Hop hop hop little bunny

We invaded the Irish memorial today to have a little Easter egg hunt with the usual suspects. Gotta do what you've gotta do when you don't have a lot of green space! We had a brilliant time - it was all giggles and running up & down the hill.
 

All kids had a different strategy to collect as many chocolates as possible - running frantically, using their scooter...and then there was Madeline, eating her chocolates right there on the spot. She didn't collect many, but let me tell you, the ones she managed to get, she enjoyed :)

I snapped a lot of pictures of her because she was so much easier to catch compared to her sister who was running around like crazy!

Cupcakes

Escape to the farmers market

Sounds, smells, colors...all of that helped mend things a bit. I needed some fresh air, some new sights, and the Farmers market at Union Square delivered.

When I arrived I ran into this guy playing the piano. The piano doesn't belong to him - another man actually brings it here and lets whomever feels like it play tune for themselves or others. This one guys was simply amazing, and you could see pure happiness on his face as he was playing his favorite tunes. That has to be one of my favorite things about New York city - talented people, talented musicians sharing their love for their art with strangers for little or no money. Inspiration at every street corner.

(Olivia) 10 things I love about you v.2

My dear little Olivia,

My, how you've changed since last time I did something like this! If someone had asked me back then if I could ever love you more, I probably would have said no, because I was quite certain a loved you like crazy already...but you proved me wrong, because there is not a day that I don't love you a bit more...plus or minus they days of non-stop tantrums :) Here are some of my very favorite things about you right now:

1. How spirited you are. I know a lot of parents will say that a child is spirited in a bad way, but to me it is a good thing. You are are genuinely so happy and have so much (overflowing) energy. Oh that smile of yours, and the sparkles in your eyes....I am so proud you are mine.
2. How focus you can get. When you are not dancing and hugging people, I usually find you reading one of your books on your own, or drawing a picture, or building a house with your legos. You have so much focus already!
3. How much you love your sister. The other night, Madeline wasn't behaving when she was supposed to be in bed, so I told her she would go on time out, and you shouted at me: "You be nice to my sister! She is my sister. You don't take her away. She's my sister!". I know that often you drive each other crazy, but I can see through all that all the love. And it makes me SO happy.
4. That you are my little Picasso. You live for art projects. If I let you you would do art projects all day long!
5. The little curls growing on the back on your neck. You are so pretty!
6. You love hanging out with your friends - the best news I can give you is to tell you that we're hanging out with the WWs or going to see Maddie. You get so excited that you will usually go pack a backpack right away - yes, you like to be prepared to go on a playdate :)
7. You don't like to play princess, you ARE a princess. You were your princess dress 24/7. You always come to grab my hand and say "Mama, please come to my castle", and usually when you walk you will hold your dress like a princess - what you did through the airport on our way back from Denmark last Christmas.
8. That you say things like "I am sweet, I am a unicorn" and "mama, did you see my rainbow?". Girl, keep them coming!
9. That you are making sentences in Franishglish, and it's so damn cute. "Hurry guys! L'avion gonna partir", "You wanna come spise with me? I made a gateau". I have no doubt that in time you will figure it all out. You are that amazing.
10. That you always try to kiss me and hug me when I am getting you dressed. By now it has become a little game, and it makes you laugh so much.

You amaze me more and more every day. You are no longer my toddler, I can see that, because every day I get new glimpses the wonderful little girl that you are becoming. You are my dreams come true, little Olive.

 Love, Mama

(Madeline) 10 things I love about you v.2

My little Madeline,

 I think it is about time for another round, because you have changed so much since the last time I did this, and there are SO MANY wonderful things about you right now. Here are the 10 things I love the most about you right now:

1. the tiny little freckles that are starting to appear on your nose. I smile every time I look at them.
2. the way your ride your scooter like you've been doing it for years. Yet you're not even 2 years old. Let me tell you, people can't help but smile when they see you riding your scooter with all your polka dots on.
3. Every time your sister has to apologize and say "sorry", you sweetly join her and say "sorry" with your little voice, even though you did absolutely nothing. Melts my heart every time.
4. You are such a funny girl already. I don't know how you do it, but you understand how to use irony and jokes, and you are starting to make your own.
5. You are so self sufficient already. You want to choose your own book, and you often tell me that you're going to "read" to me, and I should just listen :)
6. When you come to my bed and tell me "come on, maman. Come eat!". Never mind if it is 7am or 5am.
7. That you always want to sit down for tea with me, and so we share a cup.
8. When I catch you faced dipped in the sugar bowl. Oh I get mad at you, but inside I am laughing and smiling because you look so damn cute with white powder all over your face.
9. That you are so curious already. We already have little conversations, and when I explain things to you, I can tell that this little brain of yours is working very hard to put the pieces togethers.
10. That you always want to do everything like your sister, good or bad, whether you understand it or not. You want to be a big girl already, and I get it. Plus, your sister, she's pretty rad :)

Raising you, little girl, is one of the best thing that has ever happened to me, and I can't wait to see what the next few years look like. In the meantime, I'll try to enjoy every single day with you.

Love, Mama

My girls

Traditions

The past couple of years, I didn't really think about starting traditions with the girls, because I thought, "they are so small, it doesn't really matter". Really, that was probably an excuse. The real reason was that I was probably two tired of raison two little girls under 2.

Now that they are bigger though, and that things are much easier, I am trying to put some thoughts into what memories I want them to grow up with. I know that in the end, I can't really know what will really matter and what they will remember and not, but I think that traditions are nice, and hopefully they will look forward to us doing some things together every year.

 So this year we decorated eggs. With kool aid and sharpies. Badass, uh? We invited our partners in crime, the WWs, to join us for this little Easter fun.
 

Also made hot cross bun for the first time, and was so happy about how they turned out! Before I knew it they were gone, and I only realized I didn't take a picture of them until I saw this one little guys sitting alone on the plate. So that's what you'll get of that. Next year I'll do better :)


And I guess the buns were not enough food for the girls, because as soon as they were done decorating it, they started peeling them off and stuffing them in their mouth.

Cheers for new traditions!

St Patrick's Day

a.k.a day of all green things, and also potatoes, as it turns out.

Our very good friend and neighbor, Carlin, is from Northern Ireland, so we had to spend St Patrick's day with these guys and get the REAL DEAL. And this is what happened.
   

We stamped paint with potatoes. We race with potatoes. We ate potatoes. And green jelly. Guess the Irish never run out of potatoes :) The kids had such a blast - they did some Irish danced too, although I am still trying to figure out the different between Olivia's Irish dancing and her ballet dancing. Overall she seemed consumed by how she could make her skirt twirl around.
 

The potato racing was such a hint too! The more they dropped the potatoes, the more they giggled. Before we knew it we had potatoes flying across the living room.
 

And yep, that's the green jelly I told you guys about. Yummi, uh? The adults had yummi Irish stew with mashed potatoes and drank a lot of beer - duh, what else. Such a fun evening. We have the best neighbors in the whole wide world, I have to admit.
 

Crazy NYC driver

She's so little, but you should see her zooming her New York City with her scooter - there is no stopping her. And everybody that sees her can't help but smile because she's so damn cute. Also probably because she's usually wearing polka dots head to toes :) She's been obsessed with them ever since she started to crawl, and that's probably her favorite thing to do now. Can you hear me running next to her? I'm gonna need to get my own soon so I can keep up with her! How much I love this little girl...

Brooklyn, baby!

Sadly, we don't venture out to Brooklyn to much. Hubby doesn't like to go places that are dangerous. Uhm uhm. You can't blame him, he's been kidnapped, mugged and robbed a few times - so to him, any place that is even slightly potentially "dangerous", he'll avoid altogether. Don't ask me why this includes Brooklyn, I think he's stuck in a different decade.

 In any case, I had an appointment with a photographer for the girl on Saturday, so we decided we might as well make a little trip out of it. And it was brilliant. The warmest day we've had this year by far, and the girls played in the sun while we were waiting for the ferry. They were running around like crazy girls - I think they were so excited to be able to take their jackets off. Whatever happened to that, we're back to hats and gloves now.
    

Our first stop was the old carrousel in DUMBO. I can't believe it took us so long to go there - such a fun place for kids, and it's so gorgeous too! I believe the place gets very crowded in the summer though, but since we went on the first warm day of Spring we were able to get in super easily. The girls were in heaven.  
 

After a little cupcakes and the photo session (in which Madeline pouted almost the entire time, and Olivia played the model with her hands on her hips), we headed back toward the ferry. The sun was starting to set, and the light was beyond gorgeous. Such bliss.
 

My man. He's always so wonderfully supportive. I don't know what I would do without him. He recently got a promotion with work, and he ask me to take a couple of "celebration" pics for me, to capture this happy time.
 

Oh, and how he makes these little girls fly up high in the air. They love it just as much as he does :)

To end this perfect day, we went to our favorite little street in New York - Stone Street. So many memories, good and not so good, were made there, and for some reason it feels a bit like "home" every time we hang out there. Maybe because it actually looks like a street you could find in Europe, but I think it's because of all those memories. If you ever come to visit us in New York, you can be sure that we'll take you there!

Pretty girls