Surprise!!!! Happy Birthday Erika!!!!

Happy Birthday Erika!! The big 3-0. This is going to be a great year for you, I know it!!

Back in November, Jay and I had a conversation with Richie and we decided that we would fly down to North Carolina to surprise Erika the weekend before her birthday. Gamma and Papa agreed to watch the boys and for 2 months, we kept the secret with only a few minor slips. Every Friday night, Erika goes out with the ladies she works with for "Milk and Cookies" - same restaurant and same table every week. So this Friday, Jay and I flew down and the plan was set in motion: Richie picked us up at the airport and the 3 of us went to the restaurant and waited for the girls to show up. Well, either Erika is a great actress or she is clueless because she seemed really surprised (which made me very happy).


We spent a few hours hanging out and having drinks while Erika kept saying "Oh now it all makes sense..." as she realized slips we made, things we did out of the ordinary etc. A few of Richie and Erika's friends also joined the celebration and then we all headed out to dinner.

It was a really fun, relaxing weekend - we went to the movies, out to eat, and just spent time catching up and hanging out. The only source of stress all weekend was our flight back to New York on Sunday - back in November when we booked our tickets, it was almost certain that the Jets would not make the playoffs. After an amazing run, not only did the Jets make it to the playoffs but they made it to the AFC Championship game, scheduled to begin an hour before our flight. Not wanting to miss the game, we were able to get an earlier flight and were back in time for kickoff. Before we left though, I think we did a good job of letting all of Raleigh know which team we were rooting for.

Erika and Richie - thanks for a fantastic weekend.

Erika - wishing you a wonderful birthday and a 30th year that is filled with wishes come true!!!

We love you

New York Kids Club - End of the Semester Visiting Day

Today, Jay and I got to attend Parent's Day at Ryan's school, NY Kids Club. Parents were invited to attend class for snack time and a special awards ceremony to mark the end of the 1st semester. When we entered the classroom, we sat down on little chairs while the kids ate their snack (Ryan was the only kid that ate his fruit) and the teacher read them a story. The story happened to be about the subway and during the story, she asked the class "Do any of you know what train you ride?" and Ryan screamed out "Wait!!!" since his mouth was full. As soon as he was done eating he said "I know what train I ride. I ride the 6 train. I rode the 6 train with my daddy and sometimes I ride the train with my mommy. The subway makes the noise like this 'WOOOO WOOO' but there are trains beside the subway, there are diesel locomotive engines and they make a noise 'BEEP' ...." and went on and on about trains while all of the other kids and parents just sat there staring. Later, the teacher told me "Ryan is always an active participant in story time", lol. At the end of class, all of the students received a medal and a certificate while the teachers talked about the students progress throughout the semester. Regarding Ryan, they said that his listening really improved throughout the semester and he always wants to help his friends. I am really glad that Ryan has been going to this class because he really seems to like it and asks every morning if he is going to school that day

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2nd Semester starts next week.

J-E-T-S, Jets Jets Jets!!!

In honor of the Jets making it to the divisional round of the playoffs, I am going to backtrack and blog about something from November.

On November 29th, Thanksgiving weekend, we had our biggest tailgate party of the 2009 season. Since the Jets were playing the Carolina Panthers, Richie's favorite team, Erika and Richie decided to come up for the game. Even though Richie did have on a Panther shirt under his fleece, I think that it is safe to say he has officially become a diehard Jets fan like the rest of us.

The weather was absolutely perfect, unseasonably warm and not a cloud in the sky, and we couldn't wait to get to the stadium to start the party!! We decided to bring Ryan to the game since we figured it would be the last nice weather game of the year and probably his last time in the old stadium. (We ended up scalping a ticket for him in the parking lot and not only did we get it for $20, the guy who sold it to us gave us 2 so I sold the other one for $40 and ended up making $20 on the deal, lol. ) Ryan was happy that he got to go with the "big guys" to the game and proudly brought along his very own Spiderman tailgate chair. As soon as we got all set up, Ryan sat down in his chair and got ready to eat:
After eating more than his fair share of pickles, Ryan got his "Fan Face" ready and led us in a little Jets cheer in honor of his favorite Jet - Sanchez!!

We spent a few hours in the parking lot eating burgers, hot dogs and sausage and peppers and just hanging out having fun - too bad we didn't remember a football.


One of the cars near us had a game called Cornhole, which is basically a beanbag tossing game. Ryan really wanted to play and the men who had it were nice enough to let him play...and Gamma too, who gave Ryan some lessons first.

Our fun didn't end after we went in to the stadium though - the Jets intercepted Jake Delhomme 4 times and snapped their 3 game losing streak by beating the Panthers 17-6. What a perfect way to end a great day!!

As the Jets head in to San Diego this weekend, I know that our whole family will be decked out in their gear as we hopefully cheer the Jets on to victory. Go J-E-T-S!!!

McDonalds

Sometimes on Fridays, Gamma takes the boys to the McDonald's not far from here house because Ryan loves playing in the play area. I think Dylan might be a little jealous and ready to play too

(thanks for the pictures mom - taken with her camera phone)

Happy New Year!!!

For the first time in years, we went to a party on New Years Eve and we had a great time. Uncle Michael and Jasmine invited us over to their "Hawaiian Theme" bash and while we were the only ones dressed in Hawaiian garb, it was still fun to get dressed up and get out of the house. (Ryan's Ron Jon shirt was as close as I could find to Hawaiian in the middle of winter and Jay was happy to let Dylan wear the Kukui nut necklace he got on our honeymoon.) The kids were really well behaved (I think) and they definitely had as much fun as we did! Ryan was so excited to be able to stay up way past his bedtime and while I thought he would crash eventually, he was still going strong after midnight.



Dylan fought amazingly hard to make it until midnight too and after a quick 1 hour power nap....

he was up and ready to countdown to the start of the New Year.

All day New Years Day, Ryan kept saying "Uncle Michael's party was great, it was so much fun" Thanks Mike for inviting us over to ring in the New Year with you.

To my few faithful readers: Jay, Ryan, Dylan and I wish you a very happy and healthy 2010 and in honor of all of you, I will add "Being a better blogger" to my long list of resolutions. Love you all - HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Santa Claus is coming to town....

TOMORROW!!!!!!

After weeks of anticipation, Santa will finally be coming tomorrow! We have spent the month reading Christmas books, singing songs and watching Christmas movies and we have all been on our best behavior for the past few days in hopes of making it to the "Nice" list (just in case we all weren't there yet).

We have gone twice this month to visit Santa so the boys could tell him what they want for Christmas (and so I could get the Santa pictures I love so much) and each time, the list has gotten longer and longer. By the second visit, Ryan even had a list ready for Dylan, which of course included trains. Luckily, Dylan warmed up to Santa the more we saw him - I think it may have been due to the pep talk Ryan gave him "Dylan, Don't cry, Santa's nice. If you cry, he won't bring you any presents."

As everyone who knows me knows, I LOVE Christmas and everything about it - spending time with my family, wrapping presents, the music, and all of the wonderful traditions. Now that Ryan is old enough to understand about Christmas more, I was happy that this year we could start a new tradition of leaving milk and cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. Both Jay and I did that as kids and I remember one year, Michael being about the same age Ryan is now and completely freaking out about the carrots being eaten one Christmas. Well, since we weren't going to be home Christmas Eve, we left treats at both Omi and Poppy's and Gamma and Papa's house (hope the reindeer like cucumbers too- oops)

Now it is time to go to bed because if Santa sees we are not sleeping, he might skip our house! As soon as Ryan got in bed, he told me that he heard the bells from the reindeer and that we needed to go check to see if Santa came. haha. Can't wait for tomorrow!!!

First Snowman

On Saturday around mid-day, it started snowing (the first snow of the year). I was in Westchester and by the time Jay got out of work, the roads were bad enough that we decided it would be safer to spend the night at Omi and Poppy's house and drive home in the morning. Ryan was really excited about the snow and was begging to go outside and play because he wanted to have a "snow fight". We told Ryan that if he ate all of his dinner, he could play outside for a little while and that we could play more in the morning. Luckily, he finished his soup and we went outside because by the time we woke up in the morning, almost all of the snow was gone. There was just enough snow to make a snowman - Ryan's first ever - complete with a corn-cob pipe and two eyes made out of coal.

I am having trouble getting the video of the snowball fight to load but I am working on it.