nyc.day two

back to the nyc. day two started a little slow for steph and I as we barely slept the first night there. we both woke up at the same times in middle of the night  and would just start giggling, like little girls. it was great and i wouldn't trade it for sleep now that i'm looking back on it.

We started our day out at the Kitchenette. It was more than charming. Everything about it. the doors they used for tables, old windows on the walls, distressed everything. right up my alley! oh yeah, the food was delicious too.

Homemade turkey sausage with apples and sage. wow.

we rode the subway a lot. i loved it. and i'm thinking they did too.

We ventured down to this really neat coffee and tea store in Greenwich Village. 

It smelled so incredibly good inside and had LOTS of tea and coffee. They roast their beans in New Jersey because they are not allowed to roast in that little bitty shop. The men that own it were delightful and i bought what they suggested for matthew. it was so smooth and nutty tasting. just the way we like it around here. they even had this scale which i loved. 

I just like this one.

we walked a lot. i think i mentioned that in my day one post. i really enjoy walking and looking and experiencing things out of the ordinary for me. i really enjoyed walking past fresh flowers.

we got to have lunch at Lombardi's in SOHO. It is the very first pizza place in the United States. They make delicious pizza and Italian Cream Soda. 

we walked through bryant park which was just a delight in the middle of the city. trees, birds, tables, a view of the empire state building.

. 

We all needed a nap after shopping pretty much all day. So we went back to the hotel for a little while and visited the top of the rock at sunset. Couldn't have been better timing. 

we spent lots of time on top of the rock and i took way too many pictures there. I couldn't help it. it was breathtaking. 

we headed to serendipity to eat dinner and went to dylans candy store while we were waiting. even the stairs were made of candy. so much sugar.

oh serendipity had wonderful atmosphere. it was so eclectic. again, i loved it. look at the lamps. the stained glass. you can't see it but there were windows on the ceiling. 

oh yeah, and the food was delicious too!

the famous frozen hot chocolate. 

then rode the subway back into the super cool grand central station.

whew. what a great day in the nyc. that's only bits and pieces of the day and you would have guessed i would have pictures for most of it. if you get a chance read steph's post on taking a trip. she's a pro and i don't know what we would have done without her. probably laughed a lot less and walked around overwhelmed with so much to do! 

for this season

'tis the season for spring cleaning. At least i have a very willing helper this year. 

I really wish I could hire someone to come organize my house for me. I can keep it clean and organized once it's done but the initial organization is where I struggle. I've got nothing. Just ask my mom. And my husband. 


I tend to make a rather large mess taking everything apart and having NO idea where to put it but knowing I didn't like where it was in the first place. I have a problem. I constantly want to rearrange our furniture, put fresh holes in the walls, and basically undo everything that's already been done. 


I've come to accept we will never, at least not for this season of our lives, have new furniture that we buy to fit our home. I am ok with that. I will just rearrange and rearrange and rearrange every 6 months or so. Matthew says he loves this about me and maybe he does. BUT I do know every time he comes home and I have been up to something, he sighs very heavily. 


This brings me to a subject that is constantly on my mind. I AM SO INCREDIBLY THANKFUL FOR THIS SEASON OF LIFE. 


I am grateful for this season of small children. For this season of having just enough to pay our bills, for food and necessities and not enough for things that don't actually matter. For this season of learning discipline. For this season of friends. For this season of ministry. For this season of a thriving marriage. For this season of depending on the Lord. For this season of hope. For this season of learning that it's not about me in ALL things, it's not about me. 


I know this season will pass and we will learn and grow and the next season of life will be just as sweet or hard or filled with joy and sadness. I don't know, but the God that carries us through every season does know and He chooses each and every good and not so good thing that happens, for His glory alone. Praise Him in His sovereignty and grace to allow me to experience  every season. 


For now, I will continue to "spring clean" with my little helper in our home that has been graciously provided for us. and i will enjoy every minute of it. 

a day maker

planting anything (even rocks) never fails to make grey's day. when matthew goes out of town, the days get kind of long so we try and fill up our time with a few special things. we went to wal-mart for a few things and decided to pick 2 small flowers to plant in pots and watch them grow inside until the threat of freezing temps at night subside.  

Grey did almost all the work himself. I was looking back at what we were up to last march and found this post that was pretty much identical. He must have remembered all he learned last year. He had a blast and even asked me if we could take them out and do it again! 

NYC.day one

Slowly but surely I am going through my pictures from New York and weeding through the 979 I took. I did not have ample amount of time on the trip to compose any great pictures but I did document pretty much every single thing we did. Here are some of my favorites from the first day. 

First Starbucks stop of MANY. and the first of MANY times they misspelled Cheryl's name. 

Cathedral. The name has slipped my mind at the moment but it was beautiful. 

inside the cathedral there were lots of these.

We walked. A LOT!

In the gigantic Toys R' Us there was the Statue of Liberty made out of Legos. Pretty awesome. 

Times Square

Can you find Steph? M&M World never let us down. 

I took a picture of ALMOST everything we put in our mouths. This was dinner at Carmines in Times Square. Yum Yum Yum. Triple yum.

We got to go see Wicked Thursday night but you weren't allowed to take pictures in the theater. I did get one crooked shot of the "before" scene. I am so very thankful I got to experience the greatness of all I have heard about Wicked. At the Gershwin nonetheless.  

This is truly just a snippet of what we did in our first half-day. Glad I have the pictures to relive the trip. Now if I can just find the time to got through the rest of the pictures...

I am home from the Big City.

My very gracious and brave husband had a man weekend at home with Grey and Tucker while I enjoyed a fabulous trip to New York City. He made it possible for me to have such an enjoyable time away from home and handled everything and exceeded all of my expectations here at home!


Our trip was more than wonderful and packed with all kinds of great experiences. I am having a hard time getting back into the swing of things here at home but was more than thrilled to see all my boys on Sunday afternoon! Needless to say, I have many chores and a lot of playing to get done. I will be back with pictures (because I took almost 1000) and stories of our adventures!

i think he likes them

There was snow on the ground this morning. In our house, when there is snow on the ground, we have pancakes! I came downstairs to Matthew and Grey flipping flapjacks. blueberry ones. yum! 


We are all a fan of pancakes. Especially Tucker.