City Transformed

Picture of Lauren at Columbus Circle, NYC.

Power of Money

Having received some money for Christmas, Lauren and Sarah (and I) spent the day after going shopping. Lauren and Sarah felt empowered having their own money and they were very excited knowing that they had enough to buy their favorite toys.

Lauren-isms

First of Lauren sayings:

Go super early (spelling corrected)
Have a meeting
Play a game


Second of Lauren sayings:

Be a friend all the time!
Smile when you are happy.
Explore the world and have fun.
Play together.

Christmas 2011

Our third Christmas in New York City is another big success! In great anticipation for all the presents opening this morning, Lauren slept in the closet while Sarah slept with Daddy last night. As soon as Joe and I got our first cups of coffee, Lauren and Sarah began opening presents. They are very happy with all the clothes, toys, books, and crafts. In fact, they are begging me to read them their new books as I'm writing this ....

The Nutcracker

What a treat to see the NYC ballet perform The Nutcracker at Lincoln Center. We wore fancy clothes to watch this fancy show at this fancy theatre.

New Sleeping Quarters

Lauren and Sarah have created a new sleeping area for themselves ... in our closet. Now, they have their own bedroom with TWO beds and two closets but for some reason, the floor in our one little closet in Joe's & my bedroom makes for better sleeping and playing.

Tree Lights

These trees that flank the main pathway across Columbia campus light up starting at 4pm. Joe, Sarah, and Lauren momentarily stop to eat some roasted almonds.

Sculptures Around Campus

Because of the location of our apartment, we have to walk through campus whenever we want to go pretty much anywhere ... stores, restaurants, subway station. These are some of our favorite sculptures.

Children's Museum of Art

What a great place: a museum dedicated to displaying and making children's art. It might be an all time record - we spent 5 hours at (this) museum ... looking at art, making our own art, making new friends, and seeing an old friend (who happens to be living in NYC right now).

Holiday Tree

It's not the winter holidays without a decorated TREE!

Gingerbread House

Making and decorating a gingerbread house is messy business!!

(We're in New York!)

Packing for Christmas in New York

In addition to all the the regular packing for our upcoming New York City trip, we also need to make room for the Christmas presents! We reassured Sarah and Lauren that we will definitely have presents for them even though we will be away from home.

Helping Others

Sarah and Lauren shopped for a bunch of groceries that we then donated to our local food haven. The staff at the haven were impressed to see two little girls come with so many groceries and help put them on the shelves. It was a great teaching moment that left all of us feeling pretty good about helping others.

How to Deal with Mean Girls

It's heartbreaking to find out that there are some girls/boys who are not being nice to Sarah, but fortunately she seems to be taking it well. She told me that she's asked some girls who she thought were her friends if she could play with them during recess only to be turned down. Sarah said that she tries to only play with people who talks nicely to her. Her rule is that if they don't talk nicely to her, then they probably won't play nicely also!

Snow Puppy

Two girls proudly showing off their snow sculptures: snow puppy & snow soup.

What I Want For Christmas

Lauren said that she wants "turtle and Pegasus" toys/stuffies.

Sarah said that she wants "parrot and Pegasus" toys/stuffies.

What simple requests!

Gearing Up For the Holidays

What a nice way to begin the holidays! Our town of Hanover had celebrations/activities all around town last night ... Christmas tree lighting, Santa, cookie decorating, ornament decorating, hot chocolate, caroling, music, horse drawn wagon riding.