R E W A R D

Well while out for a walk today, Daddy found a cellphone. Great news is Mommy took control of the situation as I knew tree men had recently been doing work at the house behind us.

Hence, I waited for the phone to ring a I carefully planned my course of action. First I told the man, I wanted a trillion dollars for the SAFE return of his cellphone. Just kidding of course I told him. I POLITELY asked him if I can have some of the trees he cut down as a reward. Clearly he thought I was joking (and he thought I was a little girl by the sound of my voice he said).....only then did he come to learn I was not either. (I gladly would have given him the phone back, had he some boring job). Anyway, I got Daddy out of the house and when he pulled up, BOOM got my reward below :-)

Well where is Daddy you ask, getting more wood from A DIFFERENT tree company. See when we were out for a walk, we discovered another neighbor (further away) cutting down trees. Well this tree company is notorious for KEEPING their wood, so I sent Daddy there, thinking he would be gone long enough for me to get my reward and hide it (?) and look at what he comes back with.

Daddy wins the prize hands down.

Busy Monday

Well our Monday started out pretty ordinary, with library/storytime. However unlike other Mondays where we go upstairs and play puzzles for an hour, this Monday proceeded quite differently.

First Mommy went over Matteo's friend Caleb's house so she could borrow some maternity clothes. Much appreciation to Caleb's Mommy for being kind enough to open her closet and covery Mommy's ever growing belly.

Next afternaptime Matteo woke up to surprise surprise GRANDMA AND GRAMPS!!! What a treat, Grandma took half day from work and Gramps was off and they decided to take the long journey (really not that long Amy) to visit us.

Below is a picture of Matteo and Grandma enjoying some - almost never happens - one on one time.

Matteo certainly enjoyed this quiet time with Grandma, he even didn't let her eat dinner as he kept bringing her his books.

Next, Grandma took Matteo on a horsey ride, for which 1) she is too old for and 2) he is too big for.

Augh yes, good old Grumps, comes out to catch up on his zzzzzzzzzzzss. :-)

Wait a minute, isn't that the chair Grumps said would NEVER get used.....WRONG AGAIN!

Rainy Sunday...but alll is not lost.

No, it's not St. Patty's day again, rather today we decided to try our hands out at gardening. Hence, I am writing in green with the hopes of developing a green thumb (please save the applause!). Not sure how this is going to work out, but for a first time gardener we purchased seeds of: watermelon, carrots, pumpkin, c antelope, zucchini and ....flowers! Below is our attempt to grow the seeds inside.

Check back and I will have weekly Sunday progress reports. Please note, I think these seeds will remain inside until past May 15th, so lets hope I don't tire of them :-)

And lastly, had to take this great picture below. You see once again Matteo is making use of our absolute favorite reading chair. This chair is also used when tears are happening or when shoes are being put on or when just waking up.

Ironically Gramps thought this chair was a waste of money and would never be used. Sorry gramps once again you are wrong!

And with the weather warming up on Tall Tree, please don't expect those daily blog postings anymore, we are certainly making good use of our time with spending much time outdoors just walking, kicking the ball and oh if only the battery lasted longer, making use of Matteo's green truck which he absolutely loves riding in (Mom though limits his time in fear that he is going to become fat and/or lazy). Now Matteo really enjoys walking on the road, which thankfully is not a main road and which he always asks permission to go on before venturing out.

D O O R

Happy news: we have a new front door. By new front door, i mean we looked at one two months back, looked at over 100 doors on peoples homes as we walked by and looked (not opened just looked at the cover) of the "door book" for over 2 months before opening it one day and piccking one!

HOORAY!!

Now we are working on picking a handle............... :-(

Keeping my fingers crossed the door is installed by April 14th.....our 6 year anniversary in the house. Also we are going to purchase a new mailbox to help us celebrate. I know we live vivaciously.

mmmmm whaat a day.....

What a gorgeous day we had today. We began by meeting a friend at Home Depot and purchasing some new seeds for our pending garden.

Then we headed over to a beach mommy has been trying to get to for over a year now. And what a wonderful time Matteo had throwing rocks in the water and playing with his two friends and surprise we saw two more friends that we knew! When you looked at over the ocean (i guess) you could see nothing but 3 smoke stacks for miles.

And best of Matteo, Matteo loved loved throwing rocks in the water and just being a boy and walking along the beach. Certainly a must go for all of you beach lovers.

Grumps

Below is a picture of Daddy helping Gramps re-program his remote control.....for the gazillionth time....oh no, that is just how long it took. (When you deal with Seniors, you have to allow extra time HAHAHAHA GRUMPS!).

Pretty soon.....

time for another knock knock joke,....although just not yet.

I'm rounding (and yes I DO mean "rounding") the corner to 7 months (!) pregnant (WOWZERS). Went to the Dr. today and thankfully everything checks out A OK. :-)

Not much else is new on our end here. Just enjoying as much outside as possible. Not too many pictures either, but will take more over the weekend.

Smile.

could it be....SPRING?

HAPPY SPRING!!

Spring has sprung, the grass is riz, I wonder where the birdies is.

And what a delightful picture of Matteo, enjoying his Mommy's slippers and just being silly :-)

Lions & Tigers & ... well no bears.

Ok sit back folks, the show is about to begin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



I think many would agree, that the elephants were the most impressive.

And here I thought they were doing exercises, but apparently not. :-)

Another impressive part of the show was by far the ladies flying out of the cannon!

And Matteo's favorite part by far was the doggies. You can even hear him giggling in the background.

And yes it truly is the Greatest Show on Earth.

Top of the Morning to You!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY 2009!!!!

Pre-Happy St. Patrick's Day

With all of the work these past few days Mommy and Daddy enjoyed some much needed rest by going to see the local parade in town. And what fun we had seeing everything through Matteo's eyes.

Below is a picture of Matteo (green pants, green necklace) watching the parade with Daddy.

And what a treat, "Sarge" from the movie cars made an appearance! Actually many apperances, as there were many sarges.

And oh yes, the bagpipers are about to pipe on by.

And at the end Matteo did what any toddler would naturally do, cry because he wanted the parade to continue. Don't worry Matteo, soon it will be Memorial day, fourth of july and labor day all of which contain parades :-)

now what?

Well with the chopping and splitting behind us, what else is there left to do?

S T A C K of course.

Below is a picture of what was awaiting us early Saturday morning.

And in case you thought I was joking, a sideview :-)

CHOPPER!

Having rented a log splittler Thursday evening (and getting 3 hours worth of splitting done), the three of us (four if you count Walter) headed out bright and early on Friday to get to work as the splitter had to be returned by 4:45PM sharp! So between the hours of 7:45 AM and 4:15 PM, Daddy and Mommy only stopped for two 15 minute breaks and the rest of the time was work work work. What can a 6 month pregnant woman possibly do? Well work the controls of course, which truthfully is very helpful.

Below is a picture of one of the many ways that Matteo entertained himself during this long chilly day. Putting his friends in and out of the sawdust.

And below is a picture around 2ish, look at how much wood we have cut and how much we have yet to go.

I kid you not when I say this monster oak tree took Daddy about 30 min JUST TO put on the splitter! Daddy really used his noggin and came up with many creative ways to move this 1000+ lb piece of wood. Good job Daddy.

And many times Matteo just took to sitting next to Walter, enjoying his friend and the beauty the day had to offer. Although I must admit for a treat, because he spent over 5 hours outside entertaining himself, I did allow him to watch Cars the movie, much to his delight.

And that folks is where the saying "All in a day's work" came from. Every now and then it feels good just to get back to the simpler side of life..try it, you might just agree :-)

Chainsawed!

Unexpectedly the rain stopped on Wednesday, so Mommy rented a chainsaw and Daddy got to work. (Our chainsaw is on the fritz). So below is a picture of Daddy hard at work and if you think those pieces look big, you should see them in person!

And lookie lookie WALTER decided he wanted to help Daddy, much to Matteo's giggling delight :-)

Rainy Wed.

With the rain coming today, Mommy decided to take out the paints and Matteo and Mommy enjoyed some quiet time.

And yes hindsight says Mommy should not have had those sissors so close to Matteo. but he does know how hold scissors properly.

OH BOY..OR GIRL :-)

Guess who had wood delivered????? Mommy is over the moon with joy, as she was worried with the recession this year wood "wood" (haha) be hard to come by as: 1) people are not cutting trees; and 2) if they are they are keeping the wood in lieu of using oil. So when we saw this trucker on the road, we arranged to have him deliver the wood. Originally he wanted $250 for the whole load, so we said we "wood" (hahah again) take half....he gave us 99.89% of the load for $150........Mommy would have taken it all....but AHEM Daddy intervened.

This was so muc fun to watch the man unload the wood in our sideyard. And yes, those pieces really are THAT big. :-)

Mommy joked to Daddy (and rightfully so), that this man must be good at the "claw" game at the diner (the one where you never win any prizes). Do you see the man ALLLL the way up high in the truck. Not sure if you can see, but he is putting the claw over our wires.

Daddy and Matteo enjoyed the show as well.

And now folks, for the next 2-3 weeks you will be seeing lots upon lots of pictures of wood being cut, split, and being stacked.

Happy Anniversary Oma and Poppi Lou

Matteo's great(in more ways than one) grandparents Oma and Poppi Lou were married 65 years this past Sunday and what better way to celebrate than with family and food?

Matteo is chowing down on the cake in the picture below, but don't worry after 3 mouthfuls of whip cream, he lost interest (much to Mommy's satisfaction).

Man that strawberry is looking delicious :-)

Cleaning Up

With Saturday's near 60 degree weather, what else is Matteo to do but clean up from the nor'easter earlier in the week (that is March weather for you!).

Below is Matteo "shoveling" the snow from the grass (which to be honest it was not in my way)......

and he's taken to piling it on the mulch behind him............ so to recap..he's taking the snow from one cleared area and putting it on another :-)

But I do love the pictures. He is such a fan of green that he insisted on wearing this green shirt today :-) He was in nicer pants but with the warmer weather and the snow melting Mommy had to change his pants 3x(!) as he is a very big fan of puddles.

Knock knock...

who's there?

SIX MONTHS...

six months who?

I'M ENTERING MY SIXTH MONTH OF PREGNANCY...LET ME IN :-)

Congrats to Mommy and a bigger pat on the back to Daddy for the backrubs he's been handing out.

Busy week....

and it's just TUESDAY!

Well first and foremost a very special congratulations to our friends Caleb, Sarah and Greg on the safe and healthy arrival of their new bundle of joy Rory Kate. Sarah, we are so excited for you all and send you our warmest hugs.

Also, a special hats off to our gal Amy, for having successfully nursed Katelyn for over 12 months! Amy once again your selflessness shines through and demonstrates the kind of person you are. So happy to know you and be a part of your life.

Hats off My Dear.

All this excitement and it's only Tuesday.

Chillin'

Matteo is just sitting back, enjoying some quiet time alone while reading a book from Grandma and Gramps.



Mmmmm...... itsn't it the simple things in life :-)

Nor'easter

Well what a total surprise! After having not turned on the radio or TV all weekend, imagine Mommy's surprise when I went to the supermarket for some milk on Sunday and learned we were expecting up to a foot of snow!

When the snow finally did arrive late Sunday/early Monday, so did the wind. Hence Matteo only enjoyed the outdoors for about an hour.

Here is Matteo up to his knees, just trying to get down the driveway.

Rolly polly is about to tip over.....

...augh yes, there he plopped :-) Not just once, and not just twice, but many times.