Thanksgiving

We had a nice and mellow Thanksgiving. We headed over to my mother--in-law's house in Winchester and spent the day with her, her boyfriend (Mr. Don) and Aunt Chelle.

My sister-in-law, Rianne, is spending the semester in London, so we skyped her into our Thanksgiving feast.

Dinner was delicious, of course, particularly the special sweet potato casserole that my mother-in-law made for me!

We went around the table and asked what each person was thankful for. We asked Marino first what he was thankful for. He thought for a while and said "Animals." So sweet!

Hope everyone enjoyed their holiday!

5 on Friday

As always, here are 5 special reasons I am loving my boy this week:

5. The other day we were watching Super Friends and after something exciting happened, Marino said "WHOA! I didn't see that coming!"

4. Yesterday, Marino was standing outside under our tree with his hands up. I asked what he was doing. "I'm trying to catch a leaf" he said (there are only about 3 left on the tree).

3. Marino asked for a piece of candy yesterday. I said no and he stopped away. I asked him if he wanted to watch something and he said "NO! I'M TOO ANGRY!"

2. Around 4:30PM I asked Marino if he wanted to go for a walk before it got dark. "No, it's too late!" he said.

1. Marino has been expressing interest in geography lately, asking what state we're in, what city, etc. Now he knows the name of the town we live in and the city his school in. Its sort of strange when your 3 year old asks "Mommy, are we in Rockville?"

November NY Trip

Last weekend, Marino and I had a 3 day weekend, so Marino and I headed to New York to visit my parents.
As always, Marino loved seeing his grandparents.

Saturday, we went to lunch at Soul Dog with our buddies Jill, Charlie, James and Parker. After lunch, we headed to the Walkway Over the Hudson. We had a good time, although it was pretty windy on the bridge.

Parker, James and Marino after creating leaf bouquets.

Pretending to sleep in the wagon.

Me and my favorite boy.

Searching for trains...

Parker pulling Marino in the wagon.

Charlie carrying both of his tired boys.

After our trip to the bridge, we headed across the river to my mom's house. Sunday morning we went to a fun playground, which Marino loved, of course.

Snuggling with Gramma and Grampa Ray.

Can't wait to see everyone at Christmas!

5 on Friday

As always, here are 5 special reasons I am loving my boy this week:

5. The other day we were in the car during an especially pink sunset. "Look, Mommy, those are fire clouds" Marino said.

4. Our new favorite bookstore is housed in a historic building, built in the 1700's. Since we started going there, every time Marino sees a historic looking building, he says "Hey, that's the bookstore!"

3.& 2. Marino FINALLY went #2 on the potty at home. Literally as he was doing it, he said "YAY! Now I get the Joker!" (I had promised him an Imaginext Joker if he went #2 on the potty at home). After I gave it to him, he ran around saying "Yeah, baby! I got the Joker!"

1. Marino has started with 3 year old bathroom humor....

In case you missed it, he sang "twinkle twinkle little star/how I wonder where you poopy."

(Play)Date with Delaney

I'm behind in posting this but 2 weeks ago, we met up with Marino's best friend/girlfriend, Delaney, from his old daycare. These two were inseperable (literally) for a good 18 months and now they had gone 3 months without seeing each other. It only took a few minutes before they were two peas in a pod again.

We met up at the Playseum on the day of the (bizarre) October snow storm (more of a sleet storm here in Maryland). We hadn't been to the Playseum in a while and they had made some (positive) changes.

As always, Marino loved checking out the animals.

Delaney ready to fight fires.

Taking a ride with his girl at his side...

Painting pumpkins

After playtime, we headed over to our favorite Vietnamese restaurant for some pho - perfect for a chilly day. These two are just too cute together!

5 on Friday

As always, here are 5 special reasons I am loving my boy this week:

5. Today is parent's day at Marino's school. I told Marino that Daddy and I were going to go to his school to play with him. "Hey, that's my job!" he said.

4. The other night, Marino asked me to sit up while I was laying in his bed. I did and he flipped the pillow over. "This is the cool side of the pillow" he said, "This should cool us off". Its funny because I am also partial to the cool side of the pillow, but I don't think I figured that out until I was about 25.

3. I stopped at home on my way to the doctor the other day to pick something up and Marino and Evan were home (Marino was still sick). I said "It's really nice out, maybe you can go ride your bike." Marino said "No, no, no. I can't ride my bike. I need to take a nap first, THEN I can ride my bike."

2. The other day I was painting my toe nails and I had toe separators in between my toes. Marino asked "Hey, why you got marshmallows in your toes?"

1. Monday, I took Marino to the pediatrician (he has a sinus infection and pink eye). He kept asking her "Is this going to hurt?" She kept saying no and he would confirm "It doesn't hurt. No hurts today."

Fun with Leaves

My poor boy is sick with pink eye and some sort of cold, but after a nap and some Tylenol, we spent some time outside enjoying a gorgeous, mild fall day.

Marino wanted to help me rake leaves, and by help I mean he wanted to have me rake them into a pile for him to jump in. It was fun.

Attempting to help rake...this lasted about 15 seconds before he announced "This is hard, Mommy".

Hoping we can get a doctor's appointment early tomorrow to get my boy feeling well again!

5 on Friday

As always, here are 5 special reasons I am loving my boy this week:

5. Marino told me the other night "I'm going to be a Dad when I grow up." "Good", I said, "because I want to be a Grandma when I grow up." He looked puzzled. "I'll be a grandma to your children and Daddy will be a grandfather like Pap Pap." "So, you'll be like Gramma Barb?" he asked. "Yes, but I'll be Gramma Sara." That blew his mind. "What? Gramma Sara? What?!"

4. Evan is taking Marino to a UMD basketball game tonight. Last night we asked him if he wanted to go to the game and his response was to pretend he fell asleep and was snoring. Let's hope it goes better tonight!

3. Marino LOVES animals so much. Tuesday we went to visit my Aunt Kerry and Marino was really adorable with her cats. He kept saying "I like his tail" and "She's talking to me. She said 'meow, Marino'". He followed those cats everywhere until they came up with more effective hiding spots!

2. Post on this coming soon, but we saw Marino's BFF from his old daycare, Delaney, last weekend. They were incredibly adorable together. On the way to see her, I asked Marino what he was going to say when he saw her. "I'm going to give her a big kiss like this" ::smacking noise::

1. I really think the boy has an amazing memory for his age. In the car yesterday, he asked if we could see "Puss and Boots" (he got a Puss and Boots happy meal toy on Wednesday, which sparked his interest). Evan and I agreed to take him this weekend. He immediately said, "We saw New Cars....then we saw Winnie the Pooh...but NOW we're going to see Puss and Boots in the movie theater [pronounced theat-e-er]. YAY!!"

Halloween

Monday after work, the three of us headed to Virginia to spend Halloween with our buddies Jen, Matt, Sydney and Noah. We went trick or treating with them last year and had a great time, so we knew this year would be just as fun. The kids remembered Halloween from last year so they were VERY excited for trick or treating.

How cute are these kids? Check out Sydney's heels! She walked in those all night.

Noah did not want to wait to enjoy his treats!

Oh, I love this face. She's too adorable!

Ready for Halloween fun

Jen's family

Our family (Evan and I have pockets full of candy)

After every house, Marino would say "I want to do that again!"

Enjoying the scenery...

Checking out some eyes in a tree

The infamous "scary house". Marino has been talking about this for a year. We stepped inside and he immediately announced "I want to go home!" Evan and I enjoyed it!

Checking out an static skull

Back at Jen's, ready to eat pizza. These two love each other!

Sydney told Jen "I love having Marino here" and Marino said "I want to stay here. I don't want to go home."

"Oh, you want to live with Jen and Sydney"

::nods head::

"Jen will make you use the potty."

"NOOO, I don't want to" Marino yelled.

"We have diapers, Mino" Sydney offered.

I love them!!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween!