That's what little _______ are made of.

Among my friends there are 9 children. All 9 are boys. That's a lot of boys. It seems inevitable that all the kids will be boys. There are all boys now... there will be all boys in the future.


Well, I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later...


It's a GIRL!!!

Hey Tate!

A few days ago Tate came with me for a client lunch meeting. He was good, told jokes and showed off his new blue-teeth-staining mouthwash. I rewarded him with ice cream.

Tate's at a sleepover tonight with Nana. I left them this afternoon while they were exploring an old shoebox packed tightly and filled to the top with Dave's old matchbox cars.

I miss him! Good night Tate. I love you!!

Brushy-Brushy Time

M: Do you want to tell daddy it's brushy-brushy time. Do you want mommy to tell daddy or do you want daddy to tell daddy?

T: I want to tell daddy.

{gets off couch and walks over to table where daddy sits and says in a 4-year-old's fake British accent}

T: Daddy? It's brushy-brushy time... Your Majesty!!!!

{while bowing with dramatic flair}

Habits

Is March over yet?? This is a lot of blogging. About 10 days in it was a chore. 24 days in it is now habit. As routine as checking my email, brushing my teeth, or telling Tate to go back to bed at least 5 times each night. Maybe I can make some more new habits... like cleaning the house, getting Tate to school on time, or figuring out what to make for dinner?

Nope... too lofty those goals. I'll just stick to writing about my messy house, Tate being late for school and never knowing what to have for dinner.

Easier.

Guest Blogger - Tate

Oval eye! I've got a joke for you.... Why did the chicken cross the kitchen? To see what snacks there were!! Hahhahahahahahahahaaaaa. I'm a blogger and a Tater.

Quote of the Day

"I've got magic balls!!"

Dive Bomb!!!!

From the bed onto the blow-up mattress! What a morning they had after deciding that 7:30am would be a GREAT time to get up... "It's morning day!"

Bickerers

This just about sums up the day!

We surprised Lauren at school, picking her up and bringing her to our house for an impromptu sleepover. Wow, was Tate excited. They were really good... well sort of. They bicker like siblings! She tries to boss him around and he puts up with none of it! They yell at each other, then play happily, then yell again, then play, then yell... well you get the idea. It's rather amusing to the innocent bystander (that would be me) who is upstairs working and listening to the downstairs goings-on.

They are now asleep. All is quiet. Until the morning, when the bickerers awake and I begin to giggle and referee again.

FAVORITE PART OF THE DAY
T: eating graham crackers and cuddling with you right now
L: having you and Tate pick me up at school
M: lying on the driveway and being outlined in walk-chalk-chalk
D: playing ball with Tate and Lauren

Mod

The day began earlier than usual. Got Tate up, dresssed, breakfasted and out the door by 8:30am. Then to the bakery to pick up a tasty breakfast treat for a meeting, to the bank to make a deposit and then drop Tate at school. I zoomed back home for the client meeting I was hosting, made coffee and sliced the treat as she was pulling in the driveway. Successful meeting ended after an hour, then upstairs to work for an hour, and off to pick up Tate. We drove to my studio to meet a possible new co-op member and then it was lunchtime. Where should we go....hmmm?

The Modern Diner!!!

I think we were the only ones eating actual lunch food at lunchtime. We should have just had the pancakes.

Cooker Lesson #3

I was too tired to think about dinner tonight...what to make, is it in the house, go to the store to shop for it. So I emailed Dave begging for help with the culinary decisions this evening. He came home with potatoes, green beans and pork chops. With mac & cheese for Tate. I set to work cooking with my little helper.

He washed beans, snapped off their stems, poured bunny shaped pasta into the boiling water, mixed the cheesey sauce and incorporated all the rabbit macaronis in! I explained how to steam, boil and mix all while making sure no one burned themselves on the stove. Success!

Interesting enough, he happily ate LOTS of food tonight with no prompting whatsoever. Could having him help cook dinner make him more interested in eating said dinner?

I could have something here.

FAVORITE PART OF THE DAY
T: cuddling with you right now
M: cooking dinner with you tonight

All work and no play...

It's all about the playing today.

FAVORITE PART OF THE DAY
M: wathcing you play on the playground with your friends
T: playing with Eli, oh and cuddling with you right now

16 Weeks

Hmmm.... I still fit in my more stretchy regular clothes. And I do believe that I've started to feel some tiny, whimpy, soft little kicks. A few times a day I feel something and think...."WHAT WAS THAT??? Was that a kick? I think it WAS!!" 

A Tale of Two Climates

It was warm enough today to play soccer outside and have a picnic lunch on the lawn, yet afterwards have a snowball fight with that final big pile of die hard snow! 

Which I am pleased to say is now finally gone.

Ahoy There

Pirate party!!!

Today was finally cousin Joey's pirate birthday party. Tate has been looking forward to this for weeks. He woke up yesterday morning and barely awake told Dave, "Tomorrow's the pirate party!"

Wow, what a party! There was a large pirate ship to climb into and slide down on the super fast slide that launched kids into the crash mat. There was a bucking bull inside a giant bouncy house. Basketball games and fun large balls to throw and kick. And activities!!! A treasure hunt, bull riding, airplane decorating and launching, tug-o-war, pinata whacking and of course food and cake. The kids then left with a balloon and fresh-made cotton candy! Tate was digging into the cotton candy during the ride home after being told he could not eat it in the car. He sadly stopped eating in the car, then gladly finished it off at home with blue fingers, blue lips and a blue tongue.

FAVORITE PART OF THE DAY
T: Joey's party
M: Joey's party

Lights On!

Driving home we can see the bridges across the bay and I always ask Tate which bridges he can see. He always says, "I can see the Bristol Bridge. And I can see the Newport Bridge."

Several nights ago we drove by and I asked which bridges he could see. "I can see the Bristol Bridge. But I can't see the Newport," he said. Sure enough one bridge was lit up and one was not. Well, I had just discovered that my friend Stacie's father now works as a toll taker on the Newport Bridge. So I promptly blamed Mr. Perry..."Oh Tate, Papa Jim forgot to turn the lights on tonight!" "Oh," he says.

Last night we drove by again. Tate announced, "I can see the Bristol Bridge. And Papa Jim remembered to turn the lights on the Newport Bridge tonight!! Yeah!!!"

Mr. Perry, please remember turn on the lights every night. There is a 4-year-old boy in Barrington keeping tabs on your job performance!