Bedtime Stories

Note who's reading to whom.

Impromptu Family Reunion

Since we were in town and Manning was just born, Dad got his sisters Margaret & Joyce, sister-in-law Oma Lee, and their daughters Julie, Lisa, Diane, Debra and several of their kids over to Mark and Melinda's house for a get-together. It was great to see some family members we hadn't seen in over a decade. One of them was a newborn when we saw her over 13 years ago and now Rebecca Blair is a teenager. I hope it doesn't take this long to see everyone again.

Marcus's Scarf

This one Becky finsihed while we were here. Marcus was thrilled to have his own Aunt Becky Original, even though it was 70 degrees outside.

Making Girly Sandals

Aunt Becky and Marli spent this afternoon decorating a pair of sandals with strips of a pretty fabric that had been cut into strips. They were just tied on the top until they were good and frilly.

My Favorite Manning Photo (So Far)

I just like how he's looking right at the camera. He still has that look in his eye like he doesn't quite know what's going on.

Aaron’s a Real Swinger

Aaron loves to swing like his brother did at this age. If he talks you into letting him on the swing, be prepared to be there a while (and get a picture if you can – the smiles that the swing produces are precious). He surprised me by wanted to sit on the big kids’ swing and he held on pretty well, though it was clearly harder for him.

The Playful Sea Lion

We were pleasantly surprised to find a sea Lion at the OKC Zoo that loved to play with us. We could see him through an underwater viewing window, and he could see us. If you put your hand up to the window, he would swim upside-down and touch it with his nose. So if you moved your hand, he would follow it perfectly, pausing every so often to blow an air bubble out his nose at us that looked like an underwater sneeze. We stayed here for a while and the older kids (OK, me to) loved playing with the friendly sea lion.

Manning’s First Zoo Trip

Today was Manning’s first official trip to the zoo. The OKC Zoo is a fairly large property that will wear you out on a full tour. He got to ride in style in his stroller and got to eat lunch in the gorilla exhibit.

Climbing on the Animals

One of the Kids favorite parts about the Oklahoma City Zoo was getting to climb on various animal sculptures and pose for pictures.

Spot the Real Monkeys

Hint: Look beyond the glass

Nana and the Little Man

This outfit makes Manning look much older than he is. With his hands in that position, it looks to me like he’s tying a miniature invisible bow tie.

Peep Eggs

Becky brought white Peep (sugar coated marshmallow) eggs and tube icing that the kids got to decorate and eat for dessert. Everyone got into it and made some interesting creations.

Precious Chunky Doll Baby

Becky loves getting to see and entertain her niece and nephews. We’ve been able to see Marli and Marcus soon after birth and so we knew we wanted to come down after Manning was born because they are only little once. They lose that wide-eyed innocence and infantile cuteness eventually, so Becky and I were thrilled to get to hold, feed, burp (he’s a tough burper) and change (Ewwww!) our new nephew. Next time we see him, he’ll have all new tricks.

Papa!! Hockey!!

That call could not be resisted. Whenever Aaron summoned his Papa in for an air hockey match, he always responded. The games were complicated by 2 factors. First, Aaron realized her could score into his own goal much easier than his opponent’s – so he would repeatedly slide it backwards into the goal and yell “Yea! Goal!”. Secondly, Nana and Papa’s Schnauzer, Abby, rested in a playpen in the air hockey room. Aaron loves that dog and so every 1-2 minutes of air hockey, he’d take a break to run over, look in and point at “Habby Gog”.

Blustery Day In The Backyard

When we took the kids out today, it was a little too chilly to go without jackets, though it did warm up enough later to shed them. Mark and Melinda have an assembled playground piece in their backyard that the kids were all over today. Marli has even practiced climbing to the top. Marli is 5 years old now and almost as big as Alex. She is a beautiful girl with a sweet personality. She loves to change clothes several times a day to fit her mood, including occasionally her princess costume. This smiling picture from atop the structure is one of my favorite pictures of her so far. You can begin to get a sense of what she is going to look like as an adult. I see features of my mother in her and a lot of Mark.

Baby Manning

This was our first chance to meet Manning, who was new to the world by 8 weeks and already growing like a cute, chubby weed. He has a sweet round face. He eats and sleeps a lot of course. He’s a tough burper. When he’s awake he has that common newborn wide-eyed look like he’s tring to take it all in at once and figure it out (hard to do with an 18-inch focal length). I even got a few smiles out of him when he was playing with his Kick-Start gym that lights up and makes noises when he kicks a plate at his feet.

Wrestlemania

We drove into OKC today so we could get some extra time in with Mark since he had the weekend off, but didn’t have the rest of the week off. It gave him a chance to wrestle all 3 of the older cousins at the same time. He was a pretty even match for them, but when they got him on the ground they really started the rough stuff, like running in from another room to pick up speed and jumping on his head. They loved it.

Spring Break - We're Late!!!

We left on Spring Break vacation today to see Jason’s parents (now known as Nana and Papa) and his brother (Mark) and his family (wife Melinda, daughter Marli (5), sons Marcus (3) and Manning (8 weeks old)). We planned this trip to see everyone here, but planned the timing of the trip to see our new nephew. Getting out of the house was a rough start to our day. We try to plan to be at the airport at least 2 hours or more before our flight. We don’t need that much time at the gate staring at departure times, but we plan for that big gap to cover us for any unforseen circumstances like weather or traffic. This morning it was our alarm clock which failed to awaken us (yes, I’m blaming it on the clock) until approximately the time we were planning on leaving the house. We went into speed mode, did without our usual morning shower, and left a few non-essentials behind. We made it out of the house withplenty of time to get to the airport, despite the Spring snow we woke up to. Our flights went off without a hitch and Nana and Papa met us in Tulsa.

The First Loose Tooth

Last night I was helping Alex floss his teeth and I noticed that the right lower front tooth was wiggling. There was even a big one growing in behind it. He was so excited, he did a little dance. This morning he speculated that the tooth fairy might leave him a $100 bill. Somehow I doubt it, but we shall see.

Alex's Week Ending March 17, 2006

This week I made a vegetable man out of celery, cucumber, tomatoes, carrots, potatoes. We learned about good nutrition at school. We learned that you should eat foods from the meat group, the fruits and vegetables group, but only a little from the fats and sweets group. My favorite food group is the meat group. We went on a field trip to an aikido dojo where I learned that sensei means "teacher" in japanese. I learned how to breathe like they do in the dojo. Daddy says I might get to take an aikido class this summer.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Aikido Field Trip

Alex's PreSchool/Kindergarten group went to Shobu Aikido of Ohio to get a demonstration about the martial art of aikido. It is a more philosophical martial art designed to teach the participants to resolve conflicts rather than fight. It is not a competitive martial art like karate. The kids listened to an introduction by the sensei, Jay Weik, then watched him demonstrate some moves. They learned some different ways to breathe (note Alex practicing this in the middle of the picture) and some stances. Alex really enjoyed it. Who knows maybe Alex will be interested in learning aikido someday. Philosophically, it may be very good for him.

Thoroughly Modern Millie

Becky and I saw Thoroughly Modern Millie today as part of our Broadway Series. I would rate it as good, but not exceptional. The performers did a great job. The plot was like following two different movies. One was a tale of a girl who comes to Manhattan to make her fortune by marrying rich, only to find out that what she really needs is love, but she ends up falling for a rich guy in disguise anyway. The other story involved them thwarting a white slavery ring - and that plot line was the more entertaining one. I think it suffered most by comparison, because earlier in the season we were treated to another musical about a young woman trying to make her way through a confusing world and falling in love along the way - Hairspray - only that one was much better. I cared for the main character then, but the titular Millie here just seemed very shallow and I kinda hoped her love interest would realize it and move on. Next is Blast - a show Becky's mom turned us onto after seeing it on PBS. We have the DVD. It'll be great to see it live.

Super Monkey Ball 2 By Mail

Becky got a new P.O. Box for her new jewelry business and wanted to make sure that it was working right. She kept getting mail for the previous box owner, and since she hasn't started taking orders by mail, she hadn't received any of her own. She asked Alex to draw her a picture and/or write her a letter to send to her new box. He has been learning how to do address letters at school. He drew the Super Monkey Ball team and threw in an I [HEART] U to make his momma's day. She loved it when she got it and wanted you all to see it too.

Galaxy Golf

I had the day off yesterday so after giving Aaron a little nap, we all went and picked up Alex at school and take the kids to Galaxy Golf. This is a new indoor mini-golf course. We got putters for everyone, including Aaron. Alex had a green ball, Becky purple, Aaron red, and I had blue. The 18-hole course was full of hand-painted wooden structures, many of them with moving parts. Some were just barriers with tunnels through them but many had some moving obstacle, like a plane propeller, tumbling dominoes, or a castle drawbridge. A very ambitious one had a ferris wheel that encouraged you to hit the ball into a car and it was supposed to dump it out on the other side. It didn't quite work like that, but it was neat to see. Aaron just smacked his ball around a little and then would pick it up and drop it in the hole. Alex got the largest score and he thought that meant he had won until later that night when we had to explain it to him. It was a little pricey ($22 for the four of us) but we all had fun.

Another New Blog

OK this is my last for a while. I wanted to keep track of my efforts to participate in the NW Ohio Race for the Cure to benefit breast cancer education and research through the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Follow my progress at Cure Walking.

Trip to the Art Museum

Last Saturday we all went to the Toledo Musuem of Art. It is a top ranked museum nationally but we've not spent as much time there as we should. Alex was very small last time we took him and he doesn't remember that trip. This time though he had a lot of fun. He thought it was neat that he could identify the subject of impressionist paintings from across the room, but that up close they looked like blobs and swirls of paint. He loved a painting of a Duke that had a foot that looked like it moved with you as you walked past it. He recognized two paintings by Monet that have been featured in Baby Monet and Little Einsteins kids videos. Becky saw some interesting jewelry on display and in the gift shop. Jason's favorite parts were in the ancient Egypt and modern art sections. Aaron slept through most of it then woke up for a run around the outdoor sculpture park. Next time we'll take a camera.

Alex's Week Ending March 11, 2006

This week at school we learned about nutritious foods. I brought an apple to show and tell as an example. We made pudding by adding milk to pudding mix and stirred it 64 times - butterscotch was my favorite. We made a picture of a city and a parade in Art class. In Music we learned some songs about space and danced using movements that it would take to build a rocket ship.
Next Monday I get to wear my pajamas to school and we will make breakfast there and eat it. I may have a glass of milk or orange juice at home before I go.

Fruit Salad...Yummy, Yummy

Becky made 20+ cups of fresh fruit salad last night and early this morning for MOPS (Mothers Of PreSchoolers) and the Teacher Appreciation Luncheon today. It had 15 fruits freshly prepared by hand including Golden Delicious apples, Gala apples, mangoes, mandarin oranges, bananas, red grapes, pineapples, strawberries, blackberries, red pulms, blueberries, muskmelon (American cantalope), honeydew melon, nectarines, kiwi fruits, and , with a little Fruit Fresh and orange juice on it to preserve it. Mommy, Daddy and Aaron ate some tonight as part of our dinner (Alex just had apple). Delicious!

Alex's Flag

Back on Mom's Day at school, Alex and Becky were asked to make a double-sided flag for an Olympic-style procession. Alex chose an American flag. Becky drew the stripes and Alex colored the blue field and placed the silver stars on it. They colored the other side similarly and attached it to a flag pole made of rolled newsprint. Alex carried it in the parade before the Preschool Olympics.

Alex VGT

Alex had to pick a career for a presentation at school and bring props. You might be thinking doctor, lawyer, policeman, teacher, fireman, banker, and you'd be wrong. He first wanted to be a professional football player because he heard that you'd get paid even if you quit. We told him that was a really bad reason to pick a career. Since we dashed his dreams, we felt we needed to tread lightly on his second choice - video game tester. He took an old video game controller and reports he had written about his favorite games. We even made some business cards with the slogan "I test the best and dump the rest". Today he presented it again at the weekly town meeting for the entire lower school and said it went well.

1964: The Tribute

Last night Becky and I went to a hospital dinner that featured enterainment by 1964: The Tribute. They are a Beatles tribute band that not only sing like the early Beatles, they play like them, talk like them and look like them. They performed many of the favorite Beatles tunes from the early days and got a bunch of doctors and their spouses dancing - including us. Needless to say, that doesn't happen often. Though neither of us were born then (sorry, had to mention it) it still caused a bit of a flashback moment for Becky because she saw this same band perform at a live concert in college. Big difference this time - no mosh pit and no large guys dropping on her head after being body surfed in her direction.

Mom's Day at MVCDS

Every year at Alex's school they invite the parents to participate in a day of school with the kids. Last year Jason got to go for Dad's Day. This year I (Becky) got to go for Mom's Day. I have been waiting for a year and a half to have Mom's Day at school with Alex. I have been at school many times for field trips, Alex's birthday and preschool parties, but this was special, he didn't want me to leave his side all day (8:15 am - 3:00 pm). I got to see how he starts his day in class and he introduced me and I got to tell what I do for a living. I simply stated that I am the mom of Alex and Aaron and have started my own handmade jewelry business. Alex had to write in his journal about occupations and then we had to write 3 letters to people in the preschool (I wrote a special one for Alex) and mail them. Alex was assistant postmaster that day. They cancel the stamps and deliver the mail for the day. Our next task was to draw and color a 2 sided flag of our choosing (Alex wanted the American flag) to be used later.

Alex then had to go to "specials". First was gym. I saw him run and run playing tagging games. Next was art. I got to help him decorate his police car (their vehicles unit) that he had constructed. It was great fun. I also got to be surrogate mom for those kids who didn't have their moms there, due to work or visiting older siblings (that will be me in a couple of years). Then we headed back to the classroom to finish our work and then on to lunch. Friday is Papa John's Pizza day. We also had a fruit cup and carrots. Alex opened my milk carton and gave me a straw and napkin. He wanted me all to himself at our own table. We gobbled down our food and ran out to recess. We played hide and seek, jump rope, hopscotch and basketball. When we came back in we had "DEAR" time. That means Drop Everything And Read. Alex had brought in a book that he loves for me to read to him. He chose "I Will Always Love You", about a bear named Alex that breaks his mom's honey bowl and he worries if he does other bad things will she always love him. I knew he would choose that one.

Next all the kids (57) got their flags and went into the old auditorium (75 years old) single file for the preschool olympics procession. Then they had 3 events, bobsledding (using belly scooters),speed skating (using paper plates as skates) and hockey (spongey sticks and balls). Then for the closing ceremony, everyone got medal ribbons for their shirts and then the kids and moms did some ice dancing all together. We all had paper plates under our shoes. It was a hoot.

After that excitement Alex could choose an indoor activity or go back outside, so out we went. Before school let out we sat down in class and decorated a new art protfolio for Alex's work. There was a little closing meeting where we charted how many gold, silver and bronze medals the U.S.A. had earned to that point.

I will never forget our big day. Alex and the school made me feel very special.

Toothbrush Race

This isnt always going to work, but I've tapped into Alex's competitive nature to get him to brush his teeth longer. We got him a battery powered toothbrush (with Spiderman on it no less) but he still would give only a lackluster effort when brushing his teeth. He's really getting too old for us to do it for him. So, he and I have been racing to floss and brush our teeth. The catch is that he who finshes first loses. I don't dilly-dally, but I do floss and brush my teeth thoroughly while he's trying to do the same. Even though I have more teeth, he'll keep brushing until I yell, "Finished!" and then show him a look of disappoinment when I realize that he is still going at it. Hopefully the habits will stick.

Super Aaron and Super Alex

The kids watch Play With Me Sesame with the characters from Sesame Street on Noggin. There is a skit on there where Super Grover encourages kids to "Put on your helmet. Now, put on your cape. Now, fly around the room." Aaron loves to do this even when the show is not on, so Grammy made the boys helmets and capes to help them with their make-believe.

Introducing Cool Steam

I've been looking back over this blog with a critical eye, and I've realized that I've been straying a bit from my original mission. I want this blog to be a bit of a scrapbook about our family and things we've been doing, especially where the kids are concerned. I want to instantly share fun pictures as soon as I have them on the computer. Some of my posts have been little essays about topics that interest me, reviews of movies that aren't exactly family fare, and recipes that I've tried. I like writing about those things, so I've created a new blog to explore these topics and some others that I've intentionally left out of this one, like politics. If you're interested, check out the new blog - Cool Steam - at coolsteam.blogspot.com.

AIAI in a Green Ball

Alex's new favorite videogame is a fun one called Super Monkey Ball 2 that has a quartet of monkeys that are trying to save their island from the evil Dr. BAD-BOON. They do this by rolling around in balls to and solving 3-D puzzles. You can also have fun by playing monkey ball mini- games like Monkey Baseball or Monkey Bowling (the monkeys are in the bowling ball and hurtle themselves toward the pins). The leader is a chimp named AIAI. This is AIAI in a green ball by Alex.

Aaron's 2-year-old Checkup

Aaron went to the doctor today for his 2 year old checkup. He's doing well. For those keeping score at home, he weighed 26 lbs. and measured 32 1/4 inches long. He didn't like holding still for the exam parts. He did cooperate with telling his doctor most of the words he knows, many of which he's developed over the last month. Next routine checkup is in a year.

Alex's Week Ending Feb. 16, 2006

Today was my last day of school this week. I learned it's almost George Washington's birthday. I twisted my ankle today when I was running through the house. It's feeling better now. My brother Aaron turned 2 years old this weekend. We got to have a birthday cake with an Elmo sticker that we could eat on it. It was yummy - it had white strawberry-flavored icing.