May 17 2009

a wonderful day together

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Hey Baby Girl –

We just had the most wonderful day together!! Because it’s late, I’m going to post the pictures now, and write to you about it tomorrow.

Thanks for such an incredible day!

It started out with swinging in the backyard in our jammies!! Now, how could a day go wrong with such a wonderful start?!?

Then breakfast in the 3-season room:

breakfast

Then some flower picking and arranging:
flower arranging

A totally fun puzzle building experience – You are SO GREAT at puzzles!!
our puzzle

Then we made lunch together – some grilled cheese and tomato soup – yum!
lunch

After a failed attempt at a nap, you engaged in a little dress-up time. This is actually my new skirt transformed into a princess dress!!

dress 2
dress 3
dress 4

We then ventured out to the “Useum” with your Daddy. Check out your outfit – totally “Sarah Ella” (from the book we read at night called “Sarah Ella Gets Dressed” – a classic for sure!) Clearly, you can take full credit for the stunning ensemble. 😉 I wouldn’t want it ANY other way!
useum 1
useum 2
useum 3
useum 4
useum 5
useum 6

After dinner at Friendly’s (your request)…
dinner

… your Daddy went to work and you and I took a dip in the hot tub.

COMPLETELY out of the blue, you and all of a sudden you yelled, “An Airplane!!!!!”

10 seconds or so later you yelled at the top of your lungs in the direction of that airplane, “I LOVE YOU DADDY JIM!!!!”

Daddy Jim left yesterday for a conference in CA – You knew he was going to be on a big airplane and not coming home for a bit… It was very sweet.

Clearly, we had a wonderful day!! Tomorrow you will spend the morning at Cobblestone School – a trial run for preschool next year. It is the school where Madeline and Daniel go and one of the top candidates for your elementary education. You’ve spent some time there, and so far, you love it. We’ll see how tomorrow goes… All in God’s hands, right?

Love you Peanut Butter – *Mommi

May 16 2009

big news is official

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So this is the email that my Dean sent out to everyone yesterday:

Subject line: Good News

The Board of Trustees has just voted this morning on awarding promotion and tenure to MJ Curry and April Luehmann – congratulations! Raffaella

This tenure andpromotion thing is a very big thing where I work – and not so easy to achieve. You are telling people “Mommi got tenure” but you also asked – “Mommi, what IS tenure?” I tried hard, but I don’t think I was successful in helping you understand. The wonderful thing is that you are still very happy for me! Really what that means is that I will be more able to spend time with YOU!!

associate

This is a picture of my science education master’s students and me today at graduation:
grad picture09

So, here is an interesting story – I try hard, as a Mom, not to sweat the small stuff. You want to wear your fancy dress to school? No problem. In the sandbox? Okay. Four days out of five in a week? Sure. I don’t mind you exploring what it means to handle “fragile” things, and if there is an accident, that’s okay too. All that said, here’s the situation.

I bought you a doll from Israel. (I secretly fell in love with this doll). I have decided it will be the focal point for your room, and eventually we will paint your room using the colors of this doll as a guide. I place this sweet doll on the dresser to protect it from all the loving the rest of your toys receive… Hmmm…

True to your 4-year old nature, that which is forbidden becomes MOST attactive. You really want to play with this doll. Sigh. What do I say? You can’t play with the doll I gave you? Silliness. Okay, I sigh. And as soon as you turn your attention, I place it back on the dresser. This goes on for weeks!

Then, the night before last, you asked for it yet again – and you took it to bed with you. Okay – I was tired – whatever.

In the middle of the night, you come to me b/c you had your first accident. Okay, we clean you up, get new jammies, put you back to bed. The next morning when I’m cleaning up your room… you guessed it. You peed RIGHT ON THE DOLL!!! I could not believe it!!! UGH! (Don’t worry, the story turns out just fine.)

When you were with your Daddy today, I gave our little doll a bath – Check it out:

baby takes a bath

baby gets dried off

baby air dries

The whole experience made my laugh so hard. All’s well that ends well. 🙂
I love you Peanut Butter. Thank you for the many ways you help me surrender.
You are so very good for me!!

May 6 2009

hey there baby

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I’m back.

It’s been a while, but I got my exciting news yesterday afternoon, and you were the first I told. My news means that I am prioritizing my writing to you again!! I’ve missed it… a lot!

You have grown SO MUCH since i wrote last. You have grown in height, in intellect, in wit, and in emotional maturity! I can’t tell you how much I totally love to spend time with you! We snuggle, we laugh our rear ends off, we dance, we make up make-believe songs ALL the time, we “socialize.”

Some Maya-ism’s going on right now:
* You’re still a TOTAL outside girl!! Can’t get enough! And you’re never clean 😉 (I wouldn’t want it any other way!)
* A couple of your fun words are
“echersize” (for exercise)
“dissedappeared” (for disappeared)
* “I love you Mom… to the Sun and Back.. One hundred sixty, nine, twenty, seven, eleven times.” “That’s a lot!”
* Mom? In the morning, will you set up my bed? Because it looks like a disaster. And I can’t yet because I am still little.”
* “Mom? Mom?” I walk in from the other room and kneel down in front of you. “Yes sweetie?” “Mom?” (pause) “I am sooo very sorry.” “For what Baby?” (pause as you gentle stroke my hand) “For all the bad things I have ever done. I am so very sorry.”
* Last night was your first night with no pull-ups at night – ALL DONE! You’re officially a big girl.
* You are very particular about what you will wear each day – and, as far as I can tell, it is COMPLETELY unpredictable!

Okay – here are some recent pictures.

butterfly1
butterfly2
buttefly3
cj and maya1
cj and maya2cj and maya 3

jeremiah
maya and friend
my maya
swim
You can really swim – bottom in the air, face in the water and kicking like crazy. You haven’t quite figured out the breathing thing yet, but give it another week! 🙂

I love you Baby… with my WHOLE HEART!!! And then some!

butterfly 4 again

Feb 23 2009

yesterday…

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out of the blue, you said (during dinner at Great Northern after an afternoon of skiing):

“Mama – I want to be just like you.”

I melted in every way possible.

Then today I heard this song and melted some more:

I so love being your Mom!

Jan 4 2009

your first haircut…ever

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okay, well it was just a trim

but it seems like a big deal… so here are some pictures from the event.

Your best friend, Siobhan, Daddy Jim and I took you after we went to see the play, “Stuart Little.” Tanya cut your hair and did a great job – it’s much healthier now.

I love watching you grow Peanut – it is so fun.

haircut1

haircut2

haircut3

haircut4

haircut5

Jan 2 2009

end of the year report

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Well Baby Girl – It’s the end of the year and I’ve survived a very crazy semester. It’s the first semester that I had to do a VERY full load of work while taking care of you pretty much on my own. Of course, Daddy Jim helps when he can, but I needed to try to figure much of it out on my own. On top of that, I needed to turn in a VERY BIG packet of materials called my tenure portfolio to demonstrate that I have been effective in my job over the past six years and should be able to continue. ANNNNND we sold our house and moved this past semester in addition to taking a number of trips to Israel, Ohio and Minnesota.

All of this to say, I haven’t done the best job in keeping up with you blog. I will try to catch up now and do much better in 2009.

Let’s see – major events since Halloween include:
* Thanksgiving in Ohio with both Daddy’s family and Daddy Jim’s family.
* Your first sleep-over at a friend’s house (Siobhan’s) and at your house (with Siobhan)
* Your class fieldtrip to see the Nutcracker
* Baking days with Siobhan and friends and then later with Auntie Judi and Uncle Jim
* Finding and decorating our Christmas tree with Madeline, Daniel and Daddy Jim
* Christmas time in Minnesota with Oma & Opa, Uncle Mark, Auntie Biance & Niklas, and Auntie Amy & Elsiabeth

Oct 31 2008

happy halloween PRINCESS

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What would you like to dress up as for Halloween, Peanut?

A Princess!

Are you sure? Maybe a lion instead? A penguin?

No! I want to be a princess.

And a princess you were – the most wonderful princess of all!

Daddy and I took you trick-or-treating tonight with your dear friend Marlie after a quick pizza dinner together. You were SO excited to put on your BEAUTIFUL dress complete with tiara, earrings, boa and a light-up wand!! WOW!!! Talk about pretty in pink!

You were so excited. You and Marlie chased ahead of one another and yelled “Line Leader!” (This must be a day care role that everyone covets.) You yelled “Trick-or-treating!!!” and “Happy Halloween!!” at the doors and seemed to be able to talk EVERYONE into a second piece of candy.

Here are some pictures of our wonderful night!

tt2

A highlight was DEFINITELY bumping into HANNAH and family!!
tt hannah

mommy susan

tt1

tt daddy

tt3

tt4

mommi

sleeping

Peanut, you are SUCH A JOY to be with! Thank you for being so wonderfully you!

Aug 29 2008

end of an era… no longer a spruce

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You are SO cute when you say it… “I’m not a Spruce. Now I’m a Cedar.” You have graduated to Al and Angela’s room. Maritza and DeeDee have been SO wonderful! You couldn’t wait to go to school every day – even on Saturday’s and Sunday’s, you asked if you could go. You were so persistent when Oma and Opa stayed with you that they walked you to school to SHOW you that all the teachers were home resting. 🙂

maritza and maya

This is what Maritza wrote to you today:

Today is the last day of Maya as a Spruce. Maya gave us extra hugs and kisses! She seems very interested and ready for the Cedar Room. Maya has grown a great deal, not just physically but emotionally and socially. Maya is a beautiful girl with a great personality. She’s loving and caring. She has a very special place in our hearts and we will miss her greatly! Thank you so much for the opportunity of working with Maya. It has been our pleasure! -Maritza

And Dee Dee wrote this beautiful letter (typed on very pretty letterhead with the title “Time to say goodbye!”):

Dear Maya:

Our year has come to an end. I am heart-broken and full of numerous emotions.

I feel very lucky because I had the pleasure of getting to know you. Delighted for having the opportunity to see your grow and change from day to day… getting a couple pounds heavier and a few inches taller, smarter, more responsible and the list goes on and on. Sad to see you move on and no longer having the opportunity to spend almost a full day with you. However, I will see you around and I am sure you will have time to share all the amazing things you are learning in the Cedar Room.

It was amazing seeing you accomplish great things. Using hte potty, getting dressed and undressed, and girl, you learned fast! I remember that a couple times during naptime, I looked to check if you were sleeping and you, my little girl, were practically naked. I used to call you “my naked girl” and you would laugh and giggle and tell me I was funny and silly. Seeing you become more independent by pouring your own cereal and milk, making choices about the toys you wanted to play with,etc. And who can forget the look on your face when you were able to do all the above things on your own.

I’m sure it was very difficult for Mommy and Daddy because all of a sudden, in less than a blink of an eye, their little caterpillar was turning into a beautiful butterfly. Ready to spread her wings and fly in front of their eyes without being able to do anything about it. But I am sure they are very happy and proud of you like Maritza and me.

Thank you for being who you are, so caring, loving, sweet, respectful, polite, good-hearted, wonderful daughter and always willing to share with friends whatever you brought from home. Thank you for teaching me the butterfly and the nose kiss… for making me laugh, for those extra hgus and kisses when I needed them most, for all your love, your charisma, sympathy, etc.

You will always have a special place in my heart. I am very sure the Cedar Room teachers will fall in love wiht you the same way Maritza and I did.

I will miss you greatly. -Dee Dee

Ellen, Sheryl, Becky, Bonnie, Orlean and Missi add to Maritza and DeeDee to be your “village” – looking after you, helping you grow and loving you every step of the way. We are so blessed to have all of them in our lives, Peanut! Thanks God!!