Happy Birthday, Ballerina!

Ballerina turned four last week! 

Today, riding in the car, she told Daddy and me that when she was three she learned how to bet and now that she's four, she'll learn how to wager. What in the world. Apparently Candy Land with Daddy is totally different than with Mama.

Anyway, aside from learning the ins and outs of gambling, our little Ballerina had a fantastic "Under The Sea" party with so many of our favorite people last Saturday. She and Beads had plenty of friends to play with, a million doughnuts, lots of family to hug on, and got a ton of love. It looked something like this:

Hah! These guys crack me up.

Oh, and thanks to a friend, I remembered to do one of those fun birthday interviews with our tiny dancer. Here's how it went.

1. What's your name? (Says first, middle, and last name.) That's my real name.
2. How old are you? Um, four.
3. What color is your hair? Brownish.
4. What color are your eyes? Blueish.
5. Who is your best friend? Kenna.
6. What's your favorite place? Living room!
7. Favorite book? Let me go look in my room and see which book I like and show ya..........
   These! 
   
   

   
8. Why do you like being a kid? Because I like to cut and make purses.
9. What animal would you like to be? Zebra.
10. Why? Because I'd click-clack!
11. What is your favorite thing to do? Laugh!
12. What's your favorite thing about Bubba? He dances around with me.
13. What's your favorite color? Pink...purple...yellow...orange...rainbow...black...
14. What will you be when you grow up? Dentist.
15. What will Bubba be when he grows up? A dentist just like I will and he will NOT fuss!
16. What are two things we should do as a family on the weekends? Go to beach and a sleepover in the living room. (We plan to check off the sleepover this weekend.)
17. What is something nice you've done for someone? I helped decorate the tree on Chrimas. (She always pronounces Christmas like she's in a rap song.)
18. Favorite food? Grilled cheeses.
19. Favorite thing to do with Daddy? Play game boards.
20. What about with Mommy? Play game boards.
21. What do you plan to do while you're four? Play games on my phone. (Uh...)
22. What is your favorite show? Olivia.
23. What is your favorite toy? Ballerina Ariel.
24. What's your most favorite song? Gold on Ceiling!! (Die hard Black Keys fan, we've got.)
25. Do you have an important message you'd like to tell everyone? I need this ballerina doll for my dance class because they don't have one of these to play with. I bet Turner has one of these!
26. What does Daddy do all day at work? Spend money.(HAHA!)
27. What does Mommy do all day? She gets candy all day. Hahaha....Well, sometimes!
28. What do you and Bubba do? Play outside.
29. What about Pickles? Play catch and fetch....I wanna go outside....Hey Mama, can I have one cookie? (Story of our life, right here.)
    
    

    

    
    

Days of Play

We had a play date last week!

I have to admit, before our big day I was a little worried about how Beads would act at a new house. An environment change like that usually winds him up - sometimes to the point of no return. He will war-cry through the place as happy as can be but unable or unwilling to  listen/follow directions/calm down even a smidgen. This spurs lots of chasing on Mommy and Daddy's part and a whole lot of "No, Beads. Get out of there! Come back over here. Watch where you're going before you get....hurt". He's not trying to be difficult really, he just gets so excited and overstimulated that usually the only way he can dial it down is to head back home to his routine. But....

This was not one of those days!

Thanks to The Best Playroom Known to Man and its kid-friendly layout plus the help of our awesome mom friend, we had a blast. I was very proud of them both! Ballerina and her friends R and N had the cutest little tea party in their dress-up gowns. They consumed enough water tea to hydrate a horse and even when Ballerina was hard at work building a train track, R would pour refills and kindly dole out sips to her. It was the funniest thing!

Another highlight of our week was dinner with The B Family. We LOVE hanging out with these guys!

  

The kiddos weaved together a potholder and ran around outside all evening while Daddy Jam and I got to visit with some of our favorite grown-ups. And we found out that they are expecting a baby! So, so, so excited for them!

The rest of the week was spent taking Beads to his therapies, Ballerina to her dance class, and cleaning up our (usually disastrous) house in preparation for Ballerina's fourth (WHAT?!) birthday party. I cannot believe she is four. I miss my chubby, big-headed, always-hamming-it-up baby! The one who was born as red and angry as can be. Seriously. Don't let her fool you here...she was (is) a firecracker!

(More about our birthday fun next post.)

The rest of our week is pretty much summed up like this...

Hello Out There!

I’m just going to jump right in and give this blog thing a go. Quick introduction:
I’m A. Or Mommy Jam? You know, like the title. Isn’t that what bloggers do?
This kind of post is the main reason I’ve put off blogging for so long. Where do I start? What do I tell? Who in the world -really- cares what I have to say?
I’m over that. I love to write and I’m ready to have my very own mommy outlet.

My sweet hubby, D (Daddy Jam?), and I have been together for 8½ years. He’s an awesome cook and does most of that for our household. He also knows how crazy and forgetful I am and still sticks with me. AND he is the hardest worker I've ever known. It's because of him that I get to stay home with our littles and I'm forever thankful.


We have one boy, Beads, who’s 5½ and a girl, Ballerina, who will be 4 in a week. They are exactly a year and a half apart and are the funniest little people I know. I love them oh, so much! Even on those days when I need to sit in the bathroom for some quiet time go potty for 10 minutes, they are still my most favorite things in the world.


This is our Labrador Retriever, Pickles (also known as Piggles, Marley, Cupcake, Pickles-My-Pony, and whatever else Ballerina decides to call her for the day). She’s lovable and adorable and slightly over weight. She also doesn’t like when Daddy Jam flies Beads or Ballerina around like airplanes.


My antici.........pation is that the Blackberry Jam blog will mostly be about our homeschool adventures and the ridiculously silly things Beads and Ballerina do each week. With LOTS of sweet pictures thrown in, like those cute little caterpillars up there.

If you hadn't already guessed, a favorite movie of mine is RHPS. I also really like Run Lola Run, Moonrise Kingdom, Titanic, Tank Girl, Home Alone, Party Monster, The Little Mermaid, SLC Punk, Romeo + Juliet, and Matilda. Kind of an eclectic mix, I guess.

Beads will be an official Kindergarten homeschooler in the Fall and of course Ballerina will continue her Pre-K work. I’m excited but also just a little bit overwhelmed as Beads has developmental delays, is nonverbal, and HATES sitting still. Teaching him can be a battle at times but we’ve learned that active/game-like lessons work best – and are more fun, anyway.

I really like strawberry cheesecake. Reeaaally. Oh, and coffee. Lots of coffee - hot, iced, frozen, doesn't matter. And cherries! Yum. Okay, actually, I just like food.

Ballerina is in dance (shocker, right?) and absolutely loves it. Last season was her first time in class. She made a lot of sweet friends and danced in the cutest little recital, ever. Now she’s on to Summer classes, learning tap and getting more into ballet.

What does your family love to do?