The Mighty Quinn

Tico Time

2012-01-26T07:05:00.001-05:00

We are having a great week in Jaco. Here are some shots from the last couple of days.

Sunset at our favorite fish taco restaurant, Bubbas.

And our favorite local beer, Imperial.

A view from the ocean to our hotel at low tide.

A view down the beach towards the town.

The Boy.

It was a really warm day today with not a cloud in the sky. We had a spectacular sunset. This is from our room.

Just a couple more days in paradise but we plan to make the most of it.

Loving Life

2012-01-23T17:24:00.001-05:00

We had a rough start to our vacation with a couple of inches of snow in NJ. Our 9:30 am departure turned in to a 3:00 pm departure that included 3+ hours sitting on the runway and going thru 4 de-icings. But we made it.

I wish I could say things improved upon arrival but we continued with our bad luck. Our car seat cover got caught in the conveyor belt and it took a team of industrious Ticos to free it. We were happy to see our driver who whisked us away to Jaco (a 90 minute drive from the airport). We were about 5 minutes from our hotel when we encountered a closed bridge due to a drunk gringo driving his rental off the road. Our driver helped us haul our luggage to the hotel where we were excited to get our room with pre-arranged groceries including cold beer and sandwiches. Unfortunately they forgot to place the order and we arrived to an empty fridge. My hero Don hailed a taxi and got us enough food and drink to get us through to the next day.

Everything looked up from that point on. A beautiful beach, warm water, pool, sun, and absolutely nothing to bitch about.

A view from the pool to our room.

Quinn is having so much fun in the water and sand. He is absolutely fearless with the waves. After he gets knocked down by one he gets up with a smile ready to conquer the next one. Don rented a surf board and boogie board today. Quinn had a blast even though he took a bit of a beating from the ocean.

Don had great success on the surfboard catching a wave on his first attempt. He's 30 pounds lighter and much fitter than his previous surf outings in California. He had alot of fun out there!

Q even caught a wave.

My two favorite guys hanging 20.

We were looking forward to some much needed R&R and Jaco has well exceeded our expectations. It's going to be a great week. It gets even better tomorrow when Brad and his girls join in on the fun.

Hasta la vista!

{{Posted on the road somewhere fabulous}}

Looking Fresh

2012-01-21T06:12:00.001-05:00

Someone got a way overdue haircut and is looking mighty fresh.

Snow to Sand

2012-01-21T06:07:00.000-05:00

Today we are hopefully going to leave this behind:

And arrive to this:

Rock n Roll

2012-01-17T16:37:00.002-05:00

Sometimes Quinn is in the mood to be a Rock Star. Saturday was one of those days. We pulled out the guitar and turned it up loud!

Making some noise!

Even the angry bird gets in on the action.

Downward Don

2012-01-11T10:20:00.001-05:00

Don shook things up at the gym on Tuesday and took a Power Yoga class. He practiced some of his poses with Quinn last night.

Quinn's pretty good at this. I asked him if he learned this at school and he said that Miss Bess taught him. Hmmmm, I'm going to have to ask about this.

Look at the form on these two. Wow!

Sick Day

2012-01-10T07:32:00.002-05:00

I should have listened to my mom instinct. When I got Quinn up for school yesterday he was particularly unhappy. It crossed my mind to keep him home but I just moved on with the morning and took him to school and went to Spin class at the gym. For some reason, I took my phone in to spin (which I rarely do) and accidentally placed it where I could see it (which I never do). 45 minutes in to class I saw my phone light up. It was school. Quinn had thrown up and was in the nurses office. When I got to school the poor guy looked pathetic.

Once we got home and got in our pajamas he seemed to make a quick recovery and ate 2 pieces of honey toast. Then it was a play day at home. The hot wheels are still getting alot of play and Quinn frequently asks us to 'make them even more awesome'. These tracks get some frequent reconfiguration.

He loves to set up stuff for the hot wheels to knock over.

I'm just not one of those moms that loves to get down on the floor and play with their kid for hours. That's just not me. Never was, never will be. But sometimes I come up with a clever idea like this domino tower for the cars to knock over.

Success!

Don said that when he was a kid, he and his brother would run the hot wheels tracks all over the house. I can see that Quinn will be the same way. I snapped this shot the other day when Marli was babysitting.

Quinn finished off his day with a bowl of yogurt and cereal and seemed to have made a full recovery. It will be home on Tuesday and hopefully a healthy day.

December Daily Recap

2012-01-10T07:01:00.001-05:00

I love doing the December Daily. I love it even more when it's finished. And it is!! December Daily is a project that was started by Ali Edwards. Ali is a professional memory keeper and blogger whose work I find very inspiring. And I love her modern twist on scrapbooking.

You may wonder what happens to all the photos and layouts that I post on my blog. I use Ali's templates and suggestions as a starting point and then add my own personal style. My style is a little bit cleaner than Ali's and doesn't include as many embellishments. This is how my December Daily turned out this year.

This years book is about a 7 x 9. For the cover and back pages, I cut a piece of cardboard to 7x9 and glued on Christmas cardstock. I added a couple of embellishments to the cover that came with the cardstock kit.

I used a 3-hole punch and pulled it all together with binder rings.

For each day in December, I created either 1 or 3 pages of photos (except the day I didn't have any sleep and created 2 pages). This made the book consistent with a new day always starting on the right hand side. On the left hand side I used the xmas card stock and sometimes embellished it a little bit.

The photo layouts are sized 6 x 8.5 and I printed them out on 8.5x11 photo paper. I then trimmed each page to 6 x 8.5 so it was the photo layout only. This year I decided to put all my pages in protectors. I found some 6 x 10 page protectors that I cut down to 6 x 8.5 size and repunched the holes for the binder.

On some pages I added a couple of small embellishments (star on the left page, ornament on the right page).

I'm really happy with the way the book turned out this year. And I'm sure next years will be even better!

Quinn's House

2012-01-09T14:35:00.001-05:00

Sunday we were all feeling a little lazy so we just hung around the house all day. At one point Don and Quinn were sitting on the couch and Quinn mentioned something about "his house". Don reminded him that it was his house too. At which point Quinn said "But my pictures are hanging on the wall. Are there any pictures of you Papa?". Pretty funny!

The Moon Followed Us Home

2012-01-08T08:59:00.001-05:00

Yesterday in the late afternoon we were driving home from a failed adventure when Quinn noticed the almost full moon high in the sky. He kept an eye on it to make sure that it followed us home. Once we got home Don found the binoculars and they went out to get a closer look at the moon.

I'm not sure what's being said here but I can tell that Quinn is asking or explaining something.

Then Quinn's smart Papa took him upstairs to get an even closer look of the moon on the computer. Over dinner Quinn taught me all about the craters on the moon and how they are formed by asteroids.

Race Car Driver

2012-01-05T17:11:00.000-05:00

Our little man has proclaimed that he wants to be a race car driver when he grows up. A couple days after that proclamation I ran across this great shirt.

Oh, and he loves to make funny faces whenever I pull out my camera. I think we'll be seeing alot of this tongue in 2012.

New Year's Day Photos

2012-01-03T13:34:00.003-05:00

On New Year's Day 2008, Don took a bunch of pictures of Quinn and I. This was one of my favorites from that day. Look at that chubby, chubby Quinn.

We repeated the process on New Year's Day 2009 in Seattle. Again my favorite from that day. If I remember correctly, Quinn wasn't in a very cooperative stage. He would have been about 15 months old.

And 2010 in NJ.

We skipped 2011 and here we are at New Year's Day 2012. Here are my faves.

Miss Bess taught Quinn how to sit 'criss-cross-applesauce' (although I hope he's not sitting on her back ;).

This last one is my favorite of the bunch.

I'm still wearing that pink shirt but we decided Quinn should probably have on my than his Thomas undies this year.

Project Life 2011: Completed

2012-01-03T12:56:00.000-05:00

I'm so happy I stumbled across Project Life in December last year. For me, it's a simple way of documenting every day life and it can be as fancy or as simple as you want it to be. I have over 20,000 pictures but before Project Life I rarely printed out any photos. Now I print out at least one photo a day. It's been so fulfilling for me to photograph, print, and document our family. I know that boys aren't very sentimental and Quinn may never really be interested in these books, but I enjoy doing it and working on my photography skills. I hope to continue to improve my photography skills but also put an emphasis on my storytelling. Sometimes I'm just a little too factual without conveying the feeling and emotions of the day.

Here's a look at the binders for 2011.

And the title page for 2011. I'm so lucky to have found a network of women on the web that are willing to share digital designs and templates so I can personalize my storytelling.

This book is a great place to store not only pictures but all the other stuff that comes up in daily life, especially with a 4 year old. And would I ever remember the January 21, 2011 where I wrote "It snowed again today. Quinn called the oven repair man Mister Grandpa. Quinn had strawberries in the morning and smelled sweet all day." When I'm old and gray I will probably love looking through these books and reading the stories.

Sometimes I do a picture and story a day but I love that it allows me to go with the flow. Here I took two pages where I would normally document the full week and I just included pictures from Quinn's birthday party.

So here I am again, getting ready to start another Project Life. And how fitting that there's a new version out called Clementine. Orange!!

2012 Title Page.

All my supplies ready to go.

Thank you Project Life!!

December Daily: Day 25

2012-01-01T12:01:00.002-05:00

December Daily: Day 24

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December Daily: Day 23

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December Daily: Day 22

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December Daily: Day 21

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December Daily: Day 20

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December Daily: Day 19

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December Daily: Day 18

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December Daily: Day 17

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December Daily: Day 16

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December Daily: Day 15

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December Daily: Day 14

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December Daily: Day 13

2011-12-15T10:34:00.000-05:00

ps....scroll down to the bottom of this post to see Quinn and I working on his letter to Santa.

December Daily: Day 12

2011-12-15T10:33:00.000-05:00

December Daily: Day 11

2011-12-13T09:15:00.001-05:00

December Daily: Day 10

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December Daily: Day 9

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December Daily: Day 8

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December Daily: Day 7

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December Daily: Day 6

2011-12-13T06:25:00.000-05:00

Shower Scene

2011-12-12T09:42:00.000-05:00

What do you get when a little boy wants to race balls but his father wants him to take a shower?

This:

Quinn has one very clever and inventive papa.

I Apologize for the Interruption of Service

2011-12-10T16:42:00.001-05:00

Yes, I'm a little behind in my December Daily and blog posts. My sweet husband bought me Mac desktop as a belated birthday present and we've been busy getting all my files moved over and me up and running on it. Hopefully I'll be back in business tomorrow.

In the meantime, check out this super-duper-cuteness!

I'll be posting again soon!

December Daily: Day 5

2011-12-06T08:29:00.001-05:00

December Daily: Day 4

2011-12-06T08:07:00.001-05:00

December Daily: Day 3

2011-12-04T09:35:00.001-05:00

December Daily: Day 2

2011-12-03T08:54:00.001-05:00

I'm sorry my page is sad today but this is pretty much all I thought about today. I'm documenting real life.

December Daily: Day 1

2011-12-02T13:14:00.001-05:00

Hello December! I'm so happy to see you again. It's time to start my December Daily. I learned so much last year and hope that this year is as much fun. So here you go....

Tree Topper

2011-11-29T23:50:00.000-05:00

The house is almost fully decorated and twinkling bright! We have 5 Christmas trees of various sizes around the house with the main ones being a real one in the family room, a small fiber optic tree in Quinn's room, and of course the one in the top front window that Don put up in early November.

We continued our tradition with putting The Buddy on top of the main tree. This year Quinn got in the act and helped Don place The Buddy.

Don told Quinn to make sure The Buddy faced the easel so Quinn was checking on his placement.

Don got it perfectly set and Quinn was double checking the placement to make sure The Buddy was looking the right direction.

Oh buddy! You look great on top of our tree!

Snapshots

2011-11-28T23:42:00.001-05:00

Someone turned the camera on me!

But that doesn't mean that I missed my shot. My aspiring photographer.

We can't leave Don out of this.

And a joint effort. Smooches!

Ground Zero Day

2011-11-23T10:00:00.000-05:00

We took Corky and Meg in to the city on Monday to visit the Ground Zero site. You need to reserve the tickets ahead of time but they are free. We took a train in that runs directly from Newark Penn Station to the World Trade Center. It's a bargain at $4.00 round trip and the ride is only 20 minutes. I think we just discovered a new way to get in to the city.

Don took the day off, but there was too much going on at work to not check his blackberry frequently. He also had a conference call with his boss later in the day. Poor guy.

The motion and gentle sounds of the train put one little guy right to sleep.

This is the World Trade Center (WTC) train station. Lots of construction going on and lots of construction workers around.

The light and very reflective buildings were wreaking havoc on my photography so some of the photos may look a little funky, like this one below. You can see the Freedom Tower (or WTC 1) on the left.

This is the South Memorial Pool with the yet unopened Museum in the background. The names of all those lost in 9/11 are etched in bronze around 2 separate pools.

The 2,983 names of the victims of the 9/11 and 1993 attacks are inscribed in bronze parapets surrounding the twin Memorial pools. The arrangement of names is based on a system of “meaningful adjacencies” that reflect where the victims were on 9/11 and relationships they shared with others who were lost that day. Broadly, names are placed within nine primary groups and within those groups, names are arranged by affiliation, so that the employees of a company or passengers of a flight are together. The arrangement also honors more than 1,200 requests made by victims’ next-of-kin and surviving colleagues for specific names to be next to one another .

You can see the special attention that was given to this tree.

All but one of the Memorial trees are swamp white oaks. The one that is not is a Callery pear tree, known as the Survivor Tree because it once stood on the original WTC plaza. After 9/11, it was nursed back to health and now thrives again at the site.

A family self portrait taken in the reflection of the museum.

A reflection of the Freedom Tower in the museum.

After all the heavy stuff of Ground Zero, we walked to the other side of the island to Southstreet Seaport. It's a busting pier with restaurants, shops, water taxis, tall ships, etc. We had lunch outside overlooking the water on a beautiful day.

It was great to check out some new sites in NYC and experience the city without having to drive in. A great day all around!

Red Bank

2011-11-22T08:30:00.001-05:00

Corky and Meg visited for a pre-Thanksgiving celebration. Quinn was excited to have his Grandpa and Grandma Meg here because he gets lots of extra attention. On Sunday morning we all headed to the gym for a 9:30 am Spin class. The teacher was very helpful to the two newbies we brought along but he was also one of the tougher teachers we've had in a while. But, we all survived and were energized to start our day.

We headed south east to the little town of Red Bank which is known for it's arty and eclectic downtown area. It also has a nice river waterfront. We had a hard time keeping the little one sand and water free.

Oh What a Night

2011-11-20T07:03:00.001-05:00

What is going on here?

Quinn often finds unique places to hide and watch his video. You can often find him under a kitchen stool or under the kitchen table. In this case, he decided to lie down in the alcove by the door to the garage to watch a video. I'm not sure how much time had passed before Don and I noticed it was pretty quiet over there. He was sound asleep at 7 pm.

This is a tricky situation for us. Do we put him to bed and hope he sleeps through the night or wake him up knowing he'll be up until 11 pm? We decided to put him to bed. Bad move. He woke up at 11 pm and was up until about 8 am. Oh What a Night!

Lego Issues

2011-11-19T08:00:00.000-05:00

This little boy has Lego issues.

The Buddy Picnic

2011-11-18T16:33:00.001-05:00

When I pick Quinn up from school, there is always lots of stuff in his cubby. Sometimes it's fun stuff like the dream catcher he made at school today. Other times it's business related non-fun stuff. I was really excited when I saw this in his cubby a week or so ago.

We let Quinn pick out any stuffed animal he wanted and he chose the buddy. This stuffed animal was given to Don and I by mom after Apollo died in 2003 (?). Don and I used to have so much fun with this buddy hiding him in each other's suit cases and other funny places to surprise each other. Quinn has also taken a liking to him and was very excited to take him to school for a picnic. He even wore a special tie shirt for the picnic :)

It was sprinkling just a tiny bit the day of the picnic and Quinn asked me to use the umbrella, which we didn't have in the car. Instead he zipped the buddy up in his jacket to stay dry and warm. This camera-toting mama was sorry I didn't capture that image but it was very sweet. Quinn and the buddy had a great time at school and enjoyed a great big cracker for their picnic.

Today when I picked up Quinn from school I found this in his cubby.

Just one more reason to love Sundance.

November Fun

2011-11-16T07:09:00.001-05:00

On Tuesday we had two very fun playdates at our house. Lots of boy fun was had. After a playdate, Quinn always needs a little down time. He likes to curl up in the recliner and watch TV or a little video.

We are having some unseasonably warm weather so we all went outside to enjoy before it started raining. Our street is a mess with leaves and branches waiting for the town to come by and take them away. But Quinn and Lucas had a great time racing down the driveway and crashing in to the giant leaf pile at the end of the street.

The pumpkin that Quinn painted over a month ago at Terhune Farms has survived the weather and the squirrels. He's been asking to make a Jack-o-Lantern so tonight we finally got around to carving our pumpkin. Quinn was telling me exactly how to carve it. The pumpkin had to have two triangle eyes, a triangle nose, and a happy face not a scary one. It was alot of "Miss Bess said to....". And "Mrs. A said to never touch the stem...". It's nice to hear him relay what he's learned from school.

Here are our two little pumpkins.

Canoe Trip

2011-11-15T08:15:00.001-05:00

On Saturday we headed south to Princeton to take a canoe trip down the D & R Canal. Quinn was pretty excited and even got his own little Quinn sized paddle. Off we go.

We expected to see more fall foliage but the trees were pretty brown.

A view over my shoulder of the canoe captain. Don did a great job of keeping us on course.

Four Year Well Visit

2011-11-14T17:10:00.001-05:00

Last week Quinn had his 4 year old well visit with Dr. Lois who is so kind and gentle with the kids. And they love her back. She put him through a battery of developmental tests and he thought it was great fun. Running to and from the door, batting around a paper ball, writing his name, etc. Of course he checks out aok.

Quinn now stands 43" tall (93rd percentile) and weighs 41 pounds (83rd percentile).

We were waiting to see Dr. Lois and Q was using his super skills to listen through the door in to his ears.

My Visit to Sundance

2011-11-10T06:29:00.000-05:00

It seems like Quinn just started the new school year but it's already time to start thinking about the next school year. Sundance invites parents to visit their kids current classroom and also see what is in store for them next year. I signed up just so I could get a peak at Quinn in his school environment with his classmates.

I visited him in the "readiness room" where they work on basic skills like letters/words and numbers. This week's letter of the week is L. When I walked in they all had an L written on their left hands and they each had a lemon. They were having so much fun with their lemons while they were learning placement terms like "let's put the lemon on top of our heads, behind our backs, under our chin". Then the group broke and each child could choose their own activity. Quinn made the letter B with play dough and then moved on to sorting acorns with tongs.

If you're familiar with Montessori, you can see some Montessori touches in the classroom. Each child pulls out to mat to work on and they can choose an activity off the shelf or go to one of the tables with a teacher.

Quinn finished his activity, rolled up his mat, and put it away. Hmmm, now why won't he do that with his toys at home?

As I was leaving there was a big car carrier outside and the kids were under the tree with wide eyes. The art/science teacher, Mrs. A., was giving them a lesson in something (not sure what). But they all had fun watching Mrs. A's car being driven on to the back of the truck. Quinn thought it was pretty great and talked about it quite a bit on the way home.

After the truck, they headed to the playground to blow great big bubbles.

Another fun and fascinating day at Sundance!

Papa is My Brother

2011-11-08T20:16:00.001-05:00

Quinn watched as Don left for work on Monday morning. He said "Where's my brother going? Papa is my brother". It's a sweet term of affection Quinn applies to boys/men that he likes/loves. Sweet.

Little Park Ranger

2011-11-03T09:00:00.000-04:00

When Mae visited earlier in October she brought this cute little outfit for Quinn. Here he is in all his cuteness with a fresh haircut and his new outfit.

Banana, Banana

2011-11-03T08:50:00.000-04:00

On the way home from school Wednesday Quinn asked if he could have a snack. This is how the conversation went.

Q: Mama, can I have a snack?
A: Sure, how about a banana?
Q: No, something else.
A: A banana sounds good.
Q: No, something else.
A; I think I have a banana.
Q: No.
A: How about a yummy banana?
Q: No, something else.
A: A yellow banana?
Q: No.
A: OK, what do you want?
Q: Do you have a banana?

Much laughter ensued. Our little comedian.

This Week

2011-11-02T15:57:00.000-04:00

This week Quinn continued to use his newly mastered skills and unbuckled himself from his carseat. We were parked at the time and waiting for friends to meet us at the park on Tuesday.

Quinn's buddies Lucas and Kaiden arrived and we had a fun, long afternoon in the park.

On the way home from school on Wednesday Quinn kept telling me to catch up to this truck. He wanted to grab a Dibs for both of us.

On Thursday we planned to drive to Maryland first thing in the morning and I got the car packed and ready to go by 9 am. And then Quinn woke up with a very raspy voice and told me that he didn't feel well. Quinn NEVER says that he doesn't feel well. We had recently been with Sullivan who was at home with strep throat so I decided to take Q to Dr. Lois just to make sure it wasn't strep. Dr. Lois thought it was the virus she was seeing so much of so we hit the road to spread our germs in Maryland.

Friday was a beautiful day so we took in a new nearby nature center. It is gorgeous, inside and out.

Lots of stuff for kids to touch and great information for adults.

The centerpiece is this sculptural tree with handpainted banners.

There's a "Discovery Room" for the kids with lots of nature oriented stuff for them to do. Quinn and Grams put on a nice little puppet show for me.

On Saturday morning Don took the train down. We picked up Ben on the way back to Grams house so they could have a little uncle-nephew quality time. Then it was off to lunch where we had some fun with a new iphone photobooth app. For some reason the tongue is a requirement.

We left Quinn overnight in the capable hands of Grams and Pam and headed out in the snowy weather to Frederick.

It was great to see Nick & Suzie and celebrate Nick's 50th birthday with him. This is Nick with 15 year old Emily. Nick and Suzie are parents of a 15, 14, and 13 year old. Makes my 4 year old seem eazy-breezy. But they are great kids and it was fun hanging out with them on Saturday night.

We spent the night in Frederick before getting Quinn and heading home. Unforunately our back yard didn't fare to well in the storm and we had alot of big branches down. We were pretty lucky in that nothing major was damaged.

And that's a wrap of our wonderful week.

Quinnbot

2011-10-24T14:05:00.003-04:00

Every year for Halloween Sundance School does a costume parade with a special theme. This years theme was Outer Space. After much deliberation, our family of three decided on a robot costume for both Sundance and Halloween. We started with an inspiration picture we found on the internet and took off from there. The creative team of Don & Amy were pretty pleased with our final product. Quinnbot was just about over the moon and would have gone to bed in the costume if we had let him.

Here's Quinnbot trying on the costume yesterday before papa shortened the arms.

Here's a close up of the front. The base is a rubbermaid container painted with a hammered silver spray paint. The arms are dryer vents that Don really cleverly attached to the box so that Quinnbot could still move his arms around. We added battery operated lights, pictures and signs printed off the internet and little reflectors.

The back is so cute. Quinnbot really like the "Danger Robot" warning. We held the whole thing together with some adhesive velcro straps covered with duct tape.

Quinnbot is pretty happy with what he sees.

Here are some scenes from the Costume Parade today. It was great to see Quinnbot so excited about his costume and the parade. This is his first year of even remotely liking a costume.

Here comes Miss Bess' yellow group. Miss Bess is on the left and school founder, Miss Terry, is on the right. You can see Quinnbot 2nd in line.

He is so happy! The hat is a spray painted oxyclean bucket with two reflectors and a spring out the top. He even got some new tennis shoes that light up.

The class (and parents) paraded around the whole school.

Time to line up for the papa and mamarazzi!

All the other classes were in different places around the school to watch the parade. They were all cheering and clapping the kids in costume. I heard lots of kids talking about the robot :)

Then it was up on stage in the auditorium.

Don and I put alot of time and effort in to the costume but it was a well worth it to see Quinnbot so excited! We love you little robot!

3D in NYC

2011-10-24T07:26:00.001-04:00

Stacey captured this great shot of us getting ready to watch the 3D movie Ice Worlds at the Central Park Zoo.

NYC with McGee Three

2011-10-23T08:08:00.000-04:00

This Week

2011-10-22T06:27:00.000-04:00

This week our little man started sleeping in his own bed and he's pretty pleased with himself for doing so. Most nights he works his way to the "big bed" at some point but spends most of the night in his room.

This week our little man learned how to unclip himself out of his car seat (once we were in the garage).

Yesterday our little man walked in the door, unzipped his jacket, and hung it on his hook in the closet. All this without a word from me.

Also this week he decided that he would only wear shirts with pictures of guitars on them because he's a Rock Star! Fortunately rock star tshirts are in this season so I've been scooping them up where ever I can find them. I think we have 3 and I just ordered these this morning.

This week our little man turned in to a shark....

and took a self portrait...

and directed mama to the top of the stairs for a photo shoot...

and snapped a picture of papa when he got home from work...

and played with his friend Lucas in the mud...

and walked right by the bathroom and out the front door to do this. Let's hope it rains soon.

Ten Minutes Before Leaving for School

2011-10-21T09:54:00.001-04:00

This is what Quinn looks like 10 minutes before we have to leave for school. He got to bed at a decent time and had a good night's sleep but he didn't want to wake up this morning. I eventually got him going by promising a rock star tshirt and seeing his friends at school.

Down the Shore

2011-10-16T10:22:00.000-04:00

We were so happy to have Mae visit for Quinn's birthday. Quinn loves his Mae and they always have such fun together. We were fortunate to have a couple of days of really spectacular weather while Mae was here so, along with the rest of NJ, we got in one last day at the beach. Quinn had a very happy day digging in the sand, building waterfalls and mountains with Mae, chasing waves with papa, and just doing that boy stuff he loves to do. It couldn't have been a more perfect Birthday day!

Don had his first experience swimming in Jersey waters. Yes, the itchiness followed.

Ready, Set, Go

2011-10-15T09:58:00.004-04:00

I'm trying something new with videos because I find that Blogger doesn't offer very good quality options. If you want to see a larger version of this video, click on the "YouTube" video on the bottom right of the video box above. This will take you to YouTube. Then click on on the 4 arrows on the bottom right of the video box and you will see it in full screen. To get out of the full screen you can just hit the Esc button on top left of your keyboard.

Birthday Bash!

2011-10-14T17:00:00.000-04:00

Intrepid

2011-10-11T08:50:00.001-04:00

We are enjoying a little Indian Summer in October with temps in the 80's. It's the last taste of warm weather for the year and we are making the most of it. Mae is here and we enjoyed a great day in NYC. We had tickets for a river cruise of Manhattan and we had a couple of hours to burn so we checked out the Intrepid Aircraft Carrier which was right next to the cruise port. We only had 2 hours but we could have spent alot more time there.

A view down the flight deck towards the city.

Someone totally butted in line for a ride in the escape capsule.

Pictures can't express how HUGE this ship really is.

Rock Star Playdate

2011-10-08T07:58:00.001-04:00

Quinn has really taken to a set of twins in his class. One day the twins wore 'rock star' t-shirts to school and all Quinn could talk about was the three of them being rock stars. This week we got the three rock stars together for a playdate at our house. Quinn even wore his rock star t-shirt. Fun was had by all! And then they napped. Ha! I wish.

Birthday Week for Quinn

2011-10-05T10:22:00.000-04:00

We celebrated Quinn's 4th birthday with Grams on Sunday before she left to go home on Monday.

Quinn has been asking for a Remote Control Car for quite some time. He even wanted to call papa at work one day to ask him to bring home a r/c car for him. Today was his lucky day. He was beyond excited.

He had school on Monday morning but woke up early enough to get in some play time with his cars before it was time to go to school. I think Quinn would say it was a good start to his birthday week!

Up All Night

2011-10-04T10:17:00.001-04:00

A couple of nights ago I woke up at 2 am to hear the bedroom door slam closed. Not the kind of noise you want to hear at 2 am. It was Quinn coming back in to the bedroom and crawling in to bed. Apparently Grams woke up and saw all the lights on in the house and went downstairs to find Quinn watching the iPad in the living room. Yikes! Just that day the baby gate at the top of the stairs had broken and Don had not had a chance to fix it yet. The baby gates has been fixed!

Needless to say he was one sleepy boy the next morning.

Cake for Me :)

2011-10-04T10:12:00.000-04:00

I was so happy to have mom here to celebrate my birthday. Even at the age of 48, I still need my mom. On Thursday morning mom and Quinn baked me the Cantelo tradition German Chocolate Cake.

I know there are raw eggs in the batter, but what fun is baking a cake if you can't lick the beater?

Mom brought Quinn a pair of Lightening McQueen racing goggles. Quinn thought they were pretty great. Grams took a break from baking and sat on Quinn's kitchen stool. Quinn pulled up a chair to sit right beside her. He loves his Grams!

Fall Soccer

2011-09-28T06:01:00.000-04:00

Quinn is taking his first stab at organized sports and started in a 3 - 5 year old soccer class today. The class is held at a park near our house and there are about 8 boys in the class. We signed up with Quinn's little friend Fraser and there also happens to be a boy from his Sundance class.

We've been practicing a little with Quinn and he understands the first rule of soccer. Never touch the ball with your hands. He seemed to have a good time and really enjoyed the water breaks.

Team meeting with Coach Ben and Coach Neil.

Checking out the cones with Coach Ben.

My Birthday Week

2011-09-27T17:50:00.000-04:00

BQ (before Quinn) Don and I used to stretch out our birthdays so that we celebrated the whole week. I'm happy to report that I think birthday week may have returned for my birthday. You might remember that Quinn requested a hammer cake for Don's birthday. Lucky for Don, Quinn requested a rollercoaster cake for my birthday. Since Sunday was probably the only day Don would have time to create such a creation, we had rollercoaster cake on Sunday. Let the birthday week begin!

Behold his masterpiece! He made me a spice cake with homemade vanilla cream cheese frosting. I think he did a pretty great job!

It definitely passed the Quinn test.

We continued with birthday week last night when Don took Quinn to bed so I could get a little alone time. I'm enjoying birthday week thanks to a really considerate and thoughtful husband.

Harvest Festival at Terhune

2011-09-25T08:43:00.000-04:00

We went back to one of our favorite farms, Terhune Orchards, for their Fall Harvest Festival. There was so much to do and we had such a fun time. It has been rainy here so the farm was pretty wet and a bit muddy. About two minutes after we arrived Quinn looked like this. But the fun!

On our way to the corn maze.

Painting his own pumpkin.

The highlight of the day, so much that we repeated it later.

I spotted this huge monarch butterfly at the end of our tractor ride. Gorgeous!

The stationary tractors are always a big hit with Quinn. He likes to pour "gas" (aka pebbles) in to the gas tank.

Vitamins

2011-09-23T09:25:00.001-04:00

Quinn took his vitamins and they made him able to jump really high!

Bathing Beauty

2011-09-21T07:07:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was full of, well, pee. I'll spare you the details. Let's just say a bath was in order.

Reading with Papa

2011-09-19T16:45:00.001-04:00

Don is in high demand when he gets home from work. Quinn wants to read with papa, do puzzles with papa, play ball with papa, etc, etc. Quinn loves his papa!

Brooklyn Bridge

2011-09-18T03:25:00.000-04:00

After many wrong turns we finally made our way to the Brooklyn Bridge. The bridge spans the East River and connects Manhattan to Brooklyn. There is an elevated boardwalk-like path for pedestrians and bikers. A little bit crowded but a nice walk.

A view of the Manhattan Bridge.

Who needs to go to Disney when we can see Mickey Mouse on the Brooklyn Bridge. Quinn just reminded me that Papa put a ticket in Mickey's purse after the picture. The ticket was cash as Mickey was working for tips.

Heading back to Manhattan.

My two little mimes.

Then it was off to Moo Shoes to get some non-leather belts for Don. Moo Shoes sells all sorts of vegan shoes, belts, and purses.

To wrap up our vegan adventure, we headed to Red Bamboo for a Vegan dinner. Red Bamboo offers a variety of healthy and not-so-healthy but yummy vegan treats. They have alot of fake meats and are not afraid to deep fry. Something you don't find in alot of vegan restaurants. It was a filling and satisfying meal.

Time to head home and Quinn fell asleep in the car around 7:30 pm. That would be known as the kiss of death. Do we let him sleep and hope he sleeps until 5 am or do we wake him up knowing that he will be up until 2 am. Don was able to get him in to bed without waking up. It's now 3:20 am and Quinn and I have been up for a couple of hours. I'm planning on a 8:00 am nap with my boy.

Jersey City 9/11 Tribute

2011-09-18T03:02:00.000-04:00

We had an adventure driving in to the city on Saturday. We hit dead stop traffic getting to the Holland Tunnel and decided to take a detour. We knew if we could get to Jersey City we would be able to get to the Tunnel. On our way we stumbled upon one of Jersey City's tributes to 9/11. (There's a larger tribute in the Liberty State Park.)

Our ultimate goal for the day was to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. Once we finally got in to the city we took another wrong turn and stumbled upon the World Trade Center site.

First Day of School

2011-09-15T16:42:00.001-04:00

Quinn returned to Sundance for another year of preschool. He will go M-W-F mornings this year. He got a decent night's sleep but he hasn't had to wake up at 7:30 am since May.

As we were approaching the school, Quinn told me that he wanted to go in all by himself. We talked about it some more and I mentioned that I would really like to take him in on his first day. But he insisted. I wanted his first day to be a happy one and I knew that he wouldn't be happy if I took him in. We did a drive by of the drop-off area and I explained that he would go in with a teacher and he was very happy about this. Really? Is this the same kid that didn't want to leave my side last year? So we pulled up in the drop off lane and he went happily off with one of the teachers. At pick-up I got a great big hug and Miss Bess he said that was very happy and helpful all day. We like a happy Quinn :)

Happy Birthday Don!

2011-09-13T10:04:00.001-04:00

I'm a day late, but Happy Birthday Don! We had a little family celebration on Sunday since Don was travelling on his birthday. It was a couch potato kind of Sunday for Don which he appreciated after being on the road the previous week. Quinn insisted that we make Don a hammer cake for his birthday. I'm not sure where that came from, but I thought I could pull it off. My skills have slipped over the years, but the boys were pretty happy with it.

We loaded it with candles and sang our Happy Birthday!

And then it was time for loot!

Happy Birthday to a wonderful man, husband, and father!

A Week with Grams

2011-09-10T09:23:00.000-04:00

Quinn and I spent most of this week in Maryland with Grams and Pam and her family. Don had a busy travel/work week and Quinn starts school this coming week so it was a good time to get away. As we were backing out of the driveway, Quinn was very distressed and kept saying "We can't leave Papa alone". He's no longer a mama's boy. OK, he still is. But he's also quite a papa's boy too.

When we arrived at Grams, Quinn got in the door and went near the stairs to the basement and said "Grams, what's under the floor?". Basically he knew that all the toys are downstairs. Pam and her family came over for dinner that night and Quinn declared that Alex and Ben were his best friends!

Unfortunately it rained all week so we had to find lots of indoor activities. Quinn understands and is very agreeable when we give him a "pattern" to explain our schedule. For example: lunch, grocery store, park. Of course there has to be something in it for him. On Monday the pattern was mall play area, lunch, shopping, merry-go-round.

Tuesday. A different day, a different mall. This mall is one level and about one mile all the way around. I think Quinn ran the full mile. With pit stops here are there.

Wednesday. Another rainy day, another indoor adventure. This time we went to an open gym for kids. Lots of jumping, bouncing, and near heart attacks for mama.

(this is a view of the gym from above through a dirty window)

Mom was helping out with her neighbor's dog while the neighbor was on vacation. Lady is a very sweet dog and Quinn had fun petting her and following her around. I think Quinn will be ready for his own buddy soon. Funny side story, Don taught Quinn to say our patented "Ooooh Buddy" whenever we see a cute dog.

We headed home on Thursday so that Quinn could attend orientation at school on Friday morning. On our way home I stopped at one of my favorite stores, Lucy, to do a little shopping. We were the only ones in the store so the sales lady gave us lots of special attention. She was talking to Quinn about how old he was, his birthday, etc. Quinn volunteered that when he turns 4 he is going to start sleeping in his own bed. I like it. I like it alot.

Quinn loves to answer the phone himself so if you call and hear a little voice you know what's going on. Here he is talking to papa, who was still travelling. Quinn also like to point out everything he sees while talking. "And papa, here are my train tracks and my friend mama." He cracks me up!

A great last week before school starts and we get back in to a routine. Quinn was very happy to see papa on Friday night. Quinn was so eager to play all sorts of games with tired papa. It's nice to be under the same roof together.

Orientation Day

2011-09-09T14:26:00.001-04:00

Today was orientation day for Quinn's preschool and he got to see his new classrooms and meet his new teacher, Miss Bess. We are happy to have a couple of the same kids from last year, including Julia below. I have another friend whose daughter will be in Quinn's class too. School starts Monday, September 12 and he'll attend 3 mornings a week.

(do you see the twin boys in the background? Brayden and Brandon, I think.)

Miss Bess, the main teacher, and Miss Laura, the assistant teacher, get rave reviews so we're excited about this year.

Quinn had such a good time today that he asked to go back tomorrow. Wow, what a difference a year makes! I was talking to one of the other moms and we both agreed that Sundance totally rocks!!

He's So Strong

2011-09-05T04:30:00.000-04:00

Last Day at the Pool

2011-09-04T04:30:00.000-04:00

One of the rights of summer is the last day spent at the pool. We enjoyed it thoroughly.

Don was on the road most of the week and Quinn sure is happy to have his papa home. Let the fun begin.

Park Day

2011-09-03T15:07:00.001-04:00

On Friday we had another marathon play day, but this time at Trailside Nature Center. They have a great outdoor playground and it was packed with kids of all ages. Quinn has started to enjoy playing with other kids much more and is always excited to see a playground packed with kids. And of course he can't pass a water fountain without trying it out.

He made a friend with another little boy in a yellow shirt, Sky. They were working on their spelling and making words. Quinn is great at sounding out each letter but he can't quite put them together yet to sound out the word. He's on the brink.

There was a big pack of boys roaming the playground and Quinn desparately wanted to play with them. They were mostly 7 - 8 year olds but they let Quinn join in on the fun. They were playing some sort of game that involved Yoshi and a bunch of other magical stuff. Quinn didn't have any idea what they were talking about but was happy to be included (although it doesn't quite look like it in this picture).

It's fun to see Quinn playing with other kids which will hopefully help him enjoy school that much more this year.

Last Days of Summer

2011-09-02T09:18:00.000-04:00

I am sad to see the summer coming to an end. I have really enjoyed having Quinn home every day without any set schedule. We take our mornings slow with TV and chocolate milk in bed. It's nice to not have a set schedule or to rush out the door in the mornings. Quinn still has another week before he starts school and we will make the most of it.

Of course the end of summer brings the closing of our beloved pool, which will close on Monday. On Thursday we met some friends at the pool and had a really great day. We were there for 6 hours!! Quinn even had an hour nap while we were there.

Quinn usually gravitates towards the big pool but on this day he spent most of his time in the spray ground area. I took some buckets and trucks for both Quinn and his friend Lucas and they had the best time. The time just flew by. A great summer day.

Sleepless in New Jersey

2011-09-01T17:27:00.000-04:00

After I put the kiddo to bed last night I kept hearing little noises coming from upstairs. It wasn't the pitter patter of little feet so I thought he had fallen asleep. But this is what I found.

He was laying quietly in bed in the dark bedroom reading Cat in the Hat with my little book light.

When a 3 Year Old is Stuck Inside...

2011-08-29T08:22:00.000-04:00

...he builds train tracks.

Scenes from Irene

2011-08-29T08:17:00.000-04:00

It's been all Irene all the time the last couple of days in New Jersey. We buckled down for the storm on Saturday. We prepared our emergency box with flash lights, candles, etc and then got to work juicing some fresh veggies for Bloody Mary's.

They tasted better than it looks. We decided to burn some almost 4-year old energy before being stuck in the house for the rest of the day so we put on our rain coats and headed outside.

We had a light drizzle most of the day on Saturday. The full force of the storm hit overnight and was pretty much over by the time we woke up Sunday morning. Here's a scene in our back yard.

And the same look down the street. We were really fortunate to not have any downed trees or large branches in our yard or street.

Quinn needed a nap so we decided to go for a drive. The hurricane really did some damage. There were alot of streets closed due to downed power lines and trees in the road. We saw homes were water was being pumped out of the basement.

At one point we got on the Garden State Parkway to head home and we noticed people driving in REVERSE in the right hand lane and the shoulder. What?!?! We quickly realized that the GSP was shut down so we pulled on to the shoulder and started backing up. Along with hundreds of other cars, we backed up a good mile or so to get to the previous exit to get off the GSP. It was hysterical and bizarre!

Once we got off the GSP, we had a really hard time navigating home with all the street closures. There was a river running through the roads between us and our home. At one point we came face to face with it. This is what was standing between us and home.

We eventually found our way home. I have a friend that was told she would be without power until September 4. I have another that has 2 feet of water in her basement and no power. We feel very fortunate to have escaped the wrath of Irene.

Down at the Farm

2011-08-24T07:46:00.000-04:00

On Tuesday Quinn and I met some of my holistic mom friends at Terhune Orchards for a kids story time and pear picking. Terhune Orchards is south of us near Princeton and about an hours drive away. We've been there a handful of times, including August 2009 and July 2009.

We started with a short story time and then went off to the orchards to pick some pears. Each kiddo was given a bag and got to pick one asian pear and 5 regular pears. The trees and the ground were full of pears.

After pear picking, we went off to feed the goats and climb on the tractors. Terhune has so many activities for the kids that we were there for 3 - 4 hours just having fun. And the weather couldn't have been nicer. Quinn and his pal Fraser had lots of fun together.

Rollerskates

2011-08-22T22:13:00.000-04:00

Quinn and I had a great day today. We started off with a trip to Trader Joe's where Quinn got some fun stickers from the cashier. From there we went to Mindawoskin Park where we ran in to Alison, Fraser, and Jasmine. It was such a beautiful sunny day with a cool breeze. After a couple of hours of fun with Fraser, we headed home to get ready for a playdate. A couple of girl friends from Sundance came over to play. It was so much fun to see them playing together. The three kids played quietly in the upstairs playroom while the ladies and I got caught up on all our summer happenings. Then it was dinner and time to make some rollerskates. Quinn made these himself.

Before falling asleep, Quinn and I talked about our wonderful day and how we needed a really good night's sleep so that we can make the most of our day tomorrow. We are squeezing all the little juicy bits out of summer before it's gone.

Mom Quinn Pam

2011-08-20T13:41:00.000-04:00

Mom and Pam drove up to NJ for a quick visit. We only had a couple of days so we hit some local parks and ice cream shops! Quinn was so excited to see his Grams and Aunt Pammie and had such a good time playing with them. And I just love this moment captured.

Grams and Aunt Pam, we miss you already!

Skyping with Ben

2011-08-19T23:29:00.000-04:00

Family Reunion

2011-08-17T17:06:00.001-04:00

Portland Food Carts

2011-08-15T16:26:00.000-04:00

Don and I were really looking forward to visiting Portland and their Food Carts. I first heard about them when my mom got a card from the husband of a dearly departed friend that mentioned he sold reuben's at his daughter's food cart in Portland. Very interesting. I knew that Portland was very veggie friendly so the food carts were very promising.

We did a little research and downloaded a Portland food cart app to our iphones. Our first morning we routed our path to hit all the major points of interest, including as many food carts as our stomachs could handle. The food carts are generally set up in "pods" in parking lots so when you find one cart, you will find anywhere from 5 - 25 carts. Each cart has it's own theme with a pretty small menu. Not surprising considering the size of the carts. Almost all of the carts had some sort of veggie or vegan option.

Here's our first set of carts set up by Portland State University. We were there early-ish so only a handful were open. You can see that each one has a different feel to it.

I knew that mom's friend's husband sold reubens and with a little research I was able to figure out which cart was his. Pastrami on Rye. There were a handful of reuben carts in the city but when one reviewer mentioned "the old gentleman that reminded me of my grandpa" I knew I had found the right one.

Unfortunately they were closed when we arrived.

After we ate breakfast I noticed that they were starting to open up so we stopped by for a visit and had a nice chat with Bill. I loved that they had a veggie reuben but unfortunately we had just eaten and it was time to move on.

We hit a couple more food carts before the day was through. A great way to see and taste Portland.

A Peak at Last Week

2011-08-14T17:05:00.000-04:00

We are home from our week in Oregon for Don's family reunion. It was a wonderful week in so many ways and we had a really great time. I need to sort through my loads of pictures but thought I would post a small handful of my favorites to get started. I was really in love with the reflections, textures, and silhouettes at the beach so I took lots and lots of beach pictures. And of course Quinn is always happy with his hands in the sand.

It's Cool at the Beach

2011-08-08T18:56:00.001-04:00

It's so peaceful and cool on the Oregon Coast. I took a walk this morning and watched the fog roll off the beach.

A look in the other direction.

Quinn and I went out a little later while Don was golfing with the guys.

How I love the reflections.

And the textures. I'm in mamarazzi heaven ;)

We are having loads of fun with the White/Toll gang with 2 more days still to go.

{{Posted on the road using my mini pc}}

Fly By

2011-08-07T11:24:00.001-04:00

We did a fly by of Mt. Hood on our approach in to Portland. This image doesn't really convey how close we were. It was pretty impressive.

We are all adjusting to our 4 am EST wake up yesterday. A nap, early to bed, and one little boy sleeping in should do the trick before we head to the coast this morning. Looking forward to some cool weather and lots of fun times with family.

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{Dispatched from my mobile mothering communication unit}

Funny Face

2011-08-06T19:20:00.000-04:00

A Good Indication

2011-08-05T19:20:00.000-04:00

The fact that Quinn still has on last night's pajamas at 6:30 pm is a pretty good indication how our day went.

Beach Club

2011-08-03T08:32:00.000-04:00

On Tuesday Quinn and I joined my friend Danielle and her family at a beach club in Seabright NJ. I've never been to a beach club so I wasn't quite sure what to expect and WOW! It was a seaside resort with all the amenities. The beach club had a handful of big and small pools, a bar, beach umbrellas, and more.

These pictures are views from their cabana. The cabana is on the small side and meant for day use only. But has all the necessities: full refrigerator, microwave, bathroom with shower, storage, and deck. You can see the smaller beach side cabanas in these pictures.

This is a view to the right. We parked ourselves under the tiki umbrellas.

And a view to the left. You can see the playground, larger pool, and the size of the club.

You might remember Quinn's little friend Lucas from this post. They always have fun playing together.

Danielle's husband, Kevin, took over the dad duties while the mom's relaxed.

Oh, the sand. I don't understand the enjoyment of shoveling sand over one's head but Quinn and the boys sure enjoyed it.

This is Quinn wiht Lucas' younger brother Caiden.

After a full afternoon on the beach, we had some fun in the pool while Kevin grilled our dinner. We relaxed on the deck with a beer while we watched the sky turn from blue to pink to dark. A great day that will be remembered!

Mondays

2011-08-01T21:15:00.000-04:00

For Quinn and I, Mondays are special. We sleep in late and recover from a busy weekend. Quinn watches tv in bed with his milk while I sort laundry and organize the house and our lives after the weekend. I rarely plan anything for Monday just so we can go at our own pace. On this Monday afternoon, Quinn watched trees being trimmed around the phone lines.

We had plans to go to the pool and he was worried that we wouldn't be able to get out the driveway. I told him that mama had super powers and I could drive on the grass. He thought that was pretty funny.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I kinda like Mondays.