Super Hero Birthday Bash!

Rhys is 2 years old!  When I asked him a couple months ago what he wanted to do for his birthday he said "cake, and, um, Spider-man?"  He's been obsessed with both these things for the past several months.  So we decided to throw him a Spider-man and Friends themed birthday party.  It was an absolute blast! 

 Practicing web-shooting skills before the guests arrive.

My good friend Natalie, knowing how stressed I get about preparing food for a crowd, volunteered her incredible catering talents and served up an unbelievable spread!  Thank you Natalie!  My sole contribution was adding the Spider-man cake topper to the delicious Costco cake.

 After enjoying the great snacks, David held a Super Hero training camp with 4 lessons- speed, agility, compassion, and strength.

After they raced, lifted balloon barbells, jumped over crepe paper, and gave each other hugs, they combined  all their practiced Super Powers in a race to rescue their mom with a great big hug.

Time for the race to cake and presents!

Every time I asked Rhys if he was excited for his birthday over the last month, he had only one thing to say "CAKE!" 

We couldn't believe how many wonderful gifts he got!  He was so excited about each one and hasn't stopped playing with them since!

It didn't take long for the crowd to converge- everyone wanted to help and be part of the surprise!  David had to crawl behind the table to get into the action!

We feel so blessed to have so many wonderful friends here!  It is especially hard to be far away from our family during big events like this, but our friends helped make this such an amazing birthday for Rhys, and for David and me too!  Thank you to all the Super Heroes who helped save the day!

And Happy Birthday to our incredible little Rhys!

Lazy Friday

Dave's been super busy lately and has a lot of evening classes this semester, so we haven't had much couple OR family time.  But he ended up with some free time this weekend and we made the most of it.

We went on a date Friday night, which consisted of sneaking pizza into the AMC at Lincoln Square, and then dessert at Magnolia's Bakery afterward--yum!!  Somewhere between the movie and Magnolia's, we realized that aside from the title of the harmless fantasy adventure flick we saw (Percy Jackson and the Olympians), and less dropping of the f-bomb on our way to the theater, we'd pretty much reenacted Lazy Sunday.  Nice.

Saturday, we took Rhys to Union Square to have lunch and get an umbrella stroller (Um, hello Mr. Stroller.  Where have you been all my life?).  As we were leaving the subway on 14th street, I realized that Richard Kind was holding the door open for David.  If you're like the 3 people we immediately texted about this and you just said, "Uh, who is that?" then,
A) That is why you will never beat us at Scene It, and B) He's this guy:

 Except he was with his 3 little girls and looked more like this:

Now, you may be thinking "What's the big deal?"  But we've lived in NYC for almost 2 years and the only celeb sighting we've had until now was when I got fooled by the wax figure of Morgan Freeman in front of Madame Tussauds.  Yes, if you must know, I gasped and got my camera ready and everything before I realized.

Anyhoo...after that, we saw a city bus pulling away from the curb, with it's LED display (usually where it's route/destination is posted)  flashing "EMERGENCY - CALL POLICE."  So, I did.  I'm guessing I either helped thwart a hijacking, or I got some poor bus driver fired for unwittingly flipping the switch.  I'm going to go with the former explanation so I can feel like an extra in Speed.

At this point, we realized it was WAY past Rhys's nap time (getting anything done in NYC usually takes about 5 times longer than you anticipate) so we decided to just let him skip it (yes, you heard me right- I can relax and be flexible, occasionally) and headed to Times Square to ride the Toys'R'Us ferris wheel.  The line ended up being really long, so we saved it for another day but still had a blast exploring the store.  Rhys enjoyed the magic demonstrations, visited Lightning McQueen heaven, had his face stroked by Geoffrey the Giraffe (yah...we thought it was a little weird too), had a roaring contest with the T-Rex from Jurrassic Park,

 The T-Rex, and our friend...um...Bill.  That's right, Bill.

*have you figured out yet that I forgot to bring our camera along on this trip?

and met your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. He was in absolute awe of Spidey.  It was so cute, and the guy was really good at getting down on his level and talking to him.  It was all Rhys could talk about for the rest of the day.  He kept pointing to this picture we got, shouting "Man! Man!"

 All he wanted to do was look at Spider-Man and talk to him; hence the "Why won't everyone stop asking me to look at the camera and just give us a minute?" expression on his face here...

After all that excitement, Rhys conked out in his new stroller on the way home.  This kid hasn't fallen asleep in anything but his own bed since he was about 6 months old. 

*This was also the moment I realized I had a cell phone camera.  C'est la vie.

Snowed In

The infamous "blizzard" of aught 10 swept in today with a gusto, dropping an unbelievable several inches of snow within hours!  Everything in NYC shut down last night until further notice, in mere anticipation of this unlivable amount of white stuff.  Being the seasoned Utahns that we are, first, we laughed.  Then, we laughed more heartily.  Then, we put on our boots and went out to play...

The Magic Box

So David's parents gave us an awesome portable DVD player for Christmas, and were kind enough to send it before we flew to Utah for the break so we could use it during the first flight.  

Now, like most parents, I cringe at the thought of my toddler engaging in more than a brief stint of educational TV per day.  I suffer from a serious guilt complex on days when I'm sick and have to plop Rhys in front of back to back episodes of Sesame Street and Super Why just so I can find time to puke.  But when it comes to a 6 hour plane ride across the country, smack dab in the middle of what would usually be nap time, I now say with a clear and happy conscience, "Bring on the virtual babysitter!!"

This is about 4 hours in...way past nap time.  THE most enjoyable flights we've had since Rhys was born.  Way to make frequent visits more likely, G & G Mason!

Miracle on 34th Street...sort of

On Thursday, David decided to take the morning off so we could take Rhys to see the Macy's Santa together.  We went fully expecting the following experience:

I'm not saying we wouldn't have gotten a big kick out of it going that way...but since it was Rhys's first experience with all things Santa, it was probably fortunate that it went something more like this (I liked the 70's feel of this filter- for some reason 70's photos always remind me of my family's old photo albums and my first Christmases):

Very cool window displays telling the story of Miracle on 34th Street

8 flights up an actual wooden escalator

A "train ride" to the North Pole...the ground rumbles underneath as you walk through ...very cool

A walk through the village- the path was lined with awesome displays and friendly elves, animals, toys, train sets, lighted trees and Giant Nutcrackers.

 

As chance would have it, Lemondrop the elf turned out to be a girl from my high school

There was so much to see it actually felt a little like Disneyland.  By the time we got to Santa's house, Rhys was dealing with a wee bit of sensory overload, hence the slack-jawed stare.  But he loved Santa's jingle bells and wants to show us this picture several times a day so I think the overall impression was a good one.

I could have handled Santa being a bit more jolly, but they did make up for it by making sure everyone had a couple minutes of one on one time with him- literally.  You are the only people in the room with him (they lead you through a windy "forest" before you get to his house...in reality they're taking each group down separate paths to different Santas...pure genius!)  and they take a professional shot, but are super cool about taking a shot for you with your own camera too.

This was seriously one of THE best New York experiences we've had to date.  Which if you know anything about the way our experiences here usually end up, you'll realize this truly was a Christmas miracle.  Macy's is also decorated beautifully which really got us in the mood for the season.  AND I was able to get this cool shot outside to put on our Christmas card this year. 

Merry Christmas, every one!

18 Months Old!

A quick Rhys update:

• He made friends with a random little girl at the playground last week.  This was the first time he's shown interest in a kid his own age (he normally only cares about playing with older kids).  She looked exactly like Priya, our friends Joe and Bree's little girl, so maybe that helped.  Her name was Izzy and he followed her around for half an hour, showing her fun things to do and trying to impress her with his climbing and sliding abilities.  At one point she started to run off and he ran after her, and gave her a hug when she stopped.  They then took off together and proceeded to fall down at exactly the same time.  They both handled it like champs, got up, brushed themselves off, and continued playing.  I was so proud of him for being so friendly, fun, sweet, and tough all at the same time.
• For some unexplainable reason, he started hating swings over the summer- wouldn't go anywhere near one and would whine and struggle if I tried to just put him in.  He used to LOVE swings so I have been really sad about it.  But the strike is finally over- he just decided to try it again this week and loves it just as much as ever- hooray!

• He said "Hi" and "Bye" to strangers while waving for the first time last week.  He's only just waved quietly in the past.
• He's been an absolute angel lately.  When he's not obeying, I ask him to put on his "listening ears."  He immediately perks up, grabs his ears, and listens to my request and (usually) complies right away.  He gives us lots of unsolicited hugs and kisses, loves to help with chores and cleaning up, and eats what we eat with very few complaints.  I've been ending the day feeling sad to see him go to bed!
• He can make just about any animal sound there is, can point to most of his body parts, and can say eye, nose, ear, and knee.  He can also point to himself and say his own name now.  Yesterday, he said Paul, Amy (memee) and 'lijah to each of them over the phone, and then we looked at a picture of David's family and he said Grandpa, Paul, Scott, Matt, Ryan, and Sarah, and then made up words for Sharon, Erin and Grandma.  For some reason though, he insists on calling me daddy even though he can totally say mommy.  If he doesn't start pretty soon, I told him I going to call him Veronica.
  
• He gave up his first nap a few weeks ago, but transitioned seamlessly to an hour of quiet time in his crib.  He helps me put the toys in beforehand and clean them up afterward; he plays and has fun all by himself and would keep going for longer if I let him; and he has even asked to have quiet time again later in the day several times!
  
• He loves to watch movies.  He will watch just about any full length Disney movie without getting bored.  Tarzan and Monster's INC are his favorites.  I only let him watch one or two a week- but I wish I could bring myself to let him watch more because he will sit on my lap and snuggle the whole time- plus, can any kid get too much Disney indoctrination?!
• He has the cutest personality.  He loves being silly (as illustrated by the Happy Meal Hat below), but he also seems to understand being "cool."  We'll find him putting on a cool hat or his sunglasses and then strutting around like he's the best thing since sliced bread

• He's been saying please with a big cheesy grin when he wants something for a couple of months now, but now he's learned to say thank you when he gets it.  That makes me feel really happy.
• He's wonderful at folding his arms and being quiet during prayers, and even reminds us to say them sometimes.
• He's obsessed with monkeys (after seeing Tarzan).  He loves to make monkey noises and play with his monkey stuffed animals.  Grandma Barbara just sent him a baby chimp as a present and he has to sleep with it now.  So naturally, he's going to be a monkey for Halloween. (pictures to come!)
  

Back in the City

We've been back in NYC for almost 2 months and I need to catch up on all the fun we've been having.

David turned 30 at the beginning of September and I surprised him with tickets to Phantom since he'd never seen it live before. It was really good- and the cast was actually operatically trained! I couldn't have been happier. I grew up listening to the original cast and saw live performances in S.F. and London when it was still in its heyday- but it always bothered me that a singer with a girlish, lilting, high-pitched voice could out-sing an actual Diva. Sorry Sarah Brightman fans-- the chick can hit a mean high E and has gotten a lot better over the years, but let's face it...she more often than not sounds like a caterwauling tabby.

Anyhoo- the new guy playing the Phantom (just replaced the previous long-running one) was AMAZING! The chandelier crash was disappointing- it kind of halted and jerked slowly down instead of a dramatic plunge, and for some reason both David and I remember glass crashing sound effects- but not in this performance. All in all though- it was a great evening.

It's on the most adorable little theater district street, and Hamlet was playing next door starring Jude Law...it made us giggle.

The next day, we celebrated David's birthday as a family with a trip to Central Park Zoo.  It's small, but has some great exhibits including penguins, sea lions, a snow leopard, 2 polar bears in a gigantic habitat, and a great little children's petting zoo.  Rhys got "attacked" by the snow leopard who leaped at the glass while Rhys's nose was pressed up against it.  It made the crowd scream, but do you think our little daredevil was shaken?  He just kept right on pointing and babbling about the "kitty."  I got some great shots, but unfortunately they are all from my new Nikon and have to be converted first, which I don't have time for.  But we went back a couple weeks ago with some friends, so these will give you the idea:

Our apartment is also way better this year.  We had to give up our previous one for the summer because they don't allow subletting, but it ended up working out great.  We got the exact same layout, two floors higher, which puts us just above the top of the building behind us.  This means MORE LIGHT and a bit of a view!  Hooray!  It also has better floors and a linen closet in the bathroom.  I literally had tears spring to my eyes when I realized I didn't have to keep our towels in the bedroom drawers anymore.  Oh- simple joys!

Here's a great shot of our "view"