Easter, Instagram style

Mommy's Ninja Egg

Sully's Dinosaur Egg 

Mommy's Mr. Chick Egg

Daddy's embarrassing excuse for an egg. Seriously. Could you have tried any less?!

Sully's Sully Egg (w/ the help of Mom)

Easter Dinner for my meat lovin' boys. Pot roast with potatoes, cabbage, carrots and onions.

Sully's note and treat he left for "Mr. Rabbit" as he calls him

His destroyed basket before I even got a cute picture. Lesson learned. 

We decided to hit up Underwood Farms for the afternoon while dinner cooked

Tractor riding ... 

... You're doing it wrong.

Giving the trikes a whirl instead ... out of the sandbox.

His favorite part - the animals. All the goats are dogs, no matter what you tell him.

The totally cute baby goat that looked like a cow 

Riding the train. Shaun and I were super hesitant given last years train debacle at the farm, but he insisted and did great! He really is getting to be a big boy.

Launching oranges with daddy 

This is as close as we got. Sully has a serious problem with costumed figures. He was totally cool. laughing and hamming it up. As SOON as the bunny came out of the house he froze, told us he was leaving and started walking away, never taking his eyes off the bunny suit. Later that night he had my phone and I asked him what he was doing. "Deleting that rabbit." is what he told me. He straight up deleted this picture out of my phone and told me "That picture is no good for me." Hah!

My favorite - the horses!

I love where we live, seriously. The farm is two minutes away from our house. And even though we technically live in the 'burbs, we're surrounded by acres and acres of agricultural land.

I think its pretty awesome.

Sandbox, round II.

Feeding the emus.

Watching the goats climb above us.

Petting the pretty rabbits, George.

Running through the field maze.

The highland cattle. I wanted to hug it, it was so freakin' cute.

My boys & I.

Taking a break checking out our Easter egg hunt loot. I warned him it was sour.

Here comes kid number 1

And here comes kid number 2

My favorite picture from the day

Park weather

It's totally normal in our family to wear a goalie mask everywhere you go including the car, mom's work, the grocery store and the park. 

Getting some hockey time in at the park 

Swinging 

He was making sand angels

Covering his feet 

And digging like a cat in a litter box. Don't judge.

His "ladybug". I didn't have the heart to tell him it was just a seed.

Birthday festivities - Part two

I kept the promise I made to my little dude almost a year ago. If he still wanted to learn to skate by his 3rd birthday so he could play hockey, I'd sign him up.

Well if you know my child you know thats a stupid question. Of course he wants to play hockey. So last week I enrolled him in his first semester of ice skating ... And he did great!

He went right onto the ice. Had a mini freak out once he realized ice is slippery and you can fall. He regrouped and got back on once daddy laced up and went on the ice with him. He did so great in fact he preferred to not use the ice walker (a cheat bar to hold that slides on the ice with you to learn to balance.)

There were a few tumbles but they worked on teaching him how to get up and he did fantastic. I was amazed how intently he paid attention to the instructors. They even took him to the penalty box to sit because all he would talk about was learning to skate to play hockey so he could sit in the penalty box.

When it was time to leave he cried. Like a lot. Like "Hey I'm being kidnapped" style screams. And cried for about 45 minutes after that. All day he asked when he gets to go back. His instructor said he did so well he will probably be in this class 2-3 classes more before he gets bumped to the next level class. That most kids don't even get on the ice till the second or third class.

Definitely a proud mama moment. Lord help me ... It's starting. Here we go!

Three

Three.

One thousand, ninety-five days.

Your third birthday.

Or your "3 and 1/2" birthday as you would say.

Once again I'm here -

in the quiet and in the dark -

like I've done every year since

the night before you came into this world.

There are days that I'm still amazed I'm somebodies mom.

That you're my son.

That your nervous laughter,

love of animals,

eyelashes,

gap tooth smile,

ability to make people laugh,

and cautious nature

are all things you get from me.

Its so completely awesome and weird at the same time.

You are growing.

You're taking those things that are mine,

those things that are your father's -

and turning them into something

uniquely you.

You are extremely brazen, yet withdrawn.

You are loud, yet soft spoken.

You're sassy, yet well mannered.

You are the funniest person I know.

Your smile, makes me smile.

You are determined but will not be

coerced, pushed, bribed or forced.

Your quick witted retorts make me bite the inside of my cheek to keep from losing it with laughter.

You are a giant, yet so gentle with all other beings.

And I guess that's where I find you right now,

at two different ends of the spectrum.

A baby not quite yet a little man.

A little man not quite any longer a baby.

And I've found myself somewhat in limbo

as well lately.

Somewhere wedged in those spaces of holding on, and letting go.

Pulling you in,

and stepping back as you make your way into the world.

I watched you scale an extremely tall ladder up to the top of a rocket ship,

the other afternoon.

Giant, older kids whizzed past you left and right.

You started, stopped and came running back to hug my leg.

You watched. You waited.

You let go.

I took a deep breath.

Why can't you just take the dang stairs, as your daddy would say.

Its easier. Less scary.

But easier simply isn't your style.

You climbed. I cringed inside. I smiled outside.

You prevailed.

I was terrified for you.

But I was determined to not stand in your way either.

To not stop you from conquering.

I find that its in the most normal of places,

(like a park)

doing the most ordinary of things,

(like trying to not pee my pants as you wave 3 stories off the ground at me on an open ledge)

that I realize how much we're all learning

on this beautiful journey.

Learning to grow.

Learning to conquer our fears.

Learning to hold on.

Learning to let go.

Learning to remember these moments,

like making it to the top of the rocket ship without your mom.

Learning that my heart can sore for you and tinge with the tiniest bit of pain

all at the same time.

Because you're big. Because you're still my baby.

Learning that its possible to hold you, and let you go,

all in the same space.

And when I feel like I don't know where the past

3 years

have gone, I look at you and see them -

every moment,

every last one of them -

and realize they are all right here.

Right now.

They are in the momentous achievements

and in the day to day living.

When I feel that invisible cord stretch a little further,

pull a little tighter,

and give less and less -

I can't help but think how you continue

to pull me closer to the things I never imagined possible.

You've pulled me into a place I never would have dreamed

3 years ago.

A place that holds

no words

to describe this kind of happiness.

This kind of love.

I knew on this night 3 years ago how capable I was of love.

Its what you're suppose to do when you're a mom.

I just never understood how much.

How deep.

How relentless.

I didn't realize the places my heart was capable of reaching.

Of stretching to.

And I certainly didn't realize how much I would like you.

You're my most favorite person to be around.

You're my most favorite, period.

Happy Birthday Sully.

I hope you conquer the top of every rocket ship that comes your way in life.

Even when it scares the beejeezus out of me.

I love you.

Kicking off the 3rd B-day Festivities

Shaun and I went back and forth a lot about taking Sully to Disneyland, or to the last home game of the season for the Kings. When Shaun scored some awesome seats for the last home game, it pretty much sealed the deal. Thursday night, Shaun, Uncle Dave, Sully and I headed down to root for the Kings one last time this season before playoffs.

I love taking him to hockey games. Its one place I don't have to worry about him being quiet. Grown men screaming like toddlers is expected, so he fits right in. And my son can crap talk with the best of them. Things like "The Sharks suck!" "Lets go Kings!" "Shoot the puck Brownie!" "Lets go number 11!" escaped from my angelic child's lips that night. Grown adults clapped for him and cheered as he jumped up on his knees and screamed rants at the ice down below.

And I'm not really sure what it is about my kid, but two people stopped us on my way to the bathroom to tell me how awesome my kid was. A third stopped me IN the bathroom to tell me how adorable he was. A FOURTH lady tapped my arm to tell me that he was the most handsome kid she'd seen while we waited for a puck in play. The couple in front of us made numerous comments about how kick ass Sully was and upon leaving, the woman behind me tapped my shoulder specifically to tell me how I had the best kid ever and how well behaved he was and how lucky we were. Well, toot toot, if I do say so myself.

Shaun scored him a pre-game practice hockey puck. People gave him thumbs up and high fives as he wore his new goalie mask through the Staples Center and he even scored a $100 gift card from Dean Lombardi's management team for pretty much being cute. Shaun also got him a goalie mask, a new jersey and a Kopitar number 11 shirt which upon seeing, he ripped his clothes off for to put on. He ate hot dogs, zebra popcorn, pretzels. He even got to meet Bailey (though he didn't want to touch him) and got free McFlurry coups. A solid start to April if I do say so myself.

He was a rock star. Pretty much, it was his Disneyland.

Heading in to L.A.

Sully fake sleeping to get out of pictures

Yay we made it!

Rolling the puck with Uncle Dave before the game starts

Chowing down before the game

Watching the ice girls

Our seats

Pretty much my view the whole game. Sully could see better on my lap and once he figured that out, he refused to get off.

His new Kopi shirt. (Kopitar is his current favorite player.)

Overtime pushed us to 10:30 PM and my little guy couldn't hack it. Too much excitement for one day. (Since his first game at 7 months old, he's fallen asleep in the third period at night games. We joke he can sleep through the noise of a game because we were at so many hockey games when I was pregnant.)