Things to do!

Jamie and Rachel moving here has been invaluable for us as far as finding kids' activities in the neighborhood. One of the things Jamie found is this playtime up at a church 3 blocks away every Tuesday and Thursday morning. There's a guy with a guitar that sings a bunch of kid's songs for a couple hours. Audrie loves him. I'm pretty sure she thinks she's part of the show.
They also open up the yard of the church and set up a bunch of sprinklers, kiddie pools, and slip and slides.
The "arkie" girls love it! It gives them a chance to feel the grass on their feet like back home. And with the hot days we've been having up here, the water is a great relief! Baby Annie has been dubbed the "hamburglar" by Jason as she is constantly taking all of the other kids' sippie cups and snacks from their diaper bags. It's so funny to watch!

And while Baby "Sammy-o" is still a little too young to appreciate everything, it's so nice to know where to go to get some of these social activities. He does LOVE LOVE LOVE the music!

This has become one our favorite things in the week! Thanks, Jamie! Keep the events coming!

4 months...

We're back in New York but I thought I'd post a few pictures from our last days in Arkansas. We can't express how nice it was to be home for such an extended amount of time. We haven't gotten to go home for Christmas in 2 years and if we DO get time to get away and see family, it's never for long. I thought the boys looked pretty cute in this picture. I didn't pose this, by the way.

Sam's doctor told us to fatten him up while we were away...and I think we succeeded. We weighed him and I'm pretty sure he weighed in at about 15 pounds before we left. But wait til you see him now! I'll post some more recent shots soon. I'm just SURE he's 18 or so! HUGE!



While we were in Rogers with Jim and Emily, we wanted to make sure we got all 3 boys in a picture together. The best part of this photo is really what's going on in the mirror in the background....
And the whole clan...


While we were in Fort Smith with my family (and the pool) we had Rachel come down with the girls to help them beat the Arkansas heat.
Audrie practiced all of the skills she was learning in swim class. She was AWESOME at jumping in the pool (as long as someone was there to catch her, of course).
Annie just preferred a simple dunking every once in a while.
I absolutely love watching Jason with kids. Audrie told him he was her best friend. Is it just me or is there really nothing sexier than a man playing with little kids?!
The pool was an absolute saving grace while we were home. It's always one of my favorite parts of visiting Fort Smith. Thanks, Mom and Dad!!!

One of the biggest changes for us here in the city is that Jamie and Rachel and the girls have moved to New York City!! Old news by now but we are still in shock and loving it! Rachel got a job teaching at a charter school up in Washington Heights and we couldn't be prouder of our dear friends for doing this incredibly brave thing! We know how big of a change it is to live here and how scary it can seem. They are living 5 blocks from us and it takes about 5 minutes to walk to their place. We LOVE it!! I hope it's not too selfish to love having them so close to us. The girls seem to be adjusting so well, too!! We all took a trip to Brooklyn this weekend to checkout the Brooklyn Flea Market. Since it was such a long trip on the train, they let the girls walk around a little bit outside of the stroller. Audrie loved the poles (as so many 3-year olds do) to swing and dance around. Annie was just happy to covet this advertisement for Ben and Jerry's ice cream.
Of course I didn't get ANY shots of the Flea Market but it was really cool. Jamie is going to have a booth on August 20 selling his lamps. Let's just hope it's a little cooler than it was this weekend! Whew it was warm!!

First solid food!!

We started the boy on some solid food this week. Yay! So friggin' exciting!

We started with sweet potatoes. Gran was nice enough to buy us a "Baby Bullet" blender system. The same people who make "The Bullet" blender you see on TV make a cutesie version for babies. We started with boiling down our sweet potatoes to be REALLY mushy...

then spooned them into the big blender bowl...

then just 1...2...3...and....
sweet potato milkshake!!!!
Then we spooned the mush into the adorable little serving size containers and either stored them in the fridge or freezer.
Look how sweet! I love the idea of my food smiling at me from the refrigerator.

We got him all bibbed up and ready to go.

First bite! Success...loves it!

We sort of have to keep our hands over his arms and hands so he won't sabotage the spoon as it heads toward his mouth.

But I think he enjoys it! Huh?!


We went "up the hill" to visit Jim and Emily and their new baby boy Noel. We took some food with us and made mashed avacados while we were there. Aunt Emily always has an avacado on hand:). Cousin Ben wanted to "help" but proved to be more of a delightful distraction than anything. Haha!

Sam was mesmerized by him....

He kept trying to touch Ben with his sweet potato-y hands.

We've since added avocado and squash. Next up---peas, zucchini, and bananas!
We are loving this next step. We actually love all of the steps!

Late Update

So my camera decided to go on the fritz a few weeks back and it's not worth getting it fixed until we get back to NYC this week so I'm a bit behind on our Arkansas visit...apologies as always...
Just a few pointless pictures for this post. I'll try and put up a few posts this week. Nothing much going on down here. Just a lot of baby time and grandparent time. Before we left, the pediatrician told us that Samuel was a little on the small side for his age. He's very long and we were just having a hard time keeping up with his height. But I think Arkansas has been good for his weight gain.

He's looking fatter/healthier every day! And so grown up sometimes!
And thank goodness there's a piano down here! Jason has been playing for Sam almost daily. I guess I shouldn't be astounded at how the boy responds to music but I always get so excited when I watch him listen to Jason sing and play for him.

Is 5 months too young to start piano lessons....????


Jason has been working so hard on his show down here and we finally got to get away for an extended evening for the opening night of "Joseph...." It was a great excuse to get all gussied up and leave the baby with the grands for the night! We had a great time and the show was FANTASTIC!!! I am so proud of Jason and the work he does. I love love love watching him in the pit...seeing his hand give a cutoff every once and again....watching the top of his head bob up and down in the spotlight during the overture, etc.

All is well down here. We're wrapping up our much needed family time and getting sad to leave. It's been amazing and I'll put up some more posts this week before we go!

Home again, home again, jiggity jog!

Jason and I are home in Arkansas for 6 weeks for a job that Jason got at the Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre. He's musically directing "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" and he's having a great time! So the blogging purposes have switched. For the next 6 weeks, we will blog for the benefit of our New York family, as our Arkansas family is all around us!

Last weekend, we traveled up to Fayetteville for cousin Ben's 3rd birthday. The weather was "iffy" all weekend. These are some shots of the clouds rolling around in the hills as we came up the mountain.

I forget how easy it is to watch the weather down here. There aren't any skyscrapers to get in the way!

The clouds look close enough to touch...



Ben had a pirate party! What a cutie!
He was so great all weekend with Sam. He seemed so concerned when Sam would cry and he would ask what was wrong.
And Aunt Emily was such a sport letting us try out all of the new toys she has for baby Noel (coming to a Burrow near you in June!)

Gran and Grandad got Ben his very own "ipad." His new Ixl was a hit! He can color, and read stories, and play games, and so much more!!
And the piece de resistance of the weekend.....a power wheels john deere tractor!!
I was so impressed at how well he drove this thing! An expert, really...

Samuel did great! He loved being outdoors (another thing that is quite different than in New York.) We have parks, of course- but it takes a little travel to get to them. Here, they're right outside in your backyard!!
It was such a great weekend with family! We loved every minute.