Today was a really good day...

It seems like we hardly ever venture out of our neighborhood anymore. Everything we need is pretty much at our fingertips or within walking distance at least. Either that or I'm just way too exhausted from carrying laundry and groceries around town. But with Ella's school having a day off, Scott at his 2nd home (Mt. Sinai Hospital) and the beautiful weather, it was the perfect day to just GO somewhere. We had a lineup of activities with a few of Ella's school friends. The plan was a hit, all places visited were within walking distance to one another by coincidence! Hooray.

Central Park Zoo (Eastside and 6oth)

There was popsicle sharing

And Louis, from Ella's class and his mom Janet joined us! (We nickname them Ella Fitzgerald and Louie Armstrong when they are together...his parents are musicians)

The penguins were especially cuddly and lovey today.

But what just melted our little hearts were these monkeys.(I don't even know their proper name.) This baby. Oh this baby. I have never understood a Mommy ever in my life better, than I understood this one. What's that say about me?! She would let her youngin' take two small steps, look at him very nervously and scoop him up. And then 10 seconds later that baby would be squirming out of that mommy's arms, to learn and explore. She would hesitate and then let the babe have a minute, while the mama looked at all of the people watching, probably thinking "If you hurt my baby, I will hurt you." She would hold him down and wipe crust out of his eyes, or pick the bugs out of his hair...while he fought it. My favorite was when she got to the point that she was just tired of this little toddler wanting to be put DOWN! So she would scoop him up and nurse him to distract him, so she could at least sit on her rock without feeling like he was going to fall off or be taken away! We love watching any kind of mom with their babies! I'm guilty of nursing my girls to keep them from making noise or just being too tired to chase them around, just like an animal does!!

This Sea Lion Exhibit is the real one, that is characterized in Madagascar and several other movies, I think! Love this Zoo. It's small, it's clean, it has fabulous animals, reptiles and birds and now we live so close to it! So worth the scenic bus ride.

Next we headed to this art exhibit that I'd been really wanting to go to. We met our good friends, Rebecca, Madeline and Lillian. Look at Park Ave. Armory's Website for real pictures. Mine won't do their's justice. GO if you live here in the city...especially if you have kids. You see, touch, jump, lay, smell... It ends June 14th. My kids wouldn't leave, we all wanted to live there.

I love feeling like a child again.
Getting their OM on in the Lavender Room.

We stopped for a slice quickly before we finished the evening off by attending one of their classmates Piano Recital, where Ella hooped and hollered after every piece played on the Steinway Piano. Oh the "Joy" that child was blessed with. It was a ritzy joint.
Sitting pretty on someone's steps, waiting for the M66 Bus to get us back to the Westside!

The problem is...

Scott inhaling...it was his second try, b/c apparently, he hadn't inhaled enough the first time. It was hilarious. You are so funny, Scotty.

Enjoying May with beautiful weather, family and friends...

(Mimi, Ella and Paka at Barney Greengrass May 2009)

We've had visitors for 2 weeks! We love having visitors. We love showing off all of the fabulousness of NYC. Most of all, we love having so many people to love and love us back, in our lives! Spending time with you is so important to us and especially to our children! However it has been a rough 2 weeks with me not feeling so tip-top, the girls both having a fever on different days and knowing that it was Scott's last 5 day break before clinicals began! (It started today and you'll be hearing all about that in the next 15 months! I'm already over it already!) So I just have to apologize to the visitors for being a bit off! Thanks R and J for watching the girls and for coming to the rescue when I was on the grocery store floor passed out...seriously thought it was the end! I'll have to go get that checked out! And thanks Gary for taking Ella to school!

*I did get to spend a week with my best friend!

*We had Elise over for a few nights while Kaye and Gary took a long awaited vacation (isn't Elise just the sweetest, little, photogenic gal? Just love her to pieces as we do all of your nieces and nephews! ;) Thanks for the magnetic necklace! I've already gotten all kinds of compliments!

* Rented a car and headed up North to Hawethorne and Yonkers...Both sides of Karisa's Fam are originally from Yonkers!

*I made the easiest 100 dollars ever, on a bet! ;) Still too guilty to cash the check.

*Karisa proved how devoted of a friend she really is, once again, and painted the living room with me! Seriously, I better be the best MOH EVER!

*Went to Mary Poppins on Broadway! So SUPER!



My "Tripod"- No worries, Karisa would have caught me(with her foot) if I would have fallen ;)







So I have absolutely nothing to complain about at all...just your regular bratty Jubie. So thankful to have such supporting, loving family and friends! The time goes by too fast. Love to you all! Back to the routine!

Mother's Day

On Mother's Day, I woke up to Paisley singing...
"Today is Mother's Day and I sing to let you know that we made cinnamon rolls for you and I'm gonna share mine." She sang it to a tune that is in the Barbie and the 12 Dancing Princess movie. (one of my favorites! :) It was seriously the sweetest little song. Ever. Love you Baby Anne.

I love teachers that help children make gifts for their mom's! She was so proud and so excited for me to open my Mother's Day Gift. It is precious and perfect. Love you Mariella.

Ya got it from Your Dad...

There are definite times when Ella will say or do something and either Scott or I will look at each other , laugh and say, "SHE GOT THAT FROM YOU!" We all do that with our kids right? Well, here are a few Ella Traits that she FOR SURE DID NOT get from me. Jokingly. (Maybe from Grandma Sue or Auntie Jen though.)

Making her own bar code SKU's: With the way I shop though...I might be responsible for exposing her to them! :)
(A gold star goes to whomever can identify the book that I took this picture on. Double if you know the chapter.)

Tallying: putting the same number of tally's next to each number. I found her doing this alone one day.

While working on her new "Easy Addition Kumon Booklet" Ella said, "Thank you for getting this for me Daddy, I really love it." Oh I just feel so lucky to see her grow everyday. Like most parents, we all have our worries about our children and I am just happy to see Ella learning and becoming such an intelligent little lady.

For the life of me, I could not remember the house number of my Grandparent's home on Peppermill Drive...I was sending off Mother's Day Cards, didn't feel like digging out my address book so I did the lazy thing and did a simple google search of my Papa Don's name...Donald Fabbi. I was quickly distracted as I had been overloaded with all sorts of material that had his name in them. Most of them, him being featured in Gardening Magazine's for his amazing home garden in Las Vegas and for all the service that he does in the community. I read this straight from an article...

"Fabbi also grows peanuts. He and his grand kids have a lot of fun with them because of the way they grow. You can plant seeds with or without shells on. If you take the shells off, make sure you keep the covering or sheath around the nut. It only takes a few days longer to plant the entire nut, which takes about 10-14 days to emerge."

I also read an article that was published in the Review Journal the day after my grandfather had been in a terrible accident on an electric line. I hadn't read the full article before and seemed so real to me, even though it happened in the 60's. Scary, scary. We love you Grandma Barbara and Papa Don!

Side note:
Also, we ran into Harry Reid at church 2 weeks ago. Scott immediately recognized him and gave him a holla. "We're Nevadans too!" Which turned into a 5-10 minute conversation. Ends up he knew my mother-in-laws father. Janice is a Vegas girl all the way. He asked me what my maiden name was and said, "No kidding, are you related to Barbara?" Anyways, apparently my grandparents did campaigning for him back in the day. We made a joke on the train ride home that the only reason he knew my family off hand was b/c Harry Reid and the Fabbi Family are the only Mormon Democrats in Nevada! HAHA.

Papa (Peter) Kent

We had a SURPRISE visitor this past week. Papa Kent, (Jubie's Dad) had a business trip near Philadelphia for a couple of days, so he decided to stop by!! We are so LUCKY! We told the girls someone was going to come visit us for a day....his name is Peter and he's a boy...that's all we told them. (They don't know that my dad's first name is Peter...he goes by his middle name, Kent ) Ella and Paisley were awestruck when they saw him. It didn't seem possible to them that he could be in NYC, without us notifying them beforehand! Later in the evening Ella said, "Hey! Where's the boy Peter that was going to come visit?!" It was hilarious, my dad got a chuckle out of that.



We walked to Brother Jimmy's for dinner (free food for kids and it's good!), played Candyland and Go Fish, woke up the next morning and took our first road trip to Long Island! We stopped by the Robert Moses beach, where we DID NOT feed the deer baby carrots! We caught a picture of a carrot midair, flying out the window, but we weren't feeding the deer! The beach wasn't busy....but I hear it's a pretty hoppin' place during the summer. It was so fun to have him pop in for the day, little things like this make it bearable to be away from family! We feel so special that you came to visit, see our new place and that we got to spend some quality time together!

CRNA

Scott bought study cards and they were delivered, along with this free gift, in which he gave to me...

(Scott will be a CRNA in 15 months
(after he passes the test ;) crna = Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist)
Yes, I am attaching this to our car, too cute.

Flashback to over 2 months ago...

Ella yelled from the bedroom,
"Mommy, Daddy, hurry, come here now! Look what Paisley did!"

Lipstick covering entire face? Eating paper? Painting herself naked from head to toe? (she does all of these things regularly)

Nope, her first family portrait, all by herself, without anyone prompting her! We were all beaming with pride.

I love you Paisley Anne, even though I forgot your art today at the children's museum and you'll probably never forgive me. I feel terrible about it.

(Paisley-Hippo Park- 4/2009- She found a worm in this sandbox and we brought it home as a pet, since I refuse to have any others at this point in our lives...she really is an excellent caregiver.)

YANK-KEES! YAN-KEES!

So we are aware of their losing streak...but seriously had a BALL at the Yankees game with my childhood friend Ashley and her husband Buck. They came to visit New York during their 1st Wedding Anniversary and we had such a nice time visiting!

Scott and I have different interpretations of what baseball games are...yes, that is him studying with a big old text book at the game. He also wanted to bring things (crayons, movies) for the girls to do ! Ha, I didn't think so...they were going to enjoy this game the good old fashioned way. (Even if they were a bit rowdy and crazy!)
I took the girls for "walks" in the new Stadium where we go to the bathroom and then return with special treats that I remember loving as a child at baseball games...peanuts, cotton candy, cracker Jacks, hot dogs, pretzels...they REALLY started bringing back the memories, when Paisley started gathering people's empty beer bottles, lining them up and counting them, (Sanitary, I know. Don't worry we washed hands frequently. and then they started running up and down the bleachers towards the end after many had left, playing a squirrel and peanuts game that they made up together. Paisley was also very patient about trying to catch the foul balls in her sunhat...she got pretty darn close. And of course, there is Ella, levitating her juice box, as she defies gravity once again. This child is pretty darn close to doing just that!

Just what I had hoped for... pure, baseball game fun!
Thanks for the memorable day Ashley and Buck!

Just to give Scotty credit: A chic that was sitting above us started a conversation with him, "Are you studying for a test? Ahhhhh....you good guy, I hope you do well" ALSO, Ella did end up drawing in his textbook, in the extra pages, with a highlighter. You're just the best Scotty.

Yes, of course it is Tara's, Julianne's and Beth's daughters...running through the sprinklers in their clothes....hey we've got to pass down some sort of our silly, childlike personalities...

I love you Tara. Thanks for meeting up with us...I love being around you...so fun to see you as a mom. You're such a good example to me!

(Jube and Tara 2009... trying to face the sun in a picture)

Here are a few collage that wouldn't show up in previous posts! Frustrating!

Happy Birthday Scotty-Don!

Dear Paka and Mimi,
Thank you for sending us...I mean daddy...the Cookie Bouquet for his Birthday! It was very much enjoyed by they WHOLE family!! We all got teary-eyed when it arrived b/c we miss you so...
Love,
Scott, Jubie, Ella and Peso




Beunos Aires Argentinean Restaurant in the East Village...we will be visiting this area again soon...yummy lookin' restaraunts, quant little shops, fun street walking...

Us three girls thank our lucky stars for you every night. You do so much to keep our little family going...you can fix anything; electronics, furniture, toys, ouchies....you tell the BEST bedtime stories...you make sure that we are always taken care of and give us love...work and study so hard...we just adore you and love kissing your cheeks!!