more marbles

i'm sorry if you are sick of seeing photos of malcolm at marbles. i cannot help but take a bazillion shots while we are there. yesterday we visited for a couple of hours while alanna was in school, and it was a veritable ghost town. it was crazy how empty it was. there were staff members just standing around all over the museum, because there were no hoards of kids to clean up after. it was kinda nice, if you ask me. malcolm likes having lots of other kids to play and interact with, but a lot of the time they are mean or just don't want to play with or share with him. so having all that open space for just us to play and explore was pretty great.

getting ready to leave

he had to hug the tree goodbye, haha (he actually gave it kisses too!)

the submarine was completely empty. that was a first.

the pirate ship was also empty

he was screaming at the octopus! and it echoed through the whole building, since it was so quiet inside.

new shirt from aunt catherine & uncle billy

we have never been able to play with this wall before, because there is always too many big kids on it. he loved it. when we were done rolling marbles down the tracks, he said "that was awesome!", and a staff member heard him and laughed. it was pretty cute.

remember when i told you about how i lost him in the museum... well this is the giant staircase that he climbed all.by.himself! even this photo makes it look smaller than it is. if there was a child standing on it, you would see just how big and scary it really is. i still have no idea how/why he went up there alone without anyone else seeing him?!

practicing to become a carolina hurricanes player :)

this metal cage hangs out over the lobby about 3 stories up

these are the funniest photos. he saw the pictures of the yoga poses, and got in them perfectly. he is a natural.

he loves these wooden foods that can be "cut". i need to get him his own set of them.

and this is how he looked about 5 minutes into our car ride to pick up alanna. chocolate on his face, half-eaten clif kid bar in hand, and fast asleep.

the end.

labor day weekend

seems like we did a lot this past weekend. and i can't believe it is already almost the middle of the week again! sheesh, life sure is moving fast these days. we had a little taste of fall weather on sat and sun. well, maybe not quite fall temps, but it was definitely much cooler than it has been all summer. i cannot wait til the heat is gone. the temperature snuck back up again on mon and today. but here's hoping it is on its way out.

on friday alicia and luc came over, and the boys had fun playing. coincidentally they were both wearing almost the same exact outfit, haha! it's really hard to get a photo of two toddlers holding still, so this is as good as i could get.

friday evening the boys and i went downtown to artspace for first friday and to check out the lopop shop. this was the second year that they have held this show, which features a variety of local talent and their handmade goods. there were lots of fun things to peruse. we bought one really great item, but i cannot show it because it will be stashed away as a christmas gift. my friend lia shared the link to this blog post on facebook about the show. alanna wasn't with us, because she rode the bus home with one of her friends.

one of the vendors had screen printed posters, i spotted this little one in a small stack on his table, and asked him how much it was. he handed it to me and told me to take it, for free. he saw me telling danny how i thought it reminded me of malcolm, and he told me that the boy is his son, and that he made it right after obama's inauguration. pretty fantastic, and how very kind of him to give it to me.

we stopped in garrett's studio

his newest project: lady gaga
(and look, there's jayme too!!)

saturday morning was chill. the boys enjoyed some coffee and the internet :)

we watched out the side window while the neighbor across the street had one of her trees removed. it looked half dead, and had lost three limbs this summer after the heavy rains. one went through her window, so i guess it's good she had it taken down. i enjoyed watching the tree team work. it took them hours to finish.

in the afternoon we went to books-a-million. our area store is going out of business and everything in stock is half off, so we picked up some great books for cheap (bethany, i totally got that grover book for malcolm!). then we headed to durham for a treat. we went to a local cafe and got soy peanut butter chip ice cream. yum!

this was malcolm's first official ice cream cone - the bambini cone!

we stopped in a tiny local toy store, before heading back to raleigh. danny picked one of those annoying whistle things that screech when you blow into it. thanks husband. and malcolm picked this ugly brain-sucking finger puppet. ugh, boys.

we finished the day off with dinner at the local mexican restaurant. we met up with danny's sister and her husband, who just got back from a trip to disneyworld for their anniversary, and also our friend compton. malcolm loves playing with compton so much. and catherine and billy brought the kids some awesome souvenirs!

sunday danny's parents came over so that dan could help danny replace a hose in his van. yes, our cars are constantly breaking down and being repaired. oh, how nice it would be to have at least one reliable vehicle. thank goodness we have dan to help us out all.the.damn.time.

we do our weekly grocery shopping on sunday, and we hit three stores to get everything we need. trader joes, kroger, and costco. we love checking out the new items at costco. they are already geting lots of toys for the christmas season, like this giant stuffed bear! the car next to us totally bought one. when we were pulling out, we saw it in their back seat... buckled in! haha :)

after costco, we headed to lake johnson for a bike ride and to feed the ducks while danny ran around the lake.

the water is so low this year, way lower than it usually is?

that goose kept trying to steal malcolm's bread!

by the time we left, the sun had set. we had a great time, the weather was perfect, the ride was nice and smooth, and malcolm loved sitting in his weeride.

i did get bit by a nasty mosquito, right on my forehead :(

monday was labor day... so we labored out in the yard a bit. danny mowed the lawn, while malcolm and i did a little weeding. but it was really hot out, so we didn't last long. in the afternoon we all headed to chapel hill for the last bit of our three day weekend. we had chocolate cake at weaver street, and browsed the comic book store.

i hope you all had a nice weekend as well.

weekend pancakes

danny is so sweet. on sunday for breakfast, he surprised each of us with a special pancake. he always makes the best pancakes (thanks to mcdonalds, haha! he mastered his art there, years ago before he was vegan) and we usually scarf them right up, but we were kind of sad to eat these ones. well, at least i was. the kids, maybe not so much.

mickey mouse for malcolm

the very hungry caterpillar for me!

mama cat for alanna

and he didn't want lucky dog to feel left out, so he made one of him as well.
alanna ate it too :)

pretty stinkin' cute. what a nice husband & dad.

we had a rather uneventful weekend, and i really didn't take any photos. on friday i took malcolm to marbles while alanna was in school. it was pretty empty, i guess because school has started, so it was really nice to be able to sit and play with each activity without interruption. later that evening, danny stayed with the kids while i went out with a few friends to see the breakfast club on the lawn of the ncma. the weather was perfect. we picked up burritos and cupcakes, and we all had a lovely time. it'd been 10+ years since i had seen it, but i totally remembered almost every line. it was so fun watching it on the big screen under the stars. i just wish danny had been there with us (he loves molly ringwald).

on saturday we went to the flea market, but it got pretty hot, so we only stayed about an hour. then in the evening, the kids and i went to a bbq to celebrate our friend lia's birthday. the food was delicious, as always, and the cake was wonderful. but we left early, because malcolm started to get cranky. on days when he misses his nap, watch out!

sunday we took some things to the good will, visited the used book store (and scored big on some trade-ins!), did some grocery shopping, and then just hung out around the house. it was a pretty chill weekend, just how we like it :)