Amex Holiday Party

So American Express hosted a fabulous holiday party for the family.......we were very impressed. They really went all-out.....pictures with Santa, multiple characters dressed up, and walking around meeting the kids (Garfield, Frosty, Dragon Tales, Elmo)......Miriam was saying "Elmo" almost the entire time. Which is funny seeing how she has hardly ever seen Sesame Street. They had a large blow-up slide, movies for the kids, Build a Bear, Lunch provided, Face Painting, etc. It really was quite the Shindig and our girls had a great time. It was very nice to show the family where I work.....funny that I spend so many hours at this place with these people, and yet as I talk about it April has no point of reference to picture what I experience. It'll be nice now that she can at least picture the people I'm telling her about, and the desk where I sit.

Unfortunately we got out of there a little late and the girls had to experience what a crowded subway really feels like. Thank goodness there were only a couple stops for us. We made it home with a couple of very tired girls who had a great day.

More New York Fun

Running Errands (literally)
Tuesday I dropped Bekah off at joyschool and need to run a few errands. I knew I had more to do than time so I literally had to run. Here is how it went...Miriam and I stopped by the variety store looking for draino..ended up with draino, muffin tins, and two christmas gifts. Next we walked to the toy store and got Bekah a scooter. I then walked to the Tea Lounge and left Miriam with a friend for music time. I then ran to the library to return books, home to hide the scooter, to the doctor to get an insurance form rewritten, because Bekah drew all over the first one, and then I ran back to the tea lounge to pick up Miriam, but my friend had already taken her back to joyschool, so I ran back to the church. Wowee, errands have never been so physically tasking. I even ran to the point that I took off my marshmellow coat and kept running and I even got the "you're hot" yell from the local contruction workers and questions from the one legged homeless guy about why I wasn't wearing a coat. All in a day of the life of a mom in Brooklyn. You gotta laugh a little on days like those.

Aggressive Squirrels
I took the girls to the park on Monday because it actually wasn't numbingly cold, just cold. We had been already eaten the peanut butter sandwhiches I packed, but the girls of course did not eat their crusts. I left the crust and pretzels in a plastic bag in my bag. As I watched the girls play I turned to see a squirrel eating the sandwhich crusts. The second squirrel was on top of my stroller going through my bag. I ran over to shewed the squirrel away. They had ripped open my bag and taken all the food. It was funny. I threw the bag in the trash and the squirrel jumped in and took the rest of the food. I took my bag with me to gaurd it and they kept running back to my stroller so I had to take the stroller and gaurd both. They really were crazy squirrels and super aggressive.

Enjoying our Christmas Tree

Every year Glenn and I have a debate as to whether we should get a real tree or a fake tree. We had a real tree our first year of marriage and the rest we borrowed a fake tree from family. I have been thinking through the idea since last summer that this year I get to have my real tree again since there is no family to borrow from and no room to store a fake tree. Glenn did try to argue the fake tree idea, but it wasn't even logical this year. Wahooo!!! We have a beautiful smelling front room and a lovely fat tree. I know that one day we will have a fake one, but not today.
The day after Thanksgiving Glenn walked down to our corner hardware store and bought our little Christmas tree. He hoisted it on his back and carried it back to our apartment and up the stairs. It has been fun walking around the neighborhood and watching families walk around with their Dad carrying their christmas tree home.
While Glenn was gone the girls and I cleared a spot and got the tree stand ready. As soon as he walked in the door Bekah began jumping up and down yelling, "I want to put the star on top, it goes on top, where is the star, I am going to find it....". She didn't stop jumping and talking for that matter for 2 hours or more. She was so happy. Miriam was in awe. As soon as we got it standing she looked straight up to the top and said.."Woa!!!" and than ran up to it and gave it a big hug. The light in their eyes we so fun to watch.
Bekah helped us decorate it and then Miriam took of all the decorations on the lower half off and Bekah put them all back for us (in the same spot). Our Christmas tree looks like little hands have been all over it and I am glad. I want them to enjoy christmas and not have us getting upset with them over the ornaments. We put all the ones that we did not care about on the bottom.
I am loving walking into our front room and smelling the beautiful pine. It reminds me of christmases growing up and brings such warmth. I love this season.

Rebekah's 4th Birthday

Happy birthday to my dear Rebekah. It seems like I just had her. Time really does fly. I can still remember that first night with her in the hospital, so tiny and perfect. And now she is 4. She has changed more than ever this year. Not only has she grown leaps and bounds in only the last few months, but she is so much fun now. I love having the great conversations with her now. Walking around Carroll Gardens gives us a lot of talking time. She asks so many questions and is so willing to learn. I love it. I should be recording more of her observations, but she is so innocent. She is growing more beautiful each day. Her long brown hair and her big brown eyes. She is tall and so sweet. I love her little tricks and how she always has GREAT ideas that sound a lot like mine but with a much better ending for her. She has matured so much this year and I am loving every moment of it.


We headed out for pizza for Bekah's birthday and stopped by a discount store in our neighborhood. Rebekah loves to ride the horse there. You can tell that she is enjoying her birthday ride.

Glenn met up with us after work and we ate at the local pizza place. Every time we walk by Bekah asks me if we can go in and eat pizza. It really does smell so good. I never really do it, because I never want to spend the money, so it was a funny birthday outing.

Both my girls seem to have a crazed love for chocolate (I wonder why?). All she wanted was a chocolate cake and it was supposed to be brown and not pink, because chocolate is brown. Those were my instructions. So we made it together and she was in heaven, pouring in extra chocolate chips and snacking on the way. It was fun.

Here is the cake. It was delicious and we ate it for days (mainly Glenn, but Bekah and I too). Miriam would pull the stool out of the bathroom into the kitchen and would put it against the counter and try her best to reach for the "ocolate" (yes my 18month old knows how to say chocolate).