Thursday, August 29, 2013

That's deep bro.

A little bit of randomness...

Mema and Pepa sent us to see Planes in the movie theatres, the fanciest movie theatre I've ever seen no less. Popcorn and candy and us letting Ever bring his DD pretty much made for the perfect movie experience. Thanks M&P!

We went to the Met. I was kind of bugged when I realized that the boys all dressed to match in Stanford gear and didn't invite me to be in their club. I need a daughter something fierce. However, I realized that I matched all the Met signs in my pink: 

That's right...Me and the Met Vs. The 3 Wiggy boys!

I saw this car the other day while I was walking home from the temple. Just in case you were wondering, it really did have millions of little gummy bears glued to it. Modern art? 

Pizza night. Maybe the only time Everett has eaten dinner this whole week. My thoughts on that. 1) How does that kid survive? 2) Why do my good eaters get all stubborn on me? Rude. 3) I would eat just about anything for dessert, and he won't even take a bite. So not my kid sometimes.

Case in point. Dinner = pasta salad. Screamed for 30 minutes and left the table without so much as a nibble.
 
 Luckily he's so darn cute at least 51% of the time ;)

Peppa Pig and Mr. T. We went to a little book-signing at the Scholastic store. We were late, but luckily still got to see that cute little pig.

 Everett doesn't much like characters--at all, at all. He was so excited to see Peppa Pig and then when the moment actually happened he screamed and dove into my arms. Family pic moment.

Awesome wall art in the lower east side. Pretty!

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

It was waffle day, you know

I hope everyone knew that it was National Waffle Day on Saturday. Did you know? I really hope you celebrated hard core. I'm all about holidays, and make it a holiday surrounding food and I'm the biggest ever fan! So naturally our Waffle Day was amazing. {During T's good night prayers he thanked Heavenly Father for letting it be "International Waffle Day"--yep, it was that good!}
 
Mostly it was fabulous because the food truck Wafels and Dinges was giving away free liege waffles with a topping in exchange for homemade waffle art. Free food was at stake, and not just any free food: free Wafels and Dinges waffles, so the Wiggy's spent Friday night digging through art supplies and creating delicious masterpieces. Holy Hannah I cannot tell you how worth it that was. Yum.  
 
The boys and their waffle art. I don't want to brag or anything, but the person working at the counter said he thought my 3D waffle might win the art contest because it was so awesome. I'm guessing it didn't because I haven't heard from them yet, but I'm gluing my phone to my hip just in case ;)

Okay, seriously? It almost hurts to remember how amazing these were! The boys both had whip cream on theirs, I had nutella and James had speculoos spread. They were all to die for.

Thank you Wafels and Dinges for helping us celebrate National Waffle Day in the awesomest possible way!

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Blowing bubbles on a Brownstone


 
I had one of those moments this afternoon. Thank goodness for those sacred moments, every one.
 
I saw two beautiful, impressionable little boys sitting on the steps of a brownstone of an incredible tree-lined street. It was mostly quiet, with just a whisper of traffic and the weather was warm, with a spit of humidity. These boys were busy blowing bubbles, calm and content in the moment. Puppies passed with a pat on the head. Neighbors oohed and smiled as they walked by the duo. A little guy walking home from his first day of Jewish School became a fast and dear friend. 
 
It was happy. It felt perfect. And hallelujah it was all mine.
 
Those were my sons blowing our homemade bubbles that smelled like apple soap. 
That tree-lined street, I live there now.
And the passer-byes and doggie-friends who looked in adoration were loving my life in that moment just as much as I was.
 
Oh those moments where you see the hand of God in your life and feel so loved. And so grateful. And everything somehow feels right. 
Oh those moments when total peace is blown from a bubble gun.

**written yesterday**

Monday, August 26, 2013

The Heart of a Whale

I haven't talked much about heart stuff lately. Frankly, I don't have much to talk about. Heart disease is so normal to our family now that I sometimes forget that it's not everyone's normal. Plus, Everett is doing awesome lately (phew) and I might as well not worry about future children's hearts until we are blessed with future children (ha, sounds easy, right?)
 
That being said, there are moments that I'm reminded of Everett's special heart and I have to breathe really deeply and tell myself that no, it's not a dream and yes, there is a plan. I had one of those moments this week in the Natural History Museum. We were in a special exhibit about whales, and wouldn't you know there was a huge section about the heart. It was incredibly interesting. {Like, did you know that the heart of a blue whale is the size of a car? A car, people!} 
 
The mere presence of the heart did not invoke the mad-rush of emotion, Evie's fascination with said heart did.  I guess I should mention that this scale-version of a blue whale's heart was the perfect jungle gym for an active 2-year-old, but I think there was more to it than that. Everett kept saying, "Dis da whale's spesho heart. Evie has a spesho heart." and then he would go inside, sit by himself and listen to the beating of the whale's heart. He stayed in that heart for what seemed like forever, sitting silently, with only the thump-thump, thump-thumps as his companion. I'm shocked he didn't pull up his shirt and show anyone his scar, he's known to do that when folks are conversing about their tickers, but he was still, almost reverent, as he felt the beats of that beast.
 
And my heart was thump-thump, thump-thumping too because boy do I love that kid. I love his special heart (though heaven knows I would do anything for it to have been perfect from the start) and I hope he always knows how amazing and strong we think he is. I pray that he always loves his "spesho heart" as much as I do. 
 


really awful pictures that technically were not supposed to be taken at all, I learned from the kind and patient guard after trying to get a good shot for at least 5 minutes. whoops! and yes, unfortunately these were the best I got. 

Friday, August 23, 2013

Our afternoon in Central Park

It went something like this:
 



oh yeah, and there were giant chocolate chip cookies involved too ;)

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Rice to Riches

Since we were already downtown for Jim's {kind of} first day of work, we decided to make a morning of it and explore. Our first stop was the Brooklyn Bridge, which really is just as awesome every single time we go. Unfortunately, the blisters on my feet were the size of Texas by this point (and it was only 10 am, darn big feet) so we walked halfway to Brooklyn, and then turned and walked back. Talmage really wanted to see the Statue of Liberty from the bridge so we made that happen, and I got a few pictures of us with the cityscape. It was an all-around success!

Us with that great big and beautiful city in the background. We live there now. Weird.
 
After our walk on the bridge and a big morning at the court, I decided a true celebration was in order. And, of course, that meant a celebration of the sugar persuasion. When I lived here as a single person, those many moons ago, I fell in love with a place called Rice to Riches and that is where we went. We shared this little Rocky Road/Cheesecake rice pudding number and it was un-believable. So good!
 
I kind of love Everett shutting his eyes in delight at the taste of the pudding!

Me and the littles.
 
I love this place because it makes a killer dessert. But even if it didn't, it has some of the funniest signs I've ever seen. Here are some of my favorite:








Wednesday, August 21, 2013

A Clerk

I've forced James into first day of school pictures for as long as we've been married. But now that he's done for school forever (I keep reminding him what that means....forever, like never going back, like don't even think about an MD, PhD, MBA or any other crazy letter combination, like we are totally donesies) I will just start taking first day of work pictures! I know how much he loves first day pics ;)
 
Today was not his official first day of work (we've got a few more days of stay-cation before he leaves us again) but we did take a family trip to his courthouse this morning so that he could get sworn in as a law clerk. He's worked really hard in school, and life, and I'm just really proud of that boy. It was great to meet the amazing people he'll be working with and for, and to get a visual of where he'll be everyday.
 
 All dressed up outside the US Court of International Trade. Official first day photo ;) 

 Being sworn in as a law clerk by Judge Richard Goldberg.

Judge Goldberg was nice enough to take pictures with James, and then our whole family. He was actually the one who asked if I had a camera with me so that we could document the moment. Did I have a camera with me? Ha! You better believe I did!

The boys were great. Judge Goldberg let them play with his model Jaguar cars so they were in little boy heaven. I also bribed them with Goldfish crackers and candy--that probably helped!

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Peaches

The Big Wig's signed us up for Harry and David's fruit-of-the-month club, and we're all pretty stoked about it! Every month for the next year fresh, in-season fruit with be delivered straight to our door. This month was peaches, and oh how we've loved those peaches. We've eaten peaches and cream oatmeal, yogurt parfaits and peach-packed Swedish pancakes. I can already tell that this fruit-of-the-month club is going to be delicious! Thanks Gigi and Papa!

Monday, August 19, 2013

Let's Go Fly a Kite

On Saturday we walked to Pier 1 on the Hudson River to fly kites and have fun. Riverside Park was holding a special kite-making and kite-flying event and we were flying high at the opportunity to attend.


We got there at just the right time because the sky was already filled with beautiful homemade kites. Once we saw all the kids flying their work, we really got excited.


The boys (all 3 of them) colored the kites and they looked fabulous. Evie had a huge E on his kite (with stars, moons and suns to decorate) and T had a huge T on his kite (with a boat to decorate it).


While Daddy waited in line to get the tails for our kites, the boys and I enjoyed the awesome entertainment. Or should I say, Evie and I enjoyed the entertainment. While we were dancing to the beat of these fabulous drums, Talmage was in the stroller with his hands over his ears saying, "I don't like it. It's too loud!"

And then we flew our kites!
 
And flew them. And flew them. And flew them.

Until Ever let go of his string and his kite fell in the Hudson. He mostly thought it was awesome that his kite was now a boat...phew!

Talmage kept a firm grasp on his kite, and boy did it get high. What a fun day in Riverside park.