Lessons from Henrietta's 5th Birthday Party

Lesson One: 

Sparklers instead of candles when the cake is outdoors. 

Even the slightest wind blew out the candles. The stress! The disappointment! The relief!

Lesson Two: 

Adults get just as competitive as kids during musical chairs. Don't let her smile fool you.

Lesson Three: 

Pinatas work on so many levels and no party should be without one.

Lesson Four: 

Singing Happy Birthday To You and How Old Are You Now takes too long. 

Pick up the tempo and speed it along if you do both.
Or else you'll get a very bored child. 

Happy Birthday to our cousin Henrietta!!

Fundraiser for Covenant House Ends Monday Night!

Photo taken by our friend Mike Gniewosz a long tim ago!

In case you missed it, last Friday I asked my readers to help raise money for the mothers at Covenant House. Click here for more details

We reached our goal of $500--
The final total was $660!!!

Thank you to my generous readers!

(My fundraiser is over, but if you would like to donate directly to Covenant House, you can do so here.)

Weekend Approved Project: Let's Do it Together!

Covenant House is a crisis center for kids under the age of 21 who find themselves homeless. It's a safe place to sleep, get a hot meal, and find someone to listen and care for them.  They are allowed to live there for 30 days. I was invited to a baby shower at Covenant House last night. It's the kind of thing I would have never done on my own.  It took an invitation. I'm so glad I got one. It completely changed my mind on the term "homeless". The moms at the shelter were not the ones I see on the street with the signs mumbling and begging for quarters. The moms I met were an energetic, friendly group of woman who are having a rough time establishing themselves. Covenant House is helping them in so many ways!

The baby shower had it all. A dinner, presents, center pieces, balloons, table clothes, a game and, of course, plenty of giggling women. It was even a surprise for the two pregnant girls!  My favorite was baby themed Bingo because all the moms were winners. The Social Worker in charge passed out new baby blankets to everyone in attendance. They cheered! The feeling in the air was light and festive. A lot of the girls asked me to take their picture. One held her baby up high. Another wanted me to take a few of her baby smashing a cake into her face. One requested that my entire blog be pictures of them. Her friends nodded their heads in total agreement. Here you go ladies:

I asked one of the social workers if the moms needed anything. She suggested that they need strollers. I completely understand why. If NYC has taught me one thing, it's that trying to get around the city without a stroller is extremely difficult. I consider my stroller my tiny minivan. I don't go anywhere without it--and my kids are almost all over the age of four! City mamas use their strollers forever! The worker pointed out one of the mothers who has a little one, with one on the way. A stroller would make this young mom's life so much easier.

So let's do it! Let's all donate a little money for strollers!  Call it the NYC Taught Me Mother's Need Strollers Fund!  I set up a paypal account. It's located on the bottom of this post. Deadline is Monday night (August 15th).  I'll keep you posted on donations throughout the weekend here. Yay!

Here's to my most ambitious weekend approved project yet. I'm excited to see the results of our joint project. :) I created a new page on the top left to show our progress. Thank you Emily for being the first person to donate!


(POST EDIT: My fundraiser is over, but if you would like to donate directly to Covenant House, you can do so here.)

More about my experience at Convenant House below:

After the baby shower, I got a tour of the facility and learned more about this particular branch of Covenant House. This facility only serves woman under the age of 21 who are either pregnant or already mothers. They are a loud to stay for 30 days.  Each bedroom is shared by 2 mothers and their kids. Two of the girls graciously let me see into their room. There was just enough room for two twin beds for the mothers and two cribs for their babies. The room was neat and clean, albeit small. A small airconditioner was buzzing in the window. The mother's had a shared bathroom with another set of girls in a conjoining room. The building also has a childcare center, a roof deck with an amazing view, a computer room and a small living room. In their 30 day stay, they have access to proper health care, job training classes, and full time childcare. They also receive help on obtaining long-term housing, getting employment, parenting skills.

The experience was great! Let's see how we can help! Just an FYI: This is not a sponsored post. They contacted me to spread awareness of their organization. I fell in love with what they are doing and agreed to write this post. I'm not getting compensated for anything. :)

Doughnut Plant in Chelsea

Will the real doughnut please stand up?

I was the tourist taking pictures of the doughnut pillows. I was the mother with the screaming overtired kids. I was also the woman stuffing my face with these absolutely amazing doughnuts. The roles I have to play at Doughnut Plant are exhausting. But totally worth it.

Is this not the perfect doughnut face?

Jenn from Much to My Delight wrote me this: What was your favorite? I dream about the coconut cream doughnut there every night, I swear.

I responded to her question in the comments! I would love to find out your favorite too!

Statue of Liberty Tip

Quick Post today (late night last night!). Here's a NYC Tip: Bring bathing suits when you visit the Statue of Liberty. Right before you get in line to see the statue, you will pass these sprinklers in Battery Park. The water shoots out at random intervals and at different pressures. The kids kept going back for more surprises. Owen circled the sprinklers shouting, "High five! High five! High five!" and gave high fives to the water. While the water feature is amazing, watching my kids play within view of the Statue of Liberty was the highlight for me. One of these days I'll get out to Liberty Island, but for now, the view from Battery Park is just enough.

Quiet NYC

NYC can be surprisingly quiet. Shocking, I know. Oh, the wonderful NY Public Library's designated quiet zones. Perfect for super heroes to sneak up on villains.

This and other images are included in a slideshow I made on Kirtsy today. Check it out here. 

My goal: To give a sense of the slower, more serene side of the city.

How'd I do? Where do you go to escape all the noise this city generates? If, of course, you don't have a beach house in the Hamptons.

Married

Rob and I got married 8 years ago today. I was 21 years old. A little young, like a decade young. Three children later, I'm still sticking around. Mainly for Rob's next joke. Thanks for keeping me laughing all these years. Love you.

A while ago, I framed the journal entry I wrote right before our first date. It's currently hanging over our toilet. Please don't over analyze that. I typed it for all the world to see below. It's exactly how I wrote it 10 years ago. I was 19 years old.

*Forgive the oversized blurry picture. I thought of this post at 10:00pm last night and quickly took this picture. I wanted to show us holding the actual framed journal entry. And I wanted us looking in love. Check and Check.

Feb.12, 2001

So I can't even concentrate on anything. Because I met a person today* that I can't stop thinking about. And it's weird because I never get like this. I mean, I do but never this bad. I mean this is like CHASE WESTFALL* bad, well maybe not THAT bad. Chase was pretty amazing. Cause this guy, I think his name is Rob, but I'm not quite sure, wants to hang out tonight like for dinner or something. I will be going home in about 45 minutes to get ready for this little date. Ok Ok ... I know this sounds weird and it's probably because I've been at this college for too long but nevermind ...  I think he could be the guy I've been looking for. Ok that's psycho I know that. I really do, I mean in one day? But I don't know if he looks at all people like this, but he looks at me in a way I have always dreamed of a guy to look at me. Like there is something in his eyes that is just different. Ok, most guys like him do . . . but it's fun just to have it like this right now and just think that someday it will feel like this FOREVER. Like someday, I will find someone that I can have a conversation like I had with Rob everyday ... Man, I hope that's his name. I'm in the LIBRARY right now and there was this guy sitting next to me that I just felt like was reading this. So I'm all hunched over this letter trying to write small. The only problem with this is that if it goes bad, then I can never enjoy El Camino Real* ever again because it will ... nevermind. I don't know what I'm talking about. But you know what today's lunch felt like, the lunch felt like? Lightning. The kind of lightning from Meet Joe Black*. Like the conversation from the diner. Not that this guy is BRAD PITT . . . I wish! But he does have those electric eyes ... I hope he's dressed cool ... like I could really be turned off if he's dressed badly ... I mean my roommates are meeting him and I just want him to look NORMAL.

*We met in the cafeteria lunch line and ate together. As we put our trays away, Rob asked me out on this date.
*Chase Westfall = High school crush that's not on Facebook. Boo
*El Camino Real = Rob's college band. He wore eyeliner on stage!
*Meet Joe Black = I've completely forgotten what this reference means. I need to watch it again.

That's it. The date was horrible but that's another story. It wasn't because of his clothes though. If we make it to our ninth anniversary I promise to tell it.