January

We're midway through March, but I'm a little behind. So here is January!...

I had a fun time with Mya and Tate at the "Imagine That" children's museum in Florham Park. 

 These two kiddies were entertained for a good half hour at this little fake supermarket. 

 These park pictures were from January 16th and at this point we still hadn't gotten any real snow during the winter. Such a weird winter for New Jersey! We enjoyed the mild weather and tried to take advantage of it by going for walks to the park in our neighborhood. (Don't worry, we got our fair share of snow the following week!) 

Sometimes - like this swinging moment - Tate is just too cute! That little boy!

Tate has kind of grown out of this phase now, but in January and February Tate was obsessed with hats! We have a big bin of beanies in our coat closet and Tate would raid that bin all throughout the day. He was always wearing Bryn and Mya's hats and coming up to me with a new hat he wanted to wear. It cracked us up to see him going about his normal business with his sister's hats on his head :)

When I ask Bryn to set the dinner table we end up with centerpieces like this impromptu creation.

Tate loves climbing onto the chair in his room and flipping through his board books. 

Tate DOESN'T love being dressed into his sister's clothes... which ends up happening every time Bryn asks to have "Tate time" in her room. Poor guy! 

 Little artist hard at work.

One of Mya's creations this month: a sugary snowman from playgroup.
One of Bryn's creations this month: this cute birthday card for her great-grandpa Tueller.

Bryn always keep me laughing. I turn my head for a few minutes and suddenly she's wearing a pig nose. Or she's somehow scaled the wall and is hanging out on the pull-up bar at the basketball gym. Get down from there(!!) ....but let me take a picture first.

Family walks are really one of my very favorite things. We head out for a walk whenever we can - if Josh gets home and there's still daylight! Tate quietly chills in the stroller and the girls take turns talking a mile-a-minute about one thing or another. 

I love my life with these little hooligans!

Snow!

We had a really mild December and didn't get any snow in New Jersey, but winter came all at once in one big blizzard in January. We were forecasted to get 8-12 inches of snow, but we ended up getting over two feet of snow in one day. It was crazy!

Josh and I had tickets to Wicked on the day of the storm and we were so nervous about being able to get into the show that day. We had called the theater earlier in the week and they said Broadway doesn't cancel for snowstorms and the show would be going on. It turned out that the snow was so bad that it shut down all the trains going into NYC that morning and all Broadway shows were cancelled for the day. We were bummed about missing our show, but it turned out to be a fun snow day as a family. School, work, and church were cancelled that Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.

(And we ended up getting a refund for our tickets and bought tickets for a few weeks later).

Tate was mesmerized by the snow and he loved watching the snow plows, Josh's shovelling, and Bryn's diving around in the snow. 

The snow drifts against our back door.

 Shoveling!

Let me just say, someday I will have a paved driveway and it will be glorious. Shoveling a gravel driveway, without tearing up all the gravel and dirt, is no fun. 

Tate!

 We live on the dead end of a really quiet street, so Josh spent the afternoon driving his moped up and down the street, pulling Bryn/Mya/me! behind him.

Mya was nervous at first, but she loved it!

 At one point, Josh pulled me and Mya on the sled, while Bryn ran excitedly beside us ....and Tate napped inside. Fun times!

 Me + Mya Girl

 Me + Brynnie Babe

Bryn really wanted to do it together with Mya, but this didn't last long. Mya was too nervous doing it with Bryn :)

Snow days always = hot cocoa!

I usually groan when I see snow in the forecast, but it really does make for some good family fun.

Saying Goodbye to the Hawkins

 Some of our very favorite people moved away from New Jersey this past month.... our cousins!!!

What a blessing it was to live under 10 minutes away from Josh's brother Jake and his family. It was so great to live so close to cousins. We saw them every Sunday at church (Jake was our bishop) and we loved getting together with them for holidays and other events. Oh man, we will miss them! But we're so excited for their new adventures in Chicago.

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A few weeks before they moved we got to babysit our nieces and nephews while Jake and Ty went out to Chicago to get things all set with their new home. It was so fun to have a whole week full of cousin time! We spent all our free time playing games and trying to soak up every last minute together. It was also a trial run for Josh and I to see what life would be like with seven kids! Ha ha!

 Josh is gonna miss these two! He's been working with them in the youth program at church and has loved spending time with these two every Sunday and Wednesday, as well as the campouts and scouting activities. 

At Isaac's basketball game

 We played more games a few weeks later when we had our last Sunday dinner with Jake and Tyra's family :(

 Tate has been spoiled by these cousins, so he's going to miss them!

 Our best attempt at a group pic, self-timer style.

(We're missing my wonderful niece Abby who had already moved to Chicago at this point).

I love this one with Leah :)

NYC Date

Josh and I had such a fun NYC date the week before Valentine's Day. This "date" was definitely bigger than our normal "dating budget", but we counted it as our Valentine's Day/birthday/belated-Christmas date. It was such a fun day! 

My wonderful sister-in-law watched our kids for 9 hours(!!), which was a true act of love! 

 We took the train into the city and then had a delicious lunch at Parm on the Upper West Side. We had heard about their famous chicken parmesan sandwiches and they totally lived up to the hype. Yum! (The picture doesn't do it justice. So good!)

 Then we headed to the Gershwin Theater for Wicked! 

Fun fact: the Gershwin Theater is located at the bottom of the Paramount Plaza Building, which is where Josh goes to work everyday!

 I've been wanting to see Wicked for years! ...Ever since my choir friends in high school raved about it years ago. It totally lived up to the hype! Josh and I loved the story, loved the music, loved the acting and all the talent. It was fantastic!

After the show we walked through Time Square to see the big ad the LDS church put up for Christmas time. That message definitely stands out among the other worldly ads. 

 We ended our fabulous NYC date with banana pudding from Magnolia Bakery. This was our first time trying it and we loved it! We've got to go back sometime because I'm still thinking about it.

Such a fun day with Josh! We checked off three big things from our NYC bucket list and it made for the perfect date!

Bryn's 7th Birthday

Bryn turned 7 at the end of December and it was her "best birthday yet!" We normally do birthday parties every other year and it was her year for a party, but her birthday is a few days after Christmas and so planning a birthday party is never that appealing. So we made a deal: Instead of a party Bryn could have a special NYC day with Josh and get a Bitty Baby at the American Girl store on 5th Ave. Luckily, Bryn jumped at our proposal, so that's what we did...

The day before her birthday Josh and Bryn rode the train into New York City, spent over an hour at the American Girl store (all three floors of goodness!), got lunch at Shake Shack, and then rode the train home. Josh said Bryn was in heaven the entire time.

She had been saving up her money and anxiously awaiting the day she could get one of these dolls. Dreams come true!

So, so giddy with her new doll. She was killing us with her theatrics.

All set!

On her actual birthday we celebrated with her favorite pancake breakfast and a day full of playing with her Bitty Baby.

Happy Birthday to you!

 Bryn on her birthday, ages 1-6

 Oh, we love you, Bryn.