Marino's 4th Birthday Party

After a 6 day delay, we had Marino's rescheduled birthday party later the same week of the storm. We were fortunate that a lot of his friends were still able to attend. As expected, Marino had a great time. He requested this party specifically (at Pump It Up, a bounce house place). We did the "glow party" where they turn down the lights and give the kids glow in the dark necklaces (and a flashing LED wand for the birthday boy). About halfway through the party we ended up asking for the lights back on, since there were some falls in the more complicated bouncy houses).

All the kids seemed to enjoy themselves. Mine especially!

Here's some of the kids at the party: Sophia, Ariana, Pacifico, Aiden, Marino, Sydney, Carter and Ike. Aiden is the big brother of Marino's friend from school, Tommy, but the two of them get along famously.

Pacifico in the letter "P"

Marino in his birthday throne, cracking up with his "best friend" Ike

Marino, post-slide

Emilia, Pacifico and their Daddy

Hanging out in his birthday throne with his buddies: Gabrielle and Sydney, Carter and Ike

Claire and a cupcake

Tommy is excited about his eggless cupcake!

Frosting face...he thought this was hilarious!

Eggless cupcakes and toppers

Friends

Marino's "girlfriend" Sophia

Our buddy Aaron in action

Quick snuggle with Daddy in between bouncing

Jumping for joy with Gabrielle

Tony and his daddy

My friend Noah was soooo excited about the party. Before we went in the room, he said "Sara? This is going to be so great!"

Our buddy Sydney

Chalkboard mats and chalk were in the favor bags...here's Pacifico putting his to use.

 Marino's long time friend, Delaney, after sliding

  We're so glad so many of our friends could make it, in spite of the short notice. Thanks for bouncing with us!

Among the Many Reasons I Love Our Friends and Family...

Unless you live under a rock, you've surely heard that our area (Metro DC) and our county in particular got the worst of the unusual derecho storm last Friday. We had about an hour of non-stop lightning, rain and high winds (70 miles per hour). Our house was shaking - it was very unusual. And then...the lights went out. For 48 hours. When I got up in the morning, I couldn't believe what I saw. Trees were in the roads, on houses, power lines were down. 500 of 800 traffic lights in the county were out and there were accidents everywhere. And in the midst of all this, a little boy's birthday party was cancelled. The worst part was telling him, but he actually took it better than I expected. "Why can't you just send the fixers to fix the power?" he wanted to know. Luckily, we have amazing friends and family and they stepped in to make sure we still had a great day.

My mom and stepfather were here and took us to a delicious lunch. Then we headed over to Evan's friend Brian's house, where we went swimming with all the kids. Evan's cousin Ahmad's wife was visiting from North Carolina with her kids and his other cousin Rahsaan was there with his kids, too. After swimming, we had a cookout and took the kids over to the park. Needless to say, Marino had a great time.

Swinging with Amiyah

Spinning with Jahvon and Amiyah

Cutie pie Jahvon - he will always pose for me!! And wow, this boy can swim! I've never seen such a strong swimmer at his age (3 1/2).
Raiden and Marino, rolling out
Kaia - she loves the camera, too
This is Raiden's "I'm not smiling for you" face

We camped out at my aunt's house Saturday since she had power (and a/c). Evan's Aunt Joyce suggested we take Marino and his cousin Landyn to Chuck E Cheese's to celebrate Marino's birthday. The boys had a great time and Landyn is such a great big cousin.

Can you tell they were having fun?!


This picture cracks me up!

We're so lucky to have so many amazing people in our life that helped make this weekend so special, even if it was different than we expected!

Today You Are 4

Dear Marino,

Today you are 4 years old. As always, Daddy and I are so grateful for the happy, healthy and fun little boy that you are and all the ways you've grown and matured in the past year. Sometimes I can't believe you are only four...your vocabulary is amazing and you sometimes say things so poignant, I forget I am talking to such a young child.

You continue to be very snuggly and loving, especially with your mommy. You usually need a little while to warm up to people, the exceptions being your grandparents and your "best friends" at school. I love to see you hugging and kissing your friends, knowing that you will soon be "too cool" for that (although, hopefully not too cool to snuggle with Mommy).

You love super heroes and Transformers. We love to watch you play with all your action figures - you always crack us up. You love pretend play and you are always announcing you are a robot, a dog, a knight, a super hero, a builder, a vet, etc. We hear a lot that you are "all boy." You also love animals and have extensive knowledge of sea creatures. You get excited every time you see any animal, even sparrows and worms. You love your dog and sometimes scold me if I ask him to move when we're snuggled up "No, Mommy! Max wants to snuggle, too."

As always, you are very active and never stop moving until bedtime. You are a very fast runner, even compared to kids much older than you. You love to climb and jump (on and off of everything). We've acquired a large collection of books and every night you choose a different one for Daddy or I to read to you. You love reading and have an amazing memory...you can usually recite most of the books to me as I'm reading them.

You enjoy school and your teachers say you love to do puzzles when you are there and learn about geography and space. You've just begun coloring inside the lines and drawing with purpose. It seems you are friends with all 35 of your classmates and you enjoy telling us who you played with each day.

You often announce "I'm shy" but that only lasts a few minutes in most situations. You tend to be a leader and love to make people (kids and adults) laugh. It's rare for you to hear music and not start dancing. You love music - Hot Peas N Butter and The Fresh Best Band are your favorites. You definitely enjoy attention and the more people laugh and compliment you, the more you ham it up.

Marino, you are an amazing miracle. Daddy and I love you so much more than we could ever tell you. Happy 4th Birthday, Baby. We're looking forward to this next wonderful year with you.