Merry Christmas!

We hope you all have a Merry Merry Christmas!! We sure are! We are in Idaho playing with family in a winter wonderland!

Fall pictures

I found these pictures on my phone and had to share how beautiful it is here. This fall was AMAZING!! You have probably heard people say that is SO pretty back east in the fall. Well, they are right! I took these pictures with my phone while walking around campus with Mike a few weeks ago. Simply beautiful!!

 {That red building in the middle is where Mike spends most of his time.}

This is one of Cornell's libraries. Pretty cool, right!

Mike's family came to visit! We went on a {freezing cold} walk through Sapsucker woods, it is an amazing bird sanctuary right next our apartments.

What I learned form New York City--

-- It hates Strollers.
Elevators were few and far between. Literally! Like miles between. You should have seen us heft that thing (ok maybe not, you would have laughed) full of tired and cute boy poundage up and down stairs and over subway meters... ugh, it was the worst! By the third day we were really good at finding handicap entrances and elevators.

--The subways are cree- to the capital P!!! (get it creePY!)
They are stinky and muggy and hot and smelly and then add a whole bunch of people and a big helping of "we don't know which train to get on because we were too distracted carrying our stroller down the stairs without falling". (:

--M&M's taste better when you get to pick the color. (And when they cost $12.99 per lb.)

-- Stu could be a Toys R Us Vanna White and Graham, a stunt double.

-- Street food really IS good!!
Stu and Graham chowed down their first New York hot dog and we got Indian food from a food truck that was AMAZING!

--New York City is in the middle of a kid shortage.
We were pretty much the only ones with kids, which meant our kids were SO loud everywhere we went. Not to mention that Stu spilled his pop trying to sit on this very tall kid friendly stool and Graham knocked an entire tray of food onto the floor. (: I love that Mike's face sums up perfectly how we felt!

--The city is perfect for bird chasing! There were pigeons everywhere. A little boys dream!

--My traveling buddies are SUPER cute! (But, really I already knew that!)
@ the 9/11 memorial.

-- The movie A Night At The Museum gave me unrealistic expectations for The Museum of National History.
Also, the museum closes at 5:45.. who does that! They kicked us out so quick we didn't have time to find the Dum Dum head. (A.K.A Easter Island head. I told you, unrealistic expectations..)

-- Manhattan is beautiful/crazy at night!

--Pizza + Pastries = A-OK!!

--Lady Liberty is a classy lady.
It was fun to finally see things that I have only heard of my entire life.

--Kid things like parks and swings do exist outside of Manhattan!
We visited Mike's cousins Deborah and Adam and there two littles in Brooklyn before we headed out. It was sure nice to see some familiar faces and be with people who knew where they were going for a change. Thanks Deborah and Adam!!!

--Vacations to New York City with kids are not vacations.
It was an exhausting trip for all of us. Even Graham was tired by the end. (See Graham's hand waiting for another M&M. So cute!)

--Last but not least I learned from visiting New York City that I am very happy living where I am with 3 cute boys!
(P.s. this is the building that Mike is in most all of the time for school.)

The Boys

The boy that climbs--

I am pretty sure that Graham is going to be our "accident" boy. He climbs on things that 16 month old boys should not be able to climb on. He has surprisingly strong hands and grips onto things really quick. Sometimes when we pick him up we pick up whatever he is holding onto as well, like a chair!!

The boy that goes to pre-school--

Stu started preschool about 2 weeks ago and he LOVES it!! I can't believe he is this big.

Mustache

Tonight Stu stopped and sat on the ground and said "Ouch, my mustache!"
Turns out he has a different mustache than most people I have met. (:

Don't mind Mike's intense yawns in the background. (hahaha!) He is working hard and tired. He is the best!

About Ithaca #3 -- Dang humidity!

Need I say more...

- Have you seen these chocolate pretzel things?? They are delicious and the perfect treat for a 3 year who loves to unwrap {and eat} candy! But, the humidity hated them. They got sweaty and melted and set over and over again.
 = they taste good but look bad= I couldn't take them to friends= I ate most of them!

- This humidity has been wreaking havoc on my hair.. Mike has been making fun of me because my hair and I have a serious love/hate relationship right now. Some days I love it and others I wish more than anything that I had Kim Kardashian's hair. {Which is extensions} Whenever I straighten my hair I just try to stay away from mirrors. (: My hair frizzes out like a mane.

- Stu has always been pretty good at working up a sweat, but with the humidty he is kick n' it up a notch! His head is usually COMPLETELY drenched whenever he is playing outside. (:

- In addition to humidity, our apt. bathroom came without a fan. So some days it is almost impossible to get dry after showering.

- A lot of days I only wear eyeliner and mascara. Everything gets wiped off in like 3 seconds.

Needless to say, I am excited for fall. Supposedly it is less humid!! AND, beautiful with all of the trees and fall colors!


On an unrelated note---  My boys are cute!
 

About Ithaca #2

Living in Ithaca has been great so far. We are doing OK being far from our families since we can skype and talk on the phone. We have made a lot of friends and live by lots of kids to play with outside. The neighborhood is great. It is beautiful here! Tons of trees. Mike is liking school so far and seems to be keeping up.

With all of these great things, I have been very surprised that one of the hardest adjustments for me so far has been grocery shopping. I hate it right now. Emphasis on the hate! There are a lot of different grocery stores. Some feel way organic and expensive, some are super weird. {Like paying a quarter to use a cart. Who does that?!} And, then of course there is Walmart and Target, which just aren't typical grocery stores...
Some things are more expensive and some things are less.. I cant figure it out. Grocery shopping is overwhelming. I find myself taking deep breaths and realizing that I am totally spazzing about groceries. Today I found myself buying name brand products just to have something that was familiar. I feel like I am preparing for the end of the world because I am the only person with a cart full of groceries. What does everyone else do? Go to the store everyday?? Also, I feel like the Mom of 19 kids and Counting the way people look at me with my two kids in the cart. It's just a good thing they are perfect angles and never whine. hahahahaha!!!!
As I was walking to my car with my cart full of groceries a lady walking into the store stopped by me a said "O, you reminded me I need to go get my bags out of my car." Translation-- "Thanks for killing the earth and reminding me to get my reusable bags." (:

Thanks goodness for the candy isle, right!

On a seperate note. All of the Halloween candy is out. Not sure what I think about these--

About Ithaca-- #1

So, deer have basically taken over Ithaca. There are deer all over the place here! We see deer most every morning and evening that we are outside. The other night Mike pointed out a deer right out our bedroom window. And, one morning on a run/walk we were 50 yards from a deer on the road, and it did not hurry away. These Deer are not afraid of anyone, they don't stay in the trees and spook easily  like Idaho deer, they graze in backyards and on the side of the rode like there is NO hunting season. O, yea.. That is exactly why they are in everyone's yards, there is no hunting here.
Apparently Ithaca is with deer how India is with cows.
We love us some deer up here! (;
I do think they are cool to have all over but I guess the increase in deer is actually hurting the environment. There are a lot of car wrecks caused by the deer and a lot of farmers have a hard time keeping deer out of their crops.
What a different world and kind of things to deal with then  what I was used to in Idaho and Utah. Crazy huh!??

{{All of these deer were seen within 5 mins. and two blocks of our apt.}}

More about the crazy deer here.

Family Pictures

I wanted to get 1 year old pictures of Graham and that turned into family pictures for all of us! I chopped my hair off and Graham looks so much bigger that I just wanted an updated picture. We had a good friend of ours take our pictures and they turned out great. These are the pictures I just ordered to do a gallery wall. I will show you what it looks like when it is up!