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.

Breaking In the new home

Well, I am SOOO happy to hear from all of you. I thought for sure we were forgotten by now but your comments proved me wrong and in a new place with few friendships small comments from old friends just brightens up my day so thank you all for tuning in. Now speaking of a new home we Donovans had to break in our newest little abode the only way we know how with ART!

I unpacked our collection of art supplies and put the kids to work. We have a lot of new walls to cover with their paintings so this activity will keep us busy for a bit, thank goodness they love to paint.
Of course only about 7% of the painitng actually happens on the paper so maybe this is going to be a much slower process than I thought.

But aren't they soooooo cute?

Oh yeah and Memphis is butt naked. I forgot all about that, haha.

Move-In Day

Hello everyone do you remember us? Yeah, we've been gone for a little while so sorry about that. But we're back, hopefully for good now that I have my camera figured out and my computer figured out and our BIG move behind us. Here are a few snap shots of our newest humble abode.

This is our beautiful tree lined street with beautiful older homes on it.

Here is our living room with our bedroom off of it with nice glass french doors (not shown in picture).

This is the kids play room with lots of windows and light for all their playing adventures.

This is the front of our apartment building with all of our stuff on the curb waiting to be taken up to our apartment. We live on a one lane, one way street and the moving truck went down the wrong way and completely stopped traffic so in an attempt to hurry the process along we unloaded the moving truck in front of our apartment, sent the truck on its way and then proceeded to move all of our boxes upstairs and then up some more stairs into the attic. Our neighbors felt so bad for us they introduced themselves and then started helping us move all of our stuff. Some gave us food, some baby sat the kids and others just talked to us and asked us why we left California for New York, we just smiled and said California was just too beautiful all the time and that we were ready for some cooler weather. It rained the next day.

Summer 2009

We wanted to see how the kids would do camping so before we head up somewhere we thought we'd do a trial run in the backyard.

Oh Memphis is so stinkin' cute, I love this picture.

Merrick loving the tent calling it his "house" and what not.

Smoke from the barbecue. We roasted marshmallows this night too and that was a big hit.

Monkey pool fun.

The kids swinging in Grandpa Donovan's hammock having the best time. I love this picture.

Steve and Cyndi's Garden

I am just blown away by this little garden of theirs. At the beginning of the summer when I was living with my parents and Sean was in New York I signed up with a local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) in Camarillo and received a box of fresh produce with a good variety of vegetables. They gave you what was in season which really encouraged me to get creative with my meals which I really just loved, loved, loved. I wanted to do the box as a trial run for when I go to Staten Island so that I could decide whether it would be worth it in the long run and you know aside from getting more radishes than I'd like to admit I was really satisfied with the CSA process. I help mom and pop farmers, keepin it local and all and I get fresh, organic produce at a really great price. Anyways I came across these pictures on my mother-in-laws computer and had to post them. I love gardens and in my state of transition have not been able to plant one so signing up with my local CSA and going blueberry picking last week have been the closest things I've had until now. NOW I have this!!! It's not mine at all so please don't get me wrong but it's the fruits of this little garden that will be placed in front of me for some creative undertakings. So far it's just been the zucchini which Steve asked me ( nagged me ahem) to make zucchini bread with and of course I was on board for anything else he might want me to do with ANYTHING that comes from that garden. Tonight we had grilled chicken, artichokes, sauteed onions and zucchinni with Gruyere cheese, grilled caramelized apricots (from Grandma and Grandpa Sears house) with brown rice and salad. I just could not get enough of our feast. There really is something about fresh produce that makes every little bite taste that much better. Oh yeah and for future reference on my my part I need to make a mental note that my kids do not and I repeat DO NOT like Grapefruit juice.

Uncle Dustin

I feel as if we've neglected good ol' uncle Dustin for wayyyy too long and for that I am truly ashamed. I mean we've hardly written, hardly sent packages and hardly sent any pictures of our growing children. Poor guy good thing he has other siblings to make him feel loved. Anyways I wanted to also add some pictures of him on his mission baptizing in the ocean, the beautiful Caribbean ocean, can you believe it? so that he knows we still love him very much and think about him all the time. Just in case I forget Dustin left for his Mission to Puerto Rico and the Caribbean in October of 2008.

Grandpa Sears

This is Sean's grandfather Warren Sears, fought in World War II, plays the piano loves to garden and putter around the house. He married Madelyn Sears and together they raised 7 children together, Sean's mom being one of them. He's been feeling a little ill lately and I came across this picture and wanted to make sure I put it on our blog with a few notes about him. We love him and Memphis especially loves when he comes over to play the piano "with him".