Danny Makes My Mother's Day

A beaming Danny emerged from our carpool's van today waving this note from one of his teachers:

(Just in case you can't read it, I am happy to transcribe: "Liz, What a delightful boy Danny is! He has gone beyond the call of duty today in helpfulness; I love his spunk and joyful attitude. You have certainly raised a marvelous son. Happy Mother's Day, Pokey Gustafson")

Happy Mother's Day, indeed!

Their First Recital

 

Although Clare has been taking piano for three years now, yesterday was her first piano recital. And although Danny has only been taking piano for about two months now, yesterday was also his first piano recital. Both of them were a combination of nervous and excited. Both of them performed with focused intensity. And both of them made us very proud!

Before the recital, I took the opportunity to take some photos of our pianists, since they were both looking exceptionally nice.

Laura was not going to the recital but staying home with a sitter, which is why she looks like a ragamuffin - but she did not want to be left out of the photo op.

Meanwhile, Danny found a tiny caterpillar that matched his shirt exactly.

Here are the two pianists mid-performance (Danny was second on the program, Clare third from last of 15):

Not too shabby, playing on a Steinway grand...

To celebrate their accomplishments, and to take advantage of our toddler-free evening, we had a very grown-up dinner (and alfresco beverages) at Canoe. Lovely kids, lovely evening!

Mama, Don't Let Your Baby Grow Up to Play Football

If I'm honest, Danny probably outgrew his cowboy bedroom a couple of years ago. Being a male, though, he didn't notice/mention/care about his room decor, so I let it ride. I still remember vividly transforming his room into a cowboy and bunk bed haven, because that meant he was finally potty trained.

Time marches on, however, and so does Danny's sports obsession - particularly with football. And hey, Target makes it so darn easy to swap out window valences and bedding. Oh, I should also mention that there is a touch of wolf, too, including a painting by Grammy and a ginormous stuffed version he received for his birthday. (Wolfie is now BFFs with Richard Parker, the life-size tiger previously known as Antonio.)

Watching Danny play with his new samurai fortress last night, I was struck by the fact that he's at a great age right now: young enough to happily play with toys on the floor, old enough to be (relatively) reasonable and independent. Before I know it, he'll be way too cool for me to bring Burger King and his baby sister to school for a birthday lunch, and requesting heaven only knows for his interior design. Frankly, I hope he's moved beyond football by then, but I am learning not to plan too far ahead and enjoy this time when he still believes he can grow up to be anything he wants.

Danny's Pre-First Birthday Bash

The nature of the Pre-First beast is that you get a lot of spring birthdays. So when we realized that Danny's birthday fell in the same week as two other classmates (and there are only 13 kids in the class), the three mothers who were involved got to talking. And planned what we were delighted to think was going to be the easiest - but very fun - birthday party ever. The boys just wanted to play football, and a jumpy house makes everyone happy. Throw in some cupcakes and a few snacks, request no gifts, schedule it for a Sunday afternoon, and you're done!

All of these things did, in fact, happen - along with a torrential rainstorm. The host mom wisely advised the families to pack a change of clothes, and so the P-1 class proceeded to have a wet and wild time. The jumpy slide-turned-water slide was a huge hit, and I am delighted to say no one was injured. Meanwhile, after forcing his dad to do this for a while:

Danny's buddy Ivan showed up (top photo), and they soon devised a game where Ivan (who preferred not to get drenched) would pass the football to Danny as he came down the slide. Pure joy.

Ultimately, the kids dried off, came inside for food, and then kept themselves busy with Twister, foosball and more. It was old school, and it made for this bunch of perfectly satisfied customers:

Happy #7 to Danny, Mary Margaret and Carter!

Our Growing Flower

My original caption for this photo was, "Unclear on the concept." But then a friend jokingly said, "She's a growing flower!" And I decided she was right.

Laura is definitely growing, sometimes painfully, other times charmingly so. Her hair is long enough for piggy tails, and she loves to wear tutus, preferably purple. She's using her imagination to play, even independently on occasion (huzzah!). I am now frequently able to reason with her, so that "you can eat that/watch that/do that after we xxx" is acceptable to her (well, most of the time). She is still very mommy-focused, although Clare and Danny are quite appealing as well - and boy, was she pleased with herself when Danny shared the shower last night. Par-tay.

One of her more common lines of conversation these days is, "When I'm a big girl, I can ..." This is often followed with "have coffee," "have wine," "have gum."  She also asks almost every day to go to school, then says "When I'm bigger?" We'll see if she's still singing that tune come August, when it's time for her to start preschool. Which I am most definitely looking forward to...but at the same time, she's growing fast enough.

Basement: After

The delay between the Before and After posts is no reflection on our construction crew. They were incredibly swift and finished in roughly four weeks. It's just taken me this long to get furniture, take pictures, etc. Of course there's still plenty of blank wall space, and I'm not even showing you the chaotic storage areas. Nevertheless, the basement is open for business and has enjoyed lots of Lego and TV time, and even hosted my neighborhood book club. Oh, and Quincy has recovered quite nicely and fully enjoys napping on the new couch down there.

This is now, by far, the nicest bathroom in the house.

Easter & Spring Break 2013

The above photo summarizes our trip better than I can, though of course that won't stop me from writing more or posting more photos. It was another magical week of time with family, interspersed with erratic behavior from a certain toddler who struggled to adjust to the time change just a tad. You can get away with a lot when you're two (and maybe a little too much when you're the third child, but we're addressing that). She did come away from the week able to sing "Bee bi biddily i oh," so it was an overall success for her, too.

We kicked things off with a trip to the beach to help pass the time before the cousins arrived. Danny and Clare were in their glory, playing some mystery game together that incorporated Laura when she was willing. Laura was fairly cautious on the beach, but enjoyed "going for a little walk" and looking for seashells, all of which she insisted on storing in Tim's pocket.

Following a tasty lunch at In-N-Out, we returned home and soon the Needhams arrived. From then on, it was a whirlwind of playing outside, eating, movies, Easter, the zoo, the beach and hero worship of Uncle John by Danny (but not Laura - ha!).

Dyeing eggs

Easter finery

Zoo cool

Post- egg hunt

We are so blessed to have so many marvelous memories with our families. We love you all!