Pajama Day!

It was a long day and everyone needed a bath.

So it was a perfect time to take pictures in of my 3 monkeys in their

Christmas PJ's

They are so sweet and cute and all the other ways to describe these kids.

Then just like that I was reminded why I never take my own children's pictures. No amount of yelling or bribing would get my little wiggle worms to hold still.


I did manage to catch our Big Sister, Big Brother and Little Brother on film.

I had to catch this shot while I could...it made them hold still and

gave me a little giggle.

Snow Days

After we had so much fun with our last snow storm, the Lord blessed us with another. Claire had a snow day as well as Daddy. I was in HEAVEN! .

This is the view from our family room wall. It has been amazing to see the season change from our kitchen.

This time the whole family was involved in the building of our Snowman. Every since winter hit all Jack has wanted to do was to build his ideal "Frosty". He took his job of guarding the bottom of our snowman very seriously.

Lance was caught in the cross fire's of Daddy's and Dragos (our superintendent) snowball fight. They were ruthless, no one was safe. The people coming out of the building, the people going in the building the snowplow trash trucks...all fair game in their sights. Not even holding a camera was a good enough excuse not to be hit with a huge snowball.



Look at what our little California girl has become...a fair skin NY snow bunny.




Jack still at his post of watching Frosty. The craziest thing happen while Jack was asleep and not at his post. Frosty crossed the road! The next day we went looking for him and thought that he had left and then Lance pointed out that he had indeed, crossed the sidewalk and ended up on the retaining wall. Amazing the things that happen in the Bronx.

Snow!

We kept hearing that this Snow Storm was coming and we waited and waited and then it came. It was beautiful! The biggest snow flakes that I have ever seen drifted pass our 6th floor window. Many of then were as big as cotton balls...amazing! I don't know who had more fun watching it me or the kids.

The next day we ventured out in the snow. We made track in the fresh snow and built a snowman with the neighbors. After several hours my toes were numb and I had to get back indoors. Matt took our picture from our Apartment.

The following day we braved the cold again. One of Jack's favorite things to do was just lay in the snow and watch as the snowflakes fell down on him.

I wondered if he had fallen asleep, no just pondering.

When we woke up we were greeted with this funky snow statue out our window Some crazy neighbors took a break from their studies

to build this HUGE penguin... in the middle of the night.

Claire found chunks of snow and started her own Jewelry store. Lance was her employee and our friend Rose was her customer. She was cracking me up with the descriptions of each "piece". We spent several hours outside. Then Mommy's toes started to freeze off and I knew it was time to come in. The Land-O-Lake hot chocolate and homemade bread hit the spot.

Hyde Park

For Matt's birthday I asked him what he wanted to do. With all of the sights and sounds of NY he wanted to go to Hyde Park, the birth place of FDR. It was a beautiful day to enjoy amazing grounds. The first place we visited was was FDR's home that he was raised in and later raised his family.

The inside of the home was beautiful. I thought that my family home had the walls covered with pictures, this home wins hands down! The family library was my favorite. The room is the size of our entire apartment...OK bigger. Tons of setting areas complete with little kid chairs.

This is the view from the back stairs as it looks over the Hudson River. Ah, the simple life.

Amazing!

We took a walk through the rose garden of Sara D. Roosevelt. This is a 100 year old garden. The roses are fabulous. Every color and type of rose surrounded us. We went from one type to the next reading fun names and taking in their sent.



This is the burial sight of FDR right in his Mother's rose garden. It is such a beautiful serene place, a place of honor.

We all had a great time exploring the grounds. The kids loved running all over the outside of the house.

Each one of us had a grand time, seeing history with our own eyes. It was amazing to walk where greatness walked. This was a great way to celebrate Matt's birthday and see our fabulous new state.

Here is a link of some more pictures of FDR's home
http://wzus1.ask.com/r?t=p&d=us&s=a&c=a&l=dir&o=0&ld=5190&sv=0a5c423c&ip=4579a2ed&id=7EF082F20B49C566BF1A6DAF1D0FEB66&q=Sara+Roosevelt+rose+garden&p=1&qs=2417&ac=107&g=2f57DZngZ9oPbI&en=te&io=0&ep=&eo=&b=a002&bc=&br=&tp=d&ec=1&pt=Historic%20Home%3A%20President%20F.D.%20Roosevelt%2C%20Hyde%20Park%20%7C%20AtticMag&ex=tsrc%3Dtxtx&url=&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.atticmag.com%2F2009%2F09%2Fpres-fd-roosevelt%25E2%2580%2599s-historic-home%2F

Washington Square

The heat in NY is insane! It is not just the heat that gets to you it is the humidity that hits you like a ton of wet soggy bricks. After being here a couple of weeks and touring the city we learned the key...bring your bathing suit EVERYWHERE!

Most of the parks have water fountains that are there to give people a break from the heat. Even the beautiful and famous Washington Square is no exception. On one side of the park people are engaged in a game of chess. While on another side a local band is playing anything from classical, to jazz. Then there is the enormous fountain in which people of all ages run through the fire hose pressure fountains.

Lance found the fountains that shoot out of the side very entertaining. We found it very entertaining that he seems to get not only his brother wet but the people sitting on the side of the fountain enjoying the view.

Jack had to get in on the little squirt action as well.

Postcard worthy!

Claire was much more graceful in her romp through in the water.

Then there was the friendly competition that is always present between Lance and Claire.

With a few hours in the fountain the kids were set to

endure more of our NY heat.

What a life we get to live!