Soccer

For the past couple of months our Saturday mornings have been filled with soccer. The girls have been playing on a league here and loving it. I loved the fact that the soccer field was only a two minute walk from our house. It was a good experience for both of them. Their season just came to an end, so they had a little trophy cermony for the kids that participated.

Here is Eva and her good friend Brighton. It was a bummer that they were not able to play on the same team this year.

Here is Madeline and her "twin" Laura. Her and Laura share the same birthday, and they are kindred spirits. On the field, they could usually be found next to each other- one playing goalie while the other helped out.

The coach presented each child with their trophy, and gave them small tribute. Over the course of the season, Eva was nicknamed "wheels," and you can see in this video that she was pleased to no end to have the coach tell everyone about it.
Their soccer coach was from the Bronx and has quite the personality. The girls really liked him. I will miss hearing "Who's talkin' when I'm talkin'?!?" in his NYC accent.

Oh Christmas Tree!

When we got back from the Museum the kids were excited to find our Christmas Tree had arrived. This year, we decided to order our tree online. We have a little more room in our new place, which made a full-sized tree possible. As I researched places to purchase a tree here in NYC, I came across this sustainable tree farm in New Hampshire with prices comparable to what I could find on the streets here in Manhattan. And being the car-less people that we are, not having to schlep the tree home on the subway made the deal even sweeter.

Here it is in all of its glory, right out of the box.

Marc shaking the tree out, and getting it ready for the tree stand. The Reindeer are looking on, eager to try their hand at decorating.

Marc and I trying to get the tree to stand up straight, under the direction of Maddy and Eva. Five and six-year-olds are excellent direction givers.

Eva- "Go left, mom"
Madeline- "No... right, Eva"
Eva- "Oh, yeah, right"

The girls loved helping to decorate. Our miniature fake tree last year took a tumble (courtesy of a very curious Owen) and many of our decorations didn't survive the fall. So, this year, the ornaments were a little sparse. But, I am still happy with how it turned out, and I am loving the real Christmas tree smell!

A Day at the Museum

This past Saturday we decided to take advantage of a world-class museum that is less than two miles from our home. We have only been to the Metropolitan Museum of Art once before as an entire family. I decided it was high time for a second visit. We focused mostly on the Greek/Roman and Egyptian exhibits on this trip.

Eva was mesmerized by all of the unclothed statues. "Mom, I see bums," was her most quoted line- accompanied by a giggle.

Madeline was fascinated by the Egyptian collection. She didn't want to leave when it became clear that Owen was done. Every couple of feet she would ask "Mom, what does this Hieroglyph mean?" I had to laugh. "Um, you know.... I don't know that one." She made me promise that next time we would get headphones like everyone else had. She was sure that the headphones would interpret the Hieroglyphs for you. If you go to the Metropolitan anytime soon, make sure not to miss the Temple of Dendur (pictured behind Madeline). This Egyptian Temple actually once stood in Egypt- and was taken apart stone by stone in the 1960's and relocated to the US. It has been rebuilt and was added to the Metropolitan collection in 1978.

Owen liked watching Dad chase him around the museum. He pretty much wanted to touch everything in sight. He made the security guards' jobs just a little more exciting on this Saturday.

What I'm Thankful for:

The other day, someone asked Maddy who her best friend was.
"Oh, Eva."
Not a moment was wasted thinking this question over- because she knew the answer from the moment the query came .
And so did I.

Madeline's Recital

This weekend Madeline had a piano recital. Here it is for any of you who are interested. It is shot in video mode on my cheap Canon point-and-shoot because I still cannot figure out how to upload video from our camcorder onto our computer. We are working on the facial expressions when she finishes playing :) - my girl has a bit of stage fright......

For some reason one of the songs won't upload...but here are two.....






After the recital, we had some refreshments outside the recital hall. After a few minutes of socializing with other parents, we realized that Owen was nowhere to be found. Panic set in asI knew there were elevators nearby, and we know from previous experience that Owen is quite a talented elevator operator. Thankfully, I found him a few minutes later in the recital hall trying out the grand piano. He just wanted in on the action.

You had better do it

Oh, I miss the days of living in Ohio. That is one awesome state to live in if you are really into political commercials. Every four years almost the entirety of the prime-time commercial break is dedicated to the presidential hopefuls battling it out. It is one of the swingy-est of swing states, and every politician fights a bloody battle in Ohio. When I headed to the polls in 2004 I really felt for the first time that my vote would truly be counted. I was even exit-polled as I headed out (for the first and only time in my life).

Living in Utah and New York is kind of a political yawner. I knew in Utah my presidential vote would have little bearing on the election. The state is more Republican than McCain. I know here in NY my vote will have little bearing as well. Being the exact political opposite of UT, it would take a miracle akin to the parting of the East River for McCain to come out victorious here in NY on Tuesday. Obama will win all 31 electoral votes....by a crushing landslide.

Of course, I will still vote. I always do. I will bring my kids along for the first time. We will get to bond a little closer as we stand in line for 4 hours (oh, I hope not that long!). I am hoping they will have an express line for people with two kids or more.

Count your lucky stars if you live somewhere like: Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Missouri, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, New Mexico, Nevada, Washington, and New Hampshire. If you live in one of these states, VOTE! Please.....pretty please? I will come and watch your kids so you don't have to take them along for 4 hours-K?

Of course, if you live in any other state, you need to vote too. I can't promise free babysitting for you though- you are on your own.

Oh, I wish that Romney was still in this one.......

*just voted....I was in line for less than 20 minutes. There were only 2 people in front of me (don't ask me why it took 20 minutes when there were only two people in front of me- I have no answer for that). Anyway, don't be intimidated by the lines- vote! The girls loved pulling the lever and helping me push the switches. Thanks for watching Owen, Holly!

Halloween Happenings

We hope you all had a spooky, fun-filled Halloween. As a tradition, we kick our Halloween Festivities off on the Monday before the big day. We have a lesson, and then try to segway a gospel principle from the lesson into Halloween (virtually impossible:). Somehow, this year Madeline was able to accomplish this for us. Our lesson was entitled "Love one Another." Madeline decided that in honor of the Halloween season, we all needed to draw spiders. In each leg of the spider we needed to write someone's name that we love, and why we love them. Creative.....and kind of creepy..... perfect for Halloween FHE! Afterward, we carved our family pumpkin. This was officially the most expensive pumpkin we have ever purchased- I thought the cashier was pulling a Halloween trick when he told me it was $16. Welcome to Halloween, NYC-style. After carving the pumpkin it was time for caramel apples and cider. Yum. Marc invited a friend from work and his girlfriend to come over to join us for the festivities. His girlfriend was very kind to accept all of the various types of artwork my children created for her while she was here.

On Halloween day we woke up early and headed down to Greenwich Village for a Halloween get-together at a friend's house. As we decorated cupcakes, Owen impressed everyone with his mastery of the words: choc-O-Late, cup-cake, and cand-y. Yes, he has all of the essentials down now. He is advanced in sweet talk. Then we walked through the village up to Chelsea, to check out Chelsea Market's Halloween Jam-Boo-Ree. Chelsea Market is one of our favorite family destinations. It is like an indoor mall of yumminess; most of the shops/vendors are food....really good food. The picture above was taken in the heart of the decorations at Chelsea Market. What I didn't include in the picture was the nude art exhibit on display throughout the entire market. These were not Metropolitan Museum of Art nudes, these were photographed nudes scarier than the Halloween decorations. Needless to say, we didn't stay very much longer after the picture was taken. The girls were happy to get their free cookie. Mmmm....more sugar.

This is Owen peering into one of the bakeries at Chelsea Market. He was fascinated by what they were doing. I was fascinated by his now very round figure. It was cracking me up to see him (my very, very skinny boy) as a chubby dragon.We headed home and prepared to acquire even more sugar. The girls had their hearts set on Trick-or-Treating. So, Eva the "Space Girl," Madeline the "Doctor" and Owen the "Dragon" headed out with dad to meet some apartment complex neighbors for the first time. Our cute friend Jack (aka Pillsbury Doughboy) joined us for the event.


Try to imagine how much candy can be collected when each "house" is only 15 feet apart. It was kid-heaven.Maddy and Eva were more than happy to show Owen and Jack the Trick-or-Treating ropes.

The day after Halloween, our ward had a Halloween party in the basement of our church. The kids had a blast, and Marc's aunt and uncle (Steve and Julie) even stopped by. They have been in town, and it has been so great to see them and catch up.

Owen was absolutely mesmerized by this baby "surgeon" who was in attendance at the party. This cute little guy was a preemie and is sooo tiny. Owen was admiring him for quite some time. "Soooooft baby......sooooofffft....."