Playdates

Marino is so lucky to have so many awesome friends. A couple weeks ago, school got out early, and my friend Beth was nice enough to take Marino, Emilia, and Beth's son Jace back to her house for a playdate. The three of them get along great, as you can see in this picture.

Last Friday, we had another reunion/playdate with friends that used to go to Marino's school (only Marino and his buddy Carter are still there). The boys immediately become best friends again as soon as they get together and its so fun to watch.

There are all super silly whenever they get together.

Ryan, Marino, Alex, Carter, Ike and Tommy (Dylan is missing from the pictures)

We just love playing with our buddies!

First Sleepover

This Saturday, Marino had his first real sleepover! My friend Jen's kids Sydney and Noah slept over. I was a little unsure if the kids would actually sleep, but Sydney and Marino shared the pullout couch (Noah slepy in Marino's bed/room) and after I laid down with them to get them to quiet down, they actually went to sleep and slept all night. These two getting ready to go to bed together was pretty adorable.

I just love them! 

We got lucky and Sunday morning we woke up to a beautiful warm day. We headed over to the lake and the playground to burn some energy.

We had so much fun! Marino told my friend Lauren "I had a playdate/watch tv/playdoh sleepover with Sydney!"

Like Father, Like Son

Baby Evan and my babycakes

A Box and Some Chalk

Marino and I met up with our buddies Kim, Uli and Guillermo at the Crafty Bastards Arts and Crafts Fair at Union Market on Saturday.  There were so many amazing vendors there and I hope to go back without Marino next year so I can really see them all!  The place was packed (and we were there very early) and Marino was not feeling the crowds at all.  But all was not lost - the Craft Bastards are so crafty, would you believe they had a whole section of used cardboard boxes and chalk. Simple, but genius. Marino and Uli (and every other kid under 6 there) had a BALL playing with the boxes and chalk. My friend Kim took these amazing pictures - what a great point of view she has!

5 on Friday

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

5.  We hadn't discussed the election with Marino, but apparently they discussed the presidential candidates at school. On Wednesday morning, I was looking at cnn.com and Marino pointed to a picture of Mitt Romney and said "That's Mr. Romeney." I said "Yes, and that's Mr. Obama." Marino informed me "No, that's Barack Obama. He likes to play basketball. He played basketball two times." I had never heard that before, so I had to google it and, sure enough, he does like playing basketball and, in fact, its a good luck tradition for him on election days. How is my 4 year old teaching me things?!!

4. Putting Marino to bed the other night, he said "I'm so cozy in my comfy comfy bed with my beautiful beautiful mommy." My boy really is my #1 fan!

3. When we went bowling on Saturday, Marino had soooo much fun. He did a little dance every time he rolled his ball. When Brian asked him what his favorite part of bowling was, he said "eating."  

2. We let Marino watch Spider-Man the other day. Now he keeps sighing and saying "I wish a spider would bite me and give me muscles."

1. For the past few months, Evan and I have been very worried because Marino has been having trouble learning letters. We started working with him at home and teaching him comprehensively - upper and lower case, letter sounds and letter names. He's finally getting it, thankfully! 

Siena's 3rd Birthday

This precious girl right here turned 3 at the end of October.  I just love her.

Cat and Siena - sweet sisters!

Gramma Bev and baby sis Alana

Keeping with tradition, Siena's birthday party was again at Etsch Farms. They do an awesome job with parties and the place itself is beautiful. Somehow, each year the weather is great for Siena's day. Since her birthday is so close to Halloween, this year the kids were invited to wear costumes to the party. Marino loves any chance to dress up, so he was excited!

There was a pinata (which Marino had a difficult time pronouncing; he was cracking us up)

Pony rides

Hayrides/snuggle time with parents

Cupcakes and birthday songs

And of course, we all got lost in the corn maze!

Beautiful day with our beautiful friends. What more can we ask for?

This Weekend...

...we went bowling for the first time with friends. Marino LOVED it!

...Aunt RiRi was in town from R.I. and she came over to play...she's awesome!

Mommy ran her first 10k....

Marino and Evan were there to cheer me on.

I was slow (I always am), but I ran every last bit of the 6.2 miles and I felt great (aside from being cold!).

Done! Smiles with my friend Jaime who rocked the 10k!

We also had storytime and a playdate. Busy, fun way to start November!