Ezra's Two!

I can't believe it. My little boy is TWO!!!!! We've been so lucky to add him to our family. He and Ava are perfect playmates and he is such a sweetie. I've been pretty sick battling bronchitis for my life, so his birthday was pretty mild as far as celebrations go. We ordered pizza, had cake and opened presents as a family. Ezra didn't seem to mind that it was just us. While eating his pizza he kept saying out of no where, "Thank you pizza! Thank you pizza!" And when he opened his cars he said with wonder, "Mama, cars! Cars mama! Thank you cars!" Totally unprompted on the thank yous. I guess he likes getting presents. Oh! And he blew his candles out first try! Way to go Ez!

Ben & Jenn

We were so lucky to have some of our dearest friends stop in to see us during their spring break (Ben is getting a phD at Harvard-go Ben!). If you can't tell we are all laughing HYSTERICALLY in this picture. Why? Because who is behing the camera taking this shot besides Ava and Henry has Jenn's camera. They had the cutest little determined looks on their faces, and half the time their fingers were in the way or the pictures of our feet instead of our faces. We were just crackin' up over our little three year olds snapping away. So funny.


The kids had a great time together too. They really were this happy pretty much the whole time. They are great little buddies.


Jenn & Ben treated me to the Please Touch Museum, Philly's kids museum that I haven't been too yet because there have been too many excuses (one of which is cost) for me not to go. They've got a family pass, and we were all able to get in for FREE! The kids had a fabulous time, so much so that it was hard to keep track of one in particular (EZRA!).

We loved having Ben and Jenn and are extra lucky that they are in Boston becuase it looks like that's where we'll be this next school year. Last weekend Mike and I headed up there because Mike got into Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and we were checking it out to make sure it was a good fit for us. It's a joint degree where they smash Harvard's two year program and Wharton's two year program into three years total. We have one more semester to do here in Philly sometime and three up in Boston. So if your planning on coming for a visit, make sure you buy tickets for the right state!

N.Y.C.

We decided we needed to stay near Philly for Spring Break because Mike was still working out a summer internship (he'll be at Disney by the way), so a day trip to NYC seemed to be the perfect solution for a quick getaway. The main focus of our NYC trip was Ellis Island. I thought it would be fascinating to see the place where so many Americans began their journey. It was just that, purely fascinating.


When you walk in you see a display of baggage piled up really high. All types of baggage from all over the world. For some reason when I saw all that luggage piled high I could just imagine the relief and excitement of everyone as they went through Ellis Island to have finally arrived in America, finally be off that boat! They all needed a new start, why else leave their motherland? Emma Lazarus pens it perfectly when writing about the Statue of Liberty which stands so close to Ellis Island:

Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore; send these, the homeless, the tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

I love America!!!


This is the assembly room where people would wait to get there names called before heading into NY. It used to be full of bleachers, but is now empty. Beautiful ceilings, eh?


A view of NYC minus the dearly missed twin towers.


The beautiful Statue of Liberty! I was pretty excited to see her, and I think it rubbed off on Ava. Whenever she climbs up on something high, she now says, "Look mom! I'm the Statue of Liberty!"



This Sculpture stood below the twin towers. It was a symbol of world peace and shared and growing economies. It had been destroyed by debris from 9-11. Pretty sad.




Ava and Ezra's favorite part of the day was chasing birds, climbing trees, and riding on the ferry. Ezra requested his picture on the ferry. I thought it was pretty funny.

When Elmo Grows Up

I got some pretty good deals on tickets to "When Elmo Grows Up," a Sesame Street Broadway, and Shelley decided to come up and bring the kids. Ava LOVED it, as you can see from the excitement in the picture where she's walking in and holding Shelley's hand. She also took to drawing the characters and was very detailed about it without any input from me. Oscar was drawn inside his garbage can, Cookie Monster had a Cookie in his hand, and Abby-Cadabby had to pom-pom pigtails, just like the real character. She's so cute!

I also had to include some random pics from our time together. Ava and Ezra love their cousins!

Washington D.C.

So, we've been up to lots of fun since I last posted. We made it to D.C. to see our great friends the Fitzgerald's, New York City, Baltimore for Skylar's fabulous three year birthday party (see Shelley and Jake's blog for that. I left my camera's memory card at home for that one.), friends from Boston visited us, and we visited them in Boston. Hopefully you'll get a taste of everything in the next few entries.


The Fitz's were excellent hosts, even though Maryanne was totally sick and in her first trimester of pregnancy with twins!!! It's just like visiting family when we are with them, and we had lots of fun times, Settlers, good food, and fun memories.



The kids' favorite part was going to the community center to play in the Bounce Room. A child's heaven!