Traditions

The words holiday and tradition go hand in hand much like the words peanut butter and jelly or Sonny and Cher. Whenever the holidays come around - no matter which one - a sense of nostalgia starts swirling through the air evoking memories that we both treasure and sometimes fear (enter 1980's photos complete with flowery dresses and full-on mullets). While many of the Easter Sunday's of my past are a bit blurry, I do have the very vivid memory of Sue and I at church checking out all the horrid snazzy white shoes that were dusted off in honor of this Spring holiday. I promise we paid attention to the important parts. :)

Traditions get tricky when you get married. Not only are you joining your lives, you are also joining your traditions and sometimes those traditions don't always mesh. Take Christmas for example. Ed came from a star tree topper family while I came from an angel tree topper family. The compromise? A Santa hat that has now become our new tradition.

Easter has been a bit tricky in the ways of tradition for us. When we were living in NY, we spent the holiday with Ed's family out in Staten Island. Even after moving to VA, we traveled up to be with the Mangiaracina's for the holiday. Then came James. We stayed in VA for his first Easter since he was so little, but went up for his second.

This Easter Sunday was spent here in VA and for the first time in a very long time, we found ourselves alone. Ed's new job and my wanting to save some PTO prevented us from traveling to NY this year and the Quartuccio's were down in Florida visiting friends and family. So, we decided that it was time to create some new traditions.

The holiday began on Saturday morning with some old fashioned Easter Egg dying. James was a first timer so we decided to cover all our bases which meant a big, thick, plastic table cloth and removal of the fancy chairs. He had a BLAST! It was a messy blast, but worth every bit of dye on the floor and his hands.  

Easter morning started early - what morning doesn't - with an excited little man who got some treats from the Easter Bunny. This kid had a basket full of toys and guess what he loved the most? The freakin' balloon! He did dive into the basket after the excitement of the balloon faded and found some awesome goodies including a chocolate marshmallow bunny, a Jake and the Neverland Pirate ball, bunny cookies, a Cookie Monster and a new dinosaur. Lucky guy.

After a yummy breakfast (thank you very much), we all got dressed and headed to the Easter Egg Hunt at Ticonderoga Farms.  We visited this farm in October during their Fall Festival and had a blast so we decided to give it a try.  We were not disappointed!  We arrived just in time for the egg hunt and James dove right in grabbing egg after egg.  He is a pro, after all, since he recently partook in the Little Rocky Run Spring Fling Egg Hunt.  He even got close enough to the oversized chick to grab a photo!

After the egg hunt, we spent time roaming around the farm enjoying all the attractions.  Some of James' favs included the log cabins, the many, many chickens and roosters, the jumping pillow, and the huge slides.  This time, we went on the hay ride and got an insiders view of the farm.  James' favorite part was when it went into the water.  He kept screaming "Water! Water! Water!".  

We also encountered the giant bamboo wind chimes for the first time.  O. M. G.  He loved them!  I think Ed may need to figure out how to build these for our backyard because the kid couldn't get enough.

Fun on the farm was had by all and was followed by a quiet afternoon and yummy dinner at a local Italian eatery. We missed our families, but were able to create some new traditions that James and a future sibling (some day!) will look back on with a smile.  I can't vouch that their fashion will hold up twenty years from now, but I can say that the time we spent together was filled with love.  Happy Easter!

Easter Happenings

Easter 2013.  It came in like a lion, kicked our butts and left us going to bed at abnormally early hours when it was over.  Yes, it was THAT fun!

We made a long weekend out of the holiday and headed up to NY to spend quality time with the Mangiaracina/Kolb family. We crammed so much stuff into the 4 days that we needed to take a nap in the middle of writing this post to get through it all!  Here is a run down of the hectic schedule:

Thursday, 3/28 | 6:30 PM

Dropped Lucy off at the Quartuccio house and hit the road for a 5 hour trip to Long Island complete with a stop at White Marsh Town Center for a diaper check, BK dinner in the car and a cranky, non-sleeping toddler.

Friday, 3/29 | 12:30 AM

Tried very hard to settle a SCREAMING kid who was 100% overtired and didn't want to sleep in a pack n' play in the same room with his parents.

Friday, 3/29 | 10:30 AM

Kept a (finally!) napping kid napping by driving around the old neighborhood while on the way to our favorite breakfast spot, the Eggery.  The nap worked ~ check out these smiles:

Friday, 3/29 | 1:30 PM

After playtime at Aunt Adriana and Uncle John's new, beautiful house, we headed back into the car to visit Grandpa Mangiaracina at the cemetery.  It was a lovely moment to have James there with us.

Friday, 3/29 | 4:00 PM

Time to play with the puppies and kitties at Grandma's house.  James was enamored with Marty, Uncle Joe's black lab and Princess the cat was enamored with James.

Friday, 3/29 | 6:30 PM

After another failed quick nap, we had a quick dinner at Grandma's house and a visit from the Green family.  This was the first time James met Dominick and Guilianna and they all had a blast playing.  James played hard to get with his new lady friend. :)

Friday, 3/29 | 7:30 PM

Cue the James melt down.  We stuck it out as long as we could but it was time to head back to the Kolb residence for a bath and bedtime.  I think he fell asleep before he hit the not-so-comfortable pac n' play mattress.

Saturday, 3/30 | 4:00 AM

Wake up call courtesy of James.  He refused to go back to sleep in that damn pac n' play.  I broke a cardinal rule and let him sleep with us just to get some more zzzz's.

Saturday, 3/30 | 6:00 AM

And we're up.  Sorry Uncle John and Aunt Adriana!

Saturday, 3/30 | 11:00 AM

Daddy hit the car show at the Javits Center with Uncle Joe so James and I decided to head out east to meet adorable cousin Kevin.  The boys were adorable together and Nean and I had chance to catch up.  We shared lunch with Aunt Kathy and Uncle Jimmy and ended the awesome visit with a walk through the neighborhood.  Jeannine and I grew up together and spent our childhood playing Mommy to our Cabbage Patch Kids.  It was a surreal moment to share now that we are Mommy's to real kids. 

Saturday, 3/30 | 6:00 PM

It was dinner time again at Grandma's house and because of only one crappy 45 minute nap earlier in the day, a full on melt down ensued at the dinner table.  Luckily, he was more well behaved during dessert but I think it was the ice cream that Daddy was feeding him that kept him happy.  

Saturday, 3/30 | 9:00 PM

With James down for the night, it was time to dye those Easter eggs.  There were strict rules to obey - one color per egg, but after lots of lobbying of Adriana, I was able to make my grenade egg.

Sunday, 3/31 | 6:00 AM

Awake.  At least he is consistent.  The Easter Bunny found James and gave him a great basket filled with all sorts of toys.  James was more interested in the new game we invented called "I'm gonna get James".  Basically we say "I'm gonna get James" in a silly voice and he gives us big smiles and giggles and walks away from us.  Or towards us.  Depends on his mood at the time.  Apparently this game was more fun than his Easter basket.  We did not take offense.

Sunday, 3/31 | 9:00 AM

It was back to Grandma's for Easter breakfast.  James (in bunny ears) had some yummy bagel and was treated to some awesome gifts from Grandma. Now, while I love when his Grandparent's spoil him, I can't say that I love the Yankees hoodie that he is now in possession of.  From the looks of things, he wishes it was a Mets hoodie too! :) 

Sunday, 3/31 | 11:00 AM

NAPPING!!!!!! WOO HOO!!!!!!!

Sunday, 3/31 | 2:00 PM

We were back in the car and headed west to Staten Island for Easter at the Giocolano's.  Guess what, MORE NAPPING!!!  Good thing - traffic on the Belt was thick!

Sunday, 3/31 | 3:00 PM

James was full of smiles and giggles as we settled into the cozy Giocolano home for Easter dinner.  A big thanks to cousins Renee and Mike for the awesome new duckie that keeps him laughing for hours!

Sunday, 3/31 | 7:15 PM

After a delicious dinner, the clothes came off and the peep show began.  Ha!  Kidding.  Kind of.  Mr. James was down to his undies and decided to put on a show for the neighbors.  Thanks to cousin Mike, he had a ball playing in the window.

Sunday, 3/31 | 8:00 PM

With jammies on, it was time to head home.  But not before some extra hugs from cousin Renee.  The little man was sleeping within 5 minutes of being in his car seat.  Upon arrival at the Kolb house, we did a quick diaper check and put him down where he was out cold.  Looks like the lack of sleep caught up to him...finally!

Monday, 4/1 | 6:00 AM

Up and at 'em! Seriously...this kid needs to learn that 7:00 AM is a very good hour to wake up!  We said our goodbyes to Uncle John who headed to work, had some breakfast with Grandma and Aunt Adriana, packed up and hit the road. James slept most of the ride until we hit Delaware where we stopped for a potty break and some lunch. He wasn't happy about the rest of the ride, but once he saw Lucy girl, he forgot all about it!  

So that was Easter weekend in a nutshell.  We are still trying to recover and are hoping James will be back on a normal sleeping pattern soon. It's always fun to visit the family and we are all looking forward to seeing them again very soon.