CMOM

Or for those of you not "in the know"(btw, I'm rolling my eyes at you, NYC style for not being in the know...), that would be The Children's Museum of Manhattan .

So, we went there on Saturday with Gaga, but of course, in our typical family fashion, Sofia was sick and miserable. She was kind of grumpy before we left but we thought she was just tired and would perk up when we got there. But we got there, and she didn't perk up. She didn't want to play with anything which is so not like Sofia. So after about 30 minutes, Ricardo just took her out in her stroller and walked her around the Upper East Side until we were done. I'm bummed, because if she was feeling better she would have LOVED it. Luckily, it's really only a 30 minutes drive door to parking garage, so we'll have to go again when she's feeling better.

But, Ella had a blast. She was almost manic, because she couldn't decide what to do first!

First Floor: Greek Mythology...really no interest in this, but it does say it's recommended for ages 5+.

Second Floor: Dora and Diego

Ella really enjoyed this floor, but it was packed. She really liked finding the flowers and "planting them".

At the Mercado. Man this customer took FOREVER

Just give me your pesos and get out of here.

The one picture I got of Sofia. Doesn't she look happy? I guess a 102 fever will do that to you.

Third Floor: Playworks

We spent most of our time up here. They had everything! An MTA car, a fire truck, a play structure, a big dragon that ate letters, a giant lite-brite, an indoor water area, a chalkboard and much more. It was very cool!

Going down the firefighter pole
Circle time
Why do kids love erasing chalk boards so much?

Fourth Floor: Little West Side

This floor was geared more towards the younger kids. I'm so bummed Sofia had to leave before getting here because she would have loved it and it wasn't crowded at all.

On the way back down to the third floor we took the back stairs and came across this machine/video that showed you a video of the inside of your throat, stomach and intestine. Ella was totally grossed out yet she couldn't stop looking.
The "Block Party" area in the basement was closed for a birthday and the outside water area was closed until mid-April, so we didn't get to go to those exhibits. I really want to take them to the water area when it gets warmer.

We were going to get some lunch, but Sofia was just a mess, so we just piled back in and drove back to Jersey.

Ella and Gaga walking back to the car

Oh, and here's a picture of Sofia from after her nap that day. She loves to use the potty. She does actually pee, but I don't think she's anywhere close to being potty trained (nor are we trying). She does try to get me to stop at every public bathroom by yelling out, "Poo poo. I go poo poo."

Anyway, she loves to sit on the toilet and read and this day she added eat to the equation. I know, totally gross. I don't normally let her eat on the pot, but she was just so pathetic and sick, I did. I love her face here-I totally caught her off guard.

Ella's Shabbat

Today was Ella's Shabbat Day at school. This basically means that she provides the challah and the snack, she gets to lead all the prayers and pass out the challah to her friends. But the best part is that her family got to be there to celebrate with her! Her Shabbat was supposed to be last Friday but we changed with Natalie so that Gaga could be here to celebrate.

Ella was out of her mind with excitement. Every morning since Monday she'd wake up and say, "Is Gaga here? Is it my Shabbat yet?" So this morning when she woke up she said, "Has Gaga's plane landed?" when I said yes, she could barely contain her excitement.

Gaga's here!!

The only bummer of the day is that Ricardo came home from work yesterday sick as a dog. We were hoping he'd feel better by this morning but it was a no go. Poor guy had a rough night and a rough day. We're hoping after a good nights sleep he'll feel better.

Anyway, we dropped Ella off at school and had 45 minutes to kill before Shabbat, so the teachers let us take Sofia into the indoor play area.

Sliding with Gaga

Then it was showtime! We got into the classroom right at circle time. Sofia loves coming to school and always jumps right in to whatever activity the class is doing (even though she's just a sibling and not in the class). Knowing this, they set out a carpet square for Sofia so that she could be a part of the class. She loved it and sat right down and paid attention and participated with the rest of the class!

Ella and Gaga
The four of usI've got that Shabbat feeling deep in my heart, deap in my heart...The prayer over the candlesThe prayer over the Challah (we did the kiddush too but no pics)
Ella passing out challah to her friends. "Hannah, would you like a piece of challah? Yes? Ok!"
Enjoying snack and challah with the class. Once again, because the teachers know how much Sofia loves being there, they made her her own placemat and gave her her own spot at the table next to Ella. It was really so sweet, and Sofia LOVED being a big girl next to her sister.

1 out of 3 looking at the camera...

Then the last part of Ella's shabbat was that a family member of her choosing got to read a story, also of Ella's choosing, to the entire class. So of course, Ella chose Gaga, and she chose, Pinkalicious to read.

She started off sitting a couple carpet squares away from Gaga...

While sofia saddled up closeThen about 4 pages in, Ella decided sitting that far away wasn't cutting it and picked up her carpet square and moved right next to Gaga...But even that wasn't cutting it and she needed to hold her hand...but something still just wasn't right...

ahhh, that's better.

And that was Ella's Shabbat!

Bumper Bowling

This Sunday, Ella and her friend Natalie went bumper bowling!! It was so much fun, although I have to ask, why are all bowling alleys just a little creepy? Even at 11 am on a Sunday morning?

The girls had such a blast! Ella was so good about waiting her turn and cheering for Natalie when it was her turn. It's so funny to watch her interact with her friends. I love listening to their little conversations.

Getting ready to bowl! She was so excited and had to pick out her own "bowling outfit". This is what she decided was the perfect bowling outfit...
I tried to get creative with the Pearl River Lanes in the background but #1-I'm a horrible photographer and #2-Ella was way to excited to pose, but I did get in all the key components, the bowling ball, bowling shoes, alley name...

First roll10 minutes later...ok, maybe it wasn't 10 minutes but it sure felt like it. Good God does a 6 lb bowling ball move slowly when "rolled" (and I use the term rolled loosely) by a 3 year old.

Natalie rolling-look at that form!
Ella getting air shouting "Go, ball, go!"
We didn't realize until the end that the screen tracked the ball speed of each roll. Yes, it does say 2.18 MPH and that's with a little help from the dads.
Ella and Natalie discussing their game while waiting for lunch.
Sofia and Jeremy. Now, I know it's partly the angle of the picture and I know Sofia is 6 months older than Jeremy but man she looks like an amazon!
I love that Sofia is starting to know her friends by name too. Whenever we pick up Ella at school she always sees Jeremy and Seth (who she also has playdates with) and calls for them by name; Hi Sefh, Hi Jemey.

It was a really fun time and while I think the girls are a little too young to really get bowling, they had a blast and we'll definitely do it again soon.

Later that evening we had Michelle, Rob, Jackson and Charlotte over for dinner to make some pizzas. Michelle was in charge of the goat cheese and caramelized onion pizza and I made a Brie, cranberry and chicken one. Wow! They were both so yummy, I'm still dreaming of it, specifically the brie, cranberry, and chicken one.

The kids each got their own mini pizza and we just used Trader Joe's pizza sauce and cheese and they loved putting together their own pizza.

I which I wasn't riding on such a food and wine high that night and brought out my camera because the three older ones disappeared in Ella's room only to come out in quite an array of costumes...thank goodness for Jackson, Ella has some soccer uniforms. Poor boy did not want to wear a dress, even if it was Sleeping Beauty!

What a nice ending to the weekend.

I'm so mad at myself.

My picture taking goes in waves and right now the waves are pretty weak.

First, we went to our friend, Michael's 3rd birthday party on Sunday and I brought my camera but it wasn't charged and died 20 minutes in to the party.

These are the only pictures I got:

Ella on the rings with one of the party coordinators, Nicole. Ella loved Nicole and played so well with her. At the end of the party I asked Nicole if she babysat and she does and gave me her number! YEAH for new babysitters!

Then today, Tuesday was Sofia's music class with Sammy. Well neither Jordy or Ella had class so both girls were there today as well and it was hysterical. Sofia was sitting in Jordy's lap. Ella and Jordy were dancing all over the place. Ella was playing with a little baby Ella and of course, I forgot the camera.

Then after class we met our friends Hannah and Seth (and mom Lori) at the mall to walk around and catch lunch and of course, I forgot the camera.

I'm very annoyed with myself.

So the only pictures I have of late are of the girls playing around the house. Not very exciting. Sorry.

Playing with their "Box O' Rice":

Box o' rice (and some dry beans which I added for texture change) is something I found on another craft blog. I just bought a Rubbermaid tub and 5 lbs of rice at Target. I then went to the $1 section and bought some sand toys, found an old ice cream scooper, and a toy truck and viola! Hours (well minutes) of fun.

Sofia usually tires of this within 15 minutes but Ella can sit and play with it for 30-45 minutes. It's great and I love to see her imagination at work!

Today we decided to watercolor a bit, this was Sofia's first time. She mostly enjoyed dipping the paintbrush in water and painting with the water, which is fine too, since it's less messy.

Ella is starting to get very serious about her art work and although she doesn't always stay in the lines you can tell that's her intent. (The green crayon is from another day)
My TWO lefties at work. I'm so proud (not of the work, but of the lefty part!)

I apologize for my lack of picture taking these days. I promise I'll try to do better.

Playing catch up...once again

Last Wednesday, our friend Charlotte came over for a playdate to celebrate her 3rd birthday!

Ella was so excited to make Charlotte cupcakes for her birthday but decided at the last minute to wait and make them with Charlotte.

Stirring, they were so good about taking turns.
Can you tell Ella was excited? Charlotte got to pick what color we made them. She picked blue, but unfortunately, I don't have gel food coloring so it turned out kind of green, but they didn't seem to mind.
Once the cupcakes were in the oven, we tried to get pictures of them waiting, but Ella was too busy licking the spoon. As she says, "I just can't help myself".
They're ready!
I forgot to get pictures of the big girls eating their cupcakes but when Sofia woke up from her nap, she was quite happy to find a cupcake waiting for her!
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In other random pictures...here's Sammy and Sofia at a coffee shop after music class this week.
I love this one, it sums up Sofia. Standing on a couch with a mischievous look on her face. TROUBLE!
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Ella started getting Ricardo's cold on Tuesday but it didn't seem that bad and she was in a great mood. I put Ella to bed that night around 8 pm. Ricardo was in Atlanta for the day for work and got home around 10:00 pm. Within minutes of him being home we heard Ella crying and it didn't sound good, so Ricardo went up there to surprise her and immediately called me to help.

Poor thing, had thrown up ALL over her bed and herself. I honestly have never seen so much vomit in my life. So Ricardo got her in the bath tub while I ran her sheets and bed spread into the washing machine and changed her bed and comforter. She was sweet and just wanted to go back to bed.

So we got her back to bed and not even 30 minutes later we hear her cry out again...yup, she threw up again. So rinse, repeat on the bath and bed change...

30 minutes later Ricardo and I head up to bed and decided to check on her and what do you know, poor thing and thrown up AGAIN but was so tired that instead of calling out to us and having to go through the whole bed change again, she just moved down on her bed so she wasn't in the throw up. I felt so badly waking her up, but I'm glad I did because she requested going to the bathroom and threw up again in the toilet. She even knew to hold her hair back!

So we changed the sheets again, I got her a barf bucket, and then I slept with her for about an hour. She didn't throw up again and woke up in a good mood but was definitely lethargic and not feeling 100%. She even asked to take a nap today! WOW!

Sofia knew Ella wasn't feeling well and just kept walking up to her and hugging her. It was very sweet. I went down to the basement to change the laundry and when I came back up I found the girls cuddling on the couch. It was so sweet!

Yes, I know Ella's pj's don't match but after the third pj change last night she just wanted to change the shirt and I can't blame her for that. Oh, and yes, I have a couch cover on my couch. I know it's tacky, but come on people...I have two kids and a dog. I was tired of cleaning off my couch every single day!

She was feeling much better by days end, so luckily it seemed to be the typical 24 hour stomach bug.