A beautiful day for a juice box

I love this picture! Here are my thoughts on the kids:

Laney: Cheese
Jack: is that a plane? I wonder how I can eat it?
Carly: Cheese
Ella: Look what I just pulled out of my mouth....a penny!

Now you can see Ella showing off the penny that was found in her mouth.
This one is slightly better but trying to get them
all to look happy at once is impossible!

Those photographers at Target, JcPenny,
Walmart, etc aren't paid enough :)

Drinking a juice box makes me smile too, girls.

Laney having fun

Laney and I just having some fun while Ella was at preschool. She is such a sweet little girl--oh, and I don't think I am biased :)

This was dinner a few weeks ago. I "think" somebody liked it :)

Don't you just love her hair once the rubber bands are taken out?

Ella's costume party at school

Ella has been so excited to wear her "raffe" costume to school and today was her lucky day. She put it on as soon as she finished breakfast and then off to preschool we went.

Is that not the cutest giraffe?

She wanted to show off the giraffe's head :)

I just loved this shot.
Who doesn't love seeing a giraffe looking out the window?

I asked Ella if she liked her Halloween Party.

This is the face she gave me. I would say that was a yes!

Ella let Laney wear her funny glasses she got from the party.
The two have become quite good at giving each other "2 mintues" with their toys.
Of course they do want the toys back after 2 minutes!

Gabby and Abby time!

This morning the girls each had a friend over. Ella's beff fwend, Abby, and Laney's friend, Gabby, came over to play. Gabby and Abby, isn't that cute?

Whatcha drawing, Abby?

The girls were loving the drawing time

Then we moved on to Play doh

Laney loves play doh, and this time she didn't try and eat it!

Gabby is such a happy girl

Emily getting the complete doctor check up from the Gabby/Abby Team!
Gabby listening to her back and Abby taking her blood pressure.

Gabby was such a big help cleaning up!

Thanks for the play date this morning girls! We had a great time! And it led to good afternoon naps, which is always a nice bonus :)

The Big Apple

What a trip!

Last week Jason, myself and two other couples (Scott and Christie Hostetler and Tim and Heidi Stamm) went to New York City. It was such a wonderful time. The first time I went to NYC I was overwhelmed and sick (10 weeks pregnant) so I didn't get to enjoy it too much. But this time around it was a very different story. We did all the touristy things (a Broadway show, taking a 3 hour cruise around the island, Little Italy, China Town, Greenwich Village, Central Park, street fair, lots of shopping) and had a great visit from my sister, Cindy, who is about an hour or so away. We went to the Today Show (we were on TV for a few seconds but just a profile shot), enjoyed our first Korean meal (which was awesome--yeah dumplings!!), went to see a movie (Fireproof--it was so good--cried some good tears), did a ton of walking, took the subway, etc. I am tired just typing that!

There are lots and lots of pictures in this post; consider yourself warned. But if there aren't enough below for you, here is our family online album to check our more:

The view from our hotel room. Amazing, right? We were at the Hilton Times Square. Scott and Christie were across the hall and had a view of the Empire State Building.

Today Show here we come!

Heidi, Tim and I getting ready for the Today Show.

Jason and Tim in front of the famous Dean and Deluca.

Hey camera, I am ready now! I guess the camera man didn't hear my calls.

An inside shot of the studio

Look how close we got to Ann Curry.
She is so beautiful!

We got there at 7:30 AM and had a good spot but
quickly realized we needed a sign to draw some attention.

Although we were only on TV for about 3 seconds we loved the experience.
We got to see Ann, Al, and Meredith but too bad Matt was on vacation!

I was so glad that Cindy and Mike drove into the city for a day visit!
We went to Central Park, China Town, Little Italy, and Greenwich Village.

Central Park

The Willetts and Hostetlers

One of the many street performers at Central Park.

Cindy and me in Central Park

fountain at Central Park

Cindy and Mike

Enjoying some lunch at The Boathouse in Central Park

Look at that little man pushing a rather large rock....go J go!

Scott and Christie

We were ready for shopping!

Jason was loving this idea of parking the cars.
We could use one in our garage.
Not for our cars but for the girls' stuff!
Just put it on a lift and carry it all away.

On Friday we took a 3 hour cruise around the island.
Here is our Lady Liberty.

Postcard material, right?

Taking a breather and sitting inside. My feet were killing from all the walking we did. Note to self, although gym shoes are not the most fashionable, wear them when in NYC!

The sign said "Sarah Palin, Live Here, See Wall Street."
This was on the Jersey side of the Hudson.

Jason and the mini statue of liberty.

It was a beautiful, yet windy day.
The lady behind us had hair that kept whipping us in the face!

Scot and Jason enjoying a beer

The amazingly large ferris wheel inside Toys 'R Us.
What parent doesn't go there for their children?
Or to ride the farris wheel?

Jason and Cindy on Jason's first subway ride.

It was pretty uneventful as far as subway rides go, but it was still momentous.

Getting ready for the musical Hairspray. This show was a perfect Broadway musical to see. The energy in the theater was exhilarating! The mom (who is played by a male) was played by Norm from Cheers (hysterical to see a large man dressed as a woman) and one of the main male characters was played by Tevin Cambell (a singer from the early 90s if any of you remember him). Highly recommend this show!

The national debt clock.

This picture was about 10 seconds later. Notice the change of over $150,000!
I am sure my shopping didn't help this.

Although we missed the girls, it was a wonderful 4 day trip. Thanks to my parents and Jason's parents who watched the girls. I know it was tiring for the four of you, but the girls had a blast, and we really appreciate it! We certainly needed a break :) Thanks, Cindy for meeting us--it was wonderful to see you!