Breakfast Bar

My sweet, wonderful family enjoying breakfast.

About a month ago I finally bought a couple of bar stools for our kitchen. One of the best purchases of the year! I love cooking up pancakes, waffles, or whatever while my favorite people are near, enjoying the warm meal and chatting with me.

Movies with a View

I met up with some good friends to see The Shining at an outdoor showing near the Brooklyn Bridge. I had seen parts of the movie before and had a general idea what it was about but, man, it was freaky (and the sound was WAY too loud...I hate scary music!) . We actually left before the movie was over...just too freaky.

Here's a fun trailer spoof of The Shining:

Ban-dee

You should have seen the other guy!

For a while Isabella was terrified of band-aids, so much so that attempting to put a band-aid on a wound became more traumatic than receiving the wound itself. To remedy that issue my mom suggested just leaving band-aids out for her to explore on her own. Now she loves band-aids and we are trying to limit: 1 band-aid a day keeps the boo boos away.

Oh, and she calls them "ban-dees". So cute!

Lunch with Daddy

It is always fun when we can meet up with Brian for lunch.

My Little Monkey

Enjoying Madison Square Park.

Brian's Working Late

Tonight is a much more productive night. Isabella has only been in bed for a half hour and the house is clean! I still have to clean up a bit from dinner. Dinner tonight was fresh, sweet corn on the cob, roasted tomato tabbouleh salad, brie on crackers and blueberry cobbler for dessert. Yes, it was so delicious!

Thank you, Brian, for working so hard! xoxo

Brian's Night Out

Brian is out to a movie tonight with a friend who is in town. I probably should have done the dishes, or cleaned our room, or gone to bed already. But, no, I decided to do this:

before...

...after

before...

...after (front)

...after (back)

before...

...after

before...

...after (a lot shorter and tighter than intended)

Why? Well...Since I run in a few races each year I have tons of t-shirts that I really don't like, but I wear them running anyway, most of the time. Recently I've been thinking I really should get myself a cute running t-shirt and get away from the boxy, stiff boy t-shirts. I've been looking at a few shirts to buy, but I just didn't want to spend the money.

Yesterday I was browsing through Barnes & Noble and came across this book. I was inspired! I only flipped through the book for a couple of minutes, but I got the general idea into my head and then made it happen tonight.

My favorite? It is the first blue one posted, but I really like the racer back of the second blue one too (with the monkey). I can see myself wearing the monkey one more running.

Peach!

Oh, how I love summer! With all it's sweet, ripe, juicy fruit it gives me! What joy!

Reading Room

On our 6th wedding anneversary Isabella and I met Brian at Bryant Park for some sandwiches, Broadway in the park and then enjoyed sitting in their Reading Room.

Then that night we went out to dinner and then to a comedy show. I was a little nervous about the show, since you are never sure it will be good. (I despise gross, vulgar comics! Really, come on!) But we got lucky and I laughed until I cried. And then we left when the bad one came on, later in the show. If interested, we went to The Broadway Comedy Club on a Thursday night.

I {heart} Summer Streets!!!

How often do you get to stop and look at Mr. Vanderbilt's statue outside Grand Central?
Umm...Never, until Summer Streets!

Isabella putting up with it all. She really enjoyed it most of the time, really!

Spencer & Brian trying out brand new, free roller blade "rentals".

Seriously! One of my all-time favorite things I've done in NYC in the last three years (and we've done a lot of fun stuff!) has been Summer Streets. There's nothing quite like it; riding my bike, with baby and hubby, down Park Avenue with not a single car around! We rode from W 110th St all the way to the Brooklyn Bridge (and back) on streets sans cars. It was such a wonderful, calm, relaxing way to enjoy my favorite city. The weather was fantastic both weekends and Isabella has been a real trouper. We did it two Saturdays already and the last one is this coming Saturday. There are lots of fun free classes, free bike rentals, and such along the route. So, if you haven't tried it yet, GO!!! I really hope they do this again and again! Thank you Mayor Bloomberg!

Last Saturday I had a true New Yorker moment. Someone told me I couldn't ride in a certain area of the park and I was confident and rude right back at her. I'm so proud of myself, 'cause I'm usually such a pushover.

Finger Painting, Again

We tried finger painting again recently. The first time was fun, but so very, very messy. See my post here. This time Isabella seemed to enjoy it more and was able to follow directions better, i.e. don't touch anything!

Summer

Some fun summer photos. Also, see Beth's super sweet post about Isabella and her good friend Morgan. They seriously adore each other!

Playing at the Park

Morgan Stanley rented out the Wollman Rink at Central Park for an employee event. During the summer is transformed into a small amusement park called, Victorian Gardens. I was amazed how many little carnival rides they could fit on a ice rink. Isabella (and us too) had a great time.

Music in the Park

We went down to Madison Square Park on Tuesday with friends for the free kids concert that they have every Tuesday & Thursday. We've been a few times this summer but this week's group, Opus Ditty, was my favorite; a bit more calm, no crazy wigs/hair and some good ole kids folk music. I loved the banjo!

Mouse & Bunny Get a Diaper Change

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this new phase Isabella has entered into. She has begun to pretend and it is so sweet, silly, and fun! Sometimes she pretends she is sleeping with her eyes closed tight, scowled forehead and lips puckered. Othertimes, her stuffed Piglet gets to do just about everything she does: eat pasta, sit on the potty, suck on a binky. But my favorite is when she asks for the "why, why, why" (the wipes). She then finds the changing pad, gets a diaper and goes to work. I love how focused she is when she gets going: lays down the pad, puts the bunny (or mouse, or Piglet, or babydoll), wipes their bottoms and then attempts to put a relatively huge diaper on them. Today she even requested the diaper cream (since she's had a rash lately and has needed it herself). That's when I had to really "teach" about pretend, watch closely and make sure Piglet didn't become covered in Butt Paste.