Christian's new trick

After a super fun weekend with the MN relatives, Christian is proud of his new "waverunner" spin. He says, "now i am just like Lance!"

The funniest part about this: we're not sure WHICH Lance he means... :)

All 3 of those Levitans were racing up and down the driveway on the plasmacars all weekend long. It was more fun than a barrel of monkeys-- or just about anything else!

I'm sure dave captured those moments on HIS camera-- but i have yet to review the footage... so for now, here is what young C has taken from the weekend:

Thanks for an unforgettable time, guys!

We love you and miss you already...

engageaversary

As a kid I always thought February was the best month because it was my birthday month.

As an adult it just seemed to be that shortest, yet lonnnngest month between winter and spring, when, aside from my birthday, there was really nothing good about it.

But then I got engaged on February 11th, 2006, and everything changed.

Now, every February for the rest of my married life, I get to look forward to Birthday-Engageaversary-Valentine Week!! Or Birthgageatine, if you'd prefer to shorten it.

The week and a half when we take time to really celebrate the gift that I am to Dave, he is to me, and we are to each other! And let me tell ya, this makes February a WHOLE lot more fun, and go a whole lot faster than it used to.

This past saturday we celebrated our 5th engageaversary at Bistro Romano in Philly, where i'd been once before, years ago, and have been wanting to revisit ever since. some people might think it a little silly to celebrate and make such an occasion out of the anniversary of our engagement. but to us it is something SO worth celebrating. and it was such a beautiful night, we never want to forget it!

I wore the same outfit I wore 6 years ago, when Dave took me out to dinner at a fancy little restaurant in Miami, FL, where we sat on a couch together and ate something lovely (i don't remember what, even tho i took pictures of it... but i do remember the butter sculpture was a little elephant).

We sat in the romantic wine cellar basement of Bistro Romano, recounting the events and our feelings of that fateful night... and once again enjoying some marvelous food...

Dave had some kind of tuna steak.

i had these adorable heart-shaped shrimp and asparagus ravioli:

and for dessert, dave had his favorite--

and i had my official NEW favorite:

CHOCOLATE MOUSSE covered CREAM PUFFS!!!!!!

These alone were worth the $25 parking garage!!

We LOVED this restaurant, and HIGHLY recommend it for anyone who's looking for a romantic evening out with REALLY excellent food -- it is located right near South Street, and Penn's Landing-- so you could make a whole fun day out of it.

It was a fabulous evening, complete with lightly falling snow, dreams of the future, and two fab-o babysitters (gramsy and grampy, who claim to have had more fun than we possibly could have)!

ready to go!

This little Kutie Pie is really koming into his own lately:

He learned to 'flip and zip' his koat like a big boy recently (and is actually more adept at it than his brother!) ... he demands to do it every time we get ready to go somewhere now. if i put his jacket on for him, he starts whining and wriggling out of it saying, "fip/zip"... he's def. two!

so this morning i turned around to him with christian's backpack on... upside down...

heading for the basement steps... saying... "Ready to go!" Apparently he's ready for school too!

He looked so proud of himself, i had to get some shots.

The best part? He left it on for another 30 minutes or so-- including kartoon time...

Such a FUN little K-man!!! u r sooo KOOL!

We ADORE YOU!!!!

my funny valentines

Kyren and I dropped C off at school for his Valentine Party (after quickly cutting out 12 extra construction paper hearts for the 4 yr old class that i forgot would be joining the 5 three yr olds we'd already made hearts for... it's the Mom Life)

and then went to Dunkin Donuts for a little Valentine Date. Free coffee for Mommy, and a munchkin for the Munchkin.

Then we went to CVS to peruse the candy aisle, but upon entering, there were about 8-10 bright red mylar balloons with various Valentinian greetings on them, just bobbing around with their little plastic 'weights' keeping them all neatly in a shopping basket, next to the registers. Kyren went straight to work taking them all out of the basket and carrying them around, lining them up, tripping over the strings, etc...

As if that's exactly what they were there for, I let him.

My husband would have been mortified.

But it's not like he was doing any real harm!

And we put them all back when he was done... a few times.

All except for one, which of course, we had to leave with.

Because, really, how could you resist the joy on this face??

The child was in his glory, and would not let go of that balloon virtually the rest of the day. He even watched cartoons with it in his lap while I made pumpkin bread and Daddy's favorite Valentine dessert.

Then we took some pumpkin bread to the poor sick grandparents... and my 2 little red-shirts wished the doggy a happy heart day through the nice new front door.

Then we raced back home to clean up ourselves and the house for my Big Valentine's arrival.

I locked the boys (not really) in C's room with a movie and a bowl of crackers, cheese and dried apples, and a couple of leak proof sippy cups and told them they could have a special Valentine picnic.

Really, it was to give Mommy and Daddy some quiet candlelight time in the diningroom, where we enjoyed our traditional take-out from Macaroni Grill (my FAVE!)

Sweet Hubby arrived with pink gerber daisies

and we made it through a few bites of food before the boys appeared -- we chatted for a few minutes and then they couldn't believe their ears when i told them they could go watch another movie! :)

snowride

It snowed an inch or so overnight (i think that makes 2 inches for the winter!) , and we woke up to winter wonderland outside. Trees covered in snow, and big beautiful flakes still falling. We quickly (again, a relative term) got ready and went out to take advantage of the fact that it was a.) Dad-urday, b.) the perfect snow for snowman making, and c.) probably going to melt by tomorrow.

I was a little nervous about Kyren, since last time he spent about 2 minutes in the snow and wanted nothing to do with it. But this time he was like a different kid! He's been talking up a storm in the last couple of weeks-- adding a couple more sentences to his repetoir. And he's overall more independent, adorable, and full of energy and excitement for life.

Upon arriving outside today, he was immediately busy shoveling, digging w/the excavator, and eating the snow, and when i pulled him across the yard in the sled for the first time, he promptly said, "snow ride-- do again!" It was probably the cutest thing ever.... Until he and Christian started waving at the cars, proudly, next to their giant snowman. THAT was the cutest thing ever. Until... we got out 5 or 6 little American flags, and they started poking them into the snowman, giving him extra arms, and waving THEM at the passersby. It was a scene out of some kind of hallmark movie, i swear. Cutest. Thing. Ever.

But the cuteness didn't stop once we came inside. K still clinging to a couple of flags, began dancing around the livingroom, half naked. . . and then C decided we should have a parade ... and everyone had to march around the house. Koo got really into it, sing-songing, "Mawch, Mawch. Pa-wade. Pa-wade!"

It was tough to capture on film, b/c they didn't hold still for a second, and most of the time we were being given strict orders to keep marching.

The rest of the day's been spent by the fire and napping.

And tonight my hubby and i celebrate our engageaversary. . . when 6 yrs. ago today, he asked me to be his wife, under the moonlit skies of a quiet Miami beach.

Standing with him in the snow today, our boys frolicking around us, I told him there was no other place i'd rather be than in that moment with him, and our little family...

my, how precious these 6 years have been!

33

Last week we celebrated my birthday with Maddy.

So fun to have her here for a whole week!

We got to have some fun girl time (thanks to my sweet Hubby, and Gramsy/Poppy). . .

and she gave me the coolest gifts! It's so wonderful to have a friend who knows how to bless you with the littlest things!! And who genuinely loves your children, and takes time to make them feel special too. Such a treat to have here here twice in one year!

On my actual bday...

As always, Mom did up the table in style, and even did her own flower arrangement since poor Grampy was recovering from Bronchitis. I think she did a pretty stellar job!!

That evening Dave surprised me with an overnight trip to The Woolverton Inn. We had such a nice time and highly recommend it for a romantic getaway. We tried to walk around New Hope the next morning but most of the shops were closed. It was a beautiful sunny day though, and we sipped coffee and enjoyed strolling by the river, sans kiddos.

I look at these photos and think, wow, i guess it's time to start wearing make-up. But really, getting older isn't half bad when you realize you couldn't possibly want any more than you already have!

the slightly eventful day.

today was groundhog day.

i never knew you could do so many crafts having to do with groundhogs. but C came home with 3 of them from school. a groundhog mask. a little pop-up groundhog on a stick, and a brightly painted RED groundhog driving a convertible. not sure what the story was behind that one!

But aside from this minor holiday (apparently), it was a day full of fun little events that don't usually happen.

poppy came to c's school to show and tell about his birdnest collection:

he has the greatest collection in all the land, and knows everything there is to know about birds and how they live, move, and have their being. Everything a preschool class could ever want to know!

Christian looks interested, in the above picture, but spent most of the presentation rolling around on the mat, completely disinterested. the only kid in the class who wasn't paying attention. i caught it all on tape, so we can show him what a disrespectful audience member looks like. it's also incredibly amusing.

Kyren got to spend some quality time with Maddy, which worked out really nicely for all of us. Thank you, Maddy!

Then birdnests for snack. they looked just like the real thing!

Afterward Poppy got to see C's Classroom for the first time... and the infamous Hess truck. His Fave.

k got to ring the bell. 

then threw a "kantrum"(which is K's passive-aggressive version of a tantrum; lots of attitude, but without the yelling, crying or screaming...videos to come...) in the parking lot, and proceeded to roll under the Tahoe. which turned into playtime with 'mo-bike'...under the Tahoe.

Then, while eating his lunch, k got ahold of ant poison that was sitting (high) up on the counter. aww, his first call to Poison Control.

That makes the boys even.

i had to call once for Christian after I gave him a children's vitamin when he was still pretty tiny.... and then read on the label that you shouldn't give them to children under 5, due to a possible Iron overdose. "And how did your son get ahold of the vitamin, Mrs. Brown?"

Fortunately both calls resulted in the expert telling me that they'd have to consume the whole bottle for there to be any kind of *possible* harm. So not only do you feel guilty for having to call poison control, but then you hang up feeling a little dumb. Ahh, motherhood.

on a completely unrelated note...

You can't imagine before you're a parent, that the subject of a child's elimination habits would ever be so important to you that you would want to talk about them to other people. . . let alone blog about them. But when you spend every day for 3.5 years wiping bottoms for a living, you just can't imagine how elated it is going to make you when your child takes over that job for himself, for the very first time.

It was an afternoon like any other... my little man asked me sweetly if we could go have some "poopy time" (it really has become a bonding experience... i know, totally weird-sounding to anyone who's never made the bathroom a chatroom) ... i told him to go 'get started' and i'd be in in a minute... which i promptly forgot to do... until i heard the toilet flush and the water running in the sink... and moments later, a very proud little boy galloping down the hallway, grinning from ear to ear. what's so amazing is that i think my excitement far outweighed his. it truly was a milestone moment.

and to top it all off...

k's first sentence emerged later that evening: "i did a poopy diaper." --ok! we'll take it! (i think he realized how excited Mommy gets over poop... and wanted some of that excited approval for himself)

i couldn't be more proud of both my boys! (can you tell??)

definitely an exciting day all-around!!