Birthday Party

We had a birthday party with 9 of the kids' closest friends their age. They all had a lot of fun. I didn't think to get a group shot of all of the kids, but here are a few pictures...

Happy 3rd birthday!

See how our little ones have grown over the last 3 years--from 3 pounds to this!

Birth

1st birthday

2nd birthday

Our little princesses

Last night we went to a concert in the park to hear the New York Philharmonic. It started at 8pm, only an hour after the kids' bedtime. All things considering, they did pretty well--sitting "still" for 4 hours, maintaining some level of peace for the surrounding listeners. This experience confirmed our suspicions that Arthur is a potential musician. He listened intently (for a kid) and wanted to know which instrument produced each section of music. He often recognizes a trumpet (used for any brass) and is getting better with the violin (any stringed). He has always been very concerned to learn every note and word of the silly songs that we sing, where Adaline just sings them freely and without precision. Both kids enjoy conducting--something they imitate from a Little Einstein's video. There was also some interesting interpretive dancing thrown in the mix...

We persevered through the evening mainly because we wanted the kids to see the fireworks show after the concert. The kids have never seen fireworks before because they've only seen the dark a handful of times. It was a fun parenting experience to see their reactions. Adaline's eyes and mouth were wide open in amazement for the first few minutes, and Arthur kept saying, "They're so beautiful!"

One of my favorite things about having kids is that you rediscover things in life that have become normal and uninteresting. Seen through the eyes of a child, everything has potential for excitement. Riding the bus or train or ferry (a recent adventure of ours) is mundane for a typical New Yorker, but an adventure for kids. I love that I'm more interested in watching the expressions on my children's faces than the fireworks that they are discovering.

Old pictures...long overdue

It's been a long time since I've blogged. I actually haven't been taking pictures lately. These were the most recent--taken at the Cloisters in upper Manhattan. It was a beautiful place with lots of rocks for our little climbers.

Speaking of climbing, the kids are completely trained in climbing in and out of their cribs. Good news--the clothes are staying on. Bad news--it still takes hours for them to go to sleep. It has been exhausting to try to keep them in their beds. On the cute side, though, Arthur often climbs in Adaline's bed and they play quietly together for hours. It's not cute when they still get up at 5:55am cranky and tired from little sleep. Will the sleep drama ever end?

The 3rd birthday is coming up next week, so I'll definitely take pictures of that. Until then...