NYBG Train Show

One of our Christmas Traditions is to go to the New York Botanic Gardens to the train show. Of course, Jacob loves the trains - but the trains are not the reason to see it. The reason to go, is the buildings that the trains go around & over & through. All of them are made of plants. I am always amazed to see what they can do with sticks & leaves.

I'll take Jacob and Jane several times, but we all went once as a family.
Here are some of the pictures from that day.

The UN building.

Ellis Island & the Statue of Liberty.

The Little Red Lighthouse.

Brooklyn Bridge.

Manhattan bridge.

Land of my Birth

This is how I know my husband loves me - after seeing me watch the preview for this movie online on a daily basis (and nearly cry every time) for the past 6 months, he took me to see it at midnight for the 1st showing. They showed 1/2 an hour of previews, and the movie was 2 1/2 hours long. The only place that was playing it at midnight was in Manhattan- so it was 3:45am when we got home & into bed. He got up at 5:15am for work!! True love.

I got to sleep in until almost 7am (since I made Rebekah miss seminary.) It was worth every second of the tiredness the next day. This may be my new favorite movie of all time. I'm not a huge movie fan, and I think I've only ever seen one movie more than once in the theater (The Lord of the Rings), but I loved this, and am dying to go see it again.

I laughed, I cried, I yearned for Australia.
It's romantic and epic and the scenery spectacular.

Brendan Walters is amazing. Hugh Jackman plays his part brilliantly - and is as sexy as he's ever been! Nicole is her wonderful talented self. There's one scene with Nullah (the little aboriginal boy) where I think she does the best acting I've ever seen her perform (not that I have any authority as a critic - but it was remarkable.)

Absolutely, positively not to be missed!

Leaves

The leaves are just about finished for the year. I love the trees around our house year round, but I especially love them in September, October & November as they display their spectacular colors.

Working in the garden is one thing I feel like I can really do with my kids and be productive while watching them & having fun at the same time (all other "productivity" happens between 10pm & 2am!)
They love being outside & helping me. I think we learn, bond and have fun all together AND I'm getting work done too - I love the garden. They love to "help" me rake. We rake all the leaves into a pile at the bottom of our slide, then they slide down into them, jump into them, etc.

Jacob loves to use the blower. I think I actually do a more efficient, better job with the rake, but it is useful for getting the leaves that are stuck in the stems of plants & bushes, etc. The trouble is when in the hands of Jacob, there's much more destruction of piles, than building!

In October & November, we rake them into a pile in the street in front of our house and the city comes with a huge vacuum truck to suck them up (that is also way fun for them to watch.). Any leaves we rake in December need to be bagged, so I'm always praying for windy days at the end of November.

The kids also like jumping into the piles we make in front too!

Bye leaves, we'll see you again in Spring.

Ten Together

Ten years ago .....

Now.
We're wrinkled, fatter, there's gray hair and we're way more tired ....

but just look what we've created.

I love you Rick. More than I think you could ever know.

My Favorite Biscuit (Cookie.)

A few people noticed that Jane had Tim Tams when she broke her arm. I bought them that morning at Target. Yes Target. Here in the US.

We were on our way home from swimming last week, and stopped in at Target. I was making Chocolate cheesecake for dinner on Sunday, so I was in the cookie isle looking for chocolate graham crackers and there they were! Tim Tams in original (called chocolate cream here) or caramel.

I was so delighted and instantly bought a pack for me, and one for my Australian neighbor. Then I came home to share them with my family (& have Tim Tam slams!)

Of course, when I got home Jane had broken her arm and we headed to the ER. However, the next day I looked up on line to find out how they had arrived here and also so I could e-mail my sisters down under & tell them it was OK to move back here now! It appears they are here for a limited time only - just until March next year. So this week, I went back to Target and cleaned them out. Slightly embarrassing at the checkout - but I just didn't make eye contact with the cashier as I paid. They are now stashed in my storage room to be carefully rationed out. There is a number on the back to call & give your opinion. I am hoping they are wildly successful & they keep making them. Do you think if I called everyday they'd notice it was the same person??

So hurry over to Target and get yourself a pack. Or twenty.

Bek's Play

Rebekah has the lead in the school comedy. She loves being in the Players Club, and has worked very hard over the past few months.

Here's a recent promo that was sent around -

Something funny is going on at the High School auditorium as the Players Club prepare to for one of their most popular annual events, the fall comedy. This year, the Players are presenting Carlo's Goldoni's, "The Servant of Two Masters" AND an 8 minute version of Hamlet entitled "Green Eggs and Hamlet." The cast isn't letting any info out, but we do know they have been rehearsing stage combat with swords and juggling meatballs.

The show is Friday, November 21st & Saturday, November 22nd at 7:30 pm. HOWEVER- this year's comedy is being presented in the form of Italian Street theater and will actually be in progress from the moment the doors open at 7pm, with citizens of Venice prepare for the arrival of the Players. Tickets are $6.00 for students and $8.00 for adults. Seating is general admission.

The show is tonight & tomorrow night. If you live around here - don't miss it.

BREAK A LEG BEK!

Jane's Big Bandaid

I was going to spend some time posting about our tenth wedding anniversary - but instead we were busy doing this.

While I was at swimming on Saturday morning with Emily, Jane jumped from the train table to the couch and broke her arm. It's a distance of about 2 feet - she must have just landed in a funny way on it. I'm always telling them not to jump like that - but because I thought they'd break the table, not a bone!

When I got home Rick said she'd been crying since she did it - about 1/2 an hour earlier. If we moved it or touched it at all, she screamed in pain. Suspecting it was broken, I immobilized it on a small Rubbermaid container lid with a loose ace wrap, gave her some ibuprofen and we took her to the ER to get it x-rayed.

They were very good, and we didn't wait at all - but don't these pictures break your heart!
They splinted it there (with a 1/2 cast thing), gave us pain meds and referred us to a pediatric Ortho guy for Monday (today.) "Don't let her bump it, keep her quiet" they said. Yeah - sure, no problem!

Stickers for her sling & a lollipop made her feel much better,
(the Tylenol with Codeine might have helped too.)

Today she went to the Pediatric Orthopedist and had a real cast put on, purple, her most-very-favorite-color in all the world. She calls it her "big bandaid."

And I bought her a new purple "my little pony" & fed her Tim Tams - so she was feeling pretty good by this afternoon.The Ortho doc said its not bad, and he thinks she'll probably only have to have the cast on a couple of weeks - phew!

Now we just have to locate some sort sleeved shirts. She doesn't fit her one's from the summer, and her long sleeved one's don't fit over the cast .....

(More than) One Bean

This is what my windowsill has looked like for the last few weeks, as the last of our summer veggies ripened.

Just before Halloween, I made the call that everything that was going to make it had. We picked the last few things, and I tilled the ground ready for winter.

Remember this post about our beans?
Well, the experiment went pretty well. Even on our massive trip this summer they fared very well by themselves, and even dropped pods on the ground, which then sprouted and grew more!

The kids loved picking them and ate most of them raw. It took a few times picking them too soon for us to realize that even when the pods are plump, they're not ready. We learned to wait until they were brownish & starting to shrivel - then the beans were perfect.

We got black beans.

And pinto and kidney (these kidney's were still a little too soon.)

I left several of the black beans out on a plate to air dry.
I was surprised by how much they shrink as they dry.

I put them in a small zip-lock bag & sucked out the air. I'm going to save them until next spring and plant a whole new garden of beans. We really like black beans and eat them a lot, so I'll probably mostly grow the black beans.
So really, they will all have come from one bean - I love it!

Brava Strega Nona!

There are a couple of really great toy stores near where Emily plays soccer. My kids are always delighted when we can go browse in one after Emily's game.

Last Saturday, we came across this book. Of course, I was instantly drawn to it - not only because I recognized Strega Nona - but because all of Tomie dePaola's illustrations are so recognizable. (I think I recently read somewhere that he has authored or illustrated almost 200 books.)

Then I opened it up and literally caught my breath. Rick was standing beside me. In an almost reverent whisper I said to him "Oh, I want this." It was then that I turned back to the front cover & saw that Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart's names were there too.
I was giddy - a trifecta of masters!

Rick looked at the price, then flipped the corners of the pages - "There are only six pages!" he exclaimed (he's not as "into" children's books as I am.)

Oh, but JUST LOOK at those pages -

These pictures don't do it justice! You should see the one where Strega Nona tells the story of Big Anthony & the magic pasta pot (which happens to be one of our favorite Strega Nona stories.)

The story is beautifully simple - Strega Nona shares her words of wisdom for leading a magical life. Each of the six pages is a tribute to an important value.

We have several really wonderful pop-up books (My collection started in 1991 with "Don't Go Out Tonight" by Babbette Cole, which is still one of my favorites.) The pop-up books in our house, are the only one's off limits to the kids. They are on the top shelf. They belong to me, and are read only by me to them. It may seem severe - but I think it actually makes reading them more of a treat. Like they are being rewarded with something when we take one down, and they get to pull the tabs, make things move & open windows.

This book is officially on my wish list.

Trick or Treat!

We love Halloween. Rick's Mom was really into it, and Rick grew up always celebrating Halloween in a big way. Growing up in England and Australia I never celebrated it, but quickly got on board when I moved here. We really deck out our house, and have a lot of fun.

Our Halloween theme this year was a nod to our trip round the country and was "The Wild West." We had Sacajawea (or generic Native American girl), A cowboy and a horse.

Does Jane look sad? It's because she was. I was helping at Emily's school party (I'm her class Mom this year) and Jane wouldn't take a nap for the babysitter. Probably because she's the worst sleeper in the history of the world, and will only fall asleep for naps in the car or if I lie down with her ... but that's a story for another day.

Anyway, I put her down when I got home, but she woke up late, and cranky. It didn't take her too long though, to realize that we were about to have a whole lot of fun!

Emily inspired this years theme, because she loves the Native American culture. She insisted that we figure out a way to dye her hair black, so we used this spray on stuff. It made it black, but also kind of crispy - so the braids / plaits stuck straight out from her head. She was thrilled that some of her friends didn't recognize her with black hair. We bought the moccasins & necklace in South Dakota, and the bracelets in Utah. She's been planning this costume since summer!

Jacob the cowboy. Happy to be a cowboy ONLY because he had a pop-gun, and could
"chase bad guys." We got his cool Sheriff's badge in New Mexico this summer too. It's really thick, real metal and heavy. So cool. We got his hat in Texas, and the pop-gun in Utah.

Jane is super in love with horses - and has watched the movie "Spirit" 20 million times. She was so excited to be a horse for Halloween, and told everyone about it. Until it came time to wear the hood on the costume. She had it on for about 6 seconds - just long enough to take this picture and then refused to have it up any other time. Oh well, she knew she was a horse, even if she just looked like some random animal to everyone else.

Our neighborhood does a Halloween parade each year. It's pretty great. The police block off the roads, and we all go around our block, then end at the houses behind us, where there's food for the kids (everyone contributes by taking down food earlier in the day.) I love stuff like that - it gives me a sense of community - and it's nice that the kids get to see all their friend's costumes & get something other than candy in their little tummies before we begin.

All the way around Jacob was asking about trick-or-treating, and I kept telling him "After the parade." We ate our food at the little gathering at the end of the parade & walked up the street home.

Rick had arrived home from work (he usually takes Halloween off but y'know, the economy & everything ...) He was setting up our fog machine & strobe lights & hanging our motion sensor ghost in the tree, etc. The kids played on the front lawn while he finished & I got a few last minute things done & gave the treat bags to Rebekah to hand out. (The beauty of having a kid too old for trick-or-treating is that she can hand out candy & Rick and I can both go with the littler one's.)

About 15 minutes had passed. "OK guys," I called " Time to go."

"Where's Jacob?"

I couldn't see Jacob anywhere. Kids were already coming to our door - and there were many other people in the street. We had done the end of the parade with our neighbors, and some other friends from the ward. They were out the front of their house next door. I called over to ask if Jacob was with them - but he wasn't.

A rising fear started to engulf me, but I stayed calm and asked Rick to run up the street and look for him.

I started to trick-or-treat with the girls, trying not to panic.
"He's bound to have him by now." I kept thinking, and snapped a few pics of the girls.

Then I saw Rick walking back to us. Alone. "Did you find him?" Rick answered no. If you know Rick at all, you know he is a big tease. I thought he had probably left him at our friends house on the next block, and we were going to trick-or-treat up to them or something. "Really, where is he." He told me he didn't have him. OK. Panic. Panic Now!

I think every person at all times is a kidnapper anyway, so I was freaked out. I grabbed Rick's cell phone & called 911. Right as I was explaining that I had lost my 4 year old son, Rebekah called on the other line. He was home.

Rick raced back to get him, and then they joined us. Apparently, we were just taking to long for my independent boy. As soon as we had come home from the parade, he had grabbed his little pumpkin bucket, and headed right off to trick or treat. When I thought he was playing on the lawn with the other kids, he had taken himself Trick-or-Treating! He did the block down from our house, while Rick was looking on the block up. He came home, because he had finished the block - and had a little bucket full of candy to show for it. He was actually quite pleased with himself! I am shocked that there wasn't a house where someone opened the door to a 4 year old out by themselves and questioned where his parents were! I think he probably was on the tail of a bigger group, and the houses they went to thought he was with them?? Then why didn't the group notice???

It's kind of funny, now that it's over and he is safe - but thinking about how it could have ended makes me sick to my stomach.
He didn't seem at all phased my my obvious concern "Jacob, I DIDN'T KNOW WHERE YOU WERE. I called the POLICE!"

We emphasized sticking together & the need for parents, and headed off for fun. This year we got over 120 trick-or-treaters at our house. I know because I had 120 things to give out & ran out at the end. I started giving out things my kids had collected & wouldn't eat - they're picky about candy too.
I love that we run into so many friends we know from church or school, and how happy it makes my kids to see them. Our friends one block up had set up hot chocolate, apple cider & treats on their front lawn & we all hung out there a while. Check out how cute Jane's friend Grace is!

We were finished in about an hour (they get tired quickly) and headed home. Jacob had just as much fun handing treats out to people who came to our house, and manning the fog machine. Jane just got down to eating her candy!
It started to get late, and cold - so I bathed them (it took several shampoo's for Emily's hair to come clean) and read them our last Halloween story & popped them into bed. This was our new book for our collection this year and I got it only because the title made me think of Rick's Mom, who really was the Queen of Halloween. Also, I love Mary Engelbrett. It's a pretty cute book & comes with a little paper doll.
Check out Jacob's mouth. He is wearing vampire teeth he got at a friends party. He'd worn them for 1 week straight. It was all I could do to get him to take them out each night. He'd even become adept at talking with them in, so that I could understand him! Funny boy.
I gave my little cowboy a few extra hugs and kisses as he drifted off to sleep. So happy he was safe and home in his cozy bed. Reminding myself that I can NEVER, EVER take my eyes off him, even for a second - even when I think he's in our own yard.
That boy will be the death of me yet!