Happy 4th Birthday, Zachary!

Dear Zachary,

Today you turn four years old.  The morning started as it often does, with you climbing into my bed for an early (really early!) morning snuggle with your Mama.  That beautiful little Zachy grin spread across your face when I reminded you that today was your birthday and it made my heart swell with joy.

You are simply the happiest boy I have ever known.  Your smile is infectious and you make me laugh a million times a day.  Sometimes you try to tell me a story with a serious little expression on your face, and I have to hide my smile because even though I know it is serious to you, your expression is so adorable that it just makes me chuckle.

This year you left the comfort of Yaya's house and started preschool.  I was so worried about whether you would be ready, but you made the transition like a pro.  In no time at all you were happily in your new routine and telling me daily stories about all of your new friends...mostly the girls, and mostly about which ones are your girlfriends, and which ones you've "broken up" with.  Yes, you're my little ladies man.

You may be a big preschooler, but you are still my baby.  I love that you still enjoy snuggling up into my lap, and that you let me rock and sing to you each night.  I'm not sure which of us holds on to the other tighter, but I know that your strong embrace makes me feel like the luckiest mom in the world.

Zachary, you are a kind-hearted, fun, sweet, smart, happy and adorable little boy who has beautifully completed our little family.  You make my heart burst with pride every day.  Happy birthday to you, my amazing baby.  I am looking forward to enjoying another adventure filled year with you.

Love,
Mama

PS - Tonight we took you out to a restaurant for your birthday dinner.  For dessert you had an ice cream Sunday, and we sang "Happy Birthday".  As we were leaving our table the man behind us wished you a happy birthday, and told us that his was just a few days earlier.  I chimed in to tell him that mine was on Monday, just two days after yours.  Then you said, "Yup!  And her birthday present was ME!"  Best present ever...  :)

Holiday Confusion

I guess I can't be surprised that after picking out our Christmas tree and trick o' treating on the same day, there is some confusion in our house about what holiday is it, and how we celebrate.

On Monday evening I declared it "Christmas Season" on our way to pick Lexi up at CCD.  This means that we can officially listen to Christmas music in the car.  Zachary was very excited because he loves Christmas music.  But he was also wearing his turkey hat...so...what's the holiday again?

On the way home, while listening to the music he said to me, "Mama, is Christmas Season the day that we eat chicken?"  Where have I gone wrong...?  It makes things a little more complicated that we have also been celebrating his birthday since Friday, but it's not actually until Saturday.  We told him that we would celebrate his birthday with Grammy and Grampy on Thanksgiving...so when a friend of mine asked him what he was most excited for on Thanksgiving he said, "My birthday!"  Maybe we should just make it easier for him and call October to January "HalloBirthThanksMas Season.  That would be less confusing.

But my seven year old is not confused at all.  She knows exactly which day Thanksgiving is, and how many days we have until we celebrate.  She can even tell you our entire schedule between now and then.  She also knows that Zachary's real birthday is Saturday, and mine is Monday, and is marking the days on her home made chart.  However, when Zachary asked, "Mom, is today Christmas?"  Lexi said, "No, Christmas is the last day of December."  Well...she was close!

Dates she is ok with, words to Christmas songs are still a little unclear.  Last night she asked me to play the Christmas song where the girl keeps repeating "99" at the end, really loud.  I had no idea what she was talking about, and in that car ride we never figured it out.  However, this morning we got into the car, and the "Glee" version of "Oh Holy Night" came on.  She said, "This is the song I wanted last night!!"  We didn't get very far in the song before we were at school and she jumped out.  As I drove away the singer started belting out, "Oh, Night Divine!!" and I cracked up.  "Night divine" "99"...makes you wonder what she thought the song was about!  :)

Happy HalloBirthThanksMas!  Enjoy your chicken!

A Wild (Kratts) Party!

One week from today, Zachary will turn four.  I will write his birthday letter then.  Last night he had a birthday party with his best school friends, and their families.  We went back to Imajine That because he had so much fun there last year, and they really make the parties easy for the parents.  Zachary's favorite show is Wild Kratts, and it's a very frequent topic of discussion with his sister.  He was very excited to have a Wild Kratts themed party, but it meant lots of work for mom and dad since there are no Wild Kratts decorations readily available.  Luckily for him, Ahren and I are willing to work a bit, and it worked out great.

While he was opening his gifts last night he said, "I am lucky to be getting all of these presents!"  He is a lucky little boy, and we are lucky to have him.  Here are some pictures of the fun.

Zach and Vann ready to party!

Charlie, Zach and Morgan.  Fadia's Three Amigos.

Jude, Michelle and Ro enjoy some pizza.

Auntie Ali gets some snuggle time with Shane

A long table full of friends!

 

Creature Power!!

Could you sing a little faster??

Yum!

Green Dreams

Zachary, my perfect almost four year old, still loves to nap.  It's a blessing in so many ways, and only occasionally annoying that we still have to plan our days around the "napping black-out period".  This means that on his half days at preschool I have to zip him home, quickly give him a sandwich, and get him right off to bed so that he can get a solid nap in before we have to pick up his big sister at school. 

Despite all that zipping, it also usually means that I have to wake him up in order to get him to the school on time.  While I hate waking him up, I will admit that watching him wake up is pretty cute.  Typically when I walk in the room his eyes pop open, but you can tell he's not actually awake yet.  He stares at the ceiling for a few second before he finally looks right at me, and gives me one of his amazingly bright smiles, and then reaches up for me to pick him up and give him a good snuggle.  It's always one of my happiest moments of those days.  And sometimes he says something to me that makes absolutely no sense at all, or is clearly something he was dreaming about.  Last week when I woke him up from his nap, the moment he looked at me he said, "Mom, can we plant an apple seed in the backyard?"  I wondered for the rest of the day what he was dreaming about that made him ask me that.  It was very cute.  And, luckily he forgot all about his desire for an apple tree, because we already have one fruit tree too many in our yard.  :)

Not Late

Me to Lexi on our way to dance this morning:
"Lexi, guess what?  We're not late."
Lexi: "Really?  That's...impossible."
This may give you an idea of how we usually roll.

In Her Own Words

Since she learned how to write, Lexi has been leaving love notes for us everywhere.  They used to say, "Dear Mom, I love you.  Love, Lexi".  But as she has grown older, her notes have become more involved.  Two weeks ago Ahren bought her (another) little notebook at the store to write her notes in.  Here are some samples of her most recent work...

Halloween, Or Groundhog's Day?

Last November I posted about our most unusual Halloween that was postponed and extended due to an unprecedented Nor'easter that hit just days before Halloween, knocking out power and toppling trees all over the surrounding area.  It was a completely bizarre, once in a lifetime event...so we thought...until it happened again this year!  About 10 days before Halloween I started hearing reports that a massive hurricane was headed out way, and rather than heading out to sea, as they normally do once they get this far north, it was going to take a left hand turn and smack right into us again.  The timing?  Two days before Halloween.  How could this possibly happen again?? 

After two years in a row, the kids are going to think carving pumpkins is just one of the ways we prepare for big storms!

Totally icky - Zach's in HEAVEN!!

Zach's seeds had sprouted inside his pumpkin!

 

Lexi loves scooping the seeds!

 Sure enough, as the days passed the path become more and more clear, and while (luckily for us) the direct impact of the storm was further south, the impact was, once again, hard enough to cause another postponed Halloween.  The storm devastated many parts of New York and New Jersey, which makes me feel incredibly lucky that all of our trees remained standing, and we only lost power for four hours.  I really thought we were spared, but driving around the next day, seeing trees completely toppled, roots in the air, and all of the debris left from the whipping winds was really surreal. 

We are all safe and sound, and no damage to our home, so the big question became, "What about trick or treating?!?!"  North Andover postponed from Wednesday to Saturday, but Ahren and I would be at a wedding on Saturday night and felt terrible about missing it, even though Gigi and Poppy had offered to take the kids.  Luckily, our great friends who live in Andover were happy when we invited ourselves to their neighborhood to trick or treat there.

My little jazz dancer, and our very own super hero!

The great neighborhood that adopted us for the evening.

I was so glad that we went!  The neighborhood was small and quiet, and Lexi and Zach were, for the first time, at an age where they really loved trick or treating!  Lexi was timid at first, but after about three houses she was running ahead to the next house, only slowing down when we asked her to wait for her little brother.  She was polite, told people what her costume was, thanked them for the candy, and wasn't even scared at the scary houses!  Ahren and I were able to stroll along, happily watching the kids have a blast.  Zachary, of course, was his usual charismatic self.  After one house he returned to the street and told me, "I put on my eyebrows for her!" (he likes to lift and lower his eyebrows as a way of greeting people, especially women, these days.  He knows he gets a big reaction out of it every time).  At another house he asked the woman if she would like to hear a song, and went on to sing, "Trick or treat.  Smell my feet.  Give me something good to eat.  If you don't, I don't care.  I'll pull down your underwear."  !!!  Luckily she was amused and not appalled. 

All in all it was great fun, and I'm even a little grateful to Hurricane Sandy for "forcing" us to Andover for trick or treating.  It was a wonderful night!  And tomorrow, the kids get to do it all over again!  What fun!