park & play

it's been too long & there is much to catch up on!  however, in an attempt to ease back into posting and catching up - here are some simple shots from today at the park.  I'm working at trying to figure out aperture.  It's great when I can get it - frustrating when it doesn't work out.  I think more photos ended up in the trash on the computer...but here are some of my favorites.....

Oh, and to go along with the pictures of the kiddos - Madeleine figured this out tonight....


Madeleine - 9 letters and she is 9 years old
Bryson - 6 letters and he is 6 years old
Jacob....5 letters - and by the time he is 5, Bryson turns 7....so since that didn't work we went with a nickname that we never use, except for here because it's so cool to say ----
Jake - 4 letters and he is 4 years old!!!!

There you go - deep thoughts from the kiddos.  I love them.....almost most of the time :)   I especially love them when (like now) they are asleep and I look at their photos and marvel over how fast they are growing and how incredible they are!  And the memories of 20 minute tantrums, and sulking at the piano during practicing & crying over wanting a Ring Pop for breakfast and not some other healthy food is pushed back in my memory....and that is why I'll wake up and do it all over again.  I think moms have the best memories - and also the ability to forget what we need to so we can do it again....like childbirth!

Since today was beautiful and we have a break from the rainy weather (which seems to be everyone's story in this country!) we went to the park  a lot today - 3 times for Jacob and twice for the older two....thankfully this is somewhat easy to do when there is a park around each bend on the part of the island where we live.  I think they knew we needed a bigger backyard :)

in my attempt to figure out aperature I've been playing around with the settings & so here I have a fuzzy wall in front.....

and here is what I was actually trying to accomplish!  The wall is in focus and the background has that fuzzy look.  Whew - thankfully it worked & now to put it in practice with the other pictures down below...

Starting the search for buried treasure....

...and trying to figure out how to photograph one of they many tugboats that chug down the East River.
Shot 1 -

Shot 2 -

Shot 3 -

....and the Pirate is still looking for buried treasure :)

the next group of photos I used my long lens for - and had a fun time zooming in with each picture.  I was loving this lens today....and now that I see the pictures I love how green everything is!  The rain has been tricky to handle - however the result with the intense green of the earth is amazing!

Unexpected Mother's Day Trip....to InstaCare!

What a crazy & fun weekend - each weekend seems it could have this label, but this weekend in particular was seriously crazy/fun.

Bryson returned home late last night from his business trip to Guatemala, so we woke up a little later than we wanted...but with enough time to get ready for church...and Bryson made pancakes and eggs for breakfast.  We were running a tad late, so I finished up my breakfast quickly and turned on the computer to print out something for the Primary song I was to teach.  I went over to the printer - I moved the glass piece that had survived a frame falling from a shelf this week...the wood had split, but the glass was in tact.  Crazy - yes.  I should have taken that as a sign!  I had saved the glass as it actually fits in another frame that had fallen last year....but the glass on that one had broken and the wood had stayed intact.  A merging of the frames seemed a natural choice - but I hadn't the time right then to pop in the glass, so I just laid it on the copier.

As I came over to plug in the computer, I moved the glass piece over to a chair right by the bookshelf.  I went to reach down to turn on the copier, and felt a huge burn and pain in my right arm.  I looked down & that's when I realized....that was the most stupidest place I had chosen to put the glass!  I had just sliced my arm open - a fairly big gash - and was trying to stay calm but at the same time was a bit panicked as the blood was starting to come out & of all days - I had chosen to wear my white skirt.  Murphy's Law one might say - but the amazing part is that not speck of blood ever got on my clothes....Bryson and I worked as a team and did our best to pull the skin together and put some adhesive tape on.  Poor guy - he had just gotten out of the shower when he heard me gasp and I called out that something was not right!  I walked down the hall and showed him the wound & I told him that I thought maybe we could just get a butterfly bandage & pull it together.  He looked at the arm and told me that I would probably need stitches.  At this point, my brain started to race & I was thinking of the kids, our schedule for church and how we could make this all work.

While we were taping my arm, I asked Madeleine to bring me my phone, and dialed our friends who were going to ride to church with us.  They are the couple that lives on the island and watched the kiddos for us for our pre-anniversary trip and Dana (the wife) went to the gardens with us last week.  I called and couldn't get through, but left a message that an emergency had come up and to call me...quickly!  I was then taped up, and I moved out to the living/eating room - we had needed to write up Jacob's talk, I needed to call the other chorister in Primary and ask her to lead today as well, and then still figure out the kiddos situation.  I did not want to take them with us to go and get stitches!

I called another family on the island - they are here this year for the husband's rotation in some specials for Orthopedic care.  He is actually the nice person who helped move my toe back into place after I dislocated it last fall...yes, I am a klutz.  Bryson and I talked about that today, and besides having me live in a bubble - not quite sure what to do about the fact that I get hurt rather frequently.  It's almost as if I am back to being a gangly girl who is getting used to longer limbs and feet and not sure how my body works...I seem to get hurt weekly!  Not to this extent - but I have got to take my time so I don't get hurt so much!

Anyway, the wife said her husband was in the hospital working for a few hours, otherwise he could have stitched me up at their place, as she thought they had everything we would need to do stitches.  I had just called to see if he could give his opinion on whether I needed stitches or a butterfly bandage...I kept holding out hope that this might actually be an option!  She said that she'd call her husband and see if he could give me a call to take over the wound and see where things were.

We finally heard back from Dana and her husband, and they were happy to come and get the kiddos and off they went to church, while we found out it would be necessary for me to go in to an InstaCare and get stitches.  Bryson found one that was over on the East Side, so we went out and got the car and drove over and thankfully there wasn't a crazy long wait.  My arm was hurting, and it was hard to hold it together to keep the pressure there so that it wouldn't start bleeding all over.  We were called back and the Dr. told me that since I didn't have a current tetanus shot, that I would need to really watch the wound and be sure that it was healing without any infection.  He also took my arm and just ran it under water to clean out the wound, which was the absolute worst part of the entire process!  The Dr. told me that he didn't think that some shots were needed, and we had a little side-conversation about vaccinations, shots, and choices.  It helped me feel better about our choice, and that those in the medical field were also keeping eyes open to the situation and that choice was important to have in any situation.

After I was stitched up, we drove home, and I settled in for the afternoon.  My arm was sore and the pain was starting to really set in.  The kiddos came back from church, and we had a laid-back time together for the rest of the day.  I will have the memory of this Mother's Day forever - all I'll need to do is look down at my arm to remember the crazy events of this day!

 

 

 
*not one picture of the arm - before or after!  There are certain things I don't think to take pictures of in the moment....wounds are on that list, but now I wish I had some pictures of it all!

don't let the parade pass you by!

{note: above title is a line/song from one of my all-time favorite musicals 'Hello, Dolly!' Click HERE to watch the part of the movie where I got this line from - if you want to skip the talking and just hit the music and the parade of ALL parades forward to 3:35 on the time bar. Ahhhh...I love this show! When will this come to Broadway?!}

The art teacher at the kids school was excessed last year due to budget cuts. At first, this was devastating news & we sat in PTA meetings trying to figure out a way to raise money that we could grant to the school to cover the cost of retaining him. The problem with that thought, is that the Dept. of Education mandates certain areas that PTA's can give money to the school - and paying for a teacher's salary is a big NO!

The administration told us about a program called Studio in the School, which other schools have used and that the Admin. had heard good things about. The program came into the school and worked closely with the curriculum taught in the classroom, creating projects based on what the students were learning. That was something that hadn't been done with the previous art teacher, and although we were so sad to think of this teacher leaving - there was hope that the new program we would pay for would work. The program would also be about 1/2 the cost of a full-time art teacher...and so with apprehension we signed up.

I have to say --- my words have been completely eaten this year with that I could not imagine a program that could do as well as the art teacher we had. How wrong I was.

The Studio in the School program blew myself and many parents away! The quality of work is amazing, and that they do study along with the class on their subjects has been a perfect connection. It's also nice to see that every grade level does a different art project and with a different medium!

Madeleine's class did a lot of printing - creating pictures of the different bridges around NYC and also created a banner of different buildings around the city - a printed skyline. All of them were beautiful pieces of art work!

Bryson's class (all 1st grade classes) studied about animals to go along with their non-fiction research they did in class about a variety of animals. They learned how to sketch a picture and did so in pencil. Then they learned how to paint the picture, working in stages on background, foreground and putting in the key elements of animals and landscape. Yesterday, the 1st grade showed us their latest creations in the world of their animal art work by having a parade.....an Animal Mask Parade!

Meet Bryson the DUCK!

{the masks were made by paper mache and then objects on the outside of the mask are all recyclable materials that the students brought from home - sans the cotton balls used as eye balls!}

Bryson and classmates - Samantha {Horse?}, David {Rabbit}, Bryson {of course!} and Renee {Rabbit}

Marching around the auditorium after we had a little talk by the Art Teacher who told us the process the children used to make the masks and then let us enjoy another photo opportunity as they wound their way around the auditorium again! Well done Bryson - we are so proud of your art work and creativity!

he must be from Florida...

Our child that was born in the sunny state of FL, must have something a little extra that came into his blood. This boy LOVES orange juice! This past week, he asked for an orange and a straw and was convinced by putting them together - he'd get a delicious drink of juice...

Look no further Tropicana...

this is your new model!

madeleine

Bryson had been out of town since Thursday to Guatemala for work.  Which he loved & had such a great experience being in the culture that he enjoyes - laid back, genuine & absolutely just what he wanted and needed (work in the office hasn't been treating him very well - too long of hours, too intense of projects & emotions...it was time for something different!).

Friday night the boys and I accompanied Madeleine to her Activity Days which was a combined activity with all the girls in our stake (which means the entire Manhattan area from our ward which reaches down to Wall St./Financial District up to the Harlem Ward...which of course is in Harlem!)

The Stake Primary Presidency arranged to have the girls do flower arranging - each of them were able to make a little nosegay that they could give to their moms.  It was chaotic and fun & the gym smelled like a beautiful nursery.  Madeleine made one for herself :) {I don't think that she quite got that they were supposed to be for Mother's Day...oh well, girls love flowers too right?!} & she made one for our neighbor down the hall, which was such a sweet gesture.

The boys enjoyed pulling out legos and it was a natural magnet for every other boy in the gym...it's like the smell of legos was stronger than the scent of flowers...the boys just found each other!  Happily creating lego pieces while the girls were all working on their flowers.

It was a fun evening activity and everyone had something to do to use their creative side, and enjoy time together.

favorite memory

I was at the school a little early for pick-up ... where is my mind!  I was at the school all day - so when pick-up time came around I was already there and then started to chat with another mom about PTA things (common conversation I seem to have all the time!).  I looked at the time as we were chatting and realized I was a few minutes behind in getting Jacob, so she walked over with me to the classroom.

We were still talking, when Jacob came to the door and he stood there and then I realized he was singing.  

To me.
A darling little Mother's Day song his teacher taught him. 

I love Mommy, yes I DO!  

I love Mommy, yes I DO! 

I love Mommy, yes I DO! 

She's so special let me tell you! 

It took me by such surprise that it took me a second to understand that he really was singing to me!  I watched him, with his big smile and his hand clutching the flower and the little picture he had made for me.  And I couldn't help it - I started to cry.  

What an amazing moment & what a great boy he is.  It is needed to have our moments such as this - because last night was intense, tonight another moment where I wondered what I was doing wrong!  

Then I remembered looking down at him, and hearing his little voice sing the song to me.  

And I love Jacob too, oh yes I DO!  :)