For Greg

Greg challenged us to produce a video of Marco saying doorbell. Once again I'll let you be the judge.-Jeff

Marco vs. Stairs

A tough matchup.

Like father, like son.

Happy Birthday Grandma Linda!

In fact, Marco is becoming such a Daddy's boy, that when I went to get him out of his crib in the morning, he backed up against the wall and said, "No Mama."

Einstein who?

I think characterizing Marco as "genius" might be a tad premature, but recently, I've been blown away by his words! They're coming so quickly and almost exclusively attributable to daycare. Ha, worth every penny.

Four times in the past week, I've been shocked by crystal clear words.

When he exclaimed "Doorbell!" I screamed, jumped and nearly scared him to death. I yelled, "Yes! That is a doorbell!"

At the grocery store pointing to the bananas, "N-nana!" I was so proud I bought a bunch!

When he brought his cup over and said to me "Agua," Jeff and I looked at each other and started cracking up.

And finally, I found some Bubbles and thought it would be a rainy day crowd pleaser. Well, apparently, daycare thinks the same thing because as soon as I started blowing, "Bubble!" I clapped and hugged and kissed. Ha!

Here are a few of his latest adventures.

Could it just be the hand-me-down hat? Or did you think this was cousin Tommy for a second?

What drought?

So after I called out the gods about their lack of rain... I believe I said "impending drought," we were hit with days of solid rain. I'm generally a rain lover, but I didn't want a front row seat to the Oakland mudslides you may have heard about on the news. The earth moved and we had a mini-mudslide.

Enter our latest home improvement, a new back retaining wall and fence. I felt that since the mud wasn't a risk to our house, we should throw our hands up, but in the spirit of neighborliness and a kinder world, we're splitting the cost with the neighbors.

Since Arnold didn't proclaim our backyard a state of emergency, donations are being accepted. We accept cash, check, PayPal, beer and Italian hard cheeses.

Before: (Do you think it would be bad form to help myself to the new lemon tree in "my" backyard?)

Love is in the air...

Marco awoke Valentine's Day morning to find that these two honies had slept over. Happy Valentine's Day! Here is is flanked by the Grochol girls. (I love that he seems kind of love drunk in this first pic.) But his real Valentine turned out to be G-ma who took him overnight (with cough!) so that Jeff and I could have a night on the town. We ate at Ducca on Third and Mission - order the Pappardelle with Lamb Ragu.

Deck days

We were recently spoiled with a smattering of deck days. Aside from the impending drought, we sure are looking forward to summer!

Here's Jeff's latest favorite Marco video.

Mall Rat

Marco's one year was also a reminder to get pro-photos. And I mean at the mall... in Concord. Can it get any more Mall Rat than that? Mall photos are where it's at. For $40 (I had a coupon) I got three selections in many shapes and sizes. Sorry the scans are a little dark.
I'd love to give a shout out to where I got them, but two words prevent me. Copyright Infringement. Go.