Happy Birthday Dwane!

28 inches of Snow

With our narrow streets and limited parking the whole neighborhood is like one big snow fort.

New York.....NEWWW YORK

On the 5th of February Madeline and I redeemed our Christmas present which was a trip to New York.

We headed out on the 4:00 train straight to New York. Our excitment was the tops. Madeline let out a nervous giggle when over the loud speaker the engineer called out, " All aboard." Then she asked me if they were going to punch our tickets. And sure enough it all came true.

We arrived in N.Y. 3 hours later, jumped on the Subway and turned a few corners to many to our hotel, but finally arrived at the correct destination. Madeline being a hotel junky, defines vacation as, sleeping in a hotel that has a pool and the Disney Channel. When we arrived to our room she was excited not to have to fight the other kids to open the door and could hardly wait to explore the amenities. When we checked in the hostess mentioned that there was free hot cocoa 24hrs, Madeline from that point on had made plans for the rest of the night. (Drink hot cocoa and watch Disney in our P.J.s) Which I had to admit did sound fun, but I had to remind both of us that we were in New York City, which never sleeps, so we needed to get out there and explore. So Madeline was game and once we were outside her first questions was, "Can we get a hotdog from the street stand?" After a hotdog, I told her to grab my arm so that she could look at everything and I could guide. She was in complete awe.

Times Square

Saturday we bundled and started our exploration of the all the things Madeline wanted to see:

M&M store, Ice Skating at the Rockefeller Center, American Doll Store, FAO Schwartz, Radio City Music Hall, ToysRUs, and Central Park. She wanted to see the statue of Liberty, but being 20 degrees and over cast, not this trip.

So we tried to do it all.

(Madeline getting an M&M analyses)

Rockefeller

American Girl Doll Store

FAO Schwartz, playing the big piano

The sign says it all

Toys R Us (This ferris Wheel is inside the toy store, so of course we had to try it out)

After a long day of exploring we returned to the hotel to get ready for a night on Broadway. Part of our gift was tickets to see "Wicked". Madeline was so excited it was all I could do to keep her from exploding. (By the way, IT WAS AMAZING!)

Sunday we strolled up to the temple and across Central Park. We watched the ice skaters and ate at a little cafe that served warm soup and fresh bread, mmmmm. And then it was time to make the final decision of the trip, Did we go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art or the Natural History Museum? Madeline decide on the MMA. (I was so excited)

Playing at the park

Madeline fell in love with the greek and Roman sculpture.

(Madeline age 3)

I can not describe in words how much fun it was to spend time with my Maddie. I can remember little eyes looking up at me just wanting for all my attention, and for just three short days I was able to give her my all.

Lets Derby

Derby Car 2010: MudBall

Even Alexa got to Derby this year in Girl Scouts

Girl Scout Derby Car 2010: Cheetah

Notice the outfit

She ended up taking 3rd place in her division and 6th overall.

Go Cheetah!

UMMMMM

totally....

BROKEN

Details :

4 kids at the schools skate night

(1) independent 4 year old

1 Mama in a pair of roller skates

1 very hard wooden floor

1 fractured bone

1 very big cast

1 sling

and

3 weeks to endure

Christmas Cheer

Unlike other years, Christmas started late at the Young's, it was on our minds, but amongst the regular hustle and bustle, everything was off track. The tree got up late, we decorated in shifts, the advent calendar was on time, thank goodness. But the Christmas feeling was struggling to break through. Everyday I prayed that we would feel the true meaning. The love of giving, the joy of sharing and the love of God. Well as Christmas snuck up on us day in and day out we weren't making much progress, until the snow came. Yep those 20+ inches. When we woke Sunday morning it was so beautiful outside, I love how the snow makes everything so quiet. The kids were bouncing off the walls in excitement and crawling up the walls in desperation to escape them. The house was filled with joy and time stopped, life stopped and things started to change. By 10AM the neighborhood started to stir and people we out, talking of the storm helping each other shovel cars out. Spreading salt, shoveling drives, neighbors we had never even talked to were now new friends, everyone was looking so happy with their cheeks roseyed by the cold. After lunch everyone was ready for a movie and quiet time except for Robb. (Boys need their outside time) He was having quite a time planning a snow fort and using the snow shovel to make the walls nice and strong. Every few minutes I would peak out the window to make sure all was well. When I didn't see him, I glanced around and found him across the street helping a neighbor shovel his driveway. He was working his hardest and enjoying every minute. After 30 minutes he came in and with the biggest grin, said, "Mom, Mr. Jemal paid me $4". After awhile he asked, "Do you think that I could earn money shoveling more dives?" And that is what he did, 9 driveways = $40 and a very tired little boy. In his excitement, he told me while I was tucking into bed, "Now I can buy the present I wanted to get for Dad." Yep, one sweet little boy made my Christmas worth it, and to take him to the store to buy that gift for his dad was the icing on the cake. I wish I could make the video work of Christmas morning. Robb was down the stairs faster than everyone, he ran past the stockings and straight to the tree were he picked up the gift and with all his heart repeated over and over, "Dad open this first, open this first".

I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas too!

New Boots

New Bear

New Doll

New Nerf Swords

I made something....

I thought I would try some dresses for the girls, I'm glad for the experience I learned a ton, but best of all the girls loved them....

... not to mention they passed the twirl test. I don't know how it works at other homes, but

at our house a dress is just not worth wearing if doesn't twirl.