Sadie Has a Face!

We thought Sadie was absolutely set on growing her hair long, but on Friday evening I cautiously asked her what she would think of getting her hair cut shorter she replied, "yeah... if I get a lollipop."  Tough negotiator, that kid. 

So we got her into the place yesterday and it went smooth and easy. 

After the haircut, we rushed to the playground to meet up with Zoe and Immy and their dads.  We all had a lovely afternoon. 

Mommy and Sawyer joined us after a while too. 

Between bursts of giggles, she and Immy would do this. 

Christmas Catch-Up!

It has been a busy week since last we posted.  

On Sunday, only moments after Sadie and I returned home from our 5th Annual* 5th Avenue Window Walk, our friends Scott and Esther and Vera came over to meet Francesca.

Vera brought modeling clay to share with Sadie and Sawyer so they all hung out at the table and sculpted!

*I checked my records and we actually started in 2014!

Vera is 9 years old and the kids really like her.  

Then, on Monday, Mommy and Grandma India took Sadie to see the Nutcracker Ballet at Lincoln Center while I tended to Sawyer and Frankie for most of the afternoon.

Sawyer was easy.  He napped for the first couple hours and when he awoke, all he wanted was to scoot to Barnes & Noble for a cookie, a sit-down and a story and he was perfectly happy.

Monday night was Christmas Eve and Victoria whipped up a quick and delicious brisket in her new Instant Pot.

Keeping with tradition, we all popped party poppers and wore our crowns as long as we could stand them.

Oh, Hey! And Uncle Preston drove down from Ronkonkama (hereinafter, the "Konk") to join us for dinner as well!

Sadie is a joyful creature - even if she does laugh with her mouth full of food.

Once the kids were a-bed, we all wrapped presents for one another (but mostly for them), and put them under the tree.  V and I were pretty surprised to see just how much booty there was under the tree.

On Christmas morning, the kids came down and positively exploded with excitement.  Someone probably has photos of that mayhem, but I was too busy making Belgian waffles.

Sawyer had been asking for a "treasure box" like the one his sister has - it's just a nice paperboard box that he can store his little treasures in (coins, shiny things, old buttons, bric-a-brac he finds, and so forth).  Grandma bought him the box a couple weeks ago, and Sawyer had been on me ever since to paint the box for him.  So, after wrapping presents, I painted a scene on the lid from the old fable 'The Owl and the Octopus'*.  After all my hard work and certainty that he would love it, Sawyer acknowledged it politely and got back to playing with his new toys.  BooHoo!!!

Obviously, this depicts the scene where that naughty old Owl first tells the Octopus she's not welcome at the Moon Party and the Octopus says, "We'll just see about that!" and does the moon dance with all her might.

Here I am with Francesca a couple nights ago.

And this is Francesca just this morning.  She's getting so big!!!

A Great Day with Sadie!

It's that time of year again! Sadie and I went into Manhattan today to see the holiday windows on 5th Avenue and have a general Manhattan adventure. 

First stop was Miro's Moonbird just south of the Plaza Hotel. I think I've photographed Sadie on this the past four years. This year was the first time she saw it and immediately ran to climb it without me pleading with her. 

Then a few steps west to Bergdorf for their magnificent windows. This year's theme was sweets - candy, chocolate and pastries.

Starlight Mints! 

Monochromatic starlight mints?

Cotton candy

Crazy macarons

Candied Zebras? 

Beautiful pastries 

An ice cream robot

Chocolate Cakes!

A giant lollipop!

Then south down 5th past Tiffany's.

The fancy elevator at Bendel's.

 The windows at Saks were not great this year. The theme seemed to be 'A Slow Day at the Bordello'.

And then over to Rockefeller Center to see the tree.

After all of that, we were tired and hungry so we jumped on a bus and took a a trip downtown to have Shake Shake at its original location outdoors in Madison Square Park. It was cold but manageable - except that we shared a big milkshake which didn't help the cold.

Sadie was an amazing co-adventurer. She keeps getting better and better.

After all that, we walked to Union Square to catch the subway home with just a quick stop for water at Sweetgreen.

This sums it up pretty well.

The New Normal

I can't honestly say that things are back to normal, but we're beginning to get a feel for the new normal. 

Francesca is growing. She had another doctor's appointment this week and she is doing well and she is now over 6 pounds... just barely. 

Sadie and Sawyer are magnificent - they really know how to play. 

Mommy is getting a little sleep - Francesca is mercifully quiet for at to 6 hour stretch each night and not unreasonably fussy the rest of the time. Still, it's a lot and Victoria is doing an amazing job keeping us all alive and happy. 

So, we're good. We're really good. 

Here are some photos from the past week in no particular order.

This beauty was sleeping so I took the "big" kids to the playground. 

Sadie announced, "I'm a daredevil!"

Sadie wearing one of her Hannukah presents. 

This is the shape of our family now. I like it! 

After a birthday party. 

Frankie has a great horror movie expression.