My three year old has his first adventure in consumerism! Woot!

So Ale received a little over $50 for his birthday. I've always just put money he got in his bank because he never wanted anything or needed anything in the past. Welcome to the threes! He was playing with his buddy Nolan a few weeks ago at his house. Nolan had a drill. Ale wanted a drill. I said, 'Maybe you can buy one if you get some birthday money.' Nearly a month later and Ale still talked about wanting to buy a drill. I figured it was a good time to begin teaching about money since it finally had a connection to him. I got two jars and we put fun paper around them. We talked about giving to God and how that is just a given, something we get to do. Then we talked about giving beyond that to needs we encounter. Ale put $5 in his Jesus jar and then I asked him what he wanted to put in his giving jar. I was trying to prompt him to put 1 or 2$ in but he insisted on $20. I wasn't going to argue too long and really, what else does he need right now? Why not instill freely giving?
Then on to the fun part. If Walmart is satan's lair than Toys R Us is his playground. Can't say its my favorite place all full of cheap chinese plastic crap but we went with a purpose: FIND A DRILL. Which we did. And, it even makes noise! HOORAY!
Then we found a quasi tent. And some legos. Okay, so I pitched in $10 more for the legos because they're good toys and he loves them and needed more.

Ahh, my little consumer, so sweet. Thank you to Grandma Grandpa, Maggie, and Great Grandma Mary!
Dining in his new "tent"
David started on the chicken coop tonight.
He looks like an angry vampire here.

Ale's very big exciting day of turning and celebrating three.

The celebration began the night before when Tehilla dropped off a cupcake from Dots, the very cool, very chic, cupcake store in Old Town.
Wednesday morning brought morning cuddles with David and Yeva

And an experiment in scone making...They looked like pancakes but tasted fine. (Cardamom Lime...a unique taste)
We headed off to the arboretum in the morning with Maggie.

To keep in exciting we made nature braceletts. I brought duct tape with me and wrapped in on our wrists sticky side up.



Have I mentioned everything is a gun these days?

Mags running from the sprinklers

Ale wasn't so lucky

Mags treated us to lunch at the Peacock Cafe where we learned peacocks do like corn and salad...

These were the party favors I made:

Home made glitter play dough. A bedazzled marshmallow roasting sword and a mix cd with Ale's favorite songs from the past year including:
Nada Personal: Gustavo Cerati
Yellow: Coldplay
Shiver: Coldplay
The Scientist: Coldplay
Wonderwall: Oasis
Slide Away: Oasis
Come Together: The Beatles
No One: Alicia Keyes

Ale, Miles, Clover
A Marshmallow Happy birthday
David was given the task of buying Ale a bike. Only my three year old would get a Specialized...

Marshmallow roasting in lieu of cake


Our big (little) boy


Dear Tiff who has known Ale since the moment he was born.
Rach and Kelly (who caught Ale when he was born)

On April 22 2006 I woke up very early in the morning to eat cornflakes and write emails to fill the pre dawn hours. My back began to hurt every so often. After an hour I realized that I was actually contracting. I timed them for the next hour before calling my midwife to tell her I thought I was in labor. I woke David up a while later. He didn't believe me at first since my due date was still 2 weeks out. He soon realized I wasn't joking and jumped out of bed full of nervous energy. He made me waffles as I would stand and hold the table swaying my hips hula style during every contraction. Margo and Kelly arrived a little after 11 am and confirmed I was infact in labor.

I tried to watch a movie (Capote) but was way too out of it to be able to focus on the story. I called Tiffany to tell her it was time for her to come over and could she pick up strawberries and brie cheese on her way. (Random, I know). I stopped contracting shortly after the midwives had arrived. "Labcoat syndrom" I later discoverd (That is to say that I stopped progressing because I was being watched). I was given a homeopathic remedy, Margo and Kelly left with instructions to call when labor picked up again. It only took an hour before I my water broke in the tub and full blown labor began. Everyone returned, I threw up a couple times and started pushing. 2 hours later at 6:15 pm Ale Romero entered the world. Life has never been the same.

Happy Birthday love bug! You are three today!

one year
two years

This is how hot it was when we went to bed last night. Altadena reached 98 degrees yesterday. What the heck.

Sleeping angel.

I made these scones this morning. A friend had sent me the link a while back and I thought I'd give them a try. They were pretty good. A nice mellow breakfast scone that wasn't too sweet and a good way to use all the strawberries in season right now.

In other news, Ale has been freaking out since last night that there is a monster in his room. I can't figure out where all the monster talk is suddenly coming from but he has been terrified to go in his room, get dressed, play etc...When I finally stopped telling him "there are no such things as monsters" and decided to have him show me this horrible monster he took me into his room and pointed to a single cobweb no more than 6 inches long hanging form the ceiling... Yes, my son is afraid of dust apparently.

I've also decided to take a one week period and do a photo essay on everything Ale uses for a gun these days. We'll see what comes of it.

Lastly, we've been waiting for nearly two months for Yeva's social security number to get processed so we can file our taxes. Having had a home birth there is a bit more run around (though it only took us a couple weeks to get Ale's when after we filed for his). Being a government office nobody has a clue what is going on and everyone has different (usually conflicting) advice as to what to do. Anyway, after waiting till the mail came and went another day with no number we had to file for an extension on April 15th with the IRS. True to obnoxious bureaucratic form we got her social on the 16th. And people wonder why I'm so hellbent on damning the man.

The little Yeva Yeva

We celebrated Ale's birthday sugar style today with our playgroup. Nothing fancy, just cupcakes, pinatas and play in the park. I scored three mini muffin tins last week at the Salvation Army for under $4 so I made strawberry and chocolate mini cupcakes frosted with coconut cream cheese frosting...so delicious.
The munchkin turns three on Wednesday. All day he jumped around the house saying, "We get to celebrate me today!!!"
The chili pepper pinata was totally his choice. He has been asking for a pinata party since last October.
So much candy to be had.
We are very blessed to have such good friends. I love that Ale has friends from birth. Right now as I type he is snuggled in his bed with his buddy Miles. This is the Ale's first experience with a sleep over. Miles, Callum, and Rachael have stayed with us three nights this week. It's been fun since both David and Alan are out of town. Good friends, good food, good wine.
As always, the little chunk was there too brightening up everyone's day. (though she looks a little ticked off here).

Ale's post bath hair, an ode to Bill Cripe.

Easter Presents from the grands!

Ale's good friend Clover turned 2 today. We joined her at the zoo this morning to celebrate. She lives down the street and along with Miles is one of Ale's closest friends.
Ale's favorite were the gorillas, lions and giraffes.
So much fun to be had. (This was taken about 2 minutes before the meltdowns began and they started kicking, hitting and crying at each other. It was the end of a nice morning).
Later in the day we headed off to our playgroup where the amazing Carol hosted a massive easter egg hunt.
I had to coax Ale to keep looking for eggs instead of just finding and eating the candy inside one egg at a time.
We got home after 6 and Ale was way to full of candy to eat dinner. Sugar for dinner a couple times a year isn't bad, especially for celebratory occasions.

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