Henry's singing

On his third birthday, here's a video of Henry

 singing  one of his favorite songs! 

True Colors

Hello family!

I just have all the feelings and wanted to quick share. Tonight I got really upset because I stepped in gum on my own kitchen floor. Unfortunately that is only what blew the fuse. Plus it has been such a hard semester. Well I was really upset so Alex was like okay get ready to go, and he took me to the movie theater. We went and saw trolls. It was so cute!! And there was scene that made me cry because it was just so sweet. 

Spoiler alert:

So the main character is this pink bubbly troll named poppy. I really felt like... dis troll is me. Something sad happens in the movie and she turns all gray for a minute because she gets discouraged and loses hope. Well I really teared up during that scene. JT sings her a song called true colors.

Okay listen to this, its the song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp9qOlKB0F4

It's really easy to get distracted and things might seem hard, but there are people all around us who love us and make us feel so happy! 

Not to get too sappy but I'm so grateful for Alex because he always helps me feel happy again after I get frustrated or discouraged. :) I also Love you guys. I'm grateful for all of your love and support and I'm happy to have an awesome family to back me up even if we're in opposite corners of the Globe. (Well... US) I am excited to see all of you in a week! 

P.S. The trolls in the movie are always happy because they sing, dance and hug.😍

Hey Fam,

I actually don't have that much to say but I thought I would do a quick update!

It's been a wild ride the past couple of weeks!
I went to the Met!
I went on a hike in the New York mountains!
I played Wagner Tuba for the first time. (Spoiler alert, weirdest instrument ever)
I went to Mike's house for Thanksgiving!
I turned in two 15 page papers!
I took the NYC subway for the first time!
and I'm sure other things that aren't coming to my head.

So first:  I went to the Metropolitan Opera! Mike took me, it was so awesome!

Here is us in the building.  It was super fancy.  A nice German couple took our picture.  I'm not super thrilled with the picture, but that's ok.  It's the only one I have from inside.  We saw Manon L'escout with Anna Netrebko as the lead role.  It was SOOOOOOOOOO amazing.  Also Mike said he enjoyed it.  Which made me super happy.

Here is us on the train to the city.  It's a silly picture, but it makes me happy so... And this picture is from when we went to Mood fabrics.  For those of you who don't know, that is the fabric store they go to in Project Runway.  Mike LOVES project runway.  Which makes me super happy because I also love it.  The dog is Swatch, he is basically the most adorable little dog ever and gets a decent amount of screen time on the show, because:adorable.

The next three pictures are from my hike.  I went with my roommate Kelci and one of her friends from work.  It was fun! And I don't have a picture, but you could actually see the NYC skyline from the top.  It was pretty awesome.

Ya know, gotta include a really silly picture of us...

Here is me playing the Wagner Tuba.  It's a horrible instrument (Thanks Obama...or should I say Wagner...) It's played in lots of symphonies with HUGE orchestras.  It's basically a horn, but with a slightly different sound.  Wagner created it with the attempt blend the horn sound with the rest of the brass (see: conical vs. cylindrical instruments)  It was fun to play.  This was my "action shot" as Wes Ballard put it as he took my picture.  Lucky you guys, I also included a video of me playing it! So it may seem like at first I was struggling, but the thing about this instrument is that it isn't actually like the french horn at all except the mouthpiece.  So I was sight-transposing, using different fingerings, the placement of the notes were all in the wrong place.  So the fact that I figured it out on like try 3 was kind of amazing.

So I went to Thanksgiving at Mike's house.  No pictures.  It was fun, and I really liked his family, but the truth is, I was super disappointed by dinner.  No mashed potatoes, no rolls, no relish tray.  And I had to eat squash soup.  Not awesome.  Also I didn't get to fill my own plate, and despite my requests, literally the entire plate was filled up with turkey.  I didn't know what to do...But it was fine, and fun, and his family was good so that's all that matters.

 
These pictures are just crazy fruits at the local grocery store.  That crazy yellow thing is called Buddha's hand.  It was super crazy.  I was surprised by all the weird fruits they had.  So I took a picture, naturally.



Here is my selfie.  The elevator in the music building is finally fixed.  It's really fun to take selfies in it because it's all mirror.  I basically take a selfie in it everyday.  I know it's ridiculous, but it is just a such a great spot to take pictures.  Especially since I don't have a full length mirror in my apartment.  Ha...

Well, that's all I have for ya.  I'll be done with my first semester of grad school soon! How crazy is that!  I'll be home late on the 20th and I'll see you all then! 

Kbyee, love you!

Song of the day: This came up randomly on youtube the other day and I realized I had forgotten how much I love this piece.  I require all to listen to it!

Thanksgiving and Igloo

Ok, I don't really have a lot of time for beautiful narrative, so this will mostly be a photo dump with some captions:

We made a "white board" in our hallway, and Gabe and I have been having fun with it.

Ollie can stand!  He's pulling himself up on everything lately.  Today he even pulled himself up on an empty laundry basket, leaned too far forward, and ended up planking over the top.

Here are some thanksgiving pictures: not fancy, but delicious, and GREAT company. :)

Gabe did some improving on his hair and eyebrows... all dressed up, and nowhere to go. haha... btw, the red is NAIL POLISH!!!! Luckily, I had remover.

It snowed A TON on Monday, so for FHE we made an igloo.  The only problem was that it was built by the school, so it's already destroyed.  This is where a backyard would come in handy.  Gabe thinks it melted, and I'm inclined to let him keep thinking it.

The playground behind it is the kindergarten playground.

I'm not sure what happened to the color here.

This is the skirt for Mia's wedding.  I wasn't sure about it at first, but I love it now.  I'm so glad I didn't get a smaller size.  This is a large.  Crazy.  It would have made a weird muffin top that I don't have if it were any smaller though.

Well, sorry to end with a bathroom selfie... I'm out of pictures.  I had others of the kids that I wanted to post, but they are bath tub pics, and I didn't want to put them online. So... I hope you're all doing awesome.

-Emma

Adventures

Hi fam,

I just thought I would post about some of my adventures.  On Saturday my roommate Kelci and I did some adventuring into the small downtown of Montclair.  We went to a bakery at the suggestion of one of the horn players (who btw, is literally always high so always has the munchies, and so knows where the best places to eat are.  That east coast life, amirite?)  So Kelci and I drove to this bakery to eat breakfast and it was amazing! They surprisingly didn't have bagels (which is basically all anyone in NJ eats) But they had donuts and bread and really good sandwiches. I got a donut with maple frosting and bacon on it (I know mom, the irony...) and a bacon, cheddar, egg sandwich on a croissant.  Kelci got a bacon, cheddar, egg sandwich on a ciabatta and a cream cheese filled everything croissant.  Here are some pictures:

It was the cutest little bakery

Look at those cute succulents

The amazing donut

And the sandwich! so good!

After we ate, we walked around and found a local farmer's market.  It was a really good one for how small it was. There were pumpkins and squash and apples and potatoes and bread and pesto and cheese and pickles and olives and meat and it was super fun.  And brussels sprouts! the brussels sprouts were on crazy huge stalks.  It was crazy, I never realized how they grew I guess.

It was super fun.  We had a good time.  Then we went home and did homework all day! huzzah! Oh, I promised you guys a picture of Mike and I.  It's not the best picture, but it was the best I could do.

He's pretty great.  He's taking me to the Met next week.  We are going to Manon Lescaut.  Anna Netrebko is the lead.  I'm sooooooooooooooooo excited! It's going to be amazing.  You can tell he likes me a lot, because he doesn't really know anything about classical music and has literally no experience with it or opera or anything of that variety, but he is taking me.  It's amazing.

Well, I think that's all for now.  I have a lot of homework I have to do.  Mike said we could only go out tonight if I catch up on all my work, so that has to happen obviously.  *when your boyfriend bribes you with dates so you get your work done* what I become... ha.

Love you all!

Todays song:

Yummy for your Tummy

Hello, my lovies!

I haven't posted here for far too long.

Sorry about that.

Honestly, life has been kicking my butt.

I found a cure for the doldrums yesterday, though.

Don't judge! But I'm listening to my

 Christmas station on Pandora.

I know it's early, but it works great for me!

I haven't had any special adventures of late,

so I thought I would just share a bit of the

Fall that I have seen.

It's been really beautiful.

We are past peak now, but it's still pretty.

 I have heard predictions that it is going to be a

 gnarly winter, and I'm starting to believe it.

It's been really quite pleasant here so far,

but I have noticed that the birds are gone. 

I got up one morning and it was like

 they fled in the night.

Usually we see V's of geese and hear them,

and see lots of ducks on the ponds.

All gone. The swans too.

I'm only seeing winter birds.

In other news...

Dad is training to drive a school bus and working

as a temp for Bernatello's Pizza.

I'm teaching piano lessons, and still trying

 to work up the mojo to get a space in a shop.

I really want to do it. 

Fear has just had the upper hand lately.

I'm working on it..

So with cooler weather upon us, I thought I would 

try a new soup recipe. I read a whole bunch of 

 recipes trying to figure out what I wanted to do.

I decided to go with a squash soup.

I know what you are thinking.

I was skeptical too.

But I tried my own version of several recipes

and it is magical! I ate way too much.

It looks a little like...well, I won't say what.

          But it is so delicious.

Make it and make a batch of homemade bread and 

you will dine like a (healthy) king for days.

Seriously so yummy!

MOM’S WINTER SQUASH SOUP

2 Carrots

1 Stalk of Celery

1 Medium Onion

4 Cloves Garlic

I Butternut Squash

2 Cans Low sodium/no MSG chicken broth

Pinch of Thyme

Salt and Pepper to taste

!/2 C Heavy Cream

Olive oil

Butter

Real Maple Syrup (or Honey)

Wash squash. Cut in half. Rub with olive oil and 

sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake face down 

on baking sheet, for 45 minutes at 450 degrees.

 Set aside to cool.

In a heavy pan put a splash of olive oil (1-2 T?) and 2-3 T

 of butter. Clean and dice carrot, celery and onion. 

Cook for a few minutes, stirring periodically, 

until onions are translucent, about 10 minutes. 

Add minced garlic cloves and cook until fragrant, 

just a few minutes. 

Peel skin from cooled squash and add to pan. Add

 chicken broth, thyme, and salt and pepper. Stir.

 Cover and simmer about 20 minutes, stirring periodically.

If you have an immersion blender, blend your soup to a creamy consistency. If you don’t have an immersion blender,

 whirl it in your blender in small batches until creamy. 

Add as much cream as you feel like. I think I added 

about a half a cup. I also added more the next day because

 the soup thickened in the fridge.If it’s too thick you

 can add more. Add a swirl of syrup or honey. 

Stir and adjust salt and pepper for taste.

Serve with some fresh cracked pepper on top.

Love you all to the moon and back!

Love,

Mom