5 on Friday

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

5. On Sunday at the alumni brunch for my Masters program (Community Planning), Marino was building train tracks. He designated part of the room as "wilderness" and insisted the tracks go around and not through the wilderness "because that belongs to Mother Nature."

4.  The other day, Marino said, "Mommy, I know it's a lot of work getting me ready for school every day, so I can do the dishes for you. Not every day though. We can skip a few days."

3. While trick or treating at the Fenton Street Market on Saturday, a vendor gave Marino a quarter. He was very excited about it but then asked for permission to give it to another vendor "to make her happy and make her smile."

Here's Marino as Dracula and his mummy friend, Uli

2. Last Friday, Marino had his first belt graduation in karate. He earned a gold belt. He's been working very hard and was very proud to get the new belt! 

Here he is with Gramma and Grampa Ray

1.  Last weekend was Marino's last flag football game. He did a great job and was very proud to receive his medal. 

Football pose

Being silly with his cousin Landyn

Marino and Sydney...at 6

These two...they love each other...Marino announced this weekend that Sydney is his girlfriend. She denies this... 

5 on Friday

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

5.  Marino started 1st grade at a new school on Monday. He is challenging in some ways but so adaptable in others! He was ready to start his new school. He asked me for a hug in his classroom and I asked him if he was nervous. He said, "No, I just love you and I'm excited." 

4.  Marino told me the other day "I think Daddy smells like sunshine."  

3.  On Sunday, before school started, he told me "I have sweet muscles and a handsome face, so I'm a pretty cool guy." At least he's not lacking self-confidence. 

2.  Marino just started karate and he loves it. I love watching him do it...he's so crazy most of the time, but I see him really focusing and trying his best when he's in karate class.  He also loves his uniform because it makes him "look like a real ninja." 

1.  The other night I accidentally dropped an alarm clock on my toe. Marino heard me saying "ow" and ran in my room to hug me and inspect the damage.  He looked at it and said, " It's only one foot, so let's go get you one crutch." I love my boy!! 

5 on Friday

I'm so behind, but there's so many Marino moments I don't want to forget. Here's 5 of the latest reasons I'm loving my boy: 

5. A couple weeks ago, we went to the beach.  That night, Marino was eating shrimp for dinner. Evan was peeling them for him and handing them over. Marino said, "This is the good life."

4.  Also at the beach:  we had the perfect weather day and we spent 5 hours in the ocean. At one point Marino looked at me and said, "Mommy, the ocean made you look like a freak. It's mostly the hair."

3. Marino loves his brother so much. He came to visit for two weeks and Marino was so happy.  He's so proud of him and always introducing him to everyone, "This is my brother, Quintyn. He's 14 years old!"

4. At Marino's summer camp, the kids get a green band for their legs when they're able to swim the length of the pool without stopping. This means they get to go in the deep end and use the water slides. Marino has been wanting a green band since he went to camp last June. The other night I got home and he said, "Mommy, this is going to be a surprise for you" and held out his leg with a green band! I was so happy I teared up. Later he said "Mommy, I never knew you would be this excited about my green band. I knew you would be a little excited, but not like this!"

5.  Speaking of camp, twice a summer, Marino's camp has each group put on a performance for the parents. The first performance was last month...watch below. The end is the best part.

5 on Friday

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

5.  Marino informed me the other day the he wants to be a teacher when he grows up, so he can "tell kids what to do all day." He also informed me he plans to have a son, who he will name Simba.

4.  We went to the Memorial Day parade in Rockville on Monday. This is an election year, here, so all the politicians were in the parade. These two were yelling "bring on the candy!" Marino was very impressed with the marching bands and has decided he wants to be a drummer.

3.  We had a cookout with Evan's family and friends over the weekend. The cousins had a blast together, as always. Marino asked me if Raiden would be there and I said, "Yes, and Jahvon, too." "Uh, yeah, Mommy, it's Jahvon's house," he said.

2. On Saturday, we went to Hometown Holidays with our cousin, Landyn. Those two have a blast together, going on rides, eating treats and running around. They made a new friend and spent almost an hour playing a tackle version of tag with the new buddy. Marino told me that was his favorite part of the long weekend.

1. Yesterday, I had to bring Marino with me to my job quickly. We were setting up in the hearing room and he asked one of the attorneys, "Have you seen the Justice League? This is like the Hall of Justice."

5 on Friday

As always, here are 5 special reasons I am loving my boy this week (and last week, I'm behind!). 

5.  Marino's school had a playdate the other day and Marino had the genius idea to have these building blocks built around him and then smash his way out like the Hulk. This happened about 5 more times. He loved it! 

4.  The other day I said, "Marino, you look so grown up today.  It makes me sad." 
He asked why.  I told him, "I just want you to be my baby forever." 
He said, "Mommy, look at me. Does this look like baby size to you? I'm already a big boy." 

3. I took Marino with me to the hairdresser last week so he could get his hair cut, too. As soon as we walked in, I said, "Marino, you remember Miss Ashley, right?" He said,"Yeah, you look thin." I have idea why he said that, since we rarely discuss weight at all (he knows "fat" is a bad word and won't say it). She told him he could come back anytime!  

Then the other day he said, "Mommy, if I workout with you, will I be the same size as you?"
"What size is that?" I asked. "You know, not skinny," he said.  

2.  Evan took Marino fishing yesterday and instead of a fish, he caught a huge frog! 

1.  We had 2 birthday parties to go to last weekend. A few days later, Marino said about his friend, "I really hope Dylan had the best birthday ever. I didn't tell him that, but I hope he did." Later he said, "I just really hope Dylan and Ike enjoy the presents we got them." 

5 on Friday

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

5. The other day I asked Marino where he wanted to have his birthday party.  "I want to have it at (name of his summer camp)."  I told him they don't have birthday parties there. "Ok, I'll be the first" he said. 

4.  "Mommy, if I had claws like Wolverine inside my bones, and I wanted to tear you apart, I would tell myself  "Stop it. You're a kid. You're not a monster or an animal. You love her."

3.  On Saturday, I ran a 5k.  Marino ran in the kid's race before the 5k and came in 4th!  He would have been faster but he kept turning around to watch his shadow. 

2.  The first t-ball game of the season was last weekend.  Marino did really well and had a blast with his team. 

1.  Last weekend, Marino's grandma and aunt took him to the circus and out to dinner. He ate crab legs for the first time. "Were they good?" I asked. "Yeah, they even had meat inside of them!" he said. 

5 on Friday

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

5.  At dinner the other night, Marino announced, "My stomach is making noises like a sick cat."

4.  Marino woke me up at 2AM last week, saying "Mommy, wake up. I have something important to tell you." I asked if we could talk later and he said, "No! I have to tell you this. Ants are so important. They recycle our trash! If we didn't have ants, we'd be sitting on a mountain of trash!"

3.  Marino is very articulate, but he still has certain words he has trouble with. The latest one was the plural of mask. He referred to them as "mask-es." So adorable. Not many days of these cute pronunciations left.

2.  In the middle of a birthday party, Marino came over to me and said "Is that thing with the dolphin your secret?" I had no idea what he was referring to, but with some questioning, I found out he was referring to a picture in my bedroom from 8 years ago where a dolphin is giving me a kiss. I guess he thinks all kissing is a secret?

1.  The other day, Marino was pretending to be a doctor. He looked inside my ear and said "There's nothing in here but gassy molecules"

5 on Friday

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

5.  I go to the gym early, before the boys are awake. The other day I came home and Marino was awake and waiting at the top of the steps with his arms open, wanting a hug. 

4.  Marino uses strawberry or orange toothpaste and he is obsessed with having me smell his breath to make sure it smells like fruit. Seriously, he'll come downstairs, walk up to me and say "Smelling time!" The other morning morning he told me "My toothpaste wears off by the time I get to school. One time I had my friends smell my breath and it was ew! My breath stunk! Can you believe it? "

3.  When we got to school the other day, he asked his buddy Jace "do you like my logo tee? It's like a computer logo in real life."How does he know the word "logo" or that the pixilation in the logo is indicative of a computer? 

2. Marino and I had the following conversation the other night: 
Marino:  "Mommy, how did I get in your belly?" 
Me:  "Remember, you told me. The love energy?"  
Marino:  "Mommy, don't get mad but I just made that up. I wasn't lying, but I made it up." 

1.  The other night at bedtime, Marino asked me how people get viruses. Next he asked me what a computer virus was and how computers get them. Too complex of a conversation for bedtime!

5 on Friday

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

5. At bedtime the other day, Marino asked me about turning 18 and going to college. When I told him at that age he would want to move away and do his own thing, he started sobbing! "I don't want to leave you. Don't force me! I want to do my own thing and be here! I want to be with you every single day for another 100 years!" I calmed him down. A few minutes later he said "Mommy, I'm starting to cry again. But these are happy tears because I just love you so much!" 

4.  It's impossible to take yourself seriously when you're a mom. The other day, Marino announced, "Mommy, I'm smarter than you. Everything you say that's interesting, I already know."

3.  Marino had his last basketball game of the season last week. His buddy Sydney slept over the night before, so she came to the game with us. He kept looking at her all during the game and at half time, he ran over to her and said "Did you like that, Sydney?" 

2.  Marino was asking me for something the other day and I said, "Well, do you have any money?" He replied, "Does it look like I've got any money in these pockets?"

1.  Marino asked me to tape him and this is what he did...this boy is the biggest ham in the world! 

Fun in the Snow

Marino loves the snow. Presumably most kids like snow, but Marino REALLY likes it. He can't pass snow with out touching it. Or kicking it. Or stepping on it. No matter how many days we have snow on the ground. He just loves it.

The last 2 winters we had almost no snow, at least not enough to go sledding. This year we've had a couple of big snow storms, including one where we got 22 inches of snow! Marino was loving it. We headed over to the lake to go sledding after the snow stopped. Marino was so happy!

One of our neighbors made a "jump" on this hill for snowboarding. I went down the hill with Marino the first time we did this jump and, ouch! I'm too old to land that hard on my butt. Marino loved it though. 

                          

His thoughts on this jump? "That was EPIC!"

We finally made it to Whitetail Ski Resort to go snow tubing.  We went in the evening (6-8) and it was cold, but thankfully Evan and I invested in snowpants this year (why did we not do this before??) so we were all nice and toasty.  Our good buddies Jen, Matt, Sydney and Noah came with us.  Marino and Noah LOVED the tubing.  Sydney was not a fan.  I liked it but it was a bit scarier than I imagined! 

Looking down at the tubing lanes

Looking up at the tubing lanes. That's Evan finishing a run on his belly (scary!). 

After tubing we took the kids out to eat. These 3 are sooo silly together! 

We're enjoying the snow, but still ready for Spring.

Marino keeps asking when we can go to the pool! 

5 on Friday

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

5.  The other day, Marino stood on his trampoline and announced, "I'm a rocious." It took a few minutes to decipher he meant to say "ferocious." 

4. My mom and stepfather came to visit us a couple weeks ago. They asked Marino if he wanted to go to mass with them. "No, they just have peace songs there," he said.  They asked again and he said, "No, it's too fancy."

3. I took Marino to the dentist for a checkup this week. Here's some quotes from that visit: 

"It smells like shots in here. Are you going to give me a shot?" 

::mid-cleaning:: "Can you wait a minute? I just need to breathe." ::takes deep, meditative breaths:: 

"Do you have wifi in here?"  

2. The other day in the car, Marino rolled up his pant leg and showed me his calf. "Check out my leg guns" he said.

1. Evan and Marino have been watching old shows of Voltron and Transformers (from the 80s) on Netflix. They both love it. The other day in the car, Marino said, "Mommy, can you turn down the music? Did you know Voltron is the king of robots? And he defends the galaxy from evil robot shadow menaces, like Laser Beak. Ok, I'm done talking. Turn the music up, please."

Pictures of recent fun times....

Monster Mini-Golf with Jace and Landyn

Marino and Landyn love Chipotle!

Marino and his cousin, Raiden, on Super Bowl Sunday

"Look, Mommy. Take my picture, I'm being cute with Max!"

With Captain Planet at the DC Car Show

Playdate with old pals

Fun with family in New Jersey

These two are double trouble - Marino and Josiah

We went to The Pop Shop - the best restaurant, especially if you are on a gluten-free or vegan diet!!

Visiting with aunties and besties in NJ and celebrating Cat's 6th birthday

Marino adores Sabrina's boyfriend, Steven. He wrestles and punches him every chance he gets. 

Happy Birthday, Cat!

The kids love Sabrina!

My forever friends