First Leg of the Trip - New York!

Out of 154 pictures so far...here are a few of my favorites. Guess where we are!!

Spiderman inside the Sony Wonder Technology Lab....so fun and FREE!! one of the exhibits actually got chris to dance! I am sure he complied because it was for 'science'

The window displays were amazing.....

During the set up for the tree light up at Rockefeller Centre...

2 of my boys....

The wonderful company we kept! (Jon behind the camera)--but Marsha, Rosa and little Mackenzie...

NBC!! Radio City Music Hall!

This picture just made me laugh.....

My favorite museum ever! Museum of Natural History...i love that i got to bring all my boys there! we saw like, an eighth of it!!

HUGE whale...i liked it cause it looked like it was kissing isaac.....

King of the subway......

Little prince of the subway.....

re-building at ground zero.....

Finally-some fruit!! Fitting to have apples in the big Apple!!

guess where?

Battery Park.....

One on one......

Empire State Building...taken just outside of Macy's where we tried to get the boys picture taken with Santa...until Isaac started freaking out about meeting him and Elliot had to pee....

Putting them to bed tonight in Virginia.....yup--its a closet.

My favorite pose of his!

I often wondered......

what would i be like in my 30's? Would i be mature and responsible? Would i be just like i am now, with just some more wrinkles and hopefully more money in the bank? Who knew i would still be a total dork, driving around with my chosen awesome girlfriend who would be a dork with me to brave the "twilight" saga on a Saturday afternoon a week before i turned 34: The 'before' shot....trust me, we were still giddy and smiling AFTER the movie too...especially because we weren't standing in that huge lineup in the rain for a showing 2.5 hours later! I just walked in, bought a ticket at 12:45 for the 1 pm showing--i still wonder why people stand in line to buy tickets when there is that wonderful computer that will spit a ticket out at you with no line ups!!

Cristin likes Moose....

Sharon likes "muddy sneakers"....the favorite "share'sies" food when i go to Victoria with friends.....we actually had this for dinner...why? because we are adults, almost 34 to be exact and we can do what we want!

MEC and LULU, here we come!! "Wha? there is a Santa Clause Parade? In one hour? Ack--that means there will be kids around!! Lets get out of here!!!" (yup..moms night out=no kids! ours or anyone elses!!)

Aveda eyebrow wax: Shaggy BEFORE shot:

Aveda brow AFTER wax: (hard to tell isn't it?--darn Clinique lighting)

My FRIEND!!! It was a great day!!!

Life Lately.....

The Loft.....so many angles, nooks and crannies..... Yup...there are 2 sides to this loft...a big side and a wee little side....

My 'look' lately....

I wonder if it will ever be done?

No Title....

I love this time of day. When my children sleep in the other room, the house is clean, the work is done for the day and i can sit.

When i am sitting here thinking about what the day has brought, today this is what i am thinking: it was another great day with my family and my friends.

This morning Elliot and i joined isaacs class for an assembly for a 1 woman circus performance. This is mainly noteworthybecause i am the only parent (so far this year) that has been really involved in his classroom. i love the teacher....i think she is fabulous and i want to help her have an amazing year with my son. So every tuesday or thursday, elliot and i join her in class and help where i can-today it was cutting shapes for houses for 52 students, last week it was helping a little girl with her counting who needed extra help counting to 5. I love to watch isaac in this setting...how lucky am i to be able to bring elliot with me to watch isaac in school? Not many parents can say they have this opportunity and i am thrilled...don't think i don't know how exceptional it is that i can be this involved.

After the circus, we left isaac to finish the morning in class while Elliot and i met Cristin for our chai latte at Starbucks (me: with whip, her: no whip--crazy, i know--whip is the best part!!!). Cristin will always have a special place in my heart until the day i die. It started when we got pregnant 3 weeks apart with isaac and olivia....but the fact that the girl is always up for anything and would do anything for you if you were in need, keeps her pretty high up in my books. And during a stage in life where i feel like friends are all so busy with their own lives....its nice to have one close by who still wants to hang out with you after all these years...and is willing to give you a picture of yourself from the back taken in the summer because she thinks you look fabulous from behind..now THAT is a friend! ;-) As a side note, she and i currently get our butts handed to us at Jazzercise twice a week so that 'behind' shot will get better and better!

After we got home at lunch, Christie (also a friend i enjoy, but a friend who is very busy with her life and we don't talk or see eachother very often), she called and we had the longest talk in ages without interuption. It was nice to catch up and gave me some renewed hope that we can reconnect soon.

This afternoon was the big part of the day though....the really special part. As you may note, i am trying to take mental snapshots of great 'moments' in my life, to be present and enjoy the moment. We are renovating the flip, its almost done, but its taking alot of time working on details. This afternoon, the boys and i went to the house and this is what happened all afternoon: i painted and made progress, isaac and elliot played make believe and watched movies. I would hear them making scenerios up for eachother, like 'ok elliot, say 'abra cadabra and turn me into something'...and elliot would comply and isaac would become a bunny, or a dog....or whatever elliot wanted him to be at that moment--it was amazing!! Through the process of working on this house and being a little 'unavailable' to the boys while i work, i have seen their relationship change and develop into something quite beautiful. They have learned to work alot of their differences out, play together, if someone hits the other, by accident, or whatever, i overhear them apologizing to the other before even coming to me.....this afternoon, at one point, isaac tells elliot 'lets play a game....lets see who can be quiet for longest...' (seriously that is not from me!!!)........

i love those boys.....i love that this life just is getting better and better. They make me laugh all day....what a difference a few months make!! Because it wasn't that long ago that elliot was still taking huge dumps in his gitch and throwing tantrums every 5 minutes!!

Tonight i put isaac to sleep in my bed so elliot could fall asleep quicker....isaac wanted me to come lie down with him for a few minutes. So, i didn't say anything and just lay down....he puts his sweet little hand on my hand and kisses my arm. Seriously...how did we get so lucky?? are these kids really ours??? OURS??

We have all been working so hard these days but its been fun having a project that we are all contributing to...the boys have been so patient playing at the flip while we work, chris puts in crazy animal-like hours on that house, i have been single parenting it and keeping everything else running...but its been ok because we all see an end in sight....the holiday. This evening, chris and i were painting upstairs and could hear the boys playing downstairs and getting so excited about the snow coming down outside and i thought 'this moment is so cool'.

The final push!!

This project has been 'on the books' for almost 9 months now! yup...its been a real 'labor' so to speak!! And now, you can view the final push!! This is what we started with: This is what is it now:

Remember when people would use 'wormwood' to cover their walls?? Me neither....

This picture just missed the wall 'o mirrors that was on the left hand side of the wall....sorry--we ripped them out as fast as we could....fasted than the camera could take the shot!!

This is what we are working with now:

Here is the amazing man behind the transformation.....seriously working like an animal on this project...sometimes pulling 15 hours days on his days off...but normally just adding on another 5-7 hours in the evening after his day job....aren't you just tired hearing that?? i am.....

The kitchen before:

Still before:

The final push....trim painted today:

The bedrooms before...yes, i know...we contemplated keeping the carpet too....

The 2nd bedroom before:

Only one aftershot since both rooms look like this:

It was a long day....please note Elliot sleeping in the corner there....

We can feel it!! We can smell it!! ALMOST THERE!!!!

But when the delivery day will be...is anybody's guess.

The Business of Halloween......

Little Ewok leading the way...... Ewok would continually check out what they put in his pumpkin before saying 'thank-you'...guess he needed to know if they deserved a 'thank you' or not!

Looking like a total dork in this shot, but i was a pilot.....

The 'loot'

Very proud!

Time for sparklers in the backyard....

NOW the fun of halloween can BEGIN!! (....According to Elliot anyways! ..He stripped off as quick as he could to get down to business!!!)

Happy boys....it was a great night!

BumbleBee and the Ewok.....

Just when you think you have one of your kids 'pegged'...he surprises you!! You think you have him pegged because any time you try to get him to wear some new shoes or a new shirt, or anything fun, its met with resistance...but apparently not when it has to do with being a little Ewok that gets candy......My friend Aja made this really cool Ewok costume for her little girl...unfortunatly, the little girl would scream bloody murder if it came near her......quite devastated but wanting SOMEONE to be able to get use out of it....she handed it over to Elliot...who LOVED it!!

And here is Bumblebee......you know, transformers.....