End of Year Comparison

At the beginning of this year I posted a picture of Jonathan with his "facts". Now, I have done it again on the last day of school so we can compare what a big boy he has become! And WOW! He grew a brick! And lost what little baby-ish-ness that he had left. It's official, he is a big boy now.

Beginning of the Year

End of Year!

His answers are somewhat consistent, only a few changes! A few months ago we listened to the sound track from Mary Poppins a lot. My personal favorite was Jolly Holiday, so we listened to that a lot! Around this time, Jonathan made up a song called "Happiness to-do so reins". I am not sure what it means, he says it means being Happy! It's to the tune of Jolly Holiday! He is a funny kid! He loves helping daddy! And he can now "read" the whole book of Brown Bear to us, so I am sure that that is why he likes it!

Schools Out for Summer!

I don't know about you, but every single time I say "schools out", I have to sing the Alice Cooper song..."Schools out for Summer...Schools out for Forever" - So that song has been stuck in my mind the past couple of days as we approached Jonathan's last day of school! (Which was 5/17/12).
We had such a great school year, but honestly I am REALLY excited for the summer! We have so many fun things planned! I can't wait!
I'm not even going to talk about the fact that I now have a child that is on his way to PRE-K!!! What? I have several months to let this sink in and then we will discuss.

This was our end of year teachers gift. Jonathan and I did these together. I asked him what he wanted to give them and he said, "Flowers, they love flowers!" I found this idea on Pinterest and I have to say I am proud of how they turned out and I think the teachers really liked them! - I spray painted Chalkboard paint onto Terra Cotta pots! Jonathan picked out the flowers and helped me plant them in the pots! I believe he was really proud of them too!!

So for the last day of school, we were asked to an end of year Pool Party! One of Jonathan's class mates Reagan has a nanny named Beth. And nanny Beth has one of the coolest house/properties I have been to! We had a blast!
Okay, so a little disclaimer, my priorities have not really been on teaching Jonathan to swim. So he doesn't know how. I didn't realize that all the other kids would be little fish! He is signed up to take swim lessons this summer (and Ben and I are doing the mommy and me swim class!) So I plan on this summer being the one that Jonathan becomes a little fish too!

He sure does look the part, but that is about as far in as he got. The step he is on leads to an area right there is only 2' deep, which would have been perfect for him, but he just didn't want to go all the way in. 

But he liked playing with the toys. That is Taryn with him!

In the white cover-up is Nanny Beth (her house and pool).

Ben was great. It was in the middle of his nap time and he got a little cranky, but he got through it.

This is my friend Kirsi's little one, Mazie. She is 9 months now. So she gave Jonathan the perfect job for him, taking care of Mazie in the little floaty thing! Jonathan even scolded that little boy that is approaching because he squirted Mazie with a water gun. Ha!

This is Beth's property. It goes as far as you can see, literally, I can't see the back fence line from here! Crazy, because we are in Hurst, not far from the church! You would never guess this is tucked away back here. You can't see it here, but there is a guest house to the left behind all that greenery.

This is next to the pool area. They have a trampoline and 2 or 3 swing sets! Neat!

This is the Reagan!

Baby Collin, which I guess he is not a baby anymore, he is about to be 2 (Lily's little brother)!

The pool from a different angle.

He still didn't want to get in, but he sure did want to wear those goggles!

Yay! He got in the shallow area!

There is Lily!

Jonathan Reading to Ben

Ben was given these cute little books for his birthday from his Gran. He has loved them and played with them a lot. I had left the room for a minute and when I came back I found Jonathan "reading" to Ben. Both boys ignored me and continued reading for a while. I LOVED IT!

Dino World

The Saturday before Mother's Day, Michael treated me and the boys to a Day-O-Fun in Glenn Rose, TX! It's only an hour and half drive from our home! It has lots of fun things to do there! We went to Dinosaur World for the first time! It was fun! Jonathan is really into Dinosaurs right now, so I was excited to see what he would think of all the "life size" dinos! It was a beautiful day, rainy, breezy and 70! It was such a fun memory! We headed to Fossil Rim next, so I will share pictures from that soon! 

 We started off with a picnic! I love this picture of these guys! Michael and his "mini me". Look at their lips- Exact same!

 ROAR!

 Starting the Dino Trail! There were over 100 Dinos! It took about 20-25 min to walk the trail.

 A Jonathan mid-air still shot - Pure Excitement!

 I don't remember why he looks so shocked, but I thought it was funny, any time there were 4 Dinosaurs, he would assign them names and titles - This is the momma, this is the daddy, and these are the kids, Jonathan and Ben.

This is for all the 'Jurasik Park' fans! 

Some of these Dinosaurs are just the freakiest looking things! Even worse, their names! Who thinks up this stuff??? 

 Koi! Kind of random to find Koi in the middle of all this, but, still cool! I'll never complain about a Koi sighting! (Michael and I love them and want to have a Koi pond in our backyard one of these days)

 I thought this was a cool setup!

 I think this was my favorite. It really puts in perspective how big they were!

 This was by far the weirdest looking one!

 T-REX!

 I kind of wanted to give him a hug.

Scary Dudes! I don't want to hug them.

Neat playground while waiting for the Fossil Dig to begin. Do you spy a little guy you know?

 Swing time!

 Jonathan and I went to do the Fossil Dig without him. I don't think little buddy was very happy about it.

 Daddy's hat makes it a little better!

The Fossil Dig was cool. He was able to dig and dig for 10 minutes. Then we had to pick 3 that we could keep!

We couldn't pick just 3 so finally I decided he could pick 3 and I would pick 3 and I just paid a couple extra dollars. The top 3 are Jonathan's and bottom 3 are mine!!

It was such a fun experience!!!

Happy Mother's Day

I saw this poem and it made me think of my mom. Since I can't "give" it to her today, I thought I would share it with you. Happy Mother's Day!

You are the sunlight in my day,
You are the moon I see far away.
You are the tree I lean upon,
You are the one that makes troubles be gone.
You are the one who taught me life,
How not to fight, and what is right.
You are the words inside my song,
You are my love, my life, my mom.
You are the one who cares for me,
You are the eyes that help me see.
You are the one who knows me best,
When it's time to have fun and time to rest.
You are the one who has helped me to dream,
You hear my heart and you hear my screams.
Afraid of life but looking for love,
I'm blessed for God sent you from above.
You are my friend, my heart, and my soul
You are the greatest friend I know.
You are the words inside my song,
You are my love, my life, my Mom.
© Champagne S. Baker

 

Boyz in the Crib

Every time Ben wakes up Jonathan is the first one in his room to greet him! I love it, but even more, Ben LOVES it! And almost always, Jonathan turns to me and says, "Will you put me in there too?" Oh Ben gets so excited. The two just go to town having fun! Jonathan usually reminds Ben that the crib was formerly owned by Jonathan. Not that it matters, but apparently it is important information for him to add - every time!!! :)

I knew one of these days, before Ben out grew the crib (I know that is coming faster than I can imagine!), I needed to get a photo of these two cheese balls in the crib together! So one morning, I got them! I couldn't pick just one (never can). They are all pretty funny! I didn't 'pose' any of these. They are just them being them. :)



The Parenting Trade

I am very proud to share with you that my sister, Amy Day, has launched a website. It is called The Parenting Trade.

It is a huge site she has undertook after writing a book by the same name. The book is currently being reviewed by publishers. She has already received an offer from one publisher, but passed and is hoping for other great opportunities!

I can't tell you how proud I am! She has worked so hard, mainly at night after the kids have gone to bed! She deserves all the success she has coming to her!
Please check out the site and subscribe to her daily emails! (Click where is says, "Sign up Now!" Look for The Parenting Trade on Facebook and Twitter!

http://www.theparentingtrade.com/

Also, look for articles I wrote, "My life as a short order cook" and "Beating the Lunch Box Blues". I plan on writing more to contribute in the near future! If you are interested in writing something, please let me or Amy know!