NYC . . . there's something about you

January started 2023 well this year. After returning home from Georgia, we celebrated the New Year with our traditional Chinese food take-out and the London fireworks. The kids began school again (yay! ;-)). Then the following weekend, we took Clara and Robbie up to NYC to see The Music Man with Hugh Jackman. 

We got a sitter (well, one for Friday and one for Saturday) and took the train up from DC early on Friday morning. I was nervous about leaving the younger boys, but I was very glad the whole time that we didn't have all the kids with us because it would have been really tricky getting around NYC with a big group.

Our first stop after arriving at Penn Station was the Empire State Building. 

No! I won't let King Kong take you!

We got to go up to the 102nd floor. So cool! Then we took the subway to our hotel and enjoyed a little rest before heading back out in the evening.

We braved the long line outside Ellen's Stardust Diner and enjoyed being serenaded by aspiring singers/actors/actresses as our servers. The food was honestly meh and it was very crowded, but it was a fun experience to do once.

We walked around Times Square and checked out the M&M store, the Lego store, and the Disney store before walking back to the Winter Garden Theater. It was so nice that the weather was clear, despite being chilly. I had been concerned about how Clara would do with all the crowds, smells, etc, but she really enjoyed it!

We arrived at the theater early and took our seats. It was such a fun show! Hugh Jackman was great and the crowd loved him. Sutton Foster was also a crack-up, and both of them lost character a couple of times and got the giggles. The dancing and singing was wonderful. Clara got a cough which I feared would cause us to miss the show, but some kind people next to us and behind us gave us cough drops (lesson learned: always pack cough drops in my purse). 

The next morning, we headed out for breakfast at Carnegie Diner--my eggs hollandaise were very yummy, Michael got a Reuben sandwich, and Clara and Robbie enjoyed their pancakes with strawberries and bananas (and Nutella for Robbie) on top. Then we walked over to Rockefeller Center to see the Christmas tree, the ice skaters, and enjoy the overall atmosphere.

A highlight was playing the giant piano at the FAO Schwarz store. So fun! 

Another favorite moment was when Clara and I visited Koreatown and stopped in this fun Korean bookstore. So fun to see all the toys and books in another language. 

Similar yet different!

When we were in Koreatown, we came across bbq Chicken, the yummy fried chicken place they eat at in the K-drama Crash Landing on You. It was so fun! And the chicken really was delicious. I am not a huge fried chicken fan, but it was so good. 

We were very grateful we had the privilege and opportunity to take Clara and Robbie on this trip. I felt so terrible when we found out afterwards that both Benjy and Henry had thrown up while we were gone . . . and then the following week I got the stomach bug and so did nearly everyone else in the family. We paid our sitters extra for having had to clean up/deal with all of that. Hopefully the next time we leave there will be no throw-up in our absence. 

Clara keeps asking when we're going to go back to NYC, so I take that as a success. :-)

Mama thoughts

I pour a lot of myself into my children--thinking about them, praying about them, shopping for them, planning for them, worrying about/for them, researching about how to help them better and how to be a better mother. It occurred to me after we spent dinner with another family recently that I need to make sure that I am doing all the things I do because I want to do them and not because I expect a certain outcome. If I feel like if I do x, y, or z then therefore my kids will turn out amazingly well (or dare I say, better than someone else's children), then I might be tempted to blame God or blame myself if outcomes don't turn out how I want. My best efforts do not guarantee my children's outcomes, and that is difficult for me. However, the Savior has guaranteed their outcomes. He has promised, "For I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children" (Isaiah 49:25). 

I really resonated with an article from the Ensign in July 2020, where a mother spoke about her children choosing different paths. My children are not even grown, but I still appreciated this reminder:

While parents play an important role in teaching their children, He reminded me that my role isn’t to judge or save them but to love them. Jesus Christ is their Savior and Judge. 

In my determination to save my children, I had spent many hours praying, reading my scriptures, and going to the temple, thinking that if I did all of the right things, I would qualify for God’s intervention—as if somehow my actions would lead God to override their agency and influence them to believe as I do.

I so badly want my children to develop testimonies for themselves, to grow and develop into the amazing people I know that they are and can be and to fulfill the missions that Heavenly Father has planned for them, should they so choose to follow Him. And while I will never stop trying (and in many ways I am just beginning), I also want to let go of expectation of a certain outcome and instead just enjoy the journey, the process, the beauty of motherhood.

 I want to look forward with anticipation to see what good things they'll do, what differences they'll make in the world, and how they'll learn and grow. I want to see the future bright as it really is, instead of worry about all the wrong and hard things that may or may not happen. One of my goals for this year is to become a better listener and to grow in my hope in Christ. I want to end 2023 with greater trust that the Lord will take care of me and my family, as He has in the past. No matter what happens, I've decided it's going to be a great year. 

December highlights

December started off with lots of music and dancing. 

Clara was truly lovely in her Christmas dance recital and continues to improve each season. I was grateful that Robbie and Henry willingly came to support her without being bribed ;-).

Henry performed in his first music class performance with Mrs. Sager. So glad that Covid restrictions have lifted so that they can do fun things like this. Henry knew all the words and actions and looked like a pro.

Robbie participated in his first holiday concert at school with the other fourth and fifth graders playing his recorder, and he also played so well in his piano concert. He said he didn't really feel nervous since he's done it several times before.

Benjy was an adorable angel in his preschool nativity and remembered super cute movements to "Away in a Manger."

We also made gingerbread houses out of graham crackers. Note to self: remember more supplies, especially Twizzlers, and use royal icing. Also pre-make the houses for the younger kiddos.

Good job, Benjy!

Sweetness.

Mine was supposed to be the Nauvoo temple.

Uncle Hyrum came home to visit after being gone from VA for seven years! It was great to see him. 

He and Michael took the kids to the Massanutten water park to celebrate our family's memorization chart for this year.

We had some sickness through the family, which mercifully passed before Christmas. Can't think of a much better place to rest when you're sick.

We tried a new activity this Christmas and rang the Salvation Army bell at the mall.

It was really fun and we used an app on the phone to "ring" the bell. People were generous, especially because of our little helpers. I think we'll do it again.

After the boys got into the hot tub with Michael, they changed into their new Christmas jammies that the elves left them and we enjoyed our Joseph and Mary dinner. Then the kids exchanged their sibling gifts, which for the first year were "love gifts," as my family called them growing up. Benjy (Michael) made Henry a Lego candy dispenser, Henry made Robbie glow-in-the-dark slime, Robbie sewed Clara a new rice heat bag, and Clara gave Benjy a matching car memory game she made with me. They were excited to give their gifts and I think it was a successful experience we'll continue in the future.

This year we told the kids that they would have one toy to open and then they were going to get an experience gift, which was a coupon book of dates for each month that each child would get to go on with Mom or Dad. A few are combined with another sibling, a couple are all family, and the rest are individual. I prepared these little photo albums as "date books" to keep mementos from our dates with them. They weren't thrilled about having fewer gifts, but I am hopeful that they'll be happy they made these memories instead.

The magic is ready.

Benjy said when he saw the stockings, "Mom and Dad must not have been very good this year."

So many emotions going on in this photo.

Stockings were pretty loaded this year, possibly because of mom guilt Santa was extra generous this year. Favorite stocking gifts included football gloves (Henry), a Kpop lightstick (Clara), a Fitbit watch (Robbie), a mini Rubik's cube (Benjy), and a stuffed doggie (Clayton).

Clayton didn't understand what was going on but he was just happy to be in on the action and excitement.

Benjy got a cool Duplo car wash set. 

Henry got a Magic Tracks race car set.

Robbie got a microscope with specimen slides and a how-to book. He was really excited about and has been exploring it. Clara got a pair of noise cancelling headphones which she had wanted but then later decided she doesn't really like, but that's okay. Her main gift was the fact that that she and I are flying down to ATL in March for a Stray Kids (K-pop concert). She is excited!

Clayton got a xylophone/hammer set and a few other things.

Christmas on a Sunday is a little stressful but also fun to go to church and hear all the wonderful music and sing. I led a joint ward choir number of "The First Noel/Pachelbel's Canon" which was really lovely and fun. 

That evening after some car drama (we ended up driving down to Georgia all stuffed in Michael's Pilot instead of the Odyssey because the car battery had died), we made it safely to Charlotte NC and then down to Columbus, GA to hang out with the Heiss family. We had such a wonderful time visiting them.

Benjy and Lily played well together. She is seriously so adorable.

Henry and Lucy played well, Robbie and Sam hung out the whole time, and Clara spent time with Abigail and Anne, who were kind as always.

Anne is so good at hair braiding. 

We had a fun night braving the frigid weather for a ride in a trolley to see the Callaway Fantasy lights. 

Lucy taught Henry (and Benjy) how to play Sleeping Queens, which was a fun game we had gotten for Christmas. 

The following day, we drove back to Callaway and rode bikes around. Clayton just cracked me up in his mushroom helmet.

We paid Anne and Abigail to babysit the kids and we went out to a delicious Korean restaurant with Erik and L'Anita. It was so fun to chat together and the time flew by.

On Thursday morning, we packed up and headed up to Atlanta. Since we had a couple of hours before our reservation at the Georgia Aquarium, we drove by our old homes. 

 

I couldn't believe the sign was still by the door (I think my brother Bryan made that?)! It wasn't in quite as good a shape as it was when we lived there, but overall the house and neighborhood looked in good condition.

Michael's house had gotten a paint job since we were there last. So many memories in these homes. It made us thoughtful as we reminisced and thought about how time passes, how many people live on the earth, how possessions come and go, etc.

The Aquarium was an absolute madhouse, but we made it through (Clara's anxiety was pretty serious but she handled it) and stayed at a hotel that evening after enjoying pizza at Mellow Mushroom. Then we went to the Atlanta temple with Clay and Amie and Matt and Tana. It was so special to do sealings with them! I wish we had gotten a picture. We ate at La Madeleine and then drove the long trek home. Phew! Michael was a driving champ. And so were the boys, smashed in the back of the Pilot. Thanks to screen time, we made it through. We celebrated the New Year with our traditional Chinese food and the London fireworks. Happy New Year! 2022 was a wonderful year, and 2023 will be, too.