Spring, Our house, Mosquitos, and flowers

This spring has been so refreshing and beautiful. It's been raining more than usual and you can tell when you look at the grass and plants! really lovely. Especially the tulip and daffodil bulbs that my mother in law put in the front yard because they grow without any help from me! and they are a beauty. The weather is such a breath of fresh air.

We are park regulars these days, too. Sunscreen and bug spray aplenty (the mosquitos are crazy because it rained so much. our smarty neighbor was telling us about the life cycle of a mosquito and how the rain makes them come out!)

I feel more settled into Grantsville and that is noticeable by the amount of playdates we've had. the girls love them and i love them. moms need each other.

Here's some more if you'd like to see:

New York and Good girlfriends and...

my thoughts:

• real good friendships don't come all that often, but once you have them- treasure them. these ballet girls (who i met as a child and grew up with) planned a New York trip as a reunion (as ms silver sparkly thing Lindsey now lives in New York) and of course it was fantastic to be with them- but i've also loved the rekindled text conversations we are having now. so nice to know i always have a listening ear to turn to.
• coming back from vacation is hard. I've come back to my sweet babies, but i feel like im lacking some motivation in my day to day. like i just want to sit and watch tv allllll day. and its ridiculous i feel this way- i just went on a fabulous vacation and i should feel rejuvenated. but i dont, and i feel guilty about it, which doesn't help either.  
• The Tenement Museum was so fantastic in the city. We walked through preserved apartments of immigrant families in the early 1900s and their lives were fascinating and SO HARD
• The Jewish restaurant we went to, Russ & Daughters, was such a new experience- I've never had Jewish food- and it was fantastic- and so fun to see all these new things. A lot of smoked fish on the menu. I had salmon fishsticks (with a rye breading!) and a whitefish chowder soup. I also tasted Borscht soup (beet soup- which was good but only cause i like beets- it needed something else going on) and challah bread pudding for dessert. i also tasted caviar for the first time- tasted good- buttery and salty- i ate it on a little pancake with creme freche. such a unique menu

 I think fire escapes are so geometrical and beautiful- this was outside our bedroom window of our Airbnb.

 One of my more photogenic friends styled our positions for this lil brooklyn bridge shot :) the bridge was stunning as always. but so so so crowded this nice weather holiday weekend

 An impressionist painting i saw at the Met that was really breathtaking. i loved that place- it took me back to my London study abroad days when i went to museums and historic cathedrals and beautiful scenery all day every day

 we still got it. The new yorkk city ballet nutcracker was so magical- rather the ballerina Tiler peck that did Dewdrop was magical- the way she dances is so expressive- she fills every note of the music to its full potential and her body like fills up the space in every direction. watch this link to a YouTube video of Tiler Peck and i think you'll see what I'm talking about

 Also this good man, who came with me to New York and is the best man and girl could ask for.

Cheers.

Thankful

A happy happy thanksgiving!
we went to my sister in law Shannon's today and it was so so lovely. I made more Thanksgiving food than I ever have before and I kinda loved it. wait... I loved eating it.

i made a ham and it was an intense piece of meat- but i liked it more than i thought i would! i went sweet and citrusy with it in the crock pot.

Also, I was SO PLEASED at my apple crisp. I used the caramel apple pie filling recipe from yourcupofcake.com and the crumble recipe from kitchn.com (using melted butter in the crumble instead of cold butter made a world of difference. gave it more of a granola like crumble instead of a cobbler cake-y crumble- i guess no baking powder probably helped with that too- which is what i used with my last apple crisp crumble.)

Ella last night said she couldn't sleep because she was thinking of what outfit to wear for thanksgiving! ha a fashionista. She also specifically requested pig tails that stick out the sides (they looked so darling!!) and chose cut off shirts with a floral shirt that she stole from lucy's drawer so its juuuuust a hair too small. OF course, she rocked it. Not too appropriate for the weather, but thats neither here nor there.

Lucy ate the mashed potatoes and some corn on the cob and then she wanted to leave the table to play. oh wait she also had a roll- but only 2 bites of about three separate rolls...
Lucy can kind of say "turkey" and will say it when she sees one! I also get her to say "gobble gobble" which comes out in the cutest baby-est way.Lucy is getting better with talking but slowly. She says quite a few words, but in such a non-distinct sweet baby babble way still.

love to all. i'm staying up too late (its 1am) looking at black friday sales. I also requested brent take tomorrow off so i can go black friday shopping for christmas. He did. He is a generous guy

I"m also so excited for our New York trip over new years- i'm obsessing over what dress to buy like a looney bin. i need to tell myself IT DOESNT EVEN MATTER..

im so thankful for all i have- especially me and my girls and brent's health. and the stuffing and green bean casserole we ate today. i am so lucky and blessed.

Ella's Soccer team and tidbits

 We are ending soccer season. It is crazy how kids minds change. Ella was ALL ABOUT SOCCER this summer. Then, as time went on, she:
-didn't like me to cheer for her at games
-didn't like cheering for the team herself
-took a while to enjoy practice, but when she warmed up, she loved it
-wasn't too intent on getting any goals
-but was then quite disappointed when she couldn't play one game because we forgot her shin guards.

Basically, she has a love/hate relationship with soccer. It was sure fun for me to watch her play though. Also, Lucy badly wanted to join in- so we'll see if she has the same sort of mind games that Ella has.

I struggle knowing how to be compassionate to Eleanor when she cries and whines for little things (if I get mad/annoyed, of course she cries harder!) while still teaching her its not ok to cry and whine for little things. How do I teach this?! I'm hoping and guessing it's just a phase and she'll mature out of it.

There is this wild field behind Ella and Kaden's preschool that is perfect for exploring. I'm so pleased how much she likes Kiddie Korner preschool. She is very excited for her Halloween party next week. They are having a little parade the parents can come to, where the kids show off their costumes. I'm excited to see it too! Her teachers are simply the sweetest- and it is obvious both Ella and Kaden and all the other kids I see at pick up love the teachers so much. I love hearing Ella say, "Bye Teacher!" at the end of school instead of using her name, Ms Karma. ha. I also heard Kaden say, "See ya later Alligator" to Ms Janet, and she responded, "I'll see you in an hour, sunflower!"
Heart eyes all around.

 I struggle with just sitting and doing nothing while my kids play. If I'm on my phone, Lucy always sees it and wants it, and I feel so dumb if people see me on my phone while watching the kids (is this crazy that I feel so self conscious? probably) Should I get a paper book? Perhaps a self help book about building confidence.