Last Weekend in Pictures

Richelle and I visited the last market of the season at the Fenton Street Market. It was freezing but there were lots of great vendors there.

Sunday we went over to Gramma Deb's to visit with family and have dinner. Marino got his presents from Gramma Deb, including the new Leap Pad. He loves it!

Aunt Chelle, Aunt RiRi, cousin Danny and cousin Sam lurking in the back!

Don't ask me about these silly faces he's making.

Aside from his not feeling great, we had a fun time. Marino tried chitlins for the first time and loved them, to which Pop Pop (his great grandfather) declared "That boy has soul!" He even got to play video games with his cousins. Lots of fun!

5 on Friday

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

5. Marino has been battling a virus since Friday.  I asked him how he was feeling the other day, and he said "The fever went down from my head to my nose to my throat to my heart shape and it made my heart beat really fast like this beep beep beep beep. Then the fever went down to my belly. But I'm still sick."

4. Christmas Eve, Aunt RiRi and I took Marino to see "Rise of the Guardians." He loved it, except the scary parts, at which point he said "This is not my favorite part of the movie."  The villain in the movie is the Boogeyman which Marino thinks is named the "BoogerMan." Too funny to correct him!

3. We got some fairly rare snow on Christmas Eve, as well (just a dusting). Marino was so excited. As soon as he saw it, he said "It's snowing! That means it's really Christmas!"

2. Before we went to see the movie, I said, "Marino, we need to eat so we can see this movie" 
He said, "But I'm sick. I can't go anywhere."  "You're too sick to see a movie?!" I asked.  "Ok, I'm just a little bit sick. Little bit sicks can still see movies."

1.  The other night when Marino was falling asleep, he whispered "Goodbye, sickness." 

God Bless the Children

I think since the tragedy in Newtown, all parents have been experiencing some trepidation about being separated from our children and concerned about how to keep them safe. The Tuesday after the Sandy Hook shooting, we got a call from Marino's school that their parking lot was being used as a staging area for a SWAT team for a police situation in the neighborhood. Not very comforting, I literally felt sick even after being reassured all was well. Its hard to accept that we live in a world where innocent children are gunned down. 

I felt disheartened until Thursday morning, when I took Marino to school. The kids were all dressed in red and green for the holidays and they were listening to Christmas music. They danced, held hands, twirled, fell on the floor, laughed and enjoyed themselves. It was a beautiful moment and it warmed my heart. Here's a few pictures I took from that morning. They make me happy!

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you peace, love and happiness!

Marshmallow Snowmen with Alex

We had a super fun playdate with our buddies Alex, Ryan & Amie on Thursday.
I helped the boys make marshmallow snowmen, although they were hungry and the snowmen didn't last long!

love these guys!

Last Weekend - in Pictures

Last weekend we... 

baked and decorated Christmas cookies with Aunt Chelle.

put together this giant puzzle

enjoyed Christmas gifts

tried on Mommy's glasses

we had a rare, relaxing weekend at home!

A 5k and a 1st Birthday

Last weekend we headed to NJ to visit Sonia and the girls. Sonia invited me to run with her in her first 5k, the Big Chill at Rutgers University to benefit Toys for Tots. I was really excited to be able to run this race with Sonia. She was amazing (do you see her body? She has 3 kids under 5!), ran through a belly cramp and beat me by almost 2 minutes. It was a lot of fun and I was so happy to get to run her first 5k with her!

Marino came with us. Wil was nice enough to push the jogging stroller so Sonia and I could run (there were some hills that would have killed me with the stroller). Of course he was still MUCH faster than us. Marino was really well behaved and had a lot of fun. He particularly enjoyed the cadence chants from the ROTC.

The kids always get along great (except when they want to play with the same toy). Here they are looking like they are doing a great job sharing ::wink::

The big kids got busy decorating cupcakes for Alana's birthday. They loved it, of course. My boy has no interest in "art" unless it involves food!

Sweet girlies.

And this happy, sweet girl turned 1. Time flies. And this girl is a twin of her big(gest) sister.

Marino had a great time with the big kids. EJ, Sonia and Wil's nephew, is 12 and Marino thought he was so awesome. As soon as he walked in, Marino asked me "What's his name? Why isn't he talking to me?" Later EJ said to me "That kid is cool. Most kids that age are just, like, babies. But that kid is awesome."

Instagramming fun with Uncle Wil.

Love these girls!

5 on Friday

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

5.  Marino loved The Polar Express, so I bought him the DVD and we watched it over the weekend. Marino told me, "Mommy, only people who believe can hear the bell. I believe."

4.  Marino came with Sonia, Wil and I to a 5k race last weekend. Wil was nice enough to push him in the jogging stroller so I could run with Sonia. Marino was shouting "Go, Mommy, go!" He was also very well behaved and happily sat in the stroller the whole time. I was proud of him.

3.  BUT, the next day he told me, "You're the best mommy in the world because you're not very fast."

2. His school has a holiday concert every year, and they must be singing "Frosty the Snowman", because Marino has been singing it every day. However, he thinks the snowman's name is "Frosting." It's too cute for me to correct him!

1. At bedtime a few nights ago, Marino said, "Mommy, go to sleep now. I want you to have a good dream. You'll have a dream about Curious George and the fire department. I'll have a dream about playing a game, but not a fighting game, a game for children about rings. That's what I'll dream about."

Catching Up

We've been busy as usual, enjoying the holiday season and visiting with friends. 

A couple weeks ago, we got a chance to visit with Sydney and Noah and the kids had a lot of fun baking and decorating gingerbread "mans". 

Last week was Parent's Night at Marino's preschool. He goes to Montessori school and it was really interesting to see what and how they learn there. 

As you can see, he was very serious in explaining his lessons to us.

One of his favorites - the land and water forms

Marino enjoying a gift from Aunt Sonia - Batman underwear.

Fun winter storytime, including a "snowball fight" and marshmallow snowmen