Buddies

I am lucky to have made some of my closest friends during those long years of high school. Somehow, Kelly, April & I managed to have our first baby within 7 months of each other. Our kiddos are all now 1 and a new baby was just added to the group! Last Friday we got together to let the toddlers swim and ohh and ah over the baby. They were so adorable and get along so well.

Luke & Leila were ready to swim, whether the pool had water or not

This fountain kept them entertained for hours


Gray & Leila playing with the sprinkler--why are the most interesting toys not toys at all?

Baby Jamie (Luke's little brother) is 2 weeks old!

Here comes the duck parade

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

Mother's Day at the Zoo

Sunday was a surprisingly cool, cloudy day and perfect weather for our trip to the zoo. After church Patrick made me a delicious breakfast. We went to the zoo and rode the train around Hermann Park and the carousel. Leila got to brush the goats at the petting zoo. Thank you Patrick & Leila for a wonderful, relaxing day.

Leila's class sang a song for the moms - cute!!

Riding the carousel with Daddy

A sweet kiss for mommy

Leila being cute... sort of long but it was taking too much time to edit

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!