5 on Friday

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

5. At the park on Wednesday, Marino, out of no where, ran up to me and said "Hey Mama Mia!"

4. The other morning I said something to make him laugh and he very seriously said "Mommy, you know something?" ::bites apple:: "You're pretty funny."

3. Marino had an existential crisis when while asking me about being born. "Why, just why, Mommy? Why is everything the way it is!?"

2. My Aunt Kerry babysat him on Saturday night. The first thing he asked her when we shut the door was
"So, are we going to Chuck E Cheese?"

1. Yesterday, Evan asked Marino if his feet were stinky (Evan's feet).  "Not at all, Captain Leadbelly!" he replied. Really, where does he get this stuff?!!

Park Days Are Back!

After a super long winter (a rarity in Maryland), we're finally getting some warm weather! Last night we met up with some friends at the park. The boys were red-faced and sweaty, but happy to be outdoors!

Fun This Week

Fun moments captured this week: 

T-ball practice this week went well, although the kids were freezing! First game is this week!

                           

After school park fun

 

And fun with our buddy Uli.

                                     

Marino took this picture. "Look, Mommy! I took a picture of the sun!"

Kickball game with friends - Marino loved it (the kicking part)

Practicing throwing with Daddy

Enjoying the sunshine at Adventure Playground

Out to dinner for our anniversary. 7 years!

5 mile hike on a gorgeous day at Rockburn Branch Park

Silly dinner with my Aunt Kerry and cousins Miranda and Samantha. 

We always crack each other up!

5 on Friday

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

5. Last week at storytime, I asked what is every one's favorite thing about Spring.  All the kids said something about Easter except Marino, who said "riding my bike." 

4. Also at storytime, the kids were rating the different candy in the eggs I hide. Marino said "I like all the candy in the eggs, because my mommy filled them"

3.  Marino got in trouble and put in timeout last week. Afterwards, we sat down for dinner and he said, "Mommy, can you talk to Daddy about something else, something that doesn't involve me getting my butt popped?" Honestly, I was so proud of his sentence construction, I just said yes.

2. Marino started t-ball a couple weeks ago and he loves it! Everyday he asks to practice and gets excited anytime he sees anything baseball related. 

1. We got a report from school yesterday that Marino had "an amazing day" and "made all the right choices." So proud!

Easter 2013

Our Easter started on Saturday this year. I did a Springtime Storytime at the bookstore and we did an egg hunt after stories. Egg hunt + bookstore = fun!

After storytime, we headed to Gramma Debbie's house. Aunt RiRi was home from school and Aunt Chelle put together a fun egg hunt for Marino. An hour later he asked if we could do it again! We were fortunate to have a beautiful day. 

Krissy, Aunt Rianne, Sammy, Marino, Aunt Richelle and Gisele, post-egg hunt. 

We finished the day with a great meal. 

Easter morning, Marino woke up to this:

He was super excited to see the Easter bunny came! Favorites from his Easter basket:  Melissa & Doug Firefly Flashlight, the book Creepy Carrots, and Lindt Chocolate Carrots. 

Later that morning, Aunt Chelle and Aunt RiRi took Marino to see The Croods, which he loved!

That evening, my friend Chandra came for dinner with her daughter, Hannah. They live in Atlanta and I haven't seen them in a couple years. Marino generally needs a while to warm up to people, but not Chandra and Hannah! He immediately showed them all his toys, was jumping on them, hugging them, sitting on them, etc. It was nice to see him so open! He and Hannah had a great time - she even played cars, Transformers and super heroes with him. 

This morning he said "I wish them could visit again every day." 

Great weekend, great friends, great family! 

Disney Cruise - Day 4 (Day at Sea)

The last day of our cruise was the only full day at sea (thank you, Bonine, for allowing me to enjoy this day). We got up and out to breakfast early, so we could make it to the Disney Junior Dance Party held in one of the teen lounges. The kids had a great time with this (dance and be crazy? don't mind if I do!) and especially when Pluto showed up to dance with the kids!

Marino, being the ham that he is, requested to sing a song on the microphone after the dance party. He sang the theme song to Super Hero Squad. 

After the dance party, Marino and I grabbed some kettle corn and headed to the theater to see Wreck It Ralph. We love movies, so having a theater playing new Disney movies was a big perk for us. Marino loved it, of course!

After the fun dance party and the movie, we headed up to enjoy the pools and (Ray, Evan and I) ride the Aquaduck. The ship has a water coaster the goes around the entire upper deck of the ship. It was really fun (I don't know why we didn't ride it earlier).  Marino wasn't big enough to ride it, but he had fun on the Mickey slide (which you can see in the right hand corner below), which is just for kids. 

Enjoying peace on the adults-only deck!

I wanted to take a few group pictures while we had the chance, so here we are before dinner. It was a gorgeous day. 

Daddy and Marino are dancing to Frank Sinatra in the atrium here. 

When you tell the Disney chefs they can choose your food, you end up with an appetizer like this. Escargot. I refused to eat it, because, seriously? I might be allergic to snails and not even know it. My stepfather was happy to eat them for me. I love them for being innovative with gluten-free dining. 

Here I am with Ashley, my hairdresser! Not only was she on the cruise, her cabin was just a few doors down from ours! 

Fun Disney details were everywhere on the ship! 

After dinner, Marino wanted to go to the Kid's Club one last time. My mom, Ray, Evan and I headed up to the adults-only deck for a drink. This deck was paradise...quiet, swim up bar, calypso band - heaven! 

Marino had a great time in the Kid's Club that night - they had a carnival! We picked him up and he looked like this...courtesy of a clown that came to entertain the kids!

Additional point of interest - we were on the ship in mid-February and the beginning of lent (and Ash Wednesday). Although the cruise doesn't normally have religious services, since this is an important part of the Catholic faith, they had a priest sail with the ship and mass was held every day. My mom and stepfather are faithful Catholics, and this was really special for them (my stepfather ended up doing some of the readings at mass).

Thursday morning we got up early to eat breakfast and then disembarked (super easy). Then we got on the shuttle headed for....Disney World!