Bluebonnets

This post is late since I was hoping for retakes. Little Bit does not look at the camera anymore so it is impossible to get the kind of shot I wanted. I guess I can't blame her, we have probably taken 2,000 pictures of her since she was born.

The world is my playground!

Can't forget our boy Shrek! What are they looking at??

Last year's family portrait

1,001 Reasons

Every parent things their child is wonderful, brilliant, etc. But how many parents think their 1 year-old may outsmart them?

This afternoon I left Leila in the gameroom for ten minutes "to go get my book," with a plan to start dinner and return with a book to read while she watched Baby Einstein.

I was so pleased she played quietly by herself while I was gone. When I returned, she asked, "book?" shocking me that she remembered what I had told her earlier.

I was even more shocked when I went in the guest room and found out why she had been so quiet.

Sigh.

Patrick looooves to play golf. We have a new plan for retirement: a pro golfer for a daughter. (Joke.)

We are having a lot of fun with these golf clubs but not really in the way they were intended to be used. Mostly she pushes them down her slide.

Easter Festivities

We spent a whole week celebrating Easter by doing different activities. I think so far the lesson for Leila is Easter = presents + chocolate, but we will work on the lesson of Christ dying on the cross to save us from our sins, and then being resurrected 3 days later. From her nursery school she is in the habit of praying before each meal and we pray before bedtime and I am trying to instill in her why we pray and to whom. Who knows when that lesson will be understood! From reading my Aunt Cailin's blog, it is at age 3 when they become religious, lol (inside joke!)

On Palm Sunday we dyed Easter eggs and it was really fun but excrutiatingly slow. Luckily she is easily distracted. The best part was breaking them at the end, lol.

At her school they had a beautiful flowering of the cross chapel for Holy Week, but I did not get any good pictures because once she saw me at chapel she started crying. Then they had an Easter egg hunt on the playground.

On Good Friday we went to Froberg's Farm to pick strawberries and she loved it! She was a really good picker too and understood not to pick the baby green ones, so if we are ever short on cash I might hire her out (now that really is a joke.)

On Saturday the weather was gorgeous so we had our 1st Easter egg hunt at home.

On Sunday we went to a beautiful service at our church, after which Leila got chocolate on her Easter dress. The new bunny in her Easter basket she appropriately named "Hop."

We went to my Aunt Sandy & Uncle Jay's for brunch and to celebrate my mom's birthday. We made a strawberry pie from all of our pounds of strawberries we picked and it was delicious. Leila loved the Easter egg hunt with the big kids and my brother Jay was kind enough to share his eggs with her.

19 months

Patrick, Leila and I are having a great time exploring our new city. We love her age of 1 1/2. She is sweet, adventurous, and still portable... Everything is a joy for her and she can't hide her excitement. Daddy coming home from work is the highlight of her day. She is at this point of absorbing everything and wants to know what everything is. She wants to know what color things are, what animal it is, what sound does it make.

Here is a typical conversation. Leila: "Purple bow." Me: "Yes, your bow is purple." Leila: (pointing at my shirt) "Blue. Blue Blue." Me: "Yes, my shirt is blue." Leila: (holding teacups) "Two! Two!" Me: "Yes, you have two cups. What color are they?" Leila: "Blue." (They are not blue, but that is her favorite color and therefore default response, lol.)

Leila is pretty hilarious. She has started becoming very opinionated about her clothes, and last Wed. when Sean came over for dinner she had on leopard pants and a purple polka-dot t-shirt. One of my brothers commented she is always wearing her monkey shirt in pictures--there is a reason for that. She also wants to pick out her bows or wear a ponytail.

She is very good at following directions, when she wants to. When I go pick her up from school, this is what I hear in the hallway before she sees me: "Leila, please sit down. Leila, please get away from the door. Leila, please sit against the wall." Ha! Leila is the absolute youngest person in the whole school (by far) so that explains her exuberance. She will catch up (others in her class are already well past 2.) I know her teachers think she is good and obedient during the day.

She has this preoccupation with her family and friends and asks every day (no really, every day, usually multiple times) what the following people are doing: Dada, Mimi, Dude, Nana, Pops, Jay, Josh, and her best friend Avery (and others, depending on the day, don't want to leave anyone out!) We look in her photo albums at pictures of all of her friends and family and she points everyone out to me.

Shopping with Nana at First Colony Mall

Cole and Carter came to play and swap drinks

Cute, huh? You like my hair?

Various items we have found in the refrigerator include plastic tea cups, a teapot, necklaces, watches, and a shoe horn


Peace out! Leila likes to take her stuffed animal friends for a ride, and if anyone falls out she says, "Uh-oh Bear," or "Uh-oh baby," or if it is her "Uh-oh Yay-ya."

Leila's newest talent: playing the piano. She really tries to mimick me in the 4 songs I can play, and banged out something that actually resembled music.

To Patrick's chagrin, I gave Leila her first pedicure after I had my toes done. She wanted her toes pink just like mommy, and she sat still and didn't touch them while they dried. Then she wanted to know why Shrek couldn't have a pedicure!