Michael and Carrie's Lily Pad

Lily's Pad

2011-12-16T23:00:00.003-05:00

The nursery is complete! Now all we need is an adorable human being to put in it!!!!!!

Thanks to everyone who contributed letters to Lily's wall. She already feels loved from A to striped Z!

Green Baby

2011-11-11T22:32:00.000-05:00

In an effort to go green, we're planning to use cloth diapers. We're also borrowing several things instead of buying them. Reduce, Reuse! I've borrowed maternity clothes, baby clothes, a car seat, and a bouncer among other things.

We're also planning to use cloth diapers and doing a cloth diaper trial with Jilliansdrawers.com. It's actually quite a great idea. We're using their diapers for $10 for 21 days. We get to try out several different types and brands, pay for the ones we want and give back the ones we don't. Even if they're stained! So our plan is to do the newborn trial, then do the big baby trial and then buy some. To practice using them, I tried them on the stuffed animals. Michael's response when he saw the animals posing in their diapers, "Well, that's disappointing.."

While we were at it, I let Harvey try out the infant seat. It looks like he's just about the exact size of a newborn baby, right?

Chair Lift

2011-10-23T18:20:00.000-04:00

Before pic of my glider. Both pieces were found on Craig's List, but from 2 different people. When we went to pick up the glider, the owner was reminiscing about how she used to rock her adopted daughter to sleep in it every night when she was a baby, so she was never able to get rid of it. Now that she just bought her daughter her first car, she figured it was time to get rid of the chair. Of course that story made me cry at the thought of Lily driving!

After a paint job by Michael and some adorable new fabric and new cushions, it looks like this! Don't you just LOVE those crazy birds?!

Craft Project Weekends

2011-09-25T17:28:00.000-04:00

Mickey and the nieces and nephew came into town for a weekend of crafting for the baby.

Sewing, Sewing, Sewing!

Audrey made this hat with her knitting machine!

Audrey and Nicole made this fabulous blanket

The bumpers turned out super cute!

Beginnings of a crib skirt

Michael and his father spent my birthday weekend installing a chair rail and painting the nursery. The top color is called Water Lily. Appropriate, right?

Before: After:

Turned out beautifully! That piece of furniture is a hutch my mother bought me at a yard sale to benefit the AIDS Lifewalk. Isn't it pretty?!

While the boys were painting, I covered the switch plate with fabric to match the bumpers!

More Backblogging: Northeast Weekend Getaway

2011-03-12T21:42:00.009-05:00

While living in the Northeast, a lot of great cities are just a short road trip away. From Staten Island to Washington DC and to Philadelphia takes only about 3 hours, and it's about 5 hours to Boston. However, the weekend we went to Boston was Memorial Day weekend, so we spent about 8 hours on the road, plus took a quick side trip to Rhode Island just to say we'd been there!

In Boston, we went to a Red Sox game. We sat in wooden seats that felt like they'd been there since the beginning of time. The viewed sucked, but it felt like a truly authentic baseball experience. We took the Duck tour like any good tourist as well. Did you know the book Make Way For Ducklings took place in Boston?

We also walked the Freedom Trail. We downloaded a free app and took turns reading to each other all the exciting history that took place at different spots along the trail.

Paul Revere!

"One if by land, Two if by sea..."

Did you know the first subway station in America is in Boston?

Somehow, my mother made taking pictures with donkeys a family tradition.

We took a road trip up to Gloucester, Maine, about 45 minutes north of Boston, to go on a whale watching trip. We stayed in an adorable B&B with Dora that overlooked the ocean and had a beautiful garden. Thanks to a Groupon, we went on the Cape Ann Whale Watch, where they guarantee you'll see a whale or it's free! We saw at least 20 whales. HUGE majestic creatures. Dora got to go on the boat ride as well! She even saw a whale, but she didn't care too much. Everybody on the boat thought she was adorable, and the kids were much more excited about her than the whales.

Backblogging

2011-03-05T22:22:00.008-05:00

So I'm growing a garden, which I want to blog about. However, I've noticed I'm a little behind on blogging, so I'm going to attempt a quick catchup...

Let's start with Thanksgiving of 2009.

We had quite the houseful for Thanksgiving. For dinner, we had Mickey (mom), Jordan & Donnice (great friends...and actually Adelyn was in Donnice's belly at the time, so we can count her), Don & Debbie (Jordan's parents) and Emily & Luke (Jordan's little sister and her husband), plus of course Michael, Dora and I. ALL OF US CRAMMED INTO OUR TINY 378 SQUARE FEET APARTMENT!!! Yes, I said 378 square feet. Luckily, at the time, we did not know this fact. We waited to measure until right before moving out. The landlord guessed the apartment was about 500-600 square feet, but he was wrong. Anyway, it was a comfy, cozy, good time. At least I thought so! :)

We went to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I was told if we got there about an hour and a half before it started, we'd probably be a few rows back. However, that's assuming the weather is the typical freezing, snowy sort, I guess. I believe the weather was in the 40s that day, and when we showed up about an hour and 15 minutes ahead of start time, we were about 20 people back from the parade. However, as you all know from watching on TV, float truly means float, so most of the excitement was up in the sky and easily viewed. We did some recording, which I haven't watched until today, but you can tell by the excitement in my voice and the giant floats coming by that it was REALLY COOL!

We also went and saw West Side Story and Cirque du Soleil's Wintuk while we had company in town.

Wintuk was magical. There were giant dancing dogs and big beautiful birds. At the end of the show, there was a snow shower.

While we're on the topic of Thanksgiving, we may as well discuss Thanksgiving 2010. It was not quite as exciting as the previous holiday, but we had significantly more space. Mickey, Scotty, Mindy, Nicole, Audrey, Major, Jordan, Donnice and Adelyn all came. Everybody had a real chair and a piece of table to enjoy dinner on. Not quite as cozy, but still a delight. We actually had space for an arrangement sent by Michael's parents. The little leaves were a handmade housewarming gift from Andrea.

Major caught a frog! Never saw a frog at my house before or after that, so I have to say the boy must attract them!

ANOTHER snow day!!!!!!!!

2010-02-26T22:02:00.005-05:00

We LOOOOVE snow days! Dora especially!

Michael's a great commentator and videographer...

Me, not so much...

Letter

2010-02-26T17:30:00.008-05:00

Postage to send a letter within the following dimensions: $0.44

Dimension	Minimum	Maximum

Height	3-1/2 inches	6-1/8 inches

Length	5 inches	11-1/2 inches

Thickness	0.007 inch	1/4 inch

Envelope: $0.05

2 Tootsie Roll Pops: $0.35

Sheet of Paper: $0.01

Getting mail from an adorable niece

and kind postal workers who ensured it got here: Priceless

Snow Day

2010-02-10T19:27:00.010-05:00

Another day spent snowed in...

Was well spent! We saved the princess on Wii Super Mario Brothers!

Dora enjoyed romping in the snow....

And tracking snow all through the house as well!

Since our last post, of course lots of fun has occurred...

We spent Christmas in Dallas.. (I actually think this occurred just prior to the last snowy post)

Cooper shared his bone with Dora. Unfortunately, she was not so nice back to him. She did not want to play..

We also got to see lots of fun friends including Brian and Kellie. We played giant Jenga and ate Babe's Fried Chicken...Mmmm.

We went to a NY Rangers vs. Dallas Stars game at the Garden... Stars lost, but we had fun anyway. The Rangers fans consider themselves self-loathing and actually frequently booed 2 of their own players just because they hate them.. One of them had an assist and when they announced this, the whole crowd booed his name. One fan told us they were secretly hoping the Stars would win. Quote from the guy behind us: "How can anyone hate a team from Texas?!"

We saw Finnian's Rainbow on Broadway. We got student rush tickets, so we only paid $26.50 for them. We tried this again to see In the Heights, but weren't so lucky with that show.

Another post to come soon with our exciting Thanksgiving adventures. I know... a little disorderly, but that's my life! :)

Dog Blog

2009-11-21T23:24:00.012-05:00

(Dora)

So who votes to change the title of this blog to 'Michael, Carrie & Dora in NY!' ?!?!

Currently, my back yard is covered up to my belly in snow. How am I supposed to go to the bathroom in that?!?! At first it was cool, but now it seems to be getting ridiculous. The 4 steps up to get to the yard have now disappeared! What's a dog to do?

The snow is pretty cool, but since moving to this crazy city, one of the best days so far was when we went apple picking!

http://www.drdaviesfarm.com/history.htm

I ran around like crazy with my apple

and then I ate it

This crazy dog that lived in the apple orchard probably ate about 20 apples JUST while we were there. She could even catch them in her mouth. When a tree in the distance would drop an apple, she'd go running, like she was playing fetch with the tree!

Other crazy things that have happened since moving to this crazy place they call the Northeast...

We got a compost bin, and I now have the job of escorting mom or dad to the bin when the compost needs to go out. Of course, they made me get in and pose for a pic!

We spent a weekend in the great city of Philadelphia. Dad took a big test while mom and I took a walk to see the sites.

We ate a famous Philadelphia treat called water ice

Mom and Dad ate another famous Philadelphia treat called a Philly Cheesesteak...Unfortunately, I was not included in this dining activity.

We ran up these steps several times while taking lots of strange pictures and video...

Something about a dude named Rocky, who I don't even think is real.

My mormor (mother of my mother) and Nicole (cuz, kinda) spent a weekend here in the city. I stayed home for most of the trip. Here are some of the things they did while I stayed home dreaming of squirrels.

Another strange thing that happened recently...We went to PetSmart, where mom and dad stuffed me in EVERY small container they had. This one had a zipper in the top. Mom opened it to pet me, but I wanted out, so I stuck my head out this tiny slit. I think I was stuck, but after a few minutes, they squeezed me back out...Kinda stressful. Now I have this delightful little box, pretty cozy, but they say I'll get to go home to Dallas if I end up liking it. I can't say I really like it, but every time I get in, they give me a treat, so I pretend like I like it. That way, I can get treats and go to Dallas. Win, win, win, if you ask me.

Life is but a dream

2009-11-21T22:43:00.000-05:00

Labor Day weekend boat ride in Central Park

Of course we thought of singing this song...

But it wasn't until watching these videos did I think of this song... SO PERFECT!

2009-11-12T21:15:00.000-05:00

I (Carrie) am REALLY excited about this tree! Hoping to make it to the lighting!!!!

Diamond Adventures in NY

2009-09-30T20:38:00.000-04:00

(michael)

Living this close to "the greatest city in the world" certainly has its advantages - Central Park, Lady Liberty, NY pizza around every corner. Of course, it also means you have to deal with Yankees fans, and trust me, they're EVERYWHERE. And they're just as zealous and obnoxious as you might imagine, especially now that they've won their 27th World Series title. But since we're here for at least a year, it seemed prudent to see what all the fuss was about and attend a Yankee game. Being true to our Texas roots, we chose a night they were playing the Rangers. Being a little afraid of crazy Yankee fans, we mostly kept our Texas allegiance to ourselves. Highlights below:

At the game..the first time we've heard country music in NY, plus the start-of-the-game Yankee chant for each player.

Rangers take the lead. Yankeefans are a little upset about it.

Instead of dot races, they have subway races!

Yankee fans chant 'asshole' at a guy in a Boston shirt. He didn't get the memo about being subtle.

Walked down to the lower level of the new stadium to get a closer view...

Another baseball adventure:

While we couldn't get off work for the Yankees Championship Ticker-tape parade, we did make it to the ticker-tape parade to celebrate a Staten Island Little League team making it to the Little League World Series, where Mayor Bloomberg gave the team keys to the city and we ate their delicious catered free food. Our favorite moment was the singing of the national anthem...

So that gets us caught up through August. More to come as we try to catch up on our adventures so far!

Summer Break

2009-09-29T19:20:00.000-04:00

Since unpacking, I (Carrie) had a 2 month vacation from work.

Fun things that happened on my Summer break:

Michael and I went to the Macy's firework extravaganza on the Hudson River.

And finally...FIREWORKS... It was amazing, but lacking music, so we added some after the fact for your enjoyment.

Kenna came to visit NY her birthday weekend. We went to dinner at a fancy restaurant and then saw Mary Poppins, which was amazing. There was even tap dancing on the ceiling!

I went to Atlanta, then Destin to visit Andrea. We went to the ORIGINAL Chick-fil-A, aka The Dwarf House...

and then I brought her back to NY with me for a week. Unfortunately, I did not have the Flip with me for most of her visit, because some of the craziest things happened.

We went on a self-guided art & architecture tour of Central Park, which took ALL day!

We took the bus to the ferry, so we wouldn't have to pay $5 to park at the ferry. We got on the bus at about 11 pm that night and had to wait about 20 minutes for the bus to depart. I guess to save energy, the bus driver turned off all the lights and the engine, but assured us by saying "I'm not getting fresh or anything, but this bus isn't departing for another 20 minutes, so I'm going to cut the engine." He then proceeded to ask which stop we were getting off at. When we told him, he informed us that noone live in our neighborhood, but cop killers and sociopaths and that we should move immediately. He was telling us about the joys of Snug Harbor to which we replied we were planning on going the following day. He said, "Yeah, if you don't get killed walking home tonight." I was getting a little sick to my stomach imagining my impending death by my sociopath neighbors when I asked him what neighborhood he lived in to which he replied, "the white one." I felt a little better knowing he was mostly racist, and we made it home alive!

We did make it to Snug Harbor, where some of the highlights were the Chinese scholar garden, the LEMURtron & the Pakistanis for Mike Bloomberg rally.

We went to MoMa on Free Friday, which was a little chaotic, so we didn't stay too long... But we had a little fun...

After Andrea left, I spent the rest of the break crocheting little baby sweaters and such. More to come...

The Beginning

2009-09-03T10:37:00.001-04:00

*Warning - Videography skills are slightly amateur and some videos may induce

motion sickness.

If you begin to feel ill while watching any of the below videos, look away from your computer and the feeling

should pass. Do not drive if you feel dizzy or lightheaded.*

Yes, we do need a video blog.... We've been in Staten Island, NY for 2 months now. We have been meaning to start this blog/vlog to share our experiences, but are only just now getting around to it. We'll try to post the fun from the past 2 months.. We've had a lot! :)

Timeline:

June 19, 2009 - We got married!!!

June 20, 2009 - We said goodbye to Dallas and left for our honeymoon in California, flying into San Fransisco and driving up windy highway 1 to the Redwood Forest. It took us about 11 hours to drive to Trinidad, CA, where we spent most of our time. We did stop a lot for a leisurely lunch and frequent photo ops, but driving 20 mph around curve after curve doesn't get you anywhere fast. The ocean views and trees were a spectacular sight, which made it all worthwhile. Plus, we had good tunes since we stopped at BestBuy to get an auxiliary cable for the iPod. :) Here are some Honeymoon Highlights:

June 26, 2009 - Arrive at our apartment that we've never before seen in Staten Island, where we hung out for a few hours until Michael's dad and brother arrive with our stuff after having driven for 2 days straight with one rest break to sleep on the side of the road for about 3 hours. Here is us arriving at the new apartment:

About 30 seconds after I turned the camera off, and Michael tried the lock ~5 more times, our downstairs neighbor opened her front door in her robe. We had been trying to enter HER apartment repeatedly. We live in apartment 2, which had been described to us as the 2nd floor apartment. It's actually on the 3rd floor! We walked up the other flight of stairs and the lock code worked just fine! This video is dedicated to Katy Rehm.

A little tour of the place:

While waiting for Michael's dad and brother, we walked down to the corner store about 1/4 of a mile from our apartment to get some drinks and snacks. We walk in, and there are about 4 gangster looking people doing their morning shopping at 11 am on Friday. I was a little scared, but trying to convince myself that it was all okay, when the 'boss-looking-one' says, "I'm about to kill some mother f***ers up in here." Michael was an aisle away silently wishing I hadn't heard. That was when we realized that we did not live in the best of neighborhoods. Mark and Jason arrived shortly thereafter, unloaded, stayed the night and left at about 6 am Saturday. (While they were unloading, I was opening the gifts from the wedding! :) )

Then on Saturday afternoon, Mickey arrives with Dora and Cinderella, the car, after having driven for like 7 days. She took the Canadian route to get to Staten Island. She and her friend, Beth were a little delirious, but still having fun. We rode the ferry into the city and ate at a little restaurant. They stayed the night and left for the airport the next morning at a much more reasonable hour. Here is Mickey and Dora's arrival. *Squeal warning*

Then we unpacked!