Father's Day Trip to St. Maries

Uncle Joe takes Mateo for a ride on the quad...yes, the helmet was Mom's requirement for agreeing to let Mateo go for a spin!!

The cousins are getting prepared to ride...the inside of the helmet that Nathan has on was full of dirt, so the post-ride caused Aunt Rachel a scare...when the toe-head child showed up with black everywhere!

Mateo and Nathan hanging out in Papa's new "yard"...they have so much fun playing together!!

Uncle Joe hanging out with Mateo at the City Park. Papa helped Chris Renaldo install this equipment...something about wanting a place for his grand kids to play!! Thanks Papa...Mateo had a blast.

Who's that stud? Uncle Joe, fresh off the plane from West Point...Mateo is about the same age as Joe was the first time I met him! :)

Love from Sarah & Matt & Mateo

Catching up on the past ninety days part 3...

Mateo really likes to hang out with Sage Traeger (with his dad Eric) pictured here. Sage is about 9 months younger than Mateo, and is recently a big brother to a girl, Willow Cerise. We love the energy we get from hanging with them. Sage is a free loving, kind, sharing child who picked up some easter eggs...and then there is Mateo who horded them! :)

Mama got to help point them out...

Oops...forgot to turn this one...oh well!

I love it when all the work to the hunt is just running between the ones in clear sight in the grass!

Don't step on it Mama...run Mateo, run!!

Catching up on the past ninety days part 2...

You can't tell very well from this shot, but Mateo is wearing a camo "Mountain View Construction" hat from Papa...a fitting top to his hippy tye-dye shirts. He has been developing such amazing gross motor skills, focused particularly on climbing at the Silverton park's new climbing structures. We can't wait to check out the new play equipment in St. Maries when we go visit Papa next.

He also particularly enjoys climbing up slides...sliding back down them is really a distant second in preferred choices. We've been spending quite some time at the Park lately, mostly at get-to-know-you functions for the Community Roots School. Matt and I have been spending every extra waking moment working on starting a public charter (aka free school run by parents rather than the district). The curriculum focus will be Montessori driven, and it has been an interesting foray into the politics of education!

Papa brought MaryAnn to visit for Easter weekend. She was a big hit with both Mateo and Sarah. I knew MaryAnn for years when I was growing up in St. Maries. She is the kind of person who no one EVER says anything bad about. My dad and she make a good pair!

Finally, Finally, Finally...a Mateo, Mama, Papa picture that I like. YEAH!

Mateo was even pleasant enough to pose for a picture with Papa & MaryAnn...might have had something to do with us holding his easter basket treats back until the successful completion of this activity. We just got these pictures developed from Costco and I was showing this picture to Mateo, asking if he knew who was in it...he said, "Mateo and Papa and MaryMaam" Not bad for a kid, right?

Catching up on the past ninety days part 1...

I am so embarrassed that it has been so long since I made a posting to the blog...so we are going to try to do some major catching up in pictures...

Here goes:

Mateo has been big on self portraits lately. Whenever we get the camera out, he wants to use it...and he loves the zoom feature!

You would think his mom never washed his face!!

Bug Tattoos...what is it about little boys that makes them love bugs and tattoos...the fact that you can combine them into one is like better than Manna from heaven as far as Mateo is concerned.

Rachel came for a visit at the end of March. We had a great time hanging out, drinking a little vino, and catching up on stories. She brought me this great cardigan sweater in red...matches my Sally Jesse Raphael glasses perfectly!

Mateo loves his Aunt Rachel. He talks about her all the time. As some of you might notice from this picture, Buford is worse for the wear! The five total Bufords we bought designed to prevent this exact thing from happening--didn't. This is Hard Wa Wa...not to be confused with Soft Wa Wa's. But he couldn't give a rats patoutey about those ones...he pays Matt with a Buford to pick up his toys when he's feeling lazy. They cost $1 to buy back using his allowance. Needless to say, Matt is in possession of all of them!! Except the one at Nona's house of course.

Chef Mateo

Nona bought Mateo this really cute Guatemalan chef outfit from Catholic Relief Services for Christmas last year. He is really enjoying hanging out with anyone in the kitchen.

It came with the apron, the hat, and a wooden spoon. The spoon is much more fun to use as a sword in the air!

Montessori preschool has encouraged Mateo to do everything he is able...so he really enjoys stirring in a big bowl, just like Mommy does!

Sous Chef now, but just wait....he'll be a gourmet chef in the future, I'm certain of that!

Love from the Miller Kitchen