Where do I fit in?

I am convinced that the "spatial" center of Owen's brain must be developing right now. Every time I turn around he is trying to figure out where he fits. His favorites right now are kitchen cupboards, large Tupperware containers, and the back of his toy dump truck. Here is a picture from a morning I found him just hanging out in the hallway, inside our water bottle case. He sat in there for over ten minutes, rearranging the bottles around his little body. Can you tell he still has his morning diaper on? It looks like it is so full it has busted open one of his PJ snaps :).

I've Got you Babe

Multiple times a day I think...."I am so glad my girls have each other." They really are the best of friends. Of course, they have their moments (see below). But don't we all? I count myself so lucky that I have 8 sisters of my own. There is something about a sister bond.
The girls know that I get very perturbed to find them in each other's beds at night (it always makes for a 3 am awakening when someone is rolling around and stealing covers). What they don't know, is that I also secretly love finding them all snuggled up next to each other fast asleep.

More Spring Break

We headed over to the Central Park sand box for the second time this week. The girls did not quite get dirty enough last time. They had a great time digging, and making "castles." Each time they go they meet new friends at the park, and are sad to leave.

The girls also had a great time hanging out with their good friend Ella, who is Owen's age. Owen missed all of the action because he was asleep in his stroller the whole time. Ella had a good time foraging through the sandbox for small little edible objects. I made the mistake of telling Rachel (Ella's mom) about pin worm friends that lurk in outdoor sandboxes. I don't think she will sleep tonight :)

This is a piece of Eva's sandwich and her dirty little sandbox hands. I know, it looks like her hands could be on a poster for "Stop World Hunger" or something. But no, those are just her hands suffering from sandbox effect. Oh, and by the way, that was after hand sanitizer was applied. Not that it helped or anything.

I am loving all of the beautiful tulips here in NYC. It truly can be a "cement jungle" at times, so it is very nice to come across a small little oasis of nature. I think this is also why I love heading over to Central Park so much.

A Day in Central Park: Pt 1

In celebration of Spring Break, we headed out to Central Park for some fun. The girls brought along their friend Laura, Owen brought along his friend Ella, and I brought along my friend Rachel (Ella's mom). The girls loved exploring Central Park. We stopped by the Zoo first.

Here you see Owen mesmerized by the Penguin exhibit. He loved that the penguins would come right up to the glass so you could see them up close.

The girls enjoyed watching the Sea Lion Show. I actually took this picture for the flowering tree in the background. There are flowering trees everywhere here in NYC, and they are so beautiful. We have a lot of these on Roosevelt Island right now too.

A Day in Central Park: Pt 2

Here are the girls and their friend Laura heading over to the Central Park Carousel. They are such good friends

Madeline and Laura getting ready for the Carousel ride. They were very big girls on their horses because mom spent the entirety of the ride trying to keep Owen happy. He, and his friend Ella were not too excited about Carousel riding. They were both terrified of the horses, so we ended up sitting inside a little booth on the carousel.

Here is Ella showing Owen some of her dance moves (to the music of the carousel) as we waited for our turn to ride. After the Carousel, we headed over to the Sandbox Park in CP, to get thoroughly dirty. The kids all loved playing in the sand, but I must say the bathwater was a dark shade of gray when we returned home :).

Trip to the NYC Aquarium

We headed down to Coney Island for the first time on Tuesday. It was a subway adventure. We rode the subway for about an hour to get down there. Our destination was the NYC aquarium, although it was fun to see the beach and the boardwalk when we arrived. Some day soon, I will be back with the girls to visit the beach. The kids really enjoyed the aquarium. We ended up meeting up with several other moms/kids from church so it was a party.
Madeline and Eva loved spending time with friends. Owen loved seeing the fishes. "Fish" was one of his first words (pronounced "ish"). He LOVES fishes so he really got a kick out of seeing so many all at once.
The picture below shows him captivated by the jelly fish tank. If you look in his lap, you will see his most prized treasure in the world- his blanket. He wants to carry it everywhere now, and has it in a death grip hold for most of the day. I have to laugh because if you have read the book "Owen" by Kevin Henkes- he is Owen. I imagine someday I will be sending him to kindergarten class with a small square of this beloved blanket in his pocket.

The picture below is of the girls and I in the courtyard of the Aquarium. It was a bright day, so everyone was having a hard time looking at the camera with happy faces :). I ended up getting a nice red stripe burn on my forearms. Being only April, I had not even given thought to sunscreen before we headed out.

Spring Break

The girls in front of the Blackwell house, a historical landmark here on RI. It serves as a much needed reminder to the girls of what suburban life is like.

Owen hanging out on that slide, he has now very successfully mastered.

I cannot tell you how much I am loving it that they can push each other in the swings now!!

One of these days Owen is going to catch one of the NYC pigeons. He hones his hunting skills daily.