Going Away Party

Lenzci and her mom have been talking about having a party for us since we moved in, and we finally scheduled one.  

Chase loves Lenzci and was really looking forward to a party at her house. He brought her a flower, which was super cute.

Had to get a picture of Lenzci and Darby on their phones :)

Chase went around talking to everyone.  It was cute.

And he ate lots of cookies and found every toy in the house

And he did some karaoke. 

(as did Marcus)

And he built a big pile of blankets

He also learned how to take pictures

There was definitely some serious tackling Lenzci time

And playing with lights

And sitting on Lenzci :)

And pictures "all by myself"

And then he crashed :)

It was a really fun night.  I'm glad we finally made it to a famous Lariego Karaoke party!

YW Sponsored Date Night

The Astoria Ward in Woodside has some of the best Young Women out there!  It was definitely always an exciting adventure having a calling with them.  As a Going Away gift, they gave Marcus and me a night out.  Dinner and a movie, complete with babysitting!

And this perfect card!

We went to Junior's - one of my favorite places!  They had closed the locations in Grand Central, so we ventured to Marcus' (least) favorite place, Times Square.  So worth it.

For dessert, I had a delicious red velvet cheesecake

And Marcus enjoyed a banana split

And then we went to see Captain America.  Which side are you on?

Captain America and Iron Man were there taking pictures, although sadly they weren't the real ones... You can dream in NYC :)

We had a great night out.  Thanks YW!  And Chase and Ty also had a blast with their fun babysitters.

Lunch with Sister Marriott

Recently, Sister Janet Nelson, one of the Board Members from the Young Women General Presidency, came to visit our ward.  She attended our Young Women's class with us and talked to our presidency about the struggles we face.  So often the girls complain that those church leaders "off in Utah" have no idea what it's like to grow up in New York City, and then they were able to meet one of the presidency members who actually lives in Brooklyn.  It was a really neat experience.

At the end of church, Sister Nelson invited me to go to a lunch in the temple building two weeks later.  Sister Marriott, 2nd Counselor in the YW General Presidency, was coming, and she wanted to have a lunch with all stake YW presidents and ward YW presidents in the NYC area!  I was really excited to attend.  Living in New York can be so cool! :)

Panera for lunch.  Yum!

Sister Marriott basically did a Q&A. We submitted questions and topics, and she picked a few to discuss. She is an amazing person - so inspiring - and amazingly kind and sincere.

That's Sister Marriott in red, and our stake YW president, Nelly, is on the end, next to me, in polka dots. Sister Nelson was taking the picture.  (This was a quarter of the group at the lunch.)

The Sunday after this lunch, I was released.  It was a bitter sweet moment as YW is very busy and often incredibly stressful.  But I already miss being so involved with the girls on a weekly basis.

Erica's Birthday

The Tuesday before my birthday, the Young Women came over and surprised me.  They brought cake, cheesecake, onesies they decorated for Ty, balloons, and a card.  

Darby, Lenzci, the creeper balloon, and Isabella

They wrote a song in the card, which they also sang:
"Happy Birthday to you!
We really love you.
You're amazing and really grumpy,
But it's okay 'cause you're cool!"
The grumpy line is an inside joke :)

Then on my birthday morning, Marcus pulled out some presents.

Of course Chase had to help open them

It was a beautiful Brighton bag that I had basically been coveting.  There are pictures later.

It was a Sunday morning, so we were all home for breakfast together.  We had the fancy breakfast of Pillsbury cinnamon rolls -- so good!

Chase enjoyed his breakfast too

Chase had also gotten a present from Mimi and Grandpa when I opened the box from them.  (I got a really cute shirt!)  Chase opened a Big Brother gift of a Build-A-Bear Stuart the Minion.  They're BFFs!

The three of us, Chase, Stuart, and I, watched Despicable Me together.  

And we also played Donkey Kong on the Wii for a little bit, which was another gift from Marcus.  We were given a Wii from one of Marcus' coworkers awhile back, and now we officially have two games!

Ty slept through most of the morning festivities.

It was a great birthday week.  Then on Wednesday I headed back to Connecticut to teach.  My new bag was able to have its inaugural trip, and I must say, it did a classy job.  I felt much more professional (and cute) with it.

The Bag on the 7 train

The Bag on the MetroNorth

Definitely bag success :)  And birthday success.  Here's to being 28 -- if that's the right age.  I can't remember.  haha

YW in Excellence

 I wanted to save some pictures from our Young Women in Excellence program this weekend.  Sadly I don't have pictures of most of the girls, but I have some of our set up.  We were highlighting the individual girls and all they accomplish.  They displayed items about themselves next to their pictures.  We also had them each decorate a small treasure box, where everyone could write them sweet notes to keep.

The invites I made.

The tables.

Checking out the tables.

Lenzci posing with her stuff.

Apparently the YW here like squinting and peace signs...
That's Alikka.  She just completed her Personal Progress this past week!!!
Also, little Pippa looks like she has a spout mustache.
And yes, those are keys in the beverage dispenser.  They were helping weigh down the lid.

I think the night went well.  All the girls had big smiles, and so did their parents.  We'll take that :)