Jacob's Baptism

Jacob turned 8 in October, which means he is old enough to be baptized.

My Dad had been super busy at work and we wanted him to be able to be here, so we decided it would be best to baptize Jacob after the election. My parents and Liesa were planning on coming to spend Thanksgiving with us and that seemed like it would be a perfect time.

I can't believe my sweet baby boy is already so big (I'm sure he'll pass his Dad and I up by the time he is 12.) He is such a good boy. He really does want to please us and choose what is right - it's just sometimes hard to remember :) We are really proud of the decision he made to be baptized and hope it is one in a lifetime of good choices.

It was wonderful to have Liesa's family there and Mum & Dad and several friends and for him to feel so loved and special. We were delighted they were able to attend.

I have decided that the person who is organizing the baptism and worrying about filling the font and having a pianist and making copies of programs and music and getting food and house guests to the church should NOT be the one taking pictures. I only grabbed a couple before we went into the church and then didn't pick my camera up again until we were gathering things to take home. Two of his friends from church were baptized the same day and it would have been great to get a picture of them all together - or a picture of my whole family, or him with the visiting family.

Can't believe I didn't think of it. I think in the future I will offer to take pictures (or take over other duties so someone else can) at every friends baptism!

At least I got a couple of my boys outside all in white and ready. They look so handsome.

 

We love you our baptized boy!

Train Show

We love to go to the Train Show at the New York Botanic Gardens. They hold it each year from just before Thanksgiving until right after New Years. Usually we go in December but since my parents were going to be here we thought we'd go just before Thanksgiving. I figured the day after would be a mob scene. It was a brilliant plan - we picked the kids up from school when their half day ended and headed right there. The place was deserted and we had ample time to walk around slowly enjoying the display sans crowds.

When Jacob was a toddler I'd go multiple times while the girls were in school, mid-week and it would be quiet and warm inside and he could wander all over the place and look at the trains. The sunny and warm Conservatory reminded me of those sweet days with him.

They call it the "train show" and the trains are cool - and what Jacob always wants to see - but the real attraction is the building replica's made from twigs, leaves, seeds and other things from the garden. I think a lot of what makes this so great for me is that so many of these buildings have played a part in our lives here and our memories ... the games we've been to at Yankee Stadium, the days we've spent exploring the Museum of Natural History, books we've read in the NY Public library, the times we've played in Central Park and passed the fountain - or the night Rick proposed to me there... I love this city and I love to see it represented so beautifully. They are simply amazing and my pictures won't do them justice but here they are anyway.

I think this was new this year, I don't remember it from last time. The replica of Macy's is just as impressive as all the other buildings.

Amazing.

 

Statue of Liberty.

Jacob has loved the train show ever since he was tiny and we had to carry him.
He really loves going each year. Such a cute boy!

Under the Brooklyn Bridge.

I'm not sure why the Little Red Lighthouse is placed here in the display - they have a George Washington Bridge and it would be much more accurate to put it under there.

The Little Red Lighthouse.
This story has been a favorite of ours since our Brooklyn days when Emily was a toddler.

New York Public Library.

One of my favorite NY buildings, we have a large print of it in our family room.

 Love, love the details and that every one is a replica of an actual building.

Emily & Grandpa.

 The planetarium at the Museum of Natural History - one of our favorite places to visit.

Yankee Stadium

 

One of the Brooklyn Bridge towers with it's beautiful Gothic arches.

Bethesda Fountain

St. Patrick's Cathedral.

 

The Guggenheim

 

Empire State Building, Chrysler Building (love), Rockefeller Center (complete with angels lining the walkway and a "big" tree), Radio City Music Hall, the Met Life Building and the New York Stock Exchange.

 

and with the people I love.

The Haupt Conservatory - where the Train Show is held.

Don't those flowers look fake?

The plants they have in there & growing all around the displays are so beautiful and vibrant.

I just realized I don't have any pictures of the trains. Ha. I guess you can tell what I am really there for. My kids do like watching them though & following them along the tracks as they go in and out of buildings, over the bridges and though the tunnels. They have two small one's that look like ladybugs that are their favorites and they always search for those first.

 After we see the trains the kids always want to head over to the Gingerbread Adventures. They plant wheat and grind spices and learn about which plants "become" gingerbread.

And there are lots of cool rocks to climb on and mazes to run through in the Children's Garden on the way over there.

And to wrap it all up they "decorate" a gingersnap.

We love this holiday tradition of ours and loved sharing it with Grandma & Grandpa.

Fall Crayon Making

We've made heart shaped crayons for Valentine's Day before and this time we thought we'd try our hand at some fall one's.

First we collected a bunch of crayons in the colors we wanted to use. Most of these are actually from a new box because I still don't keep broken crayons around the house ...

Then peeled off the papers.

 The kids did some but Dad was WAY faster with a knife.

I always love how the discarded papers look - like a bunch of colorful reptiles shed their skins.

We divide them by color as we sort them.

Breaking them into smaller pieces works well for the melting too.

 I think I say "Don't sit on the counter" at least 600 times a day ... but when I see them happily working together on a project, I turn a blind eye.

 

Then we filled the mold with the crayons.

And put them into the oven at 300F degrees for 20 minutes or so.

While they waited for the crayons I had them sort through their Halloween candy. They take out anything that they don't like (surprisingly quite a lot of things) and anything I won't let them have - the super sticky, chewy stuff that will stick in their teeth. That usually reduces the candy load by at least half :)

 

Once the crayons were done we let them cool.

And packaged them up to give away to friends. Which I forgot to take a picture of!

But the finished product looked a lot like these - from Kiwi crate where I saw the idea. I liked the more yellow leaves the best but my kids were really in love with the more brown and red one's. All of them were beautiful.

Seems Appropriate for My Mood Toady

"Men may fail in this country, earthquakes may come, seas may heave beyond their bounds, there may be great drought, disaster, and hardship, but this nation, founded on principles laid down by men whom God raised up, will never fail . . . Yes, I repeat, men may fail, but this nation won't fail. I have faith in America; you and I must have faith in America, if we understand the teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are living in a day when we must pay heed to these challenges.

I plead with you NOT to preach pessimism. Preach that this is the greatest country in all the world. This is the favored land. This is the land of our forefathers. It is the nation that will stand despite whatever trials or crises it may yet have to pass through."

~ Harold B. Lee

Though I am thinking of getting this case for my iPhone.