Mother's Day Weekend

This Mother's Day was one of my favorites in a long time although I am pretty sure I think that every year.   This was Erika's first Mother's Day so it was really exciting when she announced that she wanted to spend the weekend with all of us in New York - YIPPPEEEE!!! - so Erika, Richie and the girls flew up Saturday the 10th.   Dylan had a tee ball game so as soon as that was done, the boys and I headed over to Michael and Jasmine's to see everyone (Jay had to work).  The entire way to Westchester, Ryan talked about the twins and how excited he was to see them and feed them - as soon we got there, he started grinning like a crazy person, talking to them in a baby voice and sat right down to feed Ella.  

It was so cute - he laughed the whole time, tickled Ella's feet and subconsciously willed her to open her mouth by opening his own every time he put the spoon near her.  Ryan also thought it was hilarious that she kept dribbling some of the food - I am pretty sure that he was afraid of scratching Ella with the spoon because instead of scraping it up with the spoon and feeding it to her,  he wiped her mouth with the bib after most bites.    After an hour or two, we all went over to Grandma and Papa's for dinner.   

  

Ryan said he needed to go with Erika and Richie because "The twins might need some help in the back"  The weather was great so we all sat on the deck and ate, took turns holding and playing with the twins and just hung out until it was time for us to head back to the city. 

  

I couldn't decide between different versions for some of the pictures so I am posting them all with my comments. 

Picture 1

Ella "I want to eat my feet but my belly is in the way....uuuuuhhhh - almost there!"

Dylan " Those toes do look pretty good"

Ava "I am sexy and I know it...but I am over taking pictures"

Ryan "Cheese"

Picture 2

Ella "I  give up - i am just going to chill"

Dylan " I just came up with a plan...and I am going to blame Ella for it!"

Ava "I wonder if I could reach that car - I really want it"

Ryan "Cheese"

I must have been at a weird angle because Ava looks about 2 feet longer than Ella in the picture on the left. 

I was really excited because the whole gang agreed to come to the city on Sunday for Ryan's game and Mother's Day lunch.   We really go to Westchester most of the time for special occasions so I was really happy to host for once.   Jay helped out a lot and we had Chicken and Sausage and Peppers for lunch and Salted Caramel Chocolate bars and White Chocolate Funfetti Chip cake for dessert.  The boys played with the twins almost the whole time - from helping them with their blocks, to feeding them to even teaching them how to play catch. 

After eating, we all headed over to Ryan's baseball game and we were all so thrilled that he had his best game to date!!  On his first at bat, he whacked it for a double (usually not allowed, everyone gets a single but half the team wasn't there) and we all went crazy.   I think Ryan was beyond excited that we were all there because he said "can you believe I have 10 people here watching me?"  hahaha.   Uncle Michael even got to step in as third base coach. 

Another highlight of the day was that Ella tried out the swings for the first time while Ava slept - she loved them but we couldn't stay on them too long because it was really sunny by the swings and we had no hat for Ella, plus I am pretty sure I heard Dylan say "Ella, you want to go up to the sky???"   oy 

I had a great 2 days spending time with some of the best people I know, including 2 of my favorite moms: My mom and my sister



MOM aka Grandma aka Grams

I really don't know what I would do without my mom.  There is not a day that goes by that I have not spoken to my mother by 8:30 am . By 8:30 pm, we have spoken at least 5 times, Facetimed once, texted a bunch and usually messaged each other on Facebook.  Not only is my mom a great mom, she is a great grandma. For the past 7 1/2 years, she has come every Friday for "her turn", to watch the boys despite the fact that she has to wake up at 5 am to do so.   She makes us dinner every time she comes, usually steak and chicken "so you have a choice".  Grandma is always the one coming up with crazy games and ideas that have the kids cracking up laughing and will always take the blame when something goes wrong - and trust me, she gets blamed A LOT!!  She lets the boys play in mud and who knows what else and then takes their clothes home to wash so I don't see the evidence.  There are a million other things I could write about (all of my funny childhood memories, our fun road trips with the boys to North Carolina, the stories she tells when we have sleepovers, .... )  but the point is this: My mom makes my life so much easier and I could never thank her enough for all that she does for us - she truly is the best!!!  We are so lucky to have you xoxox

Two boys + two girls = Grandma sandwich!

 MY SISTER aka my best friend aka Aunt Erika

Since the day Ryan was born, Erika has been an awesome aunt, coming to New York whenever she could, Facetiming when she couldn't, and taking us to every cool kid place imaginable during our visits to NC (I can't imagine Monkey Joe's or Marbles were places she had strong desire to go to).  Erika has always been my go to person for a good laugh or a long vent session, and especially for advice on the boy's school stuff - I have no idea how many times I have called her in hysterics.   We talk multiple times a day and we keep getting closer the older we get.  Erika is a wonderful friend, sister and aunt.

Erika is also an amazing mom to two of the cutest little girls I have ever seen!!!   I love these girls so much and am thrilled that I get to be their Aunt - I can not wait until they get older (and get hair) because I have a TON of things planned for us!!! 

 From day one, Erika has been a natural at being a mom - having twins can not be easy (although it helps if your children are the best babies ever - hardly cry, don't need to be rocked and smile all day long....I could go on and on) but Erika is fantastic mother and it is obvious how much she loves being a mom.  I have seen her feed two babies at once, keep one baby entertained while changing the diaper of the other, and she has even managed to get her kids on a schedule with eating/sleeping about 12 months earlier than I could!  (Ryan even said the other day "That's ok that the babies got up in the middle of the night, I still do that")  Happy 1st Mother's Day Erika - I hope that you had a great day!

The best thing that ever happened to me was becoming a mom.  I will never forget the moment we found out I was pregnant with Ryan: I remember where I was, what I wore and how happy and excited Jay and I were for all of the adventures ahead of us.  (as an aside, I will also never forget going to tell Grandma and Papa - Grandma picked me up at the train station with earrings on despite the fact that the week before, her ears weren't pierced - she said "I pierced my own ears in case we had something to celebrate" haha) Two and a half years letter, Dylan joined us and we felt the same excitement.  The past 7.5 years have been filled with many wonderful vacations (NC many times, Disneyworld, Maryland) and more fun adventures than I could begin to count and it was all because of these two little guys that call me "Mommy"

 I love these kids and all of the excitement they bring to my life.   Sometimes, they can be EXHAUSTING (mama could use a serious nap right about now) but I wish time would slow down because they are getting big so fast!!   I know I have made plenty of mistakes as a mom but I try every day to do my best to show Ryan and Dylan how much I love them.  I am always on the lookout for fun stuff for us to do and cool places to go and nothing makes me happier than seeing their excitement when they think I had a good idea.  I may spend way more time playing legos and superheroes, digging in the dirt, and talking about Pokemon/Star Wars/Indiana Jones than I envisioned but I wouldn't have it any other way. 

I got a really great surprise for Mother's Day: Earlier this year, I broke a Tiffany necklace that I have and wear pretty much everyday - it was a Christmas gift from the boys a few years ago.   I was very upset when it broke and haven't had a chance to fix it- well, I was so surprised that the boys snuck it out of my jewelery box and I was even more surprised when Jay told me it was Ryan's idea.    Love these guys !!!!!

"Mommy - you do so much for me and Dylan so we wanted to fix your key necklace that you broke at Ben's house. So we got it fixed today at the Jewelry store on Central Avenue.  We love you a lot. We wish we can help you.  Love Ryan Mengel"

Thank you to Jay, Ryan, Dylan and the rest of my family for making this Mother's Day so much fun!

xoxo

Cousin Love

It is funny - when Erika was still pregnant with the twins, she and I often talked/made predictions about how Ryan and Dylan would react to the girls .  Would they be rough or gentle with them? Would they want to help or not be bothered?  Would they be grossed out by diapers? At the time, Dylan was much more interested in Erika and her belly (and what the babies were doing in there)  than Ryan was and we wondered if it would be that way once they arrived.  

The day that Ava and Ella were born, we FaceTimed so the boys could "meet" their cousins.

 

Ryan was a little more interested than Dylan but in the days/weeks that followed, both boys frequently wanted to face time and they talked about who would do what job when we saw the twins in person (Dylan usually said that he would feed them, Ryan was going to either feed them or help them take a nap). Dylan always talked to them in a baby voice and called them his "cutie patooties" and Ryan just stared at them a lot and smiled.

All of that changed though when the boys first meet the girls - for Ryan, it was definitely love at first sight!!! As soon as he saw the babies for the first time, he asked could he feed one of them and he grinned from ear to ear the entire time!!

He fed Ella that first time and when it was time to feed the babies again, he asked Erika "Can I help? This time I will feed Ava since I fed Ella last time". He loves those girls so much and it is really so adorable and heartwarming. Every time he sees their pictures, he smiles and without fail, says how cute they are!

 

 Dylan on the other hand, didn't show much interest right away.  He said all he wanted to do was throw away the dirty diapers.   After watching Ryan for a few minutes though, he changed his mind and decided to feed Ava.  While he was much more gentle than I thought he would be, I do think that he was thinking up some naughty scheme involving Ava and is hoping that the girls will one day be his partners in crime!

All week, Dylan gave the twins lots of kisses and wanted to help burp them, but I think once he realized they were not going to get up and play with him, he lost interest. (probably realizing this was his chance to play with Ryan's toys while he was busy) Dylan is the BEST though at telling the girls apart - he never gets confused about which is which.  

 

We spent tons of time with Ava and Ella over the week of Christmas.

One of my favorite moments of the week though was when I walked down the hallway and I heard Ryan say "Now Ava, that is Indiana Jones and those are the bad guys" and I found them laying on the bed together.  (grandma was there too which is how they got on the bed together)

Ella really was not interested in Indiana Jones but Ava stayed with Ryan for a pretty long time as he talked her ear off about all things Indy - the temple of doom, the crystal skull, how important Short Round is, how much Indy hates snakes.........

I left the room for a minute and when I came back, Ryan was so excited saying "mommy look, Ava really wants to hold my hand?   Isn't that so cute?  Really, look, she is holding my hand!!"  It was SO cute!

When Erika, Richie and the girls left to go back to North Carolina after Christmas, I don't think Ryan really understood they were leaving, as in going back to North Carolina and we would not see them for a long time.   He was really disappointed once he understood and not long after that, Ryan started asking about the girls often.  One night, while we were facetiming with the twins (have i mentioned how much I LOVE facetime?) Ryan read them a bedtime story.   CUTEST.THING.EVER!!

 I am not kidding, Ava was seriously concentrating on everything he was saying and Ella paid attention when any part about food came up.  Since that first night, we have done a bedtime story almost every night - not only is Ryan getting a lot of extra reading practice, he really loves reading to the girls and I love that they are all bonding already (as much as you can have a bond at that age).     Ryan even asked them at the end of the book the other day "Did you guys like that story?"

He even ran to the kitchen to get some food to show Ella to try and make her laugh!!

I am so thankful that even though we live so many states apart, the cousins have such a strong relationship already. I can only imagine as the kids get older, we go on vacations together, and spend more time together how much fun these four are going to have together!

ps- Have I mentioned how much I love Face Time?? xoxo