Chinese New Year

We took our first trip down to Chinatown to enjoy Chinese New Year with some other KPMG friends. We went to a restaurant called Jing Fong and enjoyed some dim sum.  We really had no idea what we were actually eating, but it was all pretty yummy and Ryan even ate some. Andrew only ate the outside of the egg custard tart, of course. After we ate some dragons came into the restaurant and dance around and are blessing the building. We also saw them outside going into all the different stores. You can put money in their mouth and rub their faces for good luck. I really had fun and can't wait to go next year. Olivia-you may have to join us this weekend so you can help us know what we are eating:)

Ryan was really unsure of these dragons. It was actually quite funny.

   This is baby Peter. Ryan loves him and is probably waiting until he is a little bigger so he can start to beat up on him.

 I LOVED this sign. It says, "New Yorkers aren't better than anyone else. We just dress like it." These Mini storage signs are always great, and I hadn't seen this one yet.

 A lot of us caught the same train to come home. Here is the Mattson family minus Daddy Travis!

Mall Trip

We made it to our first mall in Paramus, NJ today with Cady, Adela and Peter. Cady wanted to get some pictures of Peter made at Picture People so I took Adela and we rode the carousel and browsed some stores. The kids loved it and it was so nice to get out (and see a mall!) Adela did not want to get off her pink horse because someone else might steal it and Ryan didn't want to get off period. Nor did he want me to let go of his hand while he was riding! Such cuties! And shopping with Adela was so different. She picked out lots of sparkly, sequency things! Much different from our trucks and dinosaur shirts. 

Random Thursday

We started out the day like this-as superheroes,

Got to visit with Mrs. Oakley, my high school pre-calc teacher and Cheerleading coach (Andrew took this for us!)

 And ended it  like this-skyping with Uncle Mike in London. We had a great day!

Annual Valentines Flowers

The boys got to do the conversation heart vase all by themselves this year. It was successful until Ryan figured out he could eat them. Also notice how CRAZY Ryan's hair is getting. I absolutely love it and need to get some good pictures of it before it gets long and the curls fall out.

The Naked Chef

I have been meaning to post about this, but somehow keep forgetting. In the building across from us and down a floor or two, there lives a little (or well, well endowed) woman who likes to cook and clean in the,well, ahem, nude. Sometimes she may don her underpants, but most of what we can see is just the top half anyway. Cooks, washes dishes, rolls dough. You name it, we have probably seen it.  Oh apartment living, some days you make me laugh:)

Kitchen Fire?!

In case you are curious as to what happens if a plastic coated knife meets the open gas flame of a stove burner, this is it. 

We don't exactly know how it happened, but this morning we were in the middle of cooking eggs and oats and I looked over and noticed the flame coming way out. It was running down the length of the knife. Luckily nothing was ruined besides the knife. Crazy!

BEAUTIFUL DAY!!

We had a beautiful 50 degree day today. Right after school we headed to the playground to run around. EVERYone had the exact same thought. We also got to cross the pedestrian bridge over the FDR that has been closed since we moved here. The boys thought it was super cool.  I, on the otherhand, saw some great steps I'll be running soon!

I love these moments. All these pictures were taken with my phone, so they aren't the best. This last picture was how they ran home most of the way. Chris had a great statement and said what we can't see is Ryan is probably sticking his tongue out (because that is way to greet people) and Andrew is talking about poop. Unfortunately, probably so true.

"NO, NO"

We got lots of "NO!!"
The boys were so excited when we woke up and had snow outside. We knew we would have to venture out but it was COLD!! They spent the morning admiring it out the window

We finally made it out for a short playtime before Andrew threw snow into Ryan's eyes.  Ryan loved the "NO" and "ICE" and could have played all day once his face was cleaned off. I would be perfectly content if that was all the snow we got this year.  I doubt that will be the case, but I'll put it out there. With those few inches the sidewalks were nasty for the next few days. Luckily it warmed up quick and most of it is gone!

Kindergarten

I registered this little book worm for kindergarten today. I CAN NOT believe it. I don't know what I will do when he actually starts :( Where have the years gone?!?

A new baby!

 We got to visit our new friend Quinn today and mommy Mary. The boys loved him, especially Andrew.  He told me that night that his favorite part of the day was getting to give Quinn his bottle. He was a cutie pie and looks just like his daddy Dennis (or Dentist as Andrew calls him).

What could be better

than milk and Angry Birds first thing in the morning