Birthday Fun for JB's BFF

We've talked about it for WEEKS, and it finally arrived - Mac's birthday party at the lake!  JB and Mac remain best buddies, and we love watching their friendship grow and mature as they get older.  This past week Mac turned 4 years old, which made JB happy that they are, once again, the same age.

These boys are inseparable.   So much so that little sister got left out at times.  But she enjoyed playing with some of the big girls at the party! 

Since the birthday party fell on St. Patty's day, everyone had their green on. Except Wesley (sorry buddy!)  I'm hoping there is not a St. Patty's day photo in his baby book - oops!!

Love, love, LOVE these sweet friends (the whole McLeod family).  Happy Birthday, Mac!!

Music Class with Miss M (plus W!)

I've loved attending The Music Class sessions since JB was a wee one.  I wrote about that here and here. He looked so young then!

I'm so grateful they have the same program here in our little town - and after work, too!  Although JB has aged out of the "music pups" program, Maryn is at the perfect age to participate.  Wesley tags along with us, too (although many times he takes his last little cat nap during all the noise and chaos).  This past Monday we completed our last series: the Bear Collection.  JB and I participated in the Bear Collection back in 2014, and I felt waves of nostalgia every time I would hear one of his favorite songs.

Some funny stories about Maryn in music class:

• Maryn loves to collect everyone's instruments and put them in the bin.  She's quite the helper.  Although other kids like to help, too, and this leads to some tiffs.

• If children "taste" the instruments (not uncommon at this age), the teacher always asks for us to clean them before putting them in the bin. She'll proudly proclaim after the song "I no put in my mouth!" and also asks the kids AND the mamas if they put them in their mouth before she takes the instruments from them and puts them in the bin. I always have to tell her "no, Maryn, I did not put this shaker egg in my mouth." One time she responded back "good girl".

• The music frequently moves Maryn in a way that she tries to remove her shirt.  Have mercy, I surely hope she grows out of this before she's  a young college student at music festivals and on spring break!!!

• She's very protective/possessive of Wesley.  If other children try to come over to see him she gets right in their face and says "NO, he MY Wesley!!!"  

• Her favorite songs:  Skip to my Lou, Paw Paw Patch, Fingers Up, Clippity Klop, and Riding in my Car Now 

• The "Clippity Klop" song requires us to go different places. ("Clippity Klop, Clippity Klop, here we go to the ice cream shop" or "grandpa's house" or wherever the kids suggest.) Maryn always suggest that we go to "Local Yokal", her favorite breakfast joint.  It also requires us to sit in a circle, and Maryn does not always want to comply.

• Like many of the children, any song where they have to "roll the ball to the beat" (which rarely happens) is a total hit with Maryn.

• She's a total teacher's pet and demands the attention of Ms. Erica multiples times a class.

• The class takes place in a gym and the kids frequently get their energy out on the mats after class.  Maryn is as wild as the boys!

James likes to tease me "did Mama have fun in music class today?", as it's obvious I love it as much as the kids.  It's such a special time for us and I treasure all the memories!!  

Irish Balloon Festival

Another Friday, another St. Patty’s day themed event. We really celebrate around here. There are green bows and people dressed in green all over the town, all month long!

This past Friday the city hosted an Irish Balloon Festival, with hot air balloons from all over.  I hyped it up with JB, and he arrived excited to see and ride in a hot air balloon. (We quickly nixed that – Mama and Daddy are pretty risk adverse.)  He loved seeing all the balloons go from basket and small, packed nylon bundle to huge blown-up balloon.  Actually, we enjoyed it, too! It's pretty cool to watch up close.

(Well, everyone but Maryn. She said it was “scar-wy”. Especially when they would blow the torch and she heard/saw the huge fireballs so close up!!) 

The kids got to run around with school friends, and we enjoyed chatting with folks from the community.  They had two balloons offering “tethered” flights (where they only went up a bit and stayed tethered to the ground), but with long lines and fading kiddos we opted out of it.  Tethered is definitely a better alternative to going up. Maybe next year! 

Such a fun evening that closed with a late night dinner at the country club. Somehow everyone managed to keep it together long enough for us to enjoy our dinner, drink an adult beverage, and easily go to bed a good 2 hours after bedtime.  Love these kiddos – we’ll keep them J

Piglets in the Park

The city kicked off the annual St. Patrick's Day festivities (there are scores of them, all month long) with Pig in the Park, a BBQ contest.  We had plans to attend on Friday night to listen to live music, feast on BBQ from all the different contestants, and stay out too late. However, recovering kiddos (strep) and lack of a babysitter meant we could not.

However, we did stop by on Saturday morning to check in with all the people we knew battling it out.  We got to sample a few ribs, look in lots of pits (more exciting for James than me), and then enjoyed some kid-friendly things in the park.  The day was gorgeous!  I wish I had a picture of our little ones in front of this GIANT pig made out of a hay bale, but, alas, our little piglets refused.... Here is what I did capture on camera:

First, Maryn finally, FINALLY got brave enough to ride a pony.  The pink saddle convinced her.

JB would only ride the largest pony, and expressed disappointment that they didn't have any large stallions for him to ride. He's an old pro now - future rodeo star??

JB slid down the massive slide umpteen times.  It never gets old for him!

Maryn said she wanted to slide, too, and we paid the money and took off her shoes. Just then an older child got on the slide with her face painted - cue the freak out from Maryn!! Girlfriend just can't handle face paint (or masks, or costumes.)

Finally, JB asked to ride this small attraction.  Although his Mama said "no", his Daddy said "yes, and I'll come with you". They rode it (while I held onto the baby AND Maryn, who was still recovering from the face paint episode.)

Fun day!  We came home smelling like BBQ - but there are worse things, right?? :)

Two and a Half Years Old - Sweet Miss M

This little fireball, who is as salty as she is sweet.  Who makes us laugh, shout (and her brothers cry).  Who radiates joy, but can cut you to the bone with just one look.  Who never stops moving, investigating, or getting into mischief.  Our little red-headed girl is now two and a half years old!

When I wrote about baby Maryn during her first year, I envisioned she would become this laid back, mild mannered, easy going toddler.  Little did we know the strong personality that would develop in two short years. People who don't live in our house are probably thinking "what, Maryn?? That sweet, calm, gentle child??"  Yes, that's the one! She a force in our home!

But, oh, this girl.  We are totally and completely in love with her.  She's our "Sis", and she brings an energy to our family that is hard to describe.  And she's great about going with the flow - just as long as she's in the flow. (Maryn suffers from serious FOMO - fear of missing out.)

Some things I want to remember about Maryn at 2.5 years old (more funny stories than stats - but, for the record, she's about 27 lbs.)

• She adores school and would go every single day.  Even when it's not her day, she tries to convince us that it is.  When certain friends are not at school, she comes home and tells us with this sad, pouty face.  She's very social and loves people.

• Maryn also loves books (current favorite: Are You My Mother) and insists on keeping nearly her entire library in her crib.  There is hardly room for her!

• Speaking of a crib, she's still in it (with no signs of escaping!)  She's the BEST sleeper.  We had a period a few months ago where she would wake up and cry for us to come lay by her.  This lasted two weeks, but now she's back to easy-peasy naptime/bedtime routine. She'll talk, sing, read and play in her crib before and after waking. If you try to get her up before she's ready she'll make you pay.

• Every night she gets the throw pillow from her rocking chair and lays it beside her bed, asking us to "lay down wit me" and sing to her while we hold her hand through the crib bars. Favorite night time songs right now: Jesus Loves Me, Wheels on the Bus, You are My Sunshine

• In the car and while we're playing or swinging, we sing Skip to my Lou and The Paw Paw Patch fourteen thousand times a day.  

• Maryn loves and seeks out clothes with pockets, and will secretly hide contraband (her pacis, rocks, acorns, food, other chocking hazards) in her pockets. If you have pockets she'll stick her hands in there to check out what you may be hiding.  If she doesn't have pockets, sometimes she just sticks things down her pants!

• We've worked so hard to limit pacis to naptime and bedtime - and she normally complies because (I think) she realizes that pushing the limits may result in complete elimination of her precious pink "papis". 

• (If she gets super upset during the day (e.g. she's hurt, we reprimand her, she doesn't get her way, etc), she will run over to Wesley, sobbing, and steal his paci - sometimes right out of his mouth!)

• Maryn loves Wesley so much. She makes these super high-pitched squeals and talks baby talk to him (in the same high pitched tone), getting right in his face. She frequently kisses him on the lips, squeezes him, or head butts him.  Fortunately Wes doesn't seem to mind - in fact, she can elicit the biggest laughs from him!

• She also loves her big brother - and loves, loves to aggravate him.  Some days it seems to be her most important mission in life.  Normally she calls him "Bubbies" but when she's mad at him or wants him to do something she refers to him by his given name.  She can say "JB" more sternly than his own Mama.  

• Maryn is terrified of certain things, including anybody dressed in character, very large stuffed animals (like JB's 5ft Roddy Potty bear), masks, live animals, and the Easter Bunny. Now that stores have put out their Easter stuff, she keeps asking me, in a nervous voice, if the Easter Bunny is coming and reminding me that she DOES NOT WANT TO SEE HIM.  I can barely get her to enter the mall, no matter what time of year, for fear of that stinkin' Bunny.

• She is still the BEST eater. Maryn will eat a wide variety of food, but some things she loves that are not normal toddler favs:  pork skins, sauteed spinach, hard boiled eggs, asparagus, grape tomatoes, olives.  Before trying any new food, she'll narrow her eyes and inquire, suspiciously, "is spicy??"  (That is how I keep all my sweet treats away from her - I tell her they're super spicy!) She'll begrudgingly share her food, but will only give you a teeny tiny crumb if you ask for a bite.

• She asks for pancakes every morning, and she specifically asks to go to Local Yokel (the neighborhood breakfast joint) on Saturdays. She is the slowest eater, though, and sometimes frequently we've cleaned up the kitchen all before she finally cleans her plate and brings it to the sink.

• And, yes, she does bring her plate to the sink. She's also super helpful with many other chores.  Miss M loves to pitch in - as long as it's on her terms and she's not being asked to do something (in typical toddler style).

• Another typical toddler trait - Maryn lays claim to just about everything in her world.  The stray cat in the neighborhood is "MY ki' cat".  The little duck who circles the neighborhood pond; "MY duck, he MY duck".  

• Similar to the pacis, we've not pushed the potty too much with Maryn. She's very good about going when it crosses her mind or when we ask her to, but she's not consistent.  I'm sure with a little coaxing we could train this smart girl, but...I don't know.  I'm in no hurry.

• And speaking of potty - her brother has taught her silly potty words and she thinks it's SO FUNNY to repeat them. She loves to scrunch up her nose, wave her hand in front of her face, and squeal "shoo wee!" when something (including her) is stinky.

• Overall, Maryn's language capabilities grow every single day.  She's still hard to understand for everyone but us, but I don't mind all that much. It's like we have a secret language in our family.  We get "Maryn speak" and it's precious. 

There are probably a million other things I'm missing.  Like her fierce hugs, that she loves accessories and jewelry, asks for me to put her hair in "piggies", and chooses to wear a too small, super faded Playa del Carmen tie-dyed souvenir shirt at least 3 times a week.

Maryn Elizabeth, you light up our lives.  We love you so very much and are thankful God trusted us to raise you, His precious child.

(Click here for her 18 month post. Same dress, same flowers, same Maryn - but what a difference a year makes!!)