The Day After...

Here is a photo of our car the day after the storm. Don't know if we'll be using it anytime soon! 

Click here for more pictures of Lexi and the snow. She refused to wear her mittens as they impeded her hand mobility quite a bit.

This is Lexi standing (yes, standing) in the snow in the front yard of our church building. Matt helped shovel the sidewalks around the building after church. He would clear off one area, go to work on another, and by the time he was finished with the second the first area had to be cleared again! Lexi was in heaven. 

Blizzard of 2006

This storm has been one for the record books... here is a shot of West 160th Street before the plows reached it. What a day! We received over 27" of snow in about a 12 hour period. There were a few hours when the snow was falling at the rate of 2-3" per hour! Church was not cancelled, so we trudged through the snow to the subway station only to join other members of our ward who had been waiting on the platform for 30 minutes! Even the subways are not unstoppable by bad weather. Surprisingly, attendance at church was quite good. 

A submerged fire hydrant.

On the Eve of the Blizzard

We went downtown this evening just to hang out for a little while. Matt got this cool shot of the Empire State Building... it's cloudy and blurry due to all the snow flying in the air. There is a big storm a-brewin'. 

Meeting Clifford the Big Red Dog

Since February 14th is Clifford's birthday, the Big Red Dog had a party at the Scholastic Store in SoHo. The whole way down, Lexi kept saying "Clifford, Clifford", but when we actually got there and were able to *meet* him, she got quite nervous as didn't want to touch him or even get too close... maybe it is a little disturbing to see a big red dog interacting with you like a human being! 

Lexi's Room

Yesterday I did some interior decorating... to the best of my ability. This is Lexi's room and as you may (or may not) be able to tell, I added some butterflies to the walls. I received a stamp set for Christmas (from friends Scott & Lisa) which made this project rather quick and easy. There are 2 butterflies that are a rather dark purple, but the rest are pastel colors that I tried to coordinate with her duvet cover. 

An up-close shot of some of the butterflies... I just love the way it turned out.

Cheerio Book

Aunt Laura gave Lexi this book a while ago, but now she is finally able to enjoy it. She turns the page and shouts out what the cheerios are going to be... like on this page she shouts "Fish! Bubbles!" and proceeds to put the cheerios on the page (it places they don't belong, as well.) 

Bath Time

Lexi loves to immerse herself in the water... it sure makes washing her hair a lot easier now that she likes to get all the way under. 

Matt's Birthday (#29)

Lexi got so excited when it was time for Matt to blow out the candles that she decided to do it herself... before we even finished singing to him! What a good helper. Sure makes dad feel a little less old- didn't have to blow out that inferno on his cake all by himself. 

Cathedral Kids

I signed Lexi up for a class that meets every Thursday in February at the Cathedral of St. John near Columbia University. This week was our first class where we learned all about the different shapes you can find in the Cathedral's architecture. We built with blocks and made our own little church out of cardboard shapes.

After our little Cathedral Kids class, we wandered over to a sculpture/garden area next to the church to eat some lunch. While we were there, a white peacock jumped over the hedge and walked right up to us. He was so close I began to get a little nervous, so I broke up some crackers and threw them a few feet away from us. He went right after them and when he was finished, we heard a rattling noise and looked over and saw that he had opened up his feathers!! He did several turns for us and pranced back in forth in front of us for a good 7 minutes! Unbelieveable!! At one point he was so close that his feathers brushed against Lexi's shoe and my knees. When she tells the story she says "Peacock. Shoe. Mommy's knee." It was one of the most amazing sights I have ever seen. I love this photo because you can see the peacock in all its glory with some typical Manhattan buildings in the background. Click here for more peacock pictures.

Jury Duty

Today Lexi and I had to report for Jury Duty. Well, okay, really I was the one who had to report, but I had to take Lexi along since I don't have other options for childcare. One of the court officers at the front door told me to report upstairs and talk to someone there about the fact that I couldn't serve since I am a full-time caregiver. When I arrived in the rather large jury room (with, literally, a hundred other people there), I got quite the welcome. I'm being sarcastic. No sooner had I sat down than the man in charge looked right at me and said, "Why is there a child in the jury room?" I said, "Because they told me to talk to someone up here about it." He said, "No they didn't." I was a bit taken aback by that response since I was, indeed, told that I had to talk to someone up there about Lexi. I said, "What?" and he said again, "No one told you that." I was quite embarrassed as he was treating me like a child and that I didn't know what I was talking about or what I had been told. I said, "Well where am I supposed to go then?" He told me to go to a completely different building down the road and looked away as if he owned the world. I refused to leave without getting the last word in since I am NOT an idiot. Although I don't really remember exactly what I said, I tried to make it clear that I was told to bring Lexi up here and that I didn't appreciate him thinking he knew what I was told since he wasn't there with me.

We went over to the other building (the courthouse used in Law & Order) and filled out some paperwork excusing me for the next couple of years. I guess they'll send another summons in a few years.

We had to take a picture to remember the day. Here is Lexi with the Courthouse behind her. 

Shistas!

We have had the sister missionaries over to our apartment several times in the past few weeks. Lexi totally adores them and loves the fun accessories they bring with them... scarves and nametags! Here she is with Sister Beames and Sister Drannan(or, in Lexi language, the shistas). 

Owie!

We live on a hill and Lexi loves to dart out of the door of our building and run down the hill- the hill helps make for some really fast running! The other day as we approached the door from the top of the hill, she decided to dart off once again, ignoring my shouts to Stop! Unfortunately, she had a little spill which put some nice *road rash* just under her little nose. Now that it is scabbing over, she is tempted to pick at it. To minimize the temptation, we put some neosporin and a band-aid on while she sleeps creating an oh-so-lovely Sesame Street mustache. 

Friends!

Today Stewart & Carolyn Forbes (friends from Albany) called to see if we could meet for lunch. They just happened to be in town on Carolyn's business trip (she works for some hot shot prosecutors). Since we were already downtown it was easy to meet up at Whole Foods and have some laughs together (Matt couldn't make it since he was working... to provide for that lunch- thanks, Matt!) Lexi warmed up to Stew quite quickly! Ahhh, she just keeps wrapping those men around her little finger.

FAO Schwartz

While Liz was here visiting this week we took a little trip down to FAO Schwartz to play with the toys. This was also Lexi's first time playing on the big piano that was showcased in the movie Big starring Tom Hanks.

Here are Liz & Lexi playing with the trains.