Our Tree!

We returned yesterday morning from an absolutely wonderful trip to Michigan for Thanksgiving with the Eichs. Lots of pictures to share, in addition to some from our visit from the Jensens the weekend before Thanksgiving. But for now, here's a few of our Christmas tree that we put up and decorated yesterday evening.

Before.

Connor loved helping to hang the ornaments.


He spotted Santa in the tree!

The finished product.

Autumn in New York

Connor and I spent most of our (pre-nap) day walking around Central Park- its such a beautiful time of the year in NYC.

Climbing rocks.

It was a pretty big one.

My little man and I.

Scaling walls at the playground.

Stopping to listen to some music.

Love that face.

Another Haircut

Yesterday afternoon I took Connor for another haircut. He loves getting his haircut. Granted, the kids haircut place we take him to is so much fun how could he not. He only complained when it was time to get out of the chair.

Before: Once he started channeling Don King I knew it was time for a new look.

He loves to drive the car while he gets trimmed.

Mid cut.

In an attempt to save a bit of those curls that I love so much she clipped them to the side so they wouldn't get trimmed quite as much :)

Checking his new do in the mirror.

Side view.

Since he was such a good boy they let him blow bubbles afterwards. He's a really good bubble blower, look at all those bubbles!

And no haircut would be complete without a balloon!

These Boots Were Made For Walking

Connor loves to wear my boots!

The Smiths visit NYC!

We've had back to back visitors for the past three weekends- so fun! I love the fall in NYC because everyone comes to visit. The Smiths kicked it off. We were sooooo excited to see the whole family (and to meet the newest addition Emmy) but I was especially excited to see Connor and Carter together again. Carter is Connor's first "BFF" and I was curious to see if he'd remember him since it had been exactly a year since he'd seen him last (they just moved home from Tokyo). I'm not sure if he remembered him but he definitely knew he liked him right away! Once again they were two peas in a pod. I was a bit nervous in deciding where to take the Smiths while they were here. Being that both Melanie and Jason work for Disney and the kids get to go to Disney World on about a weekly basis, where could I take them that that they would think was fun? Kind of like trying to decide what gift to buy for a person that already has everything. I also had two sort of rainy days to work with. But I quickly realized the kids had a blast doing whatever! We went to Central Park, visited a playground and had lunch from Shake Shack (which NYers know to be the very best burgers and fries in the whole city). We also visited the Childrens Museum, which everyone seemed to enjoy. We had dinner at our place both nights and it was so much fun just to watch the boys have fun playing together while the adults hung out. And that Emmy- oh my goodness was she the sweetest little thing in the world! It was love at first sight! I took an annoying amount of pictures, and it was tough to pick faves so I'm just posting most. Whatever- it's my blog, you don't have to look if you don't want to :)

The kiddos in Central Park.

At the playground. Carter was multi-tasking by playing and eating a burger at the same time. He took a spill but managed to keep the burger from touching the sand!

Sweet Emmy. Her dimpled cheeks are the cutest!

Back at our house. We had an early birthday gift for Carter- several NYC vehicles: a firetruck, police car, bus, etc. And the Smiths brought a gift for Connor too- Disney vehicles! These boys really are so alike! Here they are playing with all their vehicles. I don't think Carter could have fit any more in his hand.

Telling secrets?

Hug from Connor!

Little Firemen.


Checking out the balcony sights.

Sweet view right?

Have I mentioned that Connor loves to give hugs?


The Smiths left on Sunday morning. That was the day that we then rented a car and took Connor to Boo at the Zoo. Then we visited some open houses in CT since we were up that way and finally (rounding out our tri-state tour) visited Rob and Shannon in Hoboken. Driving back into the city after dinner we were talking about all the fun things we had done over the weekend. I asked Connor what his favorite part of the weekend was and he was silent for a minute or two. I thought maybe he wasn't listening or didn't understand what I was asking but then he shouted "Carter!!" Awwwww. It definitely won't be another year before we see them again and maybe next time we'll remember to take a picture of Melanie and I together too!

Breakfast of Champions

Those of you that know me well know that I could eat cereal for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day if it were up to me. I start my day with a bowl every single morning. So its no surprise that this is now one of Connor's breakfasts of choice as well. He picks out his cereal and then holds the bowl for me while I pour the milk on it. Then he gets a spoon out of the drawer himself (he will only eat cereal with a spoon) and carries everything over to the table where he climbs up into his booster seat. So helpful! Then we sit and have our breakfast together and talk about our plans for the day. It's silly and its simple but I really love having our morning cereal together!

TGIF, Connor's Grandpa is coming to visit today!

NYC Marathon

Marathon Sunday is one of my favorite days of the year in NYC. It's always a huge event: 44,000+ runners run the race and over 2 million fans line the streets to cheer them on. The most people gather on 1st Avenue, near where we live. There are bands playing on the streets and the bars are just packed with people!

Connor all ready to watch the race.

While out for brunch, we tracked the professional runners (the really exciting ones to watch) on TV (yes I am a dork like that). Then when they got close I ducked out to the street to watch them go by. They were (of course) really, really fast. That's Paula Radcliffe on TV.

And in person (she's in front here but she ended up in 4th).

Here's a typical New Yorker, running a marathon while talking on his cell phone.

But at least he wasn't wearing this.

Most people had their names written on their shirt so that you could call out their name and cheer for them as they ran by. This guy's shirt said "Aaron: New Dad," which I thought was so cute. And then he stopped a couple people down from me and scooped up this itty bitty baby! So sweet.

Who knows- maybe someday I'll run this too!

Halloween

This was Connor's first real trick or treating experience and boy was it fun! You could sign up in our building if you wanted to give out candy. That morning we picked up a listing of all the apartments to hit. Connor was in hog heaven (literally). I rarely give him candy (homeboy has enough energy as it is- I don't need him running around on a sugar high on top of that) so when he realized that he got candy every time he knocked on a door- well it just blew his mind! What was shocking to me was how into it everyone in our building got (except me- I didn't know!). Almost everyone handing out candy dressed up and many turned their apts into haunted houses or just went all out with the decorations. Some of the scary costumes didn't phase Connor (like this one, he just strolled right in and put his hand out for some candy):

Other times (like when a whole family was dressed like the band KISS) he ran screaming down the hall. This didn't deter him from knocking, he would just brace himself that there might be a really scary monster standing there when the door opened. But anything for candy!!


We stayed out for about an hour and afterwards came home to hand out candy which Connor almost equally enjoyed. He would race to the door when there was a knock. Then he would help me hand out the candy- although he would take a piece of candy from our bowl every time and put it in his own basket. Little rascal.

Happy (Belated) Halloween!!