birthday

Jackson turned four years old on Saturday! We all had such a fun, joyous, friend-filled, happy celebration. Truly one of the best days ever -- one that left us feeling so incredibly blessed and profoundly thankful for each other, our family and friends, and the richness of our lives. A sweet sweet day. Here are some of the highlights:

40 years

My parents were married 40 years ago this weekend.

They were just 20 years old at the time!

Here they are, more adorable than ever, on a recent trip to Italy:

Congratulations, Mom and Dad!

You guys are amazing, and a total inspiration.

Here's to the next 40 years!

Love you.

bikes

We have lived a stone's throw away from Central Park for over four years now, and it wasn't until this past Monday morning that we got our patooties to the neighborhood bike shop to rent bikes and go for a spin around The Loop.

Well, it was awesome. Better than awesome. Spectacular. The kiddos felt so free and exhilarated, Taro and I were totally invigorated from the much-needed exercise, and it was so great to experience the shift in perspective that comes from hopping on a bike and traveling well-known terrain. We stopped for a picnic lunch in Sheep Meadow and while we ate we realized what we had to do.

We had to have bikes. For keeps. Even though that would mean parking them in the tiny dining area of our apartment (which is really just a table parked in our living room).

So in an act of unparalleled impulsiveness, we bought our own bikes when we returned the rental ones to the shop. We bought helmets and child seats and water bottles and the works.

Today, when Taro got home from work the boys and I were waiting, ready to go, and we took our inaugural spin around the park, arriving back home just before sunset.

We had a blast, as you can see from the photos above, which were snapped as we walked our bikes the last half-block to our apartment.

It's going to be a fun Summer.

Who needs a dining area for dining anyway?

UPDATE: Unfortunately, the original version of this post was deleted during the Blogger Blackout, along with several comments. If you left a comment the first time, I apologize that your words have been lost :( Please feel free to comment again, if you wish.

Sunday

What a gorgeous, sparkling NYC Sunday!

We spent it strolling around the Upper West Side,

grabbing bites at some of our favorite places,

climbing rocks and running through meadows...

celebrating Spring!

Wahoooo!

recent favorite moments

It's been a while since I've posted about our daily goings-ons, and I have a ton of photos piling up on my phone, so I thought I'd share a few of my favorite moments captured in recent weeks. The first photo, above, taken at the Temple of Dendur while visiting Abbey at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is going to go down as one of my all-time proudest snapshots. I mean, srrsly! A perfect moment captured. Moving on...

Daffodils = Spring, yay!

Joanna took these next ones when she and Toby came over recently. With two chatterbox toddlers, tandem nursing is the only way I can get a word in edgewise ;)

My parents were in town last week, and we had so much fun with them. One highlight for the boys was making art at the

kitchen table with Papaw:

The painting above is by Walker. He has some major chops with the brush, am I right?

I spotted this old Singer sewing machine during a recent walk. It was sitting on the sidewalk in front of a junk shop. I was so tempted to buy it, but ended up just snapping a pic instead.

Toby and Walker in the sandbox.

Jackson and Walker on their favorite local race car.

A nice play of shadow and light from that visit to the MoMA I was telling you about.

Toddlerwearing + museumgoing :)

My bling-y nails. I am a hopeless manicure klutz. I absolutely cannot do my own nails to save my life, or at least that's what I thought until I tried these. LOVE. So easy and fun. I still can't make them look perfect, but at least there's no dry-time and they don't smell awful like regular polish.

Walker and I took my mom out to celebrate her birthday at Pure Food and Wine. It's one of our favorite restaurants -- everything there is so delicious that the fact that it's all entirely raw seems beside the point! This Classic Sundae was so good we ended up ordering an extra one.

Another day, another treat. This one is the soft serve sampler at Momofuku Milk Bar. The flavors? Candy Bar, Crack Pie, Grasshopper Pie, and Cereal Milk. It was hard to pick a favorite. I adore the fact that the sampler includes fun toppings, woot!

Mamaw outdid herself with the building of blanket forts while she was here.

A recent after-bath, naked-baby-romp.

And this is how the boys nap.

They're so lucky to have each other.

3 Years

Today is the three-year anniversary of Taro's dad's passing. We always like to spend February 10th honoring Bobby by listening to jazz, scatting, playing, making art, and celebrating our imaginations.

Bobby Alexander lived a monumental life of artistry and passion and devotion to helping others. It wasn't until his death, in 2008, that Taro and I became aware of a surprising aspect of his past: as a handsome young man in New York in the 1940's and 50's Bobby was a rather prolific model, and appeared on the covers of many books and magazines. The most amazing of these was the First Edition of The Catcher in the Rye, where Bobby was cast as the original Holden Caulfield!

How cool is that?

Hangin' With My Brother

Last weekend we had a treat: my brother, Seth, came up to NYC for a little visit. It was the first time we had seen each other since last Christmas. We had a wonderful time catching up, eating yummy food, watching awesome videos on youtube, going to the museum, talking about current events, and taking scenic strolls around a Central Park that was exploding with color. J and W adore their uncle, and they enjoyed every minute of showing him around their city.

We love you, Seth, and miss you already!

The High Line with Grandma and the Great-Grandparents

We had a wonderful time on Monday, exploring the High Line with Taro's mom, Riki and her parents, Budd and Nanette. The colors of the season are breathtaking!