"I'm two, I'll be three on Monday!"

Dear Friends and Family,

When Will woke me up on Monday I glanced at my phone to check the time and also noticed the date, so I told him that it was just a week until his birthday.  That didn't seem to make sense to him, so I told him he would be three next Monday!  He said, "Really?! Are you serious, Mommy?!"  I figured he was just giving me a reaction, not really sure what I was talking about (similar to what I do when I've asked him what he is saying, can't figure it out, then just say, "Oh, wow! That's neat!"). However, that afternoon when we were shopping, another shopper asked him how old he was. Will responded, "I'm two!  But I will be three on Monday." My jaw dropped as the shopper continued to wish him a happy early birthday!

Let me tell you, Will is such a funny guy.  He and I have been playing imaginary picnic and tea parties a lot lately.  I remember using a fancy English voice with Claire and throwing around the title "Darling" every chance I could get, so I decided to bring back this sweet, and somewhat over-the-top personality, and Will LOVES her!  He has also picked up on the "Darling" and continues to to use it outside of tea parties.

For example:
Me: (Opening the pantry to pack a lunch.)
Will: Mommy, Darling, can you get me an applesauce please?
Me: Sure thing, Darling!

Me: Will, can you pick out what shoes you want to wear today?
Will: Yes, Darling!

Me: Will, try this fish, it's delicious!
Will: No thank you, Darling, it looks yucky. Yuck, yuck, yuck.

Speaking of yucky, our house is no longer yucky. We are all feeling very healthy and well.  Chris was happy to hear that we all had our appetites back, so on Saturday we had a steak dinner with roasted asparagus, on Sunday morning, Chris surprised us with donuts after Mass, and then for lunch we picked up a dozen large Maryland blue crabs to steam!  Chris did a great job making them, and Will stood on guard to deal with any run-a-way crabs!

Ready to redirect any runaways with his wooden spoon!

"Watch out for that claw, Dad!" 

Well, the faces in this picture were just too good not to share!

Will checks out the Old Bay seasoning.

"Smells yummy!

Smoothies and crab!  Our kitchen smelled like summer time!

Later that day, I had the privilege of hosting my amazing book club. We had a great time visiting, eating dinner, celebrating our friend Mary's birthday, and we talked about everything but the book! That happens when you add a walk to the beach to the agenda. We decided that instead of discussing a chapter that talks about the importance of friendships, we just exemplified it. I am truly blessed to call these ladies my friends. Each one of them is special to me.

I'll close with the story of snake mountain. This weekend the kids wanted to walk down to a beach at the point of the island.  To get down to the beach, you need to descend a flight of stairs and then hop down a few large rocks.  As we were going down the stairs, Claire said, "Oh, Mom!  Look!" There in front of us was a snake, sun bathing on the bottom step!

I stifled a surprised scream and said, "Oh well, I guess we won't visit this beach today!"  Claire, however, was determined to look for treasures (rocks and shells) on the beach below.  She said, "No, Mom! Come on! We can just skip past it really fast!"  I tried to imagine what that would look like when I started to notice other rocks moving!!!!  There were more snakes sun bathing on the rocks. I said, "Claire! There are snakes everywhere! Let's get out of here!"  She said, "No. I want to go to the beach." A neighbor who was working out nearby came over to see what we were talking about and he decided to help Claire scare away the snakes!  Ugh!!!!  Long story short, we survived climbing down "snake mountain" to look for treasure...my hands are sweating and my heart is racing just thinking about it again!

An amazing view! Luckily these few rocks were snake free.

I hope everyone is having an amazing week!
Love,
Bethie