My Valentine's Moment

February 14, 2012 was spent with my hubby as we dropped our son off with his grandparents at the Embassy Suites in downtown St. Paul.  My dad was in town for some training so his work put him up at a hotel.  Don and I celebrated our love day at new Sushi place in North Oaks. 

Suishin has a great atmosphere, the food was good (not as good as what we are used to in LA for sushi - nothing with ever beat Kat-Su-Ya).  We were welcomed by very friendly hosts and since it was Valentine's Day, I recieved a beautiful single red rose, which I appreciated... and we were seated at a table near the back of the restaurant.  It was surprising to me how they really transformed a strip mall restaurant into a beautiful, relaxing environment.

However, it was too relaxing as their service was super slow.  We waited 15 minutes just to have someone take our drink order and then waited 30 minutes just to get our miso soup.  And I was hungry that night so I did run out of patience.  I attribute the slow service to the specific waitress and not the restaurant as a whole as those around us seemed to be taken care of in a more timely fashion.

The food was good, we ordered the miso soup and four rolls.  The miso was delicious in that it was the perfect level of salty.  I find they can sometimes be bland, this had nice flavor.

The rolls we ordered were the California roll, Spicy Tuna, Aspen and Lobster.  The best in the bunch was the Aspen Roll (Shrimp, crab, sprouts, avocado, spicy sauce) while the Lobster Roll was all right, I expected something a bit more flavorful than it was...

For dessert, we went next door to the Taste of Scandinavia where Don indulged in a half dozen peanut blossom cookies and I had a Ginger Heart cookie, which was exactly what I needed to top of my Valentines Dinner... see My First Pinterest Entry

The special moment of the evening was actually when we dropped Brendan off at the hotel and he handed out a Valentines to each of his cousins, his auntie Steeny and Uncle Nick and of course Grammy and Poppy... For me it was the true bond of love shared between my son and my sister... When Brendan handed her the little box of candies, there was a beautiful and genuine exchange of love for one another... So glad he has his Auntie Steeny to love him as much as she does!

Happy Valentines Day!  Love you Maloney... and lil Maloney!

My Dairy Queen Moment

February 2012 got started with an awesome day with Brendan that ended with a trip to Diary Queen! Yes, you heard me right... It is February in Minnesota and there is a Diary Queen open... Clearly, they are wise to people's hesitation to eating ice cream during the winter so they hosted a half off everything all day special... That's what drew me in!

The stop at Dairy Queen was not a part of the original plan but our trip to the grocery store ran long and I didn't have a dinner planned for Brendan and I -- Daddy was at work. So when I saw the big sign declaring 1/2 off everything and the giant yellow blowing wind sock...  I turned to Brendan and said "Do you want to share some ice cream with mommy?" And the smile on his face went from ear to ear and he said "Share ice cream with mommy!"

So here are the mini moments during our DQ visit....

1) When we got the ice cream (a Heath Bar Blizzard)  I placed it in front of him and he grabbed the spoon with vigor and started chowing down... The mini moment came when he finally came up for air and realized that he was supposed to be sharing... He turned to me and with a heaping spoonful coming at my mouth with great speed, he said "sharing ice cream with Mommy!"

2) It always brings a mommy such joy when others get to feel that joy. In celebration of their half off day, the DQ had balloons tied up in the booths and anyone who knows my son, knows he loves himself a balloon. This is hard to explain as it is one of those, you had to be there moments... So let's just say that his enthusiasm for the balloons was expressed with great big glee filled giggles and with big squeezes to the balloons... NO, they didn't pop. But a family next to us was laughing hysterically and expressed to me how fun it was to watch his pure enjoyment and their "edge of their seat" fear that he was going to pop them.

3) The last mini moment of the DQ visit speaks to a bit of Brendan's developing personality... Not sure of the right word to describe this attribute but he loves to know how things work... As we were leaving, he walked out towards the giant yellow wind sock... He pointed to the top and said "mommy, windy... Oh, no.. Blowing away."   Seeing he was worried, I explained it was attached to the base...at which point his eyes followed the sock from the top to the bottom with wonder... I watched as the wheels turned in his head as he discovered that a fan was blowing wind into the sock and his eyes even continued on to see it plugged into the power cord.. "mommy, it's plugged in" "fan blowing... (little giggle) ... Wiggle mommy". The mini moment in that for me was watching him figure it out with bright eyes of wonder.

It's always good to have a mini moment paired with a great ice cream treat... thanks Dairy Queen!

About His Day Moment

Today was a great day.. In spite of the lack of nap... Which was totally my fault.. Who let's their 2 year old sip on their Coke at lunch just before he goes home for a nap... Apparently ME! Sugar and caffeine are not conducive to sleep for a two year old!

Regardless, we had fun today, playing outside and sitting on our landscape rocks - during which he cheered and leaned into me and said "having fun mommy"

But the real moment of the day was when I was tucking him in for bed and he started saying these little pieces "have penny mommy" "see wheels spinning" "Lucas put it in too" "see Steeny Costco"... It was so charming as I knew the story of his day that he was trying to tell...

Earlier in the day, we went to Costco with my sister (Steeny as he calls her) and her son Lucas. As we were leaving, Steeny gave Brendan and Lucas some change to put into one of those fun donation machines where the change slides down a funnel and down slides, spinning wheels, etc.

It just meant so much to me that at the end of his day, he wanted to tell his mommy a story about what happened that day and it was simply charming to look into his eyes to see how much joy that moment at Costco brought to him.

It's the mini moments that bring us so much happiness and that is what this blog is intended to celebrate!

Prince Charming Moment

Recently, I decided to give Once Upon A Time on ABC a chance... In spite of my disdain for the LOST producers for whom I blame for a waste of many hours of television due to their lack of a master plan to bring the series to a satisfying end - at least for this viewer! I know many fans were completely happy with it so we don't need to debate the issue.

In the end, I decided it was the EP's who were the public face of LOST from the beginning, who were responsible for failing me and it was not the fault of Adam Horowitz and Edward Katsis, who were only on the show for a few years... So I decided to check it out their new show that had caught my attention due to the fantastic ABC promos.

Anyway, it is my new favorite show (nudging Pan Am off the top spot). I love the storytelling, it is so compelling and the characters are so appealing and intriguing!

Which brings me to my first Once Upon A Time TV Moment.

Episode - 7:15 a.m.

"There is no place for us together"
Snow White breaking Prince Charmings heart!

Kudos to Josh Dallas for the perfectly timed tear!

Daddys Moment - Eye on the Ball

So today, I was judging a speech tournament for the first time in over 13 years - which I love! That meant daddy was home to take care of lil man.

As any good dad would do with a two year old, he was playing catch with him - well our son knows how to throw a ball but has yet to master the skill of catching. So, of course, daddy wanted to help him to learn to catch a ball. So, he threw Brendan the red ball and said "keep your eye on the ball." Brendan missed but reached down to pick up that red ball and proceeded to put the ball literally ON his eye!

Guess our son is more of a literal than figurative guy!

A fun laugh out loud moment with daddy - and for mommy as she heard daddy replay the moment for her!

Justified - TV Moment

My first TV Moment entry is one that made both my husband and I gasp/cheer aloud when it happened.

Justified - FX - The Gunfighter - Season Three Premiere

"Sorry about your tablecloth.."

Tell me that wasn't kick ass awesome!

Kiss mommy's....

This morning I awoke to Brendan calling out my name because he dropped his Thomas the Train out of his crib. Once in the room, he asked me to kiss Thomas and of course, I obliged. He then proceeded to say "kiss mommy's cheek" and he kissed it... Then he said "nutta cheek" and he kissed my other cheek.. Then "kiss mommy's ear" and he did and then the other ear followed.. He continued on to kiss my eyes, nose and mouth as well. As a mother of a boy, I so appreciate when he initiates kisses as I find myself smothering him at times with my love and he pushes away. So it feels so good to have him show me love though his fun kissing game.

So good morning Brendan as we start our day. Which includes a visit to the doctor to find out if his all over body rash is a reaction to Amoxicillin.

Family moments

Today** was a day where we had family mini moments... Team Maloney as I like to call us...

1) we played together in the playroom where Brendan proceeded to jump on daddy for hugs and mommy jumped on as well to make a lil B sandwich... Barkley, our dog, even got into the mix with some kisses... All while our amazing son giggled with glee...

2) after lil B didn't get much of a nap, he was tired early so just after dinner, we all snuggled on the couch to cut Brendan's fingernails.. He is not a fan of that process.. But he chilled out as we checked out Disney Junior's new show "Octonauts"

Love these moments together as a family...

**This post was a draft that I did a few weeks ago... haven't kept up with this as much as I had hoped... guess I am too busy cherishing my many mini moments rather than documenting them!  ;)

Hope to do better moving forward!

My Many Mini Moments - the beginning!

Today, January 1, 2012, I am starting this blog to celebrate (and document) my most precious mini moments with my son, Brendan, who just turned two in December. The inspiration for the blog came a while back when I saw a video online somewhere with an empty nest mom who spoke about the things she will miss the most and it wasn't the big stuff, it was the little moments. Those moments that sometime only mean something to the people involved... After seeing it, I meant to start keeping a diary privately to share with my son as he grows... But today, as I heard the words, "I love you mommy" for the first time in complete sentence and with sincere intent, it was a mini moment so big that I wanted to share it with the world!

So today, I will start making note of the mini moments that are so often forgotten as life progresses... So that I may hold onto them and cherish them for all they are worth. I also look forward to hearing about mini moments others are sharing with their children.

I don't promise to share them every day... But my hope is to document as many as I can in the busy world we all live in.. So that when I look back, I won't forget these precious times.

Today alone was filled with many mini moments...

1) It was as I was getting him out of his crib this morning that he wrapped his arms around my neck and said with such joy "I love you, Mommy"... it reached the very core of my heart... And wanted to share this amazing moment with his daddy and so I encouraged him to also tell his daddy... So we went downstairs where he also told his daddy that he loved him... A great way to star off 2012 as a family.

2) His laughing hysterically as we played with the blinds pulling them up and down. He wanted to chew on the plastic thing on the end of the string and I kept saying... "That is not food... Don't eat it"... And he would stick it between his teeth and laugh hysterically and say "not food... Not food" ... This is one of those "you had to be there" moments... But it was so super cute.

3) Watching him do his best to make a snowball by himself as I tried to teach him to "squeeeeeeze" the snow in his hands... He would say the word with the longest of "e" sounds... And the puff of light snow that came out of his hands as he tried to throw it... And then his big burst of laughter when I would throw my snowball towards him. We also did snow angels, not for the first time, but it was fun as he pulled me to the ground and said "Mommy, do it" when I asked him if he wanted to make a snow angel.

4). This is something that happens every day and night but will be one of the things I will miss...as I tuck him in for a nap or for bedtime, we play a game of "More Kisses," where I kiss him good night and walk away to turn out the light and he giggles and says "more kisses mommy, more kisses" and I rush back to his crib and smother him with little kisses... We do that a few times before I walk out blowing him many kisses...

So for today... Good Night my son... I look forward to our Many Mini Moments!