Preschooler No More

Like everyone else on this side of the world, last week was super hectic as we wrapped up school for the year. Who would have thought that preschoolers would have such busy ends of the year? But they do. Especially when you have one graduating pre-K.

Do I really have a child old enough for kindergarten?

Yes, yes I do.

His graduation fell on my husband's birthday, which is part of the reason we celebrated it through the weekend. For us, "graduating" preschool seemed like a bigger milestone than finishing kindergarten will be, but who knows, we may do it all over again next year! I bought a cookie cake with "Kindergarten, Here He Comes!" on it, and we went out for supper at Joe T's with grandparents.

It seems only months since I made the decision to stay home with this guy, and now he's leaving me for big kid school. I'm excited for all of us, but especially for him. We've already seen how it has enlarged our community, and it's not even the first day yet! He is a learner, and he's going to love school.

If you're going to be a new kindergarten mom like me, I ran across this post from Dallas Moms Blog. I love how she mentions making new friends for all. I think school has a way of carving a tight knit community out of a big city.

Kindergarten, here we come!

Third Birthday Party at Chick-fil-a

I wanted Jack to feel like he got a big kid birthday party compared to Annabelle's at home. I thought long and hard and realized that it's considered a treat at our house if we dine in and play on the play place at Chick-fil-a. We normally hit the drive-thru on our way home from somewhere else. So, to party and play inside Chick-fil-a was a big winner.


This boy is growing up so fast. We're so proud of him and of how much he's growing and learning. He was a wonderful two-year-old. Even with all the changes we had at home this past year, he took it all in stride. I can't wait to see what his third year holds. I love him so much!


More people showed up than I expected, but it was easy enough to add a few more kid's meals. They all had a great time playing in the play place, which is perfectly geared for kids his age. One exit and easy to watch them all while parents visited with one another. He had a blast!



His invitations were done by 3 Little Monkeys Studio on Etsy and printed by MPix. She also did the favor tags, which I printed at Office Depot on 100 lb card stock. I thought CFA lended itself well to a western theme because of the Cow and chicken. Our favors were cowboy hats.

I want to say a lot about throwing a party a Chick-fil-a here, because I didn't find much online when I googled it.

Our local store has party packages, customized to the number of party guests and the number of nuggets you want in the kid's meals. The package even includes nugget trays, fruit trays, and tea for the parents attending. SOLD. The Cow made an appearance for an extra $10. Can't beat that!

They invited me to drop off any party decorations the night before, and their wonderful Marketing Coordinator had my banner up and tablecloths out before we arrived. All we had to do the morning of the party was show up with balloons. She even unloaded those from my car and placed them on the tables! She also kept the pace of the party going, getting drinks for each child, letting me know when the Cow was coming, time to open gifts, and eat. It was so nice to have someone else watching the clock.

By the time it was over, she already had leftover cake, nuggets, and fruit boxed up, my cake knife and server washed, and the trash was cleared away. It was all done while I was thanking people for coming and passing out favors. In short, it was awesome.


If you've ever dealt with Chick-fil-a, you know that everything is "their pleasure." They are absolutely fabulous at Customer Service, and this was no different. Our experience was so good that I sent a hand-written thank you to our local Store's Owner, complimenting his staff on a fine job.

Note: I was not compensated to say these wonderful things about Chick-fil-a. I just really appreciated their service.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Jack!

To the boy who made me a mother, who brightens my days, and gives me a million reasons to smile and laugh. You are loved far more than you can possibly imagine, and I hope your second birthday is one of the happiest days of your sweet life so far. The day you were born was definitely one of mine.

You are a cherished blessing, my precious little man!

Love,
Mommy

At 2, Jack is singing his ABCs, counting to twenty, loves "The Wheels on the Bus" and in particular requests the babies, wipers, and mommies verses. He loves church, bubbles, and Chick Fil a and the occasional tater tot from Sonic. He's getting a tricycle from us to celebrate today!

Cannot Handle the Adorableness

Western Day at school.
We're celebrating the Fort Worth Stock Show around these parts, although I am far too pregnant to be out wandering around the exhibits.

{Although a funnel cake sounds mighty nice right now.}

That little farmer hugged my neck and told me he loved me for the first time without being prompted tonight. And that is one reminder to me that I can/will make it through another week of being great with child, because there are many more sweet moments like that to come from little sister and him.

Growing Up, Lately

Pajama Day!
I have to confess that I went to the store and bought him four new pairs of pajamas because I couldn't decide which ones I liked best for pajama day. (Both school days were pajama days last week, so we needed two pairs.) If that doesn't say first time mom, then I don't know what. Or maybe that's just my type-a showing. Anyhow, we're good on pajamas for a while.

This evening I asked Jack to pick up his blocks, and he immediately looked up at Mr. G and said, "Hep me, Daddy!" It was one of those moments when I really considered that he is growing up before my very eyes. He's singing his ABC's, counting up a storm, and my favorite is still when he asks for something and says, "Peeeeeez, Mama!" It melts my heart.

These are sweet days. I love this boy.

The Day My Heart Went to "School"

So 2013 is a year of big change at our house, obviously, with our family growing in headcount. It's also a year of big change because our childcare situation has changed too. We've been very, very blessed that God sent Jack a wonderful caregiver that we loved and trusted for the past almost 2 years, but she has some fun and exciting changes in her life as well this year, so Jack needed a new place to be. Change all over the place.

Looking like such a big kid. {Sigh.}
In his faithfulness, the Lord delivered a new situation that is perfect, such that part of the time our sweet boy can attend MDO/pre-school/whateveryoucallit Tuesday and Thursday. It's an environment we're comfortable with and run by people we know and trust.

First day of school pic.
Napmat and lunchbox by the fabulous SheSheMade.
Because he had been sick the first part of last week, Thursday was his first day. We put on his backpack (jackpack), packed his little lunch, and grabbed his nap mat. It was wear grey day, so he wore grey stripes. He really had no idea what was going on, even though we have talked and talked about it.

When I dropped him off, he didn't even look back and went straight to play. I have eyes on the ground there, so I got a few pics sent my way throughout the day of what he was up to. My biggest concern was that he wouldn't stay on his nap during naptime, but in true firstborn fashion, he followed instructions, stayed on his mat, and even took a good nap.

When I got home, he was all smiles all evening, which tells me he had a good day. Our sweet boy is growing up!

Christmas Day

Before I get started on Christmas Day, I have this one other pic from the 24th after we opened presents. We got Jack a 100 piece set of blocks which I think are his favorite gift of the year. This really captures how he feels about them. Almost every day since then, his first word of the morning (after mama) has been "bocks!" Who knew?

Certainly not the genius who ordered her child one hundred blocks for Christmas, which do not stay corralled in the same area.

He loves them. (I have to repeat this to myself.)


As I mentioned in my Christmas Eve post, we spent the night in our own beds before rising to see that Santa had visited us.

Santa must've read my mind because we were both all over the Melissa & Doug toys this year. He brought an M&D train set that Jack has had a ton of fun with, among other things.



We drove to Corsicana as soon as we were dressed for turkey and dressing at my Grannie and Pop's. In fact, both my grandmothers were there, as my Memaw spent Christmas with us too. Jack really cleaned up - everyone was so generous!
My mother couldn't resist these Carhartt overalls for him. Such a little man.
I think that is the only picture I took the rest of the day. Sad! While we were down there, it snowed in Fort Worth such that when we got home Wednesday evening, there was still quite a bit in our backyard. So we actually had a white Christmas!

Storytime and Pictures with Santa Claus

I am the mother who waited until the week before Christmas to take her child for a picture with Santa.

We simply didn't have a weekend where we had time to go see him before then. I would feel bad, except it really worked in our favor. We had plenty of time to talk about him, look at his picture, talk about what we would say to him, that he says, "Ho ho ho," and convince Jack that it was nothing to be scared of.

I had quite a few vacation days left since I worked all of Thanksgiving week, so I took the Tuesday off before Christmas for a family event and to see jolly old St. Nick!

On our way to see Santa!
(But mostly excited that mom jailbroke him from the stroller.)
Northpark in Dallas probably has the best looking Santa in DFW. They have a not so complicated number system where they hand out numbers for the line starting at 9 AM. Santa doesn't start posing for pics until 11 AM, but the line forms to get numbers at 8:30 AM. You heard me: 8:30 for an 11 AM start time. We got there at 9:15 and got number 79 in line.

Before pictures, Santa has storytime at 10:30. He had his dog do tricks and told some cute little stories about Christmas around the world. We made it through storytime with the help of some popcorn and a stop by Starbucks for an apple juice.

Santa and his puppy
As crazy as this sounds, we had somewhere to be and couldn't wait to be #79 in line, so we loaded up and headed out. We went back on Thursday night with Daddy (same clothes, just washed and starched) for supper and the money shot. There were a million people there, but we packed our patience and just enjoyed the holiday hustle and bustle.

Jack didn't cry, and said, "Hi Santa!" just like we practiced. When the flash started going off, he was like, "what the heck?!?" So that is the face in the pic.

Our 2012 picture with Santa Claus

Dinner at Bethlehem

I'm catching up on some of our holiday happenings while I have time to sit and relax on Christmas vacation!

One of the largest blessings God has given our family here in Fort Worth is the community of believers we have found through our local church. People often ask why I commute from Fort Worth to Dallas for work each day, and I share openly that our church is one of the main reasons. Within the past several years, the church has made one of its highest priorities to reach young families for the Lord, and God is blessing that ministry.

One area of focus is preschoolers, which of course is right in our wheelhouse these days. Our Jack is still very young, so there are many activities that are a little too old for us (I can't wait for him to start Mission Friends where they learn about missionaries all over the world), but our first big organized event to attend was the first Sunday evening in December--Dinner at Bethlehem.

Our fabulous preschooler minister and her wonderful staff organized an evening in Bethlehem, culminating with a dinner theater that absolutely captivated my little Jack. Before dinner there was a nativity with animals for petting (complete with some of our HS students walking around as angels, Mary, and Joseph.)


After we saw the animals, we went back inside where all the kiddos could get headdresses like what the shepherds would've worn and a manger for us to get our picture taken as a family. And Jack wanted exactly nothing to do with that, so we moved right along!

From there, we went in for the dinner theater. The show was performed by teenagers in a fine arts program the church has for homeschool kids, and it was so spot on to share the message of the birth of the Savior to young children. We could not believe how well Jack paid attention! At one point one of the characters said, "Do you want to hear more songs?" And Jack shouted, "yes!" Cracks me up.

During supper.
What a wonderful way to teach our preschoolers about Jesus!

Celebrating Milestones

Last night I cooked one of Mr. G's favorite meals (nothing gourmet--just chicken spaghetti) and served it in my special casserole dish. It's a red heart-shaped Le Creuset dish that was given to us as a wedding gift lo, these seven years ago.

The reason for the celebration is that today we will hopefully find out whether Jack will have a brother or sister. My prayer is for a healthy baby. I understand now more than I ever could two years ago that--boy or girl--this child will bring immeasurable joy into our lives. I can't wait for a peek at that sweet face.

Recovering from Vacation

Pardon me while I recover from the baby's fabulous first vacation.

Under the Weather

I'm guest posting today over at Happiness Is on air travel with babies. Click on over and leave me some love and good advice!

My sweet Easter boy.
The radio silence has absolutely been the result of a terrible virus that attacked my little man. His wonderful caregiver called me Wednesday morning to ask if he had gotten into some ants, by chance, because she was noticing some spots on him. Well, of course I had my bag on my arm and was out the office door before we could complete our phone call.

I called the pedi's office from the road and asked for a nurse to call me back, just to ask her one million questions about what might be going around, what I should look for, should I bring him in, should I drive straight the ER, oh my gosh, should I panic? (etc etc). The pediatric nurses at our office are always so gracious on the phone--God bless them. The calls they must receive every day! She had me take pics and e-mail them for the doctor to look at. (We love our pedi for reasons like this and many others.) Benadryl and tylenol (yep, fever too) were the prescribed treatment and to bring him in if it did not improve.

By the next morning, he was not better at all, and actually, terribly worse, so I took him in to see the doctor. It was confirmed to be viral, and it would have to run its course. And the words, "It will get worse before it improves" were said. I was so very sad for my boy.

His fever finally broke sometime Friday morning. He was such a trooper through the whole ordeal, and he and I spent hours just wrapped up on the couch trying to make him comfortable. I'm happy to say that he is back to his happy self today, but with his rash still healing.

I think my mommy heart is still bruised today too.

Baby's First Easter Egg Hunt

Clockwise from top left:
A sweet buddy helps Jack out by gathering a few eggs, with Granddaddy,
Mom & Dad guiding the Easter egg hunter, throwing eggs from the basket
to the ground (bonus points for those that broke open).
Of course, in usual form, I didn't stop to get a good picture of my little family together at the Easter egg hunt. I always forget to take a picture of the three of us. (See: baby's first birthday.)

{I'm not irritated at all. Can you tell?!?}

Our church's Easter egg hunt was at a park near our house, and some of our neighborhood buddies joined us. I got cute pictures of some little boys that will likely grow up together. I think I've mentioned it before, but within a 2 house radius of ours, there are 3 other little boys Jack's age. Fun, right?

My parents came in Friday night and treated us to supper and went with us to the hunt. About the time we pulled into the parking lot, I realized I forgot Jack's Easter basket. Awesome. But I did have towels to wipe the wet grass off of our feet because I had noticed how dewy the ground was. How did I forget the basket?!? Thankfully, we were 5 minutes from the house and only 1 minute late for the hunt. (And in the toddler section the eggs weren't snatched up all that quickly.)

In other weekend news, the baby began demonstrating his use of the word "no."

Night-night time!
No.

Come to mama!
No. (as he crawls to mama)

Want a cookie?
No. (as he opens his mouth for a bite.)

Now I know that when he gets really defiant and yells no at us, it won't be all that funny. But for now, we have to turn away to keep from laughing. That boy is something else.

My heart, on display in a high chair.

What to Expect When You're Expecting doesn't prepare you for that moment you realize
your heart is sitting in a high chair eating sweet potato fries and chicken nuggets.

What a blessing to be his mother.

Our Little Man's Little Man Birthday Party

This weekend has been a blur and a dream. Or a dream of a blur. Not sure which. My boy has been so fun all weekend long. I don't know if it's the sugar or what, but even in Sunday school yesterday, his teachers mentioned that he was all smiles and talking up a storm. I'm sure he was recapping his party. Right? He's been extra loving and full of grins--just what this mama needed to soothe her "where did my tiny baby go?" heart.

Our family and friends came from far and wide! I was surprised by the turnout, but so thankful that everyone was willing to come and celebrate with us. It doesn't seem adequate to say that we are truly blessed, but that's it--God has blessed us so much.
Of course I wanted to display photos of our sweet guy throughout the year. The old ties I used were mostly from my Pop--my grandfather--which I loved. He cleaned his older ones out for me. I remember him wearing the brown one I tied on the glass vase holding the cookies back in the 80s. I also picked up a few more at Goodwill for $1 a piece. My Pop was there, and I think he liked how it turned out.

The photos hanging on the mirror in my entry hall are all from my Instagram feed. I found a great vendor called Prinstagram that exports your photos to posters and books. So easy to use and shipped to me in a week. I'm going to dry mount this on foam board and take it to the office. I love all the color and the random snaps from our everyday life from this past year.
The cakes were from Bluebonnet Bakery, a wonderful, delicious old bakery here in Fort Worth. As you can tell below, Jack tore it up. That label "A gentleman never forgets the ladies," is on the fruit tray. (My bokeh got a little out of control.) We also had "little man-wiches" and "manly mac 'n cheese." And of course, chips and salsa. There's a reason it's the official snack of the state of Texas.

I know you've been on pins and needles waiting to see what would adorn the table since I gave up on the polka dots. Thankfully, fabric.com shipped out super quick (without paying extra!) and got some navy and white striped fabric to me by Thursday so I could whip up a table runner that I loved. (I will be the first to tell you that no one probably noticed it but me, but it made me happy.)
And the star of my little show here. We love him more every day. He is more fun every day! Those early newborn days of waking up in the night are just a dream now--a far off memory. His independence grows with each passing day. Soon he'll be walking, and I'll be running to keep up with him. So with a bit of nostalgia for the past, I'm looking forward to the days to come. It's just so wonderful!

I hope you don't mind.

I hope you don't mind
that I put down in words,
how wonderful life is now you're in the world.

{Thank you, Sir Elton. My sentiments exactly.}

Happy First Birthday, my darling son. I love you so dearly.

First Birthday Sneak Peek

I think most people giving it any serious thought would agree that a child's first birthday party is really for his parents. Moreover, it's primarily for his mother. In this Pinterest-crazed society, man, is there a ton of pressure put on yourself to craft a beautiful, creative, semi-homemade, age-appropriate themed party at the end of which your young tot will have absolutely no recollection, even when you show him his masterful and detailed baby book at the age of 20. I would love to tell you that I am better than conforming to society's norms on this and am settling for a simple cake and ice cream party.

But that would be a lie. I love a party, but I especially love a themed party!

Here's a sneak peak of the invitation for Jack's first birthday party. It was designed by Empress Stationery, and those girls were a dream to work with. I've been following their blog for a long time now and was so excited to finally contact them with a project. I'm trying to invent another reason to use them again soon because they do such exquisite work.


But all that being said, I don't have a lot of time to plan all those amazing details that everyone likes to pin. I'm okay with that. On top of my job, I have 2 other events that I'm planning, and somehow everything falls in the same week. I've pulled a couple of ideas for Jack's party, had some of my own, and we'll just see if I get it all taken care of.

For this year, we've invited mostly just family, and so far, almost everyone has RSVP'd yes! It's going to be a full house, therefore, I'm hoping for good weather for us to spill into the backyard. Who knows though? Yesterday the high was 73 degrees, but the Sunday before, we had snow. Texas living. I love it. (No really, I do!)

Resemblance.

As we inch closer to Jack's first birthday, I can't help but look through all the many snaps I have of him. Some days he is a carbon copy of me and others, he's a spitting image of his dad.

It's incredible to me how much he is of both of us. I love it.

Under the Weather & A New Skinny Recipe

After being up several stretches in the night with the tiny man coughing last night, I decided to stay home and carry him to the doctor's office today. I'll be glad when he's old enough for over the counter cough medicines so we can actually do something for him on nights like that one. Over Christmas he had croup (which was the most awful sounding illness ever), and today it's the runny nose and congestion. It's so sad to see him feeling bad.

Our pediatrician is just wonderful. She's a mom of not one, but TWO sets of twins. (!!!) So, even besides the MD thing she has going on, she knows what she's about. She is especially patient when I ask new mom questions. Half the time we go in there, she's probably treating me, honestly. Today was no different. She got us all fixed up with something that has provided relief before, and we were back out the door to home.

Normally I would just work from home on a day like today, but Jack is also teething which requires a lot more TLC than usual. I knew I wouldn't be able to keep up with work and tend to him, so it was for the best that he got all of my attention. After we got back from the doc, I put him down for a nap that lasted 3 hours. Poor little fella!

While he was sleeping, I used the opportunity to try out a new skinny recipe. This one is for a very delicious banana bread from Eat Yourself Skinny. I think you'll love it!

Grandma's Banana Bread (from Eat Yourself Skinny) 12 servings at 3 Points+ (using Splenda)
1/2 cup (1 stick) light butter, softened
1/2 cup Splenda sugar blend (or 1 cup sugar)
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup light sour cream
1 cup mashed bananas (about 2 bananas)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a stand mixer, or hand held, mix together softened butter and sugar until well combined. Then add in eggs and mix well. Next add in vanilla, sour cream and mashed bananas then, while the mixer is on, slowly add the flour, baking soda and salt and mix slowly until completely combined, scraping the sides and the bottom.

Meanwhile, grease your pan(s) and lightly flour so that your bread won't stick. If using one 9x5 loaf pan, bake bread for about one hour. If using two smaller loaf pans, bake bread for about 45 minutes.

I used 1 cup of sugar. Running it through WW recipe builder, it calculated out to 4 points with 20 servings which is a really skinny piece of banana bread. Next time I'll try it with Splenda to cut down the points like Eat Yourself Skinny recommends and have a bigger slice. Have you ever baked with that before? Can you tell a huge difference?

Mr. G would like you to know that he approves this banana bread. Good for the whole family!

Baby Boy's First Christmas

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This year brings a new experience - buying gifts for our little man's first Christmas! Above are a few of our potentials. One of my favorites is the tug boat. I found it in a toy store in Santa Fe a few weeks ago, and it caught my attention due to its great texture. It will definitely be under the tree. It's made of recycled plastic, and he'll have a blast with it in the tub. I think Santa may be bringing a Pottery Barn Kids Anywhere Chair (not included up there)--that is, if the elves at PBK get busy between now and December 19th. Backordered!

Mommies, what has been your tiny tot's favorite gift in years of yore?