A day of adultness!

Yesterday was a day of adult interaction for me! In the morning we had a mom's morning out in honor of our friend Sarah who is having her 3rd child and therefore heading back to Raleigh for the second semester. So we decided to ask the dads to watch the kids and we went out together. We started with pedicures and manicures and ended by eating a nice lunch at a Thai place on Amsterdam.


Here's Sarah! Man, we're gonna miss her and her family here in our dorm.




Then when I got back Steven and I went on our second date (without our son) since we've been here. Here we are on Columbia's campus that has been decorated with Christmas lights. Picture Steven humoring me as I ask some random person to take our picture.

We had tickets to see the Messiah at Carnegie Hall!

It was amazing and beautiful. My favorite by far was the choir; it had 200 singers! The second act contained some of my favorite parts, and shockingly, some of the best lines and most moving music were things I'd never heard before. It was very long, and I'm sad to report that many of the people there simply seemed to be filling a Christmas cultural tradition instead of hearing the amazing worship that it was created to be. We were actually sitting behind a Jewish couple. I sat there and listened to the beautiful piece and prayed that some of the people singing it would think through the verses for the fist time. But either way, we had a great time and really enjoyed discussing why he choose the verses he chose and why he put them in specific places being sung by the specific parts.


And then to say one last Christmas goodbye to NYC, we swung by the Rockefeller tree on the way home. I must say it was a better sight at night and NOT on a Saturday. We were actually able to move on the sidewalk - at 11 pm on a Tuesday the crowd wasn't that bad. It was pretty-I guess it has just been hyped up so much that I expected it to make or break my Christmas-and it didn't do that.


All in all we had an amazing day and tomorrow we head home for the holidays. So Merry Christmas to everyone who has read this far (and to the others too I suppose) and I'm sure we'll post some pictures of family and friends over the month we're gone!

Here are some of little Steven Edward before you go.

December with Steven Edward

Well, I haven't given an update lately so I figured I would give a little snapshot of what my son is doing these days. Many of you will see all of this soon, but it is as much of a record for me as it is information for you. Humor me.
*He still loves to chase a ball all around the house. He will do this for 30-45 minutes with happy smiles and grunts
*He has figured out how to pull my cookbooks (and anything else for that matter) off the bottom shelf while crawling.
*He has also figured out that if he goes to the shelf and sits up, he can not only clear the bottom shelf, but make a good dent in the second shelf as well.
*About 2 weeks ago he became quite proficient at coming to a sitting position from a crawl. He originally would do it and look back for me with a huge smile, proud of himself and waiting for my applause!
*He also loves to crawl to our balcony door and watch what is going on outside. He will crawl to the window, sit up, and look out like a cat. Here is a picture of him watching it snow.
*He loves trucks and toys that make noise...or anything else that makes noise, like kitchen things or the radiator cover. Banging is his new pastime.
*He is experimenting with different sounds. He is using "r" and "w" quite well, and while riding in his stroller will scream, "awa, awa, awa" over and over again.
*When tired he starts to shake his head back and forth (like he's saying no), rub his eyes, grab his ears, and get extremely squirmy.
*He loves to crawl into small spaces - like the kitchen, bathroom, or under tables and chairs.
*His feet are quite ticklish and he loves for you to tickle him anywhere - he has the cutest laugh when you do so.
*He loves for his daddy to toss him in the air
*He will and does eat any and everything.
*He is starting to assert his independence by never wanting me to feed him finger foods; he will shut his mouth, turn away, and then get and eat them himself (oh how I look forward to middle school).
*He loves to lay on one side when turning directions (kind of like a super model pose

*He loves faces, especially mouths, and beards add a whole new element of fun!








*He won't drink from a sippy cup (he only chews the spout) but if I hold it and give it to him without a top, he's a huge fan of water.
*He also loves to crawl to the chairs and slide them across the floor (because they make a loud scraping noise).
*He is doing his very best to pull up on anything and everything he can-he spends much of the in between time in the downward dog position!

Colleen's Birthday

So today is Colleen's birthday and this post is in honor of her! We took a quick trip to Lincoln Center to hit up the Barnes and Noble and just have a morning out in the city. We started by looking at the Lincoln Center Christmas Tree, which in my opinion is a much nicer tree than the Rockefeller tree! I have some very tangible reasons to back my opinion.
1. The Lincoln Center Tree appears to be a Frasier Fur-which is a much nicer tree
2. It actually is the shape of a Christmas tree!
3. It has ornaments
4. It twinkles with white snow flakes.
5. There were no crowds that created a panic attack type reaction for me.
All in all I would say this tree is much nicer. You should check it out if you're ever in NYC over the holidays! Here are some pictures!

Christmas Time!

Merry Christmas from the Bancroft Kids! How cute are they in their Christmas outfits! This had potential to be a disaster, but it turned out quite well. Meet our children Owen, Mary, Emma, Avery, David....and then the scowling youngsters Addie, Steven Edward, and Addison! This was taken before our church's Christmas Lessons and Carols.

Macy's

The only time I get really excited about our crazy hot radiator heat is after a long afternoon walking in the 19 degree weather! The warmth happily knocks you over as you walk into the lobby! Colleen, Mary, Steven Edward and I made a morning out of shopping for a winter coat. We headed to Macy's and were thrust into the holiday spirit! The window displays were amazingly elaborate and ironically quite loud! Here are some pictures-not quite as impressive as they actually were in real life.
















They even had the ball that they drop in Time Square. Turns out it's quite elaborate and was created by Waterford! Go figure! Little Steven was mesmerized.


The Santa display was nothing short of a remake of the North Pole. You can see the little bears here. (Although the penguins didn't make the picture.)

Overall the store was absolutely decked out. No Biltmore, but this was free, so I can't really complain.


We even had a bit to eat watching the ice skaters in Bryant Park. What an exciting outing for a Thursday! I even got a jacket out of it.

Snooooooowwwww!!!

When I wake up in the morning and it's snowing, I feel like a little girl on Christmas morning full of anticipation! I can barely contain myself, so I run to wake my husband (who is not quite so excited as me) and we sit with warm drinks and watch the snow fall. Our view is beautiful from our French doors and for the first time this winter the snow is actually sticking. The streets have the quietness that only snow can bring and there are very few people out and about (because obviously New Yorkers are not quite as stoked about the snow as I am....actually I'm not even sure the kids are as excited about the snow as I am). I promptly call my mother to tell her it's snowing. I'm not sure why I do this; it is simply part of a routine that I must go through when I see snow falling from the sky. She is excited...and then eventually I call my friend Clare. Because she is from Texas and may actually feel the same excitement I do.





Unfortunately my son has to take his morning nap, so I venture out with all the older kids for fun in the snow on the sidewalk. My husband is not too disappointed to have to stay in the warm apartment with our little sleeper. My eager attitude and grown men tugging a box down a hill with four kids on it are probably both huge signs to those walking by us that we are new to the city. But we don't care. We just keep on playing. What a fun morning before church we had.





Luckily we got it all out before our walk to church - so at least our church friends thought we were remotely cool about the snow. I kept my excitement inside and they never knew about my second-base slide down the sidewalk that was so much fun. After church it seemed to be colder and all the fun had melted with some of the snow. Slowly I found myself slipping into a city mentality...where it was just cold and wet and I wanted to get home quickly. I even wished I had on tall rain boots. Man how quickly we conform.