February = The Month of Crappy Throats

In the course of 3 weeks, Marino and I both came down with Hand Foot Mouth virus (again...we both had it in June). For me, my sore throat never went away, and apparently I immediately caught some secondary virus. I ended up in the ER last week because my throat/glands were so swollen I couldn't talk or swallow (a couple shots in the butt of 800mg Ibuprofen fixed that up). Then Tuesday, Marino came down with a fever and swollen glands - he has Strep Throat! Our poor throats need a break!

Catalina Turns 4!

Two weeks ago (before the start of a new plague in our house and my slacking on blogging), we headed to New Jersey to celebrate Catalina's fourth birthday. Sonia put together a "fairies and pirates" themed party - complete with a very fun treasure hunt that the kids really enjoyed.

I just love this birthday girl. How sweet is this face?

Marino was really digging his pirate hook.

"argh, ladies" (as Marino thinks the phrase goes)

Hunting for treasure

Cutie pie Siena...she and Marino are becoming quite the pals. She has no problem keeping up with him.

Singing to the birthday girl

Eating cupcakes and being silly

Baby Alana getting into the fairy theme...

Like I said, these two are becoming BFFs...there were a lot of these adoring looks over the weekend...

A princess and a Kindle

Happy baby!

Great weekend with our favorite people!

Visit with the Cousins

Last week, Evan's cousin Ahmad came home for a short visit from Afghanistan (where he is stationed in the military). We had a great time visiting with his family and of course, all the kids had a blast.

How cute are these kids?

L to R: Brody, Amaya, Iziah, Josh
Jahvon, Marino, Raiden

Kaia, the youngest of the group, was loving getting her picture taken...she would give me a huge smile anytime she saw the flash!

It was great to catch up with everyone...we always have a great time with these guys!

Hopefully, Ahmad will be home for good soon!

Olde Towne Gaithersburg

January was such a crazy month, somehow I missed posting about this little trip to Olde Towne Gaithersburg. The first week of January was very warm and we had a 60 degree day on a Saturday, and we took advantage of it! We headed to the train in Olde Towne Gaithersburg. Marino was in love...he told us "That train looks just like Hero!" Marino loves all things related to trains, so he really enjoyed himself.

Later on, Ishmael and Tony met us at a park across the street for some playground time. As always, the boys had a great time.

We also got in some playtime with Aunt Chelle at home!

All in all, a great day!

5 on Friday

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

5. Poor Marino had Hand Foot Mouth virus (Coxsackievirus) again this week. He kept telling me "I need medicine to feel me better. Take my temperature."

4. Marino always tries to get me to laugh. The other day he put together a huge stack of crackers and cheese and shoved it in his mouth. "Hey, look, Mommy! Its a burger!" he said.

3. I bought him Jello since his throat was bothering him. Apparently, this was his first time eating Jello, and he was very amused. He kept saying "Hey, look! It's shaking! It keeps moving! It's so silly!" He was definitely confused about the name, however. He asked me for "more jealous, please" yesterday.

2. Apparently, Marino had a very exciting dream the other night. He woke up and said "Mommy, there was a giant octopus behind your car. Its trying to catch up to us! It's going to scoop up the whole city with its giant arms!"

1. When I took Marino to the pediatrician the other day, he was so well behaved. When we left I told him I was proud of him and he said "Yeah, I was not shy with Dr. Rahman."

5 on Friday

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

5. I've been leading a preschool storytime at a local independent bookstore in town (I plan to post details about the storytimes I've done, I just haven't gotten around to it yet). Last week's theme was love/Valentine's Day. I asked the kids to introduce themselves and tell me someone they love. Marino thought for about 2 minutes before he responded with "I love Quintyn, my brother." Also sweet - I gave the kids heart shaped lollipops before I started reading. After I gave them out, Marino said "Hey, Mommy! You forgot to give lollipops to the mommies!"

4. Later the kids decorated these heart shaped ornaments for Valentine's Day. Marino finished his and presented it to me, saying "I made this for you, Happy Valentine's Day." Then, twice he decided he needed to add more decorations so he went back to the table, finished it up and represented it to me.

3. Marino made the Peapod delivery guy's night on Friday. When he arrived, Marino said "Hi, I'm Marino." "Marino? That's a nice name," he said, "My name is Stefan." Marino said "Stefan? That's a really good man name." I think Stefan was pretty pleased with himself...

2. One of Marino's new buddies at school is a little girl named Ellen. When I came to pick him up the other day, he said "Ellen, say hi to my mommy." "Hi, Mommy" she said. "No, no, Ellen," said Marino, "This is not your mommy, it's my mommy. So you just say 'hi, Marino's mommy'". Ellen must be used to dealing with Marino, since she was unfazed by this conversation. Yesterday when we were leaving, he shouted down the stairs to her "Bye, Ellen! You will miss me so much!"

1. Yesterday when I picked Marino up, his friend Ike was upset about something. As we were walking out together, Marino said "You want to hold my hand, Ike?" Ike said "No, I want to hold my mom's hand." "I will hold your mom's hand, too," Marino said, taking her hand, "Then we can all hold hands together."

Our Weekend

Just wanted to share some sweet pictures from our busy weekend. Saturday morning was hectic as usual with Marino's dramatic play class and storytime. After lunch we headed to Winchester to have a birthday dinner with my mother in law. We went to Castiglia Italian Eatery in Winchester. I was in gluten-free heaven! They have a full gluten-free menu and are very accomodating. I gave them soy cheese and asked them to make me a gluten-free pizza - yum! It was delicious! Both of my sister-in-laws came with us, including Rianne who was home from Brown for the weekend.

Marino, who is generally ornery about picture taking, was willing to pose for pictures the whole weekend!

Marino, Gramma Deb, Daddy, Aunt Chelle and Aunt RiRi. I really love this picture! The ride home was an adventure, between "snow" and accidents, but we made it home after a long day.

Sunday, we went to a birthday party in the afternoon and then headed over to Kristal's to watch the Superbowl (sort of). Marino and Gabrielle had a great time together, as always. Marino was very sad when it was time to go home.

I love this picture of the two of them with the sassy pose!

And of course, I love this picture of big hugs!Busy weekend, but lots of fun!

Hot Peas N Butter

You know those experiences you wish you could bottle up and keep them forever?
Last Saturday was one of those days. Our local library hosted a Hot Peas N Butter concert and we had such an amazing time. If you're not familiar with Hot Peas N Butter, definitely check them out. They are a NY based world music band for kids and their music is awesome (even for adults). After some last minute working of my contacts, I was able to get tickets for Marino, my mom and I, Sydney and Jen and Ariana and Karen.

The kids had so much fun. Marino and Sydney were the first ones up and dancing. They were the life of the concert.

Here they were singing into the microphone!
Ariana was rocking out, too! Karen and Hot Peas N Butter...love how Ariana is so intently listening to the conversation!




These two were quite the love birds this day...Marino with Francisco and Danny (aka Hot Peas N Butter)
Such a fun day...we all headed to ChickFilA for more playtime after the show. I wish we could do it all over again this Saturday!!

5 on Friday

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

5. One of Marino's latest "tricks" to get us to laugh is to hold up something under his nose (a finger, a piece of fuzz, my hair) and say "Look at me! I'm Mr. Marino."

4. Our dog had a cancerous mass removed from his side last Friday. When he came home on Saturday, he had six stitches in his side. Marino took one look at him and said "Oh no! I think Maxis is cracked!"

3. On the way to work the other day, Marino said "Oh no, Mommy, you've got to get in front of those cars!" (that were driving in front of us in traffic). "I can't just get in front," I said, "We have to wait our turn." "Oh, okay," Marino said, "Tomorrow it will be your turn to be the leader?"

2. Marino moved into the Primary class at his Montessori school this week. I was a bit concerned with how he would do with the change, but he's doing great and I got lots of positive reports about how focused he's been.

1. My mom and I were talking yesterday about how much Marino likes for everyone to be pleased with him. He always asks if we are happy. He'll often say things like "I listened to my teachers today! You will be so happy!" or "I pooped in the potty today! My Daddy will be so happy!"

Addie is 1

Two weeks ago we headed up to Hagerstown to celebrate our cousin Addie's 1st birthday.

Addie is the sweetest baby in the world...look at this face!

Family of four: Miranda, Scott, Addie and Pacey

Addie and her Pap

As always, Pacey and Marino had a blast together. The day before the party, Marino had eaten his first cheese ball (puff) at preschool. Miranda had a big tub of them at the party and he and Pacey went to town eating those cheese balls and acting very silly.

Happy Birthday, Addie! Hope you had a great day!!