Bella's First Sleepover

Bella had her first sleepover on May 14th (yes I am that far behind still). Jordon, from Bella's former daycare, came over and the girls immediately decided to dress up. All three girls got along, except Becca was very upset that she had to go to her room to sleep by herself. At about 10:30 I had to sit in Bella's bedroom for a little while so that Jordan and Bella could fall asleep. In the morning they enjoyed a special treat of cartoons and cereal on the couch.

Mother's Day 2011

Mother's day was really nice. Todd and the girls made breakfast for me. We went to church, and then I made lunch for my momma.

I have tried to get a picture of me and the girls every mother's day. 

It is somewhat satisfying to hear my dad say that I am a good cook. He is a much more, shall we say, discerning food connoisseur. 

Everyone enjoying lunch.

The girls have discovered how to take pictures on my phone. It can entertain them for several minutes at a time. Here is one with me getting in on the action.

Another trip to the Arboredum

The girls and I have found that our day goes by quickly when we plan something to do in the morning. So the arboredum has become a nice place for us to go. They change it up with the seasons so it is fun to go back several times a year. Having pretend tea is a favorite thing of the girls. They make some of the best tea or coffee - some examples would include chocolate, almond, oatmeal coffee and peanut butter tea.

Mema's Easter Visit

It has become an annual tradition that Mema and Grandpa visit during Easter. This Easter was no different, and the girls really enjoyed the visit. Bella likes to know exactly how many days they will be staying so that she can keep the countdown going. Making sugar cookies when Mema visits has also become a tradition. If fact, recently we went to decorate a cupcake and Bella asked the guy behind the counter, "Is that buttercream frosting?" Thanks Mema.

Cookie making is always messy. Good thing she has an apron.

Mema also got to attend the Kindermusik class with Becca and me. Becca loves kindermusik, so it was nice that she was able to share this time with Mema.

All the girls listening to storytime.

Mema is a good sport and is shaking her tail feathers like a duck.

 We also attended a Ranger game whle Grandpa and Mema were here. It was a hot Good Friday and we were in the sun for the first half of the game. But it was fun.

We come prepared!

Look, even the cousins like playing with beanie babies.

Bella and Mema bonded over crafts. They did several peg crafts. I'm not sure who enjoyed it more, Bella or Mema. In fact Mema enjoyed it so much, she bought additional supplies.

Easter Hunts

Getting a hug from the Easther Bunny

Riding the train at the Mom's Club Easter Hunt

On the hunt at in the church playground

The Northlake preschool Easter egg hunters.

Apparently, you have to wear shades to hunt eggs in your own backyard. 

Hunting for eggs is always fun with the cousins. Who cares that they take most of the eggs.

Obligatory Bluebonnet Picture

Every spring I see the bluebonnets and think, oh I need to get a picture of the girls in the bluebonnets, but inevitablly, in my quest to find that perfect, beautiful, convenient spot, the bluebonnets would begin to fade before I would find that spot. So this year I was bound and determine to be a good mother, and get that Texas Bluebonnet Picture! FAIL. It appears I waited too long again to get a good one, even with all the extra time of a SAHM. So these are the pictures I had to settle for. Oh, well, there is always next year. Wouldn't want to knock everything off my list at once. (note Becca's bangs).

Mommy and Me

While I wasn't as anxious to keep up with Mommy school I was anxious to knock out all the activities I'd been missing. All the museum mommy and me days. All the holiday special events. So we started with the Dallas Arboretum. Since it was still spring when I declared it summer vacation, the girls had to wear shirts under their sundresses. Grammy went with us, and we had a picnic lunch on the big lawn. There was also a petting zoo. All in all, a fun day. And everyone went home and took a nap, including Grammy and Mommy.

Next on the list was the Science Museum and Children's Museum. Also a good time. And we also packed a lunch and enjoyed it at Fair Park. There was also a dinosaur exhibit that was a lot of fun.

Mommy as Teacher

With Becca's surgery behind us, I started my own version of preschool. I turned the old nursery into a "classroom". I bought a couple of books on preschool educations. I printed off several worksheet. I bought a marker board. I thought I was prepared. After one week, I was ready to throw in the towel. Bella enjoyed the activities (she loves worksheets), but Becca is really too small to sit and do worksheets or art projects. Thus I have signed an executive order to postpone Mommy School until the fall and declare it summer vacation early.

Becca's Surgery

April 1, 2011 marked the start of my time as a stay at home mom. April 1st is also the day that we scheduled Becca to have her adenoid taken out and tubes put in her ears. All of the illnesses took their toll on Becca, and the doctors finally decided that the surgery was necessary since her adenoid was probably just full of germies.  We went with a different ENT than what we had with Bella since me and him didn't seem to see eye to eye. LOVE our new ENT, and the surgery and recovery went relatively smoothly. Of course we had just got through this with Bella in October so we knew what to expect, and since nobody can top Bella on playing miserable, Becca's recovery seemed like a piece of cake.

Snow Vacation

Despite, or maybe because of all the snow we had, Bella could not be persuaded to take a beach vacation. She wanted a snow vacation. However, we weren't sure how the girls would do, so we wanted to do something on the cheap. Skiing is NOT cheap. But if we went to NM we didn't have to pay for airfare, so that is where we headed. Popo and Grammy made the trip with us, although we left a  day before and while we didn't find any aliens in Roswell, we did find Popo and Grammy. Our first day on the slopes were a little dissapointing. There was little snow left, and Bella was not excited about being on skis. Big suprise. So, it was a quick first day. And then that night Becca had an attack to end all attacks. I remembered her nebulizer, but it tends to work better with medicine. So by morning we wound up in the ER so that we could get her some pulmicort, but of course it could be that simple either becauser I had just filled her pulmicort at home, and the insurance was not picking it up again so quickly. Ergh.  By the time if all got worked out, it was pointless to use our lift tickets for that day.  But on our last day, we found some fun inter-tubing. All that being said, we probably won't be skiing next year, nor will be go to NM again.

Dr. Sandy

I recently found out that someone I went to high school with (technically someone George went to school with) is a pedicatric dentist in the area. So I took the girls to see her for their first dentist appointment, and she was great and so was her practice. The girls weren't afraid at all. In fact they were so impressed with Dr. Sandy, they came home and pretended they were "mommy dentists" and began giving exams.

Valentine's Day

This was an eventful time at the Dyer household. I just notified my boss that I would like to become a stay at home mom before the summer starts. So we decided that I would work until the end of March. It was a decision that was a long time coming, and I am so looking forward to seeing more of my girls. Poor little Becca has had quite a time of it this winter. She is most likely will be diagnosed with asthma in the future, but for the time being it has been lots of antibotics, breathing treatments and sleepless nights. Her failure to get better probably isn't being helped by our decision to get a dog. Glitter is precious, but we will probably be finding her a home soon since Becca doesn't seem to be getting better is is likely allergic to the dog, on top of everything else. We have managed to have some V-day fun by making cookies and decorating them. And of course we also celebrated Todd's birthday, although plans were cancelled due to sickness - seems to be a constant theme around here.