The Mothners – Page 4

Hip Hop Julie

One day Julie kept asking to watch the ‘hot video’ on the computer. I couldn’t figure out what she was talking about, then she said ‘where I have band-aids on my knees. And I’m dancing.’ So here’s the video, along with the backstory:

One August morning while Max was in camp, Julie and I met a friend at the Museum of The City of New York to see the cool exhibit City as Canvas: Graffiti Art. She loved the crazy street art (and didn’t want to stand still for photos).

Outside we discovered some break dancers. Julie joined in.

The group was on a hip hop tour of NYC that included dance lessons. Julie crashed.

But really she just wanted to jump.

Word.

Then we had a picnic in Central Park with some city friends and a cute puppy. Julie may act tough, but she threw the dog treats on the ground, too scared to get close.

But she’s not afraid of city dirt.

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Dreaming of Summer

As we suffer through snow storms and record cold, it’s fun to remember outdoor fun in July. We miss the playground! Especially this platform that moves.

loj

Max did a week of camp at Pelham Arts Center – which meant more chances to run through the beloved pink art installation.

One sunny day we met up with old neighbors at the Madeleine exhibits & storytime at the New-York Historical Society. We made our own cardboard tea sets and tried on Madeline accessories.

Then we hung out on benches and sang on stoops around the UWS.

At honey day on the High Line, we completed a flower scavenger hunt, met a hipster beekeeper with crazy hair and of course sampled some sweet nectar.

They wanted to thank the bees for the honey we bought.

Admiring a wet foot in the fountain.

We are very much looking forward to at least a little February sunshine when we head to Florida this Wednesday to see Mark’s parents.

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Brother & Sister

So we’re way behind on our blog posts; it’s been a busy fall, with school for both kids (that they both love), visits from many grandparents and aunt Ashly, soccer, ballet & music classes, exploring our new hood while visiting the old one lots with family adventures around Westchester and Manhattan, working on Kid On The Town, and too many dr appointments for Max – DNA tests were inconclusive, sleep study (i.e. movie night with Dad) showed moderate sleep apnea, a sleep endoscopy showed his lingual tonsils had to be removed and his epiglottis stitched.

He had that surgery Monday and was a trooper like always and back to school on Wednesday, though he has been upset that he hasn’t been able to have fish oil and really mad he can’t eat pretzel crisps or other hard foods that Julie keeps talking about. Today he is back on his regular diet and we are off to Florida, escaping some bitter cold and excited to see Mark’s family. Overall he and Julie are doing great and talking and growing so much. Julie loves to jump and dance and just moved to a (pink) big girl bed. She knows what she wants and will insist on it, sometimes with very dramatic tantrums. Max is reading on his own and so good at math; Julie has some books memorized and she loves to ‘read’ and she count with vigor if not always accuracy. They are the best of friends – when they’re not fighting over who gets to brush his or her teeth first (or whatever) and we love listening to their conversations and some of the things they argue about:

Set lists (in the Neiman Marcus kids department).

Pajama spacesuits. We thought about cropping the end off but this is pretty typical.

Whose birthday it is. Max is obsessed with dates and calendars and has been very excited about going to Florida on Saturday. I tried to get a video of him talking about it but it turned into something else that made me laugh.

We have been taking lots of great photos; hope to post them soon!

Jensen Cousins Photo Shoot

One of the highlights of our summer was a visit to Utah to see Brittney’s family in July. It was the first time we were all together since Papa and Nonna left for Russia 18 months earlier. We are so happy to have them back in the US (though we are missing visiting them in California and hope we can arrange a family reunion there soon). They brought the grandkids some cool Russian costumes. We tried to get some photos with all 9 grandkids but it wasn’t easy. Either the under 2 set were all asleep.

Or it was super windy.

Or everyone wanted to run around the yard.

We decided to visit some pros who miraculously got these photos.

And then the babies lost interest (and some of the bigger kids were on the verge).

Just Max and Julie.

My favorite of Julie (& love Breanne’s face too).

We are excited to have Nonna and Papa come visit us in our new house this weekend (and help celebrate Max’s birthday). Tons more photos from our trip coming soon.

July Part 1

Some of our fun adventures in July. Swimming and riding ponies at his awesome camp at his new school.

Walking to a playdate with neighbors. Julie’s BFFs Uga and Lovey came along.

Storytime & crafts at the New Rochelle library, some interesting favorite books, and scones at a cute bakery nearby.

Ice cream at a local shop and at the end of a habachi dinner. Max loved when the chef threw food at him. Julie did not like when the grill lit on fire.