Gingerbread

So...the Parker Meridian hotel has an incredible display of gingerbread buildings made by famous New York bakeries on display in their lobby so we decided to check it out. But, then Ever Knight fell asleep in the stroller (after refusing to take a nap) so I had to wake him up (because by this time it was way too close to bedtime for a nap) so things kind of got off to a rocky start. I mean, I look like I'm having fun but Ever, well, I don't think he was flailing backwards for kicks and giggles. Luckily he quickly realized that he was surrounded by sugar and that put him in a much better mood.

Everett's favorite gingerbread "house" was the Empire State Building.

Talmage, on the other hand, was on Team Daddy and voted for the Chrysler Building.

 



I loved all of the gingerbread creations, but I have to admit that my favorite moment of the evening was seeing a footy-pajama clad Everett look at all the gingerbread cookie ornaments on that gigantic tree. He thought it was pretty magical, and I did too.

Our plan was to decorate our own gingerbread village when we returned home that night, but the boys were both feeling a little yucky and did I mention, no naps for Thing 2, so we decided to work our magic on our mini-houses the next day.

Talmage was a very deliberate decorator. It was loads of fun watching him put pieces in the perfect order to make them "so, so beautiful!"

Everett pretended to decorate his house when I looked in his direction, but mostly he was just shoveling candy into his little trap, and flashing that flirty smile whenever I told him that he shouldn't eat any more!

This was one of Talmage's finished houses. See what I mean about how nice they turned out! He kept talking about patterns and how he wanted it to look even, and he was so proud of his finished work!

I'm raising Peanuts

James and I surprised the boys by taking them to see a live version of Charlie Brown's Christmas at the Brooklyn Lyceum theatre. Charlie Brown has been a frequent guest in our home since Thanksgiving, and boy are the kids ever grateful that Netflix is so generous with holiday Charlie Brown shows. We knew that this special Christmas date would be a family win, and holy Hannah were we ever right!

Talmage and Everett were pretty much a part of the show with their deep belly laughs and playful giggles. When we asked Talmage if he thought it was funny he said, "Not just funny. That was the most HILARIOUS thing I've ever seen!" And even as a grown up, I would have to agree that funny does not adequately describe the creative awesomeness that was this play. The actors were exact replicas of the Charlie Brown cartoon characters--they mimicked every voice inflection, every dance move, all the over-the-top arm movements and even the way they walked. There is no question that we'll be making this a family tradition. You know, until we move again ;) 

After the show Talmage b-lined it straight to Snoopy. The lighting is awful, but his smile is so huge I can hardly stand it. He was so excited to make silly doggy noises with her and tell her what a good job she did. And of course, he told her how "hilarious" she was--that seemed to be his word of the night!

Everett was not at all interested in Snoopy, or Charlie Brown for that matter. His favorite character: Linus! Anyone who knows my thumb-sucking, blankie boy should not be surprised, but I was definitely impressed that he drew that correlation on his own. Every time Linus would come on the stage Everett would say, "Wook. Is me. I Winus!" And then, after the play was over, Ev marched right up to Charlie Brown and said, "Where is Winus. I want see Winus."

When Linus and Charlie Brown stood next to Talmage and Everett for a picture, we all just fell apart with laughter. Turns out that Ever is to Linus, what Talmage is to Charlie Brown. It was about this time in the night where the real {actor} Charlie Brown looked at me and said, "If you are trying to raise cartoon characters, then you're just killing it!" Yes, how did he know. My goal in life is to raise a house full of Peanuts!

Macy's Santaland

That sign in Macy's just made me laugh because if seeing Santa was ever a HUGE production, it was at Macy's. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, ah contraire, Santaland is magnificent and magical and totally over-the-top amazing, but compared to all of the other Santa's we've seen it was definitely a production.    

 

The lines are long, especially if you're like us and go the Saturday before Christmas (but show up about an hour later than expected because everyone is just a little bit grumpy that morning). But even a long line doesn't take that long. We waited for 45 minutes, which in NYC is like a piece of chocolate cheesecake.

Being here brought back a sleigh full of memories. While waiting in line I told the boys all about the last time I brought them here--Talmage was not yet two, Everett was still in my tummy and I was so morning sick we barely made it. I have a picture of Talmage in front of that sign from our last visit, wow he's gotten HUGE, huh?

We purposely went on a Saturday so James could enjoy the magic with us. We're always glad when Daddy can come along for a city adventure.

So, with every other Santa Talmage had said that he would be happy with whatever he was given. Cute, right? Well, starting with the Plaza Santa and continuing to the Macy's Santa he decided what he wanted...and he was not backing down. What does he want Santa to bring him more than anything else? A jack-in-the-box. Right... Good thing that the Macy's Santa lives in Macy's...which btw has almost every toy in the universe ;)

Thanks Macy's for another fun year at Santaland! And that now officially completes our Santa tour!

Chelsea Market and the Plaza's Santa

I desperately wanted to go see an art exhibit in Chelsea. It was my third time trying to see it, and unfortunately my third fail. Going to an art exhibit with kids is one thing, but being told you're going to have to wait somewhere between two and four hours to even enter the exhibit, I know my kids well enough to know that we would be one big, fat word: miserable. So...since we were already in Chelsea and I had promised the boys some cool art we headed to the Chelsea Market, where the whole building is an insanely-awesome work of art!

My little friend Everett batted his eyelashes and the woman at the gelato counter gave both boys free ice cream. It pays to be cute sometimes!

Talmage knows how to read now, have I mentioned that lately? It's really just adorable to hear real words and sentences come out of his mouth, and sometimes I catch myself smiling from the other room when I hear him working through a book. I love books myself and couldn't be happier that my boys feel the same way. We sat in this cute bookshop reading for hours, the boys nestled comfy cozy in the wall.

Chelsea Market had a paper tree that was just lovely. We've seen our fair share of Christmas trees in the city the last month, and I loved how simple and original this one was. Now, let's talk about how grumpy I am that Talmage taught Everett (who I can always count on for a smile) to make this crazy face during pictures. Is this what being a mother to boys is all about?

Our wiggles weren't exactly all out so we decided to pop into the Plaza and meet their Santa. I must say, our Plaza Santa experience was by far the easiest, and whoa that Santa was sweet. There was no line, everyone was kind and it was just simple and beautiful. Not that I'm surprised coming from the Plaza hotel, but it was seriously a class act.

My favorite part of this Santa experience was hearing Santa and T's conversation at the end.

Santa: Can you do me a big favor?

T: Uh-huh.

Santa: I'm going to be hungry on Christmas Eve from delivering toys to everyone, so can you leave some cookies and milk under the tree for me?

T, eyes super wide: Uh-huh. Yeah. I'll do that for you, Santa.

Everyday since he's been reminding me about leaving cookies for Santa, and it's just the sweetest thing.

Just pretend it has a stamp on it!

I had every intention of sending out Christmas cards this year. But then December just kind of happened and it was too late, which makes me sad. So, here it is: what my Christmas card might have looked like had you gotten it all postmarked and everything. It probably would have looked absolutely nothing like that to tell you the truth, but I kind of fell in love with decorating that cute little evergreen and it was all over from there. Now that I think about it, that tree might just take all the attention away from our family picture...but heck, I can share my space with a tree.

Anyway, were I to have sent you a Christmas card this year, it probably would have included these highlights:

Everett

"Had a Ball" at his 2nd birthday party surrounded by family

Moved out of California and had his first airplane trip in one swoop

Went on a special father/son trip to Chicago to meet his great-grandmother, Mum

In his words: "Wook Mom, I big. I grow uped!" That pretty much sums up his year!

But one more cute quotable:

Me: You want to be a doctor when you grow up?

Ev: Yeah. I be a big doctah. I be Doctah Seuss.

Talmage

Spent the 1st half of the year obsessed with CalTrain, and the 2nd half obsessed with the Subway

Mourned hard core about leaving Stanford, but quickly fell in love with Central Park

Taught himself to read, loves to do math, and asks more questions than any kid you know!

Gave his first talk in primary (written himself, completely memorized and delivered beautifully!) and afterwards we had this conversation:

Me: How did it feel to give your first talk?

T: I cried.

Me: Why did you cry?

T: Because I'm just so proud of myself!

We are obviously proud of him as well!

Heather

Ran her first, and possibly last, 1/2 marathon!

Found a fabulous apartment in the perfect part of town and successfully set up shop for our family's newest New York adventure

Fulfilled a lifelong dream by seeing the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in person (with front row seats thanks to the best husband ever!)
Fills her time teaching T's co-op preschool, adding celebrities to her "ha! I've seen 'em!" list, doing just about every free and child-friendly thing in the city, writing to stay sane and being truly, truly grateful for her blessings

 

James

Participated in the first ever Religious Liberty Clinic at Stanford (and was quoted in the NYT to boot)

Graduated from Stanford Law School

Passed the California State Bar--woot! woot!

Began his clerkship at the Court of International Trade in NYC and is loving federal employee hours!

'Twas the Sunday before Christmas

'Twas the Sunday before Christmas and I made them wear sweaters,

they also wore ties so they could look even better.

I wore a sparkly belt and James wore a suit,

and we took a picture by our lobby Christmas tree to boot.

It was a beautiful day with California weather,

which made me less bitter that our family's not together.

But from us in New York, to all you on the west,

Merry Sunday before Christmas and we think you're the best!!!



 

T in his bow tie--we've gotten mad mileage out of J and M's wedding tie!

Ever almost never let's me down in the smile department. I kind of want to eat this kid! 

Be still my Sunday before Christmas heart! There is only one word to describe how I feel when I look at this picture of my two beautiful boys: blessed.

The weather outside is certainly frightful.

My boys were itching to play in the snow after {read: during} our first blizzard of the season. They kind of thought it was the best day of their lives; or shall we say, best 10 minutes of their lives before they were frozen solid and hysterical. What can I say, we have California blood! But those 10 minutes, gosh they were fun. And so was the hot chocolate that followed.

 

Ever wanted to be cuddled and followed me around looking ridiculously adorable:

Talmage meant war! He is somehow already a professional snow-baller: