Hairspray and Tattoos

We've had a great weekend with Freddy T.'s parents in town. I have a few pictures to share but most of them are on Freddy's Mom's camera. We meant to get them transferred but we never made it back up to our apartment to put them on my computer. Till then....

A little while ago I was printing some things off and when I came back in the other room Jack had a "special marker" in his hand. They are special and only used on special occasions because they are permanent. Jack got to use them this morning and I thought I put them all away, but apparently I missed one.

First I saw two blue lines running down the table. In a moment of panic I remembered in second grade using permanent marker for an art project and it bleeding through to our desks and our teacher using hair spray to get the marker off, so I ran to the bathroom and grabbed some. I tested a small spot to make sure the finish wouldn't come off. It was fine. I sprayed it on and with a little rubbing it came out. Thankfully! When I finished with that I looked at Jack and spoke to him making sure he knew not to do that again and this is what I saw.

When I asked what it was he said "They are trees... they're my tattoos!"

Nice.

Book Slings

Freddy and I spent the past few days in Orlando at the Southern Baptist Convention. It was a great time of fun and encouragement. There were 9 of us from church that went and we had a good time. The kids stayed home with Mary and Lydia. We are so grateful for them being here and helping us out. It was a nice "vacation."

You may remember a while back I said I was going to make a few book slings to help keep our books in a contained place. Well a few weeks ago my friend Melissa came over and together we made 4 slings. It was wild in our apartment. Melissa has a little boy, Jonah, that is a month younger than Lillie and Elliott. They all played while me and Melissa sewed. It was fun. Check out her blog for pictures of our sewing day.

So for a month now these great book slings have been folded up on my dresser because I could not find the right hardware around here to hang them. In Orlando the house we stayed in was right next to a Lowes so I popped in there and bought what I needed to finish this project.

So here is the finished project. Our big gate used to sit up against this spot on the wall. I sold it last week on Craigslist to make a spot for our book slings. I'm happy with the way they turned out.

Snapshot Of Our Week

It's been a pretty average week here at the Wyatt home. Nothing too exciting to report. My trip to the post office and Rite Aid today is another story. I'll just list the pros and cons:

Let's start with the pros.

1. Jack was at the Children's Museum with Freddy T. and then went to a meeting with him so I was alone with Lillie and Elliott. This made our outing easier because there was one less body standing on the stroller.

2. It was overcast and a little cooler so the 11 block walk there and back again wasn't so bad.

The cons.

1. When I got one block from the post office (it's at 146th, I live on 135th) I noticed Lillie only had one shoe on. Great. It's not the first time one of my kids have pulled their shoe off in public and dropped it with out me knowing, but this was Lillie's ONLY pair of shoes. She has no other. So for the next few days she'll be wearing boy shoes until her new pair gets delivered. Now for a pro. I did get to order her new shoes, her old ones weren't a pretty white anymore. And they had one pair of the water shoes I've been looking for for her left in her size so I got those too.

2. I noticed half way home when I heard Lillies paci hit the ground that Elliott's was missing. Who knows where that thing is now.

3. While we were in Rite Aid wrapping up my shopping I noticed Elliott had a bottle of hand sanitizer in his hands and had unscrewed the pump and had been using it generously. Lillie was mad that she didn't have any. The isles are so tight, going through with a double stroller is asking for my kids to be thieves. Before we walked out of the store I took one more look to make sure they weren't holding something they didn't need to be and Elliott had a pack of gum, I had to walk it back to the check out counter. And by the way the line was 10 deep with only 2 cashiers.

4. The sink in our hall bathroom sprung a leak yesterday so I called our super. Willie to come take a look at it. I have a very hard time communicating with him because his English is broken, but he is a very nice guy and super helpful. While he was in the bathroom working on the sink, Lillie and Elliott were eating lunch. Every time I said "Lillie," Willie would look up from the bathroom like and ask if I was talking to him. Crazy!

Other little bits about our week.

Freddy T. took all the kids to breakfast Friday morning to Bus Stop Cafe at the corner of our street. I had to change diapers and get them in the stroller, he then took them to breakfast with the idea that I could sleep a little longer. 45 minutes later they are heading home and I get a phone call. Elliott had just thrown up and my help was needed as soon as they got home. It was a good effort on FT's part, but a little unsuccessful as far as Mommy rest time. This was on their way out.

Elliott loves bear hugging Lillie and it gets on her nerves so much

Friday night is popcorn and M&M and movie night on the sofa bed at the Wyatt's. Last nights feature, a regular on Movie Night, Toy Story!

Lillie and Elliott are enjoying brushing their teeth these days. Don't worry... I do it for them most of the time.

And finally... I couldn't resist these pictures.

A New Discovery!

Monday is Freddy T.'s day off and we try to get out on the town and do something fun on that day. It's a little challenging in the winter, but we're having so much fun now that the weather is nice and warm. Today we set off toward Central Park with a mission to ride on the CP Carousel and play in Sheep's Meadow. Sheep's Meadow is just a huge open field, lots of room to run and play. After the carousel we spotted what looked like a play ground we'd never been to before and Jack really wanted to play on a play ground today rather than run in the field, so we ventured over to it. WOW! We had no idea this was here! It was the best play ground in Central Park if you're looking for water features. We didn't bring any towels or swim gear, but there was no stopping our 3 monkeys once they were let free to run.

They were all 3 soaking wet when we got ready to leave. There are a lot of pictures, but I wanted to try to give the best perspective of what the play ground looked like.

First, on most any given Monday when we head to the Upper West Side our first stop is at Joe's. It is Freddy T.'s favorite coffee spot on the UWS.

Jack's favorite pizza spot is Pizza Pete's, so we snagged him a piece before heading to the park.

The Carousel was fun, but it went fast. Not so fast you got sick, but fast enough that I don't really care to ride it again. Lillie was on it for about 30 seconds then she wanted me to hold her. Once I got her off she rode the rest of the time with her head on my shoulder. I guess it scared her a little.

Elliott riding the carousel.

Jack loved it!

After the carousel, walking toward the park, we passed some baseball fields. Freddy T. was teaching Jack how to run around the bases.

Now to the play ground!

This is a view from where Jack is standing in the picture below.

The water from these sprinklers ran down a very long winding path that eventually ended up in the fountains.

Jack running down the water path.

Jack just climbed down this ladder into a little tunnel.

This was looking from the big kids area over to the toddler area and sand pit.

I love how the buildings form the back ground of the park.

Elliott loves stepping on the water fountains.

Lillie climbing the little walls.

Right outside the train stop at Columbus Circle there was an ice cream truck. Our family loves ice cream, so we all 5 split a "Rainbow Sprinkle Sundae" per Jack's request.

Freddy T. played airplane with them as he put the spoon in their mouths. They loved it!

Today was pretty much summed up by Freddy T. "After today it is clear that we have yet to discover some of the best places in this city."

Last Saturday

*I've been catching up from the past week or so, so be sure to keep scrolling to catch a few other post.*

Last Saturday was such a fun family day. We got out sort of early and headed to one of the play grounds in Central Park. We were there for a little while. We ran into some friends that we had met on the Upper West Side while we lived there. We enjoy their company and they have a son a year younger than Jack. They had a fun time playing together.

Elliott trying to decide where to go first.

Lillie could play in a sandbox all day long... give her a shovel and a pail and she'll pour sand in and out all day long.

Jack likes driving the cars around the outside ledge... complete with "vroom vroom" noises.

A day at the play ground is not complete with out a little scuffle in the sand!

Elliott could slide all day long. Down, back up, down again, over and over.

At this particular play ground Jack always spends a good bit of time "steering the ship."

Jack wants to go high in the swing so badly, but he's just a little scared. This is his expression every single time it gets a little too high for his preference.

Daddy teaching Jack how to hold the bat.

The Wyatt boys.

After naps we loaded up the stroller again and headed down to Harlem Pier Park on the Hudson River. It's just a few blocks from our house. We went to Fairway (the best grocery store in Manhattan, in my opinion) and got dinner and ate it on the piers, then the kids played in the "little fountains."

Finally, back home, three in the tub, then three in the bed!