Date Night: Ice Cream and Fire Trucks

"We goin' on a date!" he's chanting here.

Yep. Me and my boy. Our long-awaited Mommy-Peter date last Thursday. Not sure which of us was more excited for Thursday to come. 

And though Thursday proved to be cold and rainy in an otherwise gorgeous week, Peter and I had prayed about it and decided to trust that God would give us a marvelous time anyway.  And he did. We had quite a lineup of treats. 

First stop: Chick Fil A

Anticipation (and conversation) builds as we await our chikn. 

Mmmmm. Chicken, fruit, and waffle fries. What's not to love?

Oh, but then there was the ice cream. 

I should have been taking video. At first sight of all the ice creams, he danced around, pointing at each one in amazement. "Ice creeeeam! I want that one! That one! That ice cream! Peter eat THAAAT one!

Making the final selection

It was some mighty fine ice cream.
Some little snippets I want to remember:
He chose the "oreo cookie cream" flavor. Not sure why, since I don't think he understood what it was and it certainly wasn't the most interesting. I had them make that half/half with chocolate.
A couple times, he did "cheers" with our spoons.
I fed him a sample of mine and he insisted on reciprocating, spooning some of his into my mouth.
After the initial voracious zeal, he ate surprisingly slowly, savoring it and people-watching.
And when I finished mine first, he said, "Your ice cream all gone, Mommy?" and offered me a spoonful of his. Oh my heart. One of my favorite dining times ever with my sweet boy.

And finally, all sugared up, we went to the fire station.

Our friend Julisa volunteers with the Germantown Volunteer Fire Department on Thursday nights. She awesomely invited Peter to visit before her shift starts. Needless to say, his head was on a swivel and he bounced from one emergency vehicle to another. 

What a great night. These 1-on-1 times with my boy are extra precious to me (and important) as life gets fuller and he's not the only Martin kid around anymore. Grateful to God for this time, to Tom for taking off early and hanging with Anna, and to Julisa for being excited to host a 2-year-old on sugar high in her place of service and for loving our boy. 

Cherry Blossoms

Many thanks to our church for having the latest-peaking cherry blossoms around! I thought we'd missed them, but after church a couple weeks ago we pulled over at the grounds on the way off the property and reveled, and took some pictures. 

 Oh how I love these three people. 

 

And here's something. In the grassy background of these shots, there once lay a picnic blanket where a handsome young follower of Jesus asked his best friend to become his wife. And she said yes. Five years ago, today. And now here we are. Here they are. Oblivious to all that; loving this patch of land as I always did.

Spice and Snow

Oops--just found this one saved as a draft from a few months ago. Now that it's all nice and springy, here's...

Snowmen and snow-munching. 

And here's a little story. I was mixing a bunch of spices for a recipe including cumin, turmeric, garlic powder, and lots of chili powder. Peter had taken an interest, so I was keeping a wary eye on him. 

Sure enough, as soon as my back was turned, he made his move and shoveled in a big mouthful. I turned around to this face:

Yes, compassionate mother that I am, my first instinct was to snap a shot as he began to appreciate the error of his judgment.

Videos

Here are a couple little home video bits from cleaning out my iPhone: Anna at about 8 months with Tom, and a couple weeks ago at the playground behind our house.

Seizing an Early Spring Day

A couple weeks ago, seizing a warmish day

 Some aquatic exploration

and swinging!

My wind-blown, merry Martinlings

Some video footage, telling a similar tale, is forthcoming...

Cooped Up

Trying to get creative here while we await more than sporadic admittance to the great outdoors. In the mean time, apparently a lot goes down in this kitchen. 

Whoa--this thing has a tag??! I knew I was missing something!

Here's my view, representative and rich, on a morning play mat.

 Some quieter one-on-one moments. Yes, our boy loves hot tea.

$10 at the Tot Swap was not a bad investment for honing this skill. 

The unforeseen cost, however, is that he never never wants it turned off, even when it's in the next room. It now resides with our other vacuum, set apart for more defined periods of use. 

 One of my favorite projects of late [not that we've been very prolific]: Our "Dickey Dickey Dock" Clock. I drew as Peter dictated (and decorated) our cast of characters. We've got a clock-climbing mouse, cat, worm, and monkey.  

And this little volunteer, who wants to climb anything these days!