Man, our life has been full these past few weeks. Finishing out the year on campus in Queens, planning for the summer project that is beginning tomorrow, school activities, having lots of fun visitors staying with us, and so much more!  Because pictures speak a thousands words, here are a few that tell more about our last few weeks.

We are loving life with this little one. She is growing so fast, and although she is still a hard baby, those sweet coos and big smiles make things a bit more bearable. It also doesn’t hurt that she is pretty much sleeping through the night 🙂

On Mother’s Day, I saw SO many people posting pictures of them and their kids in their Sunday best…which was great to see. But, lets be real. Life with 4 and life in the city where you barely manage to get to church and back, much less get a picture showing it, is what I am dealing with. So, we did manage to snap this picture later that afternoon while I was relaxing with all my baby chicks.

We have officially finished ministry on campus with our Queens team for this school year. This is a picture of the Queens College group at our last meeting. Ed has been heavy in the midst of planning for our summer project here in NYC and we are excited to see how the Lord continues to use us, our staff, and the students to reach the city this summer.

Look who got her cast off!!  Another record appointment of 2 hours or so, but she left with a big smile and a castless arm. She is one tough cookie – other than crying when it happened, she didn’t cry when the doctor touched it to see how tender it was, when they put the cast on, OR when they took the cast off. She kept saying that evening “Look, I can shake it, I can shake it!”

Ed took Emerson on a morning daddy/daughter date to Dunkin’ Donuts before school.

We went to a science fair and curriculum night at Kinsley’s school. She was proud to show off her tower that she and some of her classmates had been working hard on.

My mother, grandmother, 2 aunts, and 3 cousins all traveled to NYC to spend the weekend with us. I love girls’ weekends (though Ed tagged along for some of it 😉 ). I love seeing new people discover the city but also experience what our new life is like. They stayed in Queens and rode the subway with us, helped pick the girls up from school, went to church with us, and then did lots of fun things in the city too. We/they went on a long bus tour, ate dinner with my brother, tried lots of different desserts, rode the Staten Island Ferry, went to the 9-11 memorial, walked the Brooklyn Bridge, went to see The Lion King on broadway, and they watched the kids so Ed and I could have a date night for our anniversary! 12 years we were celebrating!!

While at Rockefeller Center, we got to see Access Hollywood shooting live. A little fun to see Natalie Morales in person.

Ed ran the Brooklyn half marathon on Saturday morning. It began in middle Brooklyn and ended at the Coney Island boardwalk. We didn’t get to go see him because the trip would take 2 hours by subway, a $50 Uber ride, and subway lines were running super slow. But, we cheered him on via Facetime as he crossed the finished! He didn’t get a personal record, but he did a great job anyways! So proud of him!

While my family were touring the 9-11 museum, we took the kids to a Firefighters Museum, got hot chocolate at Starbucks, and let them play at a playground overlooking the Hudson River. I love that the city has parks ALL OVER and it is so fun to explore new ones.

Then, while they took the girls with them to a Broadway play (that we sadly had to miss because I had a nursing infant and you can’t take infants into the play), we took Blake to a food festival on 9th avenue where he got to people watch and jump in a bouncy house.

We met them after the play and the girls were thrilled that they got to meet the characters from the Lion King – Cimba, Nala (as a little cub), and Nala (as an adult). Kinsley was beside herself.

I really love my family so it was extremely hard to see them go. We all lived in the same city growing up and got to see each other often – now we are spread out and seeing each other is few and far between. But, I will cherish these memories with them, laugh thinking about all the weird and funny and memorable things we experienced, and look forward to the next time we can be together. Love you all!!