First Foods

I can hear it now, my poor boy is such a deprived child and "seriously Courtnie? He hasn't had that yet?" I know! At 19 months old, Andrew had his very first yogurt, Cold Stone ice cream, and peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Now before you disown me as a friend and question my parenting, please know that there were reasons for these decisions.

1) Yogurt: I don't usually buy yogurt for Kyle and I. I am not really a fan and since Kyle doesn't complain about items that the purchasing department (that would be me!) gathers at the store, I never bought them. Kyle went to the store to surprise me to make dinner and in his bag of goodies, he bought Andrew some Dora strawberry yogurts. This little cup of sweetness did not stand a chance. He literally had the cup on his chin, trying to lick the reminants out of the cup.

2) Cold Stone: It's not like the boy has not had ice cream! Trust me, he has...in small doses! He has also had some of my Cold Stone but never his "own" cup. Can you say sugar high...to the extreme?? With this being said, Andrew had his very first kid size cup from Cold Stone. He savored the allotment that mommy allowed of Cold Stone's Oreo ice cream. His little kid's cup lasted for 4 more days. I guess the true entertainment would have been to get pictures of him running around like a mad man after his ice cream.

3) PB & J: Being a teacher, I have students who are deathly allergic of peanuts and I have been in several "peanut free" classrooms. Not wanting to possibly experience a fatal allergic reaction, Kyle and I both decided that giving Andrew peanut butter was not high on the list to rush into. After sharing several yogurt chips from trail mixes and other fruits that shared containers of peanuts and other nuts over the last 3 months, we decided we would let him try it. The boy loved it! And he drank an entire glass of milk after too! But more importantly, as of now, my little monkey man is not allergic to peanuts! Thank goodness!

Turns out our little guy is a foodie like his mom! YAY!!

A little Wine and Whine and Pampering

I am so fortunate to have the honor of calling my neighbors my friends. Truly, these women inspire me daily with ways to be a better person, mother, friend, and well, neighbor. In grand tradition, we celebrate each other's birthday and believe me when I say, we do it up, and we do it up right. In March, we have 2 birthdays to celebrate, Judy's and Jessica's. We decided to get pedicures and have brunch at South Coast Winery. The plan WAS to have Roxy's husband act as our chauffeur for the day so you can imagine our surprise when a stretch limousine pulled up to the house to take us our birthday getaway. We were blown away. Me, I was ecstatic! I know you will be shocked to hear this but the last time I was in a limo was when I was in 5th grade and in my cousin's wedding. Yup, it's been a long time!
We were all giddy and cackling away when we arrived to get our pedicures. My footsies were so tired and loved having some R & R. After our pedi's, we made our way out to South Coast Winery where we wined and dined. The food was amazing, the setting beautiful, and the friendship and laughter, organic and real!

Big Bear

After having a very chaotic week at school with our school WASC accreditation, you can imagine the leap of joy and haste I took when we were invited to go to Big Bear for the weekend with our neighbors and good friends, the Doyle Family. Sadly, Kyle was working so he wasn't able to partake in the fun but nonetheless, Andrew and I were game!

We decided to go up for the day because packing for 1 is already stressful, packing for a toddler is an anxiety attack waiting to happen. We drove up for the day with our other neighbors, Tom and Roxy. Thank goodness I had company driving up that highway. That road is no joke! And yes, I was the little old lady, hands and 10 and 2, white knuckled, mommy carrying precious cargo driver that had to pull over several times to allow cars to pass.

We arrived to Big Bear in great time, despite my slow poke driving. It was a gorgeous day and there was still some snow left on the ground. After eating lunch, the girls decided to take Andrew to town and walk off lunch and enjoy the scene. We shopped, enjoy an ice cream, and the highlight of the day, a horse drawn carriage ride throughout the main drag! Andrew LOVED it!!

 

We also even enjoyed a late afternoon snack right on the lake where Andrew loved watching the airplanes and playing with his trucks on the shore line as well as in any dirt he could find.

Waving to the planes!

We arrived back to the cabin where Andrew decided to have a jam session with the Jessica's step dad. He watched quick intently...maybe we have a future musician on our hands??

Thank you Doyle Family for the fun! We had a blast on our quick getaway to Big Bear!!

Because he is cool like that!

After starting Spring cleaning a little late this year, Kyle found a tub in the garage that had lots of childhood belongings including a GiJoe tank, that he can vividly recall playing with as a kid as well as this pair of ski glasses, pictured below. Andrew is super into trucks right now so you can imagine Kyle's excitement to see Andrew playing with a toy that he had so many years of fun playing with.

Andrew, for whatever reason, thinks that THIS is how you wear glasses. Not sure who he picked up this style from but it certainly gives me a laugh every time he tries to put on glasses.

And yes, judging by the hairdo, you can tell that this boy is ON IT the minute he wakes up in the morning. Remote control, check! Glasses, check! Mom...hurry up get me some milk....double check!

Happy Spring and Happy Easter! We are so excited to watch Andrew hunt for Easter eggs this year since he is now able to do so!