A Sad Day for Mommy

This morning mommy did something that I am semi excited about and she is semi sad about - she signed me up for preschool. I'll be starting in September and in a 3 year old class. I guess I'll be the oldest kid in the class as I'll turn 4 on the 3rd day. One thing I'm super excited about is that my bud Ethan is going to be in my class!

Blog Catch Up

Wow - it has been a long time since I've been able to post something on here. We were gone for a long time for Christmas and then daddy asked mommy to put the laptop in the shop when we got back. The laptop came home yesterday although there are still problems with it, but mommy can at least put up a posting!

Let's see - Christmas was wonderful. I had such a nice time with my family. First we went to Austen's house and stayed the night. Aunt Mimi had her knee fixed while we went to lunch with daddy's friend Mr Cory and his family. Then we went to where the Gators play football at the Swamp! Mommy was snapping pictures left and right and telling me things like "That's where I sat as a little girl and dreamed of going to college at UF." How silly she is. We headed on to Papa and Nanny's. We did things like go to St Augustine (mommy did that "this is where we honeymooned and this is the artist in mommy and daddy's bedroom", etc.). It was all good though because I ate some good fish and had gelato! We also saw Santa Claus come by on a firetruck, saw lots of really nice lights at First Coast lights, searched for Cars characters, and had the Erickson side over for Christmas day.

So Santa Claus came, the elf went back to the North Pole, and I finished my Lego advent calendar. I got all kinds of cool presents like a magnifying glass, binoculars, special cars (Hotwheels), a bike, a bat, balls, and glove, games, a doodlepro, Cars watch, and much more. It is embarrassing really how many presents I got. Mommy and daddy are saving most of the money I got for shoes and clothes too since they think I have too much money in my college fund for a 3 year old.

We saw the Ratliff side at Mammaw's for a night too. We had lots of fun and of course Uncle Mike treated me to ice cream as usual. When we finally came home I was surprised because I thought we had permanently moved into the van. Oh and I didn't mention that we were all sick during the vacation and daddy continued to be ill for a week or so after we came home.

On New Years Eve, we headed over to the Fun Basement or otherwise known as the Lowe home. I played and then Ethan, Parker, and I went to sleep in Ethan's bedroom. Mommy and daddy said I just picked my nose until I went to sleep. We came home the next year they said (although usually when they say that, a year feels like a lot longer).

The weekend of the 13th of January we went to Uncle John and Aunt Amy's new house in Coaling. It is really nice and a lot bigger than their old home. Aunt Amy is going to have a baby that I'm told will be another cousin for me to play with. It was funny to see her belly and my mommy's belly together. They both have what I like to call "speed bumps". Anyway the women all went off to give Aunt Amy a shower, but I think baths are much more fun.

That Wednesday night, I had a first! It snowed here and stuck for a while. We went out before dinner and played in the snow. We threw snowballs at each other and my neighborhood friends were out there to play with as well. It was so cold, but a lot of fun. Mommy said she liked the snow here because it is nice to see but it goes away. We saved some in the freezer!

Mommy told us we weren't going anywhere until our baby comes when we got back from AL. But that Wednesday night, they told me we were going to see Austen the next day. We arrived there in the middle of the night Thursday night and Austen was already asleep. But I got to spend the entire day on Friday with my Austen. Aunt Mimi and Uncle Billy (he let me throw play doh!) watched me while daddy and mommy went to do something else. We had lunch the next day with Mr Jason and Ms Amy. They are so cool and live near the beach. Anyway, when we got home there was more snow and it stayed for like 3 days!

On the 20th, we went to Medieval Times for dinner and a show. We had a black and white knight to yell for even though he didn't win. It was a great time and we had the Stewarts and Greenes go with us which made it even more special. Did I mention that we went to the castle to celebrate daddy's birthday? He is an old man now that he is 30. In fact I have told both mommy and daddy that they are old because I felt they needed to know.

I'm keeping my pull up dry finally. I still haven't given into the whole going number 2 in the potty but I think I might in time. Mommy said that I have to go all in the potty before I start school next year. We visited a couple of schools and mommy says she's signing me up here in a day or two. I don't know much about what to expect but I had fun visiting the school. It looks cool at least.

This morning mommy and daddy were stressed out because I tried to give Pumba some hot water. Some water leaked over the edge and got on the floor. No big deal. Then later mommy and daddy were stressed out because the ceiling in the basement was wet and coming apart. I don't have a clue how that happened, but I'm told it was due to my giving Pumba water but I don't understand how that could be.

Well I guess that's all for now. I hope that my next posting won't take so long.

I'm Sick

I have a cold and it is not fun. I've been coughing for days and last night my nose started running. Mommy is making me stay home all day today. I could run around and be fine but for some reason my parents don't like the sound of me trying to cough up a lung.

Santa and Gingerbread Houses

Update on our Christmas activities - Let's see...Monday Ethan and I took Ms Stephanie and mommy to see Santa Claus. I told him the usual - that I wanted a magnifying glass. He didn't seem to think that was enough, so I went all out and asked for a chicken spotter. I think Santa was confused so mommy told him that binoculars would do.

Thursday mommy made a Christmas tree cake and I helped decorate it. We took it to playgroup Friday morning to eat. We also made a gingerbread house which is causing me tremendous grief. I was caught eating some candy off of it (it just looks so yummy) and had to go to time out for like the billionth time today. And tonight we're going to a big dinner for church group. I hear it is the last one of the year, so I am going to have lots of fun.

Oh and the other night (Dec. 8th mommy tells me) we went to a town far away called Bethlehem. There were angels, Mary and Joseph, and scary Roman soldiers. But I think it was all make believe. At the end, there was a baby Jesus. I don't understand it all but it was kind of neat. Afterwards we went for pizza at the Mellow Mushroom. Groovy place with yummy pizza.


Oh and Santa sent his elf, Bernard, to watch over me. He seems to be hiding during the day. We leave him food at night and he eats it, plays with something, and leaves his elf hat out so that we know he came. He's supposed to be reporting to Santa on my behavior, so I've been trying to just misbehave when I'm not home. I also think that Bernard needs to be told on. Can you believe he took ornaments off of the tree? You know I get in big trouble when I do that.

Every morning this month I've been opening my Lego City Advent Calendar. I have been getting all kinds of neat Legos to add to my collection.

Visit to Fire Station #24

This morning the mom's group from church went to the fire station to visit the firemen and stuff. We watched a movie about fire safety and oh I wish I had it at home. If you didn't know, I'm a sucker for safety. I love to learn about ways to be safe. Then a fireman put on his fireman clothes. He had boots, pants, a jacket, hat, gloves, a mask with air tank, and of course a flashlight. I think the other kids were scared of him, but I went up to the fireman with Parker and saw that it was just a man inside of there. Then we went to the garage and got in a real fire truck and played around it. It was so cool. The firemen even took us in their sleeping area where they try to rest when they are on their 24 hour shift. We gave the firemen some homemade cookies that I helped bake. I was proud that I was able to share with the firemen. It was a good time.

Breakfast with Santa

I think I started my blog about the time when I went to eat breakfast with the Easter Bunny. Well last Saturday, Dec. 1st, I got to have breakfast with the one and only Santa Claus. I arrived at the mall very early Saturday morning filled with excitement. We got our food and there he came - Santa himself! He picked me up and let daddy take a picture. I also got some goodies and a cool space DVD. After that was over, daddy, mommy, and I walked around the mall for exercise. We of course went to the Apple and game stores. Daddy and I played on the white thing that you can stomp on and play games for a while. I was so tired but it was a good day.

My Thanksgiving Holiday

Well we got home from a week in Milton Friday night really late. We went to Pappaw, Granna, and Aunt Jamie's. Daddy, Pappaw, and Uncle John took me to a place full of airplanes called the Naval Aviation Museum. I got to get into planes and push all kinds of buttons. Pappaw took me to the gift shop and I picked out a bucket of airplanes with a plastic airplane mat. I am actually playing with them right now. I have not let them get too far from my sight. Then one day it was Aunt Jamie's 16th birthday (which means I'm officially 15.5 myself). She rented a jumpy thing, had a dj, and lots of people. One of my favorite people, Jada, was there. She played with me and we had fun. I took a big bubble bath in Granna's tub several times. We also went to Panama City to see the Hardmans. We played putt putt golf. It was my first time and I got a hole in 1 on hole number 10, whatever that means. I got a token for Pappaw because of it. He took my picture in a huge pile of tokens and said I was going to be on the front page of a major token publication (come on Pappaw, a major publication?) for the state of Florida. I guess it is helpful when your Pappaw writes the newsletter to get the front cover. Anyway, we had a blast with our Texas family - did I mention we went to the beach and I got in the gulf? And we visited Grandma and Tata's, saw Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, and other fun stuff. Oh and there was this big meal with some extra corn (if I ate corn, I would have had some) with fancy plates and stuff. Mommy and daddy had to grab my plate when I almost threw it. Something about Granna having that plate for nearly 37 years or something...Anyway I had cheese and crackers, forget all that homemade turkey, sweet potato casserole, dressing, yeast rolls, etc. It was a sad day when we had to leave and come home. But we did go to Cooper's Tree Farm the next day and get our Christmas tree. Mommy's decorated the house for Christmas. I'm having a lot of fun with the decorations - especially the turkey that sings Deck the Halls that Nanny gave me last year. Whew! I'm tired and have to clean up the destruction I brought upon the house today.