May Facebook Statuses

Some Facebook statuses from May. I am always amused by many of the things that come out of Baby Bear's mouth. She is smart and adorable.

May 3: Jordyn told me she had to go to the restaurant, as she headed to the bathroom. I think she meant restroom, LOL.

May 4: Mommy: "Jordyn, you are the best." Jordyn: "I AM!"

May 5: Watched our wedding video with Jordyn. She says she wants a princess dress like mommy.

May 12: Of all the things Jordyn can do today. She is asking to go to Costco.

May 13: Daddy: "What a nice daughter." Jordyn: "I'm not daughter, I'm Jordyn!"

May 13: Jordyn: "Don't drink my juice, mommy, you have water"... She says this after I gave her half of my breakfast. Happy Mother's Day!

May 18: Jordyn: "Mommy it's not poker chops, it's chicken".... Poker chops, LOL. I didn't want to argue or tell her what pork chops really are, she loves her Peppa Pig and Olivia.

May 21: Jordyn: "Chase (our fat cat) is gone! It's a mystery".... I had no idea she knew the word mystery. Her vocabulary amazes me. Chase was just in the other room.

May 25: Madonna's Lucky star is playing on the radio and Jordyn says "Daddy thats my song."

May 28: Jordyn: "Mommy, why do you have these wrinkles on you." Sigh... Because she is making me old. You gotta love a toddler's honesty.

Hula baby

I am a bit behind with blogging. Birthday party planning has taken over with only 3 days left until the big party. A couple of weekends ago we went to support my cousin. She is the president of her high school Polynesian Club and put together their annual luau. We went to support her. There were over a thousand people there it was huge! It was a huge hit for everyone. Baby Bear absolutely loved watching the performances. She loved the dancers and had such a blast.

She enjoyed seeing Lola Bear...



and Nono Bear

 

The performances were great. I was really proud of my cousin for putting together an amazing show. There were to of dancers. It was amazing and big production to put on. I know that she worked really hard and it showed.

 

She paid attention through the majority of the show and it was over an hour long.




Great work Hanna!!

Visit with the Dentist

Baby Bear had a dentist check up on Friday. The last visit 6 months ago, went so-so. I had to hold her and she was crying the entire time that the dentist was checking out her teeth. It was so hard to hold her and know that I could not sooth her.

This time around she was such a good little dental patient. She sat in the dental chair like a big girl.



For the last few days before the appointment, we talked about an episode on Peppa Pig, where Peppa Pig visited the dentist. So Baby Bear was somewhat prepared and actually excited to go to the dentist. But when they moved the chair down, she was a little wary about the whole thing.



The dental assistant showed her all the tools that she was going to use before putting anything in Baby Bear's mouth and actually let her touch and feel the tools. I think that really helped and she let the dental assistant clean her teeth and scrape the the plaque off.



I was so proud of her. She was great and didn't cry or anything. My girl is getting so big.

Last Day of Preschool Field Trip

Wednesday was the last day of the first year of preschool. It seems like it was just yesterday when we were heading off for the first day of preschool.



Here we are the last day with a little field trip to a local park.



She had such a blast playing with all her classmates at the park.









She was not very happy this morning when I told her we were not going to school. She was very disappointed and as we drove by the school on the way to daycare, she asked if it was opened.

We love all of her teachers. Teacher Kerri.



Teacher Maria



Mrs. Dottie



We will actually be in summer school for a couple of weeks next month while our daycare lady takes a little vacation, so she will see them all very soon. Happy Summer!!

Schools out for summer

Tomorrow, is the last day of preschool for Baby Bear. For the last day, the class is going on a little field trip to a park. So in today was the last day at the school. The teachers send home a gift for the kids, a bucket with a shovel and sand toys. A perfect summer gift. They know Baby Bear so well, since hers was all pink. Perfect for her. They also sent home all the photos they posted around the classroom throughout the year. That was a really cool little gift to send home to parents, there must have been 30 pictures and just seeing them from the beginning of the year until now, all of the kids have grown so much!

Tonight, I put together some teacher gifts to show them how much we appreciate them. This was inspired from this blog, where you can also download the tags. Since I really didn't have time to design my own tags this time around, this was a nice and easy gift to put together. The cups included a Jamba Juice gift card, M&Ms, and Jelly Belly candies. I hope they will enjoy them and get good use out of them. I know that the Christmas gifts that we gave them get good use; I see the coffee cups at school being used. It seemed like these drink cups were more summery.



We absolutely love Baby Bear's teachers. All 3 were awesome. I know that Baby Bear and I will be sad not to be in their class next year. I know the teachers in the next class are great and she will love them too. But there is something special about your first teachers. We didn't sign Baby Bear up for summer school, so I know she will be bummed not to go to school every day. She loves preschool and she loves going there each day. I love the school too. I know we made the right decision to start her in preschool and to send her to that preschool. The Children's School at Claremont McKenna College is awesome.

I remember hesitating in send her at such a young age, but I have seen so much change and development in Baby Bear this year. It is amazing how far she has come and how much she has grown. I am sure some of it would have happened regardless of preschool, but I really believe a great deal of her social growth occurred as a result of her preschool experience. I have seen her blossom so much socially and I see how much she has grown in so many ways: cognitively, physically, and socially. It has been so amazing to see the changes. I just can't believe how quickly my little girl is growing up.


It will be nice just bringing her to daycare all day and not having to pick her up in the middle of the day to transition her to daycare. It was a choice we made not to keep her in the preschool's after school care. Though it was a hassle, it actually worked out really well to save some money and to continue with the amazing daycare we have, we love our daycare lady, she is awesome and she loves Baby Bear so much. I know that being with her, she gets so much love and she has another set of wonderful friends of many ages. In fact her best friend is there and she gets to spend several days with her. This year has just flown by, I just can't believe it. I just wish we could slow things down a bit; it is all happening too fast. I am not ready for her to grow so quickly. I'll never be ready for that.

Silly bear

My silly Baby Bear... I was attempting to take a picture of Baby Bear but she decided to make some silly faces.







Look mommy, I'm working.

Love to read

Baby Bear loves to read.


2012-05 reading to doll from Sherylle White on Vimeo.

Mother's Day 2012

I hope all the mamas out there had a wonderful Mother's Day. This Mama Bear had a very nice and relaxing day. Breakfast with my favorite little bear and the hubby, dinner with Grandma Bear, and nap time in between. It was perfect.

The best part of the day was getting be be with my Baby Bear. In the morning, she presented me with a gift she had made in preschool. Her first Mother's Day present that she made herself!



I gotta say it was pretty awesome to get a special gift from her and special card.



I forgot to get a picture of the gift, which I will do tonight. She made a door hanger, I love it! Most of all I love her! She gave me lots and lots of hugs, wished me Happy Mother's day and gave me many kisses. That was the best gift ever. This mother gig is pretty cool.

Teacher Appreciation 2012

I learned that today was Teacher Appreciation Day. So I quickly whipped something up to show Baby Bear's teachers that we appreciated them. Nothing too fancy.



One of her teachers didn't even realize and it wasn't really publicized at the school like it seemed to be at other schools. Nevertheless, I think the teachers enjoyed having a little "sweetness" in their day. Baby bear has 3 wonderful teachers and we are very thankful for their hard work. Baby Bear loves her teachers and was so excited to be able to give each one of them a little gift. She really is a sweet little girl.

Happy Birthday Papa

Monday we celebrated Papa's birthday. Baby Bear wanted to bake him a cake for his birthday and so we baked our second cake of the weekend.



Mmm chocolate cake with a whipped cream frosting and sprinkles, of course!



Baby Bear was very eager to sing Happy Birthday to her papa and to have some yummy cake.

Happy Anniversary

Saturday also marked an anniversary for daddy and I. Our 5 year wedding anniversary and 12 years together. Daddy and I met 12 years ago at a Cinco de Mayo party and I have never been so happy. I think about my life and I am so blessed. I am blessed to have found a partner who loves me and supports me. There is nothing in my life that I would trade.


Life is far from perfect and there are ups and downs, but all in all having a wonderful husband and amazing child makes all the challenges seems so miniscule. My husband is not a only good to me, he is an amazing father to Baby Bear. I see how he adores her and loves her. I see how patient and loving he is with her. I love the relationship that they have with each other. It is so beautiful and special. The two of them are my everything and I know that he would agree that Baby Bear is everything to us.

Together we have built a beautiful life together and created a family.

We celebrated our anniversary, with a nice dinner together. Dropped off Baby Bear at Lola Bear and Nono Bear's house for the evening and enjoyed dinner with just the two of us. It was nice to have the time together.



I am so glad that 12 years ago, he walked into Circle K to get a beer and ran into a friend who invited him to a party. I am glad my best friend convinced me early that day to go to that same party despite my protests. Little did I know that I would meet the man I would marry 7 years later on that same day. A truly special day.

Eyre Faire

Saturday was the annual fundraiser at Baby Bear's preschool, the Eyre Faire. Baby Bear was so excited to go to her first Eyre Faire. She talked about it all morning and wanted to make sure that we didn't forget to go. Since it was our first year, we really did not know what to expect. We were very excited to be a part of the whole thing.

We volunteered to donate a cake for the cake walk, so Friday afternoon we baked a cake.



Saturday morning, Baby Bear helped to put the finishing touches on the cake. Sprinkles!





We headed over to the school and there was food, a silent auction, and fun games to play with prizes.



It was so exciting. I had volunteered to help with one of the games, the fishing game. It was quite a popular game.



Kids lined up to fish for a prize.



Baby Bear kept coming back with her tickets to fish. She loved fishing for a prize.



Grandma also volunteered with the games and helped out with a dig for treasure.



It was a fun afternoon. Baby Bear didn't want to leave and is eager for next year's Eyre Faire. It was definitely a great event and I think that it was a success. From our perspective it was very successful.

April Facebook Statuses

Last month, I posted my facebook status about Baby Bear. It was funny to looking back at what she said through the month, so I thought I would do it for April as well. You just gotta love what comes out of her mouth.

April 2: Jordyn asked for some cereal like mommy eats. So I went to get a bowl and she went to get a spoon and she yells "teamwork!"

(**We like to watch The Wonder Pets and they are all about teamwork and have a song about teamwork)

April 16: Daddy: how do I look? Jordyn: good. Daddy: how does mommy look? Jordyn: good. Daddy: how do you look? Jordyn: I look GREAT!

April 21: Mommy: do you know what happens when you don't listen to mommy? Jordyn: mommy gets mad.

April 22: Jordyn just told me I could have some special ice cream if I went pee pee in the potty. :-)

April 30: I love when Jordyn tells me I made a yummy dinner.she is so sweet, it melts my heart.

DIY Princess Wands

Baby Bear's preschool is having a fair this weekend. It is their biggest fundraiser and they ask parents to help out where they can. Each class puts together a basket that is auctioned at the silent auction. Her class basket theme this year is imagination. I signed up to donate accessories for pretend play, like princess wands and pirate swords. I decided to make the princess wands instead of buying the cheap plastic ones. Look at what I made...



I think they turned out pretty good. I followed the instructions from here. Very easy to make. I will be making these again.

First pedicure

Sunday, Baby Bear saw me giving myself a quick pedicure. So of course, she wanted one herself. So I gave her a quick little pedicure as well.

It is so funny, that once her toes were painted, she walked around funny. I guess it is just the way you walk after you've had a pedicure, you don't need to be taught to walk that way. You just do (I didn't even give her a manicure, but she was walking around with her hands like that too).

 

I think she may be hooked. She absolutely loves her little painted toes. She was so proud, that she couldn't wait to show daddy her pretty toes.

Sunday funday

Sunday was a fun day for Baby Bear and me. We spent the whole day together. We started the day with a trip to Target to buy a birthday gift for her friend. We then headed over to his birthday party. She had such a blast. Her best friend was there and many of her little friends from daycare and even her daycare lady, Ms. Lori.

Baby Bear even took part in the pinata, which she never does at birthday parties. Maybe because it was a string pinata. She was in there with the other kids grabbing candy and goodies. Usually I have to help her out, but not this time she knew exactly what to do.





After the party was over, we headed home and I had a nap. Baby Bear apparently was not interested in such things (she drop her nap time months before and only naps occasionally on the weekends). I was hoping she might nap along with me. After my nap, we decided to walk down to the Annual Lemon Festival.



We walked around and then rode the Merry Go Round.



We also stopped at the Petting Zoo.





Yes, it was a fun day. It was nice after being away from her for a few days to get a fun day in just the two of us.

Walk for MS 2012

On Saturday morning, Baby Bear and daddy joined Team The J Crew to participate in the MS Walk. We walked last year. Actually, Baby Bear sat in the stroller while daddy and I walked. This year, I was out of town for a conference, but that didn't stop our family for walking for this important cause and supporting our dear friend, John.



While I was not able to be physically present at the walk with my friends and family. I did run a 5K at the hotel fitness center. So I was there in spirit with them.

I am told that Jordyn did an amazing job and actually walked about 2/3 of the 5K until she finally got tired and had daddy carried her the rest of the way. He was actually pretty impressed that she walked as far as she did; he had expected to carry her for much more of the walk.

A little tired after her long walk. Daddy told me she had a really great nap that afternoon.



When I got home that afternoon, Baby Bear told me about walking. Apparently, she was pretty proud of herself as well. I am proud of my family.

There's no place like home

This mama bear was gone for the latter part of last week for a research conference. While I was excited to go off by myself, I missed my baby bear tremendously. I left Wednesday morning, but was still able to drop her off at preschool. I was prepared to stay around a little longer like she often wants me to do. But when we got to school, she told me to leave. I told her that I was going to be gone for a few days and that i would miss her. And she told me "Leave mama." Every other day, she asks for me to stay longer or has this tight grip on me and that day of all days, she told me to leave. I was a bit sad about that.

The conference took place near the San Francisco airport in Burlingame. Not the most exciting city. I did take some time to head out into the city the first afternoon with a couple of my students. It was a good conference and our presentations went really well. It was wonderful to get to sleep in a little and I actually got to the hotel gym as well. It was nice to have some alone time even though I was at a conference and working. Some times you really need the time to yourself to refresh and reset, though I was technically in work mode, I was only in work mode and not mommy or wife mode. All I had to take care of was myself. I had a few students at the conference, but they were all adults and I was not there to be there keepers, plus I have really great students so they don't need me for much. They were there to present our research and they did an amazing job at that. They made me proud. I was a proud mama (sometimes it is hard to kick off the mommy mode, hahaha).

Baby Bear was in capable hands with daddy and Grandma Bear was near by to lend a helping hand. So there were no worries. I just missed my girl. The first night I called Baby Bear and she asked me if I was on my way home. I explained to her where I was and that I would be home in a few days. The next couple of evenings, I Skyped in before her bedtime. It was great to see her sweet face even if it was just on the iPad. She blew me a ton of kisses and told me she could not hug me because I was in the TV. Each evening she asked me if I was coming home. I missed my girl.

I finally headed home on Saturday afternoon and it was so wonderful to have my little girl and daddy come to pick me up at the airport, Baby Bear ran to me as soon as she saw me. It is such an amazing feeling to be loved by such a sweet little one. I will never forget her face as she walked into the airport and saw me. Her eyes lit up and her little feet started running as fast as they could to get to me. It was just amazing. I missed her so much and she missed me too. You could just feel the love, it's a feeling I can't thoroughly explain but one that warms my heart and makes me feel so complete. It is what makes this thing called motherhood so amazing.