Carter's Impressions of New York City

Carter recently did a new drawing on the computer. When asked what it was, he responded, "It's New York. Where Mama lives."

(Sadly, we can't share the drawing because cousin Anna apparently got a hold of it before he could save it. Picture a very sad boy shutting himself in the laundry room: "She ruined my New York picture!")

When asked if he could re-create the picture, he responded, "No. I don't want to. It's New York. It's just a bunch of big buildings."

When asked to elaborate about New York, he says, "It's only for girls. Only girls go there. It's not for boys."

And that's what he knows about New York.

Garden Transformation

From this

To this

Thanks to a little of this

And a LOT of this

First, let me clarify that the camellia bush/tree was very, very sad looking when we cut it down (I don't have a picture of just how sad it was). The snow this winter didn't treat it well. Plus, I didn't like it. So I refuse to feel guilty for cutting it down. So...there.

Donna is my gardening guru! You may remember the smaller scale garden transformation she executed when we lived in Brooklyn. She's teaching me a few of her tricks, and she pitched in a lot of labour to put in our new flower bed and bushes in front of Carter's window. she and I had fun, and the front of the house looks much better (you can actually see our front door now!)

Thank you, Donna!

And... thanks to Thomas for wielding the chain saw!

Fun at the Fox

During my Good Friday off (who knew ballet companies got that day off?) I managed to swing tickets to Curious George Live!

Carter and I had lots of fun, though it may have been the popcorn.







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Easter Egg Hunting

Untitled from elizabeth fowlkes on Vimeo.

Egg Dying

We dyed eggs this morning. This was the first time Carter has really been interested in it and has really done it himself!



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Hold on to your hats!

I'm about to catch up on weeks of blog posting! Five new posts below to catch you up on what's happening with the Fowlkes Family. I usually hate vomit-posting, but I've been really busy with work, and had a little time on a flight today to catch up. I'm headed back to NYC, after 2 weeks at home. I've only been home for 3 work weeks since the beginning of February, so 2 weeks home in a row was wonderful! So... sorry for being a slacker. Scroll down to see what we've been up to when we're not working!

A Lucky Boy

A recent Carter quote: "I'm a lucky boy." And he really is. For lots of reasons, but here are a few from the last couple of weeks.

We live in such a great town! Recently, the city held it's annual touch-a-truck day, where they park all the city vehicles in a lot to let the kids play in them. Carter played in a dumptruck, an electric meter-maid car, a SWAT team truck, an ambulance, a firetruck, and more. It was a little insane -- and very noisy (they let the kids operate the sirens), but Carter had a blast!

On the topic of our great town, this weekend the city held an Easter egg "hunt". I say "hunt" because what they actually do is toss candy all over the lawn (NO hiding) and let the kids have a free-for-all grabbing it up into their baskets (you can see all the candy scattered on the ground behind Carter in the picture below, taken just before they said "Go!"). We "hunted" in the Kindergarten section of the lawn because the candy was WAY better (and the lawn much less crowded) than in the Preschool section.

Carter's class had a camping day last Friday. They pitched tents, napped in sleeping bags and ate smores. I went for part of it to help and got a few photos. We were one of only 3 families that forgot to send PJs for this activity, but we did bring one of the tents, so I think it evens out.

Car(s)

Last weekend, we bade farewell to our family sedan. We had bought it sight unseen when we moved to Atlanta from NYC (well, it was seen by Thomas' dad, on our behalf...), and it served us pretty well for over 2 and a half years (save the rear view mirror continually falling off).

We had been a one-car family since moving to Atlanta. Thomas would take the train to work most days, and we'd get a zipcar when we both needed a car. However, with the impending move of Thomas' office (away from the train line), we've known we would need a second car sometime this year. And, as Carter is getting older, we wanted a car that would allow us to haul more than 2 kids at a time. And, our marriage contract stipulates no mini-vans.

So, we bought a Highlander with a third row of seats. Then, in order to assuage our guilt over buying an SUV, we traded in our car and got a Prius. So now we have two new (to us) cars, and we did it all in under 5 hours.

Triathlon Training

Thomas has been doing a terrific job training for the triathlon that we're doing in June. He's working out a ton and has done several practice 5Ks and a 10K with our friend Matthew, who is also doing the race. As for my training, it's not going as well. But I did recently do a 5K, so that's one workout down... Later that night, Thomas, Matthew and I made flaming steak sauce to counteract all those calories I burned.

We're still looking for more friends to join us in the triathlon... I could definitely use a buddy!

Maniacal Carter

Since I've been traveling so much, I'm trying to make the most of my weekends at home with Carter. One day, I think I may have overdone it with the fun. The morning trip to the zoo, followed by burgers, followed by ice cream had him really loving life!