Hero Worship

As of late Merrick has become very interested in superheros. He wants to wear his superhero cape, wants to play superheros, and is always asking questions about superheros, but it seems like lately the biggest superhero in Merrick's mind is daddy. Ever since Merrick was born I have always thought of him as a mommy's boy, but lately time with daddy is gold. He wants to do anything he sees Jeremy doing, he is constantly asking when daddy will be home from school, and anytime he makes something special at preschool he tells me, "I can't wait to show daddy".

It is a lot of pressure having your every move watched and replicated, but Jeremy is definitely up for the challenge.

Valentine's Day 2013

After much build-up and anticipation this week Valentine's Day finally made its appearance. If I had to sum up the day in a word or two it would be "nearly perfect". The reason I say nearly perfect is that Jeremy and I ended the day by watching the worst movie ever ("One Day"...seriously...don't watch it). Other than the unfortunate ending, the day was perfect.

Of course one of the highlights of the day was the delish heart-shaped food. I made heart-shaped coffee cake and smoothies for breakfast while my boys went to buy me flowers, Merrick had a heart-shaped sandwich for lunch while Jeremy and I were out (more on that in a second) and we had heart shaped whole wheat sausage pizza and Martinelli's for dinner.


As I mentioned, Jeremy and I did get to sneak away for a day-time date thanks to my dad watching Merrick. We added to the day's food perfection by heading downtown to Blueplate. For anyone reading this who is not a local, if you ever come to visit P-town, a trip to Blueplate is a must. We then walked to the Chinese Gardens for a romantic stroll. If I am being completely honest the walk would also go in less than perfect column. We should have driven and ended up walking through some of the sketchier parts of downtown. The gardens on the other hand were pristine and serene and it was nice to get away, if even for just a few hours.


That evening we ate dinner as a family and then gave Merrick his Valentine's gift. This year I made both my boys homemade Valentine's scratchers for their gifts. At first Merrick was the most excited by the candy attached, but once Jeremy helped him scratch off the hearts and he discovered the awesome surprises beneath them (a go-kart racing trip with daddy, a trip to the children's museum, a new car from the "Cars" movie, and a fort and movie night) he was a pretty happy camper. In fact, he was so excited we had to have the fort and movie night the very next day.


Like I said, the day was nearly perfect, but the highlight for me came first thing in the morning when the first words out of Merrick's mouth to me were, "Is it morning time? I have a card for you mommy!" and he ran off excitedly to get the cards he had made for Jeremy and I. He was so sweet about it and never asked once the entire day if we got him anything. He was just so genuinely excited to give his gift. How many three-year-olds are that sweet? I have to say that I am one lucky lady to have both my boys.

Count Down to V-day

I am pretty sure that I have blogged about this before, but holidays in my house growing up were the best. My mom always went all out to make sure they were special for us. I have thought about this a lot since becoming a parent. I want my kids to look back and think "wow mom always went above and beyond to make holidays special for us." I am definitely still a work in progress and have a long way to go before I am at my mom's level, but I am working on it. This year though we have added several new dimensions to our Valentine's Day celebration and it seems like preparations have taken over our lives.

First off, we have our usual type of things planned; heart shaped sandwiches at lunch, heart shaped pizza for dinner, decorating sugar cookies with pink frosting, cards, and flowers. This year I also decided to add delivering homemade cookies and special Valentine's quotes to all our visiting teaching and home teaching families.

For the first time this year we also have the preschool dimension. This means coming up with Valentine's themed crafts, snacks, and goody bags for 18 small people.

Also for the first time ever, since Merrick attends both preschool classes, we have classmate Valentine's to prepare.

I feel like I am complaining right now and that was not really my intention. For the most part all the preparations have been fun and maybe even made me feel like a better mom/wife/teacher. It is just that I was looking around today at the goody bags for preschool, the cookies I was making, and watching Jeremy and Merrick work on his Valentine's and could not help but think that for a "smallish" holiday that is still almost a week away, it really has taken over.

Saturday In The Park (I think it was the 4th of July)

Over the last few weeks we have settled back into our typical routine with work and school. This means that when Jeremy is not at school he is typically studying, even on our precious Saturdays. The problem is that the weather has been improving and we have tried to take advantage of that by having some park time with cousins on Saturdays.

Last Saturday Jeremy was finally able to break away from studying and make it to the park about five minutes before we were ready to head home. This Saturday he decided to take a break and join us and then return to the books.

It was a pretty perfect day weather wise and the park was beautiful. I had never been to this particular park before, but it has tons of paths and is right on the river so it has beautiful views and a dock you can walk out on to. All the cousins had scooters or skateboards and they had a great time.

I think we spent about two hours riding the trails, doing tricks, and having races and Merrick was still devastated when it was time to leave. The day was a combination of Merrick's favorite things; being active, being at the park, and being with cousins. It was a win/win/win and I think for Jeremy worth the study time missed.