New School & Unbirthday Party

Leila started a new preschool this year. It is closer to our house and runs a little bit later than her old school, which I think will work out better for us with the baby coming. So far, she said the first day was "fun" and every day after that was "great." Quite a good sign considering all 6 of the 3-yr-olds we know at the school are in the other class. What are the odds?? She is proud to be a Sea Turtle this year and has already made new friends.

Last week her class celebrated her summer birthday and she got to wear a special crown and bring treats for her class. The whole chapel sang "Happy Birthday" to the kids selected to celebrate their summer birthdays today. I am so happy for her to get to celebrate because I think when we were in school those kids got overlooked. When I went to pick her up, every kid in her class had a blue mouth from the sherbert treats I brought, haha.

My camera lens fogged up that morning!

This is the face I got in response to "Say cheese and look at the camera."

All of the selected summer birthdays got to go to the front of chapel while we sang "Happy Birthday" to them.

Little Miss Cheerful

Last week was an exciting yet slightly sad week marking the end of the school year. Leila is switching schools next year so it was sad to say final good-byes to everyone. She had a great class and a great teacher and learned so much. I am amazed what they can teach 2 year-olds and am taking notes. The last chapel of the year was Character Chapel where they recognize each child for their individual character strengths. Leila was recognized for being "Cheerful and Respectful" and we are so proud!

Some happenings from this past school year:
(1) Her teacher told me my 2 year-old needed to work on her mouse skills... apparently the parents of other 2 year-olds let them play with the computer... we don't but I guess it shows!
(2) Each day she gave me the run down on who got time out (no offense, but always boys;) until one day she told me SHE got time out! WHAT??!! This is not acceptable in our house. I asked her about what her offense was, and had to keep from laughing out loud... Not hitting, kicking, or anything like that... She got on top of the table. Talked to the teacher and it turns out she had asked Leila not to get on the table but she did anyway, so she got time out... the teacher was trying not to laugh too. Leila apologized to her teacher and did not get any more time outs :)
(3) Leila made a good friend! She has a lot of friends, but her teacher reported she and this other girl sit together and laugh all day so loud she has to shush them. I am thrilled she is reaching out on her own. Hopefully we can keep in touch over the summer.

Here are some pics from the last few days at school.

"Fishing" on Field Day--caught one!

Loves the big pink scooter

Enjoyed soaking Mom on Field Day

Leila and her new close friend, yay for girl friends!

Performing in Chapel for the Mother's Tea... beyond cute

Posing with Mom at the Mother's Tea.. Leila wants to wear a skirt or a dress every day and will only wear pants or shorts if she has too

The delicious "ice cream cone" cupcakes I made for Splash Day... they were a hit and the teacher said the kids didn't know whether to lick them or not, lol

Splash Day was a great way to end the year

Leila did not sit on the sidelines for one second!

Last Day of school, in a tutu, of course!!

Bye Mrs. Fuller! We will miss her incredibly patient teacher.

Grandparent's Day

Leila's school had a special brunch and chapel to celebrate Grandparent's Day a few weeks ago. She is completely blessed to have 4 grandparents that all live relatively nearby. Both Patrick and I grew up in separate towns from our grandparents, so we know how lucky she is to be able to spend a lot of time with hers. Both her Nana & Pops and Mimi & Dude took time out of their day to come to her Grandparent's Day event and it was really special. On Chapel Days the preschoolers have to wear a red chapel shirt (elementary wears uniforms every day) so as Mary said, "I did the best with her outfit that I could." LOL

Here's a hug!

World's Best Grandma's! Mimi & Nana

Best Grandpa's Ever: Dude & Pops

First Day of School

Can't believe school has begun. No first day of school jitters here. We woke up and hit the ground running. Leila was excited to see her friends and I was excited for tax-free weekend. We met Patrick for lunch after picking her up. She had fun and fit right in with her new teacher and some old friends from last year. What a great day.

Come on mom, let's go!

We took her lion and puppy on a "dog walk" before school

So long Sweet Summer

Summer is not really ending, as it is still 100+ degrees here with no end in sight. However, our lazy days are coming to a close as SCHOOL starts on FRIDAY. That means FOUR more days of Freedom for Little Bit. Not that she goes to real school anyway. She tells me she goes to school to--and I quote-- "Play." LOL

Here is a quick recap of our summer and some of the fun things we did. I am not the most frequent blogger so I don't want to leave anyone out.

Played chess on the Strand in Galveston

Chess pieces literally are as big as she is....

Went to dinner with her awesome aunts and uncles... From left my brother Jay, sister Lisa, brother Josh (with Leila), new sister-in-law Courtney, who is married to my brother Jimmy on right

Snacking at the Children's Museum with Kylie (Look at the camera girls!!!)

First Icee ever on the Kemah Boardwalk fountains

On the Kemah Boardwalk Merry-Go-Round with Aunt Lili

Riding "Daddy Deer" (character from Bambi) on the carousel at the Kemah Boardwalk

Leila's new outfit from Vegas just happened to match her first Barbie's outfit. And Barbie has a toy pink poodle just like Leila. Does the obsession begin now??

Aunt Lili came to visit with her cute dog, Lucy (Leila's true obsession... she only asks about that dog, oh, once an hour.)

Taking Lucy on another dog walk, three a day is still not enough apparently for girl or dog :)

All smiles on the Big Girl Bed... Often I find her asleep on top of all of her stuffed animals and books, which she found essential for nap time

Being kissed by Missy, her Nana's dog

Giving Nana a kiss in return

What about Mom and Dad? We went to Vegas for Patrick's birthday, but had too much fun to take a lot of pictures. Here we are in front of the Hoover Dam.

Leila and Ryan hanging out at his bday party in June... We miss you Ryan!!! (And all of our Sienna friends, for that matter.)

Baby Ethan came to visit and see our new house. They were so cute together. There was a little mugging going down, but I didn't get a good picture of it (thank goodness)

Taking Lucy-Goosey on a dog walk in her jammies in San Marcos.. truly the highlight of my brother Jimmy's wedding weekend.

Singing in the Rain...

Ah Sweet Summer

One wonderful thing about living by Galveston Bay is there is always a breeze. We spend a lot of time outside, and it has been really pleasant. We have a covered patio in the back and a sand table and a baby pool so we are set.

The last few weeks have been a blur. Leila is out of school for the summer. Her last few weeks were really fun. The kids had field day, which was hilarious. They had a pool party the last week and a special chapel where they were chosen for specific character awards. Leila was chosen as the recipient of having a "Gentle" character. We think that is really sweet, but as the youngest and by far the smallest in the class she kind of had to go along with everyone else, lol. Not that she didn't hold her own--she managed to make the biggest boy in the class her friend so we think she is pretty smart, lol.

We went to Moody Gardens with Cindy, Mary's closest friend from St. Louis who flew into town to spend time with her and meet Leila. Leila has been asking for Cindy ever since. Thank you for spending your birthday with us Cindy!

For Memorial Weekend we stayed here and had some fun family time. The McKinneys are building a log cabin at the ranch so we will probably wait to go there until it is complete this summer. We went to our "secret" beach in Seabrook and enjoyed a gorgeous day in the (still oil-free) water. We went to the pool, twice, and grilled burgers.

We have had a couple of playdates and parties with friends, and Leila is really into birthdays now. She sang the complete "Happy Birthday" song to her Uncle Sean today which was Adorable. If you ask her how old she is, she will say "two." We have no idea how she came up with that. She knows her birthday is August 3 and is crazy about cupcakes, because they mean "birthday." So funny!

Stay tuned for our next blog... my brother Jimmy is getting married this weekend and we get to meet my brother John's new baby, Samantha, for the first time.

Riding Gray's ATV at a pool party at his house. Did you know they made motorized vehicles for toddlers??

Tanning in our backyard, just like mama

We luuuvvv our pool! Thanks Mimi!

Leila's 1st experience with a push up popsicle was a little traumatic

Chillin at the zoo... and you thought only monkeys could climb

Hanging out with Leila's bff Avery at the zoo.

Mmm.... cupcakes! Leila decorated this one herself. It took me a week to get all of the sprinkles off of the floor, lol.

"Yea Aya!" Leila is proud of herself after she makes a goal at field day. We always cheer her on and now she cheers too. She calls herself "Aya" and I hear the words "Aya do it" about 20 times a day. Leila already has chores (feeding the dog) and if she wants to do more, by all means have at it baby girl!

Cuddling with her Nana after her 1st tea room luncheon

Leila's Mimi, her friend Cindy, Leila and myself at Moody Gardens

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!