Sibling Love

I found this on my iPhone the other day.

Now I don't have to wonder now what happened to the other half of my roll of wrapping paper.

Owen is 4!

My baby is 4. I can't believe it.

We had a small little party for Owen. He invited his best friend, and we kept it simple. I asked him what he wanted for his birthday dinner and he stated, "bananas and tomatoes." What a healthy birthday boy. We ordered gyoza, sushi and pizza for the rest of us :)

He also wanted a spiderman cake, so, I channeled my professional cooking skills and delivered. That may be just a round cake with a melted chocolate chip spiderweb piped onto it, and a strategically placed plastic spiderman from Target, but to Owen it was perfection.

See...he can't keep his hands off of it.

Eva was the proud candle placer.

Fire + Spiderman = 4 year old fascination

I think he was excited about his cake.

Owen has been telling me for months that he is going to be Spiderman for Halloween. Months. So, I figured his birthday would be the perfect time to gift him this much desired disguise. However, as soon as he opened the Spidey get-up, he didn't want to have anything to do with it. Everything about it totally freaked him out. He didn't even want to look at it. I had Eva put it on to show him how much fun it was to be Spiderman and he ran away in terror. I brought it out again a few days after the party thinking the fear may have subsided, and he ran away screaming and hid in his bed. So, he may not be Spiderman after all. He claims he wants to be a dragon again, which is what he has been the last two years. The old standby dragon costume, however, is size 18-24 months, and I am pretty sure he was in pain last year trying to squeeze his little self into it.

His other presents, however, were received with open arms. He adores his new train set from G&G Chenn, and his tub boat from Maria.

After his party, we headed to a Mets game. Owen is a baseball fanatic, so this was a treat for him. Every time we see the Mets play they lose. Every time. So, either we are bad luck, or they stink. Our girls are beginning to think we should be Yankees fans. I don't follow baseball enough to really be a fan of either team, but I think we will try our Yankee luck next.

Owen used his high-powered binoculars to catch all of the action.

One thing the Mets have going for them is their in-stadium Shake Shack. This is home to the one hamburger in NYC that Owen will eat entirely - and maybe ask for more. A delicious way to end Owen's fourth. We love you Mr. Owen!

Urban Garden

We are slowly moving into our new apartment. This week we are painting, cleaning and getting our garden ready. Yes, finally, we have a bit of earth (albeit contained within planter boxes) to call our own here in NYC. Our new apartment has a large balcony with a fantastic view of the East River and the Manhattan skyline. This balcony is large enough to hold our mini-garden, and still leave space for us to hang out during the warm summer months. We are incredibly excited about it.

We started our plants from seeds back in April, and just transplanted them to their new home out on the deck last week. The girls are excited to try out their green thumbs.

Here they are before they were transplanted. If everyone cooperates we will have Heirloom Tomatoes (Brandywine), Eva Tomatoes (had to buy those seeds just because of the name:), yellow grape tomatoes, peas, cilantro, dill, sage, chives, mint, rosemary, thyme, and basil.

My cilantro and dill have never turned out, even when we had a suburban life. I can't figure out how to keep them from going straight to seed. If you have some helpful hints, I would love to hear them before my dill becomes a five foot flower tower like last time :).

The girls also planted a fairy garden. They are 100% into fairies right now, and very excited about the idea of fairies coming to visit their balcony garden. Pictures to come of that craziness shortly.

Madeline is 8

This day came faster than I ever imagined it would. My Maddy turned 8 and prepared to be baptized.

She was able to share this special day with her close friend, Laura, who she shares a birthday with. They were born only hours apart, and have been friends since the first week we moved to NYC.

Marc performed the baptism. Grandpa and Grandma Chenn were also able to join us for the baptism. They came all the way from Hong Kong to join us. Grandma gave a wonderful talk on the Holy Ghost.

It was wonderful to have so many friends come and share this day with us.

I love this girl. It has been a joy to be the mom of Maddy. She has an understanding and faith that I admire. She is my peacemaker, and is well aware of the example she is to her younger siblings. She has a desire to choose the right, and to help others. I am so proud of her and her decision to be baptized.


For her baptism, Madeline's Aunt Sherie made her a headband constructed from some fabric and a button of an article of clothing once worn by her Great Great Grandma Angie Warner. Madeline does not remember Grandma Angie, because she passed away when Madeline was an infant. But, she does have a picture of her being held by her Great Great Grandma, which she treasures. She was so honored to receive this gift.

This was such a special, memorable day for our family. We love you Maddy!

Dance

Here are a few pictures from the mid-year parents night at the girls' dance studio. We got to come in and observe a typical class, and then take a peek at what they have in the works for their end of year recital. Of course, the day I come with my camera, Madeline forgets her ballet shoes and her tights :). Oh well.

Eva loves her tap class. She has a lot of energy, and this is a fantastic outlet for her. It keeps her busy feet so happy. She has a great sense of rhythm, and is so fun to watch. Madeline gets more flexible every day, and at times really amazes me with how graceful she is.

Madeline's 8th Birthday

Madeline turned 8 on the 15th of January. Going with our low-key birthday theme, we just had a small get-together with a few friends. They met together for about an hour to have some pizza, some cake, and a lot of giggles.

Maddy and Eva supplied the decorations. As you can see, it was a "snail" themed party. Frogs and worms were also thrown in for good measure. Madeline wanted a snail cake. I was devoid of cake inspiration until my friend suggested I utilize her igloo cake pan...which was genius. I added a cupcake to the igloo entrance for the head, and a snail was born. The girls helped to frost most of it. You can tell it was made with loads of love.

Time for the wishes and the candle extinguishing. Can you believe she is 8? I panicked when I realized that she is half-way to 16.
While we dined on cake, Marc took some time to tell her friends about Madeline's birth story.

After cake, our friends soon left, and we were off to the subway. This was the moment Madeline was waiting for. We gave her an envelope earlier in the day that she was instructed not to open until we were on the subway as a family. The envelope contained a clue as to what birthday activity our family would be headed off to. So, when we finally boarded the subway, she eagerly opened the letter and found...............circus tickets!

It was a first-time circus experience for the children.

Eva and Madeline enjoyed all of the nutritious refreshments. Owen didn't want anything to do with the big ball of sugary fuzz.

Here are a few circus pictures. Eva's favorite was the man who rode two horses at once (by standing on them!). Madeline loved the acrobats. Owen loved the human hamster wheel show.

Happy birthday Madeline! We love you!

Do-It-Yourself

This past week I was in the middle of placing a FreshDirect order when the girls stormed into my room.

"What are we going to eat for dinner?!!"

I am not to be disturbed during my online grocery shopping experience. I am focused, going through my weekly quasi-menu in my mind, trying to evaluate just how much over-priced food we will need delivered.

It was 5:30 p.m, and dinner preparation had yet to begin. The natives were restless and hungry. I scanned my computer files for something quick and easy.

I pressed print, and handed over a fresh copy of a new buttermilk waffle recipe to my 8-year-old. Yes, I must confess, we eat breakfast for dinner; especially on nights when I know Marc will be MIA.

Lately, I have been turning over my dinner recipes to the girls for some prep-time help. They search through the cupboards for all of the ingredients needed, so when I finally make it into the kitchen everything is on the counter ready to be measured. Madeline has even started helping me wash and chop some items, which I absolutely love.

After I handed over the recipe, the girls scurried off to the kitchen to begin their nightly hunt for ingredients.

I took a little longer on my grocery order than I should have, and then ended up answering a few emails. Before I knew it, 20 minutes had passed, and the kitchen had fallen silent. I realized that I needed to investigate.

"Girls, are you finished getting out all the ingredients for me?"

"SURPRISE!!!" came their reply as I rounded the corner and entered the kitchen.

I found Eva and Madeline perched on the counter top, hovering over a bowl filled with their very own creation.

"Mom! Mom! We made it ourselves!! We got all of the ingredients out, then we put all of the stuff together, and made this all by ourselves!!!"

-"Oh, WOW....really?" I was excited and worried all at once.

I looked around me. Baking soda, baking powder, egg shells, buttermilk, flour, salt, butter wrappers, and measuring spoons/cups littered the counter top. It seemed that all of the essential ingredients had indeed made it into the mixing bowl.

-"Did you follow the instructions?"

"What?!"

-"The part that tells you how to put the ingredients in the bowl."

"Ummmm...." Ok, I had my answer.

Oh well, no time to criticize the cooks, we needed to celebrate this initiative!!

So we fried some bacon, whipped some cream, warmed some syrup, heated the waffle iron, lit some candles, and hoped for the best.

The waffles were absolutely delicious. Not a shell in the batch. This may be our new Sunday dinner. I can take a nap while the girls concoct their signature waffles :). Did I mention how awesome it is to have a 6 and 8-year-old in the house? May they never grow up.