Birthdays, Birthdays Everywhere!

So, three weeks ago, we had our friend CC's party. Followed by Kellyn's pony-ride inspired party a week ago as well as her daycare party the following day, where all the kiddos got to wear these colorful headbands, which did their best to tame the Mason-man's hair.



The latest addition to the birthday club was 2-year-old Roger, who welcomed us to his family's East Village store for a little celebration on Sunday.

The original plan called for an outdoor party at Roger's favorite playground, but rain put a damper on the celebration. The boys didn't seem to mind as they put on their party hats and danced on the sidewalk.



After posing for a picture with Roger's mom, Jojo...



The boys headed inside to share some snacks and a delicious chocolate-raspberry cake.



By then, the rain had let up enough that we made our way to the park for a bit of fun.





We're looking forward to a repeat visit somewhere down the line!

Showing Off Our City

Mommy's college friend Dorothy flew in for a weekend graduation and Mommy and Mason were lucky enough to steal a whole day to spend with her. Her only request: We show her some of our favorite spots in the city. Oh...that, and she wanted to go to FAO Schwarz.

Our first stop was the Carousel at Central Park.



After that, Mason pulled Dorothy all over FAO, while I chased them with the stroller and the camera.

First, the train set.



Next, the Harry Potter section.



Later, the dinosaurs (that is his *cheese* face).



After wearing ourselves out, we decided to grab some good old-fashioned NYC hot dogs and sat in the corner of the park watching the carriages and the cabs pass by. Of course, no warm-weather lunch is complete without a Mr. Frostee ... or two!



We finshed off our journey with a walk through Times Square before heading home for a little R&R. Of course, there's no rest for the wicked. We had a date with some steamy NYC pizza and finished our day in the most perfect of ways: A Magnolia Bakery Cupcake.

Pony Ride Videos

As promised ...



And one more ...

A Really Big Day

Sunday marked Mother's Day, Auntie Jenn's birthday and the day before our best friend Kellyn's birthday, which could only mean that we headed out to Brooklyn for a party in her honor.

First on the agenda: pony rides!

Birthday girl Kellyn got first dibs...



... but it wasn't long before Mason got his turn upon Chip, the little black pony. A video post will come later (trust me, Mommy was a little paparazzi-esque in capturing his first ride.)




As you can see, the helmet kept falling down over Mason's eyes. It didn't seem to bother him, as he was smiling from ear to ear for his whole ride.

Sisters Kaya and Fiona got a chance, too...



As did Hope -- aboard S'mores, who Mason comically was chiding to "cover your mouth" when the horse started coughing.



After lunch, we headed over to nearby Prospect Park and spread out a blanket for a picnic...




Followed by some playtime...





And some cake. The kids took some swipes at it, and turns frosting each other's noses. It was pretty funny!

After that, it was time to make the long trek back into Manhattan.

Only In New York

Last Tuesday night, just as we dared to think about getting our little Mason man wound down and ready for bed, something happened that had the exact opposite effect. We wound him up, thanks to this scene on our street:



Why is there a seemingly endless supply of firetrucks and firemen on our block, you ask? There was a fire in the building next door to us. I've still yet to quite get the details on the whole affair, but it seems the top floor of the building was wiped out in the ordeal.

While we'd never wish this on anyone -- and it's worth nothing that everyone was OK, it was only material things that were lost -- you can imagine how excited our fireman/truck crazed son was at the site.

His excitement, however, maybe have been eclipsed the next day, when I snapped this photo with my phone. The firemen, back on the scene to inspect the damage (I think) were nice enough to invite a mesmerized Mason to sit in the front seat of the firetruck. He was beaming, and couldn't stop talking about it.



I love how these guys are SO friendly to Mason. I can't tell you how many times we've passed a truck on the street and they've waved at him or how many times there's been one parked in a station or elsewhere when they've taken a few minutes to say hi and comment on how the little boys are always their biggest fans.

Bilingual Babies

Today marked the final chapter in our 10-week Spanish playgroup. With Melissa's help, Mason and his buddies from daycare would make a weekly Wednesday-morning trek down to Chelsea to spend an hour making new friends and learning Spanish as part of their Hola Playgroup.

Here are some shots from the action:



Classes always started out with a song welcoming everyone to the group and each of the kids got to pick out an instrument to rock out with. Mommy was lucky enough to be able to hop on the train and meet up with the group to take part in the classes.



A great way to spend my lunch hour, no doubt.



Here, Mason and his friends point out vegetables. Each week, the class would focus on a different theme and included an introduction to that theme, a song about the topic, some sort of group activity, a puppet or slide show and an art project before some open group play.



Mason waits for the art supplies to make their way down the table to him -- but mostly, he would participate in the art only until the toys came out. We have more than one half-finished project from this class. He was pretty obsessed with playing with the trains, or the pop-up bus/tent ... not the paint, glue and markers (after all, we don't have a pop-up bust/tent at our house.)



Class is ending, and Hope, Mason and one of the other little girls pile on Veronica's (or 'Nica, according to Hope) lap to give her a hug and say "gracias" before we head back to the train.

With the session over, we're trying to work out something for the summer and convince our new friend Veronica to move her class uptown for the fall. For now, the Spanish CD we bought from the class is on constant rotation!

Catching up with...

... Our old daycare friends (a.k.a. our Nursery North friends) in honor of Kevin, Marianne and Celeste who are fleeing the city for San Francisco at the end of the month.

The original plan was a Central Park picnic, but the weather had other plans for us so Shelli, Narda and Malka were kind enough to invite the whole lot of us into their home. There was a ton of good food, and lots of great friends all of whom we've known since the kids were infants. They started in one classroom together with a very special teacher, Barbara, who made a surprise appearance. We had to remind her that she, in fact, wasn't working. But, she couldn't help herself.

She got us to sit in a circle, then taught us the songs she sings daily during Circle Time at daycare and then read the kids a book.



She even did a little dance when the kiddos found the keyboard and started jamming.

Let's Go *Ankees!*

For those of you who don't know, or haven't had the pleasure of visiting us, our apartment is just across the river from the South Bronx, and thus Yankee Stadium. If you walk three blocks up, to the corner, you can see the Stadium in all it's glory, so Mason has become well-acquainted with it, and will point out Yankee Stadium when we come home from the subway, or head to the park. So, imagine his joy when he was told we were actually going to go to Yankee Stadium. He's been before, but not in a year, and the last time we were there, he spent most of the game bundled close to Mommy, and napping on her chest.

After Dad-O called to tell us he'd snagged some free tickets to the Yankees-Tigers game, Mommy gathered Mason (and bundled him up ... it always seems to be cold when we go) and we made the trek across the bridge to the Stadium to meet Dad-O.

Unfortunately, the Yankees lost ... or should I say *Ankees* as that is what Mason kept referring to the team as. Curious that he can say *Yankee Stadium* but on this night -- and the following day -- he could only talk about watching the *Ankees* play. At one point, he looks toward the scoreboard and proclaims "Oh no, mama! The Ankees are wooooosing!" They were, they did 6-2 but the night was a memorable one.

As this is the final season at the Stadium, we thought we better commemorate the moment, and had the friendly couple behind us snap this photo, just in case we don't get an opportunity (read: free tickets) to go again.



Another highlight: spending the whole walk there, and much of the game singing "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" with him, only to have him proclaim that he didn't like the song, and would we please stop singing -- smack dab in the middle of the seventh-inning stretch. He recovered, however, to serenade Melissa with the song the following morning at daycare and has been singing it ever since.