Christos Anesti! Happy Easter!

"Western" (Catholic or Christian) Easter coincided with Greek Orthodox Easter again this year!  We love it when that happens!  "Christos Anesti" or Christ is Risen is what we say at Greek Church. 
We traveled up to Vermont to celebrate Easter this year.  On Saturday we went to Sugar and Spice for an Easter Egg Hunt... it was pouring but still fun for Aaron

The Sugar and Spice restaurant is iconic... it's one of the best places in town for breakfast.  We used to go there a lot growing up.  After the egg hunt we went inside for brunch. I don't even look at the menu... I always get the Mendon Miler.  Mmmmm Mmmmm Mmmmm!  It's an english muffin with canadian bacon, poached egg and VT cheddar cheese. 

Marcus and GG
He tried lots of new things (thanks a lot, Ace!) including maple syrup, jelly beans and pancakes

Aaron ordered Cookies and Cream Pancakes... they were delicious!

We hung out at Ace and GG's for the day wishing the weather was nicer.  We did manage to dye some Easter Eggs... Aaron did a great job and didn't break a single egg! 

At 6 o'clock our food fest continued when we went to the Victorian Inn at Wallingford for dinner.  We had a very nice time.  Aaron had escargot for an appetizer and LOVED it!  He thought eating snails was the coolest!  Ace and GG know the owners, Soo and Stanti and I know Stanti from my fish slinging days at Mr. C's so their special attention to our table made for a special evening.  (sorry - everyone forgot their camaras AND phones so no photos!)
Aaron and Marcus slept like champions and waited for the Easter Bunny to come.  He left them baskets and eggs to hunt...

After our egg hunt and baskets we got dressed in our Easter Finest and went to St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church.  Much of the Louras clan was there including Uncle Gus and Aunt Ruth, Valerie, Mark and Tara Fathergill, Julie and Nico (cantor for the service) Louras, Chris (Mayor) and Judy Louras and their boys Augie and Ian (alter boy).  Uncle NoNo also came down from Burlington for church.  It was a really nice service and I think my Papa would be proud that we went.  I think of him often and feel especially close to him in that church. 
Here are some shots of the Libertore family... yes, I dressed us alike and will continue to do it as long as I don't get any push back.  Aaron LOVED that we were all "same same"

After church Uncle Nono, Ace and Daddy kept the boys busy while GG and I prepared dinner.  

Our Easter dinner was DELICIOUS!  Here is the menu...
Appetizer: Shrimp cocktail and Deviled Eggs
Dinner:  Lamb Kabob's marinated in a yogurt sauce (which we also used for dipping - yum!).  Sweet onion and orzo casserole with Gruyere cheese.  Brown butter and tarragon asparagus.
Desert:  Vanilla Bean Ice Cream Pie with Lemon Curd and blackberries

The comedic stylings of Aaron John Libertore

Here is a little story about the lesson I learned the hard way while using the car carts at the grocery store (this was a big hit at Marcus' playgroup on Thursday)
Aaron and I took a solo trip to the grocery store last week.  As we pulled into our parking space Aaron spotted one of those ginormous carts with the car on the front.  I can't stand those things... they are big and cumbersome and covered in other kid nastyness.  I usually distract him from them but there was no avoiding it on this particular day... it was right next to our car!  So, to avoid a meltdown in the parking lot, I agreed.  We proceed to shop and about half way through the store Aaron says "hey Mama, I gotta tell you something."  I say "Okay. What is it, pal?"  He says "There used to be a cookie in this car"  I hang my head knowing the answer to my next question but and ask anyway... "What do you mean, USED to be a cookie?"  "I ate it"  All the mom's in earshot say "ewwww... been there!"  We proceed to have a discussion about eating "found food" or food from strangers.  He seemed to get it so we forged on with the shopping.  About 3 aisles later Aaron says "Hey Mama, I don't really like ham."  Again, knowing (and fearing) the answer to my next question, I ask anyhow... "What would make you say that, Aaron?"  "Look!"  I go to the front of the cart to find Aaron sitting there with fistfuls of shredded ham!  Ewwwwww!!!!  At this point I'm dry heaving.  Noticing my disgust, Aaron says "I think I'm going to get out of here - this cart is nasty"  Lesson learned... never, ever, ever allow your child in a grocery store car cart without thoroughly inspecting its contents.

This is a bedtime conversation between Aaron and Daddy...
Aaron: "Dad do you have boogies in your nose?"
Brad: "Nope, no boogies here"
Aaron: "So is that just hair in your nose?"
Brad: "yeah, pal.  I guess it is"
Aaron: "Can you breath with all that hair in there?"
Brad: "Yes, Aaron.  I can breath just fine."
Aaron: "Will I have hair in my nose someday?"
Brad: "Yeah, probably"
Aaron: "Are you sure I will be able to breath with all that hair in my nose?"

Aaron's new game...
It's called "Karate Kid" but it SOUNDS like he's saying "Crack Head".  We still do a double-take each time he asks us to play.  I believe Tommy and Lindsay can attest to its hilarity.  :)  The "game" itself consists of us kicking each other back and forth so naturally, we're not big fans.  It will probably be easier to put an end to this game when we can control our laughter at his pronunciation. 

After bath conversation...
I was combing Aaron's hair after his bath.  He turns to me and says "Please don't put any product in my hair" (yes, he said "product").  I said "okay, I won't." and out of curiosity I asked "why?"  He shrugs, scrunches up his nose and very seriously says "I'm not really a gel kind of guy"  After choking on my laughter I asked him where he learned that phrase.  He says "Well, Uncle NoNo isn't really a gel kind of guy so I'm not either"
There you have it... sponges!!!  I assume NoNo said this to Aaron when they were getting ready for his White Coat Ceremony... two months ago!

Nuts and bolts

That's what we call trail mix around here... a mix of a bunch of different things.  That's just what this post is. 
I'll start with a Marcus update.
He is officially an unassisted sitter!  He has also learned how to transition down to his belly from a sitting position... controlled now, not just flopping over.  It looks as though his two front bottom teeth are getting ready to come in... there are little buds.  (Man, time is flying!)  When Marcus is on his belly, he likes to get up on all fours and rock... could this be the beginning of crawling already?  Noooo!!!!!   He is also sleeping in his own crib in his own room now.  It took us (ok, me!) a long time to feel comfortable with that transition but he has taken to it like a pro!  The first night was pretty good, the second was awful and he's been sleeping through the night since then.  I miss his sounds next to me at night but we are all sleeping soooo much better.  One final update... I believe Marcus is making the connection between "Mama", the sound and "Mama", the Mama!  I couldn't be more thrilled!  (He hasn't said "Dada" in months and this is really getting to Brad... I reinforce it all day long but still nothing.  Sorry, Dada!)  Here is a video of our sweet happy 7 month old:

Now on to Aaron...
Last night was his first night sans pull-up!  He did great right up until about 6am.  Sadly, he was too groggy to get up and use the potty.  Hey, we gotta start somewhere.  He's excited to try again tonight.  He is going through a difficult phase right now of testing limits... well, difficult for us - he's having a blast!  Ugh!  Last week we had an incident where he pooped in his playroom - knowing full well that this was not a good idea.  He thought it was very funny and was banned from using the playroom by himself for several days as a result.  This is such a challenging time as a parent... Aaron is sweet and charming and funny and the best kid we could ask for one minute - and a complete sassy, nasty, demon child stranger the next minute.  Whoever coined the phrase "terrible two's" CLEARLY hadn't made it to the three's yet!  With a little reassurance from our network of friends with 3-4 year old children, we are pushing through with as much patience and grace as we can.  We are doing a lot of positive reinforcement which seems to be helping.  His chore chart now includes a column for Good Manners and Good Listening Skills.  He gets a sticker (well, magnet now) for being polite and for wearing his "listening ears".  Here is a video of Aaron being a goofy big brother and making Marcus giggle

Let's see... what next?  We have been doing a lot of yard work lately.  This house has been severely neglected over the years!  We discovered the the whole back end of the property is COVERED in poison ivy... I am now covered in poison ivy!  We raked up more leaves last weekend than we could possibly bag so we decided to call in some help.  We got a couple of quotes from local landscapers to see what it would set us back to take away the brush and yard waste we already raked as well as what it would cost to remove the poison ivy and edge and mulch the front gardens.  We got some ridiculous quotes and finally one we could agree to.  Next week KnK landscaping will be dropping by to give us a hand and I couldn't be more excited!!!  We didn't get everything on our wish list but what they're going to do will be a tremendous help in making us proud to live here.  I'll take some before and after shots this time... promise!

Marcus and I have been attending a lot of playgroups lately.  I forgot how enjoyable it is to sit with other mom's and talk about the various things our children are up to.  It's so important for mom's to have an outlet and support system for their kid-related frustrations.  We have been going to the same baby group that I used to take Aaron to... through the REACH Program at St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in Brighton.  It's a bit of a hike for us now but we love the leader, Nicole Croak!  Aaron comes with us to the Thursday group and is the song-time helper.  It's a blast! 

That reminds me... Marcus had a developmental screening done on Monday through the REACH Program.  The REACH team is made up of trained and licensed clinicians specializing in different areas of child development... there is an occupational therapist (Nicole!), a physical therapist (Jackie), Speech/language pathologist (Lisa), developmental educator (Lori), Lactation counselor (Patty) and maternal child health counselor (Maria).  The screening we had was with Jackie and Lori and we had a lot of fun.  Jackie and Lori basically played with Marcus for an hour while taking note of his communication skills and various milestones.  They asked me a lot of questions to fill in the blanks.  Their initial report is that he is doing great and right on track with where he should be, developmentally.  They are writing up an official report and sending it to us - I'll share his results in a later post.  I was able to ask a lot of questions and get ideas for fun activities to do do with Marcus to strengthen his verbal skills and his transition into crawling.  We will probably do another screening around 9-10 months.  Like I said, it was mostly for fun.  We didn't have any real concerns but it is always nice to be reassured. 

I guess that's it for now... more to come.

While the cat's away...

We've had an interesting few days.  Daddy is out of town on business and this is the first time I've had to wrangle the troops on my own for 3 days.  Ugh!  I'm pooped!  I was tempted to pour myself a glass of wine but was afraid the addition of alcohol to my already paranoid state would be bad... this house is big and it makes a LOT of noise! 
I am not winning any mom of the year awards for today... we didn't get out of our pj's all day!  In my defense it was pouring.  I let Aaron watch and OBSCENE amount of television today!  Don't judge - it's about survival, man!  I also let him have a happy meal for dinner... yup, sure did!  Hey - he got apples instead of fries and milk instead of soda... surely that counts for something?!?!  Maybe I loose a point for going through the drive through in my pj's but whatever!  Survival! 
The highlight of our day was when Aaron's new carseat - errr Booster (he's very particular about that!) arrived.  We went with the Britax Frontier 85 in the "cowmooflage" print.  Let me just tell you... he is PSYCHED!  It has two cup holders and a "penis protector" (his words, not mine!).  I think I can explain... there is a small padded circle that goes over the buckle between his legs.  It is meant to be a barrier between the seat and the buckle.  Aaron thinks it is the perfect thing to protect his penis from getting snapped in the buckle.  I didn't realize this was a problem but apparently it is.  Good thing we opted for the "penis protector"!!  :)
As you can see from the photo below, we did take a small break from watching television to decorate the carseat box. 

Shortly after we finished decorating Aaron informed me that he would like me to glue him in the box to stay forever.  He stayed in there for about 15 minutes (seriously!) and then somehow knocked it over and FREAKED out!!!  We can laugh about it now but it was touch and go there for a bit! 
It still amazes me that you can have a playroom full of toys and what do kids want to play with?  A carseat box.  Why do we bother?  I'm totally hitting up the appliance section of Sears for a refrigerator box... we're going to make a sick rocket!
On a final note - Aaron made a funny today that still has me giggling.  I was unloading the dishwasher and humming the song from the Handy Manny show.  I said "I have the Handy Manny song stuck in my head right now"  Aaron says "You are in big trouble, Mommy.  That is why we don't put things in our ears.  You better get that out before Daddy gets home."  :)  I love that kid!