New York - Day 3

The last morning in NY we drove to the Botanic Gardens in the Bronx. It was a perfect day for it! Clear skies and warm sun. After an incredibly long winter, this felt like heaven. This caterpillar was made all of flowers . . .
Still the cherry tree season and they were so gorgeous . . .
what are these? sweet peas? so cute! whatever they are, they reminded me of the little flowers that people used to get on May 1st in Paris.

The sad part of the weekend was that Eli lost a shoe. SO frustrating! But at least it was warm enough to be barefoot today
Say cheese guys, I'm going to take your picture . . .
Man down! Man down! Analise get off of him! No, you can't push on his tummy like that - it hurts him!
The trees were wearing great big princess dresses!

Catch it Eli!

New York - Day 2

The second day we walked and walked! We started in Washington square and meandered around Greenwich Village, Soho, China Town, Little Italy and then back towards our hotel. It was a long day!

Wave to daddy!

Analise heard the music and could not be stopped. I have numerous videos of this, but only included one. Even in Kindermusik she doesn't want to imitate animal moves, she does ballerina moves - pretty normal, but she's the only girl in our class! The 6 boys stare in wonder and confusion . . .

"Mommy and prince you dance with me??"views from China town

Eli are you tired? poor baby

New York - Day 1

The morning after we arrived in NY we walked around the city - slowly making our way down 5th ave. with a stop at the gardens and F.A.O. Schwartz

When Analise found out she got to pick something out the response was pretty immediate : "I'd like a pink dress, a pink crown, a pink necklace, a pink phone, pink glass slippers . . . etc." Boy did we find it all! It was actually kind of hard for mom to hold back, even when she didn't ask for anything else after finding the dress.After shopping we headed for a picnic in Central Park. Daniel (checking his map) did a great job of arranging all the details. I'm so thankful!
A little view that reminded me of Paris . . .

ELMO!!!! We didn't know you live in New York! Analise about flipped when she saw him and couldn't stop giving him hugs.

We also saw Minnie mouse - which was equally as exciting, but disappointing when she didn't say high because she was deep in conversation with the police . . . we're wondering if Minnie didn't have a permit . . . try explaining that to a 2 year old!

The transformation is complete. She will now spend the rest of the weekend as "the pink princess." If New York is about making a fashion statement, she pretty well nailed that as every person we passed commented on the princess and tiara. It didn't help that the royal wedding was going on at the same time!
walking through the park to our picnic spot . . .

Oh, and our little Li-Li. Just along for the ride, as usual and happy as a clam. He's standing by himself and even bending his knees, but just won't take the first step. Still faster at crawling I guess - that's O.K., no rush!

I heart glueguns

One thing I definitely missed while living in Europe was the easy access to a multitude of fun, CHEAP craft supplies. To that end I'm now the proud owner of my own glue gun. The smell, the singed finger tips, the stringy goop all over - I love it. I made easter egg bunnies holding a little playdough as a special little gift for Analise and Eli's friends . . .
Our spring crafts . . . the tulips, caterpillar, and ladybugs are made out of egg cartons. Analise painted them and helped poke pipe cleaners. I manned the glue gun (heh, heh, heh)
googly eyes just make everything better . . .
These little bean bags were supposed to be for Easter baskets, but I couldn't hold back and gave them early

One thing I miss about Europe was the understated simplicity of decorating. No glue gun (etc.) meant more "creative" and cheap decorating. And cheap fresh flowers never hurt either.

Freezin' our Easter Eggs off

Tomorrow is Tiny Tuckies Easter egg hunt - so today we had to get out all the gear and "practice." Analise found all the eggs! Easter dresses are on sale at TJ Maxx, so I got one a size bigger, thinking to save it for next year. So far she's worn it every other day. It actually works out well that it's too big because she has to wear a T-shirt and leggings underneath!
These are her "tapping shoes." I just had to take a picture because her little toddler foot puffs up out of the top of the shoe and it's seems wider than it is long. . . mother, I need a word with you about that . . .
Aah, Eli, hold still, I'm trying to take your picture!

Playing with Easter eggs outside in full winter ware. In fact, it flurried for most of the day. I'm so done with New Hampshire! I'm ready for . . . umm, Wisconsin?? Minnesota?? sheesh, I guess I'll stay here a little while longer. How's Idaho this time of year?

Eli saw a ball on the porch and worked himself all the way to the end, went up the steps and crawled to the prize. He's persistent - and he LOVES balls! In fact, he was so upset in the grocery store and I couldn't figure out why. He pointed and cried and kept whimpering "buh, bruh, bbb, bhhh" (not very clear) and finally I looked up. Sure enough, all along the top of the aisle were red balloons - probably 20 at least. Clearly their marketing was working on somebody.

Here we're getting ready to go to bed - but I just love these jammies and needed a little video. Analise is watching "Monkey George"

clapping for the music

This video is a bit boring because Eli just woke up and is more interested in the dog than in what we were playing with - but usually when he plays with this little toy he rocks out!

Daddy and We

Goofing around on the floor after supper . . . Daddy throws the ball up in the air and catches it and Eli thinks he's amazing. Talk about a major ego booster!
Here's lookin' at you kiddo
At Eli's last appointment he was in the 49% for height and 48% for weight - pretty average!
Now there's a little different kind of interaction here - daddy and "Belle" are out walking Grady
Daddy is still throwing things up in the air and catching them - and Analise still thinks he's amazing, but she needs to wear a dress and heals, necklace and bracelets . . .
"No daddy, I mommy, you baby, you need to go yours room - you cry. It's Ok baby, mommy's here."