Back in Time, Pt. 2...March 8

In case you didn't know, Thursday is pizza day.  I don't think it's actually written down anywhere to make it "official," but it might as well be.  My mom, P, and I go to see my grandparents every Thursday, and for lunch, we each get a slice of pizza from the little store downstairs. (And while P doesn't get his own piece right now...I have a feeling that it won't be too long until he does - that little boy really likes pizza, and I like it enough that I'm not going to be willing to share as much as he will want to eat in the not-so-distant future!).  It's become quite the tradition, and now that I'm staying at home, I love that we're finally able to take advantage of living so close and that I get to spend quality time with my Grammy, Grandpa, and Mom and that P gets to spend time with his GiGi, Gramps, and his Grammy Share on a weekly basis.  Someday soon I will need to document pizza day in pictures, but until I do that, here are a couple of Peanut faces from a Thursday not-so-long-ago.  Enjoy. :)

 

 

Back in Time, Pt. 1...March 3

My dad is one of five kids.  Except for one of his sisters, everyone (including his mom) lives within about 15 minutes of each other, so when we have a family get together with that side of the family, there tends to be a lot of people there.  It's something that I feel like I take for granted most of the time...and then, there are moments of clairvoyance when I realize that this is not everyone's "normal," and that I need to really appreciate it and be grateful for it.  I took my camera with me to my dad's 59th (!?) :) birthday party this year, and when I was looking through the pictures, I had one of those moments, and I was so thankful to have pictures to look back on years from now of what our family get-togethers  looked like.

 Hanging out with Cousin Kaitlyn and Aunt Sandy.

 

Yogurt cups make very good hats...and sippy cup holders.

 

 Here we all are.

 I'll give you one guess as to why everyone is circled around...notice the yogurt container in the bottom right corner...and if you guessed that everyone is watching the yogurt container, guess again.

 Grammy Share and P.

 Kind of rockin' a country bumpkin feel with our monster truck pjs and our mullet. :)

 Let's play again.  Who are my dad, Aunt Becky, and J looking at?  Based on their faces, I'm hoping it's P.

 Mr. P. (as his Aunt Sandy calls him).

 I love this sippy cup.

Deep in conversation with one of his favorite people in the entire world, his Aunt Debby.  I love how my grandma is lovingly looking on...makes my heart happy.

Peanut meets his newest cousin!...on March 17th

I just realized that I somehow never posted these pictures of Peanut's newest cousin!  Never mind that his newest cousin is now 8 weeks old...these pictures are worth the wait.  When we first met Baby L, he didn't have a name.  This was his fault because he showed up early, and his mom and dad thought they had more time. :)  The nurses started calling him "B.B." for Baby Boy, but he soon got a wonderful name of his very own.  We are pleased to have recently found out that he has taken to the nickname "Pickle." :)  Now we just need sweet little girl cousin in California to start going by a food nickname that starts with a "P"...Pomegranate? Parsnip?  Peach?  Pumpkin? All real possibilities...

So without further ado, meet Baby L...and check out his RED hair!  (Between P and his 2 cousins we have a platinum blonde, a red head, and a brunette.  Genetics are awesome.)

Snuggling with his dad.

Love his red hair and his dad's black hair. 

Stats.

Sweet, tiny hands.

Baby L does have an awesome mom, but I was respecting the fact that when we went to visit she had yet to have a shower since birthing this precious little boy. Just following the unwritten "Mom Law" here.

 

P meeting his newest cousin.

The "Blue-eyed Boys Club." :)  

P, Peanut's Pops, his Uncle Jim, his dad, and his cousin all have killer baby blues.

Still lovin' the hair...and the precious smooshed face.

Hangin' out with dad in the hospital room.

Being entertained by dad in the hospital room...who doesn't like being hoisted up by their armpits and thrown into the air?  (J often points out that if anyone was to do this to him, he would A) really not like it and B) be really upset at the person doing such a thing to him.  P has obviously not gotten the message yet that it's socially awkward for someone to do such a thing to you.)

And since this post is so belated...here's a picture of "Pickle" :) that his mom posted on FB yesterday (thanks for letting me steal it off your page without permission, Rebecca!) :o/  I can't wait until the next time we see this little guy in person so I can squeeze those cheeks!!!

We're Walking!

It only took the kid 16 months, but Peanut's finally decided that walking upright might not be such a bad thing after all.  It really happened pretty quickly, which, if you've been reading this blog, is not surprising.  P was getting pretty good at cruising around the house and at a pretty decent clip...as long as he was able to hold onto something, and then something happened.  A week ago as I was standing in the kitchen cutting up some fruit, I saw something out of the corner of my eye.  My child, who was playing in the next room, was WALKING towards me.  This was the first time he had ever walked on his own without any prompting or coaxing or pleading...you get the picture. :)  And from that day on, every day he's been willing to take a few more steps, and man, are they cute steps!  He walks with his little legs apart and his little hands up to help him balance. I hadn't been able to capture him on video...(he was like the Loch Ness Monster or Bigfoot!) until today! :)

Now, I won't say that we're an official "walker" yet, as he is still crawling a decent amount, but each day that percentage gets smaller and smaller.  Oh how our world, and his, is about to change!  And we will finally (and it always seems to come back to this) get to move up to the next room in the church nursery!  Woo hoo!  Bless P's heart.  He's been hanging out with all the little ones who have just learned to sit up on their own, while his friends his age have been partying it up - walking around to their little hearts' content - in the room next door.  It's an exciting milestone.

Monkey King

You may have noticed that a lot of pictures on this blog include my son with either A) a yogurt container or B) the crack monkey. This post is no different.

These pictures were actually taken at the beginning of March. One night after his bath, P ended up in the kitchen without his pj's on having a dance party with the crack monkey.

This is kind of a new favorite picture. The face, the rolls, the monkey...I love this kid.

This is the picture that made the phrase "Monkey King" come to my mind...kind of like the "Goblin King" for those of you who grew up in the 80's and were obsessed with the movie "Labyrinth" like my sister and I were. :) I know it's fuzzy, but when I saw it, I laughed out loud.

I'm pretty sure he's saying something like, "Long live the monkey!" Or something of that nature...

For some reason, he likes to put the dancing monkey in elevated places - tables, chairs, etc.

This is just a picture of our little monkey king's curls... :)

That is all. The Monkey King wishes you a good day and hopes you can take a little time to just let loose, live life, and dance like no one's watching...you know, except for the neighbors...who might be able to see into the kitchen windows if they wanted to...

Happy Easter!

Reunion

At the end of February, I had a reunion with my best friends from college and their families. It is such fun to get together with everyone and even more fun to watch everyone's kids grow up...and SO quickly!

We started off our Saturday at the park. It was an absolutely beautiful morning with lots of sunshine, hence J's attractive head-wear in this picture. :) Since P isn't walking, a playground can only be so fun for so long, which is why we brought our trusty back-up...books. :)


Here's sweet P just hanging out...

Here are all the kiddos. :) It's kind of a challenge to get them to all look at the camera at the same time. As you can tell, P was exceptionally excited about taking part in the pictures.

After the park, we went over to my college roomie's parents' house for lunch. They are always so kind to host all of us, as we are quite a group! 10 adults and 10 kids when we're all there!!! Here are Claire and Julia at the kids' table.

Not a great picture on my part, but here are the three older boys, Evan, Hudson, and Paul all enjoying lunch.

All the kiddos, minus P and Baby Cullen enjoying ice cream at the kids' table.

This is the newest addition to the group - Baby Cullen. He belongs to my college roommate, Karen. Pretty cute, huh? :) There are SO many boys in the group - 7 boys to 3 girls!

My sweet friend, Sarah's, daughter, Julia, LOVES babies (she's just like her mama!) :) Miss J couldn't get enough of little Cullen.

Admiring the handsome little man.

Here we all are!!! (minus Amanda :(...we missed you!)

Eve, Karen, Sarah, and me

I can't believe that I met these girls in 1998...which means we're going on 14 years of friendship!!! How is that even possible!?!? As always, it was such a joy to get together with everyone. Looking forward to the next time...

I thank my God every time I remember you.
-Philippians 1:3