Nutcracker

Last Wednesday (12/12/12) Lexi and I went to the Nutcracker by the New York City Ballet at the Lincoln Center.  Wow!  It was amazing!!  And right after we walked inside we saw Kelly Ripa walk up the stairs with her son.  I was so excited and talked to her for a minute in my starstruck jibber telling her i went to a live taping of her show and thought she was so cute, then she said Lexi was cute and we said goodbye.  My first and probably only time to talk to a celebrity!  I was a little dazed the rest of the show. But it was a fabulous show!  Lexi and I loved it.  

It was our first time at the Lincoln Center.  It is across the street from the Manhattan LDS Temple.  So fun to be there!  I still get bedazzled by everything in New York City.  Even after 18 months.

The ballet was breathtaking!  Such a fun time with Lexi.  Our seats were clear up on the 4th balcony, but we were on the side so we were practically overlooking the stage.  We could see really well.  It was awesome.  No pictures allowed in the auditorium so I googled some so we can remember our favorite parts.  During the ballet Lexi asked if she could please take ballet lessons again.  It made me want to take ballet too!  They are beyond talented and make it all look so easy and beautiful.

After the Nutcracker we shared a peppermint hot chocolate from Starbucks and then had a free hand treatment at a favorite store, Sabon.  Their lotion is amazing!  Everytime we walk by one (there are 12 in NYC) we have to go in and wash with their yummy soaps and try their lotion samples.  Even my boys like to!   

While we were walking we passed this screen where the little character would follow your movements.  Lexi loves dancing so we spent a few minutes here!  Cute.

And because we were walking this way to the subway we had to go in and see the Christmas stars at Time Warner.  They change colors and are humongous.  We went up on the 3rd floor so they were at eye level.  Favorite!

Such a fun night out with my daughter.  We giggled and a had a great time.  I love you Lexi Loo!

We don't get to do things like this very often without all the other kids, so it was especially fun.  Thank you to my wonderful husband who kept the other kids while we were gone and put them all to bed!  It was nice to get home to a peaceful house.

our Santa at Macy's day

Last week we played hookie and went to see Santa at Macy's.  Because the Santa at Macy's in New York is the real one you know!



There is an amazing Santa Land where we lost half the kids in the crowd at one point or another before we made it to Santa.  It was so chaotic I didn't get any pictures of how awesome it is.  But it's fun to wind through and look at, a talking tree, a train looping up over a Christmas tree, caroling bears, Santa's sleigh full of toys.  It's quite spectacular.

Do you think the school missed our kids that day?  Haha!



Oh how I love these friends.  So thankful they are here in New York with us.  It has made our experience here all the better.

We saw a cute marionette puppet show, "Miracle on 34th Street" with cute songs that sounded like Broadway.  It was really cute.  Brenner is the perfect age for things like this and had a smile on his face the whole time.


Then the kids wrote letters to Santa... (except Kyler, he said he didn't want to this year... getting too old for this I guess... so sad!)



Mailing them in the magic mailbox...

Everyone left after this, but Klarissa and I kept on going.  So thankful she trudged along with me!  We went to the Holiday Train Show at Grand Central Station.  I love Grand Central Terminal!  It is so big and majestic.  We had to go talk in the Whispering Gallery first.  And the train show was fun too, off in a little side store.  I thought of Dave's Dad and how he would love to add this to his amazing Christmas village collection.  There were little stores with people in the windows along with the racing trains.  Easy to spend a lot of time at.

Then we got back on the subway and went to Washington Square to see their big Christmas tree under the arch.  The kids played at the playground in the rainy drizzle, and I was hoping we might make it until the tree lights came on but it got too cold.

Klarissa and her kiddos headed home at this point, but my kids and I and Mackay went on to Minetta Playground.  The kids love that one.  It kind of rained on us all day, off and on.  But I guess running after each other playing tagged help keep them warm.  We love playgrounds.


Since we were in the neighborhood we had to get cupcakes at Molly's Cupcakes. Our favorite little cupcake spot!  Oh we will miss all these fun New York City places.



Love how Malia was sharing a bite with Kyler.  The cupcakes are so fabulous, with cream centers.  Malia and I shared a cookie dough center cupcake, best thing ever!  Kyler got the same, Porter is a die-hard oreo fan, and Brenner had the cake batter.  I had a bite of Lexi's red velvet peppermint cupcake, and I think that was my favorite of the day!

The last stop of the day was at Rockefeller Center to see the famous tree.  It is always beautiful!  My favorite Christmas tree.

It was the perfect time of day to go, it was just getting dark and wasn't so crowded yet.  Malia didn't want to get out of the stroller for a photo.  Brenner was asleep.  Yep, it was time to go home.



But we saw a few fun things along the way to the subway.  New York City is a dazzling place to be at Christmas time.

The star in the center bottom is spectacular!  It is gigantic and hangs in the middle of the intersection of 57th and 5th.  It sparkles!  This picture does not do it justice.  It's awesome.  All the sights definitely fill me with Christmas cheer!

Although, sidenote here, there is nothing about the true reason for the season.  I was teaching sharing time last week and needed a cheap nativity for the kids to handle, and I could not find one anywhere.  I spent an entire day going store to store, and asking the clerks if they carried nativities, and one person was like, "What's that?"  I explained and he snorted at me and said nothing like that was there!  After that day I was quite disappointed in humanity, and saddened that everywhere has forgotten the real meaning of Christmas.  They have forgotten the babe lying in a manger.  It made me miss Idaho where I for sure would have been able to find the true Christmas spirit.  It made me realize we need to keep that spirit in our hearts and make sure we remember the greatest Christmas gift ever given, when our Heavenly Father gave us the gift of His Only Begotten Son.

(drawing last week by Porter)

Merry Christmas!

pull-ups

the other day brenner asked me to come watch his trick so I followed him into the bathroom and watched him do pull-ups on the shower curtain rod.  such a strong little dude!  he cracks me up.  good thing it's a strong rod too!

mormon helping hands

Since Hurricane Sandy our stake has been sending groups to help clean up the Rockaways, a peninsula that was hard hit by the storm.  Last Sunday we had a shortened sacrament meeting at 7:45am, in our work clothes, then boarded school buses for the hour trip.  Once there we got our Mormon Helping Hands vests and got to work.

People were so grateful for the help.  So much help has been given and people would see us walking and honk their horns and wave, or roll down their windows and yell out their thanks.  It was humbling to be a part of it.  And humbling to see much these people have been through, but they are resilient and hopeful that things will get better.

We set out in groups to help.  This was our group.

Many houses were burned from electrical problems after the hurricane.  

This house was burned and the siding on the house next to it was melted.

Piles were outside every house of rotten wood, ruined furniture, insulation, etc.  Even bathroom sinks.

Or this ruined grand piano out on the curb.

Sand from the ocean was everywhere.  Washed up on yards, driveways, etc.

I had to take a picture of this house.  I thought it was beautiful.  Such a gorgeous neighborhood with beautiful old houses.  So sad to see some of them so ruined. This one seemed to be in good shape.

I think one of the saddest things I saw was when I was cleaning debris out of a yard and found these old pictures scattered through the yard, under muddy leaves and covered with wet sand.  I asked the home owner if they were hers and she said no.  Someone's treasured photographs that will probably never get back to where they belong.

I'm grateful I had the chance to help.  I felt like I didn't do much compared to how much there is to do, and compared to how much has been done, but with many hands lots of good gets done.  Service is so bonding.  I love the people that I served and was able to serve with.  The kingdom of God is marvelous that way.

Christmas Tree at The Met

The last two days have been so gorgeously warm.  On Monday I decided to walk to the Met to see their Christmas tree.  I walked 18 blocks both ways and when I got there they were closed.  Closed Mondays.  Such a bummer!  But such a beautiful day.  I enjoyed looking in all the Christmas-y windows on Madison and Park Aves.  Gorgeous!  Brenner and Malia slept the whole 36 blocks, I was amazed.  They had a great nap and I had a great walk and we made it home in time to have a picnic up on the roof before the kids got home from school.

So on Tuesday I tried again, this time with my fun friend.  Much more fun.  Klarissa and her cute boys came with us.  I love the Met!  It is so gigantic.  

The Christmas tree is gorgeous.  I loved the angels covering the tree ascending up to the big sparkly star on top.  And the nativity was my very favorite I have ever seen.  It was so detailed and so beautiful.  Flash photography was not allowed so my pictures didn't turn out sharp, but oh was it beautiful.  Exquisite even.  Very worth the effort to get there to see it.  

There are lots of fun things to see in the Met (Metropolitan Museum of Art).  Our favorites are the ancient Egyptian mummies, and the knights in shining armor and all of their weaponry.  The boys eat that up.

And on the walk to and from the subway we passed these cute little puppies.  They were running all around and jumping up on the window with their paws to see the kids.  Very cute.

Another fun afternoon out and about in the city.