Lexi turns 4!

Alexis is our New Year's Baby. She was born at 10:50 PM on January 1, 2004 in Orem, Utah. We love her! She is a little firecracker and definitely knows what she wants. She is a strong personality- a future leader! We celebrated her happy day with Grandma Susan and Grandma Cope was able to sing alone via cell phone...

Alexis' 4th Birthday

New Year's Eve at Bronx Zoo

So, New Year's Eve with kids is a different experience for me. We used to go see a movie. We used to get together with friends. We used to stay up until midnight. We used to fondue (okay, we still try to do that, but we didn't do it this year). This year, we went to the Bronx Zoo to enjoy the Holiday Lights and see some animals. We rode the bug carousel. We listened to a pretty good story teller. We saw the tigers & sea lions & monkeys. We fed the goats and sheep. We made 2008 glasses for Lexi to wear. And then we joined in the countdown to the new year at 8:00 PM. That's right. 8:00 eastern standard time. Which made it the new year where? Somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic, I guess. On a cruise ship. And then we went home. And went to bed. By 10:00 PM. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

New Year's Eve at Bronx Zoo

Ella Rocks

For a little while, Ella was happy to sit on the couch and rock back, basically crashing into the cushions. Then she would sit up again and rock back into the cushions all over again. I got a few *rocks* on video.

The Nightgown

I made Matt a cover for his electric guitar's amplifier for Christmas. But in order to do this, I needed to buy some fabric. Some of our friends were out of town for Christmas, so we had access to their car. I took a little trip up to the Palisades Mall to JoAnn's Fabrics. Much to my dismay, it seems that JoAnn's location is closing. So everything was on sale. While browsing the aisles, Lexi caught sight of some Hello Kitty fabric that she just fell in love with. "Mom, can we please get this?" I decided I'd also buy a pattern for a nightgown and try my hand at clothing. So we got a pattern. We got the lime green fabric. And this is my model wearing what I made:



Again, this was my first time sewing clothing. My first time dealing with sleeves. My first time *gathering*. This fabric was not the best to experiment with because it is kind of delicate and unravels a whole lot. But overall, I am quite pleased with the result. My mother walked me through the steps, which was extremely helpful and comforting. She made some fabulous clothes for my sisters and me when we were kids.

Christmas

We enjoyed a nice Christmas this year. We had Christmas Eve dinner at our home with Grandma Susan and Aunt Allie. Our next-door neighbor is an older African-American lady who lives alone, so we invited her over for dinner as well, which certainly added some spice to the conversation (not that my family is boring, though!).

On Christmas Day, we woke up to an abundance of gifts (thank you to all the generous family out there!) and then we headed over to Grandma Susan's where we were joined by Great-Grandma & Great-Grandpa, Uncle Bruce, Uncle Doug & Auntie Barbara, cousin Liz and cousin Pete & wife Becca. As usual, it was a rip-roaring time- food, presents, BINGO and so forth.

So much fun to be with everyone again.

Christmas 2007

Ice Skating

We have had another fun evening at Pepsi's expense. On Saturday, they rented out a rink at Rye Playland for many employees & kids to go ice skating! Pizza and drinks were aplenty. And Lexi did really well this year. We started out on the kids rink, and then headed up to the party rink. They had a plethora of safety cones out on the ice, and one of the ladies in charge told Lexi to hold on to the cone while she skated. Turned out to be a fabulous idea, because by the end of the event, she was well on her way to skating by herself. She had such a good time- One time she fell really hard and was visibly shaken up, but when I tried to get her to come off the ice to sit and rest for a little while, she had a little meltdown because she didn't want to leave the rink.

Ice Skating

7 years

December 16, 2000- Los Angeles, California

An engagement photo... have we aged well?

MEGA POST

I just realized I have let a month slip by without posting a single word out there in cyberspace. So, here it is. An update on some of the highlights of the past month:

Aunt Allie trying on Ella's Halloween costume:

Along with Grandma Susan, we attended an activity at the Hawes' home in Connecticuit. The special speaker was Glenn Beck who basically shared his conversion story. We also ran into some old friends from our Orlando days- the Merritts. So much fun to catch up with them! The church makes this a wonderfully small world.

Here is a clip of Glenn- sort of the same kind of things he shared the night we heard him speak:


Just a good smiley shot of Ella taken sometime in November:

A HUGE thanks to a friend who gave Lexi & me the last-minute opportunity to attend the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular. This was the 75th year of the show and it was fantastic. Lexi could hardly stay in her seat! We had seats right smack in the middle of the orchestra which made for great views of everything. The ushers gave us programs (which included a pair of 3D glasses) and little light sticks with stars on top. During the show we saw a 3-D movie of Santa travelling from the North Pole to New York City. Other features that had Lexi on the edge of her seat: snow in the theater, streamers shot out over the audience, fireworks (!), real live animals walking across the stage, and at the end, everyone was asked to light up their little star sticks and the theater was aglow with little lights. So fun! This also happened to be a preview night and NBC was filming the show for a TV special (which I believe already aired) as well as a DVD. Before the show started, a crew member came out on stage and directed us to yell things like "Merry Christmas" and also to applaud and cheer quite loudly. It was fun. And, of course, I teared up!



Ella on December 5, 2007- 6 months old!


And finally, this short clip of the cat at my aunt&uncle's home checking out Ella. Seems the kitty has never seen a teeny tiny person (smaller than she is!) before. She just sat and stared at Ella, who was kicking her little legs, for quite some time.

Stark Contrast

Alexis needed a couple more pairs of pants, so last night we went down to Old Navy on 125th Street and then decided to head over to one of our favorite pizza places on 110th. After we ordered, Matt pulled out the debit card to pay only to be told they no longer take credit cards- cash only. We were surprised since every time we've gone, we have paid with a card. We decided to eat first and then Matt was going to go the several blocks to our bank to get some cash. After we had all settled into our booth, a woman came over and gave us $20 insisting on paying for our dinner. She said, "It's so cold outside. Just take it. No problem!" We were stunned. We tried to refuse since we have no way of knowing who she is and paying her back. But she was so so so insistent. Maybe she took pity on us since we had 2 adorable kids and seemed to be in an inconvenient situation? Amazing moments like this (and this one with the cab driver) are just a few of the reasons we love New Yorkers and the city we all live in together. They definitely outweigh the very bad experiences.

Hanging Out at the Park

Ella's not really a big swinger yet- just kind of hangs out in the seat and sways a few inches back and forth. Lexi, on the other hand, needs a big *underdog* push to start things off...

Primary Program

Last Sunday we had the Ward Primary Program. Lexi is a Sunbeam this year, so she had one line to say in the microphone (I can't see Jesus but I know He is there because the Spirit helps me to feel good and happy). She basically refused to practice her line at home. One evening we were attempting to get her to practice and I prompted her by saying, "I can't see Jesus....." to which she replied, "Yes I can! He's right there!" and pointed to a picture we have hanging over her desk in the computer room.
The primary had several practices and for the most part she was familiar with her line. The next hurdle was getting her to say the words in the microphone. What little kid doesn't love to hear their voice magnified a bazillion times?! Not Lexi. At least, not in front of a couple hundred people. I desperately wanted to hear her sweet little voice during the program and was considering some sort of bribe... Grandma Susan to the rescue! She told Lexi that if she would say her words in the microphone, she would get a little present from Grandma- a Belle doll, to replace the ones she lost on an outing in the city... The best part of the story is that just before the meeting started, Lexi was seated near a live microphone and proceeded to tell the little girl next to her that Grandma had a present for her if she said her words in the microphone. Don't know how many people actually heard that, but it had us laughing pretty hard!
This little flower was one of the many that each child made to display in the hallway---

The Princess and The Pea

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

This is Ella & her little girlfriend. They spent some time together at our Lunch Bunch Halloween shindig. The "Little Stinker" (she's a skunk) was indulging in a little treat, and Ella was anxious to get a taste!

Pumpkin Carving

Lexi has been excited for weeks to carve her pumpkin. She picked it out all by herself when we were at the apple orchard. Tonight we finally did it. She designed the pumpkin face all by herself, drawing a little sketch on paper for Daddy to follow. Then she helped Daddy do the work- including drilling the holes for the nose and eyes- and signed her work. We are definitely not expert pumpkin carvers, but it was fun! Too bad I kind of burned the pumpkin seeds.

Angry

Lexi and I had a power struggle this afternoon. She was really exhausted, which I am sure contributed to her attitude. I won't go into details, but she was really angry and stomped off to the living room to cry and pout. She ended up falling asleep in this position with her head under the pillow.

Halloween Party

Tonight we went to the ward Halloween Party. It's always well attended. The kids go trick-or-treating around to all the classrooms and there's food, music, games and a costume contest. Matt & I are rather non-festive, but Lexi & Ella wore costumes. Lexi was Belle (from Beauty & the Beast) and Ella was a peapod. Lex was VERY uncooperative and wouldn't let me take a good photo of her. (Jess, did you get one?)

The Forbes Galleries

Today was a rainy day, so I decided to take the kids down to visit the Forbes Magazine Galleries. I've heard about it a couple of times in the past, but had never ventured there before today. It's not a huge place, and there's nothing really hands-on to do there, but it does hold a fairly impressive collection of toys- mostly boats & soldier dioramas and old game boards (mostly Monopoly). One display in particular had a glass-bubble window and when you look through the window, it appears that you are laying in bed with all your toys all around. The display was inspired by a Robert Louis Stevenson Poem.

After the gallery, we got some pizza for lunch and stopped at Trader Joe's. Thank goodness there were elevators at all the subway stops after we picked up a hefty amount of food.

Jumping

For your entertainment... seems Ella is very interested in the door frame.

The Entertainer

Lexi is taking her job as big sister very seriously... she's becoming better and better every day at entertaining Ella.

Food Glorious Food

I did not plan on starting Ella on solid foods until close to Thanksgiving. I started Lexi around 4 months, and looking back, I don't think she was really quite ready at the time. However, the past couple of weeks, Ella's eyes have been carefully following food to our mouths, she has reached 15 pounds, she can sit up fairly well in her high chair, and her sleep periods at night have gotten a little shorter. When we visited the pediatrician last week, she said, "Oh, she's definitely ready to try some solids." So today, we bought some rice cereal for her. At dinner, I had Ella on my lap for a little while and was kind of teasing her with a biscuit- just touching her lip with it to see if she would open her mouth. She did! And when I pulled the biscuit away, she started crying. This from a kid who doesn't really cry very much. So, we popped her in the high chair, mixed up some cereal and gave spoon feeding a try... as the saying goes, "She ate it up!" Looks like we're moving into the world of solids.

**Oh, and in case you noticed the splint on my left hand... it's to minimize my use of my left thumb- it was injured in "the incident". It's on the mend and I'll hopefully be able to rid myself of the splint in another week and a half or so. The girl is facing 5-25 years, though, now that I have a documented injury.