White Christmas

For weeks Miri has been waking up and looking outside to see if it has snowed - of course it didn't and she proclaims "its not Christmas yet because we don't have snow". Ryan and I have gone blue in the face trying to explain to her that it hardly ever snows on Christmas so Christmas and snow don't go hand in hand. What do we know!

Christmas eve we saw our first blizzard and Miriam's first white Christmas. As magical as it all was we did have to do things a little differently this year. Normally on Christmas eve we head to church (canceled) go to a party at a friends house (canceled) and get home late, rush around to put together Santa gifts and wrap the few stragglers and are lucky to be in bed by 1:00 a.m. (that did kinda still happen). I was proud of myself, when we were doing our grocery shopping for Christmas morning and the Wilbank's celebration on the 26th, I figured I should probably have something on hand for Christmas eve, just in case. Boy was I ever happpy I did! So we fixed Ryan's traditional Christmas eve meal of Italian Sausage, spaghetti and salad. I even broke out the really good Christmas dishes, table cloth and napkins. I did refrain from putting M in her Christmas dress, we were all too comfy in our jammies! After dinner we allowed Miri to open one gift, she was so excited, after she opened her Poe doll she rolled around with it loving on it squealing in delight!



She then asked if we were going to read stories and sing carols! So we did!! The three of use sat around and read stories out of a Christmas Treasury book we have, The Night Before Christmas, The Christmas Story and a few poems. We also sang a few carols (even Ryan participated! After a brief stop onto the porch to check out the snow, we sent Miri off to bed.

Setting up Santa seems to take forever - no matter how early of a start you have! But we got it done, wrapped the few gifts not yet wrapped and made it to bed by 1:00a.m.



I was prepared to be woken up at the crack of dawn, however my sweet loving perfect little girl didn't wake up until nearly 8:30. She even patiently waited until we were showered and dressed before going down stairs!!! She of course loved her Santa gifts, but kept fixating on the fact that Santa did not eat all the cookies she left him.


Unwrapping our gifts took longer than normal because Miri kept stopping to run over to the window and ask to go out and play in the snow! We did eventually go play, Santa left sleds after all!!



All in all we had a wonderful Christmas, even though we had to rearrange the celebrations with my family and Ryan's family a bit due to the weather. And there is a part of me that wonders if what we were "forced" to do this year for Christmas eve is something we should do every Christmas eve!

The Nutcracker

Yesterday I took Miri to see her very first performance of the Nutcracker. We joined our good friends, Stephanie and Lucy, for this special holiday tradition. When I was a child I remember going nearly every single year to the PAC for this ballet. It was and still is one of the things I look forward to during the holiday season. Tulsa Ballet has changed their version of this ballet, and I personally don't feel it is very kid friendly and (IMO) has lost much of its magic! So instead of going to the "professional" performance we took the girls to the "Children's Nutcracker", this was done by the South Tulsa Children's Ballet Company. All of the dancers are 18 and under, and I thought it was very enjoyable to watch. Miri was completely enchanted by it, in fact by intermission Lucy had decided she was going to be Clara and Miriam had decided to be the Sugar Plum Fairy - so cute!! I loved watching Miri soak in this ballet, seeing it with her was almost like seeing it for the first time. I am considering letting her participate in the production next year as soon as I get it through her little head that she can't start out as the Sugar Plum Fairy!

The Secret Keeper

A few days ago I was looking at the watch I got Ryan for out anniversary. Miri walks into the kitchen, asked who it is for. I explained to her that the gift was for Daddy and that it was a secret until I gave it to him. "OK Momma I won't tell anyone" Fast forward three hours when Ryan got home from work - "Daddy Daddy guess what? We got you a watch!"

Lesson learned - three year olds do NOT make very good secret keepers!!!

Not only is Miri not a good secret keeper she is also VERY observant - there is not much that gets past this kid. So it has been fun (challenging) keeping Christmas surprises still surprises!

Thanksgiving

Wow - Thanksgiving seemed to sneak up on us this year and just fly by quickly! We hosted for the first time. Ryan took off work Wednesday and smoked turkey and ham, mom and I divided up the sides and spent much of Thursday morning hanging out with each other and cooking. My parents, niece, brother and sister in law joined us for dinner and Ryan's mom and brother came over later for dessert. I was pleasantly surprised at how undramatic the day was, VERY NICE! We have so much to be thankful for, our beautiful home, our families, our health, our work and of course our miracle Miriam Grace.

On Friday we were able to get a start on getting our lights up outside. The excitement of the holiday season is really starting to build - I hope nobody burst from it before the big day actually gets here! Saturday Ryan headed down to Norman to enjoy bedlam. Sunday was spent at home recovering from our holiday weekend and getting ready for the week ahead!

December is quickly approaching and what a month it will be, Ryan and I will be celebrating our 10th anniversary and of course we will have all the Christmas festivities to attend to ~ perhaps it is myself I should be concerned about bursting from excitement!

My Adventure into the world of tweens

Last night I took my niece to her first concert – Miley Cyrus and I survived!!! I did not go deaf like I feared might happen. All and all it was a descent show, not sure with was worth the $80 some odd dollar ticket (x2) but Cat had fun and the is the most important part!

I did make a few observations:

1. Miley seems to be trying to channel Britney – not sure that is a good thing.

2. The *best* part of the show was when Miley was doing a costume change and her band played the lead into Thriller ~ I literally jumped out of my seat and started dancing, I naively thought she was going to do Thriller, as did all the other parents sitting around me! But as soon as it started it was over, she had changed clothes and was doing her own music.

3. Tween girls like to scream (ok so we already knew this one) but my theory is if you can’t beat them (my ear plugs sucked) join em! I am rather horse this morning.

4. I was really surprised at the amount of families that were there. By families I mean both parents and all the kids. And not just families with only tween girls, but ones where the boys went too as well as younger siblings (like preschool age!). I was also surprised at the amount of Mom’s I saw with their 4-5 year olds, and no other kiddos. I love M and would take her to practically anything she wanted to go to – but a concert like this one at age 5?? No way!

5. Concerts are way more fun when you know the songs – I feel the need to go see a “grown up” show soon!

I didn’t tell Miri until I was getting ready to go pick up Cat that I was going to a concert. Miriam was *not* pleased that Cat and I went without her and no amount of explaining really helped the situation. Miri did get the pleasure of having dinner with Grammy and Grandpa and Daddy – can we say undivided attention? I was told a dinner conversation went like this:

M: “Where is Mommy and Catherine”

R: “At the Hanna Montana concert.”

M: “I want to go too”

R: “Sorry, but you are not old enough yet, and besides it will be really really loud.” (M is not a fan of loud noises/places)

M: “That’s ok, I can be really quiet!”

I love that kid!!!

Homecoming!

Sorry this post is a week late but here it is:

Sand Springs Homecoming 2009


We had a blast! Miriam loved being in the parade. We started talking it up a couple of days before hand. In the past the "little people" road in the car with the queen nominee who asked them to be a part of the court.


(Miriam and Rachel prior to the parade)

However, this year they decided to have the nominees ride by themselves and put the little people with the football player escort they were assigned. So we convinced Miri that her football player (Burgess) was a big teddy bear guy, by the end of the parade she had convinced the little boy she was paired with to call Burgess "teddy bear guy" too. They also kept trying to tickle him during the parade. I have to say that he was an extremely good sport - I can't imagine how embarrassing the whole thing probably was for him in front of all of his team mates.


(During the parade with her "teddy bear guy")

On Friday morning we got up and made our way over to the high school for the pep-assembly. Ryan and I were more than a little concerned about how M would handle this, loud noises are not her thing at all! But she did great. We had to be there about an hour before the start, so she ran around and hung all over her "teddy bear guy" and danced around with Rachel. I did determine that I have gotten old. The pep-assemblies I attended in high school were way louder than this one (BTW's Funky D's themselves were louder than all of SS's band!) but boy was I ready to leave after the Court had been introduced and my ears rang all day!

(I think she is a little enamored with the footballers - particuarly her "teddy bear guy")

(M with *her* Rachel at the pep-assembly)

The Homecoming Queen was announced at the game, prior to kick-off. Of course we had to be there well in advance for pictures and what not. After doing so well in the parade and pep-assembly I was not concerned about the game one bit!
(Posing with the nominees for queen)

Boy was I wrong!!! Poor Miri cried during the entire ceremony and would not pose for pictures afterwards at all. I think the fit was a combo of being hungry, cold, general tiredness and of course being scared by the Bartlesville mascot (a blue terrifying bear!).

(Center field being introduced)

So who won? Why of course M's babysitter, Rachel did!!!!!!! And although M was uncoroperative during the ceremony and looks pretty unhappy in this picture she was very happy for Rachel. Saturday morning all she could talk about what Rachel getting to be queen and at church on Sunday the same thing!

(From this picture you would think M thought she was going to be named queen!!)

All in all it was a fun experience and I am really glad Miri got to participate. Maybe one day she will get to pick her own "little person" for Homecoming!

PS: For those interested we have posted more pictures of the weekend on our Flickr account.

Adventures in Cooking

I have been in a major cooking rut lately. I think it is part of the reason we tend to eat out more than we should. Lately Ryan and I have been watching a lot of Anthony Bourdain on the Travel Chanel (re-runs were getting old!). If you have never seen his show it is worth a watch. He can be pretty snarky and sarcastic, but he goes to interesting places and goes out of his way to meet and experience the "real" world (not the tourist hotspots). He is also a major foodie and the majority of the show focuses on the countries food and culture - but in truth food has got to be the biggest part of most cultures. I am inspired by this show to experiment with some new ideas.

The other day I was flipping through a magazine and bam I found 4 recipes right off the bat that actually sounded good and not to time consuming to make. The first one I tried was called New Mexican Style Pot Roast.

Now me being me cannot cook without a little tinkering so I have modified this from the original recipe. For instance the orginal recipe's cooking instructions were for using an the oven and cooking the meat for about 3 hours, I have no desire to sit around and do that so I crock potted it - probably used a little more beef broth/beer than was called for. Also the recipe called for squash - Ryan refused to even try it if I put squash in it so I omitted that. I did add (what a surprise!): onion, bell pepper, celery and carrots. And of course after enjoying our meal we have some more tweaking changes to make - I listed those after the recipe below.

New Mexican Style Pot Roast - ala Sarah

2.5 lb roast (salt/pepper/garlic powder to taste)
15 oz of red enchilada sauce
1 bottle of beer (I used an Amber Ale)
beef broth (enough to get the roast covered after the enchilada sauce and beer are added

I cooked the roast in the crock pot with the above mentioned ingredients on low all day

About 2.5 hours before serving I added to the crock pot (and turned it on high)

an onion
a green bell pepper
2 sweet potatos
celery (a couple of stalks)
carrots (several)
1 can of hominy

Result: YUMMO!!!!!!!

I will make this again - upon Mr. "I will not eat a sweet potatos" request I will add in a couple of red potatos and probably reduce to one sweet.

We both love hominy so I will put another can of that in
I also think ancho pepper would be good

When you open the pot to add the veggies - taste the sauce and add black pepper, red pepper and cayenne pepper to taste. I didn't do this and it was a tad bland - but we love spice!

I am going to try the other two recipes I found in the coming weeks. My goal is something new each week and to update on how it goes.

Bon Apetit!

Excitement in Sand Springs!

We are so excited Miri has been asked to be a "little person" in the Sand Springs Homecoming Court this year! Her babysitter, Rachael, is a nominee for Homecoming Queen - CONGRATULATIONS RACHAEL!!!!

The homecoming court always has little kids as pages - so Rachael immediately put Miri on the list. This year there will be two boys and two girls. Miri gets to go to the high school next week for pictures, she will get to ride in a convertible during the parade, with one of the football players, and will be part of the pep assembly on the day of game and of course on the field during the crowning ceremony during the game. No one knows until the ceremony at the game who the winner will be - we of course are keeping everything crossed for Rachael. For the actual ceremony she will have to wear a frilly, puffy dressy dress!!!!

Can we say a shopping trip is in the future! :-)

I will post pictures as soon as I have them!!!

A Brat

I don't know how it happened by Miriam has turned into a little brat. Tonight at dinner Cat took her to the potty since she was finished and none of the rest of us were. When the girls come back to the table (about 3 seconds before I was heading to find them!) Cat looks like she is about to cry and M runs right over to me and hugs me "I love you Mommy". As she is doing this Cat is talking to Jenna and Jeremy. Apparently while Cat was holding Miri's dress for her Miri decided to taste Cat's fingers. Yup she bit her! We never had a problem with her biting before, in fact Miri was always the one getting bit when she was younger at her babysitter's house. Jenna asked Cat what she did when Miri bit her, did you cry or hit? Nope. (I am proud of Cat for not reacting this way) Miriam did cry because she didn't want Cat to tell anyone!

So of course I start having a little talk with M, but she keeps saying "but I love you" and kissing and hugging and flashing that smile of hers. I did get through because she started crying, she knew I was mad and more importantly she knew she was wrong.

What I don't understand is when/how did my sweet little girl turn into a little brat? Why does she think she can just "be cute" and that excuse her behavior?

I don't let her run over us. She does get time-outs and if Ryan catches her a swat on the butt (if she is really bad). But truthfully she never does what she did tonight. What on earth possessed this behavior from her? And more importantly how can we nip this in the bud - I do not want a brat!

I am so tired

I can't even think straight. I guess that this is punishment to having a wonderful relaxing 4 day weekend! Our Labor Day weekend was great, except for the OU loosing part - that kinda sucked! I posted pictures on Flickr and Facebook for those interested.

I should have known Monday night when the phone rang at 10:00 that relaxing times were behind us. It was my Dad to inform me that Cat was running a temp. of 103! Yikes and Swine Flu were my first thoughts! I was right, her doctor confirmed it on Tuesday. For some reason the Swine Flu (H1N1) really scares me. I guess the biggest reason is Miri, she is at a vulnerable age (being under 65!) and has asthma, I actually fall into this same group, but I am way more scared for her than for me. But Cat's bought with it wasn't terrible. Her doc. did give her Tama Flu (anti viral medication) and she was bouncing off the walls by Wednesday night. I however worried and obsessed over Miriam, and I can tell it affected my sleep. By Tuesday when it was appearnt that Cat was recovering I was working on a better attitude about the whole thing.

In fact Wednesday morning I was kicking butt at work and getting tons done (as opposed to googling H1N1 vaccine info. trying to figure out how to get M vaccinated last week!) when the phone rang and my week tunnelled into complete non-productivity!

It was my Dad again. My Granny (maternal) had taken a turn for the worse and the nurse was afraid she wouldn't make it another hour. So my brother and I rushed over to the nursing home to be with her and my Mom. She was bad. I have read in books before about the "death rattle" and she had that it sounded so awful also whenever someone would bend to speak with her she would let out a moan, I couldn't tell from pain or acknowledgment. When my Papa died in Oct. 2006, it was much quieter - almost coma like. His death also took a lot longer. He died nearly a week after we were summoned to his bedside to say our last goodbyes. My Granny did not last that long, and I am glad. She died about 7 that evening. I hate to say it but it has been a relief. She had a stroke in the spring of 2008 and broke her hip in the fall, ever since then she has needed full time care and her mind was not all there. When we would visit we never knew what reality she was living in.

I feel very sad for my Mom. She is an only child and has no parents left on earth. I am not sure why thinking of this bothers me so much. My Dad is an only child too and his last living parent died when I was 12. Maybe because I am a parent now and my perspective on life has changed a little bit. I am not sure I am ready for life with my parents being the "elders" in the family. I liked the idea that there was a generation ahead of them in this world and that is no longer reality.

Tonight is the first evening I have been home before 10:30 since Tuesday and yet sleep alludes me. Why? I am not able to focus on much. I thought I was ready for her to die. I guess I was ready in the sense that I wanted her suffering to end. I was sick of watching my Mom worry constantly about her and in truth I was concerned that she would out live her reserves and my parents would have to start paying for her care out of their retired pockets. Now I feel guilt. Guilt I have thought all of that, guilt I wasn't a better granddaughter, I never seemed to find the time to go visit, unless my Mom was dragging me over there, guilt that I wanted her to find some peace and leave earth, guilt that the dying process completely grosses my out, I started gagging when I bent down to tell her bye because of the odor coming from her moan, and guilt that my Mom is now parent-less. Oh and guilt that I am completely frustrated with my Mom and her lack of organization. Yesterday I was over there looking for a letter my Granny had written about funeral instructions, I remember reading it when my Papa died, and telling my Mom to put it up where she would remember it when Granny's time came, we still haven't found it. This morning I helped my Mom pick out her clothes. We have known for awhile that my Granny was not going to need "real" clothes until it was time for her funeral. I would have thought Mom would have picked them out, had them ready for a steam press and all. Of course not. She ran them to the cleaners, played the "dead mom card" to get them steamed and over to the funeral home within an hour.

I don't think I am making much sense, I think I need to go to bed.

A Bedtime Story

Every night after we read books, Miriam requests her "Miri goes to bed-time story" This is just a recap story of her day, but a very important part of our bedtime ritual. Tonight's story went as follows:

"Miri got up early but was a really good girl because she let Mommy and Daddy sleep late. She played in her room and then after we all got up and went down stairs...."

"No Mommy! I got up and went down stairs to get birthday cake then I played in my room...."

Awww - so that explains the spinning in circles she did in our room this morning before we got up!

Passages

I can’t believe it is September 1 already. This morning was Miriam’s first day of preschool. She was such a big girl – no tears! But she did ask for an extra hug. I was a bad Mommy and didn't get the prerequisite before school picture, but here she is after school!

Getting her to not pose for a picture has been a little challenging lately!!

This summer has flown by. On the highlight list are:

Miri no long uses her bobo (pacifier)

And *drum roll*

She is FULLY POTTY TRAINED!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I cannot believe how quickly she is growing up. I also feel like these two accomplishments have fully ended her baby/toddler years – she is now a big girl (as she likes to tell me repeatedly throughout the day!) Sometimes I feel a little sad that we no longer have a little baby, but as time goes by and more and more trips to the store pass without the purchase of diapers I miss the total neediness less and less.

I have enjoyed all (well mostly all) phases of this journey. But I have to say right now is the best! Miri sleeps through the night, if she needs to get up and potty she does so without making a production of it (waking us up!) On weekends she is content to play in her room so Mom and Dad can get an extra hour or two (or 3.5!) in of sleep. Even though her room is normally completely trashed by the time we get up it is so worth it to have that extra sleep! She will not only play by herself inside (without the TV) but she will also play outdoors without trying to come in every few minutes. Her current favorite outdoor activity is to dig for pirate treasure in the backyard. She was digging in the middle of the yard until Ryan and I convinced her that the mole trails along the fence were really pirate trials! It is so nice to be able to read/relax outside without a “Mommy look at me, Mommy do this” every second. When we dine out she will entertain herself with her little toys, she even normally orders for herself! She is understandable and polite. She can still sometimes be a pill, but those instances are few and far between.

Now as much as I love this newfound independence, patients and company I am not looking forward to the day when we are no longer her world. I love the fact she wants us near her and she hugs and kisses all the time. Weekend mornings, after she has deemed we have had enough extra sleep, she comes up for cuddle and tickle time. There is nothing in the world greater than tickling your baby until she laughs so hard she snorts!

Ryan waited all summer for a big project at work, and now it has taken off, so he is really busy again and working long hours. I ended up working more than I really thought I would have to this summer, but it is all good. This fall/winter is not looking too crazy!

Ponderings

Cute Miri story from our car ride home today

Miri: Who do I love....??
Me: I don't know, who do you love?
Miri: My Mommy and Daddy....
Me: Your Grammy, Grampa, Nanny....
Miri: Uh Huh
Me: All your Uncles and Aunts
Miri: NO! Ants are yucky - I don't love ants!

The conversation dissolved from there, because I couldn't stop laughing. I did try explaining the difference but she just kept going on about the icky ants.....

Sorry Jenna and Susan!

What come around goes around

I know this phrase can be said for many things but tonight it applies to the toy world. For the past 2 years Miri has become obsessed with My Little Pony (MLP) toys. I can honestly say there isn't much out there on the shelf at Wally World or Target that she doesn't already have. Tonight Ryan and I had the oppertunity to browse through Target by ourselves, so we did a little pre-Christmas toy preview and what was right next to MLP - why Strawberry Shortcake (SS) of course! I played with both MLP and SS as a girl and have fond memories of both. When Cat was about 3-4 I broke out my old MLP for her and all of a sudden they were back on the retail stores toy shelves, we had a few MLP Chrismasses and birthdays for her. When M was ready for MLP they had reduced them into a smaller (read very tiny parts) size, that I hesitated to buy her. Now they still had the larger ones just not in as abondance as before. Of course since Cat doesn't really play with hers or mine anymore M isn't really hurting for MLP's to play with here or at Grammys.

Now back to SS. The SS that is out now has gone through the same shrinking machine that MLP went through. The only difference is at 3.5 years I am way more willing to shell out $$ for Miri to hopefully not loose or eat the accessories. So tonight I bought her her first Strawberry Shortcake doll. She is about the size of an adult finger and still smells like strawberries. M is in love (she is my daughter afterall) and has informed me she now needs ALL of her friends and her strawberry house. Guess this year will be an SS Christmas for Miriam!

I know I have probably mentioned this before but I love love love love love the fact that my little girl is such a girly girl. She loves MLP and SS, and tea parties and being a princess, it is so much fun to play with her and "re-live" parts of my childhood.

She has also started a little obsession with make-up. This week she ate a tube of lip smackers and made herself rather ill from it, I am hopeful that won't happen again. In the mornings when I put on my make-up she is right there putting on hers as well. I find it unbelievably cute, I am pretty sure Ryan finds it a little scary!

I AM NOT A TOY

A funny Miriam Grace story:

We spent yesterday afternoon swimming at my parents house. Miri is turning into quite the little fish. She spent over 2.5 hours in the water or jumping into the water (her new favorite activity). My dad got her to finally go fully under and blow bubbles and she is showing signs of really wanting to swim on her own. Now if we can just get her buoyant and not to sink like a rock we will be golden!

So Dad and I were playing “pass the baby”, he was “throwing her in the water to me” she was a little resistant at first, but soon couldn’t quit laughing and squealing at the fun she was having, Until… Ryan swam up and Dad was going to pass her over to him. Miri screamed at Grampa – “No Grampa - I AM NOT A TOY!” Needless to say we couldn’t stop laughing. That has seriously got to be the funniest thing she has said in quite a long time.

So there you have it folks – Miriam is not a toy. Just in case you were wondering.

Thirty-Nine

Thirty-Nine - That is the number of years my parents have been married. I am truly blessed to have been raised by parents who love each other, I know that growing up in their household has enabled me to grow-up into the kind of person who falls in-love and stays in love and who understands that marriage is work, work with awards far greater than you can ever imagine, but sometimes work nonetheless.

In honor of their 39 years I wanted to have the girls pictures made together and one of each of them and have it framed in a trilogy frame (similar to M's 3rd year portraits). I had also wanted to surprise them with it after the fact, but I quickly realized that I was gonna need help managing the kids (they are not being cooperative lately!) and I also wanted them to have impute in what they were going to get. My dad opted out of going, so my mom and I set out on a very hot day in June to the mall. I figured even though it was 100+ degrees outside at least we could relax in the cooling atmosphere of the mall - WRONG. The a/c was out on that particular end of the mall where the Picture People are located and although it wasn't as blistering as it was outside it was pretty uncomfortable!

I was already beginning to regret my decision when all of the sudden I hear "look mommy its me!" I turn around where M is standing and sure enough there she is 4 huge portraits hanging up in the studio!!! I was in shock - my beautiful baby looked even more adorable. The pictures were some of her 3 year portraits with the special colorization technique done. Now I know they were mainly chosen for the artistic qualities in them but my 3 year old princess was super impressed and had to announce to everyone that came in that that was her on the wall. Unfortunately every time M said this Cat's brown eyes got just a little greener, 9 year olds don't really understand artistic value either! Did I mention we are having issues between the two of them? This did not help matters. It did however help get M to be much more cooperative than usual during the photo-shoot. We luckily got our favorite photographer and every time M started being a pill she would say something about good girls getting their pictures on the wall and bad little girls who don't follow directions get their pictures taken down! Needless to say Miri did great! Cat did great too and the photographer was able to get some really good shots of both of them and individually.





Ryan and I went back later that evening to pick up the pictures and my mom practically cried when she saw the finished product the next day. My Dad was really impressed and immediately hung the trilogy frame up and has plans on hanging the individual pictures up side-by-side as soon as I find him some frames.



I know my parents loved the picture, I just hope they know how much we (the family) love them and what a wonderful influence they have had over my life and others around us.

Before and After

I have another before and after to post. This is Miri's room (as if you couldn't guess!. She is very happy with it and so am I. I know it is a little girly but it fits her perfectly!

File this one under the "Shoot the Proofer" category...

Whoops indeed!

We all know the weather changes quickly here as evidenced with the freakish 8" snow on March 28 that was followed by 75-degree days within 48 hours.

But if Thursday's forecast is accurate, I believe we will be bending the laws of Physics with snow on an 85 degree day.

Now about the 4" of rain we've had all week...

R/S/M

Before and After

Here is the first in what I hope is a long series of "Before and Afters"

This is our "red room" it is separated from the living room by french doors and is in the front of the house. We are using it as a piano/reading room for now. I personal love it - my own little retreat away from everything!

Easter

We hosting our first big family dinner at the new house over Easter. All went well even though we are still without dining room chairs. Do you know how hard it is to match (or blend) chairs to an existing table? Not to mention even finding some that don't already come in a set??? GRRRRRR - That is a vent for another day.

Miri had loads of fun hunting for eggs before we went to church. I was hoping for an outdoor egg hunt but of course the weather did not cooporate. But the important part is she had fun and is really good at egg hunting. The kids hunted eggs after breakfast at church and she tied for first place in the "under 6" age group! She is highly motivated by the fact most eggs come with candy.

Despite not having any kind of nap all weekend M held up pretty good over the day - I am sure the constant sugar high might have had something to do with it. At one point I walked into the room and she was just spinning in circles over and over and over again. It was at that point when I did a sweep through the house and relocated the candy into non reachable territory. Next year I am instituting a no candy rule!!

A Bittersweet Good Bye.........

On March 31 we officially signed papers ending our ownership of the house on 27th Place. While we were very happy not to have to deal with the problems we discovered since moving out of the house we were a little sad to say good bye. We bought the 27th Place house about 6 weeks after we got married and lived there for 9 years. That house holds lots of memories for us, we introduced three of our kitties into our family at that house, our niece Cat lived with us some of the time there, we hosted numerous family dinners and parties and most importantly it is where we brought Miri home from the hospital. We LIVED there, we laughed, we cried, we loved and fought. And while we are looking forward to making many special memories in our new house, there is a need to at least mark such a monumental occasion.

Snow Day!

So after much debating and changing of the forecast we actually got to see some snow on Saturday. Nearly 7 inches worth!!! When Miri and I got up about 8:30 it was still raining no snow in site and truthfully I was not very happy with it. I was really hoping to wake up to a winter wonderland that morning. But like they always say if you don't like the weather here in Oklahoma give it a minute or two and it will change.


This was the scene by about 9:30 Saturday morning....



And this was a couple of hours later....



Late spring snow is generally some of the best snow we get around here not much ice or sleet in it making it perfect for snow balls and building snowmen. After it finally quit thundering (yes thundering!) we made our way out for some winter fun. This was also the first deep fluffy snow Miriam has had the change to experience and even though she was a little sad it didn't make good snow angels she had a blast!

Miriam catching snowflakes on her tongue



Snowball fight time!




Building a snowman. She named him frosty and was very disapointed the next morning when he started to melt.




Fun with Mommy and Daddy in the snow





By the same time Sunday afternoon nearly all of the snow had melted. I guess winter got its last hoorah in now time for spring!!!

Scratch That Last Post

We were doing so so good with the potty - until about an hour ago when M decided to poop the mother of all poops in her panties. This is like one step forward and two steps back - so very very frustrating, I can't even put it into words. And to make matters worse she laughed about it then flat out told Ryan that no she didn't poop in her pants - not once or twice but three different times. So we made her practice pottying, after she "enjoyed" a few minutes to think about it alone (a/k/a timeout) then we took away her newly acquired "my little pony baby nursery" (which was given as a reward for doing so well on the potty). Harsh? Yes very and believe me "mommy guilt" is setting in in full force, but come on she is 3! She needs to be potty trained and frankly I am quite sick of cleaning s&%* off her bottom. She is currently napping - maybe the accident happened because she was tired? I don't know. If it quits thundering we will go play in the snow after her nap. I will give her another pep talk and put her back in panties and hope for no more accidents.

She DID IT!!!!

It seems that FINALLY a certain little girl has made up her mind that it is time to use the potty. It has been a very long and frustrating year with lots of stops and starts along the way - but for the past two weeks Miri has been awesome about staying dry and better yet telling us when she has to go pee pee. However, poop has not been so easy. In fact I was starting to really dread training on the poop end. I figured if it took an off and on year of pee pee training that poop was going to take a while as well. For the past couple of weeks I have been waiting each day for her poop to then let her wear panties - but every now and then she would have the rare twice a day poop and I would be stuck cutting panties off of her in an attempt not to spread poop down her legs or onto what ever surface she was being changed on. I am sure you can imagine the frustration and grossness of all of this. So tonight we were getting some groceries at Wal-Mart and Miri starts crying about her tummy hurting. She hasn't pooped in two days so I told her that maybe going potty will make it feel better. We rush to the potty (I practically mowed down a little old man in my haste) as soon as I got her seated she started trying to poop and she did it - not once but twice then pee peed. I think the whole front of the store heard me cheering - I was really proud of her. It was like something clicked in her head that it was the time to be potty trained. This was how she started walking too - one day (at around 19 months) she just got up and crossed the room and never looked back. I think I have a perfectionist on my hands.

After her big poop we let her pick out a new toy. She had already picked out one for pee pee so she ended up with two new My Little Pony Babies tonight. I ended up buying two new packages of panties for her and NO PULL-UPS!! I am hoping we will have a pull-up free weekend and if she continues on this poop trend maybe just maybe we will be done with diapers!!!!!! Whooo Hooo!!!! I am very excited at that prospect!

Miriamism

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile - I will post a longer update soon - PROMISE.

But first I wanted to share a Miriamism with you all. Today while eating a snack Miri looks up on the hutch in the kitchen and notices the wine rack (for the first time):

"Mommy whats that pop up there?"
"That's not pop, it is wine for Mommy and Daddy, it is grown up drinks."
"oh so you will be cranky?"

At that moment I really wanted to say - "No so we won't be cranky" but I was laughing so hard I didn't. I instead tried to explain it was like really sour grape juice and it was called wine....

Gotta love the mind of a 3 year old!

Home......

We are finally starting to settle into our house and I am loving it, actually I think we are all loving it. To say that we have been going non stop since the first of the year is an understatement. We finally closed on the 12th and moved on the 19th. Miri was able to celebrate her 3rd birthday at her new house. She is so funny about this place. Every day when I pick her up after work she asks if we are going to our "new house" I reply: "yes, we are going home" she then proceeds to fuss about only wanting to go to her new house - guess it hasn't sunk in that the new house IS home.

We did a pretty low key birthday celebration for Miriam this year, Saturday we hung out at home, gave Miri her gift - a very cool new pink/purple tricycle. It was rather cold and windy on Saturday but we still played outside and M got to ride her bike. I am loving this trike - it has a long handle in the back so I can push/steer her while she is learning to peddle on her own. We also built our first fire in the fire place and spent a very relaxing Saturday night at home (the first in a *very* long time!)

On Sunday we had a very small party for Miri at our favorite pizza place.








It is so nice to just stop and breathe - have nothing really going on and just hang out. We are not fully unpacked and we still have some stuff at the other house but it feels so good to finally be here and some what settled in.


Today Miri and I took advantage of the warm weather and explored our new neighborhood a bit during a walk. Miri sang the whole time about going on a walk - she is very creative. I am really loving this part of her personality. Not loving the defiance so much that seems to be part of age 3! We also played out in the yard. M dug holes into "her" flower bed. This evening while dinner was cooking Ryan and I sat out on the porch and watch M play in the front flower bed and bird bath - she loves to get all messy. It is so peaceful and quiet - a huge change from mid-town, but we are quickly getting use to it!