Happy Thanksgiving from 9B

After a COLD morning at the parade we came home to a warm a cozy apartment full of yummy foods and our friends the Schilbs!

Chris cutting the turkey!

  Julian loves being held and unless he is really hungry or tired isn't too clingy yet. He loved Brian and Katie all night.

                            A little Thanksgiving wrestling, and we didn't get any pictures, but we did some serious lap running around the apartment.

 We made these turkeys last year, and they wouldn't stay up. I think I made the same mistake this year, but they were cute! And yummy.

                                                       Our thankful tree all filled up!

                                     The whole crew, and half our huge messy apartment...

                                            So thankful for these friends.

A phone shot by Andrew

I am very thankful for my sweet turkeys through the years. And Chris. And our families and extended families and friends. If you are reading this, we love you!

Macy's Day Parade

After we heard they were going to fly the balloons, we headed over to Central Park West for the parade.  The first spot we stopped in was a rock, right near the start of the parade. We couldn't see much besides the balloons, so we left that spot. 

 Our second spot had much better views of the balloons and floats, but we still couldn't see the bands. The kids had been hanging in there pretty well, until we decided to look for another spot.  It was COLD.

We made it about an hour and half and they really hung in there. Andrew was complaining of frostbite and Ryan was hungry because he is bottomless. It was my first Macy's Day Parade though and I thought it was really fun!

                                                The parade wore these two out

Macy's Balloon Blow up

Wednesday had been a really crappy day weather wise.  Chris was going to Madison Square Garden to watch some college basketball games. I REALLY wanted to take the boys to see the balloons being blown up again this year, AND we had the aMAZINg special pass.  The line for the balloons is usually beyond bonkers. This pass is an invitation that the people who live against the museum get to hand out, and they hand one to our neighbors. No line, no rush, no crowd. IT IS AMAZING.  Last year was really mild, but this year was cold, drizzly, and just nasty. It took us a bit to get over there, but then we got to check out one side before we cabbed it home. 

                                                               How to Train Your Dragon

                                                 SpongeBob

I don't think we will ever get this pass again, so I am so glad we got to take advantage. I don't think it phased the boys how cool it was, but I got away with a lot less whining!

Andrew's first race

Andrew ran his first 5k! He is in an after school program called Little Runners, and they had their first annual 5k fundraiser for the Children's Tumor Foundation.  Andrew raised $130 towards the cause and did a great job.  The race was held on the Hudson River walkway and we had to be there at 8 am.  As soon as we go there he started telling me he was nervous.  About 3 minutes into the race I told him I thought he should slow down a bit so he didn't get tired, because he was basically sprinting. He started huffing and puffing and asked for some water. I replied, I guess you haven't had much to drink this morning have you. He said, I haven't had ANY. Complete mommy FAIL.  We had been in such a hurry to get him out and something to eat, we somehow forgot something to drink. We finally made it to a water station they had set up around the mile marker and he felt a bit better, but we had done a lot of walking.  I started getting him to run by playing chase, or running for 60 secs, walking for 60 seconds-whatever to get him to finish.  When he runs he is actually very fast and I felt like I got sprints in for the day! About 1/2 mile from the finish, a running stranger said to him as she passed, I saw a bunch of kids waaaay behind you, you better keep it up so you can beat them.  It was just what he needed to finish. Well, that and some uncle  Mike  songs....

 He finished in 40:05 too, which was amazing for the amount of walking we did!!

Great things the kids say

Andrew sayings:
Conversation about babies
Me: No buddy, I think we are all finished having babies in this family. Remember, mommy was pregnant with Julian and it is a lot on a mommy to be pregnant, etc.. Daddies can't carry babies-
A: Daddy seahorses have babies!!

At dinner
A: Can we watch football
Chris: I don't think there is any on tonight bud, its Tuesday
A: It doesn't have to be live

Talking about voting because they use his school
Me: Well, we didn't vote because we aren't registered in NY to vote
A: We don't live here though mommy, we just rent

Andrew and a friend were discussing God. The friend said he didn't believe in God. Andrew got very emotional, was yelling, YES YOU DO and then said, Mom, I am gonna hit him.

A: I want to take this stack of books to my bed so I can read them to my kids like you read to us

Every week Andrew's class has a secret reader and they give clues for the week. He came home and said, "Mom, was dad's favorite book growing up Ballet Shoes?"

Ryan sayings:
Me: I think we may be out of milk
R: No, we have that peanut milk in the fridge (almond milk, yes, peanut….)

Everytime Chris comes home Andrew yells, D-A-D-D-Y. Ryan yells D-O-I-

We were discussing senses one day and for some reason I was using the pronoun Who instead of What
Me: Who sees
R: My eyes
Me: Who hears
R: ears
Me: who smells
R: Julian
hahahah

Ryan has also been telling me for about 6 weeks that he doesn't have any room in his heart for me. He loves me, just no room in his heart. He picked up and handed me a leaf the other day and said, here Mom, this is for you, since I don't have any room in my heart. Oh buddy...

Odds and Ends

Look at this cute behind!! My friend Katie gave this to us and it is so stinking cute. The front says NYFD

                                                  Playdates and playgrounds

                                        Ryan and his friend Henry walking to school

Whiney Wednesday. Or Tuesday, or Thursday for that matter.  Ryan being his usual self coming home from school. I am pretty sure his current personality is my payback.

                                                  Blowing bubbles for the baby

 Sweet baby while sleeping. He has been so fussy because of those ears.

Happy pants because he just finished this 60 piece puzzle alone. He is a crazy puzzle doer.

Doing the rings finally! And then skipping rings!

Another tooth popped through-can you see the drool and red cheeks

                                           Beautiful views of the foliage on the way to Connecticut.

                              Lunch and playtime with our friends the Schilbs and Savicki's

Julian tries the stairs. He had tried them a few weeks ago at Grammy and Papa's so now he was ready!

Yum. This was after we came out from breakfast

                           In case you were wondering, this is how I get groceries into the apartment twice per month. We park our car in the garage that is underneath our building, I unload from the car and try to fit them in our cart, carry two or three on my shoulders, squeeze in between all the cars, open two doors, squeeze by the laundry carts and then get into the elevator. Mind you, this picture of this particular day was waaaay to wide and wouldn't fit anywhere. It is a process. My favorite has been when I took all three boys and Ryan fell asleep on the way home. I wore Julian up, carried Ryan on my shoulder, and had Andrew push while I pulled the cart. Oh the joys!

                                                    Shirtless shows during dinner

                                         He made it all by himself