NYC @ Christmastime

What we did...

 

Ice Skating at Central Park

 

Walking and admiring the amazing lights and store windows.

 

Sony Wonder Tech Lab. So, much fun and it is FREE!! Above Atley is performing open heart surgery.  

 

Freezing at Times Square.  Check out one of the biggest ads.  That's right. The Mormons!!

Saw a show on Broadway.  We saw Nice Work if You Can Get It!

It was hilarious. At one point I was laughing so hard I hit my head on the seat in front of me. Apparently, the lady sitting in that seat gave me a killer look. But, I was a little too dazed to notice. 

Santaland at Macy's. Worth the long lines.

 

Riding the Subway to Grand Central Station.

 

Train Exhibit and market at Grand Central.

Where We Ate...

Most of the time we ate at our apartment, with a view like this why go out. So when we did go out we chose very carefully.  

First, stop. Dylan's Candy Bar Cafe.  

Carnegie Deli.  As you can see Nash was not as excited about Corned Beef, Pastrami and pickles as Harley.

Nash was a lot happier at Giovanna's in Little Italy. (Just off of Canal on Mulberry Street) The best Italian I have ever had!!!

Where we shopped...

FAO Schwarz of course!

 

and Chinatown, where Harley got her very own  Louis Vuitton. She was so happy we found her sleeping with it that night.  This is a girl after my own heart!

Playing Pretend

We are in Manhattan for a few days. Thanks to the deep-pocket connections of my mother-in-law we have been hooked up with a spacious 3 bedroom penthouse in midtown, with an unbelievable view of the Chrysler building.  Tonight after a long day of toy stores, candy stores, and Christmas lights our family was walking back to our building.  The kids were tired and grouchy and we still had several blocks to go when we passed a drug store. I needed to pick up a few things that I had forgotten.  It was getting late and the sun had gone down hours earlier.  Scott asked if I wanted him to wait while I ran inside.  “Wait!” I thought, “This is like a get out of jail free card. Of course I don’t want you to wait. I would relish in a little alone time.”  He and the kids went ahead and after my shopping was completed I was back on the street, alone.  Well, not exactly alone. The streets were busy and I was soon swallowed up in the throng of business suits and skirts. It was then that my fantasy began.  I pretended I was one of them.  That’s right, you see I didn’t get married my senior year of college or start teaching after my undergraduate degree. I didn’t have my first baby at 26 and two more to follow. No, I came to New York. I went to Columbia Law School, where I finished first in my class and was immediately snatched up by JP Morgan as a young fresh tax attorney.  Granted, I worked long days that all began with an early morning trip to the gym and a bagel at my desk, but I was being compensated nicely. Especially, since I saved the company $386 million last year with my extensive knowledge of tax loopholes.  I would come home to my posh apartment every evening after a dinner with friends and be greeted by my warm-hearted door man named Felix. He would always ask me the same question, “How was your day beautiful?”  To which I would merely respond with a blush, because despite my rock hard Pilates body and my exorbitant salary I was still very humble.  So, humble that I was going to slip Felix a thousand bucks on Christmas Eve as a gesture of gratitude for his phenomenal job at opening my door.  It was in the midst of this extravagant slip from reality that I found myself face to face with the actual doorman of our borrowed apartment.  His warm-hearted greeting sounded a little gruff, when he exclaimed-“Mam, where do you think you’re going?”  My reply was interrupted by the peal of laughter around the corner.  The sounds were unmistakably my children.  I said, “I belong with them.”  And I was right, I did belong with them.  We piled onto the elevator together.  My two year old was crying because she was cold and wanted her blanket. My six year old was convinced that he was “literally dying of thirst.” While, my eight year old was rapid firing questions at me like a professional auctioneer.  About this time I caught a glimpse of myself in the elevator mirror. My reflection didn’t exactly reflect the rock-hard Pilates body in a pencil skirt and stilettos that I had been imagining. In fact, my mascara was smeared under my eyes. I had chocolate on my neck and I was wearing a pair of jeans from Costco. Yet, as our little family began ascending in the elevator, somewhere between the 16^th and 27^th floor, I had an epiphany.  My bonus from Mr. Morgan would come and go, even my Jimmy Choo’s and Fendi bag would wear out, but this was forever.  I had made the right decision 13.5 years ago, not that I ever really doubted that. This was more than happiness. This was joy. This was real. This was eternal. This was my reality and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Glimpses-A Normal Day

Sometimes the most mundane tasks create the best pictures.  Today was cleaning day at our house and to avoid 8 hours of TV watching while I worked, I filled an empty Windex bottle full of water and let Harley Belle "HELP!"  I am not sure about her choice in cleaning clothes. I can assure you that I do not clean in my panties and wonder woman socks.

What I am most excited about during Christmas Vacation...No homework!! Not only is it a screaming battle each night, but it also makes me feel dumb. Atley is 8 and doing more complicated Algebra than I did as  a Freshman in highschool. Oh, to be able to read the mind of an 8 year old boy genius.

While Atley did his homework tonight, my two lefties worked on their art work.  I am so blessed to have these three little maniacs in my home.

By the way, our elf is still a very important part of our life at least for 6 more days. He recently made copies of himself on our printer and sometimes he just moves to a curious spot during the night. One night he helped the tooth fairy retrieve Nash's first lost tooth.

  And sometimes he...

Christmas Trains at the National Botanical Gardens

Visiting the train exhibit is one of my favorite Christmas traditions.  The National Botanical Gardens are right below the U.S. Capitol and their Christmas Exhibit is always exquisite.  This year was a fairy theme, which Harley loved and the boys pretended not to love.

This is one of my favorite pictures of late. It pretty much sums up my life-Atley is never quite paying attention, Nash is generally plotting something very mischievous, and Harley is picking her nose or doing something just as unladylike while I am smiling/faking my way through it all.

Nash's LEGO Birthday

Nash turned 6 years old on Saturday!  We had a LEGO themed birthday party at our house and it was lots of fun, even for me believe it or not.

  I made the party bags into giant LEGOS and I covered the juice boxes with paper to make them look like LEGOS too. I also used a sharpie and construction paper to make all of the plates look like LEGO men.

 When the boys arrived they each had to guess how many LEGOs were in the jar. Then they colored some Ninjago pictures with crayons that I made using melted crayons and some LEGO ice cube molds.

 The first game we played was a race to see who could suck up the most LEGOs and put them on a seperate plate in one minute.

 We are lucky to have a LEGO store near us.  At this store you can find almost any LEGO that you can imagine.  You are able to fill up a cup for about $15 with any LEGO pieces that you want.  I went and bought a couple of cup fulls with all the parts we would need to make about 15 Christmas Wreaths.  The boys had a great time building and decorating their wreaths. 

 Next, Scott drew LEGO man faces on a bunch of yellow balloons. We filled the basement with them and gave all of the boys inflatable swords. They were transformed into Ninjas and fought valiantly to defeat the balloons and each other. As you can imagine this was definitely a highlight of the party and yes, that is my daughter in the middle of it all. She refused to wear clothes because she was somehow convinced that it was a pajama party.  She was pretty angry at her brothers for not wearing their pajamas too.

 We ate pizza and of course birthday cake!

Finally, Nash opened his presents which mostly consisted of LEGOS, Angry Birds, and Star Wars every 6 year old boy's dream.  

We love you Nashy!!! Happy Birthday!!!