Our Holiday in a Nutshell!

Not the tree at the Rockerfeller Plaza but still pretty big.

Playing with friends at the Lincoln Center during the Winter's Eve Celebration

Jesse and his friend Lily rocking out to the music, you should have seen them dancing! (I will try to post the video)

Our first encounter with Santa this season!

Jesse wanted my shoulders instead of the stroller!

About time I post! Here is a wrap up of our Thanksgiving here in New York and what we've done since then!

The day before Thanksgiving we went to see the Macey's Parade balloons come to life (they filled up the huge floats for the parade). On our way there, Jesse had fallen asleep in the stroller. After pushing the stroller through the crowds, he wakes up to all these huge, colorful balloons surrounding him and with us giving him Tollhouse cookies that the event was handing out for free to everyone. Talk about the way to wake up from a nap! He seemed really dazed and deliriously happy.

The next morning, we made our way to the Macey's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Yes, we knew the crowds would be crazy, but we had to experience it at least once since we are in New York.

We had great spots to watch the parade thanks to our friends who went EARLY to save spots. What would you do without friends! Jesse was definitely captivated by the festivities! It made it extra exciting to have a 2 1/2-year-old who was so happy to see all the floats!

(I am posting these pictures in the following post)

As for our Christmas activities, take a look at the pictures above. New York City takes the holidays to an extra level. It's pretty awesome being here during the holidays! We visited Santa at Macey's, and can I just say, wow! I was just expecting a long and painful line winding up to the throne where Santa sits, but not that we would actually walk through the North Pole to be greeted by Santa in his little, cozy cabin for some one on one time. I'm serious, that's practically what it was like. Josh and I were very impressed and as for Jesse, you can only imagine how excited he was! Especially since there were about a dozen trains riding around the "North Pole", not to mention the big train we had to "ride" in to get the the North Pole. It was like going to a Santa at Disneyland - over the top decorations and sets, and don't forget the long lines. But the lines weren't as painful since we were entertained by everything around us. Ahh yes, we had a good time, and it made me wish I was a little girl again! Hehe!

*Sadly, the only pictures of our experience here were cell phone pics and the pricey "Santa with us" picture we bought, so I will try to post those. I had misplaced my camera for a few days...that is a story for another post.

Oh, and tonight we are going to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular with The Rockettes. I'll let you all know how it goes.

I love Christmas time!

Potty Training, here we come!

So I have been trying to prepare myself the last few weeks to potty train Jesse! But just keep putting it off , due to my own laziness! But we got Jesse his cute little underwear, Mickey Mouse and Lightning McQueen, and a Lightning Mcqueen potty cover! What 2-year-old boy would not want to potty train with these things, right? I am borrowing my friend, Errin's, training book since she just potty trained her little guy. So I can do it... Here I go. I purposely posted this as a way to make it official so I don't back out! I'll keep you posted...wish me luck!

I had to put a picture with this post...hehe

Fall in Central Park

Tire Swing! Whoohoo, I felt sick in 0.2 seconds after spinning around! I am no fun!

The leaves are a little better in this picture above...

A few weeks ago, we tried to take some pictures at the park at the peak of the leaves. Unfortunately, I think it was getting too dark, but here they are for your enjoyment.

Halloween, about time I post you!

Trick or Treating, awkward pose for me!

Roaring Jesse with his cousins!

So we had a lovely Halloween in Salt Lake, a bit busy, but fun! It was too short, unfortunately! And I realized how I miss the luxuries of Salt Lake- family, a car, Cafe Rio (I crave it all the time!), a "real" grocery store, so close to Target, cheap prices of just "things", the beautiful mountains, clean smelling air...Ah, yes...but don't worry, we still love you, New York!

So I made Jesse a make shift costume of Max, from "Where the Wild Things Are." His costume was a pair of pajamas with the footsies (found it online), and I added some claws to the feet and made the hood with ears all by hand, no sewing machine here. Oh, yes, and I found a tail online, too. It worked, but I think that he kind of looked a little like the Easter Bunny instead...but I didn't tell Jesse that! He just roared his terrible roar, and gnashed his terrible teeth and ran around like he was the king of all Wild Things! It was so cute to see him running around like a crazy "Max". He loved trick or treating, too! He was a natural! Wouldn't expect anything less from a candy fiend!

All in all, we had a good Halloween, and most of it did have to do with the fact that we spent it with our families! It was fun to see you all!

I added more recipes! Check it out!

This a shameless plug for my recipe blog. I just added some more yummy recipes. You must check it out. Come on if you are reading this blog it won't take to much more effort on your part and you could get some ideas for dinner this week! My favorite is the mushroom soup! So good! I think my advertising efforts come from the fact that I really like to let people now about good food and recipes I have found so that they can indulge in it too! It's like when you find something awesome and you just need to tell people! That's me with good recipes and food! So there you have it. I begging you to just make my recipe blog a part of your everyday reading! Or even if it's weekly, I'd be fine with that, too.

Autumn in Vermont

On our way, we stopped at this place in Connecticut that was featured on the Food Network Show, "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives"--we really like that show by the way! It was a BBQ place, we shared this baking sheet filled with food--mmm, good!

Jesse doing his "thinking/smart face" since we were at Yale University.

Playing at a water fountain at Yale University (Beautiful campus, just so ya know)

At the Apple and Crafts Fair in Woodstock, Vermont. Jesse loves tractors!

Visiting Billings Farm in Woodstock, Vermont

The Apple and Crafts fair had yummy small town, homemade desserts!

Just apple pickin'

Beautiful Drive!

Beautiful town we accidently stumbled upon when we got lost! Where is the town? Yeah, it was only like 2 houses and a church.

Posing in the middle of I don't know where! But it was very pretty and we needed to get out of the car to stretch!

Jesse didn't quite understand the concept of this apple game. He just used his hands!

Jesse decided on this trip that he really liked cows!

Marching through the apple orchard

Helping carry the apple picking contraption

Mmm, good apple.

We had ourselves a little trip this weekend and drove up to Vermont to check out the beautiful autumn colors in New England. Supposedly, Vermont has one of the more vibrant of autumn colors because they have a highly concentrated population of Oak trees. I guess Oak leaves have the pretty colors? Okay, there is your science fact for the day.

Anyway, it was absolutely beautiful in Vermont and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in taking in beautiful autumn in New England. You have to go when the leaves are at the peak of the colors. We went up to Woodstock, Vermont and the drive to this destination was gorgeous. Okay, maybe Josh and I were so "nature struck" by our surroundings during our trip because we have been living on Manhattan for the last few months and being suddenly surrounded by rolling hills with orange, green, yellow, and red trees along with clean rivers running through the hills was very refreshing. We had a great time! We visited Yale University on our way up to Vermont, visited an apple and crafts fair, a farm, an apple orchard, and a monument at Joseph Smith's birth place. Just small town, countryside stuff. I took lots of pics, these are just a few of them, just so you get the idea!

Carnegie Deli, Oh my!

After months of subtle hints from Josh (as to were we should got out to eat), we finally ate at Carnegie Deli! Oh, no this sandwich is just the starter sandwich, they get much bigger then this! The deli is known for their corned beef and pastrami sandwiches that are piled sooo high! I had so much left that I took the rest home and made something out of the corned beef the next day for dinner, which you can check out on my food blog! :) Curious... what I would make out of the corned beef from my sandwich? One of Josh's favorite dishes, of course! Just being resourceful.

Our Weekends in the the Park

Jesse helping his dad row a boat

Clearly, Jesse was a little uncomfortable in his life jacket!

Watching the ducks in a pond

Enjoying a popsicle in Central Park before the cold weather officially blows in!

Jesse telling his dad that the boat was about to crash into some rocks!

Climbing some trees!

He is a recap of a couple of things we have done over the last couple of weekends! Autumn is lovely in New York!

Jesse's Got Soul...Choo Choo Soul

Jesse loves to sing! It's really the funniest thing, because I'm sure not a singer! I remember when we were in the hospital, and newborn Jesse was crying very loudly. The nurse walked in amazed at his crying. "Wow, he's got some lungs," she said. And ever since then random people have always commented what a loud voice he has, and that perhaps he will be a singer. Haha, I sure wouldn't mind since I was not blessed with the gift of singing! Sure, I can sing, but it is not a gift! Haha.

Here are the songs that he loves to sing:

Disney Channel's Handy Manny theme

Disney Channel's Mickey Mouse Club House theme

Life is a Highway song by Rascal Flattson Disney's Cars

AND this one below in the video!

Seriously, he SINGS these songs! Maybe not the whole thing but a couple of the sentences over and over! He has the melody and rhythm! Its really so funny!

Well, lately Jesse sure likes to sing out loud in public a lot! This one song he is singing in this video is from the Disney Channel's Choo Choo Soul. He will just burst out in song while riding on the subway, singing, "All aboard the Choo Choo Train!" It is pretty funny, especially for those riding with us! I do have another video of him singing on the subway, too! Will have to post that later!

Oh, Jesse's Hair! We will miss you!

He looks funny in this pic! He wasn't feeling very well and he is silly! He likes to make funny faces when I take pictures of him!

I initially wanted to simply "trim" his sweet, precious hair, but cutting hair when he was in the bath might have been a bad idea. He was wiggly and I was in a hurry, and didn't notice that the front chunk of his hair that I grabbed would be a little more than a trim. And right when I closed the scissors on his hair, Josh said, "Melis! That's too short!" It was too late, his precious, dark hair fell down like tears... I grabbed the pieces, "Noooooo!", desperately trying to stick the pieces back to his forhead. Realistically, I knew it wouldn't work, but by some magical sticking force, I was hoping it would. I felt so badly... I don't know if it was because I realized what a horrible barber I am or because Jesse looked like a funny-looking monk and was still as happy as can be!

In positive desperation, Josh and I, as a team, began trying to trim his whole hair, thinking if we could just make the other parts even out, it would look just fine. Much to our dismay, it only got worse. The final decision was to buzz it. The one thing I was trying to avoid! I kept tellling Josh "No, it's fine. If we just get some gel, and like, style it all funky, nobody will be able to tell. We just will get him some gel or mousse." But I knew better. Buzzing it would make it look a little more respectable.

So we buzzed it. We tried to leave it as long as possible. It's not perfect. I still use gel to make it look all "funky" so the uneven parts are not as noticeable. Oh. If you only knew how lovely his long, hair was... Maybe I am only overreacting because I am his mom, but it was his little trademark since he was an itty-bitty baby

But the two good things about this story is that Jesse still looks cute, and hair grows back.

Here is a funny video of Jesse seeing himself for the first time after his haircut. He has always had long hair, and I guess was never used to seeing his eyebrows and ears! He seems pretty fascinated with himself! Hehe

Announcing my New Food Blog!

I HAVE A FOOD BLOG! CHECK IT OUT!

I have been wanting to do a food blog since last year, just to share all my favorite recipes, and to also keep track of them too! I finally got around to it. It will just be a blog about recipes I've tried, restaurants I like, and entertaining ideas I come across and other cooking stuff. It's kind of targeted towards the cute little wives and working and stay-at-home moms who want to follow me in my adventures in cooking, eating, and entertaining as a wife and a mom!

So here it is, Check it out (:

myediblelife.blogspot.com

Blogging, Schmogging

I had set a goal to be an avid blogger, to share all my little life's morsels with those willing to indulge. Unfortunately, I have become a little sloppy with my blogging. I have seemed to forgotten that goal...So here's to those who are wondering: more to come when I am able! (: Right now I have a little 2-year-old who likes to ask me to find pictures of lightning McQueen whenever I am on the computer! I'm serious. He already knows about searching on Google Images!

Random Pics

Jesse being a monkey on the bars

Waiting in the TKTS line for broadway tickets...you can tell we were having a fun time...

Jesse and Cannon.  Jesse making one of his silly faces

The huge cathedral down the street from our place has cool seals on the floor

A Michael Jackson memorial by the famous Apollo Theater in Harlem

That posing MJ thing was made of flowers