I try to soothe myself with the fact that the commute time is too long) and decided that NYC was the way to go for now.
But I love this city. I would live here in a heartbeat if I had 5 million in my back pocket. That might only buy me a starter home, but I would be happy still.
The reception was beautiful. Probably the most beautiful wedding reception I have been to. The bride and groom were/are equally beautiful- and incredibly nice. The wedding was held in the backyard of the groom's parent's home. Unfortunately, it rained (poured) all night long. Fortunately, there was a beautiful tent set up for us all to take shelter in.
Kids were invited (they even had mac&cheese and PB&J for the kids!). The kids danced the night away on the dance floor. Owen was hilarious. He was in his element. The only real fuss he threw all night long was when they cleared the dance floor for the wedding party to speak. Owen was apparently not finished showcasing his new-found grooving abilities, and he let everyone know. The girls also loved dancing. Madeline went off on her own, cutting a rug with complete strangers. Eva stayed close to mom and dad, but still got her groove on.

In all, a perfect wedding reception, and a fun family activity. They had some awesome wedding/decorating ideas (I should have taken more pictures!) here that I am filing away for many years (it had better be many!) in the future for Maddy and Eva, in the event we somehow become independently wealthy :). I posted some pictures of the event below:

The Wedding Tent

Owen experiencing his first Red Velvet Cupcake. It became a full-body experience as you will see in future pictures.

Madeline showing us all how we should behave at a fancy wedding.

Eva

You can see Madeline and Owen in this dance floor picture. Maddy doesn't look like she is dancing here, but she was a maniac on the dance floor, I promise.

Eva and her favorite dance partner.

Moves like you've never seen before.

A glimpse of what Owen will look like as an awkward 14-year-old at his first dance. This cute little girl was obviously impressed by his moves- and followed him all around the dance floor, as a result.

There's Something About Owen

There is something about this boy that makes my heart melt.....it is a good thing too, because he is soooo incredibly mischievous right now. When he is not putting my hair products in the toilet, he is climbing in the dishwasher, or brushing his hair with the broom.
Owen has started giving kisses lately. He is not bashful about his kiss giving either. He doesn't want a cheek or a forehead he wants the lips, and he wants them for at least 5-10 seconds before saying "Mooooaaah." It is so very cute and flattering, but at the same time so very gross, as he has started this trend in tandem with a snotty nose. I get one of these snot kisses about 3 times a day. All day long Owen is spreading the love, and whatever virus is hanging out in his cute little self.

Attached at the hip

I don't know what we are going to do when Owen's good friend Ella heads to Houston in July. He has taken quite a liking to this sweet little red-head. He can often be heard in his crib (when he should be sleeping) saying "Ella? Ella? Ella?" She is a such a good friend, who patiently puts up with his wild, wild rascally ways.

Oh Where, Oh Where Has My Little Owen Gone......

He looks harmless, I know. This little guy almost gave me a heart attack yesterday. I took Owen to the garbage chute with me this afternoon. The garbage chute is in the hallway- just two doors down from our apartment. It is inside of little room that holds little recycling bins. I do not usually let Owen in the actual garbage room with me, because I know that he would immediately be drawn to everyone's discarded plastic bottles sitting right at perfect toddler eye-level. So, usually I let him play in the hall. That may sound irresponsible of me, but the whole throw-my-garbage-down-the-chute experience lasts all of 15 seconds. At most. Usually, as I exit the garbage room, he can be found running gleefully over to the large hallway window, beating it as hard as he can, and yelling to the people on the street below.

Not today. Today I left the garbage room to find silence. No high pitched squeals, no little pounding fists- just eerie silence. Where did my little Owen go in these 15 seconds?
Mother-panic kicked in. I knew immediately that my little guy was on an elevator to somewhere in the building. Why doesn't the elevator ever come that fast when I push the button? Embarrassment also kicked in. My child is in a onesie, with no shoes on- somewhere in this building. Oh goodness, where is he?

I ran down the stairs to the lobby. No one had seen him. Then I ran back up the stairs, and started to strategize with Maddy and Eva (who were in the lobby coming home from school when I arrived down there in a panic). Maddy was instructed to go to the 3rd and 4th floor, Eva to the 5th and 6th. Directions: hunt for Owen and report back to the lobby. I was hoping his little fingers could not reach higher than the 6th floor button. I headed back down the Lobby. Our lobby has movement sensitive front doors, and Owen is quite aware of this feature.
In my minds eye I imagined him running out of the elevator, out the sliding doors, and onto the streets of NYC. His dream.....my nightmare. Luckily when I arrived at the lobby the second time, David, the concierge-had Owen in his arms. My blood pressure fell about 90 points and I finally started to breathe again.

My little nugget started crying when I tried to peel him out of David's arms. They will not be nominating me for the "Mother of the Year" award anytime soon. First I lose my kid, then my lost child would rather have a stranger than his own mother. Nice.

So up to our apartment we go- it was time to make dinner. About 2 hours later, the doorbell rings. It was the Fresh Direct guy. I had a much needed grocery delivery scheduled. The door opens and the delivery man (who we know well now) exclaims, "oh there she is!" (apparently Owen's hair is getting too long:) "I found her on the 6th floor today when I was delivering groceries, and I knew she didn't belong there, so I brought her downstairs to the lobby."
So, that was the rest of the story. Apparently my little escape artist pushed the 6th floor button and was hanging out up there until Mr. Fresh Direct found him wandering around, and brought him to the lobby. Thank goodness for nice grocery delivery men. One more reason why I love Fresh Direct.