Christmas Program Blues

Jerry was OK for the first song - Jingle Bells -

except for the extreme look of fear.

But for the second song...not so good. Big giant tears.

Well the video was suppose to go in this spot...

but, I've tried all day to upload it and it's just not happening.

Jerry & Haddie all snuggly warm at the La Posada parade.

Jerry in his mohawk hat & with his light up sword that his Poppy bought him.

Santa is my friend.

At least that is how the conversation started one morning on the way to school. "Santa is my friend. I yike Santa. He no bite." I guess, that in the toddler world, a true measure of friendship is not biting. We started the season off right-at least Kingsville style- first Saturday in December is breakfast with Santa and the La Posada night parade. We were the first ones at Linda's restaurant and had some private time with Santa. Jerry gave Santa a high five; and, Santa took his picture. But... when it came time to go talk to Santa- no one wanted to. Jerry tried to escape - Santa is holding him by his arm. And, Haddie kept trying to slide out of his lap.
Would you look at LOOK he is giving me! That evening we met Poppy & Meme and Harley & Taylor at the La Posada Parade. They changed the parade route this year so that it did not cross the railroad tracks twice - of course this year the train waited until the parade was over to come through town. We took our lawn chairs, blankets, warm cookies and hot chocolate. The kids had so much fun. They hardly sat down for the entire parade. The ladder truck from the Kingsville Fire Dept. is still a hot topic of discussion at our house. A few nights each week we have been driving around looking a Christmas lights. It is a very exciting event. Excited screams from the back seat include:
"I see yights Mom!"
"I see more yights Mom!"
"Santa!"
And my favorite, "They're bwinking! Bwink, Bwink, Bwink!"

It is hard to believe that this is going to be Jerry's 3rd Christmas.

Breakfast With Santa 2007 - Jerry's first Christmas

2008 Santa at ESC2 - Haddie's first Christmas

Breakfast with Santa 2009

We wish family and friends home & away a safe and joyous Christmas.

Merry Christmas from the4mcqueens!

Early Scholars Academy

With the help of Jerry, Taylor and my friend & co-worker's son Daniel - ESC2 finally broke ground yesterday for our children's interactive learning center. They were featured on the front page of the local section of the Caller Times. Taylor was actually on the front page of the paper! http://www.caller.com/news/2009/nov/10/childrens-educational-building-groundbreaking/ This is going to be an amazing place for the school children of South Texas to visit. Think about boarding a submarine for story time with your teacher, exploring space via a space ship with video screens for windows, playing in tee pees and stage coaches, climbing a Mayan temple, pretending to be a paleontologist, building a city, releasing butterflies into the rain forest, hearing the supply plane fly over while you are in your survival tent in the Arctic - oh, I could go on & on forever. It will not be open to the public - it will be for organized school trips only - for children 3-5. But there is talk of summer camps.Taylor is assisting our Executive Director, Dr. Linda Villarreal. And Jerry is helping one of the ESC Board members. That is the Caller Times photographer down in front.

Jerry with the chairman of the board.

They were allowed to keep their hard hats - He wore his to HEB after the ground breaking.

Halloween Fun

Happy Halloween!

Trick or Treating is the greatest invention ever!

Look Taylor. I have a tail!

2008 Halloween Parade Day at Jerry & Haddie's preschool.

2009 Halloween Parade Day at Jerry & Haddie's preschool.

Sister is just a little bit harder to hold this year!

Getting Ready for Halloween

This weekend we got the house ready for Halloween. We have about five of these 3 foot spiders crawling all over the house. Lil' Jerry was having a blast playing with the spiders before we put them up. He was throwing them and kicking them - but in all of his playing and moving them around - the spiders ended up encircling him. He suddenly realized that he was surrounded and began to panic. He needed a quick rescue from the spiders.

Growing up in a pumpkin patch....

2007

2008

2009

2008 2009 Tomorrow is her 1st birthday!!!

Jerry was holding her - you can see his fingers!

Haddie's First Up-Do

Yes, Haddie has taken a her first step in to little girl stage - The Palm Tree Up-Do. Here she is ready to go to school this morning. Her teacher Ms. Lupita, one of her most favorite people, exclaimed as she came in the classroom, "Her first chongo, my little baby is growing up!"

She is growing up too fast - only a couple more weeks of BABY - then it will be full toddler mode.

Last week was open house at the kids school. They served cookies and the brightest red punch I have ever seen. Jerry says "CHEESE!"

Look What I Can Do!

On Sunday Miss Haddie will be 11 months old. Watch the video - she shocked us!

I hear fproggies!

Yesterday, we received about 5 1/2 inches of rain in less than 4 hours. Jerry & I went to pick up the kids in the truck - all the major streets were flooded. Fourteenth street was a river and the 5 points intersection was a lake. Lil' Jerry was fascinated with the rain & standing water. We have been in a draught so long that when ever he saw a sprinkler he called it rain.

As dusk came, the frogs started to sing. Apparently they had been holding back for months because they were loud. The noise made Lil' Jerry uneasy. I opened the back door to the choir of frogs and told him that the frogs were singing. He went and got his father and told him to listen, "I hear fproggies!" The long chorus of croaks would come in waves. Then there would be silence. "Where did the fproggies go? I can't see the fproggies!" Then the singing started again. The darker it got the more joined in - even louder & longer. "Hush Mommy, I hear fproggies!"

I started asking Lil' Jerry questions.

What sound does a frog make?

"Ribbit, Ribbit"

How does a frog move?
"Jump"

Lil' Jerry hopped all around the kitchen floor on all fours.

What does a frog eat?
"Sandwiches"
Huh? What does a frog eat?
"Canny" (Candy) "Prune Canny"

Naked Baseball?

Since the Jerrys went to the Hooks game with Uncle Harley and Taylor everything is about baseball. From tee ball in the backyard to finding the baseball pictures in the news paper. We played imaginary baseball last night. I helped Haddie throw imaginary baseballs to Lil' Jerry. He hit them with his imaginary bat. He then took off running through the dining room-kitchen-hall and then slid home on the living room rug - declared safe by the ump/catcher DaDa. The first time he slid- he slid head first - sliding right out of his diaper. I had to convince him that you can't play baseball naked. After that he slid feet first - keeping his diaper on but getting a good wedgie. Haddie is not a very good pitcher - I think she was playing for the other team. Every pitch was a home run and she jumped up & down and squealed every time the runner slid into home.

A long time ago, in a blog rarely updated...

Okay - It has been a very long time since I have updated the blog. Things have been very busy at home and at work. Haddie is almost 9 months old. She is crawling everywhere and pulling to a stand. She has two bottom teeth and likes to use them. Her hair is turning a dark red brown and her eyes are now more of a gray blue-like her brother's. She loves to sing. Jerry can sing his ABC's - but I think it is a foreign alphabet. If I try to sing with him - I'm told to "hush, Mama". I called to order pizza one night when Jerry was working late. I was asked to spell our last name...MCQUEEN - then I heard "Q R S T U V" being sung from the Bubbie. No one can make his Sissie laugh like he can - all he has to do is jump up and down and Haddie just giggles.

What's better than a prune mustache?

I just finished up a grant at work and the family was featured in a informational video about being active with your kids. http://www.qd.esc2.net/ There is a Nutrition podcast as well - I was one of the panel members.

In April we walked at the Kingsville/Bishop Relay for Life. It was a great opportunity to try out our new wagon. Lil' Jerry rode as long as he could stand it - 2 miles. Then he hopped out and took off running. Big Jerry just looked at me like - gee thanks. Lil' Jerry ran 2 laps - 1/2 a mile!

In May we took a trip to Rockport for little R&R. We stayed at the Little Bay Club http://www.littlebayclub.com/ and would definitely recommend it to others - very family friendly. We would play and explore all day. At night after the kids went to sleep I would sit on the front porch and watch the boats - Jerry would go fishing off their pier. We went to Big Tree - to see the biggest Live Oak in the U.S.

The little fisherman was tired at the end - he fell asleep holding his lure. The cottage key was on fishing lure and Lil' Jerry thought that he needed to hold it all the time. So, we went to Wal-Mart and bought him is own - of course he picked out the biggest and Dada took the hooks off.

For Father's Day Jerry tried to read the paper.

And, Haddie sampled Poppie's coconut cream pie.

And on July 1st, Jerry waited for his new cousin to arrive. Welcome baby Liam!

I have to end with another prune pic.

Lessons from Sesame Street

Do they make a 12-step program for Elmo junkies? We are in need of an intervention at our house. We eat , breath and sleep - ELMO. Technically we sometimes sleep with 3 Elmo's. Kinda creepy in the middle of the night to roll over and hear this high pitch squeaky voice saying "Elmo loves you!". Yep the big one talks. On Wednesday Little Jerry and I went to see Sesame Street Live - Elmo's Green Thumb. We made our own Elmo T-Shirt - Jerry painted it. It was also his idea for the hand prints. He does a lot of hand print art work at school. We joined the rest of the Elmo addicts and got cotton candy sugar rush. He drug the Elmo flag around for two days.

His favorite characters are of course ELMO (sometimes pronounced MO-MO), Big Bird, Cookie Monster and Ernie - cause he's a duckie man too. He had taken all three Elmo's with us to the show - but I convinced him that only the baby Elmo, that his Great Aunt Mary gave him, could go inside(because he was the only one that would fit in my purse) -

the others need to take a nap in the car.

Jerry has shown that he is learning from watching Elmo. His favorite video has an scene with Mr. Noodle showing how to eat a cookie like Cookie Monster. Monday he & I went to Harrel's Soda Fountain for breakfast. He had "cancakes" and sausage. He tried to impress the waitress by demonstrating how Cookie Monster would eat cancakes. After Sesame Street Live - we went to Subway for lunch - the entire Lady Javalina softball team was there - he was in full flirt mode. In his best pre-school flirting style he demonstrated how Cookie Monster would eat pizza. That was one buff group of girls that truly appreciated his eating style.

Last night we had him demonstrate for us...

Haddie is doing really well and growing too fast - although she has not rolled over yet - she is scooting on her belly. She still sleeps in a pack and play in our room - but after her early morning bottle she prefers to be cuddled back to sleep in our bed. Big Jerry & I end up practically clinging to the sides.

The Birthday Flu's

On January 29th little Jerry celebrated his second birthday. Unfortunately all the birthday plans had to be canceled due to the flu. Poor kid. We stretched out the celebrations for several days - I had ordered cup cakes for his class. Instead of a class party, we had a mini party every night until the cup cakes ran out-lots of practice blowing out candles.

Simply Elegant in Corpus did the most awesome and delicious banana cake - perfect for his "Wet Dog!" party. Here is the birthday boy wearing his favorite ELMO JACKET.

Jerry is now 28 1/2 lbs and 36 inches tall. 85% for height and 45% for weight. Haddie at her 4 month check up was 25 1/2 inches long and 16 lbs. 85% for height and 90% for weight. Haddie is now eating rice cereal - her first solid food. She really doesn't like it - makes some pretty horrible faces. .