St. Patricks/Easter/Chuck E Cheese Extravaganza

Okay, so the weekend before last we decided to take Clayton to Chuck E. Cheese, thinking that he might have a good time on some of the kiddie rides and would like the robotic dancing band members on stage.  WHOA, that place has gone downhill.  Imagine an amusement park in the ghetto.  It sort of felt like that.  The clientele was sort of interesting, which we noticed right when we were walking in the door and heard a group of gentlemen standing by the door talking about a "drive by."  Interesting.  Anyway, Clayton wasn't crazy about the rides, but he let us take a picture or two.
Also, we just got him this T-shirt.  It is awesome.  Enough said.
Monday was St. Patrick's Day.  For most of us growing up, I think St. Patrick's Day is a day where you wear green to school to avoid getting pinched.  Then you get older, and you realize it is mostly a holiday to give Irish people (and people who are only a fraction Irish) an excuse to drink.  As if the Irish need another excuse.  There is sometimes green beer involved, too.  Well, in Tina's family, St. Patrick's Day is an event.  The leprechauns come.  Yes, the leprechauns.  They come to bring gifts, just like the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy.  Which is not the strangest part.  We're just getting started.  You see, I was not aware of this, but according to Tina leprechauns eat saltine crackers.  It's what they prefer.  So you set out Saltines for them.  Kind of like how Santa likes cookies, but with the leprechauns I guess they eat a lot of soup.  Anyway, the crackers are not just set out on a plate, but under a trap.  In Tina's family, you try to trap magical gift-bringers.  So, anyway, I don't have a picture of it, but the apparatus involved an upside-down shoebox balancing precariously on a pencil.  Under the traditional method, the pencil is attached to a string that the child holds onto, so he or she can pull the trap down onto the leprechaun when the little bastard is chomping saltines.  However, because Clayton is so little, we just balanced the box on the pencil and counted on the clumsy leprechaun to trip over the pencil.  No such luck.  Alert--he is still on the loose.
More traditionally, we had some Easter photos taken of Clayton over the weekend, and he got all gussied up.  This is one of the pictures.  He did pretty well at the photo sitting, although there were about a hundred other families going to Kiddie Kandids for pictures at the same time, so it was kind of chaotic.  Anyway, he looked quite handsome and smiled pretty well for the camera.

Spring Fever Setting In

Recently a good friend of mine from college emailed me after seeing this blog and said something like "you and your family are so cute it makes me sick."  I'll take that as a compliment.  But if you think the other photos were cute, check this out.  Yes, that's right, it's a heart-shaped pancake, and Tina made a bunch of them the other day.  Mmm-hmm, there is no limit to the cuteness of our family.  Just when you think we couldn't get much more wholesome and suburban, Tina raises her game.  I'll have my pancakes chock-full of love, thank you.
Not too much other news here.  A few recent photos of Clayton and his antics.  We've got our landscaping contractor and plan lined up for the backyard, so they should be starting work on that any day now.  Which will be not a day too soon, because we are definitely getting anxious for spring.  It will be great to have a place for Clayton to go out and play in the warmer weather.  
Tina and Clayton have been going to classes at Gymboree with Sara and Will, and Clayton seems to really like the classes.  He's picking up new words almost every day, which is a mixed blessing.  The other day I was putting him in his car seat in the garage and he pointed off to the right (where there is a horrific pile of random boxes, bins, and gardening equipment), and he said "a mess."  Yes, Clayton, you're right.  Thanks for pointing that out.

Things are still going well at work.  It's been a busy start to the year, but generally not overwhelming.  I have had to do a little travel, but so far I have been able to make most of the trips day trips rather than overnights.  The next time I have to do any kind of extended trip to L.A., we might see if it will work for Tina (and maybe Clayton) to come down and visit for at least part of the time.  

Oh, one more thing.  Clayton just got his stuffed Moose and Zee (characters from the Noggin cable network), which Tina's friend Jamil makes in her home (see Jamil and Mike's link on the right).  Clayton loves them.  I've already seen him pretending to bounce Zee up and down on the coffee table, which may be a consequence of Zee being shaped sort of like a ball.  Anyway, Jamil also sells the stuffed characters through her eBay page, and I would definitely recommend them for a kid who watches Noggin.