Camping

We spent Memorial Weekend camping. This was Leila's 1st time to go camping and it was really great. Lucky for me and Leila, her dad can do just about anything. He even cooked for us on a propane stove since there is a burn ban throughout most of Texas. And all of the food was good!

We went on a couple of nature walks and listened to a Park Ranger give a talk on Amphibians & Reptiles and got to pet a baby alligator. Leila brought her bug catcher and caught a grasshopper and some roly-polys right away. We roasted marshmallows over the propane heater and had s'mores. Not having a campfire takes away from the ambience but maybe next year. Anyway, Leila does not know any differently. Our next big vacation this year will involve a hotel though!!!

Looking for bugs

Enjoying her pink "lemlalade"

Roasting marshmallows on the propane heater, quite the adventure. You can still catch a marshmallow on fire in case you were wondering!!!

Wanting to be carried, thank goodness she still has not hit 30 pounds!!

Petting the baby alligator

Her grasshopper.. this one is NOT afraid of bugs, animals, or anything generally considered "yucky"

Chillin'

Patrick had our tent up in record time. He can do anything!

Swinging around

All smiles even after a rough night of sleeping with our appropriately-nicknamed daughter "Wiggles"

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.

Update on Shrek

Our poor buddy! He had his checkup last week to see how the chemo was working after 1 month. Good news is the chemo IS working and his levels have improved 90%. Bad news is he has lost about 8.5% of his body weight and was diagnosed with arthritis. He has developed a limp in his front right leg which the vet attributed to arthritis. It is so sad seeing him basically fall apart.

I spent a small fortune this week on vitamins and new medicine the vet prescribed, as well as buying special food to "feed him as much as he will eat." Poor buddy, I can't stand the thought of him being in pain. He does respond well to walks still though and still wants to come upstairs to be with Leila, painful as it is to watch. (As a side note--he is still a contented guy and not in any condition that the vet has suggested we should put him down. The vet said he still has a long life in front of him so we are doing everything we can to make him feel better.)

He is my other "baby" so I felt he deserved some updates too. As headstrong and difficult as he can be, he has been with us through some tough times and captured my heart at first sight!

So Busted! Napping on the Couch when we were not home.

Is that not the guiltiest look you have ever seen??

Bluebonnets 2011

Texas drought or not, we still had a happy patch of Bluebonnets to take our annual pictures in. Luckily we had Patrick's dad to take our photos so we could work Shrek into the pictures. He is a funny dog because it is like he knows when a picture is being taken and he poses. Actually, the dog might be better at posing than the toddler!!! LOL

Sad News about Shrek

Just to be clear... he is not about to die. The title sounds rather dramatic. Still, we did receive some terrible news. Shrek was just diagnosed with Cushing's Disease, an illness that is sadly common in older dogs and not curable. He has a tumor pushing on his pituitary gland in his brain that is causing his body to release too much cortisol, or stress hormone. This means our poor doggie is super-stressed out ALL the time, as if a toddler messing with him and a move was not stressful enough on him. The vet described it as that feeling you have the next day after you pull an all-nighter, and poor Shrek always feels like that.

We have him on chemotherapy in pill form, which he will remain on the rest of his life. This type of doggie chemo does not have the same side effects human chemo has, but the vet said it might change his temperment once it starts working. As long as he is alive and happy I would do anything for him! Shrek is approximately 10 years old and still quite able to get around so we hope he still has many years left in him. Plus, he is Leila's doggie "best friend" and quite an important part of our family.

Rodeo Girl

We love the Rodeo. We made it out there 3 times this year, which is a lot with a toddler! The Livestock Show and Carnival are very well-run and Leila had a blast. Her favorite thing? Was it the Ferris Wheel? NO. The Super-Slide? NO. Pony ride? NO. It was... The goats. That's right. Regular old goats in the petting zoo, which was FREE. In fact, we like to talk about what she dreams about, and one of those things was goats. Don't ask me, I don't get it either!!! I think it is cute though!!

The McKinney's were kind enough to meet us up at the Rodeo a couple of times to spend time with us. Mary joined me in one of my favorite parts of the rodeo-- Fried Anything! For those of you not familiar with Texas, one of the great gastronomic delights in our state are fried or specially crafted foods made just for the State Fair and the Rodeo. This year, we tried Fried Key Lime Pie and Fried Smores. I passed on Chicken Fried Meatballs, Chocolate dipped Pickles, and Jalapeno Lemonade.

Leila and her Mimi and Dude outside of the Boardroom--VIP at 2 years old

At her school Rodeo pushing fake cow patties with a noodle--haha someone at that school is very creative!!

She loved the Pony Ride and did not need Mom this year to walk her, she did it all by herself
Look at that huge smile while feeding the goats!

The 3 of us enjoying the Carnival together

Hanging out with Tim McGraw

I figure if I am going to finally do a post, it had better be a good one.... so here it is. Last night Patrick and I went to our only Rodeo show (unlike pre-kid days, where we would hit 3 or 4) and we saw Tim McGraw perform. AND met him in person. That's right, check it out below. Patrick, Laurie & Tim... who is smaller than Patrick, as you can see. He was really nice and we chatted about his show before it began. I thought the show was terrific, the reviewer for the Chronicle is obviously not a fan. Tim was my first country cd I ever owned, my dad gave it to me for my 16th birthday.

I will try to do a whole Rodeo post on Leila later. Til then, this will have to do. Pretty cute, huh?? This was at her school Rodeo.