Brownies

Now that the weather is getting a little bit chillier I find myself baking a little bit more.

On this particular day after some face painting was done the kids and I decided to bake some brownies. Of course me being the good mom that I am I wanted to teach the kids the importance of not letting any food go to waste
So I put them to work cleaning the bowls and spatulas of any and all brownie batter.

They were quite the cleaning crew if I do say so myself.

Uh huh even licking it from the inside. That bowl was spic and span by the time Merrick was done with it. No brownie batter going to waste here.

Well I guess you could say that some technically went to waste in his hair but I'm okay with that since Memphis went to work on getting the chocolate from Merrick's hair. Can you see that little pudgy hand going straight for Merrick's hair?

A good time was had by all. Oh but the brownies turned out a little burnt. I must've left them in the oven too long during bath time. Do you know how long it takes to scrub brownie batter from every little corner of two little boys? Long enough to burn brownies that's for sure. Oh well.

Oh Central Park how we love thee

We have a visitor

My mom came to visit last week and just spoiled us especially the kids rotten. She's been to New York before but this was the first time she got to do all the sight seeing.

We took her to a really great beach in New Jersey and it was probably one of the best days the kids have ever had.

No one complained, ahh so nice.

With grandma around with her camera there was plenty of showtime for Merrick to dress-up and play make believe.

My mom is so sad that she won't be around the kids for Halloween so she picked up a few costumes for them to wear trick or treating. This one and the dragon costume down below are nice and warm so that will be nice for the cold New York weather that will soon be here.

I want to say dinosaur actually I do say dinosaur a lot with this costume and Merrick has to remind me every time that it's a dragon not a dinosaur (even though I think it could be either).

The kids in their nifty inexpensive umbrella strollers that get us in and out of the subways fast without hurting any innocent bistanders like we would if we had our double jogger with us.

Ah the AWESOME 3 (or is it 4) level TOYS R US at Time Square. Yeah you could say this place makes our kids pretty darn happy. What with a huge Jurassic Park dinosaur on display, a Thomas the Train track set for the littles to play with and a big giant Ferris wheel at the entrance of the store, yup they could die happy right in that store. Well until it's time to leave and they notice that we didn't buy them a single toy then they give us a little bit of trouble until we tell them we're going to the M&M Factory next door then they're walking on cloud nine all over again.

Time Square! On this lovely evening they had the Metropolitan Opera on big screens for anyone to watch and they had rows and rows of chairs for people to sit down and enjoy the show. It was pretty cool. I've never seen an opera before but now I can say that I've watched an Opera at The Met at Time Square.

Is this not hilarious? Merrick thought it was the funniest thing ever.

Sept 11 Memorial, we had to take my mom to this. Although it's not a memorial anymore they've begun construction on the Twin Towers again, yeahh.

Riding the Staten Island Ferry to the tip of Manhattan.

The view of the Statue of Liberty from the ferry.

I hope my mom had a good time (did you mom? I know you're reading this). It's been pretty hectic here for us and although we tried getting out of the house to explore our new hometown we're still very much in the unpacking stage of our move so hopefully the next time my mom comes to visit we'll be more prepared and know more of the sites.

The boys photo shoot with my mom in their Sunday best. Merrick is quite the entertainer and he loves to role play which he definitely does around the house especially with his costumes.

Memphis is just getting so big. He's such a little ham these days. I love it.

I had to throw this one in because this chair has become a big hit within our household. Everyone wants this chair even the kids. Sometimes they sit in it together and sometimes they just hang all over the arms of the chair.

Thank you, mom, for coming all the way to NYC to visit us. We love you and miss you and can't wait to see you again.