Marco Lately

Marco loves to be outside.  Now that he is a walking machine we can put on his little sneakers and he roams free and happy.

Snacks and num nums are a big part of Marco's day.  He loves fishies, fruit snacks, strawberries, blueberries, grapes, bananas, crackers, cheese, Pringles, veggie straws and all his food must be just like his big brothers.  If I want to greatly offend Marco all I have to do is cut up his sandwich or pizza into bite sized chunks.  He wants it whole and he holds it in his hands and chomps away.

Messes, messes and more messes.  Marco is our little tornado boy.  He's not the worst mess maker I've seen but compared to his brothers he takes the gold medal.

Marco has some sweet Wii moves.  If we are dancing or playing Mario he insists on being part of the fun.  We usually try to give him the remote that has languishing batteries so he can't wreak too much havoc on our games.

Baseball Season 2013

March - April - May 2013

Nathan played in the Farm League (kids 6-8 years old) this year.   He was one of the youngest players on his team, the Athletic's.  

At the beginning of the season Nathan was clearly not the most developed player.  He was playing with and against kids that were 2-3 years older than him who had a lot more experience than Nathan from his 1 year of T-Ball.  We were really proud of him because he didn't let it get him down.  He had a great time, enjoyed his team, and tried his best at every practice and game.  

By the end of the season he was holding his own against boys who looked like they were pushing 12 instead of maybe almost 9.  His strongest skill is batting, he rarely struck out and when he hits it he hits it hard.  In the out field Nathan mostly goofed off with his friend Jackson.  They would wave to each other, do silly dances and every now and then you would see them take off across the grass away from the game for a potty break.  When nature calls, it calls.

When the season first started the weather was windy and cold.  I was on my own for almost the whole season since Curtis worked late on Nathan's game days.  I had to bring Bracken and Marco with.  Luckily during one of the coldest games Grandma and Grandpa Kleinman came to watch and Grandma kept the little boys in her car the whole time.  Grandpa and I sat in our camping chairs wrapped up in blankets to survive the 1 1/3 hour game.

Once the weather started to warm up the games were 100% more enjoyable.  We were even able to have a few picnic dinners with Papi towards the end.  Bracken loved to relax in his chair, eat his dinner and cheer on Nathan. 

Random Moments

March/April 2013

Marco has officially entered the "make a mess out of everything at eye level" stage.  I tidy up his little explorations at least 6 times a day.

Spring time in Northern Arizona can through some wacky cold fronts at you.  We have been know to have freak snow storms in May and planting gardens before Mother's Day is risky.  So when beautiful sunny 70 degree weather comes around we soak it up.  That picture of me is not my regular day look but rather a method for getting wavy hair without heat.  Some days I put it up in my moose knots, as I lovingly call them, and never get around to taking them out till well after lunch. I have been caught at home a few times sporting my knots by morning callers, but I have yet to forget and leave the house with them still intact.  I'm sure it is only a matter of time. 

Grandma King shipped us this little picnic table for our Easter gift and the boys have their little table. 

Easter 2013

March 30th-31st

Saturday morning the boys woke up, found their baskets, ripped into them and consumed at least half of their candy all before 7 am.  What a great Saturday morning!  

The rest of the day was a typical Saturday cleaning the house and sprucing up the yard.  We also had to prepare a few things for hosting Easter dinner with some of the Kleinmans.  Tio Dusty and his fiance Melissa were in town so those of us who didn't have other plans decided to get together to enjoy more time with them.  

Easter Morning dawned bright and beautiful.  My 3 little men were excited about their new ties (pink pinstripe so I can get my pink fix in without a girl) and vests.  Nathan and Bracken were convinced that the tie was supposed to lay outside the vest so we let it slide.  Who knows maybe they will start a fashion trend.

Nathan was good enough to take some pictures of me and my man.  It's always nice to have photos of the two of us to see how we age and develop over the years.

Sunday afternoon the family arrived and we enjoyed a delicious Easter Ham Feast.  The kids enjoyed several rounds of an egg hunt, but the big hit was the glow-in-the-dark egg hunt after dark.

Spring Break Visit

March 23rd-29th

We were super excited to have Grandma King and Tia Aubrey come and visit us for their Spring Break.  We enjoyed a lot of Just Dance fun, a breakfast outing to Zeke's, and a lot of outdoor fun in the sun.  Tia Aubrey got a good start on her golden summer tan.

Look Who's 1!

March 14, 2013

Marco is 1 year old!

12 Month Stats:

Weight 21lbs 14oz

Height 31"

For dinner we ate waffles with strawberries and hash browns because Marco LOVES breakfast foods.  Then later Grandma and Grandpa Kleinman joined us for gifts and cake.

Marco is still a very happy baby.  He is a great sleeper and wakes up making his cute little noises with a huge smile on his face.  He adores his big brothers and follows them every where.  Over the last few months between teething and a few sicknesses he has turned into my pickiest eater.  He refuses to eat beans in any form, which is difficult for me because we eat a lot of beans.  He used to devour his bean & cheese quesadillas and his soft fresh whole beans but now if I offer them to Marco they end up right on the floor.   He loves all fruits, avocados and broccoli so at least I know we can get some healthy nutrition in his little body with all the cheese crips and sandwiches he is eating.

Spring Break

March 2013

We had big plans for our Spring Break.  Curtis and I wrote out a long list of projects that we were determined to conquer and another list of potential fun activities to enjoy with our boys.  Then reality set in.  Not only did we not complete our to-do list, but we were only able to get the first item on the list half way completed.  We were able to work in some fun along the way so our entire week wasn't completely a bust.

Updating our light switches, outlets and plate covers to new white hardware was the first and only project we attempted.  Curtis figured he would be able to knock them out in an afternoon, boy were we wrong.  Four trips to Home Depot and 3 weeks later we finally finished the exposed outlets and switches not covered by furniture.  So technically this project is only 85% compete to this day.  The boys were super interested in this project and wanted to be involved every step of the way which also attributed to the longer than expected completion time.  

We were also hoping to lay more rock in our backyard since one side needed thicker coverage.  Two years ago when we first overhauled our yard there was a shortage of the rock we had selected due to high demand so we got by with spreading the rock as thin as we possibly could.  After 2 years of use we could tell we needed to add more rock for best results so I started scouting out the usual suppliers around town only to discover that not a single one carried our 1/2" salt river rock anymore.  This rock is harvested right here in Arizona but we Arizonians can no longer enjoy it because California has monopolized the product by paying the manufacturers 10 times (no exaggeration) what the local guys in Arizona are willing to pay.  Lucky us.  We are going to have to get creative to solve this problem. 

On a lighter note, we had fun playing in our backyard especially with the slip'n'slide, we celebrated Marco's 1st birthday, and Nathan, Bracken and Mommy had a little date night at the movies.  We watched Escape from Planet Earth, munched on popcorn and candy and thoroughly enjoyed our time together.