4th Birthday Bash!

Miriam's 4th Birthday party was soooo much fun!! The day started with a phone call from Sleeping Beauty wishing Miriam a happy birthday and telling her she couldn't wait to come to her party! After that Miri asked every few minuets when her friends and Sleeping Beauty would get to her party.

When Sleeping Beauty arrived Miri had a small melt down because the dress she got this morning as a present was blue not pink like Sleeping Beauty. But there is nothing like a "real life" princess to calm down a few tears and get the party started. We had, counting Miri, seven little princesses running through the house, getting their faces painted and prancing around in royal fashion in their princess dresses! I think the girls all had a blast, I know Miri did. Thank you so much Audrey S., Lucy, Claire, Edee, Edith, Audrey C and Catherine for helping make Miriam's birthday special.

I also want to send special thank yous out to my Mom, Sandy and to Marcia - Thank you both for helping out today!!!

(A lesson on curtsying from Sleeping Beauty)


(Princesses eating cake)


(The Birthday Girl with her favorite Princess)

Blink

(Miri on her way home from the hospital)

Tonight I tucked a very sleepy 3 year old into bed. Tomorrow morning when we wake up I will no longer have a 3 year old but a 4 year old. WOW! I am trying not to sound to cliche or sappy - wait who am I kidding this is MY blog and I will be as sappy and clichey as I want!!!

When Miri was first born everyone kept saying "enjoy it, it goes by so fast". As I new mom I heard the words, smiled and nodded, but I don't think I really "got it". Tonight I can say "I get it", at least as much as a mom of only 4 years can. See, I have this theory that as the kiddo gets older the years go by quicker.

After Miri's bedtime stories tonight, we brought out her baby book, looked at the pictures of her in my tummy, the pictures from the day she was born and all throughout her first year. We talk about her name and what it means (much hoped for child) and how much Mommy and Daddy loved her and how happy we are that she is our little girl. We talked about all the things she learned to do that first year, and how much she grew. I couldn't help but wonder when did she go from our baby to our little girl. From the helpless little being who depended on us for everything to the little kid in the car tonight who entertained us with stories of how to make "lava hot bubble hair" (apparently you have to get melty hot lava and pour it on your hair to get bubble hair!!!)


(Miri a couple of weeks shy of her 4th birthday)


I know I have said this before, but Miri is our miracle baby and I feel so lucky to have such a wonderful, smart and healthy sweet baby. I know that five years ago I couldn't/wouldn't allow myself to dream about these moments. Struggling through our infertility problems, it was so easy to loose yourself in despair and jealousy.I could never let my heart believe that this would be possible in an attempt to protect myself from anymore heartaches. But now I let my heart sing with joy at the blessing in my life and relish in my role of Mommy. And yes, I sometimes do feel like I blink and life is speeding along with us, but what a wonderful ride it all is!

(Miri singing her birthday song)

ACTUALLY

In the past few weeks I have noticed a considerable usage of the word 'actually' from Miri. Today I think I heard the word about 100 times in an hour ~ so I guess it is safe to say this might actually be a new favorite word.

"Actually Mommy I wanted this one..."
"Actually this is how it goes....."
"I think this is my new dress, actually this one is...."

You get the point. Actually, the point is I want to bang my head on a brick wall......

Right now we are on birthday countdown (I swear this is bigger than Christmas, actually it IS bigger than Christmas....)

Every morning for the past few days I hear: "is it my birthday yet". She is very excited about her party! I am very happy that I still haven't told her Sleeping Beauty (her most favorite princess ever b/c she wears pink) will be at her party, I can not imagine the excitement/pestering that would ensue if she knew! Actually, I can!

As excited as I am about her upcoming birthday I am in just a bit of denial that my baby is turning 4! Where has the time gone, it literally still feels like we just brought her home from the hospital. Now I will be the first to admit that I don't miss waking up every few hours for feedings and I don't miss changing dirty diapers or having tons of baby toys everywhere, I am a little sad that she isn't a "baby" anymore. She is becoming more and more independent each day, and I love the little girl she is becoming, actually!

It is ALMOST here!

Not sure what our household is more excited about at the moment: Miri's 4th birthday or our upcoming cruise!! I guess the real question is how much fun can you squeeze into a 10 day period??

We have been running around like crazy people the past week, and I am already foreseeing next week to be even more busy!! I am sure I will question my sanity in hosting a birthday party at our house just days before leaving on the cruise.

But today we celebrated all the love in our lives, starting with a brunch of heart shaped pancakes!! This afternoon M and I made cutout cookies and decorated them (she was in charge of the sprinkles!) We also worked on decorations for her birthday party next weekend. While I do agree that Valentines Day is pretty much a "hallmark" holiday - it is still fun to have a day of hearts and love. I have the two most special valentines a girl could ever need - a wonderful hubby who will always be my first valentine and our sweet little girl who has made the past four valentines day more and more special then the one before.

Old Man Winter strikes again!

So much for the short taste of spring we received over the last two weeks...

Last Thursday, the weather geeks over at the National Weather Service started talking about a "major winter blast" for the second time in about a month. It used to be when they started saying that, it was a matter of time before the storm arrived... and acted like a yapping little puppy. Annoying but nothing to be upset over.

However, the geeks are getting better at their predictions. In December of 2007, they started going nuts about five days before a significant winter storm. They were right - to the tune of 1/2" to 3/4" of ice. The Christmas Eve Blizzard in 2009 was just that and more. They called that one a week before it hit. The freak "thundersnow" last March was also predicted in advance. The geeks really are getting better.

So when they started saying another storm was coming last week, I paid more attention than I ever have.

Now, I admit, I am a closet weather geek. I would have gone to meteorology school (if it weren't for 4 semesters of Calculus after the one I barely scraped by in...), but I do pay attention when the storms come, and I listen to the geeks' briefings whenever a storm is approaching. This one seemed to freak them out a bit. Then again this one was an odd one...

- It was going over northern Mexico (where they could not accurately monitor it.)
- The timing of it was going to be interesting as a cold front was rolling down from Canada.

So, as the week progressed the predictions changed quickly and drastically. One day it was supposed to dump 10"-15" in a broad swath from OKC to Tulsa and on towards Missouri. later teh same day, it moved north so my friends and co-workers from Bartlesville would have been digging out. But the big change came on Wednesday. I noticed a forecast map that showed significant ICE accumulations over NE Oklahoma. Within an hour, everyone was freaking out. The governor declared a "State of Emergency." All of the news stations were running stories about crazy grocery stores and places that had gadgets like hand-crank charge radios. I think a blizzard and a disastrous ice storm in the last 26 months had helped everyone understand this was the real deal.

So, we did what every Okie does when snow is forecast. Head to the store. But we did our shopping (fortunately) before the word about the storm had spread too far. We got all of our stuff done so we didn't have to get out into the mess.

The ice started in earnest Thursday afternoon while I was at work. The bosses turned us loose about 4:15 and that was very nice since I was able to go home my normal way without facing a ton of traffic. I got home and put down some icemelt on the driveway and sidewalk - and listen to the joyous sounds of transformers exploding in the distance. The worst of the ice came shortly after that and glazed the trees, powerlines and anything that wasn't on the ground.

This morning, I woke up and started to get ready for work. When I looked out side, several cars had made it down the street without much issue, so I kept on dressing for Friday at work. That's when Sarah heard on the news that roads were getting more slick west of town as the temperature was dropping. Bridges were glazed over. When you have several to pass over to get to the office, you don't want to take that chance. (Fortunately I brought some work home for the weekend - I can stay billable even tough I'm at home!)

The precipitation turned into snow about 11:00 AM and as I type this it hasn't stopped. We took some pics to document the event.

So the moral of this story? Even when freaked out, listen to the weather geeks at the National Weather Service.

Stay safe...

R

The Problem Solver

Yesterday afternoon I was chauffeuring Cat to her choir practice, with Miri in tow. Cat was discussing the upcoming cruise and taking advantage of the fact we were "trapped" in a car together to put in her requests for souvenirs. First and foremost she wants BIG Mickey Mouse Gloves and a toy. She and I were having a discussion about what exactly constitutes a toy in her book, I was of the opinion that Mickey Mouse Gloves were a toy. I am apparently wrong. While Cat and I were banttering back and forth Miri all of a sudden says:

"Everyone stop talking" (At that point I glanced in my rear view mirror and could see her waving her arms in a cease and desists fashion.)

"Cat, I have a solution to your problem" (yes those were her exact words! I could barely contain my laughter)

"Just make Aunt Sarah buy you a coach set like mine" (she is referring to a weebble wobble toy she has)

O.M.G.~!!!!!!!! Did my THREE YEAR OLD just say that! Yes she did!!! Cat and I of course started cracking up!!

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!