Planting Fields Arboretum

One of the greatest things about Long Island are the old estates (America's version of Europe's castles) turned into parks, museums, and arboretums. We love to explore and walk around the grounds. We visited this one when my mom was in town in March. What a perfect day.




Like mother like daughter. If you know my mom, she is always very careful in the sun- protecting her face with big hats and sunglasses and yet she'll wear black. As you can see, the apple didn't fall far from the tree for me. I have always kinda wished that we still lived in "hat days"- when women wore fancy or fun hats everywhere. I like hats.



My little country bumpkin daughter. This picture makes me think we should move to the country or at least somewhere where we can have a big piece of land for her to play in and explore all day...just like you see her doing here. Love it.

Tulip Festival

One of our favorite parks, Hecksher Park in Huntington, had a Tulip Festival last weekend. We love walking around the pond and letting the girls play at the park. There are geese, swans, and lots of turtles to see. During raining dark days, like we've had for the past week, I need to remind myself that I do like it here. This was one of those days we spent as a family that I'll remember as one of our best this year. Simple. Beautiful. Outdoor fun.





Amelia is so close to walking. She's taking a couple steps alone now and then. I love the friendship Natalie and her are developing. They really crack each other up. It's great.

5k Race

Last Saturday, I ran a 5k with two of my friends. I put forth effort to train a couple months beforehand. I haven't really run since before kids. I mostly walk or do aerobics at the gym. Before I was married, I ran a 5k with my roommate. That was about 5 or 6 years ago. I can't remember what my time was for it, but I'm pretty sure it was over 40 minutes, and I know I walked part of it. I was also about 25 pounds heavier at that time. So this is a story of progress.


Here we are before the race. Carol Rebeck, me, and Lisa Miller. These are two of my favorite people here in New York. Matt and I missed the exit on our way there, so the roads closed by the time we got there, and he had to drop me off at a corner to let me walk into the start line. It was a lonely walk, not really knowing where I was going. Talk about stress building up before the race. Luckily, we still had time to warm up, meet up with our families, pump ourselves up, and go to the bathroom a gazillion times. The nerves.


These are the shoes that made me fly. Just kidding. The orange tag thingy was some sort of magnetic device that clocked my start time and finish time officially. I thought that was pretty neat.


My cheerleaders. I wish I'd taken a picture of my coach- Matt. He did a great job of motivating me during "training" and giving me last minute tips on racing. He even ran the first hundred or so yards with me, pushing the girls in our stroller, yelling out words of encouragement. Slightly embarrassing, but mostly made me feel good and made me fly faster.




The Starting Line. We're right in the middle of the crowds of people. A difficult way to begin. 350 people or more raced with us. When the horn blared, I felt stuck behind the people in front of me. I had to break free, so I saw an opening to my left and bolted toward space out front. The beginning was the only time I really passed people. After that I just kept a steady pace, speeding up just a little once in awhile.


Matt met me at 1/4 of a mile left to run. He was cheering me on, telling me to pick up the pace and get ready to sprint at the end. I told him I had to wait a little longer cause I felt sick. I thought I was going to puke and felt a little light headed. So I reserved my energy a bit longer. Then the track was in sight. It's funny how my body took over and sped up. It felt good to finish strong. I straight-pathed it to the water table and kept walking. Hoping not to hurl. I think my joy calmed my tummy. But I was anxious to see my friends. While running, I saw a woman holding the hand of a younger boy, and running along together. I also saw two men over 90 cross the finish line in under 50 minutes. A man with a prosthetic leg (sp?) came in third. I found myself cheering for strangers, feeling connected to people running beside me and past me. I ran it in 31:26. Much better than I expected to do. Much better than I had done 5 years previously. So I was happy. I must admit though, I was anxious to see my friends Carol and Lisa finish too. I honestly didn't feel completely happy until we had all finished. It was like my victory wasn't complete until they had crossed the finish too. It was really cool and I was so proud of all of us. We all did much better than we thought we would. So yay for progress! I'm actually growing and stretching myself and seeing positive results and sharing it with people I love. Happy day.

Wrestle Mania

Recently, we had a wrestling match.

Purple Tights verses...


The Crab!





It was a fierce match up.


With seconds remaining, Purple Tights gets ready for the pounce.



In the end, the winner was clear.

A No Energy Day

Today I had a very low energy day. What do you do on your low energy days? Tell me specifically what you did on your last one, if you want to share.
I'm assuming you do as I do- read, watch a movie, something simple, at home, where you don't have to do hair or make up or even get dressed. You take care of basics- feed children, change diapers, put clothes on them (sometimes that's above and beyond). So today, I finished a book- Vienna Prelude, and started two others- Secrets of the Baby Whisperer and Anger Management Sourcebook. To see what else I'm reading go to www.goodreads.com and sign up. It's a fun way to keep track of what you're reading and to see what your friends are reading. Let me know if you do. Happy low energy days to you! Every mother needs one once in awhile.

Funnies from Natalie

I've started to write down funny things Natalie says or does. Here are a few:

1. "Cucanumber" (cucumber)
2. "Blisbee" (frisbee)
Those are my two favorite words lately.

3. All her dolls and stuffed animals suddenly have names she gave them- Wendy, Spud, Scoop, Dizzy, Travis, and Loppy (supposed to be Lofty.) Does anyone know what kid's show they're from? I'll answer at the bottom. She just happened to love that cartoon when she started naming things. Kinda funny.
4. "Neenya" and "Neelia" for Amelia, her sister's name.
5. The other day she was helping to feed Amelia food with a spoon, and she was so excited to be helping. She got a little distracted, dipped the spoon, turned her head, and poked it right in Amelia's eye (with food and all). Poor Amelia.
6. Every time I take Natalie to public restrooms, she won't let me flush until she's out of the stall. Why does it have to be so loud? And the automatic flushers...forget it.
7. Story of Grandma's White Slippers:
My mom was visiting this week. She wears her white slippers in the house. I wear my pink slippers occasionally, especially at night right before bed, or in the morning right when I wake up. Natalie is good at taking her shoes off as soon as we come inside from somewhere. One day on our way in, she saw my mom taking her shoes off and putting her white slippers on.
Natalie said, "Grandma- no shoes in the house!"
Grandma replies, "Oh, it's okay. These are just like your mommies slippers."
Natalie retorts, "No they're not. Mommies' are pink!"

We're going to have to watch ourselves with this sharp one.
P.S. The cartoon she named her dolls/animals after was "Bob the Builder." Her dad's in construction.

Easter Dresses

When I was growing up, I loved getting a new dress for Easter Sunday. I have fond memories of my mom taking me and my sisters out to find a pretty dress. And so the tradition continues as we dress up our daughters to celebrate the resurrection of the Savior and everything else that spring symbolizes. If fall wasn't so pretty with the leaves changing colors, this would be my favorite time of year. (Blame it on Paris...I was there for a fall one year and I've never been the same since.) Natalie even let me curl her hair for the first time.