Dancing, golf, etc

Lot's of changes recently in the Baker household. I started working about two weeks ago. I work Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday all day. The kids go to Victory Life Child Development Center. So far the adjustment has been a little rough for them. We are hoping they get used to being away from me and and away from home. They seem to do fine once they are settled in at school, but the dropoff is a little tough on them and me! As many of you know both Leah and Trindon are quite fond of their blankets. They each have a special blanket just for school. It's made of the same material as their at home "blanket" but their not quite as attached to the school blankets. Trindon had an "Incident Report" in his file when I picked him up yesterday. Apparently some other little kid had tried to take his blanket and Trindon bit him! Not funny at all for the kid who was bitten, but we laughed because this is such classic Bubby behavior. Back away from my blanket!!!

Leah started dancing this week. She has gone back and forth between being excited about it and saying she didn't want to do it. It's a tap, ballet, and tumbling class. She is supposed to wear tights and a leotard and have her hair pulled up and back. We've been talking about the tights and trying them on at home, but they were a no go on the first day of class. Same with pulling all her hair back. The girl knows what she wants! She was very hesitant at first, but once she saw Hadley and the other girls doing it she jumped right in. She says she likes tap the best so far.

Not sure about this yet.

Okay I'll give it a try

Tumbling!

If any kid was ever born with a ball in his hand it's Bubby! One of his very first words was ball. If there is a ball in sight, a club or bat to swing, or something he can pretend is a bat he is in his element. Phil has been hitting wiffle golf balls in the yard and Trindon really wanted in on that action.

 

Both kids have been enjoying playing frisbee with Nala!

 



Nothing like some cuddle time watching baseball with Daddy.

April - May - June - July 2012

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Weekend without Daddy

Last weekend Phil went to Kansas City to visit Jeremy. I decided the kids and I needed to do some fun stuff so we wouldn't be too bored.

The first night we made pizzas. I didn't think Trindon would be that interested in it, but was I ever wrong. He was trying to climb up the stool on top of Leah to get up there to help.

Leah wanted pepperoni, pineapple, and olives on hers

Now it's Bubby's turn

He liked putting the stuff on the pizza, but he also enjoyed helping himself to bites of the toppings!

Check out the Youtube video of him making his pizza: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nk2RPBSkh6M&feature=g-upl

Leah finally decided she wanted to watch the Toy Story movies. We had a prior incident with Toy Story 2 that traumatized her and she kept saying she couldn't watch Toy Story because of the guy man. Once I convinced her that the first one had no guy man (a/k/a Al from the Toy Barn) she agreed to watch it. We had movie parties with popcorn and M's while Daddy was gone!

Playing in the pool is always a good summer activity! Especially if it includes Pringles and Capri Sun!!

 

Critters, critters, and more critters

Phil and I have discovered that Oklahoma has crazy bugs and other critters in very abundant quantities. Just this past week I was stung by what I'm pretty sure was a yellow jacket. It came out of nowhere as I was reaching out of the car to get the mail out of the box. I wasn't sure if it was a wasp or what. Then a neighbor mentioned that if something comes right up to you and stings you it was probably a yellow jacket. Apparently they are very aggressive. The next morning Phil called me to tell me he saw them pouring out of the stones around the mailbox. Later that morning I may have been spotted standing in the middle the road emptying a spray can of wasp spray onto the mailbox.  That sting was so painful and caused my arm to swell and itch for the rest of the week!


Here are just a few of our other recent encounters.

Harmless "little" snake

You can see he recently ate something!

Snakes don't bother me nearly as much as they do some people. We were sitting on the patio when we discovered this one lounging on the other side of the grill. If you know Phil very well you know he's not going to kill anything unless it's a true threat. He chased this one out to the front yard with his golf club and was horrified when it crawled into the stones on the front of the house. He waited out there forever for it to come out. He said he was going to chase it away when it came out.

Another harmless "little" creature. Seriously these spiders are giant. Their leg span is probably about as big as my palm. Phil just happended to be in Kansas City for the weekend when I discovered this one and it's very full egg sac on the back of the house. I had to put my big girl pants on and take care of it myself. First I went with the bug spray and this thing looked at me like I just sprayed sugar water on it. When all else fails find a really big shoe, take aim, and hope for the best.

We discovered these in our yard last summer and were absolutely amazed by them. Their called velvet ants and supposedly the sting is extremely painful. They are quite fond of our lantana so we have a few in the backyard again this year. The female (pictured here) doesn't have wings but she can sting. The male can fly but supposedly can't sting. Their shell is fuzzy looking but is hard as a rock. If you step on them they just keep on moving.

Last but not least is the Ground Dwelling Wasp, also known as a cicada killer. We thought we were seeing some really big hornets around the yard, then I had this little encounter with one on the patio. I saw one crawling with a cicada hooked to it. I went with the shoe weapon and basically knocked it in half. The top part is the wasp and the bottom is the cicada. After this we noticed little piles of dirt surrounding the swingset and in various places in the yard. These wasps live in little tunnels in the ground. We've had Terminix out to spray but it didn't help much. As of right now we can't go in the backyard unless we're armed with a tennis racket. Good thing they only have a one month life cycle, but supposedly their babies will be back to the same place next year.

San Antonio

We spent 5 days in San Antonio at the end of June. We detoured through Houston on our way there so we could spend some time with the Robinson family and Grandpa and Grandma Baker. We also got to see Aunt Bonnie, Uncle Chuck, and the Gentry kids for a few minutes. Of course I forgot to take pictures, but it was really great to see and catch up with everyone.

The first stops in San Antonio were Costco and Walmart to pick up a few necessities. No vacation is complete without junk food. Trindon can do some damage to a box of donut holes. He ate three and still wanted more. Grandpa Richard will be proud of your love of donuts Bubby!

The Hyatt Wild Oak has a really fun sandy beach area and lazy river. They also have a great indoor/outdoor pool with water slides. We all had a blast relaxing and soaking up the sun!

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It was really hot the first couple of days we were there so we tried to swim in the morning and do something inside in the afternoon. One day we did venture to the Riverwalk for lunch.

This is our attempt at getting a family photo....

Trindon won't sit still or be contained for anything, so we'll try standing up pictures of the kids.

Last but not least is Buc-ee's. If you've recently driven on I-35 in between San Antonio and New Braunfels or on I-45 between Dallas and Huntsville or on I-10 west of Houston you probably know what I'm talking about. There are 4 of these giant convenience stores in the state of Texas and we hit three of them on this trip. If you haven't been to one you must check it out - they are INSANE!



We had a great week and it was awesome to spend some family time together! Thanks Dad and Anna Lee for letting us use a timeshare week, we appreciate it!

June 2012 - Part 1

The month of June is already a third of the way gone! Time is going by soooo fast and these kids are growing up too fast.

What mornings in our house look like.....

Both the kids like to sit up on the counter and hang out while Phil makes a peanut butter muffin. Leah usually comes to our room asking for her juice and "bitamins" at about 7 or a little after. She loves to get a peanut butter spoon in the mornings too! Trindon loves his juice and his bananas. I have to make sure we don't run out of bananas or he gets upset.

Notice how Leah has her pearls on with her pajamas in this picture. Just the night before we were watching a baseball game on tv and there was a lady wearing pearls. Phil said "who wears pearls to a baseball game?" Well now you know, Leah would wear pearls to a baseball game.

Snack time

Daddy gets home from work

Trindon was trying to get Phil's gum. He pulls the funniest faces when he's interested in something.

He is so lovey and gives the best hugs and kisses.

Reading time in the "cuddle corner"

I had gone to get my haircut on a Saturday morning and Phil said the kids had gone into Leah's room to play. When he went in to check on them this is what he found. Leah told him "I'm just reading to Bubby."



Leah's birthday and first day of school

Leah turned three on June 4th and also started Sunshine School Summer Camp at First Christian Church in Durant. She absolutely loved school and didn't want to go home when I arrived to pick her up. She goes from 9:00 to 2:30 on Mondays and Wednesdays and has lunch, nap, and a snack while she's there. Since it was her birthday she got to take cupcakes for all the kids on the first day.

Ready for school with her "pack pack" and her lunch bag.

We had a Minnie Mouse party for her that night, with pizza from Marco's and a homemade strawberry mousse cake that was yummy! Josh, Melissa, and Hadley from next door joined us to celebrate Leah's birhtday!

She got some really fun presents - a dress-up trunk, wooden magnetic paper dolls (if that makes sense), a baby doll, a Wii game, Hello Kitty pj's, and a new outfit.

Bubby has to get in on the dress up action