the tortoise and the hare

This week for playgroup we had a lesson about "fast and slow". I thought it would be fun to read the story of the "Tortoise and the Hare" and have the boys act it out. So, I pulled out the bunny ears we made for Easter and then made a tortoise shell out of posterboard and some rope.

I honestly didn't think they'd even be interested in doing this, but we tried it anyway. To my surprise Noah LOVED the tortoise shell. Christian was a good sport and wore the bunny ears. He chased Noah down the hallway and pretended to sleep, while Noah crawled along and won the "race". Meanwhile Eddie hung out at the finish line and cheered them on.

It was really cute. Noah then decided that he wanted to be a tortoise for the day.

Here's a pic of the duo playing trucks after the race:

dress obsessed

So, is it just me or is anyone else totally stoked about the recent trend in modest dresses? (i.e. sleeved-to-the-knee-no-camisole-or-cardigan-necessary-perfect-for-us-Mormon-girls-dresses).

I have really been into dresses lately -- and I finally realized it's because there are so many available that I can actually choose from right now and not have to worry buying the extra $20-$40 coverups that I usually need to go with said dress. I've always been a skirt-and-top girl for this reason alone, but right now I'm ready to buy up every modest dress I see, because I'm so worried I'm gonna miss the trend and be completely out of luck.

Dress shopping has always been easy for me because I can pretty much narrow down the ones that I can actually wear in no time -- and then the pickins' aren't that great when you come down to it. Last summer we had 4 different formal occasions to attend with all of the same crowd of people, so I was in desperate need of dresses. I ended up buying all sleeveless and strapless dresses and adding shrugs... totally annoying! But now, it seems like I could find something so easily.

here's a brief sample of some more casual dresses:

Tar-jay is doing it right...

The Gap had a solid find...

waiting for the BR sale...

you can't really tell from the pic... but this one looks really cute on.

that's right, I had to at least try them all on.

even Chadwick's had some cute things...

**confession: I bought a dress at BR for full price... it actually never came online so I couldn't post a pic, but it was selling out like crazy and I couldn't pass it up. It's dressy, it's modest -- no coverups necessary -- and the best part, it's a size 6! (I'm pretty sure that's why I could justify it -- never thought I'd see the day again!)**

***yes, I just shamelessly posted pictures of cute dresses, where to find them, and my size... and yes, my birthday is in 11 days.***

****these asterisk things are fun and I'm pretty sure I'm not using them correctly.****

Bear #3

I was really excited when Noah decided he was done with his pacifier and took to the little bear that I had so strategically placed in his crib from day 1. But then the bear quickly took on the role of pacifer too. His little nose gets used and abused every night by my relentless child to the point where we've had to replace said bear twice now. Luckily, I remembered that nana Cathy had originally supplied Noah with his first bear at my baby shower and she has been able to replace him.

Bear #3 just arrived in the mail yesterday -- he had to be special ordered from the store! Thankfully nana ordered an extra one because I'm sure there will be a fourth. Hopefully that will get us through the dreaded crib-to-bed transition...

sorry, #3... you're totally in for it!

I think he actually looks scared.
(we may have to have some kind of bear cemetery for these guys.)

Happy Easter, part 2

Wow... I was just looking through my pictures from the weekend to post and it seems like we REALLY went all out for Easter this year! Noah had 5 Easter egg hunts... including his little treasure hunt that we did on Sunday morning to find his basket -- a HUGE hit! He's definitely an Easter-egg-hunting-pro now and is actually starting to expect "jewy beens" and "eastuw eggs" every day. On Wednesday, we had a little Easter party with our playgroup where we colored eggs and dressed up in bunny ears and then we headed up to gma and gpa's house for the weekend.

We went to yet another egg hunt at my mom's church and had a great time hanging out in the 'burbs. Noah is in LOVE with gpa's car ("hee-haw's caah") and would wait by the door every morning until we went out. It's amazing how much he's talking now and how hard it is to understand him at times, but we're loving the attempted communication and will take it over a tantrum anyday (not to say that those are over by any means, but they are definitely fewer and farther between!).

here are some pics from the weekend:

counting to 20 while waiting for the eggs to get colored

waiting to hunt eggs

(not shown: the baby gate holding them in the kitchen!)

gma s. and Noah

(teaching him some egg-hunting techniques)

I just thought this was cute :)

Sunday morning

(more excited about gpa and uncle c. pulling up in their car than the basket!)

mom and Noah

gotta love the tie!

parallel parking "hee-haw's caah"

Easter Egg Hunt

We headed up to the annual Easter Egg Hunt in Fort Tryon Park today. It was a fabulous little neighborhood event. There were lots of eggs found, treats consumed, and some good old community fun had. The weather held up rather nicely (considering the forecast...) and we met up with some of our neighborhood pals.

here are some pics from the day:

on the hunt

eyeing Henry's eggs

Noah and Henry face-off

pretty stoked about his stash

counting out the goods with dad

Noah and Eddie checkin' out their prizes

Juliette and Noah pose for a shot

(sorry, ladies... he's taken! He loves Juliette!)

a quick shot with mom :)

The REAL Housewives of New York City

I admit it... I love Bravo reality TV shows. There it is, out in the open. In fact I watched the first episode of Top Chef twice in a row on Wednesday night when it premiered... (mostly because Jon was on call and I have a hard time falling asleep in my bed without him -- and I kept dozing off the first time it came on... but that's beside the point!) Anyway, when I heard they were doing a reality TV show called, "The Real Housewives of New York City," sort of patterned after the version in Orange County, I was definitely intrigued.

This week was it's second week running, and I'll be honest, I really can't stand it. I've actually felt a lot dumber after watching it. I gave it a fair chance after the first week and thought I might get into it a bit more. But, the characters are SO lame! And I feel like it gives the people that live here such a bad rap. Granted, there are a lot of socialite types here that run the city and everyone's obsessed with money and image... but I seriously can't get over how uninteresting these people are. Their life consists of who they are going to try to impress next and instead of making me want a house out on the Hamptons or to shop on 5th Avenue, I actually started appreciating my little ghetto neighborhood a bit more. I came across this review in the L.A. times and couldn't agree more.

I love running into the same people on the sidewalk all the time and getting to know my grocery check-out lady and dry cleaner's names. I've met so many cool stay-at-home moms in the neighborhood recently... at the playground and at Noah's toddler class... and it just gives me such a good sense of being part of a community. And I actually think that's kind of a rare feeling in this city. I hosted a playdate last week at my apartment and invited new moms we met around the 'hood. One of them had recently moved up to our neighborhood from Chelsea. The rest of us all sighed and said, "Oh, I'm so sorry... that's got to be a huge change for you. How are you adjusting?" I thought it was hilarious when she admitted that it has been really hard and actually compared it to moving to the suburbs. One of the other moms piped in who had moved to the neighborhood 2 years ago and had a similar experience. They feel that way because our neighborhood is not very touristy and there aren't a lot of people coming here just to wander around the Heights like you might do in the West Village. (I had to agree, with the exception of the minivan and neighborhood Target that I covet to get the full suburbia effect!)

And so as I sat in my 800 sq. ft. apartment with 3 other stay-at-home-moms and their toddler boys, listening to Jack Johnson and munching on the oatmeal raisin cookies I had made for the occasion, I couldn't help but think that we were "The REAL Housesives of New York City."

Here's a glimpse of next week's episode... looks like I won't be missing much.

"Monday, string beans"

So, Noah's latest "skill" that we've been working on is learning the days of the week. He's currently obsessed with Eric Carle's book "Today is Monday". There's a little song that goes along with the book that can instantly calm Noah down if he's in meltdown mode -- gotta love those! (I think it was originally a song and then Eric Carle added some illustrations.) Anyway, it's a cute book because it lists the days of the week and then some kind of food to go along with each day. It goes, " Monday, string beans, Tuesday, spaghetti, Wednesday, ZOOOP!, etc."

After the millionth time of reading this book to Noah I started thinking about our weekly dinner menu planning and realized that we're in a food rut and definitely need some help. I actually don't mind having the same dinner menu on a weekly basis... I get used to the recipes, I know Noah will eat what I make, and since we do online grocery shopping, it's a cinch to order groceries week after week (click, click and done!). However, I have to start changing it up every so often or it just becomes WAY too monotonous.

So, it's time for a new weekly dinner menu plan and I want some ideas! Please post your favorite family-friendly, budget-friendly, time-friendly, diet-friendly meals so I can get some ideas and I don't have to make up my own song.... "Monday, stir-fry, Tuesday, chili, Wednesday, fajitas..." etc.