A Little Slice of Heaven

As Alex, our oldest child, prepares to get married in a little over a month, Pete and I are looking through so many pictures, sharing so many memories, and joyfully reminiscing...

Every Friday at noon, the smell of fresh baked pizza wafted through the air at the Montessori school that I worked at as a speech therapist. The picnic tables were packed with preschoolers and young elementary-aged students sipping on Capri-Suns and enjoying the cheesy, greasy pizza goodness. Those Friday pizza lunches were the best because I got to pause my work day and sit with the preschoolers. Such a funny crowd those kids!

My lunch time conversations with Alex always cracked me up. We mostly talked about V. R. Troopers and Power Rangers. Actually, since he was a wee lad and couldn't say his "r's" or "l's" at that time, we talked about "B. Aw Twoopaws" and "Powa Wangaws", and my heart just melted like mozzarella cheese. Pete and I were engaged by that time and I was really blessed to be able to have those special lunches with my future son. After lunch, I would go to Amanda's classroom and rub her back as she drifted off to sleep on her naptime cot with her bunny blanket in her hand and her thumb in her mouth. Oh, such sweet times and cherished memories! 

P.S. For some reason, pizza has always been a special go to family meal for us. The first date that Pete and I took Alex and Amanda on was to get pizza. That first date was a little slice of heaven! 🍕🍕🍕

We ate pizza, got stickers out of the gum ball machine, went to the mall and rode the kiddie train a hundred times (all crammed in together), and went to the Disney store. Good times!

Boppsey Twins, Bird Voices, and Bonfires

Alex and his lovely bride-to-be, Kelsey

Our oldest son, Alex, is getting married in 40 days!!!

Holy-Hotdogs-How-Did-That-Happen?!?

Just yesterday he was asking Pete to tie his shoes during the middle of our wedding ceremony. Time flies when you are tying shoes...

Stopping to tie Alex's shoe during our wedding ceremony.

Our original Yellow-Haired Younglings

Please excuse me over these next 40 days as I talk about our Alex a bit (a lot). After all, he was our original Yellow-Haired Youngling. 

I used to be a speech therapist at the preschool that Alex attended, and since I worked with some of his classmates, I met Alex before I even met Pete.

Alex and Corey

Alex and his cousin Corey were like the Boppsey Twins on the playground. Both blonde, about the same height, ENDLESS energy! They could often be found on the top level of the wooden fort in the play yard. There they sat plotting and planning their next lizard catch, new ways to freak out the girls in their class, and comparing farts to burps. They also created a whole new way of communicating up in that fort. They began to use the most obnoxious sounds, that we affectionately dubbed "The Bird Voice". It drove the teachers nuts! It drove us parents bonkers! At school, at home, during family get togethers-they used "The Bird Voice" constantly. At one point, we actually had to ban "The Bird Voice" in order to preserve our sanity. Then they just moved on to other crazy cousin antics, like flushing Hot Wheels cars down the toilet and burning holes in their clothes around the family bonfire. 

Ahhh memories...

These two...

Firestarters!

Those teeth though...#chiclets