3/10

She sang in a trio, had a few lines, a couple of costume changes...it was her final elementary music program. Buddy's was tonight too. It was all so fantastic.

Regarding Bee: we are starting to have a lot of "last times". She'll be done with elementary on May 21. Moving on to middle school. Of course we are excited, but we also need to shed a tear [or two] for these beautiful lasts.

2/21

It's daddy daughter date night around here. The neighbor's have a ride for us and it's her very last one (grades 1-5 attend...). It is a NIGHT TO REMEMBER.

2/15

Spent a little time tonight with a friend who's got a baby and a toddler. It reminds me so much of those days when I had a baby and a toddler. She's got a girl and a boy too. Then my own two, now ten and seven, independently bathed, brushed their teeth, and got into bed. As I tucked them in and kissed them goodnight, I realized how great it is to enjoy each phase we are in. This phase has some definite perks!!

1/15

Now ages ten and seven, sometimes I get a little nostalgic about those two baby faces.

We have had ten smiling years of parenthood...

This Phase

July 2012 ~ Bee's birthday

No, Bee did not get glasses this summer. She sure likes to wear pretend ones though! She is a fourth grader with her own distinct sense of style.

Buddy is in first grade this year. He now takes spelling tests and tells us about lines of symmetry.

We are definitely getting used to being parents of school-aged kids. There is a new found independence, but also a new sense of busy-ness. Balance is something I am still seeking.

These days it's piano and flag football on Monday. Church on Wednesday. Volleyball on Thursday. Youth sports games on Saturdays. Mixed in with the work and recreational things we try to accomplish as well.

I looked at the calendar today and said out loud, "What??!". Can't believe we are halfway through this month. And that I do that every month.

Savoring each day for the day that it is.

And trying to capture the moments in a photograph, if I can, for when it is all a big blur later!

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NINE

Somehow, we went from this...

to this...

Our Bee.

Each parent can name the unending list of wonderful adjectives to describe the children that they love so much and I am no different.

This child is so creative, energetic, bold, and clever.

She still enjoys playing and does so with great zeal every day. This summer alone she has been a spy, detective, puppy, wedding organizer (stuffed animals), gardener, caretaker to fairies and an actress. I know that list doesn't include every scene she's done, but those are the ones I've known about!

Being here to watch her grow from the tiny bean who came into this world on this date nine years ago into the tall young lady she is today has been one of my life's great adventures.

Happy Birthday Bee.
Thanks for letting us come along for the ride!

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spring baby

Please excuse me while I get a little nostalgic...

I remember how much fun it was to dress her up and take her outside. I'm trying to remember what those long stretches of one on one time felt like. How wide-eyed she was about every little discovery.

She's still much the same. She still gets excited about new adventures and makes sure that there is joy in each day. She still likes to get all dressed up to go out. And she still likes it when we get some 1:1 time.

Tomorrow she'll be nine. Today, I'm just trying as hard as I can to remember that day. March 14, 2004. She was almost eight months old and I was as happy as I'd ever been.

And it just keeps getting better.
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we interrupt this heat wave...

For this bit of cuteness from January 2004. My Bee was six months old.

Doesn't she look thrilled that I plopped her out in that snowbank for a photo op?!

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First Food

My Bee was born before I had a digital camera.
Before blogging.
Before facebook.

This was her first food. Rice cereal at 4 months of age.

It was very exciting. As was everything our perfect first baby did.

She will be NINE on Saturday, so the next few days will be spent scanning in a few of these memories. Now preserved in digital format. Though in my memory, this seems like it could've happened last night.

Blink.
And it's nine years later.

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walking and talking

Bee and I took a walk on the trail that runs behind our house this morning. I took this picture at a park nearby, the yellow flowers made me feel happy.

We went a little over a mile. She was a great walking partner and I hope it's the first of many.

If I lure her into a routine now, perhaps it will continue into her teen years. I'm hoping she will be so used to walking and talking, she will continue to do so even after it's not cool to hang around your mom any more.


Devious? Maybe. Fingers crossed that it just might work.


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blurry but good

June is gone. It was a blur of activities, all fun, but a bit exhausting. Baseball, softball, swim lessons, library trips, splash park, swim pond, playground, free school lunch, a grown ups only trip to St. Louis, a few nights of 4th of July fun.

I'm trying not to be one of those moms who is forever complaining about all of the stuff we are doing when we're the ones who made the choice to do it all! Instead we find joy in each day and sleep really well at night.

It is a really fun phase we are in right now. The kids enjoy most everything we do and are so much more portable. I think we are in the magical period of time between the exhaustion of having toddlers and whatever having teenagers will be like. I had read once that it is a very contented period of time to be in as a parent.


I plan to savor every second.

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SIBLINGS

It should be fun, right?! An egg hunt in the yard? No cousins here this year, but I hid our decorated eggs and set them loose to find 20. But no, it has to be a race. A competition. There must be anger and tears.

????

I love my kids, but man. They can drive me nuts sometimes.


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Wanting a little winter

It had been so warm, all through December and January. We loved being able to be outside all the time, but it didn't feel like winter...

We felt very lucky when we got snowed in a few weeks ago. It gave the kids huge piles of snow to play on and the grown ups an excuse to stay in their jammies for two days straight. Or maybe that was just ME.

Now if the warm weather would like to return, that would be just fine by us. We just needed a little winter.

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What we're up to....

 Daddy Daughter Date Night is a new tradition for us. The community parks and rec program puts it on each year and they have such fun. Hubs is a great dancer and Bee just raves about what a great date he is. It's a dinner and dance night and a great excuse to get all dressed up!

 The weather stayed so nice for so long this year. We had Marigold, the kindergarten traveling pet, a few Mondays ago. Buddy took Marigold for a bike ride and they played Legos. Never thought we'd be riding bikes in February!

Both kids had big school projects. Bee had to make a planet project (she chose a mobile) and Buddy had to make something for the 100th day. He chose 100 marshmallows and wanted an ELEPHANT. We did our best and it turned out okay. His teacher was surprised because their sound that week was for the letter E and we had written 'E is for Elephant' at the top. It worked out perfectly!

Basketball, piano lessons, family time...it has been a crazy couple of months.

I'm looking forward to spring (gardening! sunshine! being outdoors!) and of course, summer break. It will be here before I know it!

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48 months ago...

Four years ago, they were lining up animals and making a meal for them.

This morning, they are dressed as pirates, playing in the junkyard (toy room) with the animals all lined up, being fed.

Feels so good that everything doesn't have to change all at once.

Because honestly, so much has.

That same month, we took the front rail off of Buddy's crib.

He was nearing age two and kept climbing out. He would only have that binkie for two more months.

Tonight I'll tuck him under that same dino blankie. The same one he has slept with since he was in that crib.

Thank goodness it doesn't have to change all at once.

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Growing

Today I saw a young couple in church passing their baby girl between them. They were bouncing her, snuggling her, keeping her happy the way that you do with a seven-month old in church.

Could I remember my baby girl that way? Hmmmm...

At two months?

How about two years?!

It's silly, but I just felt so strange in that moment. Oh my gosh! Could I forget? Forget what it felt like to hold that baby?

She woke every night to nurse, until she was seven months old. I remember feeling surprised by how much I didn't mind. I enjoyed that dark, quiet time together. She was all mine and I was the only one in the world who could give her what she needed in that moment. Egotistic for sure. But it sure was great. Rocking her in the dark, making sure she knew I was always there.

Tonight we started reading a BOOK. After several moody mood swings this weekend and me telling her that we are sure to be in for more of the same over the next few (let's face it, TEN) years...I decided to get out the book. We'll read it together, or not, if she changes her mind. We just started tonight. It will tell her about hygiene and puberty, in ways that I may not be able to do. It said that girls experience these changes from age 8-13, I was shocked that she's in the age range. I thought I was so ahead of the game. Turns out, we're just in time.

I'm glad to be able to go through this time with her. But I know that a lot of it she'll do on her own. I'm not all she needs any more. I haven't been for a long time.

It's fine. Really.
I just had forgotten that it was different once.

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Science in Action

Yes, my kids take tests at school. They are measured against normed group samples and then tested again to show progress. Yup, that happens.

What we all need to remember is that there are also some really great things going on in schools and that teachers work really hard to make that happen.

The assignment was for science. Bring three ideas of what you would like to bring for a plant buffet. My Bee looked at the fruit and vegetable sections of my two best cookbooks and wrote down 1. Cinnamon Apples 2. Cheesy Broccoli 3. Potato Salad. Hey mom! Did you know that broccoli is a FLOWER?!?!!

The third graders are studying plants in science and today they are having a grand feast of roots, stems, leaves, and flowers.

And we are bringing the flowers.
I say THANK YOU to every grade school teacher, you make such a difference in this world in ways that are amazing and special. There are special halos reserved just for you, I'm sure of it!

Things that are always in short supply at my house: scotch tape, markers, printer paper, glue sticks.

But hey - we are all decked out for Halloween!

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A little trip down memory lane. The year our Bee turned 3. Look at that sweet little face.

Now it's five years later and we are approaching her 8th birthday. Time has a funny way of going really fast, but it also seems like that was so long ago. I'm not sure how that can be. All I know is that I'm so glad that I have the pictures to look at. To remember such fun times.

Pinatas. Ballons. Slip-n-slides. Games. Cake. More cake. Lots of laughs. And kids running everywhere. I get a little nostalgic for those parties, time and geography and made them a bit harder to do. I'm just so glad we had the chance to have so much fun. What better way to celebrate the birthday of such a great girl?!

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EIGHT

This summer I will always remember as one of great growth and development for our Bee. She'll be eight next week. On her birthday, we will be at an amusement park in Kansas City. She will probably be riding her first roller coaster. She will be EIGHT.

Over the holiday weekend she lost two teeth in 24 hours. She's suddenly got the standard jack-o-lantern smile of any school age child.

She jumped off of the diving board for the first time ever on the second day of swimming lessons two weeks ago. It was with zero hesitation that she took her first dip in the deep end.

She tried out a rope swing on a lake and rode on a tube behind a boat minutes after her very first boat ride. She thought that a day spent at the lake was the very best thing she'd ever done (she feels that way often) and that it was definitely the BEST DAY EVER.

Maybe because she's our first, we've sheltered her a bit. Suddenly she's in the big world and trying new things with more energy and delight than anyone I've ever met. She's excited by small things and still loves being a kid.

It's off to third grade in August and I can only imagine what's next. I'm so glad to be her mom.

Honest, generous, creative, and sweet. Our Bee is such a joy.

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