Funny this and that.

Yesterday, the kids were cleaning up the toys and Alexander was in the process of putting the last bin on the shelf. Crowded and overflowing with toys, he was smashing a princess crown down on the top to fit the bin into the shelf.

I was repeatedly asking/telling/instructing him to stop for a minute to no avail. So, I yelled at him. "ALEXANDER! JUST WAIT!"

Alexander: [stops and looks up with swelling doe eyes]
Me: [normal voice now] When I ask you to stop, you need to stop.

Alexander: BAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH! [commence bawling]
Me: [sigh] Okay, look. See the crown? It can't fit and needs to go in a different bin.
Alexander: BBAAAAAHHHHHHH HAAAAA baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Me: Okay, why are you crying so much?
Alexander: Cus' I don't like being yelled at.
Me: I am sorry, but you weren't hearing me until I yelled.

Alexander: sniffle, sniffle, baaaahhhh, sniffle
Me: Hmmmm... perhaps we need a code word. A funny word that I can use when your ears aren't turned on. If I say that word, then you will stop what you are doing and listen.

Alexander: Ooookkkaaay. What word?
Me: How about "Abracadabra?"
Alexander: Nah.

Me: How about "Barracuda?"
Alexander: Nah.

Me: How about, uhhhhh, "Chi Chi Rodriguez?"
Alexander: HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! YES! That is the funniest thing I have ever heard.

Seriously, that is a direct quote. How hilarious!

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This morning at breakfast, CJ was telling knock-knock jokes. They aren't funny, but we laugh because she is trying and it's cute. But today, she made me laugh so hard I started to cry.

CJ: Knock-knock.
Me: Who's there?

CJ: Chicken
Me: Chicken who?

CJ: Chicken you didn't know.
Me: HA ha ha.

CJ: Knock-knock
Me: Who's there?

CJ: Chicken
Me: Chicken butt!
CJ: Ha HA HA! Yes! You guessed it.

CJ: Knock-knock
Me: Who's there?

CJ: Fuck
Me: [coffee down, paper down, double-take]
I'm sorry, what?????

CJ: [with a face that says: Why aren't you listening? urrggh.]
FFFFUUUUCCCCCKKKKK!!!!
Me: [Paper covers face and I laugh histerically for a few moments. Then I catch my breath, smile and say:]
mumble, mumble who?

CJ: Joe and Moe the goats!!
Me: Ha ha ha ha!!!

I wish that I could've captured on film the face of this 3 year old sitting pretty in her flowery summer dress at the breakfast table looking at her mother with such contempt for not hearing her joke that she raised her voice, leaned forward and practically spit the word "fuck" in my face. This will no doubt be the last time I will ever think that it is funny. But today, it certainly was!

Summer Begins!

Just got back from 10 days at the beach. It was wonderful.

My sister and her family have a house on the Chesapeake Bay at the very tip of the Delmarva peninsula. It is an amazing spread... right on the water, sandy beach shoreline, rippling waves, western facing with spectacular sunsets melting into the water. The kids had a blast playing in the Bay and in the pool with their older cousins, kayaking and making sand castles.

It just isn't summer for me without a trip to the beach. It doesn't matter what beach it is, it just needs to be the feel of summer. The kids need to be having fun and falling asleep in their dinner plates from exhaustion, yet rallying to get their heaping bowls of ice cream for dessert. The adults need to be constantly talking about what meal to prepare next while nursing another icy cocktail and enjoying the general splendor of the beach, waves and sunshine.

I am happy to report that all my criteria was exceedingly met -- and so early on in the summer. OH NO!!! What will I do now???? ;-)


I am pretty sure that this picture fully captures what "vacation" means to CJ. She would love a cruise -- 24 hour access to the buffet line.


Alexander with his Aunt "Ice-Cream-for-Dessert-Every-Night" Mary.




The surfer dudes.


Alexander and Zack kayaking. Alexander's new favorite part of the beach.



All the kids.


The adults changing our "latitude" with Coronas on the beach at sunset.




Aaaahhhhhh.............................. Life is Good.
(If you click on the photo to enlarge, you can see the bird flying by the sun.)

Last Day of Preschool

Yesterday was Alexander's final day of preschool. His teacher had a program for the last half hour of class for parents to video tape and document for history. The kids sang the cute songs they had learned over the past school year and hammed it up for the cameras. It was cute and a perfect finale for preschool.

Afterward, his best buddy (Alexander's official title for his friend), Luke, had a plan to celebrate. "Ice Cream for Lunch" with just the moms -- no little sisters. It was a great plan and Sara (Luke's mom) and I jumped on the bandwagon. The boys were elated.

My little boy is going off to Kindergarten next year and I can hardly believe it. As we were getting out of the car at DQ, I started to kiss his face all over and saying:

ME: "You are getting so big, {kiss, kiss, kiss} I can't stand it, {kiss, kiss, kiss} next year you are going to Kindergarten and I am going to miss you so much, {kiss, kiss, kiss} and you are going to have so much fun... riding the bus, {kiss, kiss, kiss} eating lunch at the school, {kiss, kiss, kiss} learning and playing with all your friends.." {kiss, kiss, kiss}

Alexander: "MOMMMMMY, yeah, I will be having fun, but I will still miss you."

Okay, how do you not skip the kid cone and just buy the boy a huge ice cream cake? It was a great day!!



Mrs. Wylie and Alexander at the "Promotion Ceremony"


Alexander and his "best buddy" Luke.


The proud graduate.

Should I be embarrased or proud? You make the call.

Remember that insane MTV show, "Jackass"? (For the senior readers in the bunch: it was a group of idiotic 20yr old males jumping off of roofs onto trampolines or pushing each other in grocery carts and running them into the curb so that the passenger would eject into the bushes.)

Well, CJ and Alexander are going to pitch this new series to MTV... or perhaps Nick Jr. After a few days stuck inside due to rain, they were full of energy and imagination for this new trick. Take a look....

Who's Chasing Me? Do they have a gun???

When people used to ask me if I run, that was my standard reply. Run? Jog? Quickly sashay? Oh, no, not me. Every foot that hit the pavement would hurt, I couldn't breathe, and I would question why the HELL I even started this crazy movement.

Then Zack wanted some motivation to get exercising again. Since Ruth (my sister) ran a few 5Ks last year, he contacted HER to find out if she would race with him. Not to be left out (this is a fundamental struggle in my psyche since a very young age. I can't miss out on ANYTHING.), I inserted myself into this family run.

What great motivation! I went to the gym and would slowly increase my distances. Then I would go home and immediately send an email to both Zack and Ruth proclaiming my time and distance. I was KICKING both of their butts on the training. Ruth was worrying she would be too slow. Zack was concerned that he wouldn't ever get out to at least get his legs in condition once or twice before the big day.

Then came race day.

I am so incredibly slow. Thank goodness both of them didn't criticize me during the run. Luckily, Ruth was willing to hang back with me and run while Zack zoomed ahead.

We all finished and had a great time. I can honestly say that both Zack and I didn't come from a "fitness family". So this was really special to do this as a team. I am still jogging at the gym, but it is definitely not as much fun as it was with them!


Did I mention it was the 1st Annual Dog Jog 5K?
Got to love Pennsylvania... hilarious!

Chop Chop (Part II)

After our initial shock and awe of CJ's cosmetology attempts, I arranged for an emergency hair cut with my new (and very awesome) hairstylist. He was kind enough to meet us at 9:15am to try and make lemonade out of CJ's new lemon head.

All I can say is that he truly is fabulous, CJ was a trooper, and now she is cuter than ever. Who knew she had so many curls??



Perhaps all of her antics were just a humble attempt to be more like her mom.... hee hee!

Chop Chop

Zack left today for a golf weekend with buddies. I was planning and hoping for a easy, conflict free weekend with the kids. Today we played, ran errands and hung out. It was 6pm and a great day. Until...

I got up and walked past the "art room" (its a little sun room off the kitchen) to hear Alexander yell "AAK!" and both CJ and he jump in a frightful start. With Alexander staring at me in horror, CJ looked directly into my eyes, smiled a wide grin and proceed to chop another segment of hair off of her head.

My reaction was as cool and collect as I have ever been.

A very slow and almost whisper of, "Oh my God."

Now the days of head bands, barrettes, and ponytails are gone. At least for a good long while. But perhaps she was just trying to be like me and get her "summer cut" early. :-)

On the bright side of things, she won't complain of knots and tangles in the long locks, she won't have to worry about her hair blowing in her face when the wind gusts, and she won't eat with one elbow on the table and a hand pushing her hair behind her ear. Truth be told, though, I am going to miss it.


BEFORE:


AFTER:

Alexander's Bouncing Bday

I can't believe our little baby boy turned 5 years old. Who knew he (and we) would survive the terrible 3s? As the best parents in the world, we ordered the bounce house, had him invite 6 of his friends, bought a barrel of cheese balls, picked up the ice cream cake and let the good times roll!!!

Even though he tweaked both of his ankles shortly before the party started, the man of the hour had a great time. Just check out the photo/movie!

Rewind to March - Charleston

We are committed anew to updating the blog! Our legions of readers (cough!) complained incessantly that we weren't updating, so now we're back on track. We can't let our public down!

Many of you may remember the live blog of the drive to Charleston (http://nittanyhome.blogspot.com/2009/03/day-in-car.html). Well, it really wasn't as bad as we made it sound. After all, Jean and I were up at 4:30 that morning and were a bit punchy when we were writing it via Blackberry in the car. But it is always fun to spend 12 hours in the car with two kids and a dog...

But the drive was well worth it. Paul and Julie were great hosts for our Spring Break vacation - we had a fantastic time! And it was great to spend some time with Baby Benji. And Ripley (mostly) enjoyed her visit with Bear.

Highlights of the trip:
- The Weather. Sunny and 80 degrees every day that we were there!
- The Pool. Thanks to Paul and Julie for spending about $1000 heating the pool so that it was bathtub warm 24 hours a day!
- The BBQ. Our first full day there, Paul and Julie invited friends and neighbors over for a BBQ, and Paul smoked a couple of pork shoulders and a bunch of ribs. Now that's how we expect to be welcomed to the South! I will start a job search in Charleston as soon as I get over my meat hangover...
- Fort Sumter. An hour on a boat, two hours on an island, and another hour on a boat with a 5 year old and a 3 year old, all on an empty stomach? A recipe for a great time! We made it into a big adventure, the kids did great, and Jean snapped some great pictures.
- The Charleston Aquarium. Shark! Paul took the day off and the two families spent the morning racing groups of school kids to the cool exhibits ("We have to get in front of those crazy teenagers!") Good times.
- Date Night. Paul and Julie were kind enough to watch Alexander and CJ while Jean and I went out to dinner. Great local french restaurant called the Fat Hen. Look for an upcoming restaurant review -- it was terrific!
- The Beach. Even in the South, the beach in March is not a place for sunbathing. The wind made it a pretty chilly day, but we were well stocked with fleeces. So we took a long walk down the beach and collected shells. The kids loved it and, once again, Jean took some great photos.

Alexander and CJ posing at Fort Sumter.

Alexander showing off a crab claw.

Our big kids being good at a restaurant. Hooray!

CJ showing off her long legs at Fort Sumter.

CJ and her shell.

Amoeba Soccer

Yes, it is true. I am OFFICIALLY a Soccer Mom. That's right political parties, I have opinions and clout!

Alexander started playing a few weeks ago and just loves it. Zack and I (former soccer players back in our twenties and pre-kids) just love seeing him hustle and slide tackle other 4 year-olds. I am also happy to report that my boy takes after his mom on the soccer field. Not his athletic, spry Daddy... that's right me.

Alexander the Defender. It is hilarious how completely focused he is on ensuring the other team doesn't score. If he is on the other side of the field on offense and the other team gets a foot on the ball, he BOLTS to the goal box. Winded, huffing and puffing he throws kicks left and right until the ball is cleared from his goal. I just love him!!!

Here's our sweeper in action:

Happy Mother's Day, Mom.

As a procrastinator, I have neglected to send flowers or a card to my mom today. I will call her after she returns from Church and wish her the best happy Mother's Day, tell her how much I love her and apologize for not sending anything. I know she will understand, because she always does. She knows me and that is one of the most special things in my life. Then I'll tell her to fire up the computer and read this.

Ode to My Mom

No Hallmark card can express how I feel about my mom. She is the one who gave me life and has shaped me into the person I am today. I was blessed that God gave me her as a Mom and thank him everyday for her.I often think about you mom. Silly little things pop into my head at random times and I say, "I have to remember to tell her that". But then things get busy and I forget. Here are some things I want you to know:

Thanks for taking me shopping when I was teenager, even when I was obnoxious and embarrassed to be "seen" with my mom.

Thanks for telling me the truth. I was really mad when you told me that one of my friends was in a “bad” crowd when I was twelve. But, you were right.

Thanks for being my consigliere/liaison with Dad.

I truly believe that you have God’s home phone. You make miracles happen often and usually to benefit others... Like great weather on special occasions, front row parking spaces on a busy street/lot, and selling a house quickly.

I am always amazed by your patience and love. Five kids, 3 miscarriages, 50 years with Dad, a cross-country road trip with all seven of us -- and you still smile more than frown.

I am sorry if the funny voice we use for you ever upset you. But it makes me smile because I get to hear you.

Thanks for giving me great advice. One of my favorites you told me during my freshman year in college. One Friday afternoon you told me, “have fun tonight, but just don’t get so drunk that you can’t remember how to get home.” Wise words.

You gave me the best mantra when I was a teenage girl (and my college roommate still uses it today). "You are smart, funny, thin and beautiful. Always."

You were right when you said, "This too shall pass" and "He only gives us what we can handle."

I love you, Mom, lots and lots and lots and lots. Thanks for being the best, most compassionate, most supportive, most loving, most understanding, most humorous Mom-on-the-Planet.

I hope you have a fabulous Mother's day,
Love,
#5

Date Night

Alexander has been Mr. Popular for the last month, with a birthday party to attend for three straight weekends. Normally, this isn't a big deal as we're generally pretty comfortable dropping him off for the party -- trusting the parents of the birthday boy to keep Alexander safe for 2 hours.

However, this past weekend Alexander was invited to a pool party, which meant that we needed to send a parent along. Since Jean volunteered for pool party duty, I decided to try to do something special with CJ.

About thirty minutes before the party, I asked Alexander to go upstairs and get ready to go. CJ was curious where her big brother was going, so I told her that Alexander was going to a party, but that daddy and she were going to a special dinner at a restaurant. Well, at the moment, that wasn't cutting it for the Little Princess. Crying ensued, to which I replied, "Fine, then we can stay home." I then went into the garage to finish what I was working on, and I hear CJ screaming even louder inside. I stick my head in the door to find out what the fuss is about, and CJ is standing there with tears in her eyes and says, "Don't leave without me daddy, I want to go to dinner with you!" So sweet.

So after Jean and Alexander leave, I get myself and CJ cleaned up, putting her new dress and "tap" shoes on her, and allowing her to pick out my "nice" shirt. I even brushed and fixed her hair before we left. I played it up every chance I got...

We went to a local Italian restaurant, splitting a salad (she loves salad) and ravioli, and she was so well behaved the entire time. I truly believe she was beaming, and to be honest, so was I. At one point during dinner, she says, "Daddy, I'm having a great time!"

Then, after dinner I let CJ choose where we would go for dessert, Dairy Queen or the Creamery. And like any good Penn State Alum's daughter, she chose the Creamery. She insisted on having her own cone, which nearly ended in disaster when the ice cream fell off the cone. Thankfully I saved the day by catching the ice cream before it hit the floor and jamming it back on the cone to stay. I couldn't believe that she ate the whole thing!

All in all, a successful date I'd say. Good to know I haven't lost my touch on first dates!!!

Pathetic

Three blog posts for the entire month of March -- pathetic! And we actually did things in March!

You know, March in the Nittany Valley can be a difficult month. While our friends to the south (and not that far south) are beginning to get a reprieve from winter and enjoy a few rays of sunshine, and we are still suffering through 30 degree days and 20 degree nights. And, it always seems like everyone is sick in March. Viruses, flues, and colds rip through the house, making us all miserable as we watch flurries fall in mid-March. Even Ripley appears to be getting cabin fever, as she sits and stares out the window for hours at a time.

So, I think we just put our heads down and try to get through the month.

But now it's April and, while it's still not spring full-time, we are getting glimpses of beautiful weather. Yesterday was absolutely glorious, and we spent the afternoon working in the yard and on the garden.

So, while March was a pathetic month in many ways -- but especially for our little blog, expect to see more stories and pictures posted in April and into the future.

It's official... I've turned into my Mom.

Not that this is a bad thing. My mom was the ultimate networker. She was in real estate and seemingly knew everyone in town. If, per chance, we were out and she didn't know a person... within minutes she was well acquainted with every one's name, background, favorite hobby, etc. Growing up watching this, I thought this was just part of her job. Now that has been close to 20 years since she retired, two long distance moves to new towns, and you still can't get her on the phone during the afternoon due to this or that bridge game -- I realize now that she was/is just a social butterfly.

Back to me.

Today I had a mission. There is a "meat sale" and "mushroom sale" every Friday on Penn State's campus. They are not advertised, but people have usually 'heard' of them. So with vague directions (such as: "the building across from the stadium" or the "building past the turf fields"), I set out to check it out.

Arriving at the grey building across from the stadium, I walked into the unmarked door to find a line 25 persons deep at the Meat Market. Forty-five minutes later I had the complete low down from the people in line with me. "The cost is only slightly cheaper, but the quality is excellent". "You can't pass up the Maple Sausage." "Have you tried the ham?" "I have a great crock pot recipe for ....."

Not only did I have my meat order for the next month or two (even though this is a weekly sale), I had a person who was going to lead me to the mushroom sale, a promise for the outstanding 'pineapple stuffing' recipe to go with all ham dishes, a new market to check out in Bellville (don't even know where that is) and about 10 retirees who would "see you next week!"

After following Pineapple Stuffing Mary to the mushroom building, I went to purchase my first lot of button mushrooms. They only come in 10 POUND boxes. Just for reference, at the grocery store you usually get a few ounces. That's okay, I had lined up a few friends to share them with. I was going to be a Mushroom Distributor.

The three people running this show out of a 8x8 room in a warehouse, told me all about the coming weeks when crimini and portobellas will be in. Yummy! In my excitement to tell them about my first experience with the meat sale, they asked if I was aware of the egg and chicken sale. WHAT???? I had no idea.

Yup, it appears that on Thursdays (damn it, missed it by a day!) you can get 2.5 dozen eggs for pennies an egg. I love eggs! After getting detailed directions from the mushroom people ("go out of here and turn left. It's the poultry building on the left." Okay, there are 10 buildings with POULTRY on them on the left.), I walked into what looked like the main door. This was the entrance to the Poultry Manager (always go to the top!). He gave me better directions and told me the insider info to get there before it opens. "Yesterday, it was insane. The eggs were bought out in a few minutes." What is this? U2 tickets?

As soon as I walked into the house with my proud purchase of fungi and meat, the phone rang. Good ole' Pineapple Stuffing Mary. She said hello and then, "Jean, this is Mary who you met at the Meat Market. I have your recipe, dear. Do you have some paper?"

Thanks Mom!!! You have taught me countless things over my life that I treasure everyday. I am happy to know that it was you who turned me into the social butterfly that I am today. Without this skill, how would I have found out about the eggs?

Quick little story....

Since we are lacking in posts, our biggest and most reliable reader has opted to start posting her own stories. This is guest contributor, Aunt Ann. Thanks!!!

After returning from a fun week playing with their newly 1-year-old cousin, CJ and Alexander shared vacation stories with Aunt Ann on the phone.

When asked questions about little Benji, CJ told Aunt Ann that he is walking, swimming and eating big boy food. When asked if he was talking yet (which he is not) CJ replied "oh, yes".

Aunt Ann asked if Benji could say her name.

CJ replied "no, he can't say CJ, but he can say Claire Julia, but he can only say it in a high little baby voice." What a peanut!

a day in the car

Here's a log of our travels today. What else is there to do when you are trapped in the car with two kids and a dog for over 12 hours?

5:00 am grab kids from bed and strap in carseats

5;15 deny request for movie in hopes they fall back asleep

5:16 hopes crushed

5:30 singing is now at top volume

5:31 institute whisper until sunrise rule

5:33 debate of whether tongue clicking is still whispering

5:46 zack finishes coffee and toast. Looks for more food

6:17 first fussy face from CJ

6:17:30 institute NO FUSSY FACES rule

6:20 Jean confused by which way we are going for the first time

6:27 start first movie and kids begin juice consumption. T-minus 30 minutes till first potty break

7;04 discover blasting is the best way to mine silica

7:10 reminded CJ of appropriate chapstick protocol

7:11 chapstick broken

7:49 CJ vomits. Luckily I had packed barf bags

8:45 First time Zack criticizes Jean's driving.

12:31 PM made it to NC with no more vomit, although we have eaten most of the snacks and lunch. Still no sleep from any child. Zack got about 5 min of snoring in. We just realized that after 7 hours in the car, we are no longer punchy.

3:10 PM everyone is getting a little antsy. The kids have eaten a ton of snacks and watched hours and hours of cartoons, and nothing is making them happy. So we plug in the ipod and turn up the musoc and jam out to our favorite tunes. To our delight, Alexander knows most of the words to our favorite drinking song - thankfully, the lyrics are clean. After two songs, the kids finally fall asleep. Now we just hope we can make it another hour and a half without them waking, or us needing a bathroom break.
On the final leg of the journey now!

4:45 PM - We arrived in one piece! Less than 12 hours in the car -- woohoo! Cold beer in the cooler and the pool heater is on! Looking forward to a great Spring Break with Uncle Paul, Aunt Julie and Baby Benji!

Talking about Lent

I took the kids to Ash Wednesday service yesterday. I haven't been to Ash Wednesday since high school. But since we started going to church pretty regularly, I thought it would be nice to attend. I mean, I would already be there to pick Alexander up from preschool, so what the heck?

There were only two minor drawbacks. It was at 12:15 (hungry kids don't make for quiet, calm kids) and there was not a childcare room (which is where we stuff the kids during Sunday church). Okay, I can handle this. I am SUPER MOM.

After picking up Alexander from preschool, I bribed them both with some McDonald's and then let them bring the happy meal toy into church. I'll just see how long we last. If they get too antsy, and I get too frustrated, we'll bolt.

Good news! The kids did great. They played with the little ponys and colored for the entire time. I was thrilled.

Alexander-The-Curious had a few questions about all of this church-stuff.

Going to get ashes, I said, "We are going to go get some dust on our foreheads now"

Alexander: "Why?"

me: "uhhh.... well, it is to show that we are part of God's family." (whoosh, that was simple and sweet.)


On the way back from communion, he wanted to know what I got from the Pastor that he wasn't allowed to have.
Alexander: "Is it gum?"

I whispered, "it is just a little bread dipped in wine"

Then we got back to the pew and he said to me, "Why do you get that?"

me: "It is to remind us that Jesus died for us so that we can all go to heaven."

Alexander -- SHOCKED AND HORRIFIED -- "Jesus is DEAD?"

After seeing that face, I am sure that God's heart melted too. I gave my boy an enormous hug and then we had a nice little chat about all those bible stories we have read.

An oldie but a goodie

I may have mentioned before that we dislike the options of restaurants in central PA. If I haven't, then allow me to recap. There is no variety. It is all pasta, pizza or bar food. These options are a plus when you are 20-something, poor, college student, but when you are used to the high quality, multi-cultural options of DC, more often than not you are disappointed. Aah the days of Jaleo, Oceanaire, El Pollo Rico, Cafe Asia and Sweetwater Tavern. Excuse me while I drool.

Until you adapt.

As on most Friday nights, I am done with cooking. After a a week of 3 meals a day coming out of my kitchen, I'm cooked. So the debate begins around 4pm as to what and where are we going out to eat. Options are sad. Outback, TGIF, Ruby Tuesday's, The Corner Room (total dive diner), Chili's. All of these franchises with their multi-picture menus make us cringe. But alas, this is what we have. (I know, I know. No need to comment about what I snob I am. It is fully recognized.)

Tonight I wanted bar food. Burger, wings, beer. Back in the college days, we loved Champs. A typical sports bar with more TVs then a BestBuy and food that only tastes great because the beer is cold and cheap. So off we went with the kids in tow.

WHAT A GREAT PLACE! They have a TV on every table. After getting the remote, we switched on SpongeBob and enjoyed a delightful night out. It was almost cheaper than a babysitter. The kids were mesmerized and eating, while Zack and I enjoyed adult conversation, beer and wings.

I think we will go back. At least after we consult what's on the Nickelodeon Channel.

I Want to Make Myself Perfectly Clear

This morning at the breakfast table --

Jean: Hey guys, we picked our summer vacation house. We're going to Maine!

Alexander: Is it at the beach?

Jean: Kind of. We'll be able to walk to the water.

Alexander: Is there a pool?

Jean: No.

Alexander: Well, I am not swimming in the ocean.

So, in case anyone was wondering, the boy has no intention of swimming in any oceans for the foreseeable future.

Great Pictures for the Rehearsal Dinner

You know when something happens and you say to yourself, "this is a keeper"?

Well, CJ and Alexander were playing so lovely together the other day. He was actually letting her pick what they do and play. That is when that special moment occurred.

These pictures will haunt him for the rest of his life, but I think they are wonderful. I especially like that he was insistent on wearing the earrings AND heels. Don't you love a boy who is confident in his boy-hood that he can wear a Cinderella gown over his Lightning McQueen race car pajamas??

Won't we all get a great kick out of these at his wedding rehearsal dinner in about 20 years?