Christmas Time Is Here!

Marino is so excited about Christmas this year and we're having a lot of fun with the holiday. Last Saturday, we went with Aunt Chelle and cousin Sammy to see Arthur Christmas, which he absolutely loved and got him a lot more excited about Santa. He also rocked out the Justin Bieber video at the beginning of the movie - you should have seen him dancing!

After the movie, Aunt Chelle, Evan, Marino and I picked up Shi Shi (Director of his old daycare) and we all went to the Garden of Lights at Brookside Gardens. Every year we plan to go but it ends up being freezing on the day we plan to go, so this year we went on a day it was 68 degrees!

We had a really good time - it was a lot of fun to walk through the lights rather than drive through them, since Marino could experience them at his own pace.

Howling with Daddy and the wolf

Marino and Shi Shi

On Monday, we put up and decorated our Christmas tree. Marino was so excited. Every ornament he unpacked, he would shout "I found the Grinch!" "I found a reindeer!" It was a lot of fun, although Marino said we need presents under the tree:)

Marino insists this is "his" Christmas tree. We're so looking forward to Christmas this year.

Visit to Brookside Gardens with Megan

On Sunday, we met up with my friend Megan at Brookside Gardens. They had all the displays for The Garden of Lights up and I can't wait to go this year! We've been having unusually warm weather, so it was good to get outside and let the boy run around.

This is what we saw most of the time...the boy running away.
I LOVE to see Marino's imagination in action. He started "playing" these tree stumps like bongos, so I found him a drumstick to use.

He had Megan and I follow him in this log and once we were inside, he made his dramatic face and said "Oh no! The monster is coming! Let's hide!"

He kept telling us to "go round and round" over this bridge. Then he told us a "scary ghost" was coming.

Megan was stomping next to him, so he wanted to try it out.

Mino and Megan

He thought this frog was pretty cool. "He's got a book!"
Can't wait to check out the lights (they're open after Thanksgiving).

Brookside Gardens

Saturday, Marino and I took a trip to Brookside Gardens. We'd never been before and its really nice. They had everything set up for the Garden of Lights event for Christmas, and I'm looking forward to going back for that sometime next month.

Marino seems to be sick again. He has a runny nose and is wheezing (no fever or other symptoms). He is on Singulair and I started doing breathing treatments again, so hopefully we can keep up with that without needing anymore medical intervention.

Here are some pictures I took at Brookside Gardens. The shirt is from Zingo Tots (http://www.etsy.com/shop/ZingoTots) and the hat is from Lorilooms on Etsy (http://www.etsy.com/shop/lorilooms)...its very stretchy and I think it should fit him another couple of years, so it was a really great deal.

Kindred Spirits...Marino and the Gnome

Waving hi to passersby...he was very popular!