Publishing Party

Every so often, the kids in Lexi's class invite their parents/family/friends to come to the classroom for a "publishing party".  The kids each get a turn to read aloud one of their writing works.   Here's Lexi reading her piece!

Big Bad Winter

This has been quite a winter.  I actually don't mind it much at all.  I don't mind the snow (although it does get dirty and gross really quickly on the sidewalks and roads), and the cold isn't too bad either.  We were out of town for Christmas and so we missed the first huge storm (of over 2 feet of snow).  But we were here for all the other storms.  Here are a few photos from a storm in January:

That's Lexi standing next to a fire hydrant.

And here are some park benches.  I think we got almost 16 inches during this particular storm. 

Max Brenner's Genius

After Lexi's performance we headed downtown to spend some Christmas gift money.  Matt's oldest brother had sent us some money with specific instructions to use it on some ice cream or family treat, so we opted to try out Max Brenner's restaurant.  If you don't know, Max Brenner has made a name for himself as a talented chocolatier.  His restaurant near Union Square also has nourishing food, so we got a couple of dishes to share also.  The whole place is amazing with huge pipes of chocolate running through the dining room.








The girls got chicken fingers to share and then Alexis chose a cookies-n-cream milkshake while Ella opted for just a scoop of vanilla ice cream.




Matt and I shared a Spanish-inspired pasta dish and then I chose a vanilla ice cream bar that came with pure melted chocolate, crunchy wafer balls and candied hazelnut crunchy bits for dipping.  Matt went with a churros dish that came with muddled raspberries and 2 different chocolate dips. 



Very very very delicious, and typically out of our budget, so this was an extra special treat!  Thank you to big brother & sister-in-law Lewis & Kathy!  Only wish you could have been with us to have the decadent experience yourselves.  (We were happy to have Aunt Allie with us!)

The Mitten

Alexis was able to participate in a drama class with her church friends.  One of the women at church volunteered to teach it and did a remarkable job.  The kids loved going to class every week and at the end of it all they performed a play based on the Russian Folktale known to many as "The Mitten".  Alexis was cast as a chatty rabbit.  She did a great job memorizing her lines and performing.  It was quite the show!



The Full Cast (this was their second performance and she decided not to wear the rabbit ears for some reason- she's 4th in from the right)

Reading Together

Recently the girls asked to be excused from dinner before Matt and I had finished, so we stayed at the table while they ran off.  A few minutes later I looked over at the couch and this is what I saw:

It completely warmed my heart!

Neon Trees on Jimmy Fallon

If you frequent our blog, you may already know that we are avid fans of a fairly new-to-the-national-music-scene band called Neon Trees.  We have been friends with the bass player, Branden, and his wife for 10 years or so.  They were some of our first friends when we were newlyweds.  Emilie even co-hosted a baby shower for me when I was expecting Alexis.  Anyway, they come to NYC frequently to perform, and Matt was able to hang out with the band backstage at the Jimmy Fallon Show recently and the next night we enjoyed their show at Webster Hall.  He had a lot of fun that afternoon.  I'll defer to Matt for more details....

This weekend Branden again allowed the Cope's to enter the realm of the super-cool.  It was a lot of fun to step behind the Wizard's curtain for a couple of hours and see the back stage goings on at the Fallon show.  It was fun seeing Donald Trump from down the hall, seeing people in costume, going to hair and makeup, etc.  More than anything it was just interesting how much the backstage just looked like any other office building (just more celebrities and clothes on racks).  As can be seen the pictures aren't great.  I didn't even use the flash because I just wanted to stay off the radar (this is their job after all and I know I hate being bothered at work).  Branden as always was very gracious and hung out as much as he could.  It was interesting to meet the management and financial team and get a chance talk to the other band members (apologies again for all my questions about your guitar gear and thank you all for being so gracious as always).  We were all backstage until NT played, when we got to go stand behind he audience and hear the performance.  They sounded great.  After the show we were able to run into Jimmy Fallon.  He was super nice and gracious.  At the time Fallon was on the cover of Rolling Stone with the subtitle: "Can anyone really be this nice?"  Yes, apparently they can.  Despite this I was too chicken to get a picture.  Sorry blog readers

Branden also invited us to see their show at Webster Hall.  The first time we saw them play was in the basement of Webster Hall (better known as The Studio).  This time they were playing for a sold out crowd of 1,400+ record execs, press, management, friends, etc).  B-dog hooked us up and we were able to go into the VIP section.  The show was great.  They sounded better then I had ever heard them.  Even the VIP's were standing during the show.  I personally stood on a chair and hung onto a pole for an hour just to get a good view from the balcony section.  I loved it. 

On a more personal note, I was asked by one of the finance team what I thought of all of this since I knew Branden before he hit MTV.  I basically said that I was happy for them and proud of them (I say them because Emilie and the family are equally as important) but it doesn't change how I feel about them.  If B-Dog and the family had a couple hours at the airport to hang out I would be there.  All access passes are awesome but having ten minutes just to talk with Branden is way better.  They were awesome before, they are just publicly awesome now.  Thanks again Branden.  Here's to your continued success.  We love you.

Here they are performing their latest release: 1983 (Branden's the one on the right with the sunglasses)

Snow in the Park

It seems this year we've had more snow that has stayed around and allowed us a chance to play in the park than recent years.  I don't really know, since I don't keep records, but we have had many days out at the playground, sometimes being the only (crazy?) ones there.  Here is a snowman Ella and I made one day not too long ago.  She could stay out in the snow for hours if I let her.  But this mommy doesn't have all the snow gear to stay out that long.  Next year I'm getting some ski/snow pants for myself!

Along that line, I'm also waiting for my winter boots to arrive.  I ordered them from JC Penney and they were sent UPS, which is my preferred shipping method as they will deliver right to my door and I'm friendly with our UPS guy.  However, apparently JC Penney instructed UPS to hand off the package to the Post Office for final delivery.  Can you explain that one to me?  So of course I missed the delivery, and they only attempt one time, so now I have to schlep out in the 6-degree weather to the post office where I will then wait another 30 minutes (at least) to have someone take my package slip and take another 7 minutes locating it on their overstuffed shelves.  I'm so annoyed.  Since when do 2 delivery carriers take charge of the same package?  So weird.  But I'll do it since I need those boots!

Another Birthday

Our first little one is no longer so little.  We celebrated her 7th birthday at the beginning January.  We don't have friend parties every year, but this year was a year to have one, so she chose to have a "pajama party" with several friends from school and church.  That's basically a sleep-over party without the sleep-over part.  We invited 10 girls, and all but one actually came.  It was a bit chaotic in our small space, but the girls seemed to have lots of fun, which is what's important!  Everyone wore their pajamas (including me).  The girls made their own little pizzas, then decorated pillow cases and watched a movie (Thumbelina, Lexi's current favorite in our home movie library).  After that we had the cake and ice cream and presents.  We were planning to paint fingernails, but I was feeling a little overwhelmed after the pillow decorating (which turned out to be a bigger project than I anticipated), so we skipped that.  Most of the girls were quite reluctant to leave, to I count that as a success.

The following day we had the family over to celebrate both Lexi & Uncle Chris' birthday- they are just 2 days apart.  Lexi chose to have spaghetti, garlic bread and salad for dinner.  And then we had another cake, lighting the candles twice (7 for Lexi and 26 for Chris) and sang twice.

Lexi's 7 year old birthday interview:

Favorites:

color: white
food: pizza
vegetable: zucchini 

drink: milk
school subject:  science 
thing to do: color
movie: Pocahontas
game: duck, duck, goose
book: Holly, the Christmas Fairy
restaurant: Five Guys
holiday:Christmas
animal: lioness

Tell me about your friends:
Um, Jeanelle's my favorite.  She loves penguins.  We don't really have that much time to play.  We always sit together.

What do you like to do when you’re not in school?
Watch TV, color, play with my zhu zhu pet.

What do you want to be when you grow up?
A paleontologist

If you could go anywhere on vacation, where would you go?
Florida- because I really want to see Laura and we never get to see her in Florida.  And I want to go there.

What do you love about each person in our family?
Dad…he's friendly
Mom…she loves me
Ella.... that she lets me play with her

She is doing well in school and is one of the top readers in her first grade class.  She loves to go to school and is very proud of her 100% attendance achievements.  In fact, when I give her the option to stay home (for example, on a snowy day when school is still in session) she'd rather go to school so she can keep up her perfect attendance.  She is a wonderful helper in so many ways- preparing dinner, setting the table, taking down garbage/recycling, taking care of Ella, cleaning the bathroom (yes! she does that!).  She is obedient and follows rules.  She is a good little teacher, as well- teaching our family during Family Home Evening and teaching Ella all sorts of things and setting a good example.  She has boundless energy and loves to laugh and of course has the most amazing blue eyes.  She wants to be baptized next year when she turns eight, but is a little nervous about it.  Her fears have progressed from the fear of having to go under water to the fear of being watched by lots of people.  We love our sweet Alexis!