love - LoVe - LOVE

an unconventional post for this Valentine's Day to celebrate some of the little things I love....

love

I kept thinking about my favorite treat today - Chocolate Covered Cinnamon Bears.  I tried not to think of them too much, as I have yet to find a place that sells them, or even a place that sells Cinnamon Bears that I could dip into chocolate.  Then as I was taking Jacob to preschool, our Concierge told me we had a package, and I waited patiently until after my errands to open it up.  Thankfully Grandma Joy's Valentine's Day Box included a little indulgence for myself as well as for the kiddos....there were my dreams in reality....my Chocolate Covered Cinnamon Bears!  I love these amazing morsels of goodness!   I love my mom more for thinking to send them to me.  I would really love if I could figure out a way to order their 25 pound box and put some of these bites of heaven into food storage.  

LoVe......
When Bryson Jr. gets excited to clean the toilet for me and tells me he is the best toilet cleaner ever!  I completely agree :)  These are pictures from last Saturday's chores, and I am still only taking pictures on my camera so the quality isn't the greatest, but I'm going crazy with not having a camera!  I feel like I haven't really documented life since my camera broke last November....ahhhhhh!  I was going to send in my camera to be fixed this week....but now I can't find the receipt which is supposed to accompany the camera.  I hope that I can find that receipt soon - I want a "real" camera again!  Anyway - that isn't what I LoVe, so back to this....

One of Madeleine's jobs was to help Jacob match the socks and then fold them up to put away.  She was very patient and made it into a fun game (she is getting great at this - many times having more patience and better ideas than I come up with!) - where Jacob took the folded socks and shot them into the basket (a.k.a. the IKEA bag) and quickly worked their way through the pile of socks while have a great time and practicing Jimmer shots!

and i LOVE these cheeks and this precious new babe!  Welcome little Juliet to the family....my sister Brooke had her second little girl early Saturday morning, and this is our only picture of this sweet new love in our family.  I wish we were closer so I could hold her and kiss those cheeks!

p.s. I don't love.....
*that I can't figure out the date system on the new blogger!  I had started this post on Valentine's Day....around 11pm.  However, Bryson got home right after that (another part that I don't love so much....the late nights home) and so I published the post to make the sure the date would hold, and then saved it as a draft.  Now, when I went to publish it - it came up for Tuesday, the 15th.  The old blogger did not do that!  What is going on?!  How can I make sure to have a post actually post on the day that I want it to?

Anyone?  Please help!! :)

Sunday Funnies

My favorite part of the newspaper when I was growing up were the Sunday Comics - or "Funnies".  Actually, those are still my favorite part of the newspaper as I can count on understanding at least one section of the news.  In honor of those days of sitting down to read the Funnies, I bring you our own Sunday Family Funnies...

******
Two days ago (Friday) we got home very late from finishing up the Book Fair. More on that later, but it's always a crazy schedule for the family - particularly myself and the kiddos - during a Book Fair week.  I'm at school each day from beginning until about an hour after, and the last day is the doozy as it's take down, clean-up and sorting through the financials...it's at least a 12 hour day on that final day and that is even with a crew of volunteers!  My kids are such champs during Book Fairs - thankfully they love it so they don't mind getting to browse the fair every day, still I find ways to reward them for their patience and help.

This time around, I let each of the kids choose their own poster from the ones that had been sold on Friday night after the week of hard work. Bryson Jr. decided on the shark. I asked him a few times if he was sure because I'm not so sure about walking in and seeing the big JAWS picture on the wall. However, he loved it!

We got home around 8pm and Bryson Sr. walked in the door about 30 minutes after us, and right away Bryson wanted to show his shark picture off! Our children wish almost daily they had more than a Pillow Pet, Zhu-Zhu Pets and Littlest Pet Shop (thanks Dan for the realization via your FB post that we DO have a lot of pets!), but due to living in an apartment and more importantly allergies for Dad....pets aren't an option in our life.

Except Bryson Jr. came up with a pet we might consider.

No worries on where we will keep it - because he thought of that as well. When Bryson Sr. asked him where a shark would go, his ready response,
"Well, we can keep it in a cage out in the East River Dad!"

See. Problem Solved. One shark delivered to Roosevelt Island, NY, NY please!

*******

Today as we were driving home from church we were trying to keep Madeleine's mind off being car sick, and Bryson Jr.'s mind off of teasing Jacob. We were asking both of them questions about their primary classes, what they liked, if they were excited for school, etc.

Apparently Jacob got a little put out that no one as asking him questions. "Hey, I had a good time in class!" or "I had a fun time talking to ________ (friend in his class)", and "I was following ________ (other friend) after church!". But still, no was asking Jacob questions.

So, he took matters into his own hands. From the backseat we heard Jacob's little voice....

"Are you happy Jacob? YES I AM!"

******

Bryson Sr. taught our FHE lesson tonight on Money Management - specifically 1) Tithing, 2) Savings (Mission, Education, etc.) and 3) Fun.

Jacob trying to patiently wait to open his present from Daddy! 

opening up their NEW banks....let's hear a hooray!  

He was excited because he bought new banks from Deseret Book for the kids to put their money into. I got them a bank last year....from Ikea....on clearance. It wasn't nearly as cool. Then again, I'm not the specialist in finances - I've always been better at spending money than saving it. :)

As Bryson Sr. was focused on the lesson, Bryson Jr. was struggling. "I don't want to pay tithing! I'm never paying tithing. EVER!"

We kept plodding along with the lesson.

We got to the part where we paid them for the jobs that they did yesterday for their Saturday work. They were so excited to see their $2, and we started to talk about what the 10% for tithing would equal to. Madeleine started to count out her money, and put it into the tithing slot.

Bryson Jr. was not happy about giving his 10%. "But Dad, it's just 10%! What is the big deal if I actually pay it?!" And we kept plodding along, Bryson Sr. being able to convince him to put the money into the tithing slot - although still at bed Bryson Jr. was saying that he did not want to pay tithing.

Baby steps. Baby steps. With each of the children they struggle with one of the principles of gospel living that for whatever reason just doesn't make sense in their mind. Madeleine does not like getting a blessing (we were really worried she'd actually refuse getting the gift of the Holy Ghost after her baptism!....thankfully all went well) and with Bryson - well, it seems to be tithing that we need to keep speaking positively about.
 
******

For Madeleine - her funny moment wasn't all that funny, but how I realized she has this really great sense of humor in her writing. Her class finished a book this week, and she was working on a final project for it this weekend. She took the role of a reporter and asked the characters in the books different questions to learn more about their feelings and the development of the story and how each person grew and changed during the story.

The reporter had some funny lines - especially bringing the guests "on" and "off" the little show that was being written about. She had everything written out by hand and I needed to type it for her, and I really enjoyed reading her words and catching this glimpse of how writing really does open up ways that we can express ourselves in a much more free and liberating way.

Madeleine has always had a great sense of humor - I just really enjoyed the extra dose of it tonight in her writing!

******

That's all for this edition of your Sunday Funnies. Hopefully we'll have a new run next week to share :)

L says R - and R says L. It's all very confusing.

There was a funny scenario tonight at piano lesson that caused me to grin. In a very big way. I actually really wanted to laugh out loud, but I thought it would probably be rude. And disruptive.

So, I held it in and realized I had to write it down.

Our teacher is a wonderful Japanese older woman who was referred by our friends from school. I realized last week that our life here has led us to know and have many wonderful friends from Japan. Madeleine's best friend Aoi and her family moved here when we did, and sadly will be returning to Japan at the end of the school year. We adore their family, and all 3 children are favorites of my children and their mother is a jewel. One of the sweetest people I have ever met. At school two of Bryson's classmates - Hiiragi and Misaki - are from Japan and I got to know the moms as we started an English Conversation Class through the PTA. The children aren't in the same class this year, but they continue to be amazing friends that are so sweet and very willing to help when I need some "adopted family" around. These friends also introduced me to our piano teacher here on the island. I found out that both Hiiragi and Misaki were taking piano from a teacher in the building right next to ours. I met the teacher, liked her a lot and decided to have the children take - and love her philosophy and teaching methods.

At church one of the sisters that I got to know and really enjoyed getting to talk to on Sunday, was Japanese and her husband a mix of Japanese-American. They moved to Brazil with work, and I miss talking with her at church. She is so real, no pretensions and crazy enough...even though they lived way downtown and had moved to our ward from Brooklyn ---- they had the same piano teacher.

It's a small world.

Last week during piano we had Aoi with us as her mom had a medical emergency that day. As we came into our lesson, we introduced Aoi to Ms. Yoshiko and she glanced up at me and said, "You know so many Japanese friends Ms. Summer! How did you do that?!"

I have no idea how it all worked out, but our lives have been so blessed by these friendships. I tell my Japanese friends if only I had been having them teach me Japanese while we lived here....then I might have learned a few important phrases! Oh well, we were focused on them learning English, and I never had Japanese on my radar until now. I suppose I need to take the hint and be ready to learn any and all languages when the opportunity presents itself.

Now - the funny story with the Japanese language. One rule of their language that we now know is that they do not say an 'L' sound. It actually comes out as an 'R' sound. We learned this with Bryson's friend Hiiragi and his mom Yukari. I could not figure out his name - I saw that it was spelled with an 'R', but I would hear his mom and it always sounded like she was saying an L or would call him the shortened version of Hila. I was confused, until one time at our English Conversation class I asked her - and she said L and R is mixed up in Japanese - they can't really say the sound of 'R' in the English language. But then again, it's bizarre as the names that we know that have 'L' in them, we can hear them saying an R - and when there is an R we hear them with more of an L sound. Now I'm really confused.

Fast forward to today at Bryson and Madeleine's piano lesson. She does about 20 minutes while each child working on individual warm-ups and pieces on the piano. Then for 20 minutes she does theory and rhythm/beat exercises for a total of a 60 minute piano lesson. Today she wanted the children to clap for a 2 beat and then 3 beat rhythm. For the 2 beats they children were to say 'Lincoln' and then for the 3 beats it was 'Washington' - a way to incorporate President's Day she said :)

The only glitch was that when she gave them the example she said as she was clapping, 'Rincoln, Rincon, Wash-ing-ton'. And I started to smile.

The kids sat with their backs to me and she was facing them and therefore, me as well. I was being very careful not to overstep and say anything during the lesson, but the difference between saying 'Lincoln' and 'Rinkin' was very evident and I didn't want the children saying it the wrong way - they should know the President is Lincoln, but I wasn't sure they would actually say it with the 'L'.

And then right as the teacher finished her example and turned it over to the kiddos to clap and chant while she played the beat - I saw Madeleine lean over to Bryson in a quick instant and whisper in his ear....

'Remember R's are L's in Japanese!!'

And I then enjoyed the exercise and hearing the children's young and small voices counting out 'Lincoln - Lincon - Wash-ing-ton' while in the background was the strong voice of our beautiful teacher calling out 'Rincoln - Rincoln - Wash-ing-ton'.

It was definitely a favorite moment of piano!

The Writing Piece

The boys and I are home sick today - head colds, runny noses and stuffed up noses. And so the marathon of cleaning up the computer and catching up on emails and blogs begins.

In my emails I found this piece of writing that Madeleine had written out on Bryson's computer and that he had emailed to me. I had never read it, and thought it was a very insightful piece of writing. I applaud the author for taking experiences from her life and writing fiction and non-fiction tied together in this piece. There were a few 'aha' moments while I was reading through, and I'm going to jot down some 'notes to self' at the end.

Enjoy Madeleine's Masterpiece ~

Ryan! Get out!!!

By: Madeleine Lord

Boom! Crash! Bang!

“Oh Ryan! Not again! Now look at the mess you made! Now get out of our room right now! Go!” Samantha yelled at her little brother.

Samantha flopped down on her bed and picked up the phone. “Hi Jessica!"

"What’s up?”, Jessica asked.

“Oh nothing. Well I’m just sitting at my desk.” Samantha answered. “Jessie! It happened again. Ryan painted all over Fluffy, messed up my papers, went on my computer, and colored all over my artwork.”

“Oh Sam! Why don’t you just ask your Mom?” Jessica answered.

“Oh Jess! You know that won’t work. Now why don’t you come over and help me clean up the papers, organize my folders, fix my computer, draw some artwork, and wash Fluffy,” Sam said.

“Okay! Do you want me to bring over my dog, Pepper?” Jessica replied.

“Sure. Well, it doesn’t really matter…..okay, sure bring her over,” Samantha answered. “Okay. Bye!” the girls both said at the same time.

Samantha put down the phone and let out a big sigh of relief.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Uggghhhhh!! Ryan! What are you doing?!?!” Samantha said.

“Nothing!” Answered Ryan.

Bump. Bump. Bump.

Samantha walked down the hall.

“Ryan! Stop! You’re always making a mess and you’re in KINDERGARTEN!!!! Oh, Gosh!” Sam said.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Samantha walked back to her room.

Plop! Samantha sat down at her desk and started to write emails to everyone. Susy started to walk in with Fluffy. “Oh Susy! I am so sorry. I wish I hadn’t woke you up! I wish I hadn’t done it.” Samantha said.

Swish! Swish! Slop!

“Oh Ryan, you are the worst little brother! Now let me see….you ruined my papers, colored and scribbled all over my artwork, went on my computer, messed up my files, and painted all over Fluffy. Why can’t you just leave or have a play date!” Samantha yelled.

Ring! Ring! Ring! The doorbell rang. “Coming!” Ryan yelled.

“Oh no you don’t! It’s for me, not for you, so I’m getting it!” Samantha told her younger brother.

Swish! Bang!

The door was so heavy because of the wind. Samantha thought that it was heavier than two rocks. “Come on in Jessica and settle down in my room,” Samantha said. Samantha and Jessica went up to Samantha’s room, sat down on her bed and began to talk. They talked about Samantha sharing a room. Then they talked about Samantha having her own room. There was silence after that, so Samantha said, “Let’s clean up the mess, wash up Fluffy, and then we can take the dogs to the park so we can have a break away from…..”

Bam! Bam! Crash!

“Ryan, come here!” Samantha and Jessica yelled. Ryan stomped down the hallway.

“What are you doing?” Samantha asked.

“Banging Dad’s hammer on your project table.” Ryan replied.

“Ryan! Why did you do that!?! You know, you aren’t supposed to do….”

Jessica interrupted by saying “Sam forget about it! Ryan just forgot … now let’s just clean up the papers while Ryan plays.”

“Ryan go play so that we can have some time away from you and your attitude.” Samantha said to Ryan. Jessica and Samantha started picking up the papers, pencils, books, organizing the files, and putting them neatly back into their places. Later Samantha and Jessica gave the dogs a bath in the huge, green, backyard.

“Ryan! Please come here!” Jessica yelled.

Ryan came running down the stairs as quick as a cheetah. “What do you want?” Ryan asked Samantha and Jessica. “We are asking you to never go on my computer, scribble on my artwork, ruin my papers, mess up my files, and to never ever paint on Fluffy.” Samantha said to Ryan.

“Sure. I will never do any of those things again. I will even cross my heart.” Ryan told Samantha. “Good! We hope you won’t do it again,” Jessica and Samantha said.

“Can we go to the park?” Ryan asked the girls.

“Sure. We will take you to the park.” The two girls said.

The three of them plus the two dogs set off to the park.

From then on, Ryan never did bother Samantha, ruin her things, or go on her things without asking. Ryan didn’t do those things because he got his own room and kept his promise.

The End

Fun Friday Outing

We had a little outing to the city on Friday night - and endured the cold to tell about it! :)

My cousin Hillary is in town, and she had been in the city sightseeing during the day, while I had some things to do at the school (Bryson Jr. had an activity with his class and it is Scholastic Book Fair time - which means I live at the school for about 2 weeks...I do look forward to this event and love every minute of it! It's one of my favorite projects by far!). Madeleine had Activity Days at the church, so I told Hillary that we should meet up at Shake Shack for dinner - it's just a block over from the F train where we come down to the church, and it's a well-known burger joint here in the city....and rather good. Problem is - the line is almost always very long and I don't like to stand in line and wait for my food when I'm hungry. However I thought with the cold maybe we wouldn't have the problem of the usual crowds. Who eats outside in these conditions?! People that have the Miller blood in their genes that's who! I was right...there was not a line when I went - but more on that below....

Here are some pictures of our lovely - icy weather! We've had some icy rain along with many parts of the country during the past few days, so I had to take a picture of the kiddos walking down the subway on the sheets of ice over the snow. It is pretty how it shimmers in the sunlight - but I prefer the plain, regular snow....ice is not very friendly.

We made our way over to Shake Shack once off the subway...I forgot how busy both the subway and sidewalks of the city are during "rush hour". It was a bit insane, but thankfully we were rewarded at Shake Shack with seats under the heaters set up outside. We quickly overtook 2 tables with our things while we waited for Hillary....and the kids played in the snow while waiting. Blessing & curse - the kept warm as they were moving around. Curse - they were sweating a little bit so when they finally sat down they to eat they quickly turned to freezing!

Madeleine and Hillary

We enjoyed our Shake Shack burgers, fries and FREE custard....crazy to eat outside in the cold, but fun for most of the time! After I took the food to the table, the kids asked for waters so I went back up to the "shack". While waiting for the waters I was talking to the people inside working.....it was warm by the window so I was trying to pass time without looking obvious that I was trying to stay by the warmth! After I told them that my cousin was here visiting from the L.A. area and that we were really enjoying our food - she said "So, do you want free custard then?!" She assured me she was serious, and I hesitantly gave her the number of just the kids - thinking I could have them split, and then she told me to give her any number - the sky was the limit! So with a laugh, I told her we had 6....and I walked back to the table where we were all already freezing with 6 orders of free custard to enjoy. The teeth definitely started to chatter as the kiddos ate that treat!

Aoi and Madeleine - inseperable friends....

Aoi loves Activity Days and likes to come with Madeleine to each one!

we told him to swallow first....ewww gross!

This is a new color combo - Blue and Orange on the Empire State Bldg. Interesting. Not my favorite color choices, but I still just love to see that building throughout this city.

With numb toes and fingers we started to walk back towards the subway --- forfeiting our idea of walking down the 6 blocks to the church. We were just too cold! Then we passed by 'EATALY' a place that I've heard about and have wanted to go in. We quickly turned around and went into warmth. And an amazing marketplace that focuses on all things Italy. It was amazing!

We walked around in awe of the beautiful produce, the many varities of cheese, pastas, bread. They have a little place in the middle where you can stand and eat sampling of food and wine.....the latter being something we wouldn't really need, but the food looked and smelled divine! It's definitely a place that I want to go back again and buy more than the Dried Tomato Tuscan Loaf that came home with us....and perhaps next time I'll go with a few less children - everyone we talked to would look at the 4 kiddos and say, "Are all these yours?!" Madeleine would usually pipe up with - "Well she has 3 of us, and this one is my friend" as if that explained so much, but still people who are only use to 1 and maybe 2 children in the city were agog. Simply agog! (thank you Music Man line)

Since our piggies were toasty warm - we went back out into the brisk air which didn't feel nearly as cold and walked down to church, where Madeleine and Aoi enjoyed a lesson on sewing for Activity Days and the boys enjoyed play time in the Nursery.

Happy Days. I think Friday nights are going to be my new Date Night. I love having some time with the kids in the city, and since we'll be coming in every Friday night for Madeleine's activity (she has a new leader who is actually planning activities which is fabulous!) ---- I think we are going to make a list of places we want to see that we can see in a short 2 hour window before we head over to the church. We'll be in the city anyway, and this way it will help me chisel out the wish list of places to see in the city if we do move out to the burbs this summer.

And the other upside....if I can't date my husband on a Friday night, I might was well take out my kiddos.....they are cute too! :)

Here is to next week's Fun Friday Adventure!

past memory

I am cleaning through each area of the apartment - I started thinking we might be moving in February and I wanted to get a head start on organizing and throwing things out. Then we decided to stay, but I realized my spring cleaning was going to be done early on so that we can play once the weather turns nice again. If that ever happens!

Last week was the hallway and I went through the many, MANY notebooks/journals and writing tablets we have. In one of those notebooks I found this little gem. Dated from October of 2009, during General Conference. And it says....

"Why do you bring up Jesus in everything?"...quoteth Bryson Jr.

I wish I would have written the context of why he said this - because I think it's a little funny, in a not-laughing at religious things way. Just that his observation was probably spot on with it being General Conference and everything revolving around the Gospel and our Savior.

As I see it - he was stating the obvious. In his very sincere, open, and honest 5 year old way.

I'm so glad I decided to clean that hallway.

another year

We signed a lease today for a 12 month contract on an apartment.

For a 2 bedroom, 880 sq. ft. apartment to be exact.

Does that sound familiar? It does? Oh, that is because we signed up for the same apartment, for another 12 months. Insane.

And yet, hopeful.

At the end of spring/early summer we will either be looking to rent a home out in the Westchester area that we could move to before the children start school. Or, if Madeleine gets into a different school we could stay here and move into a bigger apartment. And sign up for another 12 months.

That is if I don't become completely depressed by then.

I feel guilty complaining because we have a home, but this home is just getting a tad too small for us. I'm really looking forward to the day when we will move!