Parent Teacher Conference

At 10 am Gloria and I met with Mrs Murray for our first parent teacher conference. We had to sit in the little chairs because that is apparently all they have in the room.  Baylor is doing well and is on track with his learning. She went over the testing they did with the kids and showed us what he struggled with (identifying the teen numbers by sight, but they have not learned them yet anyway).  She showed is their first writing book from October and the one from November and there was a noticeable difference in just the one month.  I talked to her about how I see he is a memorizer and I worry he is not really learning things, just remembering what we read the night before. She said that just be the way he learns but will watch for that now.  We had received his physical ed evaluation and he was struggling with skipping and galloping. Apparently he has my coordination, or lack there of!!  I snapped a few photos of his cubby and the projects in the hall.   All the kids have a kit with their crayons and pencils.  

I really think he meant he was thankful for his Meme but it says money.  I have never heard him say that but maybe another child put that on theirs so he did as well.  

We had homework to decorate a turkey.  He told me he wrote his turkey is stylish.  

A Bit of Writing, Shopping, Sleeping, a bit of Sky and Some Legos

Last week I went to Baylor's class to help out with Kid Writing.  Baylor took it upon himself to do a little kid writing himself this morning.  It says my mom is wonderful.  Talk about melting my heart!!!  I think my son is pretty wonderful!

I was at Mom's to do a little furniture shopping for a piece to put in the new bathroom.  At our first stop Mom and I spied this piece.  Dad has been looking for something like this for awhile so we called him to let him know it was there.  Since I did not find anything there we went to the next store.  Dad and Baylor drove up to the shop, it is within a mile and half of their house, and Dad bought it.  Since he had just sold his truck the day before, we made arrangements for me to pick it up when we were done shopping.  

Mom and I did not find anything at the second shop so we had seen a new store that just opened that day which was on our way home.  We stopped and I found a nice piece that was a bit spendy.  But Mom gave me half as part of my Christmas gift,  It is a bit rough but sturdy and I really love it.  I  washed it off and applied a bottle of wood oil to help keep the wood in good shape. It fits nice in the space and works well for what I needed, a place to put all my hair products, hide the towels, and other stuff.  

 After lunch we headed out and half way home my little guy fell asleep, as usual!  

When we got home the sunset was really beautiful and it was impossible to get a good photo of it.   

Since we had not been home to gt the mail for two days the mailbox was full.  Baylor received a really cool Lego set from Uncle Jamie and Aunt Laura.  We built, and I say we loosely, it up right away.  

And then we changed it a few times.  We sent photos of our efforts to them to say thank you.  

A Day Off with Baylor

I had a vacation day today and we had a big and busy day planned.  Baylor loves to play in the tub and we often play together with whatever toys he choose for that bath.  

Since we were going to Grandma and Buddy's for an overnight, Baylor packed a bag of stuffed friends.  He still loves them all and loves to have them around him at all times.  I remember being the same way!  

He loves when Gloria or I drop him off and pick him up from school. He gets so excited when he knows he will be parent pick up/parent drop off.    

After I dropped him off I headed out to go Christmas shopping.  I hit so many stores in my three hours, I was a woman on a mission.  I hit Kohl's to either get a price adjustment or return a toy on his Christmas list that when it arrived had a pricing sticker that was way less than what I paid.  And I had found it even cheaper at Wal.Mart in the mean time.  They would not adjust the price so I returned it. I went to Wegmans for a bit of groceries.    Then I headed to Wally world to rebuy the gift I just returned. The big store on the Pike was out of the toy so I picked up a few other things and then I hit the Marshall's and A C Moore before heading to the small store closer to Baylor's school.  I stopped at Big Lots as well on the way to the school and was there in plenty of time for pick up.  They had their Thanksgiving Feast that morning and we brought baby carrots and pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting.  Baylor had to run back to get the container while I held his hat and paper vest he had made.  

We took a selfie before getting into the car.  

Then we drove to Portr,ait Innovations to have Christmas photos done.  Even with an appointment there is a lot of waiting to be done.  It took a while for a seat to open up at the Lego table and of course then it was time for photos.  

He did great in the photos and while he was planning on his new under bite smile for his photos, the photographer managed to get him to smile his big beautiful smile!  After photos we went to Five Below where I tried on several Santa hats  Mommy has to have fun too!!  

When we got to Grandma's I unloaded a few items and Mom and I headed out to the Green Dragon.  I did not need anything but I love going there.  But I did want to see what buildings had burned down in the fire earlier this fall.  It was the furniture store and the primitive decor buildings and a few others in the area that burnt down.  I cannot wait to see the new buildings!  I only bought roasted peanuts for Dad and a bottle of root beer flavoring for some root beer float cookies I saw.  Then it was home for supper and play until bed time.   

Baby, It is Getting Cold Outside

The cold air came early and after such a warm October and early November, it was quite a change.  Usually our first frost is mid October but we did not have frost until now.  Nothing is growing in the garden of course but now it is all black and mushy!  Baylor and I have been checking the temp in the car in the mornings and talking about how cold or warm it feels.  He of course had different ideas of temperatures and their corresponding numbers but we do have fun talking about it.  

After school and work all the kids lay down on the floor for a warm cuddle.  Even the giant moose he received for his birthday.  He actually spent the day there all by himself and was most likely happy for the company.  

Since it was Thursday I took a photo of a page in one of Baylor's photo albums.  Baylor and Gloria and Addy and Jamie napping.  Not together of course but our babies just turned six and it was a throw back for Megan and I to see our little ones.  How fast the time has gone!

All I Want for Christmas

Baylor made out his Christmas list today.  We put it on the chalkboard so Santa would be sure to see it.  

Baylor Baylor

Years ago, after Baylor was born, I saw a Baylor Trucking cab and trailer outside of work.  I emailed them the next day to see if they have any company merchandise.  I was able to buy a tractor trailer toy and some embroidered patches.  We don't see their trailers very often. they are based in IN I believe but not long ago Gloria sent me a photo from inside a Baylor trailer that she was loading and then I saw this the day after his birthday.  They are a family company and the owner's have granddaughters that are around Baylor's age.  I remember saying they could get married and Baylor could be Baylor Baylor (I know he would not usually take his wife's name but in 18 years, who knows)

Perhaps someday we will order him something from Baylor University.  

Happy Sixth Birthday

Baylor lasted in Meme's bed until around 2:30 am when I ran up to our bed to cuddle until morning.  When he woke up he asked if I could sing Happy Birthday to him and of course I did.  He was up early and since I had not slept well, I was a slow starter.  Being his birthday I let him pick what he wanted for breakfast.  He asked for one of the small white cakes I had made to go with the chocolate cake.  Not everyone likes chocolate so I had some white cupcakes and used one of the small round cakes for the mound on the birthday cake.  Of course there was a candle and of course there was singing.  It is good to be six and made to feel special so early on your birthday.

While we were waiting for my parents to arrive we looked through the photos of the day he was born, telling him about everything.  We saw photos of our tiny baby who has grown into a fun little boy. I think he liked see the photos and hearing the stories. When Grandma and Buddy arrived around noon it was finally time to open some gifts.  We opened Meme and Pap's first.  They bought him a motorcycle toy, a Spiderman puzzle and Spiderman glow stick wand.  

Grandma and Buddy bought him a new Spiderman backpack, How to Train Your Dragon II (which Gloria rented and we had watched on Friday and I cried during a sad part.  Baylor was there to comfort me), a cup with a B on it and some Jelly Belly jelly beans.  He was pretty excited about everything.  

Pap handed him some pocket money.  The boy has way more money than I do. 

Then it was time for hugs and thank yous.  It is hard to make them grateful and thankful but very important.  

Fianaly from Momma and me, Planes: Fire and Rescue and Hulk Hands.  

I forgot to get a photo of both Meme and Pap with Baylor as it was time to get going.  We had to pick up balloons on the way and then set up for the party.  The Brown's arrived at the same time to give us a hand setting up.  Many hands make light work is very true and I was thankful for their help.  The cake survived the trip with only a few broken leaves which I don't think anyone noticed.  

The girls placed the cupcakes around the cake and helped with the candles.  

Having it at the bowling alley set up was simple and easy.  Three tablecloths. party noise makers, plates, forks, napkins and snacks: cheese puffs, veggies chips, and grapes.  

And a felt banner I found at the Goodwill, in an unopened Target brand packaging.  It seems they give their unsold clearance items to the Goodwill and I was happy with my find. 

The kids started piling in and the bowling began.  We had three lanes but ended up using only two.  Thankfully some of the dads helped setting up the names on the scoreboards.  I hung out at the door to wait for the kids as they arrived and Gloria worked on the food others for the kids.  

The Brown's and the Hazel kids took lane one.  Cullen was set up on lane two for when he arrived a bit later.  

Caden, Ryder, Zayden, Landon, Kyle, and Baylor were on lane three.  And they were a crazy bunch.  But well behaved in their craziness.  

Zayen was the apparent pro bowler.  He was good on his own turn and helped the boys on their's.  He ended up with high score at the end.  

Ms Terri brought him a stuffed moose/reindeer which became the target of their games.  Hopefully he will not shed as much as Harry the monkey does!  

Meme and Pap sat in the back along with my parents and Heather.  Gloria was there most of the time talking to Terri and her other co-worker whose name I have forgotten but he is Kyle's grandpa.  

Baylor usually used the orange ball and did pretty good all in all.  

Around 3:15 we went into the party room and took a few photos.  There is that kindergarten smile!  

Since the food was running behind we hit the gifts first, which was just fine with Baylor.  

He received a lot of nice gifts that he was very excited about.  And around the time the food arrived Kartikey arrived as well.  His mom said he was not feeling well that day but they wanted to make it.  Baylor was very excited to see him there and they were beside each other for the rest of the party.  

After the food we hit the cake as it was getting towards the end of the party.  Heather took over the camera for me so I could focus on Baylor and the candles.  

She was taking a photo of the three of us and Kartikey was still talking to Baylor so we pulled him over to join us. 

And then we rounded up the troops for a group shot: Brigid, Connor, Cullen and Lochlan, Vanessa and Natalie, Caden, Kyle, Ryder, Landon, Caden, Baylor and Kartikey.  

The kids were really good about not blowing out the candles for Baylor and I had the kind that relight which is always fun!  

I hacked into the cake as the fondant made it tough to cut through.  But it tasted good and the kids liked eating leaves!  

I remembered his plate this year and only managed to snap one shot as I was busy serving cake. The kids seemed like they had a good time and when it was all over, we bundled up the trash in the table clothes and tossed them.  Several of the parents helped bag up the rest of the goods and we were cleaned up in about as much time as it took to set up.  Since Kartikey missed the bowling I talked to his mom taking them out somewhere on a play date.  

Baylor held a Lego Batman set the whole way home talking about it and what I was going to build first.  We quickly unpacked, sent some cake over to the neighbors as they had to leave early, and I sat down to put together the flying batmobile.  We opened pretty much everything else after the Legos were done and had fun seeing everything again,  He had a bath, eat some ham and cheese and chocolate mike and crashed on the couch.  It was a wonderful day and I feel truly blessed to be his mom.