City Of Brotherly Love

I'm wiped out after today's waking tour if Philadelphia. If you didn't see on Facebook here are some of my highlights:







City Hall







Congress Hall




Independence Hall




Inside the old City Hall/Supreme Court



Does that really need an explanation? These next few were for Drew.



After climbing the "Rocky Steps"




And that completes the tour. After all the fun it was time to work.



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Zoo-rific Idea

Since I'm traveling this week for work I wanted to hang out with the guys as much as possible this past weekend - Dave on the other hand was hungover and missed some of the fun.

So on Sunday the weather improved enough to head over to the zoo. It was a Mama and Drew kind of day.




We started off at the zoo restaurant to eat an overpriced lunch. Can you tell from that photo Drew branched out again in the food department? That is ketchup he decided to dip his fries into.



Drew making a "tortiset" face. (That's how he says tortoise).









We spent about an hour running around to see the animals (and by running I mean Rocky training running). Afterwards we had to ride the train and the cars.















I'm not sure why the California Poppies were a happy spring sign for me the other day...





That would be a wallaby hanging out by the train tracks.









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Beating the Rain Blues

After more than 2 weeks of rain, it's no wonder a certain 3 year old was going stir crazy this weekend.  It was all I could do to find something to keep him entertained!  One of the ideas... hallway bowling.



He was quite entertained for about 45 minutes.  It may not seem like a long period of time, but it was enough.   I came up with another clever idea on Saturday - and I need to put the video together.  Hopefully I can do this on my travels to Philly this week.

Take Your Son to Work Day

School is closed today for a teacher work day. So it's "take your son to work day" instead.



So far so good. He's watching Calliou on our office big screen TV.

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Bible Memory Verse

Drew has his new Sunday School memory verse memorized. Of course he added a little bit at the end - silly boy.



For those who aren't familiar, this is Matthew 28:19-20.
"Go therefore and make diciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the son, and of the Holy Spirit".

The "Amen" is not part of the verse, but I guess he's used to hearing that after references to the triune at church.

Class Act

Yesterday I had the privilege of helping out in Drew's preschool classroom. I first assembled the booklets of ABC's and numbers the kids have worked on since the beginning of the year. Well I didn't do Drew's since it us supposed to be a surprise fir Friday's Open House.

Then I helped some of the kids catch up with art projects:



This is Drew doing his Tanbark "T". There were 2 others too who were playing catch up.

And you can't forget story time. All in all not bad for about an hour's worth of work. Drew was quite happy to have me there. So at 3 parents in the classroom is still pretty cool.

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Training Mishap

Whenever Drew gets outside to play (which hasn't been very often the past few weeks with all the rain), but he has his little "routine".  Every time try and capture this routine of his, something happens.

Sometimes it's hard to train like Rocky....



(Did you notice he's wearing his "Rocky workout outfit"?)  On this particular day a week or so ago, every time I tried to get it on video he fell! We're talking like three times... which means strike three and we went back into the house.

Other times I've tried capturing it and then he gets sidetracked and doesn't follow-through. What he does across the yard is hilarious. I'll keep trying to get that on video...

In the meantime, here's another video I found on my phone of Drew "singing" through the workout part of the movie...

Recipe for a Bride

I've waited and waited for my sister to post to her own blog about her wedding shower, but alas the blushing bride-to-be has been a wee bit busy.  Because I can't wait anymore, I'll share with you the photos I have... before the batteries died.  So perhaps someday she'll update with the follow-up pictures.

The shower was a recipe theme - and was held at Mom and Dad's church in Antioch.

Love Beyond Measure - Measuring Spoon Favors.
Below: Recipe for Marriage

Below: Recipe Cards sent with invitations to broaden Lisa's cooking horizons

The Guests: Starring the Bride-to-Be

Soon-to-be In-laws

Mom, Lisa & I

Lisa and Grandma

The bridal party (minus 1) - Me, Lisa and Rana

One of the games: Apron Memory

And that's about when my camera died.  It was a great time and I think Lisa had some wonderful memories - and gifts!

Sharing the Love

The other day I found the following art project in Drew's cubby at school:




I assume this is a Valentines Day project announcing all of his "loves".  I admit i found it very sweet that he included Mason and Troy - his best friends and Ms. Stephanie's boys (where he went to daycare and with whom he now goes to school).  But is anyone surprised like I was, not to see Rocky included in this "list"?

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Rocky Run

Last night Drew was itching to get out of the house and go somewhere. I was itching to make-up the workout I missed by oversleeping. So we compromised. I went for a nice walk and Drew went for a run. A Rocky training run.

Drew happily waved at all the other people running/walking as well as everyone who drove by. He kept telling me he was training like Rocky. Oh and he was constantly asking where the steps were.

The run was about 19 minutes before 'lil Rocky had to go potty. Then he was sidetracked with the park - forgetting he needed to go... When it then came back to him. I ended up carrying him the remaining 10 minute walk back home.

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Who's the Champ?

There's always a winner when it comes to the ring.  Who has the best moves.  Here in this video, Drew puts the moves on his nemesis... Spider-man.  So who is the champ?

Luck of the Wannabe Irish

On Saturday Daddy and Drew headed out to the local St Patrick's Day parade, for a special Daddy and Drew day.

From all reports it was a great afternoon.



Drew and Troy on the parade sidelines.





L-R: Baby M, Ms. Stephanie, Drew, Troy & Crazy Dave










So happy to show off his bling bling.





Drew and Troy running from "funny Geico"






Wannabe Irishman.






After the parade everyone headed over to the carnival near the library.  This was their first ride!




L-R: Troy, Mason, Drew, and the strange girl.

And this picture doesn't do the ride justice, so Dave captured this video (I apologize for his narration):




Here Troy and Drew share a ride on the "spinner".  Notice how both Drew and Troy share their excitement differently?




And here's a video of that ride... Keep an eye on Mason - who is 2 cars behind Drew.



Every time Drew watches that video, he can't stop laughing!

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PJ Party

It's another Parent's Night Out (PNO) at Drew's Preschool, so you know Mommy and Daddy are going to take advantage of it.

Here's a picture I forgot about from last month's festivities... okay this was at our house just before dropping him off at the school.  He's ready to party like a preschooler!

I love these PNO!

Where Do They Come Up With This Stuff?

For those of you who are "friends" with me on Facebook, this first story will be a "repeat", but I need to document it here on the blog.  I take the posts from the blog and keep the stories to share with Drew later as he's older - to serve as a reminder for all the little things I would normally forget.

STORY #1 - Name Change
On Tuesday evening I was giving Drew a bath.  And he threw out something I think is rather profound for a three-year-old.  Here's the conversation that went down:

Drew: "I have something to announce.  I changed my name today"
Me: "What's your new name"
Drew: "Rocky Balboa"

I needed Dave to finish up with Drew's bath while I did a few things on the computer.  As the two of them are in his bedroom, I hear Drew start in again with Dave.

Drew: "I changed my name today to 'lil Rocky Balboa"
Dave: "You did huh, you're my Little Rocky Balboa?"
Drew: "No it's 'lil Rocky"

Fast forward about an hour, and I'm laying in bed with Drew.  Because he's changed his name and all... here's now that conversation went down.

Me: "Goodnight Rocky, I love you"
Drew: "I love you to Adrian.  Your name changed today to Adrian"
Me:

Drew:  "It's not funny!" (he's clearly embarrassed because I was laughing)
Me: "You're right it's not funny.  It's adorable"
Drew: "I"m not adorable, I'm tough like Rocky!"

So fast forward to this morning, it's share day at school - and when Drew realized this he instantly asked to bring his Rocky Poncho to School for share day.  When we get to school he has to show Ms. Jonelle his poncho and explain that its what Rocky wears before he fights. 

She laughs and tells me about how ever since on of the girls in his class decided her name changed to Ariel (as in The Little Mermaid) Drew decided that his name was Rocky.  And that when she calls on him for something she has to say "Drew Rocky", and sometimes he makes her say "Drew Rocky Balboa".  So now we have some background to the name change thing that has recently had us chuckling at home.

STORY #2 - Drew's a Grown-up, well when he wants to be
Here's the second story for you today.  For weeks, if not months, Drew is obsessed with thinking he's older than he is.  Heaven forbid you say he's too little/young to do something. He'll tell you he's a big boy.  He's even thrown out that he's a grown-up (although he's recently decided that grown-ups have hair all over so he's not a grown-up yet... that story is for another blog someday).

So last night after work I was making dinner, trying to put out a few work fires, do the dishes/empty the dishwasher, answering Dave's questions, holding the Spider-man punching bag so Drew could  pound on him, playing some movies for Drew... you know the daily grind for working Mothers.

So needless to say I was a little frustrated and feeling stretched a little thin... and the whining from a certain nameless child was pushing me over the edge.  When I served Drew dinner, he was whining how he didn't want to eat that (oops I threw the nameless child under the bus).  And then the cup I put his milk in wasn't good enough.  Again, the daily grind.

After the incessant complains about the cup.. I told him he couldn't have a cup with a lid because they were all dirty, so he could have the one he had now.. or the hot wheels cup.  He opted for hot wheels - I guess it was cooler than the Red Robin cup I had given him initially LOL.

I then threw in a crack about how I keep having to dirty cups for him, so he's going to learn how to do his own dishes.  Here was our tableside "discussion":

Drew: "I won't ever, never do dishes, because that's for grown ups." 
Me: "Oh yes you will, why do you think I had kids in the first place"
Drew: "I can't do dishes because, it will hurt me"
Me: "It won't hurt you.  You'll do dishes when I tell you to"
Drew: "I won't ever be big, so I can't do dishes".

So tell me, why is it that kids want to grow-up and be big... but only when it suits them?

Preschool Web-Slinger

Last week, a surprise visitor stopped by Drew's Preschool in honor of a special little girl who was turning 4.

As I mentioned Drew's Preschool Teacher's Daughter is infatuated with Spider-Man.  So a certain someone was asked to dress up as the Marvel charachter.

Yet again, Drew was clueless that it was his Daddy dressed in the costume. The Birthday girl and a few other kids had it figured out - announcing that it was really "Drew's Daddy".   (Neither Dave or I have real names when it comes to anyone at the preschool... we're just "Drew's Mommy" or "Drew's Daddy".)

It's a Bird. No, It's a Plane...

On Saturday Drew was invited to a birthday party for his friend at school - coincidentally it's also his teacher's daughter (who we went to Tahoe with last month).  And this wasn't any ordinary birthday party, but a Spider-man party where the kids had to come in costume.

I managed to avoid the Rocky costume this time around - seeing as I didn't need Drew to pretend one of the other kids were Ivan Drago or Apollo Creed.  So we recycled an existing costume we had....

That's right, Drew was the man of steel - Superman! 

There's Drew standing in line to take his turn with the pinata... the birthday girl's older sister is to the right of Drew, and a few of his classmates are to the left of him.

While Drew was happy while he was there, he was less than thrilled to leave.  That was evident by the 45 minute tantrum he threw as we were leaving... the entire ride home... and after we got home.  Apparently leaving Ms. Stephanie's house (where the party was thrown) proved to be this Superman's kryptonite.   Needless to say a 3 year old's temperament can change faster than a speeding bullet - in case you were wondering

Double Dipper

Last night for dinner I just didn't have it in me to re-heat the leftovers I'd pulled out.  So we decided to head over to Chevy's.  That's when things took an interesting turn.

See for yourself:



Yes that would be Drew eating Salsa. Salsa! And he was willingly pulling out the chunks of tomatoes - and eating them! Of course we didn't tell him they were tomatoes for fear he'd change his mind.

And yes, my kid is a double - or rather a quadruple - dipper.

Say What?

Three-year-olds are notorious for their imaginations - and Drew is notorious for his quick and witty one-liners.  Last weekend he through out a couple of classics... well at least his Daddy and I thought so.

While sitting on the bed at the hotel in Lake Tahoe Drew just announces:
"I"m the best".
Can anyone say narcissistic? 
I suppose it's because we're always telling him how cute and adorable he is - or when he does something especially cute we say "you're the best".  I guess we're kinda creating a monster.


Then a short time later, after we returned from sledding and Dave took off his ski hat, Drew asks Dave to kneel down.  He then goes on to kiss his hair and state:
"Daddy, you smell doinkery".

For those that are confused... "doinkers" in our household are hairs that are out of place.  So the fact that Drew said Dave's essentially smelled doinkery (a totally made up word... you know since doinkers wasn't exactly made up...).

This age can have it's rough moments, but it's little things like this that make me love this kid and age so much!

More Fuel to the Rocky Fire

Daddy had a brilliant idea a few weeks ago, to you know... encourage Drew's recent Rocky Balboa addiction.  Here's a video of the surprise Drew received on Monday:



He's one happy camper!

Needless to say Drew didn't take that shirt off all night, until we told him he had to suit up for swimming lessons.  I think it's safe to say he has a new favorite shirt.

For the record, Dave bought the iron-on transfers from someone on eBay (located in Australia).  And Daddy has a matching one too - in his size.  So be on the lookout for some Rocky fanatics in future posts!