First Day of School!

Today was E's first day of school! What an exciting day! E is in a co-op program that meets once a week for a morning, we found out about it through my gf Megan. Well, E and all his buddies and my gf's are in the same class. Could it be any more fun?!? The day started out with free play, so all the kids ran around checking out the classroom. It was loaded with everything from puzzles to see-saws. I think the kids were on wow overload. Then, the kids had a craft to do - E was really not having any part in sitting and working on his craft when there was a really cool ball toy to play with. We then cleaned up and had some circle time. The kids got to sing songs (or the parents actually) and play with bubbles. Then it was snack time. E of course requested seconds, being as the snacks were goldfish and nilla wafers. He loves goldfish and has never had nilla wafers till today - I am not a big fan of cookies during the day for snacks (mean mom, I know) but he loooved them. We then sat down for story time E and I read a couple of books and then listened to the teacher read us a story about peek a boo. We then all played peek-a-boo with some fun scarves. Then we cleaned up and headed out for some outside play on the playground. E took a tumble in the mud, but kept on trucking. We then said goodbye and headed out to lunch with A and Sarah. Such a fun day. So much fun to watch my little E in a classroom. Whats not magical about seeing a gaggle of 1.5 year olds running around. Just remembering all of the littles in front of that bubble machine makes me smile hours later. I am happy we are in "school" and cannot wait for all the fun times this year! Enjoy some pics I snapped. xoxox

E took a tumble on the way into school, but A was there to help him out!

Boldly going into the unknown :)

E and C rockin

E and A rockin

E catching up on "No More Monkeys"

E and A with the ball sorter...a huge hit for E

Bubbles!!

One of those days!

 I had an AH-MAZING time last night with my gf's at pre- and post- back to school night cocktails. E and his buddies are all going to school on Mondays, cannot wait!  This morning E and I woke up, came down stairs and ate breakfast and chatted. Read some books, then got dressed and ready for our play date! Got everything packed and ready and headed out the door. It starts pouring, so I open the umbrella and E promptly decides to sit on our soaked welcome mat. I pick him up quickly and head to the car, wet bottom and all. Start heading over to Kiddie Crusoe and get stuck in a terrible traffic jam. Dead. Standstill. Traffic. I quickly call Sarah and let her know we might be running late and avoid 83 at all costs.
E and I decided to sing "if your happy and you know it" to pass the time. Traffic jam over and we still have plenty of time to make it to KC but not Starbucks as well...darn. I am trucking along 83 at a decent clip and feel that my car is running funny. Humm...it was running funny a few days ago and Brian determined that water from our great flood maybe got into the gas tank.  It hadn't had any problems since. So I figure that its happening again. I pick up the phone as I coast over to the shoulder to call Brian and ask for advice. Then I look down and see the GLARING fuel light. I quickly hang up the phone. Dear god, I have run out of gas. In my 16 year tenure as a driver...this has never happened. I quickly pick up the phone and call Sarah! I explain the situation and she got on top of it immediately. She made a quick u-turn to the nearest gas station and rented a can and got gas then zipped back on to 83 to find our sad wayward car. She arrived like a knight in shining armor and we took prob 10 minutes to figure the darn can out. Got a good amount of gas on my hands, and 90% into the car. We jump in and quickly call each other to plan our entrance back onto 83. 30 minutes later than planned we arrive at KC. The kids run around like sillies and have a great time. We pack them up and head to lunch ONLY to find that the darn ice cream machine is OUT. Its just one of those days. xoxo

On a side note, how awesome is Sarah! Didn't even hesitate when I called and told her what was going on!  I met her a year ago and I feel like I have known her forever.  Needless to say, I owe her huge. Like, Starbucks and lunch.

throwing balls with A in the ball pit

These two are too much!

E loves this piano...humm Christmas is around the corner

C, E, and A riding in the helicopter

Sillies!

A Year and a half

18 months. A year and a half. To most people, who are childless, this seems like a length of time that is relatively long. Not seeing a dear friend or family member in that time frame seems like an eternity. To a parent, that is a blink in the face of time. You as a parent see that in the face of your child. E went from newborn to toddler in a year and a half.  Went from little snugly poop, pee, and eating machine to walking, talking, and running the place - still snugly at times and now tells you when he poops and pees. He has conversations now, requests things - sometimes demands, and has opinions and concerns. E is a ham and loves to be around his buddies and our friends. He is an awesome sleeper and eater.

Brand New E

I know that in a year and a half, I have certainly changed. You can catch me randomly busting into songs such as,"No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" or "Wheels on the Bus" with no shame and complete with hand gestures. I also now narrate my activities to a toddler and have deep talks about produce whilst in the produce section on shapes and colors and smells (oh yes smells). I rarely carry a purse but a diaper bag that can entertain and feed a small herd of toddlers on any given day.  I wake up every morning and walk into E's room with a huge smile and melt when I see him with that crazy hair and big smile flashing back at me. Most of all, I want to be the best mama I can be for him. I want to give him the world. I love my life. I think it is crazy to see the daily changes. To see the light bulb moments, or even the super fun tantrum moments. Cheers to a year and a half !

Toddler E!

Jack of All Trades

My hubby stayed home from work today, getting some odds and ends stuff done in preparation for Hurricane Irene that is gonna brush by Maryland. He made sure the trap doors to the basement were sealed tight, looked at all the windows and inspected caulking, and went on to the roof and found a place that was questionable - so he patched it. He then proceeded to go over to E's godmothers house and inspected a window in question and picked up some yard debris to take to the dump. He then went to his best friend's house (E's godfather) to help him move all of his deck furniture off of his rooftop deck.
 How great is it that he is quite the jack of all trades! From being an engineer by profession to drawing amazing architectural drawings for house stuff. Then he can rebuild a carburetor on Bender, or look at the suspension on my SUV to make sure that noise is OK. He can do anything around the house, anything - design and install our whole office complete with custom counters or update the entire electrical system in our whole house. How about the flowers and prosecco he surprised me with last Saturday or that he takes E in the mornings on Saturdays to give me some sleep in time (which I SO love to sleep in). Then there is the fact that I have been with this amazing guy for 15 years this week. We were only 16 when we started dating, and we have been together ever since. Not one breakup. We have been married for 8 years now, and I feel like this whole new chapter was just opened when E was born. Folks, he is a wonderful daddy. He loves his boy, and his boy loves him. He is home most everyday at 5:45, so he can play with E, eat as a family, and then he gives E a bath and puts him to bed (sometimes together because I love nighttime snuggles).  I love the fact that we do this crazy parent thing together so well, often laughing, sometimes frustrated (E is a toddler). I hope that E grows up to be just like his amazing daddy, because he is one heck of a guy <3.

E's first heart to heart with Daddy

Brand new chapter

Perfect Weather

Yesterday I saw on Facebook that the zoo was trucking in the reminants of the Mt. Pleasant Ice Rink to the polar bears...how FUN!  So I needless to say that warranted a trip to the zoo, so E and I met up with my gf and her daughter C. We arrived at 9:55am, the zoo opens at 10am, and the member line was long and winding. So we shleped in line and soaked up the perfect weather...low 80s with a light breeze and no humidity! We arrived inside the gates and met up with my gf and C and went to see the polar bears. My goodness, there were a ton of people, not to mention news media, and zoo photographers. We peeked at the people and quickly headed to the Africa exhibit, since the polar bears were not going anywhere. We saw a TON of animals pretty up close today, which was fun for the kiddos. We went through the exhibit, then decided it was time for lunch, started our picnic. E had no part of sitting down today, so after I bit I strapped him in and C let him have her cheese stick. After the mommies grabbed a diet coke, we headed over to redeem our free frozen treat, ice cream.  We all went for strawberry ice cream and camped out and yum-yummed our way through it. On our way out we stopped by the polar bears again, and got a front row seat to see them L O V E every bit of that ice. By that time the kiddos had the most sleepy eyes in town and we rushed to the cars to get them loaded and home. What a beautiful day! Enjoy some pics! XOXOX

Polar Bears loving the ice!

aww..the bears are so cute!

checking out the zebras, rhinos, and ostriches

C's ice cream face!

Zoorific time!

This Wednesday, E and I chilled on the patio after breakfast. I with a latte in hand, E with a golf club. The weather was breathtakingly perfect. I instantly decided this was not a day for working out (read: lack of total motivation w/o Sarah to make me go to SS) and grabbed my phone and quickly composed a text to see who was up for some fun at the zoo. Well, thankfully one of my gfs, Megan who is N's mom, was up for some fun and was actually headed to the zoo with a neighbor and some of her friends. We packed a picnic lunch, our trusty all weather blanket, and the diaper bag and headed to the zoo.  We got all the kids locked and loaded and headed in, and my goodness there were a ton of us. We went to the Africa exhibit, and made it to feed the Giraffes! We were at the Elephants when we decided it was time for lunch. Unfurled our blankets and started eating, more like herding cats - there were 5 toddlers and 2 infants. It was fun, the kids ate each others foods, the babies were passed around to herd toddlers, and the adults actually had some great convo. By far my favorite moment of the day is when N was trying to get into the Elephant exhibit. He was sticking his bottom through the fence when Megan grabbed him. I tell you, these boys! Needless to say, the kids had a blast and the parents all agreed that we should make a Saturday play group, since the kids and parents got along so well. We'll just say that it will be a muffins and coffee/mimosa playgroup, the more casual the better. What a great day, and it all started with a whim and a text...I love it when it all falls into place! xoxo

E checking out the gazelles

E & I feeding Angel the giraffe

The herd of us

Lunch chaos

E and N running

E and N checking out the binoculars

E loving on the goats in the petting zoo

Wonderful Wedding Week

Photo booth pics

waiting in line for the photo booth

        So last week we were MIA. That my friends, is because it was quite chaotic! It was the week leading up to our dear friends, Dan and Christy, wedding. Brian and I were both in the wedding and it was the first wedding that E attended that he could get down and boogy! Our BFF's, the Tanks, flew in from Houston on Wednesday and stayed with us for the week. So, needless to say, there was a ton of quality adult time had and E got to spend some quality time with his Tia and Tio Tank. Tia Betty and I knocked out to-do lists like champs and had a blast doing so. The wedding was beautiful, we had a blast, E was well taken care of by a host of friends (Auntie Dennis) when we were standing along side Dan & Christy and all the pics after. The night was fun, lots of dancing, singing, and picture booth opportunities. E crashed out in his stroller and didn't budge when we put him in his car seat. We left him in our room with his babysitter and went to the after party, then the after-after party. Such a great time.

Ready to rock! The MOH and I



Dr. and Mrs. Brian Schuster :)



The beautiful bride

On the beach taking pics

E showing his mama some love!

Love this boy!

Looking dapper in his suit and loving the attention from the ladies!

Getting a drink with his Nino Andy

Crashed out with his giraffe!

Rockin out with the bride and groom :)

Woke up in the morning with all our besties piled in our room crashed out, giggling about all the nights events, like we were all in HS. Ate breakfast and hit the beach, before it started pouring again. E had a blast, so did we. Made me realize what amazing friends we have, and how big of a part they are to our little family. Our son is so loved, he has a host of people who spoil him and love him to pieces. Those same people are always by our side, ready to help, or there for whatever - be it chatting for hours or helping get through rough times (read: Brian's dissertation and home renovation). I love my husband and beautiful child. I love my life and all of the great people in it that make it rich with happiness and love! Cheers!xoxox  

Screaming with happiness!!

YAY for splashing!

My Tia Betty helping me out!

This boy loves the water