Handmade Holidays: Holiday Party #1

Hubby had a company holiday party this past Sunday so there was minimal crafting done, with all the pumping and prepping and showering that I had to do prior to leaving Steven with his grandfather. This was really the first time that I have left him alone. I have left him once before, for an hour for a drink with friends but he stayed home with his Dadda. This time, Hubby and I were both out from 6:45pm until 11:21pm. Not that I kept track of the time or anything.  

It was tons of fun, James even bought me a new outfit and I got to wear shoes that we bought two winters ago for the first time. I absolutely love the top that we bought (thank you Target), it was light and airy, glittery and just drapey enough to cover the baby belly without being frumpy. James insisted on wearing my Van Gogh- Doctor Who skirt from Hot Topic, very cute and not something that I would have bought without him, but it turned out to be really comfortable. 

The food was awesome, the people he worked with (he just transferred to another store so we have another party next week!) are awesome and fun, we danced and other then a sore on my toe the night was awesome. Halfway through, my best friend (since fifth grade) went over to the house and dressed the baby up for bed and she finally put him to sleep, after my dad tried twice! They both said that it wasn't too bad so I am hopeful for next week. On the other side of that, Steven might have been horrible and they are nicely lying to me. James' mom told me when she was over that James was four before she left him with anyone else. They left James with his grandmother and she swore that he was happy and perfect the whole time, while his aunt tattled and told his mother how he wailed the entire time they were gone. I imagine that it was somewhere in between. My friend also bought Steven two new pajama sets and she sent me a picture of him in it, which made me cry in front of a table of James' coworkers, embarrassing but I missed him!!!

very blurry because of the poor lighting, but yey us!

Terrified face on my little reindeer baby!

One of my favorite ever pictures of us

I'm Back!!! (hopefully, barring Life)

     Hopefully, I can get back to somewhat regular posting, it's fun and relaxing and gives me something to feel responsible for on a daily basis that doesn't need a diaper change. I have been lax in posting because we have had a very busy past month or so, we:

     1. Wrapped up an in-law visit and the subsequent       recuperation that I needed. We visited the Statue of Liberty, FAO Schwartz, Central Park, Empire State Building, Times Square

2. We celebrated Griffin's 10th birthday with a day in NYC and a day at home playing video games!

3. Went to a cousin's wedding with baby and no Hubby but I did get a great LBD that was nursing friendly and hid my baby belly enough for me to feel comfortable. 

4. Steven learned how to laugh, sit up, have a relatively set bed time. He also enjoys baths, reveling in the idea that his feet come into the bath with him and that he can splash. He also had his first bottle!!!

5. We went apple picking with a great friend and her two girls, the youngest is only two weeks older then Steven so we were already planning the wedding!

6. Fall television started. While this is no excuse to avoid other responsibilities, it gives me something to watch while I am rocking the baby to sleep. I am watching, with the loyalty that I can spare: Walking Dead, Witches of East End, Bones, Castle, Sleepy Hollow, Dancing with the Stars, SHEILD, Supernatural, American Horror Story and Dracula. Most of these are watched during nursing or putting to sleep the baby...and it is way more tv then I have ever watched in my entire life. 
7. My best friend and I are planning a joint family Christmas dinner that we have been planning and preparing for and getting six separate households to agree to a time and place. 
8. To tie into Steven's accomplishments, I started pumping! It took me a solid day before I got the band of how the manual pump even worked and then I realized that I have never bottle-fed a child before and that I would, after three months with a baby, now have to learn a basic skill. We did it though, he ate and I almost felt insulted that he took the bottle so easily. 
9. Hubby and I have started looking at houses in a little bit more of a serious manner, although still deciding between Florida and Georgia, my money would still be to go to Texas!

10. Hubby and I finally are officially engaged!!!!!! After five years of the ups and downs of a relationship, he put a ring on it and I said most definitely yes! No date yet, but house first!

So a very busy month, but November is the start of my new year so posting will be on my new year's resolution list! 
Happy New Year and bring on the next adventures!

Renaissance Faire 2013!

    So I did not get all the costumes completed that I wanted to this year but I did manage to make the two kids their costumes and they seemed happy with them. I messed up and forgot the camera and didn't remember to take any group photos. I kept making fun of Hubby when he was trying to take pictures and then regretted that we didn't have more. The costumes are barely visible but they were perfect for the day and cost me nothing (well, they did at some point, I suppose) since I had all the material. We spent the day with one of my good friends, her sister and her mother, all of who I have known since she and I were in fifth grade together. Her sister used to babysit my brother and I and her mother was my Odyssey of the Mind coach of my first team. Steven's godmother also met us there and spent some time watching "Julius Caesar: Undressed," which was a riot, if you enjoy overt sexual innuendos in Shakespearean English.
     The entire Faire is very child friendly with a Robin Hood story line that you can follow all day, as well as tea time with the Queen, Maypole dances, live full person Chess Match, Fairy Quest, a children's Knighting ceremony and a Royal Joust to end the day with. All of the people that work the Faire are the absolute nicest people at any entertainment venue that we have been to with or without the kids. They will engage you to the perfect amount without making you uncomfortable to just watch or to be involved. There is absolutely no pressure to dress up in costume, but it is lovely if you do, the actors all will interact with you depending on how you are dressed, especially with children. My only complaint at all (and only a medium sized complaint since the quality is good) is the cost of food. While we did have a large group of people, we did spent well over $100 on food alone. So I would recommend eating a large breakfast, focusing on one food that you really want (turkey legs and mead are the focal points of the Faire, but we made room for Cheesecake on a Stick too) and then having a nice dinner at home. We ended up having peanut butter and jelly sandwiches when we got home, but we were all so tired that it was plenty since we fell asleep shortly after. I would also recommend dressing in layers since it was chilly when we first arrived but soon warmed up. We all even got a little colouring from the sun. All in all, I would give it a score of 9/10, missing that last point for food. At the end of the day we were all tired and had tons of fun.

E during the Maypole dance with her RenFaire maiden partner.
I love that they involve kids so much, it make the day perfect.
You can follow the story line if you want and never be bored. 

My mother, best friend, her sister and I (in the ridiculous pose and purple hair)
waiting for the Maypole dance to start

E spending time with the Fairies. She wanted to be a peacock fairy because
of these wonderful girls that we met last year.
 The Faire added an entire Fairy Story line to follow this year. 

E and G enjoying a little rock climbing
 before the Joust started

Hubby playing with the colour filter on his phone. I forgot my camera and
didn't take a single picture with my phone. I was too distracted by all the fun I was having!
Thankfully, I had him to document the day.

G playing with some of the toys that the Faire has, vendors offer them for sale, but you can play with them too which makes it way more fun. I love how there are no electronics there (except the credit card machines, for sure!)

Lovely Steven who spent the entire day in the arms of someone. With momma, dadda, grandma, godmother and three aunties (family friends) he was hardly ever put down except to take naps in his stroller. Do you see his Doctor Who onesie peaking out from his blanket!?

Family Adventures: Lake Minnewaska State Preserve, Lake Minnewaska Trail

beautiful picture bridge

pretty, giant boulders everywhere make for great climbing

     On Hubby's day off this week, we talked about either going to the zoo (which is always my first choice for a day out and about) or to go hiking. Since we are trying to reign in some of our excess spending, we decided that hiking would be the better choice. While we have year memberships to the zoo, the money we end up spending on food (while I do pack lunch, we still end up stopping on the way home to eat again) and gas. We live right in the middle of the Catskills, less then an hour from the Appalachian Trail and in a very rural area so hiking options are pretty limitless. Although that is true, we then had to narrow down our options based on me not being able to do much climbing, toting the newborn around and the two older kids hiking skills. We settled on going to Lake Minnewaska State Preserve in New Paltz, NY, based on a friends recommendation. To be perfectly honest, I have no idea why I never went hiking here after living in this area for 25 years! It was amazing. The park charges $8 for parking and $5 for a map of the trails. The parking was a little crowded but still easy enough to find a spot and the parking lot is where almost all of the trails begin and end. There are port-a-pottys at the parking lot and dispersed through the trails but they are pretty funky so I would avoid them if possible. We all used the facilities before we started and one of our party still had to use the woods. We definitely packed water and some snacks for a halfway break, granola bars, trail mix (carmel cashew from Target, my fav!) and apples. There are a few large, graveled trails all marked really well and we saw lots of bikers using them but the signs also said that horses can use the paths so be careful where you walk.

candid shot that Hubbs was unhappy about

Gorgeous view from the top of the mountain

really creepy bug on a sign

     There are also tons of just hiking paths, all marked but they do not look more then deer paths through the woods, I would not recommend them for hikers with kids...especially a newborn and a recovering mama. The trail that we did was only two miles which shouldn't take too long but we lollygagged and it ended up taking us over three hours. The park is also dog friendly so you meet plenty of dogs hiking the trails too, they must be leashed and there are no trash cans on the property, you should be prepared with trashbags to take anythign with you that you bring into the park. I came prepared with dog clean up bags and a large shopping bag.

view over the lake

      The views were amazing, luckily it was a clear day so we could see really far into the distance. At our usual hiking place, we see some hawks and mostly vultures which we saw here too. As far as wildlife goes, we mostly saw bugs and birds, nothing too scary although E was trying to find a snake. I am assuming that if you get up there early enough then there are deer and maybe fox or coyote. There are two swimming places, one public and one that is a membership area only. The membership section requires a test, all the information can be found here. The public area is small but would be plenty sufficient for us to go swimming, which we definitely plan on as soon as it warms up a bit. It is a mountain lake, so even in high summer, it is chilly. The lifeguards are only there certain times, so if swimming is your goal then check when they will be there before heading out. At the end of the trail (well the beginning too, since it looks in a giant circle) is a pretty grand picnic area that also overlooks the lake. After spending a few more minutes having light saber battles with our acquired hiking sticks, we headed towards home, made a pit stop for dinner and grocery shopping (where I stupidly left all my coupons at home and my reusable shopping bags!).

Lake Minnewaska State Preserve: New York State Website

Potentially terrified by what he is seeing in the mirror

Finally seeing in the mirror

lunch of fresh nectarines with homemade whipped cream the next day!

Family Adventures: Rye Playland

   This past Tuesday, the Hubby had a day off and with the kids home from school for the summer, we try to get out and do something once or twice a week. When I was working, Hubby and I both worked retail and when the kids were in school the chances of days off aligning were slim so we try to take advantage of the opportunities when they arise. He and I chatted the night before about doing something with the day off and the nice weather. Fortunately, having a two week old has yet to stop us from doing anything. The day Baby Steven came home from the hospital, I got stir crazy and we spent two hours at Target that evening. Since we have a year long membership to the Bronx Zoo (even though it is over an hour away and our days off schedule) so we try to go there a few times a year to actually make it worth the cost. Outside of that, the Bronx Zoo is in my top five favorite place to spend the day, so I always vote for it. The five (ahh it's now five!) piled into my little Escape and started driving towards the zoo. As we drive over the Bear Mountain Bridge, we drive into one of the scenic pull offs so I can nurse and the kids can look over the Hudson, while there Hubby throws out the idea of going to Rye Playland instead. While I was not against the idea, I have a small control issue that freaks when plans change like that. In my head I am freaking about not having sunscreen (we never need that at the zoo), no swimsuits, not enough lunch packed, no towels, no changes of clothes, and what was I going to do with Baby! Needless to say, after about half an hour of high blood pressure, I was fine and we were almost to Rye.
     The day turned out wonderful, I practiced nursing in public which is still an awkward event for me, not at all for Steven who likes to make his loudest sounds while under the nursing cover. (to the left: picture of Steven and I in front of the bell tower at the park, highlighting why I shouldn't wear red and that I need to start working on this baby weight) E and G had tons of fun, even James went on most of the rides. There are two pretty neat roller coasters that the kids really enjoyed, while most of the other rides are pretty normal fair fare. We didn't even get to the beach since we didn't arrive at the park until noon and by six or so I was too tired to keep going. From the crowds, I figured that most people spend the day on the beach and then go to the park towards the evening. We had almost no wait on any rides all day, where the kids were the only ones on some of the rides and around five the lines started getting pretty long, not Disney long but too long for us to wait to go on rides that we had already went on at least once.
     Our biggest issues were the kids not wanting to leave by the end of the night and G getting bumped one too many times on the bumper cars and the seat belt leaving a mark on his neck. They went on that ride twice, E was too small to drive alone so James had to ride with her. They seemed to have a good time overall by the end of the visit, well worn out and only a minimal amount of cotton candy was consumed.

The park had a log flume where the rider only gets a tiny bit wet, but they then included this lovely bridge where you can stand after getting off the ride to ensure that you are completely soaked when Momma does not have a change of clothes at all. While that was a worry of mine, James went right on the ride with them and while he initially stood to the side, I think the kids might have talked him into standing right where the most water can soak you. I am sure you can tell which of the over six foot tall figures is my hubbs. Positively, it was warm enough that all three of them were dry by the time we loaded up the car to head home.
     The drive is a little long for us, but if you live closer, I am sure that it is a very convenient play park. I really liked the option of purchasing a "spectator" ticket for me. Since we had the baby, I wouldn't be going on any of the rides, so for half the price the spectator ticket was perfect. The prices for the tickets were really fair considering that it is unlimited rides, all day from 10am until 10pm. They don't let full packed lunches into the park, but you can pack in a cooler and go out to the car and bring the food into their picnic area which is right on a lake that you can also rent paddle boats on. The lines were fair for most of the day but we did go on a weekday so that might have made the difference. Next time, I will definitely plan on going to the beach for part of the day. The park bracelets also let you leave and come back, so I guess you could go to an off-site restaurant to eat lunch or dinner and still come back if you wanted. Over all, my official personal scoring would give the park a 7 out of 10. Distance kind of killed a bit for me and my lack of preparedness might have influenced that score as well. But I would not mind going back and I would recommend it as something in that area to do with kids, at least from age 3 through 14.
     We are starting on redoing three bedrooms in our temporary house so hopefully some before and after pictures will be on their way as well as baby updates, and as soon as I can, sewing and crafts!!!