Favorite Foto Friday #9 - Happy Baby

One of my favorite photos ever so I just had to come up a theme to go with it. Here is one of my happy babies!



Let's see your happy baby! Post your Favorite Foto on your blog. Don't forget to add a link back to this blog so your readers can enjoy other Favorite Foto Friday pictures! Then use MckLinky to create a link so everyone here can view your photo. Just click on the next number available and fill in the form to create your link.

25 Things

The latest additions to our list of "Things I Never Said Until I Had Kids":

#1-25
#26-50
#51-75
#76-100
#101-125
#126-150
#151-175


176. I don't think Grammy drives a pimped-out ambulance.
177. I think it's against health code regulations to make popcorn without underwear on.
178. Don't smell the pee on your fingers.
179. That's not relevant to your pooping.
180. Are those chunks from your mouth or from your milk?
181. Stop smelling your pants.
182. I put anise on his fingers and I think he liked the taste.
183. You can't pee together unless both parties agree.
184. I don't think you need to be growling while you poop.
185. You should've closed your face-holes. That was just asking for trouble.
186. We don't play with pretend guys at the table.
187. I don't know if you're supposed to French your Fun Dip.
188. Don't use the drill in your ear.
189. Cowboys do not swing snakes.
190. Do not take pictures of me peeing.
191. I hope that eggplant is not on my TV.
192. Stop giggling and put your pants on.
193. That's quite a greeting: to be met by a lion with two pieces of poop.
194. I didn't say she was a monkey. I said she was SHAVING a monkey.
195. The next time you smell some one's butt, you're going to timeout.
196. We might need to glue your balls down again.
197. Green peppers usually don't have faces.
198. Maybe someday you'll get to be a guy on a shirt.
199. Nobody wants to play with a sad loser... and I mean that affectionately.
200. You don't need to touch the naked lady.

Girl's Weekend

Headed off with 8 of my closest girl friends recently to Berkeley Springs, WV. I have driven through that old little town countless times but never bothered to stop. Us girls took off like bats out of hell and left our husbands in charge of all our kids to check out just what all the hype in Berkeley Springs was all about.

Turns out, it really didn't matter if we went to Berkeley Springs or had just planned on spending a weekend together at the local Marriott. Doesn't matter so much where you are but who you are with. Lots of laughs, lots of good food, and lots of good friends would make for an incredible weekend anywhere.

Some of the girls never left the house to check out Berkeley Springs. I was not one of them. Curiosity had the best of me and I had to find out what the town was all about. We did a little shopping and located a little yarn store, convenient since pretty much all of us are knitters.

We also hit up this HUGE antique store. I loved walking around and seeing things that reminded me of items that my grandparents had.


We meandered our way over to the center of town into the park.

The water from the spring was so abundant that it was bubbling up from between the cracks in the sidewalk.

The area used to be an old (like 1700's old) spa and there were remnants around every corner.


We spotted these two ladies in towels inside one building who were really funny and crazy enough to let a stranger take their picture wearing nothing but towels.


After another evening spent in our pj's eating yummy food, watching movies, laughing, and getting to just sit instead of have to tend to our children's' needs, our little girl's weekend away was all too quickly wrapping up. By the following morning, everyone started heading towards home. Except those in my my car. We made a stop at the Roman Bath to see for ourselves just what was so refreshing about the spring in Berkeley Springs. An old fashioned spa it definitely was. Luxury was not necessarily present in the price tag or the antique looking pipework. It was however certainly quite luxurious to end my weekend away by soaking in 102 degree spring water. Ahh...

Favorite Foto Friday #8 - Earth

Yesterday was Earth Day. Show off a picture of something beautiful on this Earth.



Took this photo when Greg and I went bicycling (with the kids in the bike trailer) in October 2008 at Ohiopyle. We rounded a corner and the trail went straight ahead with the beautiful fall leaves on the straight trees on both sides as far as we could see. It was so breathtaking that I started to tear up. I only wish my photo could capture just how amazing this sight on Earth was.

Next week's theme is Happy Baby!


Let's see your picture! Post your Favorite Foto on your blog. Don't forget to add a link back to this blog so your readers can enjoy other Favorite Foto Friday pictures! Then use MckLinky to create a link so everyone here can view your photo. Just click on the next number available and fill in the form to create your link.

Back When Marcus Turned 4...

In an attempt to catch up with my blogging...

So way back three weeks ago when Marcus turned 4, we really didn't have too much planned for his actual birthday since we had already had his birthday party. They did a little birthday celebration at school and I had the pleasure of getting to go to school with Marcus that day. It was a great time to act 4 again, sing songs, play with toys, and even have one of the teachers tell me that I was breaking a rule. Oops.


We decided to go out to dinner to wrap up the birthday celebration. We headed off to our favorite japanese restaurant, one of those places where they cook the food on the grill at the table in front of you. Don't quite know when this happened but Marcus has become quite the talker. According to his teachers, he doesn't say a word at school. But anywhere else, he is talking up a storm to just about everyone. The chef at our table sure had a lot of questions to answer from Marcus. We had warned the kids that there might be some fire because we didn't want them to totally freak out if our table went up in flames while dinner was being prepared. Marcus's main question all night to our cook was when was there going to be fire. Just to entertain the kids, our cook gave us some extra doses of fire. We all stuffed ourselves silly and thoroughly enjoyed Marcus's birthday. None of us enjoyed it more than the birthday boy himself.

Easter

Yes, I'm behind and just getting this up now. Deal with it.

Beautiful weather on Easter Sunday, perhaps even a little too warm for those cute Easter sweater vests my boys were to wear but I made them wear them anyway. I woke up to find that while we were out of town the day before, our yard had suddenly come into full spring bloom.



Anyone know what this flower/shrub is? It blooms with this big purple flowers in the spring that smell fabulous. It looks kind of silly though since there are no leaves on it. The flowers go away and it ends up being this not very full, not very tall bush that has some green leaves on it for the rest of summer. In the fall all the leaves fall off and it is this weird looking bunch of sticks in my yard until the flowers come out again in the spring.


Then it was up with the kids and getting that typical Easter stuff taken care of. We had an Easter egg hunt and then attacked those Easter baskets.


We skipped out on church and instead went to a park so Marcus could try out his new bike. He was a bit tentative at first but quickly got the hang of it.



Will was cracking me up every time he would go down this small hill and insisted on putting his feet as high into the air as he could get them.


After nap, we got all dolled up and headed off to dinner with my family.


More Easter baskets and more egg hunts later, Easter was finally coming to a close.


It was a fabulous Easter weekend... from what I remember since it happened so long ago. Happy Spring!

Favorite Foto Friday #7 - Cute

Let's see someone in your life that is just all around cute!


This picture is back from May 2008. The kids found some old hats and were into wearing them. I snapped this one of my cutie pie Will. Almost two years later and he just keeps getting cuter with every passing day.


Let's see your picture! Post your Favorite Foto on your blog. Don't forget to add a link back to this blog so your readers can enjoy other Favorite Foto Friday pictures! Then use MckLinky to create a link so everyone here can view your photo. Just click on the next number available and fill in the form to create your link.

Pre-Easter

Been really busy with blog-worthy things around here what with birthdays and Easter and celebrations of love (a bridal shower). So here is a quick rundown of some of the events.

Weather was unseasonably warm prior to Easter so we colored our Easter eggs outside wearing shorts (and aprons) in 80 degree weather.



The day before Easter we headed north to spend some time with Greg's family. Greg's sister Bethany is getting married in June. While the boys hung out with Greg and his dad, I headed off to a wonderful bridal shower with the girls.



We had a little time after the shower and before our next meal, so we went to the Pymatuning Spillway. The place is pretty much a legend. What is it? A bunch of hungry fish being fed and endless supply of stale bread.


The day was wrapped up with unwrapping some Easter baskets and a lovely meal with old and new friends and family.

That Kid

Our family was out at our local park and ran into that kid. You know the one. The kid who is loud and obnoxious and thinks she rules the playground. That kid also had that mom, the mom who I am pretty sure was there the whole time but who most certainly wasn't supervising that kid of hers at all. As soon as we walked into the park, I spotted that kid right away. Marcus hadn't even climbed onto his new bike when that kid was on top of him asking if she could ride his bike. She continued to hound Marcus and me about riding the bike the entire time we were there.

That kid did her best to boss my kids around and my kids finally put their love of the word "no" to use. I guess I got a little too close because then that kid started firing questions at me. She wanted to know my name. I asked hers. She said, "Nice to meet you! Give me a call sometime!" which was just hilarious. That kid told me she was four and asked me how old Marcus and Will were. Then that kid hit me with some questions that I just wasn't expecting from a four year old.

Her: Is this your son?
Me: Yep.
Her: How can he be your son? He's black and you're white.
Me: No, he's Guatemalan.
Her: No, he's black.
Me: No, he's Guatemalan.
Her: You're white.
Me: Yes I am.

I think I must have had her thoroughly confused enough to get her to move on to the next thing. I overheard her ask Marcus at one point he if could speak English and then seemed to retract her thought when she realized that she had been talking with him in English while they played.

Two points to me for handling the invasive questions in a way I think was proper. And a point for that kid for making such in depth observations for a four year old.

Cautious (and not so cautious) Cooking

I've had lots of help cooking dinner lately and must say I really really really enjoy getting to work on meals as a family (or partial family since Greg usually isn't home from work when we start cooking). The kids love any sort of job I give them from fetching ingredients out of the fridge to throwing away cheese wrappers to using the food processor. (I let my 3 and 4 year old use the food processor unassisted - but supervised - which means my next post will probably means my next post will be about the hospital trip I will have to take for a sliced off finger.) After a round of recent colds, Marcus was plagued with a lingering cough. Greg was determined not to have an excess amount of germs enter his food so this is what dinner preparation looked like for a couple nights.

Writin'

I've really slacked off in the past on teaching my kids writing skills. I just don't think Will is ready yet and as for Marcus, well, I just haven't had much of a clue on how to teach him to write. Plus, I know it is something that they work on with the kids at his preschool so I kinda just let it slide and figured his teachers could handle it. I know. Bad mom.

Marcus loves his letters and has been able to identify almost all his uppercase letters since he was 18 months old. He is starting to get the hang of the lowercase ones now. So he knows what they look like, just isn't quite sure how to make his pen move in the right direction to make them.

For part of Marcus's birthday celebration, I got to go to school with him. It was a fun day to act 4 years old again and not have people look at me like I was a complete weirdo. I was singing and dancing and playing on the playground and swarmed by all Marcus's classmates who called me "Marcus's mom" and wanted to play with me because I was someone different. (I even got reprimanded by one of the teachers for breaking a rule!) During art time, one of the kids across the table from Marcus and me finished her project and the teacher told her to write her name on the back. Like a whiz, she printed her name with no help. Marcus asked me to help him write his name. The teacher told me they really haven't worked on that yet and I admitted I hadn't worked with him with it yet either, and then was pretty much blown away by what he did.



I held his hand and we wrote the "M" together. He wrote the "a", "r", and "c" all by himself! I couldn't believe it! It was kind of strange watching someone write who has never really been taught. The letters look correct but he didn't write them in the standard way, such as starting the "c" from the bottom and curving up to the top instead of top down. He ran out of room so we just went up the page a bit to finish off his name. He did the "u" with no instruction at all, although it was rather creatively formed. He made two parallel lines for the sides, drew the little curve to connect the two at the bottom, and then made the tail. The little squiggle was his decent first attempt at an "s" and then I wrote the other "s" next to it so he could get a better idea what it was supposed to look like. Then there were high fives all around for an amazing job!

He has been really into learning to write now. Before his "rest" time each day, we work on writing together. I got him a workbook that teaches letters (among other things) by first tracing the letter and then practicing on your own. He asks everyday now if he gets to do some writing and cheers happily when I tell him yes. Some letters are more successful than others but he most certainly has a thrive for learning both how to write the letters and the sounds they make.

Favorite Foto Friday #6 - Easter

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!


My boys last Easter (2009) in their Sunday best. Greg said that Will looked like he was an insurance salesman. I say they both look adorable.

Speaking of adorable, next week's assignment "Cute".


Let's see your picture! Post your Favorite Foto on your blog. Then use MckLinky to create a link so everyone here can view your photo. Just click on the next number available and fill in the form to create your link.

Favorite Foto Friday #5 - Silly

In honor of April Fools Day yesterday, show off something silly!


My sweet pooch, who is now spending eternity at the great beach in the sky, would pretty much let us do anything to her... like make her wear a bike helmet.

Have a great Easter and be ready to post your favorite Easter photo next Friday!


Let's see your picture! Post your Favorite Foto on your blog. Then use MckLinky to create a link so everyone here can view your photo. Just click on the next number available and fill in the form to create your link.

Happy 4th Birthday Marcus!

Marcus, today is your 4th birthday! I can't believe that you are four. I'm taking this birthday of yours pretty hard this year. I just don't want you to grow up! You, on the other hand, are so excited about growing up. You were more excited about your birthday this year than you were about even Christmas.



You have learned so many new skills over the past year. You have gone from being potty trained to being completely independent in using the potty. You outgrew your toddler bed and now crawl into a "big boy bed" each night. You gave up naps for a while but you love your sleep so much that most days you still enjoy a quick nap in the afternoon. You talk non-stop to everyone and anyone (except at school where I have been told that you don't speak a word). Your favorite word is still "no" but it is mostly said in a teasing way to be silly when people ask you questions. You can count, but I am not sure how high because you aren't much into counting. You don't do a very good job at pronouncing the letter sounds for "F" and "Z". (Instead it comes out that you are "dour" years old and last week we went to the "you".) You can completely dress/undress yourself without help including socks and shoes. (Not tying shoes yet.) You can even zip up your coat!



You absolutely love soccer and you are really good at it too! You can dribble the ball, change directions with the ball on a dime, and even stop the ball, kick it behind you with the heel of your foot, and turn and pick it up again. Not sure how you learned that trick! You love to eat. Your favorite foods are mac 'n cheese and pizza but you will try just about anything. You love your fruits and always eat your vegetables, although I am not sure you really love vegetables. Maybe you just like them. You have a few bizarre food habits like rarely using ketchup (which is a good habit, just odd for a kid of your age) and eating your salad without any sort of salad dressing. You love to cook and I have been getting braver and more creative to find ways to let you help make dinner every night.



You still will choose playing with your trains to any other toy that you have. You like pedaling your "Big Wheel" as fast as you can around our porch or around the park. You love school and are so excited to go every day but tell everyone that you don't like it. You love learning new things and doing things all on your own. Your brother Will, who is not nearly as excited about learning to do things on his own, takes advantage of your enthusiastic spirit for doing new things and gets you to do things for him sometimes. You are currently working on your writing skills. You get very frustrated and try to give up easily (but we don't let you) if you don't get things right on the first try.



When you get mad you sulk, pout, and sometimes break things. You do what Grammy refers to as "cutting off your nose despite your face". (I try really hard not to use this expression because as a child I always cut off my nose despite my face and hated when Grammy told me this.) When you are done pouting, you always come to me smiling and acting goofy in hopes that I will forget whatever it was that you did to make me mad. Speaking of goofy, you never fail to remind me that you are my April Fools baby. Talk about a silly guy! You say some funny things that definitely get me chuckling but your physical humor is hilarious.



You are very logical and make all sorts of connections in life that seem rather advanced for a preschooler. Constantly you impress me with your ability to think outside the box and point out solutions to problems that I never even think of. You love puzzles and problems you have to solve.



Piece by piece you are learning little facts about your adoption story. I know in my heart that your birthmom thinks about you everyday, but even more so on this day that she gave birth to you four years ago and knew she was going to have to go forward with her plan to give you the best life that she could provide for you. Today I pray for you to keep growing strong and learning and loving. I also pray that your birthmom knows in her heart that you are loved more by your mom than this mom ever knew she could love someone. Everyday I know that your birthmom would be so proud of the little man you are becoming.