Warm Weather Fun

It's cold, grey and raining outside as I write this but we have had some gorgeous days in the past couple of weeks and we took advantage! It's hasn't been that bad of a winter but we are sooooooo looking forward to spring and summer...

Picnic!

I love tuna sandwiches!

First bike ride of the season

Four-wheeling!

Playdate at the sand table

Nick and Jack

Swamping! (Just like Mommy used to)

Great to be back at the playground

Weeeeeee! (that's what she calls the slide)

Wagner Boys and their babes

cousins!

Playing ball

Ripping it up at the Dentist

Today was Nick's first dentist appointment. Kids will never cease to amaze me with their ability to rise to the occasion. I was a little nervous about him getting in the chair and immediately saying, "I'm outta here!" No nerves necessary. The kid was a champ. The first thing she said was that she was going to look in his mouth and then she started showing him her tools...and Nick had his mouth open the entire time...waiting for her to look in his mouth like she said she was going to. I am not sure if he will be remembered more for his stellar performance or for farting 4 times while he was in the chair!!! I wonder at what age farting in front of strangers becomes embarassing...it isn't 3.5 years old!

Pearly whites!

Doctor's Office vs. the Aquarium

At about 7:30 on Sunday morning I told Nick, "Let's go upstairs and get dressed because we are going somewhere special today." He said, "Where are we going, the children's museum?" (He was talking about the one in Easton, a fave place to go). I said, "No, a place that has a lot of fish, do you remember what it's called?" And with the enthusiasm that only a kid can have, he said, "The Doctor's Office!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Yes, they do have a giant fish tank but I can assure you that the one at the Aquarium is even better! We were out of the house by 8:15am and the second people in line for the 9am opening (free passes in hand, even better). Both of them had a great time. Chelsea added some more words to her constantly growing vocabulary..."tuttle", "sheesh" (fish) and "see" (see it? - we must have been saying that a lot that day). And Nick lasted much longer than when we went about a year ago (thanks to Chelsea for taking her morning nap in the stroller so we didn't have to leave after an hour). One of the education people came up to us while we were looking at an exhibit and asked if we had any questions. I told Nick that he worked there and that he would answer any questions he had. He said, "I have a question about yogurt sticks." Awesome. We also tried to give him a few lessons along the way, reading the information next to the exhibits. He was MUCH more interested in bopping as quickly as possible from one thing to the next and yelling, "Mommy, Daddy, come here and look at this!!!" I guess we'll leave the aquarium lessons to his 5th grade science teacher.

This was not staged, I looked back and they were holding hands. I thought my heart would melt right then and there. (Of course I had to get them to do it again by the time I got the camera out)

Fish kisses in front of the fish

"My name is BRUCE!!!"

Not sure why but Ryan took exactly 14 pictures of this turtle

"sheesh!"

Nick at the "petting" tank

"Nick, come look, it's Nemo!". "Mommy, that's not Nemo, that's Nemo's Daddy." Well excuse me.

A Great Great-Grampa

Nicholas and Chelsea are very blessed in many ways. One of their blessings is that they have been able to spend time with 3 of their 4 great-grandparents; I wouldn't imagine that many people can say this. Their great-grandfather (my mother's father) passed away this Monday and he will be sorely missed. Russell W. Stone was a World War II veteran, a talented artist and an all-around WONDERFUL man. My favorite memories of him were at the beach (he taught me how to fish) and on holidays at his and my grandmother's house. They continued to host every major holiday until this past year after Grampa's fall made it too hard. He was 89 and my grandmother is 84. Nana and Grampa have 4 daughters, 8 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren...and grampa could never keep everyone's names straight! "Pammy, Nancy, Jenny...what's your name, oh wait, Heather!!!" When it came to the great-grandkids he basically just called everyone "kid"..."hey, you there...kid". The memories and stories are endless and we will not stop telling them any time soon.

I hope that someday Nicholas and Chelsea realize how lucky they are to have known him and treasure whatever memories they have of him. We love you Grampa.

http://www.legacy.com/SouthOfBoston-Enterprise/DeathNotices.asp?Page=Lifestory&PersonId=139784395

Christmas 2008

One of Great-Grampa's many, awesome pieces of art

Curtain Monster

Our favorite game of the moment is "Curtain Monster": the kids get behind the curtain, run out and tackle Mommy. Lots of screaming is involved too but Chelsea didn't have her screams going in the video below...

Clean baby

I am one of those people who doesn't mind picking up a piece of food that just dropped on the floor and eating it. I am not an "over-sanitizer", slathering on the Purell at the slightest notion of a germ. So I wonder where Chelsea got this...

Tall Tale

And the stories begin...

Nick woke up one morning this week and he had wet his bed. The conversation went something like this,

"Mommy, I'm all wet"
"Oh, you must have peed in your bed while you were sleeping"
"No, I didn't"
"Then how did you get all wet?"
"It was water"
"Where did the water come from?"
"Tommy jumped up on my bed while I was sleeping and knocked the water over in my bed"

This poor cat gets blamed for everything!!!!