Lovely

Georgia and I pretty much had all this to ourselves yesterday morning. Well, us and Miss Humidity, who has established herself to such an extent these days as to be referred to as a proper noun.

Regardless, it was just that--lovely.

Drawing

All of a sudden, Zack's drawing and coloring skills have exploded. Suddenly he's drawing these great little people, and suns, and meticulously coloring within the lines. And he concentrates so hard while he's doing it. The second picture is one of my faves (Rob drew the dog).

Another Zack original

You'll thank me for NOT posting the other umpteen shots he took that are nearly identical to this one. We're not letting him loose with a film camera for a reeeeeealllly loooooong time.

Pictures

Zack was taking pictures with my phone this afternoon. Thought you might like to see. 

Quote of the day

(as he takes his crocs off in the back seat)

Ok Mama, get ready for stinky toes!

Quote of the Day

"We have to save the Earth for later."

Well said.

Look who I found where

He's growing up so quickly

We had this conversation the other morning.
Zack: Mommy! Mommy, I'm getting pokey things on my chin!

Me: [blank stare]

 Zack: There are pokey things on my chin, like Daddy.

Me: You mean whiskers?

Zack: Yeah! I've got whiskers. Daddy will have to take them off (said with the utmost seriousness).

*********************************************

No, he doesn't really have whiskers. It's dry skin. But he is convinced that he's got whiskers. He went up to Rob again the other day, rubbing his chin which he was holding up in the air, saying he was getting pokey things. It's really just too sweet.

Snoozin'

So glad...

...we built the addition, so that he can establish himself right in the middle of the highest traffic area in the whole house.

Gratuitous picture of our son figuring out how to turn the sprayer into a sprinkler.

Family

And one wonders why we don't take more family portraits........perhaps because no one can stay still long enough!

Edinburgh

What a lovely place! I miss my boys but they seem to be enjoying themselves without me--just as it should be.

A boy and his dog.

Not a fabulous picture, but it was a flash picture in a dark room. For all the hassle he gives her, they really are best buddies at the end of the day.

Yum

Kelly and Zack made starfish pretzels, a recipe out of his My Big Backyard magazine. Wow, were they yummy!

Checking out tadpoles

A few more pics from the past couple weeks. 

Chopsticks (front view)

The face of determination.

Chopsticks.

He was bound and determined to use chopsticks when we had sushi yesterday.

B'more

We spent the day in Baltimore today (thanks the for the idea, Kelly!). We went to the Aquarium, had sushi, went for a paddle boat ride on a dragon boat, and had ice cream. Zack was awesome and had a great time. What a fabulous day!

Zachary Dali

Genetics

Zack seems to have inherited someone's good (and expensive) taste.

Quote of the day

I was driving Zack to school this morning and we were talking about how it might storm tonight, which would mean we'd have to have the school's end of the year party inside.

Why?

Well, because we can't be outside when it's storming, right?

Yeah, cuz storms have superpowers that will give you a boo-boo.

Quote of the day

"I am a daddy and I have a bug bite "

Sent from my iPhone

Payoff

Perseverence

He's been waiting at the corner of the yard for about an hour, waiting for the ice cream truck to come back. We missed it the first time. Note the stool that he brought out to sit on. I sure hope that ice cream man comes back around......

Tired

He had a really busy day yesterday. As evidenced by the fact that this was him at 8 this morning.

Daddy's helper

Wall

This is what Rob did this weekend. He does nice work, huh?

Hatched!

Our praying mantis egg sac opened this morning. Thanks, Papa!

Happy Mother's Day!

Thanks to this little guy for making me a mother.

Magic.

Over the past few weeks, Zack has been saying that when Rob and I were little, he (zack) didn't have a Mommy and a Daddy and that he was all alone. I tell him that he wasn't even around then, so he doesn't have to worry about it. This actually renders him speechless for a few minutes (a rarity, believe me!). Last night he started this conversation again, then he added that when Mommy and Daddy were little, they were with their Mommy and Daddy. I said "So do you know who our Mommes and Daddies are?"

Yes.

Who?

I don't know [This is a rather comon course of conversation].

Well, my Mommy and Daddy are Grandma and Papa, and Daddy's Mommy and Daddy are Nonni and Nonno.

But they're MY Grandma and Papa and Nonni and Nonno!

Yes, but they're also my Mommy and Daddy and Daddy's Mommy and Daddy.

By this point, he was sitting on my lap, and we had done another round or two of this. He was nearly in tears at this point, insisting that they are HIS Grandma and Papa, and Nonni and Nonno, not my Mommy and Daddy. There was just no room in his brain for these people to hold two roles, so I dropped it. It made me think that all these concepts that we adults take for granted are so difficult to acquire. That there is an awful lot in this world that is really, really difficult for these little guys and gals to understand. And that it's so very amazing how our brains and bodies grow to accommodate and ingest all the that we encounter in the world. One day a few neurons will grow some dendrites and make a connection with another neuron, and all of a sudden he'll understand that his grandparents are also Rob's and my parents. Magic.

Happy Birthday!

To the bestest husband and Daddy ever! We wish you many, many more!

Edited to add: Click on the pictures to see them in their entirety. I have no idea what happened to them.