It's Up To You... NEW YORK, NEW YORK!

The last two weeks or so have been fabulous. First of all, Grandma Shar came to town! We basically just hung out and chatted the entire time, which was fun for me (possibly not as fun for Grandma). I don't think that I am such a good tour guide right now due to Sabrina's little schedule, Lucy's little schedule, and Julia's every 3 hour eating schedule and every 2 hour sleeping schedule. But Grandma did get ample grandkid time because she got to play mom for 50+ hours while we headed for a weekend getaway to celebrate this dinosaur turning...

The BIG 30!!

(Oh, and we threw in Valentine's Day too.)

In NYC! With the Blackhursts!

Imagine my surprise about a month ago when Aish and I were on the phone and discovered that we had both planned on going to New York the same weekend. We knew it was meant to be. And can I just say that it was the funnest, 45 hour trip I have ever had.

There's just something about dirty, smelly, crowded New York that brings a smile to my heart. (Although, I can't imagine why someone would live there over DC if given the choice...I'm probably a little bias.) It's been 10+ years since I last saw the big apple and it was every bit as magical as I remember.

Here's a rundown of events:

*Ground zero/9/11 memorial:


Awesome memorial. Quite amazing that huge buildings once stood here, and quite sobering remembering all the victims of that terrible day.

We then headed over to the little chapel across the street that served as a hospital/meeting place/place of worship on September 11. Good stuff.

*Ate lupper at a French restaurant where the hostess took one look at us and said, "Um, what are you guys looking to eat? Maybe you'd rather go to the sandwich shop next door." Yeah, for such a condescending place, the food wasn't that great. We had a good laugh though.

*Went to the Museum of Natural History (see Dino Pic above). So glad that it was closing in 45 minutes because they let us in for free (either that or Aish used the "Where can I recommend you for employee of the month!" line on the people at admissions, and they were charmed) ...because really, this place is maybe worth $2.

*Did NOT see this:


*Went to Spiderman:Turn Off The Dark:

(Got a crummy, no flash pic.) Really the star of this show is the acrobatic team! Wow. This show is all about staging, sets, and wow moments. (Like when Spiderman was right over my shoulder and I didn't even realize it until the spotlight was on me and I screamed.) Unforgettable.

*Explored Time Square:

That place is wack. You just can't stop looking around. The stimulation is overwhelming. And the people watching is prime.

And that was only Friday.

*We did Temple Sealings early Saturday morning:

Here's Aish and I in front of the temple (this pic was actually taken on Friday). Aish and I both stood out like sore thumbs in our white coats. Note to self...New Yorkers never wear white! The temple was beautiful. Tiny, but beautiful.

*Walked through Central Park:




I adore Central Park. No really. I may reconsider living in New York if I could be right by this place.

*Ate at The Boathouse restaurant in Central Park:

Why don't I have a picture!! This was my favorite part of the whole trip. It was just so atmospheric! Very good food (Paul's french toast was the winner meal), and the guy behind us tickling the ivories made it all the more cool! I MUST get back there in my lifetime.

*Went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art:


Boy, for four kids who passed the AP Art History test, we sure didn't remember a darn thing! I tried to sound smart by rattling off something about Egyptian art...it was a huge fail. I did remember that Van Gogh is my favorite. Hands down. Paul impressed us most by taking a nap on a concrete wall, proving that yes, he can sleep anywhere. (AND also proving that we were nearly dead from all the walking at this point). The Met is amazing. And huge. We probably saw 10% of it.

*Saw Grand Central Station:

This is a really large and very cool-looking train terminal. Our birthday boy celebrated at the new and huge Apple Store, playing on an iPad. The rest of us reveled in our tired silly phase by taking goofy pictures. Sorry, Blackhursts. I just had to post this. Just had to.

*Ate dinner at Rockefeller Plaza and went to The Top of The Rock:

(Here's where my phone [and the only camera I took] died.) Awesome look out. I liked it better than the Empire State Building, and although it was freezing cold, it was also incredibly romantical.

*Went to St. Patrick's Cathedral:
Huge, Beautiful. Ornate. Very Cool.

*Got cupcakes at Magnolia's Bakery:
Um, not so much. Pretty sure I could do better and that's saying something because I can't bake. Still perplexed at why this place was packed.

*CAME HOME TO MY BABIES:
They made us Valentines and Paul a birthday sign on the door. Oh, how their mother missed them!

*Lost my wallet:
This is another post for another day. Let's keep this one positive!

Dear Blackhursts and Grandma Shar,
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! We just keep talking about how much fun we had over and over again, which means that we must do something like this over and over again. Mom, you're the best! Thanks for taking such good care (no really, you didn't have to do the laundry too) of my girls. Please come back to us soon!

Dear PJ,
Happy Happy Birthday! Couldn't love you more. So glad you were born!

The Yayhoos Conquer Dance and Gymnastics

Just like the last post, I really don't know who started calling Sabrina and Lucy "The Yayhoos", but I'm guessing it was me in reference to their goof ball status 85% of the time. And it sounds like something my dad would say, so yeah, probably me.

Sabrina started dance and Lucy started dance and gymnastics last week. They are both loving it.

Sabrina is really taken by the whole idea of dance. She listens to her teacher and tries her very best. (Note: She's the little one with the pink leotard and black leggings. It's interesting to note that she's nearly 2 years older than some of these kids. Poor girl.)



Lucy takes the more "free and easy" approach to her lessons. She's the little one in black leading the chaos.



I'd say that Lu Lu prefers the "structured chaos" of gymnastics a little more than dance right now.


And after a long day at gymnastics, (nice transition, right?) Lucy always wants to help make dinner, which leads to Sabrina wanting to help make dinner. Apparently, yayhoos do things in twos. And where there's two, there's got to be a Julesy. So this is what dinner prep often looks like:



And yes, Lucy is sitting precariously close to that flame, and that Bumbo is on an elevated surface. We live on the edge around here.

Julesy Julesy Jelly Bean

This post is all about the baby. I don't know who started calling Julia "Jelly Bean", but it has a nice ring to it, so it is sticking. The girls walk around all day long saying "Julesy Julesy Jelly Bean" in a sing-song sort of way.

Julia is now nearly 4 months old. She is the light of our lives. She loves the bath, rice cereal (I started her early...and now she sleeps 12 hours at night...this is NOT a myth, young mothers...it's true!), and will now laugh a great belly laugh when something strikes her funny bone.

I will forever credit baby Julia for turning me into a baby person. I'm apologizing to my first two lovely little ones, but it seems to me that when they were babies I was too busy sterilizing bottles and reading books on brain development and milestones to really enjoy just being with the baby. I was forever "looking forward to the day when..." with them to really live in the moment, but with Julia it's different.

She gets her own private bath time, and even sitting down to feed her is a joy. These things used to seem like chores. I do regret that I don't have the time to play with her on the floor more because when she's under the gym, there's usually something to be done, so I guess Sub and Lu Lu did get more floor time with mom. Maybe that's why I enjoy the feeding and bathing even more because it's my time with just her.

P.S. Don't let the above tub picture fool you. She really does enjoy the bath. Now that I look at it, she looks like she's on the verge of tears in that pic.

I Know What You're Thinking...

Hey Lindsay! You changed the look of your blog after 3+ years. (I know, I know. I can hardly believe it myself.) This must mean that you are committed to this blog again!

I make no guarantees.

Baby Julesy is skeptical too:

Going Public

Ok. Let's pretend for a minute that it was still 2008...people were still reading blogs like crazy...I still lived in Utah among people that would read my blog and have access to my children...and I didn't get the same 5 comments from the same 5 to 7 of you who still even read this blog. Then I would stay private. But I really can't say that I'm too afraid about people reading my blog and knowing how to get to my kids when I'm 2000 miles away and NEVER run into anyone who knows me from Adam. I never write anything good on here anyway.

So welcome world!

P.S. Don't you dare steal anything off my blog. My husband is a lawyer...a good one. And we will come after you!!

Oh Lucy!

I think that I have mentioned Lucy's naughtiness at church before. Well, she's not as bad as she once was, but her need for shock value attention is still there. For example, today I was trying to get her to use her whisper voice. She looked right at me and said quite loudly, "I just want to be myself!!"

Later Paul had her because I took Julia out and he told her to stop picking her nose (something she still does while sucking her thumb) and again she said, "But I want to pick my nose!" and again it wasn't quiet.

Another person in the foyer told me that during sharing time Sabrina watches Lucy like a hawk, and when she acts up, Sub will just look at her, shake her head, and Lucy will start to behave.

We never go a week in our ward without people commenting on Lucy. Of course, they all chuckle, and tell me how cute and funny she is. These are always people without kids. I hope they are blessed with "cute and funny" kids too.

A Report on Christmas 2011 and Some Recents

I so wish that I had some pictures of our Christmas morning or even more of our Christmas break, (which was spent mainly in jammies for all of us), but I don't. We opted to take video footage of Christmas morning and since one person has to man the video recording and one person has to help manage the opening of gifts and one person has to feed the hungry baby and then both people have to get the three other people ready for church; well, we didn't have enough hands to also take photos. It was pretty picture perfect though. Trust me. Sabrina and Lucy got a bundle of things, their favorites being a Rapunzel Tower and Cinderella Castle. Julia got a Bumbo and a floor gym. Paul got an IPad, and I got some luxury slippers, which I reluctantly take off from time to time, but mainly I wear them 24/7. Christmas Eve and Christmas Dinner were spent with Kyle and Noelle and family where we ate to our hearts content and some (not me and Julia...sick) went to see the Christmas lights at the Temple.

The break was great. We played board games almost every day together, stayed up too late, and slept in too long. On New Year's Eve we decided to drive to Delaware to check out possible neighborhoods to live in next year (Have I mentioned we're moving to Delaware in August?) and just to have a little getaway. We ate lunch at a little pizza joint where we got advice on Delaware from our pizza maker. He was surprisingly informative. Then we took the girls to a park to play while I fed Julia. We had crazy good weather here the last month or so, but...

It finally snowed yesterday. It was a weak excuse for a snow storm, but the girls were so excited that I let them go out to play in it.

Updates on all the kids:

Sabrina: Is still loving school. She really is such a pleasant kid at this age. She is always trying to help me with Lucy and Julia. She loves to sing songs and for the most part she sings her own compositions. She loves to draw and write stories (and I love reading phonetic writing again...it's one of my joys in life) and is picking up on reading rather quickly. Her teacher told me the other day that she told the class about "reverence" (a family home evening lesson we'd had) to which she said to me, "I guess you use whatever works!" I don't think most kindergarteners talk about reverence very often if they aren't of our faith.

Lucy: Is 3. She has an iron will right now. Sadly, her world came crashing down once again when Sabrina had to go back to school. She had a rather tough beginning to Primary which she thought was going to be her going to class and sitting by Sabrina the whole time. Her parents didn't prepare her correctly. I am happy to report though that last week went 20 times better and she sat with and went to her own class. She is still funny, she loves to rhyme, play pretend and make up her own words (noganer and bowyah). Her favorite thing to play is puppy or kitty. We have signed her up for gymnastics and dance which start in a few weeks.

Julia: Is just getting so big. She sits in the bumbo, and has started to grab at toys a little bit. She hates her tummy, but she loves to lay under her gym. (Funny story: Sabrina and Lucy outfitted her gym with every link toy that we own so as Sabrina put it, "she could have an extra challenge"). You can see them all dangling in the pictures.) She is becoming a happier baby overall, and slept 12 hours last night for the first time. We're hoping it's a trend. She's darling; I can't get enough of her cheeks.

And then there was January. Enjoy the pics!