Galveston in October!

Several months ago we scheduled a trip to Galveston with our friends, the Eung's and Bennie's. After the last week being so BUSY at school, I did not think I was physically going to make it. I did what I had to, packed everyone on Wednesday night and we were headed out on Thursday morning. At Laela's request, we took the airplane! Seriously...she gets so excited about going on the airplane. Then when we get on, she is ready to get off. Thank goodness for the short trip because Laela's ear was hurting her and she cried half of the trip. We were able to fill her antibiotic after we got there and she almost immediately started feeling better. We did a little relaxing, grocery shopping, and eating before heading to bed for the evening. :)

Friday morning we headed out to the beach! Oh...it was our 5th anniversary too. Kinda cool to be able to spend our fallish wedding anniversary at the beach! The day was fantastic! We all got a little sun, played in the ocean, built sand castles, collected seashells, and just relaxed. What an awesome morning!

The girls were very excited to head out to the beach for the morning! Daddy and Laela both need their sunglasses! Just playin'... Laela was flying the kite all by herself! What a big girl. :) Lynn was flying a kite from his chair on the beach...Mommy and Laela at the beach! The Eung's in the ocean! Building a sandcastle with Brooke...And...the crazy bird that kept RUNNING around in the sand. Laela, Madelynn, and I tried to catch him, but he was SO FAST!Then we headed to Moody Gardens. We were just interested in the aquarium for today. The girls, and the adults, had a great time looking at the fish, penguins, seals, and many more water animals. Our little penguins... Daddy and Laela trapped in a shark cage...Who wants to pet a starfish??? Not mommy or Laela! After awhile at the aquarium, we went to dinner with The Mann's. We have not seen this family since our last visit to Galveston, a year ago. Brady is such a little gentleman. He walked in with a hand-made bracelet for Laela and Madelynn. He sat across from Laela and he was so sweet to her, sharing crayons, chips and more! Food and friends were super!

Vocabulary update: Laela added mosquito to her list of words this weekend. Seriously...the mosquitos were out of control! It did not matter what time of day or your location, they came after you! We knew Laela was proficient with her vocab word when when put her in the car, got ready to drive off, and she started screaming "mosquito, mommy, mosquito!" I looked back and it was flying around her and she was trying to swat it away. AH! YUCK!

Saturday was just time to play and relax a little more. Those are two things that we do not do enough when we are at home. Actually, it is really sad that we have to go out of town to sit and do nothing. Oh well! I love it! Then I wake up and realize all of the work I need to do when I get back....oh my! The real world is a crazy place, but we love it for some reason.

Speaking of love...I just have to say...I love Ro. He is more than I could ever ask for in a husband. He helps out with so much, most without me asking. If I do ask for something, there is never hesitation to get or do whatever I want. Honestly, I am a little spoiled and I am aware of this, but I LOVE it. I love Ro! Happy Anniversary with many more to come.

Boots and shoes...

What is wrong with this girl? Laela is not as much of a shoe-girl as I would love her to be; however, yesterday it was raining so we had to try out a new pair of rainboots!.Laela went outside and jumped in the puddles and was very proud of them.Later that morning, we were at a little kids resale and Laela found one item that she COULD NOT LIVE WITHOUT....WOW! I know...you are shocked! Yellow Princess high heels. They are hysterical on her fat feet! Anyway, we will see what happens with those. Even if nothing happens...they were a bargain for $2.50!

Plano Balloon Festival!

Last weekend, we woke up early to see the balloon launch. Rise and shine! Laela was happy and ready to head out at 6:30! We go to the festival and it was perfect! Awesome parking, free child's admission, and beautiful balloons. Laela loved to see the balloons "glowing" and going "up, up, up" but she loved balloons even more after daddy got her one of her own! We think that this balloon was her favorite! (Too bad I did not know about this ladybug or I could have invited it to Laela's 2nd birthday.)After checking out the balloons and getting one of our own, we headed over to the kiddie area. WOW! I was pleasantly surprised. They had something for all ages. Laela started by snatching a fireman hat, then off to color, make a lei, and a beautiful butterfly.We were there about an hour and a half, but it was well worth it. Perf'ect amount of people and awesome morning weather. The Murthy's will definitely head back again next year!

Just a few pictures from this week...

These last few weeks have been crazy around our house. Since school has started, I have been working, working, working. Ro has been so fantastic! He puts up with my tiredness (AKA...my crazy side) as well as taking care of Laela Grace. Deep down, they both love having time together, but I do miss them! I hope to catch up soon and I will be home by 4:00 everyday!As for this week, Thursday night was funny! We did our usual...came home, made dinner, ate, played, took a bath, and then cleaned up around the house a little. While I was doing the cleaning, I noticed Laela had disappeared. I peeked in her room and... She was calm and quiet, playing with her babies. Laela was changing diapers and even putting panties on her babies.She also found her old "baby" earrings in her drawer and tried to put them on her babies too.Then he found her hat and put that on!Oh my...she looked like the biggest dork! THEN...I realized what she was doing. She was stalling! It was so past her bedtime and she knew it! Oh well...I had a great time playing babies with her. She makes me laugh with some of her mannerisms lately: singing any "kids" song she hears, "reading" books by herself, and the time of the evening when her crazy side hits...she starts running circles, spinning around, laughing hysterically, and just plain goes nuts. It is hi-larious...and I love that girl.

As for our Saturday, we had an fabulous day! We started off the morning with pancakes! Then we headed out to Jake's 4th birthday. It was at Pump It Up (a jump place). We told Laela all morning that we were going to a birthday party and we would jump! She was talking about jumping the entire way there. Then we get there and....She did not want to jump. What a dork! It was so funny! Ro tried very hard to help her, but she just did not like it. Then he got her to go on one of the slides.Only problem was, Ro could not get him and Laela up the climbing wall to the top of the slide. I was laughing so hard, but he did not know that! Thank goodness Jana, Will, and Brandt were in there too. Jana held Laela and passed her to Ro once he made it up. Shew...Ro was sweating by the time he made it to the end!
The Hodges' made it up the slide and they had a good time going down too. It was so weird because both Laela and Brandt hated the preparation for the slide, but loved the outcome; however they did not want to do it anymore. They found there perfect "spot"...a 6 inch thick black mat.Oh they had the best time...rolling, jumping, dancing, laughing, sitting, climbing. Who would have thunk it? :)
The party was getting closer to the end, but first they called the kids over for a quick picture. Oh my! I would have never thought it would happen, but here you go! Jake, the birtday boy, is sitting in the middle right in a dark green shirt. Oh, and of course, Laela had to sit next to Brandt. (Don't worry...I already talked to his mommy and daddy about the 3 kisses that he gave Laela during the group photo time!)After picture time, the party closed out with pizza, cake, presents and party favors. Laela loved how Brandt was "flirting" her. Seriously...we may have our hands full with these two!Oh well...the kids had fun...and so did we. Thanks to the Garcia's for inviting us to your awesome birthday celebration! We hope the rest of your day was special too!

Friday funny...

Okay...here is our fun-loving, sweet, beautiful, smart, wonderful daughter.
She loves wearing my shoes and cruising around the house... Just took her a little while to realize she was missing something. :)Laela Grace makes me crazy some days, but it is times like these that make me love her to pieces!

Get well soon, Madelynn!

Oh my! Our sweet friend Madelynn got hurt at school several days ago. Well, long story short, today we found out that Madelynn's foot has been broken this entire time and she had to be put into a cast! YES! A 21 month old in a full leg cast! Seriously...not only is Madelynn going a little crazy, but I think her mommy and daddy are too! (However, she still has a beautiful smile on her face!) We were very happy that they were able to get out for a bit to join us for Friday night pizza.
Laela and Madelynn loved playing in the "kitchen" together! They were cooking all kinds of things and they were great tonight. Laela even brought Madelynn some band-aids for her boo-boo, but she was not too excited about Laela putting the band-aids on her GOOD LEG! I am glad that we are not banking on Laela becoming a doctor. Good lord, that girl is crazy!
Anyway, we had a wonderful night. Madelynn had the cast for less than a day and she is getting along very well! It will be a long 7 weeks with no sliding, running, climbing, recess, water play, bathtime, etc...please pray for Madelynn's speedy recovery and patience for mommy and daddy!

Updates...

Two updates for you on this wonderful Labor Day:

1) Laela slept through the night in her big girl bed. Even this morning when she woke up, she did not get up and play or come to our room. She just hung out in her bed until Nanna got her up. I know that she loves the bed because she has been playing in it all day! Here we are taking a 3 minute break. (Her bed is actually quite comfy!) 2) We found a rug to go in the dining room! I am pretty excited about it. We found a great bargain, so if I don't like it in a few years, then we can get a new one. (However, we were just talking about how cheap we are and I told Ro that the last rug we had for our office cost $50 and we had it for 5 years. Hmmm...we will have this one for a bit longer, so it is a good thing I like it.) It does lighten the room up a bit and it looks great with our wall colors. Okay...one rug down...2 more to go!

The Almost Big Girl Bed...

Ro and I had been talking for awhile about converting crib to the toddler rail bed. Since this was a long weekend, we thought it would be a good time. Well, Friday was just exhausting, so we did not do it then. Saturday was a little less exhausting, but we were selfish (we wanted to go out after she went to bed and we did not want her climbing in and out while we were gone). So...that left tonight. Laela and Ro went to visit the Murthy's so while they were gone I thought I would attempt to change over her bed. Honestly, I thought you just took off this piece and put on that piece. HA! Not so easy. Once mom came into help and I finally found all of the pieces, it was not a big deal. Then I moved around the furniture and ... VOILA! An almost BIG GIRL ROOM. I call it almost because it is not the full size bed yet. We will get there one day. No need to rush it. Before you know it, she will be moving away to college!

Anyway, Ro and Laela made it home just in time to help with the last bit of the bed. As we finished this... Laela and Nanna moved her mattress on top of Nanna's bed and Laela was JUMPING! She was so stinkin' happy about what she had done!After getting everything put back together, Laela tested it out. YEP! It passed the jumping test!Laela can get in and out all by herself and she loves it!Overall, not much change to the room. Just moved the furniture around, relocated the tree mural on her wall...and BAM! It is like a brand new room. I love those kind of projects!We told her good night, tucked her in and left the room. WOW! That girl screamed and screamed. She did not even try to get out of the bed. Laela just SCREAMED.After a good ten minutes, she went to sleep. I know she was tired because it was past her bedtime, so we will keep everyone posted about the upcoming nights (and mornings too! I wonder if she will come to our room to wake us up in the morning.) Oh my! What have we done? Maybe it was okay to have her in a crib??? Maybe she could have stayed in it until she turned 18. :)