3/9/2010 Last family lunch before full days of school!

With Julia going into full days of school (8am-3:30pm) the week after Spring Break we won't have the chance for family lunch and visits to Daddy's office very often (which she loves), so we planned for today and had lunch at Mimi's Cafe. Jackie Haisley has been telling us they have the best grilled cheese and I think their French Quarter Burger is the best I've ever had! So Mimi's it was - here's a few pics from lunch and the most recent family drawing by our own Julia! Can you tell which picture was taken by Julia as the photographer???

FYI from Julia on the colors of the family drawing - "Mommy is pink because she is a lady, Daddy's favorite color is red, but there was no red marker, so Daddy is blue because he is a man, while Stella and I are yellow because yellow is my favorite color." Spoken by the artist herself!

3/7/2010 Big Girl Toothpaste!

We had a nice family Sunday...starting with you waking Daddy up at 7am...so we had oatmeal and I did laundry while Mommy and Stella slept in. Then we all went to brunch at El Caballo - it was just okay, but we had fun and you enjoyed making your "special sandwich" of tortilla chip, Spanish rice and scrambled egg!

After brunch we went to Target, but both you and Stella were asleep, so Mommy went in to the store and one of the things she got was your "big girl" toothpaste.

Mommy had a bad headache and was exhausted, so she took a nap while you "helped" me pack for our trip to Chicago - selected your books to bring, your teddy bear, tissue, our vitamins and a few other things. During dinner we played a new guessing game - we took turns describing something and the other person had to guess what it is. I told you "It's big, inside is red and sometimes it has seeds and sometimes it doesn't" and you guessed correctly - WATERMELON. Then here was one of yours - "It's kind of circles, small and some are green and some are yellow" I guessed lemon and limes - WRONG, it's PEAS and CORN! It was fun and when Mommy woke up from her nap, she joined in on our game too!

You used your new "big girl" toothpaste tonight and was so happy and proud - you came running to the kitchen to tell me "Daddy, I used big girl toothpaste - I didn't swallow it, it wasn't spicy, smell my breath!" You are too cute and smart!

3/6/2010 1st time you woke up from a nap to pee and play date with Pelle!

It was a great Saturday! You went to Weight Watchers with Daddy, followed by a trip to the grocery store and library and after lunch Stella rolled over by herself for the first time. We took a nap around 3pm and you woke up on your own because you had to go pee! Daddy was very glad...since you were sleeping on me as your personal mattress and didn't pee on me and the bed!

We met your friend Pelle and his mom Pats at the park on 41st and Riverside. It was really cool with modern/European type playground equipment - not the traditional stuff we are use to. You two had fun, Stella enjoyed being outside and facing out from the Bjorn and Mommy and Pats got to chat a bit. As it was breezy out we were only at the park for about 45 minutes and then continued the playdate at our house with yummy pizza from Brothers Pizza and triple chocolate cookies from Immaculate Baking Co. Surprisingly you and Pelle finished the whole small cheese pizza and the entire plate of small cookies Daddy baked. Wow, all 3 parents were very surprised, but happy to see the good appetites!

3/4/2010 Hopscotch and Dessert or Desert

It's warming up in Tulsa!!! Nice sunny afternoon in the upper 50's/low 60's so Julia got to play with chalk in the front of the house and after seeing so many video clips on hopscotch on Nick Jr. Mommy drew a hopscotch pad for Julia to play on! Julia also got to ride on her princess scooter too...but Mommy being the nervous person she is had to sit in the middle of our driveway to make sure she could see Julia at all times and make sure she didn't get too close to the street.

I picked up a special treat for all of us at Reasor's - peanut butter cup cookie for Meme and me and a green sprinkle clover leaf cookie for Julia. It was a special treat surprise for after dinner...so Julia ate her rice and beef stew that mommy made and as we were talking about the surprise special dessert, Julia started to pant and say it's so hot! Meme and I laughed - it's so cool to see her make the connections between DESSERT and DESERT! We all enjoyed our treats!

Tonight Julia wanted Mommy to hold her hand to sleep...but we couldn't find Julia's Hello Kitty doll. As I was holding Stella around the house and putting things away I found the play food piece from yesterday and the Hello Kitty doll...I went to the bedroom to let Meme and Julia know and was thanked and told "Daddy, you are the best finder!"

3/3/2010 - Tears and Big Time Crying

The day was fine, but ended with a big cry before bed...why...because Julia didn't listen to Daddy when he told her to put her toys away, find the missing piece to her toy food set she was playing with and stop running around the house. It's already hectic enough with two pretty good girls, but one of Daddy's pet peeves is missing a piece of a set of something and not taking care of your stuff (toys) by keeping it in its place and putting things away when we are done using/playing with it. So when I was at my wits end and told Julia she was being yiae yiae (bad/naughty in Cantonese) that cracked her and the tears started rolling as she knows I say yiae-yiae kids get nothing. So Mommy and Daddy had to calm her down and then she wanted Mommy to put her to bed and then after I told her I loved her and will always love her, but she needs to listen to what I say and take care of her toys she wanted me to put her to bed...after she finally drifted off around 8:40pm I had to help Meme with gerd girl...This is all real life parenting! The good and bad, thankfully much much more good than bad ;o)

3/2/2010 Deep Sleep and The Nest

Well, little miss Julia was TIRED last night and insisted on sleeping in mommy and daddy's big bed...so here she is in deep sleep just after midnight...slept through (from about 8pm) the night until I had to wake her up around 7:15am.

Then as we were going to the CRV in the garage, we heard the bird chirping and captured this photo this morning...however, it looks like a dove pigeon to me and I swear we saw a robin in the nest this weekend...oh no, I hope we don't have a squatters and won't have to deal with bird nest wars at our front entry way! Time will tell...Julia is just happy to see "our" bird and Meme wants to get a bird feeder now...which we can use our house warming Lowe's gift card from our dear friend Susan Linker to buy! Yippee!

3/1/2010 Birds, Q Tips and Weight Watchers!

We recently discovered we have a bird's nest in front of our house and this past weekend while Julia and I were having breakfast I heard the chirping and went to look...the Mommy bird was in the nest, so I called Julia over to see and she was so delighted! Big happy smile! I asked her to think of a name for the bird outside our house...today she said she wants to call it "Flowers" because flowers are beautiful and so if our bird!

In Julia's class at Undercroft Montessori the letter of the week is Q...when I picked her up at school today and asked her what was for snack she replied "Q-tip". Really??? Yes, she said it was a pretzel stick with marshmallows on the ends - it was yummy and she really likes the marshmallows! Wow - Meme and I were very impressed with the guide or parent that made snacks to go along with the letter Q!

Then after the 3-5 seconds after getting Julia buckled in, closing her car door and getting back into the drivers seat, Julia asked me "What is Weight Watchers?" I replied it's a program to lose weight and be healthy. Julia said "No it's not, it's your school and I go with you sometimes and we listen to your teacher."...and then I hear the commercial is actually playing on the XM radio in the car and realize Julia heard the commercial and remembers going to WW with me some Saturdays! Wow - her memory and picking up on everything is superb!

Lastly when we got home and the bird was not in the nest, Julia says "Maybe the mommy bird is out getting worms for her entire family." Yes, I say probably!