Kayla is going to be hacked!!

I left for work this morning before she woke up. She hates when I do that. She can't understand why I don't wake her up to tell her "Bye". One day, she'll appreciate the fact that I allow her additional uninterrupted sleep.

Speaking of sleep, Kayla fell asleep at 7 last night. I finished cleaning the kitchen after dinner . . . sat down with Larry to watch some T.V. . . . and then realized I didn't hear Kayla anywhere. When I went in the front room, there she was asleep on the couch. She slept all the way through and was still asleep this morning when I left at 6:45. Girl must have been tuckered out!

I'm going to try to get video of Kayla doing her new dance. It is the absolute funniest thing I've seen in a long time. She does these circles with her hands and bobs up and down. However, the look on her face just makes the whole thing.

That's about it for now. Oh . . today is Papa Benny's birthday so I called him this morning to wish him a Happy Birthday. Kayla just adores her Papa Benny. He'll play with her for hours . . even if it involves dress up or make up.

35!!!

Now how the hell did that happen? Wasn't I just 21 last year?? So, I'm 35 now and the big day was pretty uneventful. Got up Saturday morning and Larry gave me TWO birthday cards. One card had a $50 gift card to Marshall's and, since I LOVE to shop, this was just perfect. Kayla and I were a couple "Lazy Taters" and didn't actually leave the house until after noon. We made a trip to Marshall's, Target . . . and PUMP IT UP! Kayla's friend Saycia had her birthday party there and since it's my favorite place (can you hear my eyes rolling) we made an appearance. After the party, Kayla and I met Larry and Joe's Crab Shack for my FAVORITE food ever . . . CRAB!!!


Let me rewind for a bit. Last Monday, I left to go to Los Angeles for work. Ok . . . so it was more play than work but since work paid for the trip . . . we'll call it work. We had our annual tax return review meeting which went well. My WONDERFUL boss, Mr. Stutts, even brought in my absolute favorite treat . . Sprinkles cupcakes. I ate two strawberry cupcakes that morning and took the leftovers back to my hotel room. Mmmmmmm . . . cupcakes.


Sprinkles cupcakes are absolutely divine. If you ever get the chance, get one (or 6)!



We also went to a L.A. Dodgers baseball game while in L.A. It's always fun to do a little celebrity watching at these things. This time, I saw Larry King. Apparently Pat Sayjak and Jane Seymour were there too but I didn't see them.


The last night in L.A., we went to a restaurant in Beverly Hills called Wolfgang's. It was a DELICIOUS steakhouse. However, my favorite part of the experience was the restrooms. Now that was some crazy stuff straight out of Star Trek. Unfortunately I didn't take (nor could I find) any pics but this bathroom had a freakin' control panel. I wasn't sure whether to pee . . or press rape charges against the thing.


Oh . . . the super cool part was I walked right past Marcia Cross from Desparate Housewive (Bree . . the red-head) as we were walking to the restaurant. I put on my "I'm cool . . I hang with celebs all the time" face but inside I was like . . AWESOME!!


OK . . back to this weekend.

Sunday, Kayla and I ventured out to a few car lots since Larry had to work. I'm in the preliminary phase of car shopping. This is the phase where I go out looking . . . fall in love with several cars . . . . then talk myself out of buying one . . . . then decide I really should buy a new one . . . then decide I'm being too impractical and should be looking at something less expensive . . . then decide "Damn it . . I'm worth it!" The end result is that some time between now and 2 years from now I might actually commit to buying a car. But, for your consideration, I'm attaching a couple of my personal favs.

The Infiniti G37 -

The BMW 328i Hard-Top Convertible -

Finally, we ended our afternoon at the Tulsa Just Between Friends sale. This is a HUGE consignment sale held at the fairgrounds twice a year. Got some GREAT deals on clothes for Kayla. Here she is hanging outside the expo building at the fairgrounds after we FINALLY made it through the crazy long line.

Sometime you just need to have a party . . . .

The weekend started out rather uneventful. We had Courtney and Christie this weekend so I picked them up Friday afternoon and we headed to Cameron's birthday party at Pump It Up. Cameron is the son of our friends Tia and Steven Surles.

Saturday, it was the bi-annual Buchanan family reunion. Larry had to work so the girls and I headed to Owasso, OK to spend the day with the family. It was nice to see everyone. Unfortunately, it seems the only time we see everyone is at the holidays or reunion. Once again, luck was on my side. I won the candy bouquet being given away at the reunion.

My luck has been almost scary lately. Every time I turn around, I'm winning something. I won't complain . . . but I find it very interesting.

The candy bouquet must have sparked something in Kayla because as soon as she realized I had won it, she decided we needed to have a party. When I asked her what the party was for, she said, "It will be a girls party!" She seemed so excited about this party she had planned in her head . . . I just couldn't bring myself to burst her bubble so Sunday afternoon, we had a party.

I made a quick trip to Dollar Tree and $5 later . . I had hats and blowers and plates and cups and balloons and a tablecloth. I picked up some sugar cookie dough and icing at Walmart as well as some chips and dip. We made sugar cookies and the girls decorated them. We snacked on chips and dip and passed the balloons around. It was a fun time for all of us.

Today, I head to Los Angeles for our annual Tax Return Review Meeting. Kayla was such a big girl when I dropped her off at school. She was trying to be so brave and not cry. Her eyes were all red from holding in the tears. I'll miss her.

It's BACK TO SCHOOL!!

Well . . . my sweet Kayla entered the world of First Grade today!! Wow how time flies! I LOVE her new teacher . . . Mrs. Chatman. She's a sweet lady with a very friendly disposition. Kayla seems to like her.

Her face looks kind of odd in this picture. Not sure why. Anyway, this is Kayla sitting at her spot in her new classroom. This day is big for another reason. It's the first class where she and Maddison Surles have not been together. They have been in daycare, preschool, Kindergarten, dance, and swim together. Now they must face the fine halls of Liberty Elementary on their own. Kayla was quite worried about this and upset when she found out that Maddison would be in Mrs. York's class. Of course, the first thing she noticed on "Meet the Teacher" night was that Mrs. York's classroom is directly across the hall from Mrs. Chatman's classroom. That seemed to make things better.

Today they had to take their favorite teddy bear to school. I'm interested to find out exactly what they did with the teddy bears they brought. In fact, I'm can't wait to find out how she liked first grade.

Unfortunately that will have to wait a bit longer as I have to attend a business dinner tonight. Thank goodness for my understanding husband. I feel so bad when I have to go on a business dinner on nights he is off early. Of course, he never complains and understands it just comes with the territory. I'm certainly a lucky woman.

I'm boring . . .

That's what Kayla told me this weekend. Lovely, huh? Guess Daddy gets to be the fun one.

This weekend was pretty relaxed. Saturday Kayla and I got up and ran some errands. Her Nintendo DS is "ghosting" (per the middle-aged video game nerd at Game Stop) which is gamer speak for "the screen ain't workin'". Anyway, the guy recommended a place that fixes these things so we took it there on Saturday. It's going to cost $55 - $65 to get it fixed. Ridiculous!! That's 1/2 of what the darn thing cost.

Then it was off to get Kayla's new dance shoes. She starts dance up again next week and this year she'll be doing jazz and ballet.

Then we headed off to the Broken Arrow library. I was SO excited to finally find the local library. I don't know why I hadn't looked for it sooner. I just always went to the one in Tulsa. Kayla and I had so much fun browsing the books. Kayla checked out 5 or 6. I love that she loves to read. It's always been a passion of mine and I hope that she finds the same joy in it that I have. While we were at the library, we saw a flier announcing that McGruff the Crime Dog was going to be at Walgreens. A local company was doing child identification kits and had brough McGruff along to entertain the kids.

So . . next stop . . . Walgreens

Kayla use to be so afraid of things like this. Not any more!! She saw McGruff and her face just lit up. She ran to hug him. It was so sweet. I love her innocence.

We left there and FINALLY headed home. Later that evening, our friends Tia and Steven Surles came over with their kids Maddi and Cameron. We all headed down to the neighborhood pool for a little (much needed) relaxation. The kids had a ball splashing around. Kayla and Maddi have known each other since they were babies. They've been in daycare, Kindergarten, dance, swim . . . . you name it . . they've been in it together. This year will be the first year they are not in class together and Kayla has already shed tears over that.

So . . that was Kayla's weekend with her BORING mom!

Kayla . . The Early Years

I've really been racking my brain to remember all the funny details of Kayla's life that I want to document. I've come up with a few more.

When Kayla was a little over a year old, we were living in an apartment while we waited for our new home to finish being built. Kayla had such fun there. She would sit is the one cabinet constantly.

She would walk around with a bowl on her head.

She would drag all the laundry out of the laundry hamper and just laugh and laugh . . .

and she'd run around in her hooded towel with it completely covering her face!

She's such a funny little kid!

Today on our way to camp, Kayla told me that I should let all the camp kids come to my work for a tour. She doesn't quite understand that an office full of tax accountants isn't exactly exciting. I guess one of the parents of one of the kids at camp is a judge so the kids got to go to the courthouse for a tour and it was "so cool". I hate to break it to her . . . but the only remotely interesting thing in my office is the candy jar.

We're Changing Directions Here . .

On my way to work this morning, it occurred to me that I've done an AWFUL job at documenting things about Kayla that I want to remember. Sure . . I have the photo albums and preschool art . . but I'm talking about the day-to-day stuff she does that I want to remember. So, I've decided to use this blog as my journal to remember all those "funnies".

Let's start with a few of the old memories I have. Kayla use to refer to nail polish as toelash. Guess she just combine "painting toes" with "nail polish". She's come to me and say, "Momma, I need some toelash." What's even funnier is she had me saying it too. I must have made a fool of myself on more than one occasion.

Sheeting - This is Kayla's term for holding her blankie (which is a 300 thread count pillow case) up to her nose. Apparently this is how toddlers and young children get "high". My mom about busted a gut the first time she heard Kayla say that. I specifically remember being in the parking lot of Walgreens getting ready to get out of the car and Kayla said, "Hold on. Let me get one more 'sheet'."

Of course, we can't forget Kayla's Starbuck's obsession when she was around 4-5 years old. She HAD to go to Starbuck's for chocolate milk. It might of had something to do with my coffee addiction.

One of my favorite memories of Kayla is the first time she cursed. I know . . bad mommy . . . but it really was hilarious. We were in the parking lot at Albertson's and I was trying to get her in the car. In the process, I dropped my keys and then proceeded to drop a whole bag of groceries. Well, without thinking, I yelled, "Oh shit". Trying to cover my tracks, I quickly said, "Oh . . er.. . I mean shoot. Oh, shoot!" Later that evening Kayla was playing in the living room and I believe she dropped something she was playing with. All of a sudden, I hear my precious 3-year old yell, "Oh shit". I quickly went to her and explained that that was a bad word and she should never use it again to which she replied so innocently, "So . . that's only a 'mommy' word?" My reply? "Yes Kayla. That's only a 'mommy' word.

And today (and what inspired me to start journaling these things) Kayla was in the back seat on the way to camp counting how many peace signs she was wearing. Kayla is currently obsessed with anything with a peace sign on it. She can spot them a mile away. Currently, I would guess that she no fewer than 10 shirts with some form of peace sign on them AND a pair of sandals with peace sign metal embellishments on them. It's so cute to watch her develop her own style (even though I secretly want her to get all her clothes at Gymboree until she's 20).

That's all for today. I plan to update this blog as I remember more things. I look forward to being able to look back one day and smile about all the silly and crazy things she does.