Summer's Bounties

Once again, the peach quest. Today's quest brought us to Homestead Farm in Poolesville. They're a local pick-your-own farm. On their schedule today was a corn roast. Yummy roasted fresh corn from the farm! We picked-our-own blackberries and came home with those, peaches and sweet corn. Here are some pics.

Saturday In the Park

We have a very nice park within walking distance of our house. It's in front of City Hall. Yesterday, the 2nd annual Summer Safari Festival took place (free). It was geared towards kids, with performers Recess Monkey (from Seattle), and local kids' band Rocknoceros and Sirius XM's Robbie Schaefer. We enjoyed the music and Joe enjoyed the cotton candy, moon bounce, ice cream, petting zoo and more. Check out that big ball in the parking lot. For $3, a child could get inside and be pushed all around the City Hall lawn. It looked like a lot of fun.

Yesterday

The thing is, Joe begged for a Spiderman costume last Halloween and Grammy delivered! When Joe got a look at it, he was too scared to wear it. He was a dinosaur/dragon for Halloween. The Spidey costume has been hanging in his closet ever since. Yesterday, he told me he wanted to wear it and who am I to give fashion advice? Here he is yesterday.

Last Summer/Autumn

Resurrecting the Blog

June 2009 - Dad showing Joe his super cool albeit noisy ride

It's been a crazy half year or so...
I will be catching up, so stop by again soon.

Joe's first Lego airplane (about a yr. ago)

A Letter to Santa

Dear Santa and Deer,
I have been a good boy. I am a good boy. I play nicely. I listen to teachers. I don't run around. I pick up my toys. Please for Christmas will you bring me a new Lightning and a Mack truck? Thank you.
Love,
Joe
I will learn in the classroom.

Oh Great - Now It's November

I've been an absentee blogger. Every time I think I have a handle on things, I am so wrong. My health has been a little weird lately. I had a cold in early September and still have a fever. Weird. Have been investigated for a few things and now all I know is that I have an enlarged spleen and a hiatal hernia (eew). So, there will be more doctor's appointments in my future. Hate it.
We just returned for our annual Down South Odyssey. It was fab & exhausting!

• Day One: Dawn & Terry's place in Vinton, VA (need to upload photos from my phone). Finally met Dawn's husband. What a sweetheart! They made us feel so at home. We went to a nearby playground so Joe could let off a little steam and then went out to a very nice Indian restaurant. Afterwards, we went to see the Mill Mountain Star. It was really amazing - but quite cold outside. In the morning, Terry made us a delicious breakfast. Gosh, we had a great visit.
• Day Two: Julia & Steve's place in Clover, SC (some photos on FlickR check them out). Finally met Julia's boyfriend, Steve. He seems like a terrific guy! The kids are wild about him and he and Julia were wonderful hosts to us. The whole gang of us went to a nearby Mexican restaurant for dinner and had a great meal. It was fun visiting with everyone - but our visit was too short!
• Days Three & Four: Long drive. In the evening, finally arrived at Dad & Suzanne's in Orlando, FL. Suzanne immediately took over spoiling Joe and it was so relaxing for me! The first night we went to Outback Steakhouse. I ordered a fish special and it was so yummy. I think it was flounder. The next night, Suzanne made a delicious dinner and I remarked to Matt that for the first time in 3 years I'd had the luxury of sitting completely through a meal. I really enjoyed seeing them both.
• Days Five, Six & Seven: In the early afternoon we arrived at Matt's folk's house in Summerfield, FL. Mom made some yummy chicken soup for dinner that night. When I woke the next morning, my temp. was 102.2 and I felt awful. Because I'd been running a fever for so long, I decided I'd better see a doc. Went to an urgent care facility and ended up with an abdominal/pelvic CT scan. Fun stuff. So, that was that day. Last day was Pop's 80th birthday. He's a powerhouse! Still plays 4 softball games/week. We took them out to dinner at Harry's and I recommend you try the food there if you're ever in Ocala.
• Day Eight: Drove up to Savannah, Ga and stopped by the Catholic Cemetery to pay respects to family, then onto Winnebow, NC to visit my Uncle Lee & Aunt Dottie. They have an amazingly beautiful home and were so welcoming to us.

Finally, we returned home. There are a few Joe Adventures from the journey, but I'll save those for another post. Everyone we visited seemed to be doing great, and all treated us like royalty. Maybe we should travel more often!

School Days, School Days

So, ten hours of preschool later...
We've been through a lot!
Day 1: Joe said he had fun. He didn't have much else to say, except that for a snack they had muffins, blueberries and apple juice.

Day 2: Went to pick him up and the teacher asked whether the Director had called me. Nope. Why? Well, he's having a little bit of trouble sitting still and listening, he's not staying in line. Then when we were leaving the building, an administrator said Joe was The Stickthrower and showed me the stick he threw in the lobby. Ugh. We brought the stick outside and put it on the ground. We had lots of talks. I felt like my child was the terror of the preschool. Okay, so we work on that from Thursday afternoon to Tuesday morning. Mind you, he's never been in a structured environment with more than two children before. Also, he turned 3 two weeks ago.

Day 3: Dropped him off and he picked his name out of a bunch of others written on tags on the table - yay! Went to pick him up and was told that Joseph may have behaved slightly better, but at the end of the day he was hitting children on the playground - yikes. Later that day, Joe mentioned that "my teacher put me in the closet, then she rescued me". WHAT?! I remained calm and asked him more questions about it, but he wasn't very forthcoming. The next morning I telephoned the Director. She assured me the teachers had done no such thing, said she'd talk to them and call me back. Long story short, she called me and said that a teacher had taken him along into the supply closet with her. Umm, okay. Still not sure why he said "she rescued me".

Day 4 (today): Thank God! Joe had a MUCH better day today. He was a much better listener and was more in control. I'm so relieved. Only a single positive day, but after the last 3, one is enough for me. If things remain positive, I will keep Joe there. He really loves to go to school.

Life With a THREE Year Old

This picture sums up life with a three year old boy. We try to remain steady and calm while he's always kicking up his heels.

Gosh, so I haven't been blogging lately. What have we been up to?

Joseph celebrated his third birthday several times over the last few weeks. He went to Chuck E. Cheese's for the first time. That was chaotic, but he had tons of fun with Ron, MaryAnne, Natalie and Lizzy. Another day Grammy came over to celebrate. She brought Joe just what he asked for - a hook (plastic). Yep, as in "Captain Hook". That went great with one of the gifts we gave him - a sword (foam). Now he runs around with one in each hand shouting "HA!" as he lunges. On his actual birthday we went to Cabin John Park for fun and came home and enjoyed ice cream cake. He received lots of wonderful gifts from family and friends and has been loving every minute of being the center of attention.

Today was Joe's first day of preschool. He goes to Creative Tot Time twice each week. He ran right in and started playing with the children and toys. He didn't notice I left him there and didn't cry during the session. When I went to get him he said "Mommy, I was looking for you". I think he'll adjust just fine. They go outside to play every day unless it's raining or snowing. He told me today that they had muffins and apple juice and blueberries for a snack. The parents are required to provide a healthy snack for the class once a month or so. There are two teachers and 14 children in his class.

I've uploaded lots of new pictures to the FlickR album. They're mostly from Joe's day out at Cabin John. He's between haircuts, so looking a bit shabby. Maybe we'll get another crew cut in the next week or so. I hope to blog again soon. That's about it for life in our little Romasco World at the moment. Hope everyone is well.

Birthday Bashing the Bells

Yesterday - Cabin John Park - Joe's 3rd birthday.

I will try to post pictures or put them in the FlickR album in the coming days.