Michael is absolutely no good at Basketball,

but we love him anyways.

Michael's Talking

Last week, Michael had some real gems while livin' large in PA:

Bath time conversation with Mommy:

Michael: Mommy, you can give me hugs and kisses everyday until I go to college. Then, you can give me hugs and kisses when I come home to visit you.

**Then I started to cry because he was so sweet. And then I thought about how one day he would actually grow up and go to college and how I would really miss him and these days.**

Imagine:

At the mall. We ran into one of Brian's co-workers. Michael does his normal shy thing - hiding behind me the entire time. As we are leaving:

Michael: Daddy, does he wear that crazy hair to work everyday?

**Parents looking over our shoulder to make sure we were out of earshot range.**

Imagine:

Michael is in the car and a Pink Floyd song comes on.

Brian: "Ahh! Pink Floyd."

Michael: "Daddy, they don't got no thought control."

This is hilarious to us because Brian uses this saying all the time. I don't know where it's from. I don't even know what it means. But it seemed applicable to pink floyd at the time.

One day, I was lamenting to my parents about something I asked Brian to do that he didn't do and now we are having to deal with whatever he didn't do. Michael says to me,

"Mommy, if I were Daddy, I'd listen to you and do what you say."

And in my mind, I'm thinking - even if you are MICHAEL, you don't necessarily listen or do what I say! But thank you anyways for your support. :)

As I stated in my last post, he grew last night. Yes, last night. I had to loosen all the waistbands in his pants. Today, at lunch, Michael ate:

1 whole grilled cheese sandwich

1 bowl of soup

1/2 serving of lasagna

1 serving of broccoli

1 serving of apple

Which he finished. And then he asked me for another serving of lasagna and soup. OK-THEN.

That's it.

Quote

I was on pinterest (shocker, I know) today - and I ran into this quote.

While it is something I think often, it really hit home for me today.

Today, I noticed all of Michael's pants/pajamas are high waters on him all of a sudden. I was looking at the back of his head and wondering when it got so big. Looked at him in the mirror and he's almost at my chest level. Granted, that's not too terribly difficult, but humor me.

I know kids do this a lot - you turn around and they outgrew everything - seems like overnight.

But I guess I really thought about this quote because I do not chronicle Michael's life to the minute like I used to. I do not chronicle our life like I used to. And I miss that. I am missing that because I do not want to be on my computer. I do not want to be on my computer because I associate it with work. I associate work as editing pictures. I take less pictures of my own family because I'm busy with my business.

Which makes me face the question - Do I actually like doing this (meaning photography) full time - professionally?

Hmmm...always thought that the answer was yes. That being a full time photographer was the ultimate goal.

However, I've had a busy couple of weeks - lots of images to proof and one more session coming up. And these busy couple of weeks have really made me look at photography more as WORK then as a pleasurable hobby.

I am really surprised by this. And am wondering what to do next...other than pay back the investment on my camera. :)

Don't get me wrong - I am not quitting. Nope. But just pondering what the next steps will be...

NYC: Nov 10-13

We ran over to NYC for a quick weekend getaway for my birthday - ahem OUR birthday - present.

It's tough sharing a birthday week with your spouse when it's always been only YOUR birthday up until then. You would think after 12 years of knowing Brian that I'd get used to this!

One of the big reasons we went is because my super good friend Kim was going to meet us there!

We rented an apartment and spent 3 days exploring NYC with Kim and Jamie. It was so fun and went by way too quickly.

Thursday night - Nov 10

Brian's last meeting at work gets cancelled, which means he got home at 5:00pm! We threw our belongings in the car and high tailed it to Princeton Junction, grabbed the 7:14 train, and were at 34th - Penn Station by 8:36! WHOOP! I thought it was going to be 11:00pm before we made it to town!

Unfortunately, we then had to deal with the subway and that took us an additional 40 minutes before we made it to our super cute apartment in the Upper West Side (one block from Central Park), which reminded us of our apt in Paris. White walls, squeaky old parquet floors, and piping emanating heat everywhere.

After a quick reunion with the Kropka clan, we settled down for an evening of rest.

Friday - Nov 11

We started the day being lazy. Well, we did. Jamie and Kim both ran in Central Park in the AM! Around 10:00, we headed to the Amsterdam diner and had a great breakfast. Michael smeared 3 packets of jelly over his huge belgian waffle and proceeded to eat every last bite. Who is this kid?

Off to the American Museum of Natural History and planetarium. We saw lots of dinosaur bones and artifacts.

I thought Michael would have really enjoyed it, but he was being a putz most of this trip. Where is my enthusiastic and inquisitive traveler? It was replaced by a whiny, moody 5 year old who just wanted to play on my iphone.

** One day, I will rant and rave about how much i hate Wii's, iphones, ipads, gadgetry of modern society because it is an EVERYDAY battle with my boy to encourage him to play outside and do other things instead of sit glued to a screen all day. **

I digress.

We wandered around the crowded museum and ended up at the Planetarium for a show on stars where most of us fell asleep at one point or another. I think we gathered about 5 facts from the show all together. Michael told me it was boring.

After this, we headed to Central Park and walked around a third of it before we were frozen to the bone. It was a high of 51 and windy that day!

Michael demanded to be carried a majority of the time. I love the fall foliage in this picture:
With my photography/traveling buddy, Kim:
Obligatory Family Picture:
Jamie/Kim enjoying their weekend without kids:
Ahhh...nyc. I'm really starting to like this city. I really do love central park.

Back to the apt around 3:00pm for some down time. Early dinner at Haru Japanese place around the corner at 5:00pm. Michael loved his seafood udon noodles and slurped up a ton of his dinner.

Kropkas took off for a freezing bus ride over the brooklyn bridge to see NYC at night. We headed to Cafe Lalo for dessert after the resto!

I get to the front door - I look at the grating in front of the cafe - the warm, red interior - and I said, "This was in You've Got Mail."

AND I WAS RIGHT! I was so excited to go to this cafe for no reason and find out it was in a movie that I have watched enough times to recognize the place without a sign in front!

We had a really fun time in there. Michael ordered ($3) steamed milk which came in a milk shake glass, but he really loved his (free) water that came in a melamine snoopy cup. He ate up every last bit of his raspberry cheese cake while I moaned and groaned over my delightful amaretto tiramisu. Brian's cafe au lait was nothing to scoff at either! We played memory while waiting for our desserts!

After it all, we walked home with Michael, swinging him between us and remembering how we used to do this in the streets of Paris. That was fun.

And I loved having an eatery within walking distance and it being open and it being good and being able to go without driving 45 minutes to eat somewhere just decent. I am a city girl at heart while my boys are perfectly content in the country.

The Kropkas came home after we put Michael to bed and we hooked another friend onto the Bean Game. It's addictive.

Sat - Nov 12

MY BIRTHDAY!

We started out the day headed to chinatown to eat at a highly rated place called DOUGHNUT PLANT.

Let me just say, that PLANT should have been my first indication that this place was going to be terrible.

It.was.most.easily.the.worst.donut.I.have.ever.had.in.my.life.

And the saddest part was that it was HIGHLY rated in Yelp! 4.5 out of 5 stars by 800+ reviewers!!!!!

Off we went to meet the Kropkas at Battery Park where we waited nearly an hour and a half in line to go to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. I think they were hoping to give us a real experience of what it must have felt like to be one of the huddled masses.

Lady Liberty with the NYC skyline - sorry for the extreme vignette in the image:

Michael being strong in the wind at the base of Lady Liberty:
Brian and I with the NYC skyline in the back!
We let Michael run around quite a bit since he was pretty amenable in the 1.5 hour line. Got some pictures of him being him:


We spent too much time in lines and at the Statue of Liberty and got only 45 minutes at Ellis Island. Wish I could have spent more time there. It was really neat and the exhibits and audio tour were really well done!

I just love that my ticket had the design of the "125th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty" and my actual birthday on it!

After dark, we got on the subway and got off at Little Italy, which was ALIVE with activity! All the little shops were open so we peeked into some boutiques. We had an AMAZING dinner at Rubirosa, this Italian place recommended to us by a woman on the street. It was by far the best Italian food I have ever had. And I've been to Italy. But I am no Italian food aficionado so take that statement with a grain of salt.

Kim introduced us to Rice Balls, which involves rice, mixed with lots of cheeses, rolled in bread crumbs, and DEEP FRIED. She had me at Rice.

We then headed home with our stomachs full of delicious food. This is where we somehow got on the train which skipped all the stops near our apartment. Luckily, a new yorker overheard us laughing about it and told us how to get home.

The subway system was an ABSOLUTE nightmare! We don't consider ourselves to be old and out of date. We know how to use a subway system. We've done it in dozens of countries, some of which we don't even know the language. Some of which are not even in standard alphabetic letters! So for us to not be able to figure it out - all 4 of us - is ridiculous.

Home - Brian falls sleep on the couch at 9pm.

Sunday - Nov 13th

Kim's up and out early so she can get Italian pastries before her flight. Jamie looks up his travel itinerary on the computer 3 more times to make sure he understands how to get to the airport. And rightfully so.

We told him that it is nice that he formulated his hypothesis on how it was going to go down in the subway - and that testing it out will prove whether or not his hypothesis was correct. :)

Brian and I ran off to Chinatown for dimsum!!!! It was in a GIGANTIC banquet hall and so fun. Michael loved the dumplings and banh bao, and we had a great time. By the time we left, there was a line of about 100 people outside, waiting to get in. And the banquet hall seated 700-800 people, easily. So glad we got there early!

On the way out, Michael had to stop at the fish monger in Chinatown because they brought out 3 shallow styrofoam buckets with fish that were still flopping around. Yup, pretty fresh.

And a bucket of fresh eel slithering about. That was probably the highlight of Michael's trip. He told me he liked Chinatown, but the rest of NYC was no fun.

After this, trains back to Jersey. A visit to West Elm in Princeton. ANd back home by 5:30pm.

SUCCESS!

I asked Michael a series of questions about which he liked better: "Do you like school better or NYC?" "SCHOOL!"

Michael really hated NYC. Brian was grumpy about it most of the time as well. I thanked them for coming with me, but next time, I think I'll leave them both at home in the country.

I was glad to see a friend and wished I had more time to talk to her. We spent a lot of time taking care of Michael, especially since he whined about everything. Should have had parents come to take care of him THIS trip instead of the OBX! Michael loved the beach.

Sorry for the long post. Just wanted to get that down before I forgot. I think I forgot to blog/journal about my OBX trip. Usually, I hand write every night while on vacation because it is easy to forget. I am a bit out of practice.

Blog by Iphone Fire

It's that time again! Blog by Iphone Fire!

On June 25th (yes, you read that right), we went to Kilby Creamery, which is nearby. They had an awesome playground:

We had their ice cream, but decided we still love Woodside the most as far as creameries go around here! Kilby creamery DOES deliver fresh milk though! That's exciting.

July 19th, we dog-sat Toby, our neighbor's dog. We were pretty smitten:
Definitely seeing a dog in our future.

On August 30, we went to "Rolly Slide Park." Here's the reason for it's name sake:
I love this slide. It's like a box conveyor belt slide thingy. I went down it once and it HURTS. I don't know why kids love it so, but they do!

September 3rd - Brian's out of town for our yearly tradition of going to Milburn Farms on Labor Day weekend for the opening of apple picking. Michael and I went anyways and had a great time:
September 16th - Michael and I run around Longwood. I loved these purple flowers leading to the gorgeous gazebo.

To illustrate one of my principles on how to get good kid portraits, I let Michael have a picture of his "binocular eyes" and let him see his picture:
After which, he is happy to do this for me:
There's these huge gorgeously trimmed shrubbery in the gardens, but you can actually climb inside them:
Michael loves that.

September 20th - Brian still out of town. Brian still of town = trip to Target for a "healthy" lunch:
I was going to get the salad. But when the cashier told me I had to go over to the refrigerated cabinets to get it, I opted for the fake cheesy nachos that she had to get for me behind the counter.

September 29th, our friend Tami/Ashton/Ryan got us into the Please Touch Museum for the day. LOVE that place:




Back at Longwood with my parents on Oct 18th. He wanted a picture with this sundial with this ghetto fabulous pose. He came up with THAT on his own:
VOILA! Blog by iphone fire done. Next installment in 3-6 months!

{P}

Bon W-E. And NIght Vision.

Bon W-E is how the french say good weekend. Voila. French 101 for the day.

Anywho - we started Saturday AM by being late to soccer by about 10 minutes. EEK. Brian's coach. Our friends on the team told us that the other parents were speculating on why we were late.

Yes, everyone. The Besancons do run late from time to time.

Afterwards, we ran a quick errand all the way in Kennett for my ordering session on Sunday in the AM. Then, off for an afternoon playdate with some new friends of ours who are on the soccer team.

We had a fantastic time! Michael and their son played extremely well all together and we didn't hear about any fights until nearly 4 hours later. SWEEEEEET.

The wife is an engineer at Gore and the husband is a Biology AP/Chemistry teacher. It's so nice to meet other lady engineers. There's just an underlying thought process and personality current there which makes it so easy to relate. It also helped immensely that she was way into the Twilight Series, Hunger Games, and liked to shop.

Check, check, check. Her husband was sarcastic, funny, and liked to build fires - so that's a pretty good fit for us.

We stayed probably too long, but it was a good time. Hurried home, changed for our date, and dropped Michael off for "Kids Night Out" at his school. His school plans a night of crafts/activities/songs, etc! For $5, we get 2.5 hours of babysitting while we had a date night!

We ran off to a bar in Kennett to catch the A&M game, which of course wasn't on the TV. But we enjoyed some great beer, had some rillettes and crab nachos, and had a really nice date.

Then it was off to Lowes. Yes, a nice little Saturday we had planned there!

We picked Michael up from school and he was pretty pleased to get a sneak peek at the job board this week for school. He figured out he's in charge of the calendar this week and went on and on about how he was excited about it and that you get this bird pointer thingy. Hilarious.

Long Saturday.

Sunday, I had my ordering session in the AM, which ran much longer than expected resulting in me missing church. :(

I came home and had lunch with my awesome guys. Then ran off to Fair Hill Nature center for a "hike," Michael was all against a HIKE per say, but a walk would be fine.

Well, that walk/hike he was complaining about eventually gave way to excitement when he found a river that he could throw rocks into:

He hung out with Dad on the edge of rocks/banks while Mommy kept yelling, "Be careful! Slow down!" And taking pictures between warnings.
He had a great time! Then, we went back home. Brian chopped wood while Michael and I played Wii. Tough life, I know.

Then, we decided to cash in the Fair Hill Inn Sunday Supper for 2 meal that we won at the Silent Auction during Oktoberfest. And we took Michael with us. To a fine dining establishment.

We talked to him ahead of time about being well behaved and what that means in a nice restaurant. He was so good during the meal and it helped that we packed a "restaurant bag" to keep him entertained. He was quiet, well mannered, and drank water from a little wine/water glass. It was so cute, and we were so proud.

We asked him if he liked the food better than Applebees and he said, "I'll decide after dessert."

Too funny.

Michael is CONVINCED he has night vision. When he can see things in the dark by moonlight or street lamp or car headlights, he thinks that is his night vision. The other night, he was looking through his Mario Galaxy book and he said, "Mommy, my night vision is working just fine because I can see my Mario in this book."

So glad we stopped our conversation to hear THAT!

P

A Pumpkin Carvin'

We've never done a jack-o-lantern before because well, Paris wasn't exactly a Halloween Spirit kind of place. Last year, we were too lazy I think.

This year, with the "snow," we were shut in anyways! So we grabbed our almost frozen and thick pumpkins to the slaughter:

Michael liked the slaughter.

He saw the librarian carve a pumpkin at his story hour so he knew how it was going to go down. No touching seeds and "slimey" stuff for him though!

Somehow, we are still in our pajamas.

After we finished, we ran into our powder room, turned out the lights, and took the pumpkin for a test drive:
See if you can find Michael's face:
That would be the toilet that our jack-o-lantern is sitting on.

Snow day activity - CHECK! Halloween decorations - CHECK!

Halloween came and went. I bought Michael a Darth Vader costume because that's what he wanted to be - and he has an awesome light saber that glows in the dark and has sound effects to match.

Well, I bought it in size 5-7 years old. Apparently, it was sized really for a 7 year old, which was about my height, if not taller.

I could have easily been darth vader this year for Halloween if I wanted.

So he decided to be Dash again.

With white socks.

The only day that I'm happy about my son's nut allergy is Halloween when I dig out all his candy with nuts in it and stuff my face with enough chocolate to make my face break out.

Love,

P