Mama, Can You Take Our Picture?

Wednesdays are always a little crazy and I've taken on some extra duties this semester, so we're even busier than usual.  I'll be teaching a dance to some 4th & 5th grade girls for the upcoming "Just Worship" concert that our Children's Choir puts on in early May.  I'm very excited about it and so is Jesse.  He's telling everyone that he and I are teaching a dance class. :) 

Anyhoo, last night was the first night of special team rehearsals.  I left work a little bit early and Jesse & I met our friend, Anne, at a diner across the street.  Jesse was sitting in the booth next to me when he turned to me and said, "Mama, can you take our picture while we're drinking?".  Of course!

So, he went over to Anne's side and they were deciding whether they would look at each other or smile while they were drinking.  So cute!  This pic made the cut, but Jesse does that squinty smile his daddy does, so you can't see his gorgeous green eyes.

Then the waitress brought out our order and he said, "Thank you for bringing me my food!"
I love this kid!!!

BTW, he was awesome at the rehearsal.  He pushed the button to start the music as we rehearsed it over and over again AND he danced his little bobble dance while the girls were doing their parts. He makes me smile!

Mama, Where Can We Get A Baby?

Let me preface this conversation (with my son), by saying that I am not expecting at this moment.  My wonderful brother and sister-in-law will be welcoming a baby girl in June.  That is why there has been a lot of 'baby talk' around our house.  We've been discussing a trip to PA in the summertime to see Cousin Micah and the new baby.  Jesse's apparently been thinking this through and we had the following convo in Target, on Saturday.

We were in the baby section buying his nighttime Pull-Ups when out of the blue...

BooBoy:  Mama, I want a baby.

Me:  Well, we can't get one right now.

BB:  Why not?  Where can we go to get a baby?

Me:  Um.... (inner debate on whether I should give him the "when two people love each other" speech or if that will lead to more questions).

BB:  Mama, let's go get a baby.

Me: Well, honey, we can't get a baby right now.  God will give us a baby when he wants to give us one.

BB:  I want God to give us a baby right now!

Me:  (trying to divert) Well, why don't you pray about that, sweetie? 

BB:  (lays head down on the cart rail right there in the middle of Target) God?  I want a baby.  Can you give us one, please?  I love you.  Goodbye.  Amen.

Me:  [sigh.....]

My precocious child is so completely sweet, funny and overwhelming.

Hooty Hat

So, it's been a very mild winter and Jesse hasnt had a lot of opportunities to wear his warm weather gear.  Then we had a few days of frigid cold last week.  It was then that I discovered that little boy's head had expanded and his winter toboggan (hat) no longer fit his noggin. 

Thus began the quest to find a hat that met my qualifications (ears covered) & the wishlist of the BooBoy.  Funnily, we happened upon the perfect one in Bed, Bath & Beyond.  A hooty hat. A googly eyed owl with two braided lengths hanging down that make great things to chew on, knot and otherwise play with while mommy is driving.

If You're A Pilgrim And You Know It...

It's been awhile.  I know.  But look at the cuteness that I'm bestowing upon you now.  He's the cutest little pilgrim on the face of the earth.  These are kids from the 3 & 4 yr old rooms at his preschool dresses as pilgrims & indians for their Thanksgiving music program.

Still, I'm gonna have to work on his showmanship.  He was too starstruck about the audience and being on a strange stage, that all he did was bob a bit and mouth some words.  The cuteness factor weighs heavily in his favor, though.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Water Boy

Gosh, it's been forever since I blogged.  In the last month, we've moved, work has been super busy and I've been planning our road trip to PA (to visit my folks) at the end of August. 

I pretty much have been working my tail off during the day.  It's the Worship Ministry's "summer break" & I have slightly less to do than normal, so I've been tackling a huge project that's been bugging me for years.  Our library!  The orchestrations have been a mess and we've been running out of space the last couple of months.  So, I've been spending my days verifying instrument charts against orchestration scores, condensing the boxes that they are stored in and then discarding any extraneous copies that have accumulated over the years.  Definitely makes me think I need glasses, though.  The print on these suckers is TINY.

In the evenings, we usually swim for an hour or so.  Jesse is doing so well!  We got him this Speedo vest to wear that helps keep him buoyant, but doesn't hinder his swimming.  Oh my goodness, this little boy LOVES to swim!  It's so awesome to watch him grin as he comes up from under the water and say, "again!".  He's conquering his fear of laying on his back to float, too.  He'll do it (with us holding him), get scared and sit up, but then want to do it again right away.

Then we go home and while I'm cooking dinner, he's playing with his (and his daddy's old) Hot Wheels cars & watching Nick Jr. Can I just say how much I love, love, love Nick Jr.?  He's especially fond of Ni-Hao Kailan, Olivia, The WonderPets and The Fresh Beat Band.  No, we don't watch them all at once, but at some point over the week, he sees each of those shows and loves them all.  In fact, he had me singing the WonderPets song at Target the other day.  Too funny.

The best part of my day, though, is snuggling and tucking in, as we talk over the day.  Usually, we fit in a little tickle-fest, too, b/c Jesse LOVES to be tickled.  Oh, how we laugh!!  Then, he plays with his little LeapFrog computer until he's ready to fall asleep.

Bedtime Stories

Jesse LOVES storytime at night. He has several favorites that we have to read from each evening. Among those titles, it's Llama Llama Red Pajamas, Llama Llama Mad At Mama, But No Elephants, Henry's Happy Birthday and Ten Hungry Monsters.

Jesse obviously can't read yet, but he's really learning to memorize. In fact, he can usually say each of these five books along with me (and others, too), so last night I tried to capture the cuteness of it.

Well, when the camera came out it was, "no, mama, YOU read it!" I ended up just videotaping the book as I turned the pages and read. He helped a bit, but it's not as good as he usually does. Still the cuteness factor wins out.

Here is an excerpt from "Ten Hungry Monsters":





So I bring out
1 Jug of Apple Juice,
2 Loaves of bread
3 bowls of spaghetti that they dump upon my head
4 purple eggplants
5 pickled pears
6 orange pumpkins they climb up and down like stairs.
7 roasted turkeys
8 pizza pies
9 watermelons that they wish were twice the size
10 jars of peanut butter, but not a speck of jam (cause I want every monster mouth shut tighter than a clam!).

At The Overlook

Jesse's very favorite thing to do with daddy is go to the airport overlook. It was such a nice evening. The heat had broken and it was just a bit breezy. A nice night for a drive. We had Original Pancake House for dinner (YUM!) and headed over to the airport.

We usually go on Sunday afternoons, where it is 'hit or miss' if there'll be any planes on the runway. That Friday, we parked just as there was a very long line forming in front of us. Some huge planes, too. Jesse was ecstatic and he and his daddy huddled together to stare at the planes. I heard all kinds of words coming from that boy, like, "full throttle" & "liftoff".

Pretty soon, his excitement was more than he could contain and he just HAD to do a "happy dance".