Ella Pulls to Standing

She's working hard these days- busy crawling around the apartment and exploring her home. On Sunday, she pulled herself to standing for the first time and today I captured her on video. She smiles a bit in this video, too, giving you a good glimpse of the cute dimple in her left cheek.

Easter Festivities

To celebrate Easter this year, we attended a community Egg Hunt on 135th & St. Nicholas- in the shadow of City College (where Matt got his Masters). It was a beautiful day- warmer weather and lots of sunshine. They had a clown who painted faces, a cupcake & cookie decorating station, the egg hunt itself, and an easter bonnet making table. Lexi had a great time. It was a nicely organized community activity.












Later that afternoon, Grandma Susan came over and brought all the things you need to dye easter eggs. She and Lexi had a good time "killing" the easter eggs (in Lexi's words). Lex even thought it would be a good idea to dip her hand in the mug, resulting in a neon pink skin color. We scrubbed it off as best we could, but there were still faint remains of it on Sunday. Good thing it matched her dress.



Speaking of which, I have no photos of the girls from Easter Day. Or any of us, for that matter. But for the first time, Alexis willingly went up and sang with the rest of the primary- and did a great job! Grandma Susan cooked dinner for us and we had about 10 egg hunts in our little apartment as Lexi wanted to hide and seek over and over and over again.

All week we had been practicing this hymn as I suspected we would be singing it in sacrament meeting. Lexi loves to sing, but she really doesn't know any of the hymns, so in an effort to help her participate more in sacrament song singing, we've started learning a hymn each week. Imagine my dismay when they announced that we would indeed be singing that hymn, but in SPANISH! Oh well. Lex still sang the Alleluias.

Daddy's Day Off

One thing we love about Daddy's job is all the holidays he gets off. He can't choose when to take vacations in his line of work- since we get 2 months in the summer, and then several weeks throughout the school year (Christmas, Winter Break, Spring Break, not to mention all the Jewish holidays etc etc). Good Friday is one of his days off. So we headed over to the Bronx Zoo. We are "members" and can get in anytime we want and have access to all the special exhibits there, like the Gorilla Forest, the Children's Zoo, the Butterfly Garden and we can also ride on the Bengali Express, the tram, the sky ride and the Bug Carousel at no extra charge. So imagine how bummed we were that half of these attractions were opening THE NEXT DAY. Seems they had been closed for the winter season. Bummer. We did get to see a tiger feeding, though. Lexi was pretty scared at first. I don't know if she thought the tiger was going to come out and stroll among the zoo guests, but once she realized the tiger would remain in her cage, she was enthralled. The tiger shares her name: Alexis.

Let me just say here, too, how Alexis does not stop. She's like the energizer bunny. She keeps going and going and going. We took the train to the zoo, which I have never done before. We accidentally got off 2 stops later than we needed to and as a result ended up walking at least a half mile just to get to the entrance. Then we walked through the whole zoo a couple of times backtracking and using the same paths as we discovered exhibits were closed, and being diverted around construction. Then we spent time in the Children's Zoo where she energetically participated in every exhibit she could- her favorite being able to run up to the top of a tree house to then slide down a slide (inside the tree) over and over and over. And over. And over again. Then back across the whole zoo. Skipping and jumping. And running. The Whole. Way. Phew! We were exhausted just watching her.

It was a bit cold and windy, but we had a fun day.

Arctic Birds


Butterfly in the Butterfly Garden (a greenhouse where you are surrounded by real, live butterflies)


On the Bug Carousel:


My two little birdies:


Spread your wings and fly!


Sliding inside the tree:


A Prairie Dog watching me quite closely:


Snacks for Alexis the Tiger:


Have you ever heard a swan trumpet?:

St. Patrick's Day

We had to do something for St. Patrick's Day... seeing as we have Irish blood in our veins and all. We didn't make it down to the big parade on 5th Avenue. I went a few years ago, and remembering how crazy it was, I didn't dare venture there on my own with 2 children, even to see our friend Marcus play the tuba as he marched by. Plus, Lexi had to be back uptown for preschool at 1 o'clock. And no. She cannot miss a day. Because I said so.

So, we settled for making little "shamrock sticks" (don't ask me what these were for- no real purpose at all). We also made a pot of gold and a little shamrock garland. For dinner we had Irish stew with a side of Irish Soda Bread- first time that I have made either one of these recipes and they were very delicious. We also dyed our milk green. Just for kicks and giggles.

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Ella is 9 months

Frances

Our next door neighbor recently passed away. We were pretty friendly with her. Matt changed light bulbs for her on a regular basis. We had her over for dinner on Christmas Eve. She loved our girls. She had been living in this building (in the same apartment) since the early 1960s. She once told us that she paid a whopping $263 in rent a month! For her rather large 3 bedroom abode. She was a hoot and always made us laugh (in a good way!) She was a great neighbor, too, as she never played her music too loudly or complained that our kids were too rowdy.

In cleaning out her apartment, her family gave this doll to Alexis. We talked about naming her Frances (after our neighbor) but I think Lexi has come up with some other name since then. Alexis loves this doll so much. When she first got it, she just stared and stared at it and commented on all its features: "I love her eyes. They're green! I love her hair! It's like Rapunzel's! Her dress is so soft!"

I attended her funeral in the heart of Harlem. Did you know they're not called FUNERALS anymore, but HOMEGOINGS? Lots of Hallelujah!s, Amen!s, and Praise God!s. It would have been interesting to have known Frances in her younger days. Seems she was quite an energetic lady who worked hard, loved a good time and was a generous soul. May she rest in peace.