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

Thanksgiving 2012 Part 2

Our trip to New York for Thanksgiving was extra fun because all of my best friends were there with their families. The last time we were all together, Rachel was pregnant with Averie. After Thanksgiving, we celebrated his 1st birthday! We even all got a chance to get together for a meal with no kids (except Sabrina, but she's just one of the girls now).

My forever friends. I love them!

The next day we all got together for Averie's birthday. One of the greatest joys of my life is having my family and my best friend's families all together. It just makes my heart swell.

Here's Averie and Alana (they are less than a month apart in age).

These are our feeble attempts to get all the kids in one picture...

Rachel, Wil, Sabrina & Evan

Marino found an exciting dress up accessory

Loving his new super hero book from Aunt Sonia

Rachel and her one year old boy

Duck faces with my besties

Again, trying to get all the kids in one shot

Love them!

Can't wait to see everyone again soon!

5 on Friday

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

5. The other day, Marino dumped his hamper of dirty clothes out in his bedroom (he needed the hamper for hiding). I went in his room and asked why he did that. Immediately, he started putting the clothes back in and said "When someone does something naughty, you still love them anyway."

4. I asked him the other day what we should get Max for Christmas. He shrugged and said "Um, I don't know. A bone or something?" (Poor Max unfortunately doesn't have enough teeth left for a bone).

3. The other night I was reading Marino "I'm a Shark" by Bob Shea (our favorite book of the moment) and he told me "I'm not afraid of sharks because I'm a [last name] and [last names]'s aren't afraid of anything. If a shark tried to eat me, I would hit him in the eye and then throw him into space and aliens would blast him, but not with pewing things, Mommy, with arrows. And then he wouldn't try to eat me anymore."

2. At our friend Alex's house the other night, before we ate, Alex said a prayer. Following suit, Marino blessed the food by saying thank you for everyone in his family, in Alex's family, and saying "thank you for my soul." We haven't begun to talk to him about God yet, so I found it surprising he would say that. God must have put that on his heart to share. Pretty special.

1.  I picked Marino up from school Wednesday and he announced "My sweater is wet, but not because I peed on myself, because I was playing with the land and water forms." I had to get a teacher to explain what "land and water forms" are (Montessori thing).

Thanksgiving 2012

The 4 of us (Max included) headed up to NY last week for Thanksgiving. This was the first holiday since my brother passed and it was nice to be with my family. We got lucky and had amazingly beautiful weather while we were there. We headed to the park twice on Thanksgiving to take advantage of the great day. 

My stepsister, Jennifer, her husband and daughter, Bae-Corine came over to spend the day with us at my mom's house. Bae-Corine gave Marino what may be his favorite gift ever - a Spider-Man glove that shoots "webs" (silly string) and water. To my surprise, all the kids at the playground wanted to be sprayed with the webs. They were begging for it!

They had a blast - it was fun to watch.

As always, Marino and Bae-Corine were two peas in a pod. She's amazingly patient with him. Its so fun to see them together.

Snuggle time with Gramma, watching Sid the Science Kid.

The next day we went to Benedict Farm Park - what a gorgeous place. We had amazing weather again.

Grampa Ray and Daddy went fishing (it was too cold to catch anything, but they were going through fishing withdrawl).

Friday afternoon, we headed over to my dad's house for a couple of days. We had a great time - Marino loved hanging out with his Pap Pap!

More pictures from our trip coming soon!