"3 Bags Barron"

On Friday, I gave William the nickname "3 Bags Barron."  He hit the jackpot in his class by earning the blue bag again as well as The Cat In The Hat backpack.  Two very special honors in preschool.  Bag three was of course his own personal backpack.  The smile on his face was priceless!  It's the little things in life that make kids feel absolutely SO SPECIAL.  Three Bags Barron was living the dream!

You may recall seeing the blue bag in a few previous posts.  William's class has a blue tote dubbed the "mystery bag."  Each week a child bring the bag home and picks a mystery item to put in the bag that corresponds to the letter they are working on that week.  The child provides 3 clues about the object and the next day at school, they stand up and give a presentation using the three clues until the class guesses what is inside the bag. 
Friday marked William's 3rd time to bring home the blue bag and on this occasion William's letter was R.  He had a plan from the beginning and jumped in the car to tell me that he was going to put a rocket in the blue bag and his 3 clues were going to be:

• It is shaped like a cylinder
• It blasts fire
• The nose is a cone shape

I got a kick out of his excitement and we put his white toy rocket in the blue bag the second we got home!

Bag #2  is The Cat In The Hat bag.  I had never seen this bag nor did I even know it existed.....until Friday when William jumped in the car and proudly said, "MOM!  LOOK!  I got 2 bags and one of them is Cat In The Hat! I was so surprised!"  I soon learned that the Cat In The Hat bag includes the book, Cat In The Hat and a stuffed animal Cat In The Hat.  Each weekend a child from William's class takes home CITH and documents spending the weekend with him.  Every child writes a page in the class journal about what they did with CITH and either draws a picture or includes some photos.  It's pretty funny to see what the kids write in the journal, and William took this project seriously.  He was SO DELIGHTED that it was finally his turn to bring home The Cat! 




So on Sunday night, we chose 2 things Cat did with us and William wrote in the journal.  He was eager to write in full sentences so when he got up in front of the class to talk about his weekend, he'd be able to read aloud from the journal.  He took this job seriously and I think his penmanship turned out great! 



3 Bags Barron was on cloud nine as we drove into school this morning.  We were the first car in line for drop off and I suggested that we put the 3 bags on the bench right outside the classroom door so that it would be easier for him to get out of the car.  William didn't think much of it until the teacher came to get him out of the carpool line.  He hopped out of the car and said, "oh don't worry about my backpack.  I had 3 bags to carry today because I have the blue bag and Cat In The Hat and you know how heavy my backpack can be.  So I put them right here on the bench so I could get out of the car and not break my arm."  The teacher and I both chuckled as 3 Bags Barron marched proudly into school!

Mother's Day 2012 at the Philbrook

We had the pleasure of Bubba and Gram's company this Mother's Day weekend.  It's always a treat to see their smiling faces and William just ADORES them to pieces.  Bubba and Gram spend half the year in Florida and return to Oklahoma May-Nov.  I was eager to get them to Tulsa because we moved while they were in FL and I wanted them to see our new house, William's school and our Tulsa town in person!  We are SO GLAD that Bubba and Gram could come visit us on such a special weekend, Mother's Day!

I made reservations for Mother's Day brunch at the Philbrook Museum.  I thought we would all enjoy dining in such a magnificent setting among famous paintings and grand architecture.  Boy did we feast on some good food!  You just about had to roll us out of our chairs!  The food was delicious and the dining room had lovely ice sculptures with fresh flowers and pretty table linens. 

Once we were well fed, our group took a walk around the museum garden.   There are so many great photo spots at the Philbrook, but it was really sunny and I had trouble getting Adeline to look directly at the camera.  Nevertheless, Gram and I had fun taking pictures of the kids and the flowers surrounding the water fountains.  The weather was fantastic, but a little hot.  Dada got an excellent workout in his suit as he chased (more like ran) after Adeline ALL OVER the gardens.  She never stops exploring and I think Dada got a small taste of how I spend most of my days! 

We took our time and had a lot of fun together before leaving the museum.  Bubba and Gram took William back to the hotel so he could play on Gram's Ipad.  Gram wins first place in "best Ipad games ever."  She always seems to have the most entertaining games loaded on her Ipad and William clammers for a turn in her lap!  I think those two played games until their fingers turned blue and oh did my boy have a ball! 
After our downtime, we headed over to the new house so Gram and Bubba could see it in person and walk through our plans to remodel.  Gram had a list of furniture measurements for me and gave me some great ideas on furniture placement and colors.  Dan's parents have a POD full of antique furniture just waiting in the wings and I am looking forward to shopping inside it soon!  I feel so lucky to have a mix of new and old styles to display in our house.  There is something so special about a treasured piece of furniture or a certain accessory that has been in a family for generations.  I do hope to fit a few of Gram's treasures into our home, especially the silver tea service for our dining room.  It is going to look so pretty on top of Dan's grandmother's dining room set.  I am a lucky gal indeed!  Thanks Gram and Bubba!

And a shout out to Bubba for his guided tour of the lush garden we call our new "yard."  I think Dan and I inherited a gold mine of a yard as the former owner was a gardener with a passion for roses, hydrangeas, azaleas, and a number of green plants we have yet to know.  I mean, it's a serious garden........at least Bubba could walk me around the yard and say, "Pull that!  It's a weed!  Pull that!  It's worthless!"  HA!  Thanks Bubba!  Wanna come back when it's 100 degrees and help me out?  You know you want too!
Oh we had a ball!  I am so delighted that Bubba and Gram are in OKC and we are just 1.5 hours away.  It is going to be so fun to see their faces more often than we did while living in DC.  William is especially thrilled to have close access to his Bubba and Gram.  He was terribly sad when they had to leave on Sunday.  He cried and cried....oh that sweet boy of mine.  He loves with his whole heart.  Bubba and Gram, you are both a ray of sunshine to us and my kids simply adore you!  Happy Mother's Day and all the holidays in between!

Mother's Day Blessing for 2012

YOU made ME a MOM!

William (5 years old), Adeline (14 months old), and Baby Barron #3 -

You are the icing on my cake, the best part of my day, the reason I wake up in the morning, the challenge that runs me ragged.  You are the little faces that reflect a part of me, the belly laughs, the tears I wipe, the hugs when I don't want to let go.  You are the voice of endless questions, your eyes juicy with discovery.  You are smooth skin to kiss, the large tummy I carry, the test of my patience, and the best of friends.  You are my answered prayers.


And to know that I am about to receive another gift as amazing as the two I already have...well, my heart is just so thankful.  6 years ago I never imagined that God would provide 3 wonderful blessings in my life.

 I hold tight to every millisecond of every little moment of every single day.

My world is complete because of YOU!

Love, Mom

19.5 weeks Pregnancy Highlights

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!  I am so grateful to be here!
  
19.5 weeks Pregnancy Highlights


How Far Along: 19.5 weeks   
Size of baby: Baby B is the size of a large heirloom tomato.
Total Weight Gain/Loss: 148 lbs.  Gained 11 total.
Maternity Clothes: In many maternity clothes.  I can wear my regular sundresses and I have bought a few size L sundresses that are not maternity.  Wearing maternity shorts and t-shirts.
Gender: Don't know yet! Hope to find out in a week
Movement:  Not much.  Once in awhile I feel a small thump down deep in my stomach, but it doesn't last long.
Sleep: I sleep on my left side and I am starting to wake up more often in the night.  I get uncomfortable on my side and have to sit up and stretch before going back to bed.   
What I miss: Cardio exercise
Cravings: Orange Juice, oatmeal, fruit and a cookie!  Dinner tends to be a lighter meal like cereal.  Cannot eat spicy foods and milk doesn't do well with me.
Best Moment this week: Celebrating Mother's Day with William, Adeline and this fantastic new little blessing!

Budding Artists

William loves to draw.  He mostly draws airports, runways, and airplanes.  Shocking, I know.  BUT, many of his drawings are very impressive and his attention to detail is amazing.  Often times, he draws intricate airport systems that tell a specific story.  With every picture, he tells me all about how THIS will be the airport he builds one day.  Right now, he's saving his pennies to buy himself a private jet and some land to build his airport.  Gotta love a goal!

So while my Pilot Picasso is dreaming of the future, Adeline has also become a budding artist.  She has a toy that plays music on one side and converts to a table with a chair on the reverse side.  So Dada set up the table for her and she climbed right into the seat.  We gave her some crayons and William showed her how to scribble on a piece of paper.  Much to my surprise, Adeline gripped the crayon and drew a big ol' scribble across the paper.  She was delighted with her masterpiece and stayed at her coloring table for a good 20 minutes.

You say DUCK! I say QUACK!

When Adeline was 12 months old, she feel in love with the book, "Brown Bear, Brown Bear."  It's a book about animals and I think we've read it more than 2,000 times!  I have always made the animal sounds as I read the book to her, and within a few days she could repeat every animal noise back to me.  Amazing how quickly little people learn! 

So, for the last two months my girl has loved animals. She's almost 14 months now and still loves them.  If Adeline sees a dog, she barks and squeals with delight.  She loves sheep.  I think sheep was her very first animal sound and every time we see one, "BAAAAAAAAA!" is the loudest noise in her animal repertoire.  Elephants are a winner too.  Many times we'll be riding in the car and out of the blue, she will raise her hand up in the air to mimic the elephant trunk and make a loud noise.  I laugh every time because the "elephant" motion always takes place at the most random times.  I guess she gets to thinking about her animals and next thing you know, she's acting like them!  Other favorites include bird (CAW CAW), fish (pouts her lips together), lion (ROAR), cat (meeeow), pig (move her nose around and tries to snort), horse (sounds like hayyyyyy), monkey (who who who who heeee heee), giraffe (touches her neck for "long neck"), and a few others. 
Recently, Adeline's love for sheep rivals the duck.  My girl loves ducks and rightly so.  Where we are renting there is a pond and in this pond live about 10 ducks.  They are very cute and waddle all over the complex day and night.  Adeline truly gets giddy every time you ask her, "do you want to go see the ducks?"  She hollers out "QUACK QUACK QUACK" and races over to her stroller and gladly jumps in for the trip outdoors. 

 William loves a good trip to the pond because he likes to feed the ducks bread and watch them compete for the crumbs.  Our favorite time to go visit the ducks is around 5:45pm when the ducks are in the grass hunting down their dinner.  He's really into observing their mannerisms and habitat.  I think this curiosity stems from his recent rain forest/animal unit at school.  He loves to stare at the ducks and watch them interact with each other.  He even noticed that one duck made a nest at the edge of the pond. 
Today after Adeline woke up from her morning nap, I asked her if she wanted to find the ducks.  She waved her legs around and flashed a killer smile before shouting, "QUACK! QUACK"  So off we went to find the ducks. 
To our surprise, the ducks were right next door under our neighbor's car port.  At first we could only hear them quacking and I got these cute pictures of Adeline listening for the ducks but unable to see them. 








Then out they popped from the bushes and my girl was off to chase them!  I would say this was a mighty find morning for my animal loving lady!

Act Surprised

William: " Mom.  I am not going to tell you what it is, but I cannot wait for your birthday."
Me:  "Oh?  Why are you so excited for my birthday?"
William:  "I just am.  It's going to be your birthday.  That's all I am going to say."
Me:  "Ok.  well thanks for being excited for me."
(after a few minutes of trying desperately not to bust out of his skin.....)
William:  "Mom.  How many days exactly do I have to wait until your birthday again?"
Me:  "10"
William:  " Mom.  I can't tell you what kind it is or what it looks like, but when you get your new computer for your birthday, I can still have your old computer for games.  Right?"
Me:  "A HA!"

Happy Birthday to Mom.