Easter

Note the still remaining bunny marshmallow - it will soon be gone (read more below)
Love my new hat
And, my cool glasses

I know I'm way behind on some of my posts, but must record them for posterity sake. We had a great celebration of Easter this year. It was fun to watch Mr. A get in on the action. DH carried on a tradition in our house of leaving a "jelly bean trail" that Mr. A had to follow in order to find his Easter surprises. DH spiced up the trail a bit by interspersing some bunny-shaped marshmallows amongst the jelly beans. I only mention this because Mr. A ate his way through the marshmallows in order to find the basket - he hardly touched the jelly beans! But, when he opened the cupboard where his basket was hiding he looked at the basket for a moment and then went to finish the marshmallows that were still left. I could have saved a lot of time and money just by buying more marshmallows! If only I'd known. Better luck for me next year, I guess. Here are a few of Mr. A's Easter surprises...

A Great Day

I always love the times where you take a step back and look at what is happening around you and realize just how very satisfied you are in the moment. I wish I could live more in the moment. I really do. I tend to be the kind of person who is so driven to accomplish one thing after another that I don't stop to enjoy my accomplishments.

Well, on Saturday, I stopped. And I enjoyed. We were in some of my old stomping grounds in the D.C. area and had some time in the morning to get out of the house and enjoy the spring weather. My DH and I pulled the stroller out of the car and proceeded to think Mr. A would eventually tire out and want to ride in said stroller. Needless to say, I pushed that darn stroller for no good reason and with no child in it all the way to the canal and back. Ah well.

We walked down to the canal path thinking we were going to take a lovely stroll along the canal path. We had walked no more than 5 feet when Mr. A noticed all of the stones and rocks strewn along the path and decided that throwing those stones and rocks would be far more enjoyable than strolling. Go figure. All boy. So, for a long while we threw rocks and stones, chased him a little way down the path, and then threw some more. It had rained the night before so there were puddles all along the path. Don't worry - Mr. A found all of them. He jumped right in and laughed at each one.

Shortly we came upon the marked beginning of the "Billy Goat Trail." I commented to DH about how I used to hike that trail with various youth groups, friends, neighbors, etc. He noted that it must be a great hike and we kept on "strolling." A few minutes later Mr. A saw the water "down below" and said that he wanted to go "down"and see the "wa-wa." DH asked me if I thought I could make it and I said, "Why not?!" So, DH helped me and Mr. A down the steep, rocky entrance and then Mr. A ran as much as he could. We walked along the path of the Billy Goat Trail enjoying the views of the river, the fields of newly-blossomed blue bells, and the budding leaves on the millions of trees. We were all so living in the moment! We had nowhere to be and nothing hurrying us along. We stopped to look at every airplane that flew overhead, admire the "ducks" (geese) taking a dip in the river on their way North for the winter, and didn't even mind too much the mosquitoes starting to gather for a pre-summer feeding. It was great.

Mr. A didn't quite make it back along the trail by himself - he rode on the shoulders of his favorite "giant" and then we all scrambled our way back up to the canal path and proceeded to puddle jump, rock throw, and skip stones all the way back to the bridge that led us back to where we had started. Loved it. Loved the moment. Am so glad we all "stopped" and enjoyed it together!

Last Lecture

I read in the paper on Tuesday about a gentleman who had been a professor at Carnegie Mellon and was recently diagnosed with terminal cancer. He has already lived beyond the 6 months he was originally given. When he found out his diagnosis, he put together his "last lecture" and gave it to a crowd of students, professors, friends, etc. The kicker of it all: it wasn't for them, he said. It was for his kids. I was touched by the story in the paper and meant to go online and watch the lecture. I haven't had time, but this evening I turned on the TV and happened upon a television show spotlighting this man and his family. I could not help but sit here and weep. I'm sure it had something to do with my excessive hormones, but I also appreciated so much the willingness of this man to share such profound thoughts with others, even though it was really meant for his children. Maybe I also couldn't help but think of what my own "last lecture" might sound like; or what his wife must have gone through as she sat there and listened to him share his stories. I was deeply touched and can't wait to really go watch that lecture - or maybe read his book, too.

2000 Flushes

Our water bill came today. There seems to be a trend - every month it is higher than the previous month. I showed it to my DH and said, "What's the deal? Why is our water bill getting higher and higher every month. It's so annoying!" He, very insightfully, commented, "Have you noticed how many times a day your son flushes the toilet?"

Ah, yes. That must be it. Part of the joys of getting our little one to go "pee-tee" on the potty and do all of those other things is that he gets to flush his own deeds down the toilet. Even when he "toots" on the potty he thinks he needs to flush it down the toilet. Even when he does nothing on his little Diego toilet, he thinks he needs to flush it down. You get the idea.

So, fewer diapers to change = higher water bill. I think I'll take it. Happy Flushing, Mr. A.

Giddyup, Cowboy!

Mr. A, DH, and Mr. A's cousin, Mr. N, sharing some quality time in an early morning hot tub dip
Playing with the fish in the water at the Aquarium
Jumping on the trampoline - As DH informed me, "Honey, I think there's a trampoline in our future"
And, finally, a little man, his horse, and one proud daddy

We just returned from a fabulous ranch vacation! More pics to come, but the highlight was definitely seeing Mr. A ride his first "ho-ssey" = horsie. It is truly so incredible to see your children do things for the first time and watch their reactions. He loved it, much to his father's pure delight. The days pretty much went as follows (with a few deviations here and there):

1. Wake up and look out at the amazing coastline and say good morning to the horsies in the corral and the rest of the day...

2. Go outside to personally greet the horsies, play with the train, jump on the trampoline, dig sand in the treehouse, go up in the treehouse to look out at the view, play with cousins, ride horsies, stare at the beautiful skyline, eat yummy cowboy food, take naps, etc, etc.

No Internet, no cell phone service, no TV. My idea of a GREAT vacation (although I will admit to sneaking a few peeks at the March Madness games while we were out at dinner a couple of times - love this time of year).

A huge thank you to my mom and our dear family friends for making it all possible and sharing it all with us! We will be back!

Funnies from the 2-Year-Old

- While we were driving home - we had left my mom's house 5 minutes previous:
Mr. A: "Mama?"
Me: "Yes?"
Mr. A: "Dada?"
DH: "Yes?"
Mr. A - "Rea-yee watch Googles" = "Ready to watch Wiggles"

DH and I were laughing pretty hard because we were trying to see how long we could go without turning the DVD player on. Usually Mr. A just says "Googles," but this time he wanted both of us to listen and make sure we knew that he was ready to go!

One other one: he LOVES the telephone. At my mom's house he wanted to pick it up in every room. We were in the basement during one instance when he picked up the phone and I just held the button down so he could hold the receiver and still think he was talking. He was kind of babbling and then all of a sudden goes, "Juice. Ya. Dee-ya (quesadilla). Ya. Bye-bye." I promise we don't eat takeout much at all. Really.

And, finally, he was being a complete pill at the dinner table (throwing food on the floor, at people, hitting things, etc) so we turned him around in his high chair so he wasn't facing anyone at the table and told him he was in timeout. After crying for a few seconds we hear, "Wuv-you, Wowa Fee-yee (Lola Fely)"; "Wuv-you, guh, guh (BG)" - he was doing anything he could to get those who he knew were much nicer to him than his mom and dad to help him out of his bind. Pretty funny the things these kids think of!

A Visit to CT

The best kitchen helper there is - the spatula licker

With his laughing buddy "Wo-wa Fee-yee"

Ready to cowboy-up with BG!

This past weekend we headed up the road a few hours to see BG (Beautiful Grandma) and Lola Fely (Lola = Grandma in Tagalog). We had a very low-key weekend as Mr. A geared up for his cowboy adventure and spent some time with people we all love very much. Lola Fely spoiled us with her Molasses Cookies (that we ask for every time we visit) and BG made a yummy version of Cafe Rio Chicken Salad. Almost as good as the real thing!! Thank you for spoiling us!

Pooool!

Can't really pose, Mom! Gotta get to the pool!

Ready to jump in - even if you're not ready to catch me!

Mr. A and his teacher, Miss Courtney

Mr. A took a "mommy or daddy and me" swim class every Saturday for the past couple of months. It was a nice wintertime diversion for our resident "fish in the water." His last class was last Saturday so I finally took some pictures. We will miss the time in the water but I will not miss that blasted maternity bathing suit nor te way we reeked of chlorine until we were finally able to take a shower! Summer, are you on your way?? We can hardly wait for you! Well, Mr. A can hardly wait for you. I, on the other hand, will have to look forward to being pool ready in 2009! :)

Laurie

At least that's how she's known at our house. We made a recent discovery (many of you probably already know all about her - thanks for sharing -not! :)) that has since become a daily ritual. I saw Laurie Berkner on "The View" a few weeks ago and recorded her 4 min segment and showed it to Mr. A to see what he thought of her music and dancing (i.e. Marching Dinosaurs). Needless to say, we had a hit on our hands. We have since downloaded her songs, bought her DVD, watched her videos on YouTube, marched to the dinosaurs for at least an hour a day, and only wear dinosaur pjs to bed now thanks to "Torrie" as Mr. A calls her. May she so inspire you and your children. It's actually quite cute.

Best of the Best

I'm not sure where this tradition came from - maybe DH's family did this growing up - I can't quite remember. DH uses it with the young men that he teaches at church (14-16 yr olds) before he gives them a lesson and each Sunday we sit at dinner and give our "best of the best" for the week. Since Mr. A is still a bit young to share his "best" thoughts, we decided they were best captured in photos.



It was too cold to go outside and seemed even colder in the garage, but Mr. A wanted to help out, so I made him put his hat, his jacket, and his socks on to go hang out in his car in the garage. I stopped short of the shoes, but like it even mattered!

Saturday morning = pancakes at our house. Nothing is more fun for Mr. A than helping his dad crack the eggs, stir with the whisk, and see the "pam-pakes" come to life.

Is there anything better than draining the bottle of juice? Really. We had poured the last of it out and he kept asking for it so we gave him the empty bottle and he unscrewed the cap and tipped it up right. So funny.

And, finally, we were so happy for DH's sister and her family to add to their brood! Welcome, Baby B! And, a big congrats to J&B!