Brooklyn continued

I'm having so much fun with Mia and Claudine that I could just pop. Let's see...I've left out a few days so need to catch up. Most of the time Mark is buried in baking, but we know that already because that's why I'm here: he's got a ton of weddings to make favors for and 2 big food events coming up Saturday and Sunday.

Sunday Jenna's mom, Holly, came to Brooklyn and took us all out to dinner at a.o.c. bistro. That was a super nice treat and I'm attaching a picture of my Salade Nicoise for your viewing pleasure. She is a kind and gracious person who I feel honored to know.

Monday was a holiday here so Mark was unable to bake at his usual place which was closed. Instead, he went to Costco first thing, came home and did Whimsy and Spice things, then at 11:30 we all piled into the subway and headed towards Manhattan to deliver brownies and biscotti and also to show me Highline City Park. (The couple in one of these pictures are 2 people at the Highline "row of deck chairs" who just looked so relaxed I had to take their picture. I didn't know them at all but they let me snap this shot; he then insisted he needed to take a picture of me on his iPhone. I love those quick little moments of connection...they bring the memory of the place to life.) It's an amazing use of otherwise decaying urban structures. It used to be a thoroughfare for commercial trucks but was abandoned years ago. Thanks to a dedicated group of people who envisioned a unique city park, Highline finally became reality this year, with expansion plans for the future. We came home tired but happy and ordered a bunch of Chinese delivery for dinner.

Today I had the highlight of my trip: walking Mia to school! What a treat to see how her world is expanding. She had to correct my navigation, too, as I headed off in the wrong direction. Mark and Jenna say I should always listen to Mia because she usually knows what she's talking about. (I did try to ignore her warnings for a block or so, but she was quite insistent and sounded so confident that I couldn't ignore her. Sheesh.)

Since Mia was in school and Claudine was with Mala (nanny), Jenna and I went out to lunch at Miracle Grill. I was pleasantly surprised with a chicken and tortilla pie. Then I went shopping: gifts and groceries. My gifts criteria (if not biscotti, cookies, and brownies for the waiting hordes of all my new best friends who think I'm bringing them treats) is mainly that they have to be flat and light-weight. I'm not bulking up my suitcase for anyone!

Got home...had the place to myself for an hour so started in on dinner and making a pot of applesauce. All in all, I felt quite domestic today.

I haven't talked much about the girls, but will attach pictures. They are beautiful, funny, and smart. What more could I ask for?

See additional pictures in post below this one.

Friday

What a nice change of pace now that Mark's Mother's Day packages are all gone. He did a lot of baking for the Flea in the last couple of days but it's not been like the previous week. Tomorrow he's taking his usual fare and probably a new recipe he tried today: vanilla chocolate chunk rice krispie treats with dulce de leche swirled on top and inside the treats. I haven't had anything but a lick of the bowl and, believe me, his homemade marshmallow makes rice krispie treats a real "treat," in the truest sense of the word.

I picked Mia up from school today and we went to the bookstore to get 2 more of Mo Willems' pigeon books. OMG they crack me up. Not only are they funny, but he has captured the essence of childhood in that silly pigeon. Kids can totally relate to him.

Then we went to the fish store, bought some catfish for Mark to prepare for dinner. While there, Mia swooned over the eel in the case, impressing the heck out of the cashier. She couldn't believe a little kid would know what eel was, much less carry on about it. Mia says that today the teacher had spices out and the kids smelled them, trying to identify them. She said that one of them smelled familiar so she kept sniffing, then finally got it and blurted out, "curry!" She was right and quite proud of her little self that she was the only one who knew what it was. No big surprise to any of us who know her proclivity for trying any and every exotic thing on a menu.

Here are some non-kid pictures. I like the myriad things on Mark's kitchen island...gives you an idea of how a baking business kind of takes over. The watermelons are for a watermelon cooler he sells at the Flea. The first picture is a batch of biscotti, mid-process. I had the distinct pleasure of having one later while still warm from the oven. Melted in my mouth. Good thing I don't live here. That last picture is the kitchen island...serving also as a drying place for Claudine's jacket.

There....I didn't think I had much to say, but I did manage to ramble on.

Thursday in Brooklyn

Every day is different here with Mark having various places to go and things to do, Jenna has the occasional outside commitment, the girls have school sometimes and are with Mala sometimes & here sometimes.

Today everyone was gone at least part of the day so I found myself with a lot of time to wind down. Felt good. The girls got home at 5...I really look forward to that. They always come home happy so we have a good time. Mia and I did Sudoku together and I was a proud gramma when she actually starting figuring out the right solutions. Yay. Got some more cute pictures here for you. Doesn't Mia look like a model? She struck that pose in one second flat with no prompting from anyone. And Claudine, she's at that perfect little age when "cuddly times" reign. When the voice is high, sweet and innocent. When the eyes open wide in wonder. I keep taking pictures hoping to capture that essence. (Jenna had some especially good pictures of them on Sweet Fine Day today...do go check them out.)

Crunch Day

I think this is Mark's last day of baking for the Mother's Day orders so I tried to fill in as much as possible. You know, chief gopher. I went to the post office a couple of times to help him mail Mother's Day packages, shopped for chicken dinner, went out again to buy a pound of butter, made said chicken dinner, played with the girls which goes without saying, and kinda cleaned up wherever the opportunity presented itself.

Here are a bunch of pictures. It's too hard to cut any more. The doll is in there because she's using my airplane pillow...I just want you all to know how much these girls have taken over my life. Same with Mia and the cat, Toby, on my bed. Ooooh, and there are those pretty little black pepper rose jam thumbprint cookies, under shrink wrap. The motley group of cookies and biscotti are the seconds that don't get sold......it's hard to resist so much goodness.

And check out little Claudine's striped tights....so sweet looking on her. Had to put in another goofy Mia shot; she is still hamming it up at every chance. I've taken to calling her Diva.

Mark is having quiet time with the two of them...a rare thing since I've gotten here but his spare time will increase somewhat from now on. I hope.

Kids and Gramma mugging for the funny camera

These are all taken on my PhotoBooth with a variety of settings that crack the girls up. It keeps them occupied so it's worth getting myself in on it. Oh, heck, who am it kidding. It's funner than heck.

I think Mia was Jean Harlowe in a former life. What a poser! (oops, I forgot to pose the "Jean Harlow" picture....here it is. Fresh from the bath in her red red robe.)

Mia's World

Mia is a girl full of surprises and abilities....and creativity. She gets real serious when you give her a camera and say "take all the pictures you want." The first batch she showed me were all blurry, as were most of the subsequent batches, but she did try very hard to tuck her elbows so that she wouldn't shake the camera. Here are pictures of hers, with varying degrees of blur.

The first picture is from the book, "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus," which Lara gave them and which I love love love. It makes me laugh hard! Not just chuckle....LAUGH.

The second would be great if it were in focus, or maybe is better for lack of it, but i love the composition. she has such a good eye.

There are 2 pictures of the white vases grouping. They are before and after pictures, with a focusing lesson in between. (they might be in reverse order.) She's working hard on it and will definitely get there someday.

Wonderful days with the Girls

These 2 fungirls are....well.....fun. Here are some pictures.

Brooklyn, day 2

Mmmm, I had a good night's sleep! Mia quietly hovered over me in the a.m. until my eyes blinked open. She never used to have that kind of decorum. She crawled under my blanket and we stayed warm together until the needs of the day were no longer avoidable. I.e., brush teeth, finish her nanny Mala's birthday card, eat breakfast and get dressed. We really should have gotten started earlier as she has the energy of a hummingbird flitting at full tilt. Focus, Mia, focus!

Jenna took Claudine to school while Mala, Mia and I talked about allergy season, aging and the death of parents. We noticed Mia being extra quiet and both assumed that those were downer subjects so I asked her if that kind of talk made her sad. She said yes, but then thought better of her answer and came out with the truth: "Really, I'm just bored."

Then I took some Whimsy packages to the post office for Mark as he was at Boathouse for the day. On the way back to the apartment I stopped at the playground to play with Mia who was there with Mala. I got to push her and her friend, Rosie, about 350 times on the swings. At least 350 times. I actually had fun doing it. Kid energy is so clean and energizing. When Jenna showed up with Claudine, Mala took the 2 girlz wherever it is she takes them and Jenna and I came back home. Her to her computer and me to my book, Rhapsody in Red, and a nap.

For lunch I fixed us a salad of romaine, grilled chicken, and snow pea sprouts with avocado, apple and french fries rimming the plates. Most of those were leftovers of Mark's great dinner last night. Then I found a bag of brownie butts and had a small one. I was soooo restrained.

Now Mark is in the kitchen making maple marshmallows and hazelnut cookie dough, Jenna's still working on whatever amazing project is up for her now, and I'm here on the couch doing this. Tonight I'll add to this as the girlz and I are going to have an adventure.....we're going to order a Grandma's Pizza and stay up late while Mark and Jenna go out and get to have a grown-up evening without any of us.

OK...adventure over. I bought a pizza down the street. Big one. They chose the toppings. I had to order a couple slices of another kind of pizza just for me. And guess how much they ate? They each had half a piece. Can't win. Mark says it's because they ate cake a couple hours before dinner.

Then we played on the computer a while, watched TV and read. They were excellent. Since Mark told them they could stay up til they got home, the girlz opted to do just that. Sagging with exhaustion most of the time, but they did it! When Grey's Anatomy came on I had to figure out a way to keep them from seeing scary parts (some little girl shot the hell out of her father and wondered why he didn't die.) Mia agreed to face the other way on the couch and even pulled the blanket over her head. Sounds kinda sad....but it was fine. It was just a little while. Parents came home 9:20, surprised to see the girlz awake. And thus ends the adventure. Wonder what tomorrow will be like with the sleep deprived kidlets.

Brooklyn, day 1

Flew JetBlue flight 86 into JFK this a.m. at 6:15. Mark picked me up. What a really good guy he is to do that because it meant he had to wake up at 5. (And Claudine was up at 3, something he hadn't factored in.) Both Mia and Claudine were awake when I got to the apartment so we hugged and played, got out the gifts, and laughed a lot. I really like these girls. They have humor, character, intelligence and are unique. No cookie stamps are they.

At noon I walked Mia to school. She's such a little lady. When we got to the steps that go up to the entrance, we saw Roan's grandparents dropping him off. Mia looked at the grandfather and said "sack of potatoes..." I was clueless, but grateful that he firmly told her that he would only do that after school. She was already late. However, she slowly came up the stairs, mostly backwards as she collected data from him about who was already there. When he finally said everyone was there, she was sated, turned around and tore up the stairs to 'check in.' Such a little socialite.

I slept a little on de plane so wasn't in a heap when I got here, but I could sure use a nap now. I think I will, in fact, since Claudine is asleep and Mia is gone.

Ooops, I'm behind

Geez, Thanksgiving is long gone and I am now in Brooklyn cherishing my Mia and Claudine. Got here Thursday am and will leave next Tuesday night. The girls are at just perfect ages where it's so easy to have fun with them. I'm really getting my cup filled up! Today Jenna is Washington DC and Mark is baking all day at the restaurant. That means I get the girlz to myself all day. We'll walk Mia to school at 12; then Claudine will take a nap while Mia's in school. Hmmm, good time for me to nap!

Here are a few pictures of them.