Today I Celebrate the Day

Today I celebrate the day this baby was born...


..and later became the man that I love and cherish...



...and then became the father that is apple of this little girl's eye...

Today I celebrate Carl. Happy birthday!!!

Grandpa's 87th Birthday Celebration

The man of the hour. Grandpa Sam got lots of new gear for his new bike!

From the oldest Pellerito, Sam, to the youngest, Sammy, with her Grandpa (my Uncle Ron)

Mom with my sister, Ang, and brother, Jeff

Lily with her cousin, Courtney

My niece, Abby, with my Aunt Chris

My cousin, Maria, with her fiance, Dan

My cousin, Andrea, with her mom, my Aunt Kathy

The guys indulge my Grandpa in his favorite pastime, playing cards.

Visit from Mee-maw

I realize that I am a bit delinquent in posting events from this past weekend, but I just didn't have the energy in past nights - and now I do! Unfortunately, the camera was a little wonky for the first part of the weekend, and I didn't really get any good pictures. We realized on Saturday when we went to the Science Center that it needed to be charged because it would not turn on. What luck! Oh well. We had a very nice visit with Carl's mom to celebrate TWO milestone birthdays (Ingrid's 30th and Carl's mom's ??) in addition to Carl's and my birthdays. Lily loves it when family comes to visit. She actually locked "Mee-maw" in her room immediately upon her arrival so that Lily could have uninterrupted time with her. Mee-maw also got to see Lily in action at her dance class on Saturday morning. Lily loves an audience so she did her usual song and dance routines at home too.

This picture cracks me up for Lily's expression alone, but Mee-maw's birthday crown is a nice bonus.

Just a few moments with Lily lately...

• On the way home tonight, I hear from the backseat, "It's a good thing that we're in the car and headed home". (I'm guessing that she was referring to the rain that was coming down.)
• Last night, Lily was telling me something that Carl had said. Carl said that he didn't say it, and Lily responded, "You positively did say that!" (She has been using positively in this way a lot lately.)
• A while ago, Carl found a spider on the floor. He told Lily to watch it while he went to get a tissue. Carl came back, smushed it in the tissue and then flushed it down the toilet. When he came back into the room, Lily had a sincere little frown on her face. Lily looked up at Carl and said, "Sad. What if that spider was trying to find his mommy?" Carl reassured Lily by telling her that he was going to go through the water in the toilet to the sea to find his mommy. Needless to say, Lily was skeptical, as she should be.

Let's celebrate!

Lily enjoying the birthday cupcakes

I've been lucky enough to have three birthday celebrations for my big 3-2 this year. Last Thursday, I had dinner with my entire family (minus Carl and Ang's fiance, Zach) which meant 14 people total. We are quite the crew now! Thanks to mom and dad for the traditional corned beef and cabbage meal. Then, Tuesday my mom, dad, and Angela surprised me by being there when I came home from work. Mom made yummy lasagna and peach cobbler, and we even managed to fit in a game of Euchre. Yesterday, we had a smaller celebration with Carl, Lily and me with pizza and cupcakes (the cake being for Lily, of course). My big present was a shiny new GPS. I'm so excited! If there was ever a product made for one person, that was made for me. Thanks to everyone for a special birthday (week)!

We actually have 9 birthdays of family and friends between my birthday on the 17th and Carl's (and Ingrid's) on the 28th. Happy birthday to Carl's dad tomorrow! We will be celebrating Carl's mom's milestone birthday (I won't say which one) this weekend. Also, we will have a little get-together for my Grandpa's birthday on Sunday. Busy times!

Lily thoroughly enjoyed St. Patrick's Day at school. Their classroom had a little leprechaun who visited while they were away at their enrichment classes. He apparently left a bit of a mess and little green footprints as evidence of his visit. Well, it was all Lily could talk about that night and the next. She went on and on about how her teacher saw him, tried to trap him, but he was too quick, escaped out the back door, left a note to the class, and on and on and on.... I talked to Lily's teacher about how excited she was about it, and she told me that when Lily first entered the classroom and witnessed the leprechaun's mischief, she put her hands on her hips, and queried, "Who made this mess...and ruined my mommy's birthday?" Her teacher had to explain how the leprechaun is just mischievous, but not mean, and would not ruin my birthday. After Lily was reassured, she immediately started in on the questions about the leprechaun...how big he was, where he lives, etc.

Conversations with Lily are just always so interesting. Tonight on the way home, she asked what sharks eat. Then, she wanted to know what birds eat. After telling her that they eat worms and insects, she had to know what worms and insects eat. After going to the bottom of the food chain, she seemed satisfied and left it at that. It is just a wonder how her little mind works.

With so many fun events planned, hopefully we'll have lots of pictures and stories to share this weekend!

Planting bulbs with daddy

My favorite quote of the day: "Mommy, I'm working so hard...planting these worms".

Lily was fascinated with the worms that they dug up while planting bulbs. She saw it as her personal duty to "plant" them. She insisted on nice, rich black soil for their homes. When Carl informed her that worms make the brown soil black, she gave him a quizzical look then went back to her business.

Sculpture interpretations

We spent this afternoon at a nearby sculpture park. The weather was absolutely perfect for it, and we really enjoyed the time together.

Lily said this one was a wolf wearing a blanket.

Sculptures are very subjective things - beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

One of the Niki exhibits we saw at the Missouri Botanical Gardens this summer is now at the sculpture park. Lily definitely recognized it as her cat house.

Lily called this one "the creature".

You can step down into the eyes, nose and mouth of this one. Lily tried the nose and said that it was too hot. Then she tried the eyes and said that they were too cold. Then she stepped into the mouth and said it was just right. Too funny.

Lily said that this rendition of a molecular structure was a "caterpillar".

When Carl suggested that this one looked a little like a caterpillar, Lily laughed and said, "Daddy, you're so silly".

Executive decisions

Do you want her answering the red phone at 3 o'clock in the morning?

We went to the Magic House on Friday with Suzanne, Tim, Mary and Katie. We finally got to see the new parts of the museum that opened recently. Now the museum is truly massive and maybe even a bit overwhelming for kids, but it remains one of my absolute favorite children's museums ever. The girls had a great time in the new Fairy Tale section and the new construction area. The picture above is from their new government section which includes three separate rooms for the executive, judicial, and legislative branches.