Do you see Wall Street in his future?

(and no, not all of Wall Street is bad and corrupt) I just had to get this little outfit for him. He looks just like his daddy. I just adore this little monkey. Yes, he makes me want lock myself in my room and collapse on the bed at the end of the day, but with a smile like his, I can't stay away for long. He is growing up so fast and is well into toddler hood.

He loves exposed bellies and the minute he sees ones he comes running after it and puts his face on it or puts his hands all over it like he is tickling it. Gavin loves to play this game with him and the other day I even used it as a way for him to follow me.

He now has a little scowl whenever he gets upset. He has a sense of ownership and is having a harder time giving things up.

He carries his blanket around like Linus.

Boyd still puts him in the Bjorn (front carrier) from time to time because he loves it. I get a kick out of it because Eli's legs hang down to Boyd's knees.

His little personality gets stronger every day! Watch out!

You would have to be a nut!

Last New Year we cheered on several of our friends who decided to run in the Emerald Nuts Central Park Midnight run on New Years. It is a race that begins after the countdown on New Years and it is 4 miles. I had wanted to run in it, but I chickened out. So, I promised myself that I would do it next year.

2008 passed too quickly! Most of you know that I am not a runner. I used to be athletic, but I could never run very well. I started off the year very well. I was working out and eating better, but just before summer I got off track. I started working out again in November, but because of the holidays I have not been working out.

The day before the race I realized the race was approaching. I have to admit I didn't want to do it. The weather was supposed to be near 0 degrees and windy. Luckily, Jamie didn't back down and she encouraged me and we decided we were going to live up to our promise to ourselves.

The weather predictions were correct and the temp felt close to 6 with the wind chill. We (me, Jamie, Becky, and Sam)bundled up and went on our way. Boyd was kind enough to stay behind to watch the kids, so they didn't have to endure the cold.



It was cold, but it was also very exciting. With everyone all squished together we began the countdown and then the firework began as we started the race . It was very exciting I must say. . At the 2 mile marker there was water and non-alcoholic champagne. So, My first goal was make it there without stopping. Once I got there and had a swallow, I continued on my way and I didn't stop again until I reached the finish line. I did run the whole thing, but I would say it was more of a jog/shuffle. I am sure I looked funny, but I didn't care. I just wanted to finish the race. And I did. It took me almost exactly one hour to finish.

I arrived to my friends cheering me on. ( a huge sacrifice since they had to wait in the cold for an additional 20 minutes)I missed Boyd at the finish line, but I think he was much more comfortable at home!
I forgot my ipod, so during the race I had time to think about what I wanted from this year. Like most people I like new beginnings. This race was something new for me and it was great way to launch my new year. I hope that this year I can get in a good groove and keep running my race.

I hope that this year I can really focus on the needs of my little family and make sure I am meeting them. I need to take care of myself as well. I've realized that my health is so important and I am not taking very good care of my body. I want to change that.

As a family we decided it is going to be a year focused on simplicity and humility. We have been blessed with so much and we need to truly respect and appreciate it.

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas

Christmas comes and goes so fast. We had a fabulous day. I am sad, however, that we managed to only take one picture today. ONE! We can't go back now.
Gavin asked for a school bus from Santa and he got it! It was the toy that he played with the most today. He also got a scooter which will hopefully be a favorite in the weeks and months to come. He was excited for Christmas all week and asked every day if he could open the presents under the tree. I hope that Boyd and I can be better about helping him see the true meaning of Christmas in the years to come. We did act out the Christmas Story and Gavin insisted on being the star.

We had a great Christmas season. We probably pushed ourselves to hard to do too much, but there are some things you can't miss during Christmas in New York. Here are a few highlights with a few pictures since I managed to take more pictures..

We attended Winters Eve at Lincoln center and saw Father Goose perform. We made it to the train show at the Botanical Gardens and at Grand Central Station.

We caroled on Park Avenue in 10 degree weather in front of an old church where people from all faiths join in singing Christmas carols.
We chopped our own Christmas tree.
We took a ride on the Santa train.

We had a great white elephant gift exchange.

We saw White Christmas on Broadway and we went to the Red Hot Holiday Stomp at Lincoln Center.

Made our peppermint bark at Monica's. Made Christmas ornaments at Little Learners.
We even made it to Macy's to see Santa

We made it to Denver for a very Merry Christmas.

We hope you all had a wonderful day!

O Christmas Tree

This year we decided not to buy our Christmas tree from the Canadian who travels each year to our neighborhood to sell Christmas trees. We weren't unhappy with him, we just decided we wanted an "old fashioned experience." Both Boyd and I remembered cutting down our own Christmas trees growing up, so we wanted to try to find a place we could cut our own tree. We heard of a Christmas tree farm where we could cut our own tree, we decided to make the 1 1/2 hour drive to have the "experience".

As we got closer to our destination, there began to be signs that this was not going to be the experience we anticipated. The traffic began to pick up. Every car coming past us in the opposite direction had a Christmas tree on the roof. When we arrived at the farm, there were police directing traffic. There were people every 500 feet directing us to the parking spot. Car after car was parking and their were droves of people making their way to the entrance. It felt like Disneyland.

I have to say it has been a long time since I laughed that hard. It was opposite everything we anticipated!

We still had a great time and we did manage to pick out the perfect tree and Boyd did cut it down!

Why, oh why?

Many of my early Christmas memories are of me being sick. I was always so frustrated by it. Now, it is even harder to see my own children sick. This week we have been attacked on all fronts. I started the trip out with a horrible cold and now we have all had a stomach bug. What are Christmas family gatherings without a stomach bug?

Christmas Miracle

We've made it! Two years ago we attempted to come share Christmas with Boyd's family in Denver, but a 3 day blizzard thwarted our plans. On Friday, we feared the worst when we saw the accumulation on snow. We had a flight later that day to Denver.

It was a very frustrating day, but we feel very blessed to have made it. We feel that many prayers were answered and a small miracle got us here. Luckily, we checked our flight status online before we left and it was delayed 3 hours. WE cancelled our car service out to Newark which was risky because there were no more cars available. WE decided to drive and park at the airport because it would be the same price as a cab there and back and if our flight was cancelled we would have the option of driving back. We feared the worst driving to the airport and we were pleasantly surprised not to encounter too much traffic or snow delays. We did get lost a bit, but we made it to the airport where we expected chaos, only to be pleasantly surprised by few lines and friendly staff.
As we were preparing to go through security. Gavin looked up at me with excitement in his eyes, but a very stoic face and said. "This is going to be so exciting mom." Yes, very exciting...

We got some food and waited about 45 minutes total. They made an announcement that several flights were cancelled, but they were going to try and get the Denver flight out. We expected it to be a full flight and we didn't attempt to get an extra seat for Eli. But, as we were boarding and getting a ticket for his stroller car seat, Boyd thought he would give it a shot and asked if there was an extra seat. Sure enough, there was one in our isle! Could it be true? Boyd and I crossed our fingers until we took off. The flight went relatively well. Boyd was in the hot seat (sitting between Gavin and Eli) so you can ask him how the flight went!

We truly feel blessed and happy to spend some time here with Grandma Miggy and with the whole Nelson/McGinnis gang. We recognize the small miracles that took place too get us here.

I realize I have been behind in my posts and I am hoping to catch up while we are here!

5 minutes of fame

I nearly walked in on two scenes of a new movie called Solitary Man . I walked out of my door (unshowered, still in my workout clothes) to take out the trash and I notice a whole film crew motioning me to stop. I look to my right and there is Jenna Fischer (from The Office) filming a door scene at the apartment next to me. Then a couple hours later when I was leaving the apartment for the day, I open the door and she (Jenna Fischer) is directly in front of me walking around the corner and they are again filming a scene. Maybe, you'll see me when the movie is released. You will probably hear my screaming boys because you can hear everything from my apartment right outside the door. I am sure they have good editors. Hahaha.
Anyway, I have to say it was really cool to see her. I love that all day I heard "rolling", and "cut" outside my door. I love New York.

It is too bad that I didn't have the guts to ask her if I could take a picture with her ( I didn't want to be annoying and she looked kinda angry). I could have replaced my one celebrity picture with my C list celebrity (Caroline Raye) with an awesome A lister.

I was actually on the Caroline Ray show for about 5 minutes. When I first moved to the city I didn't have a job. I spent a good portion of my time looking for a job, but I also spent a good amount of time going to free TV tapings. Her show was easy to get into and it was fun. One of the times (sad, but true, we went 3 times) I was chosen to be be on a panel where Caroline and some guy from MTV answered questions we had about relationships. (I was single at the time) I asked, "When do you know you should give up on a relationship where the guy seems to be perfect and there isn't anything wrong with him, but you just don't really feel much for him?" The MTV guy came back and asked "How is the sex life?" I just sat there with a red face, not sure what to say. After about 10 seconds he said, "well, there's your problem!" It was pretty embarrassing and funny!

She also tried to set me up on a date with some guys in the audience from Sweden. They gave us a gift certificate for Plataforma (Fancy Brazilian steak house.). I didn't end up going out with the guys, but I go to go with my friends!

Anyway, I wanted to record my pathetic 5 minutes of fame! :)