He's handsome AND rich!

Sorry, guys. This time I'm talking about Alexander. ;)

My little guy has been saving up his money for a few months now. He had $10.79 burning a hole in his piggy bank. Most of the time he'll tell you that he is saving for another piggy bank, but he's also quite interested in a pair of roller skates, a baseball mitt, or the book "Danny and the Dinosaur." So the other day we decided it was time to check out Target and see if he could put his money towards a pair of roller skates. Unfortunately, they didn't have his size, but he was a good sport and chose a great baseball mitt instead. It was a terrific deal, he had money left over, and he was really proud to have saved his money, chosen his purchase, and completed the transaction on his own.

Back on solo duty

I've been so spoiled having Justin with me for two entire weeks, but alas, he returns to work tomorrow and I return to solo duty with the boys. I may have forgotten how to manage taking a shower while taking care of both kids. I'm not sure I'll be able to handle making dinner. I contemplated taking them to the pool, but how will I wrangle both of them and make sure everyone has sunblock on, even on their necks and ears? I'm also pretty sure that both Alexander and I will start to miss Justin after just a few hours. :(

So, Justin, when's your next vacation?

My first son

I'm going to reveal something here that not many of you know about me. Alexander was not my first child. I also have a son named Bogunther. He was delivered one Christmas morning when I was... well, let's just say I was too young to be a mother. Bogunther had the cutest, chubbiest cheeks, the roundest little button nose, and beautiful blue eyes. His father was a rich man. A man named Xavier Roberts.

Oh yes, that's right, I am a child of the '80s and I'm talking about an original Cabbage Patch Kid. My brother crept into my room early that Christmas morning and ruined the surprise. "You got a Cabbage Patch Kid." 25 (ish) years later, my dad rescued Bogunther from a cramped toy bench and my sons have inherited him. (Dad, please don't tell everyone how I allowed Bogunther's three "sisters" to be Freecycled off to new families!) Alexander has taken to his much older brother with enthusiasm, taking him on a tour of the house in his shopping cart, shoving him upside down into the exersaucer, repeatedly taking his clothes off and then making me put them back on, and even inviting him to a slumber party in his room. While I was capturing the moment, I noticed another relic from the '80s right there on the floor. Justin's old Pound Puppy. '80s toys can never be beat. No wonder we couldn't part with ours. Seriously.

My beardless man

Here's a before picture of Justin sporting his beard (and non-cooperative children), and then a shot of him last night beardless and immediately following a haircut by me! I'm sure this is mostly amusing only to those who know him well, but it is highly amusing to me, so you're all being subjected to reading about it! ;)

More cowboys

Here are the individual cowboy pictures.

cowboys

I didn't think I was going to be able to post the Old Time Photos we had taken of the boys because our scanner died a while back, but Justin photographed a photograph and voila, we have this:



They also had individual shots which were equally if not more adorable, so I'll see if I can photograph those as well. If not, and you're dying to see them, I suppose you'll just have to visit! ;)

The Beach Trip

As promised, the story of our beach trip:

A friend of the family (aka: our realtor) generously offered us the use of her OC, MD beach condo and we gratefully accepted! This was our first vacation together as a family, so it was pretty special. It was a very nice time with nothing overly exciting to report (which is usually best).

We left last Friday, and the first couple of days were pretty stormy. The temperature didn't get much above 50, and there were flood warnings for our area. The winds were up to about 40 mph, and there was some storm damage. We saw plenty of downed palm trees, broken limbs, and a few damaged signs. We did brave the beach one afternoon before the worst of it hit, but as you can see, we were the ONLY ones there. The last afternoon of rain and wind dragged on pretty long stuck in the condo, but we toughed it out and made it through to a few totally gorgeous days.





When the skies cleared, it was absolutely beautiful. Alexander spent hours playing in the sand; Jack spent hours eating sand. We took Alexander to The Pier and let him ride some outrageously expensive kiddie rides, which he enjoyed immensly. We got the kids' pictures taken at Old Time Photos as cowboys and they turned out adorable (even though I nixed the guns)! We had Thrasher's fries, Dumser's ice cream, and basically chilled. It was super!

Thursday morning Alexander let us know that he wanted to go home and that he missed his bed. And, since more rain was called for on Friday, we decided we agreed that it was a good time to head home. He and I hit the beach one last time while Justin packed and then we said goodbye to the ocean and set out. The ride home was, unfortunately, rather hellacious, complete with Alexander's first pooping on the side of the road experience and a full on scream fest from him which ultimately led Justin to "pull this car over right now." But alas, we survived even that and I will say that the crazy weather on one end of the trip and the car ride from Hades on the other side of the trip were both worth it for the time in between. A big thank you to "Miss Marilynn" for the use of her condo. THANKS!!

And now, a few final pictures that I just had to share:

First, Baby Elvis:

And lastly, bonus points to anyone who can figure out what so disturbed me about these two signs that I felt the need to photograph them (not that I have the right to say TOO much on this subject...)

Who is that man?

My husband just shaved off his beard!!!

Let me tell you the whole story. Justin started growing some pretty serious facial hair pretty young. He kept a goatee or a beard from about age 14 until about age 19, when he randomly shaved off his beard. It was just that once, and then he let it grow immediately back. Our niece Shelby was about two at the time and freaked out because she didn't know who he was. Also, imagine aging from 14 to 19 under a beard. No one really knew what the face looked like under there. He had grown up over those 5 years; his face was completely different.

So, flash forward to tonight. We've just gotten home from a week at the beach. I'm here, catching up on E-mails and reading blogs, while Justin was giving Alexander his bath. In walks Justin with NO BEARD! May I remind you that I have not seen the man's face for 7 years? So I say, "Who is that man?" and Alexander says, "He is Alexander like me because he took his beard off."

Oh, pray that he allows me to take a picture. This is too fun not to share!

Sweet Mother's Day!

Okay, one more before we go...

Justin decided to give me my Mother's Day presents before we left for the beach, so that we would not have to lug them with us, taking up valuable trunk space. Let me just say that I am PSYCHED! He got me an ice cream scoop, this Ben and Jerry's homemade ice cream recipe book, and this ice cream maker! I am going to be SO FAT!! :)

We're off!

I know this will be hard for you, my loyal readers, but you won't be hearing from me for a little while. We're leaving tomorrow for Ocean City and will return Saturday the 17th. Check back soon after that for an update on how our first *family* vacation treated us.

Who needs a daughter?

I've been putting my hair up in a ponytail a lot lately, as it is much longer than I prefer it and Jack just loves to pull on it. Yesterday Alexander asked to have a ponytail in his hair, too. I told him that his hair was too short, but he insisted, so we made it work. Looks good, right? ;) I had already put away my camera a few minutes later when he added my white dress sandles to the ensemble.

There's nothing quite like talking to a three year old

Alexander: Mommy, are you sad too?
Me: I'm not sad. Are you sad?
A: Yes, I'm sad.
Me: Why are you sad?
A: Because my frogs are sad. (He was playing with 3 stuffed frogs.)
Me: Oh, well, why are your frogs sad?
A: The reason is because they are furry and because I have a head. I am sad because I have a head. Do people need heads?
Me: Um... yes.
A: Mommy and Daddy made Jack and Mommy and Daddy made me and me and Jack made Mommy and Daddy. I want to do an art project.

He needs to work on his flattery

Today Alexander was sitting in a big empty box, pretending it was a train. One of his teddies apparently wanted to sit with him, so Alexander sat him off to the side, saying, "You sit there on the small seat. This is my big seat because I have a big butt... just like Mommy."