It's Strawberry Time

The past couple of weeks are why people live in Texas. Weather in the 70s, low humidity, bright sunny skies, wild flowers and Blue Bonnets every where...and...strawberries. This kind of weather is just asking for a body to be outside walking, biking or picking strawberries.

Baby Bear and I headed out on Saturday for a strawberry picking session. She picked ...and ate....about 3. When I told her she was not allowed to eat them after picking...she lost interest and discovered worms. There seemed to be a worm migration going on near the strawberry patch, so we played with worms for awhile. I picked a few more berries and we headed off (after "freeing" all the worms).

The trip was quite fun....though, I could do without picking up worms. Since 75% of her good friends are boys, there seems to be no hope but that she will be a tom boy.

Where oh where has this blogger been

Been round the world and back again. OK, not really. Just have not been in blogger mode lately. However, as the readers of this are my family who tell me that this is the only way they receive information on the daily events of Baby Bear, it is time to get going again.

We are officially in spring here down south. The sun is shining. The azaleas are bursting with color. And, the tree pollen covers everything! Daddy Bear has swept and blown and watered down the back porch and lawn furniture umpteen times. Still, sitting on the lawn chairs means a nice greenish colored tuckus. Oh well, that is why they made laundry soap. Because the weather is so nice, we have spent many an hour sitting in the back yard watching baby bear ride her bike, swing on the swing, run the dog weave poles, and, lately, hide and find Easter eggs.

Here are a few photos from the church Easter egg hunt this weekend. Baby Bear found a total of four eggs...and that was with significant prodding. After picking up the first egg and discovering it had goodies in the center, she was totally focussed on the goodies of that egg and did not want to be bothered by gathering any more eggs.

Who Dat

Two days to the Superbowl. We are so excited that the Saints have finally made it. It sounds like "everyone" is picking the Colts to win...but, for now, we are just basking in the glory of finally seeing our 'Aints' become the Saints!

Success Continues

We are still on the "right" track with regards to poop. We have had one accident but a couple more successes. To help speed things along, we are using bribery (yes, we have no morals). Baby Bear has wanted a James the Train for awhile (she even asked Santa) but we have been holding this one out for just this occasion. Thus, we set up a poop chart. We are 3/5ths of the way there. She is so excited with each dot that we fill in.

OK, enough about poop.

HOW BOUT THOSE SAINTS!!! WHO DAT!

Poo away!

One more milestone reached! As I have written, we have been "potty" trained for awhile but have had no success with number two. When talking to Baby Bear, she knew exactly where poo is supposed to go. She just chose not to go there for her own reasons - obstinance, fear, who knows. (I have really gotten to dislike changing dirty panties....they are ever so much worse than a dirty diaper).

Today, we have successfully deposited poo in the potty. YIPPEE!! I hope this is a first step toward being a toilettiere (this is from the Bear in the Big Blue House). She was so excited that she accomplished this feat and so was I. We had to call Grandma and tell her what a big girl she is. Of course, she also earned a big milkshake.

Also as a celebration, we all had strawberrys together. We all held the green end and toasted with the red end. Baby Bear always had the largest strawberry, because she is a big girl.

It has been in the 70s all week. Gotta love that about the south. We had our week of "real" winter weather (30s). Now we can get on with being a southern state and enjoying nice weather.

Off to the big bad world

I spoke to my nephew this afternoon, just an hour before he ships out. His first voyage with the Navy. He was excited, scared, nervous, anxious. He has undergone many changes in the last year. From small town Nebraska to a base in Japan and now off on his maiden voyage seeing sights and having experiences that most of us can never imagine. I am so proud of him.

I am loving this computer age. When I was a tot, the science fiction movies showed the ability to talk to anyone anywhere, now it is true. Via Skype, I had a three way conversation with my mom and my sister in three different states. Best yet...it did not cost anything (if you don't count the cost of computers. ;) )

Baby Bear is kind of getting into the horrible three's. (We missed the Terrible Twos so maybe we are due.) We were having spaghetti for dinner. She had finished what she wanted so was playing with her food. For some reason, she decided she did not want the noodles on her plate so decided to put them on my place mat. I asked her not to put the noodles on the table. She very succinctly told me she had put them on my place mat and not on the table. Sigh.

Happy 2010

Happy New Year. OK...a tad late. Also, happy bday to my big sis. OK...late on that as well. I tried to make it up to her by flying out to see her (OK...I am actually flying out for work and was going to sneak away for a late bday dinner) but she bagged on me. Oh well.

Just returned from a weekend in New Orleans. Was both a good and dificult trip. We stayed with some friends, who are much like us (old with kids). The kiddos had great fun. Us parents were worn out just watching them play. Baby Bear stayed with them while we went to a wedding (was an ex-coworker of Daddy Bear). Was fun meeting up with some old friends. All our lives have moved on since we lived in New Orleans. Was a bit shocking to me how our lives have diverged. We now have the munchkin and they all had older kids (who are now older and even less a factor in their lives)....we are into Thomas the Train, they are in to dining out, tennis at the club, etc.

Have to say, New Orleans looks great. It has really come back from Katrina. There are still houses that are empty and gutted but many roads have been redone, restaurants seem to be at full tilt. The attitude of the people we ran into at the airport, hotel, etc was back to the southern charm that we knew and loved. I forgot how just plain nice people of NO are. Welcome back NOLA!