WHOA...cake!

We very seldom order dessert after dinner (mostly because Ro is so cheap), but tonight we did. HECK YEAH! Why not...it IS Laela's birthday week!By the way...party decorations are being installed. WOOHOO!

Off to G & G's...

Laela was up bright and early this morning...getting dressed, brushing her teeth, and preparing her backpack because Ro is dropping Laela off to Granna and Gramps' house. She already has plans to play outside in the sand, color, and play with the slot machine and pennies. Laela is thrilled about spending the morning with G&G!

Time flies...

Can you believe this was a year ago...and this is now...Holy smokes! Our beautiful, big girl is growing so fast!!! I love you Laela Grace.

Happy Daddy's Day...

Today was fantastic! Laela and I wanted to show Ro how truly blessed we are to have him in our life and let him know that he is a SUPER DUPER daddy! This morning, we all made breakfast together, Ro opened his gifts and off we went to visit family. We got home just in time for a quick lunch and then Ro joined some other dads at the movie. He said he enjoyed his time there!In the late afternoon, Ro took Laela swimming with Kheang and Madelynn. This has been a Sunday favorite lately! Seriously, I am working on convincing Ro that we need a swimming pool at our house! WOW...can you think how fun that would be? Maybe next Father's day that is what Laela and I will get Daddy! :)

Full Moon???

Yesterday I was talking to a friend's mom and she told me that Wednesday was a full moon. Typically I don't react to full moons or believe there is any correlation, but goodness! Wednesday was crazy for sure! Laela and I headed out that morning to run an errand and visit Granna and Gramps. We did not make it too far before a car hit us in the alley. Seriously? My first accident and it was in the alley? It is Friday and they are just now coming out to inspect it, so my car may look like this for awhile. I can't stand it though. I am not one that gets my car cleaned every other day, but I DO NOT like dents and dings and scratches. I like it when my ride is presentable. :)My car is literally scraped, and somewhat dented, down the entire passenger side of the car. Her car just got a BIG dent in the bumper. (I guess that is what happens when I am driving down the alley and someone else is backing up and not looking to see if there are already cars driving down the alley. All of this could have been way worse and I am very greatful that it was not! Laela and I were completely safe so Miss Thang insisted we continue on our journey to Granna and Gramps' house.
After some great play time in the sand with Granna, Laela reminded me that we had a nail appointment! So, off we went. Can you guess what color this crazy girl chose? If you guessed BLUE you were right! She is so funny because she tries to match her nails to her shirt. That day her shirt had green, purple, blue, and silver. Her original plan was to get purple and green alternating. Then, she saw this turquoise blue color and her plan went downhill! Oh well...her nails and toes looked awesome when we were done and she was HAPPY! Here is her happy and crazy face...Oh shoes. Laela and shoes. I couldn't believe it, but she picked out these beautiful pink shoes from the store the other day. I was so surprised because lately she likes flip flops or crocs or just her park shoes. Well. Not today. Or any day since then. This girl has worn these everywhere except her bed at night time. So glad we have plenty of outfits with pink in them!
Believe it or not, it was only 11:30 by this point. I am telling you...this was one long, crazy day. We enjoyed lunch together and then headed home for a nap. After nap time, we decided to just hang around the house and play. Then I got a call from a girlfriend who needed to go to the hospital and she wanted to drop her son off to hang out with us. SURE! No problem. The two kiddos ran, played, and got out 80% of our toys with the first hour of being together. :) Then Ro got home and took over because I had girl's night. YEA for every third Wednesday of the month! Of course Ro did awesome! He fed the kids, took them to the park, had them in bed by 8:00, and asleep by 8:30. Way to go honey!
After hanging out with the girls and stopping to check on my friend at the hospital, I made it to bed about 12:30...about 4 hours later than usual. YIKES! That was a short night of sleep, but I made up for it after dropping the kids off to daycare. The couch and I had a little mid-morning nap date, which was much needed!

Our summer schedule...

This summer is a lot like last, where Laela is going to school 3 days a week (Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday). So far, so good! When she is at school I get a ton of stuff accomplished and while she is home we have "Mommy and Laela days". Then Ro joins us in the evening and we continue to play or find a "water" place. :) Laela is absolutely loving the pool this year!Seriously, spending the day with her is exhausting but very rewarding. She says the funniest stuff! Today, Mikaila (Laela's oldest cousin) squirted me while we were at the pool. I had on regular clothes because I did not feel like swimming and I ended up pretty wet. Next thing you know...Laela says..."you are messing with the wrong momma!" TOO FUNNY!Anyway, we have been very busy. Yesterday we made some super yummy cupcakes!The last few days have been spent with grandad and Pam. They are in town visiting from Florida, so we made sure to spend a little time with them each day. Today we all went to the pool and had a fun afternoon.Otherwise, we have been preparing goodies and what-not for Laela's birthday coming up. I don't know how it is already time for this child's birthday. It feels like just yesterday when I threw this birthday bash and she was two. Time flies when you are having fun!

Sleeping in the New Room!

Tonight Laela is sleeping in her big girl bed! I finally feel like the room is ready to go, and she has been asking...so...she is sleeping there tonight! And of course we all had to try out the bed! :) We will let you know how it goes tomorrow and I will try to take a few more pictures of the room. :)

Costume party in Laela's room!

Tonight we were moving some things from Laela's room to the playroom and we found a bucket of costume clothes.I think she liked them!

First day of Summer!

The list is endless, so I figured I better start my mini projects today! Here is the first of many...an ABC tree for Laela's big girl room! Inspector Laela says it is...APPROVED!

Zoo Day with Daddy!

Since Laela didn't have school today and Kelli did, dad took the day off and took Laela to the zoo. About 1 year ago, Laela was "traumatized" from an episode of America's funniest home videos where she saw a boy wearing a gorilla mask sitting on the toilet (Don't ask). For some crazy reason, she has been scared of them even since (She categorizes chimps and gorillas as one in the same). My goal today was to help Laela overcome this fear of chimpanzees. We got to the zoo at 9:02 (Even though I complain daily about the HOV lane, it was great this morning), got rockstar parking, and basically had the whole place to ourselves. Our first course of action: See the gorillas. On the way there was an outdoor penguin (What the heck?) exhibit.Then came the gorillas. At first, Laela was a little hesitant. I explained to her that the gorillas were sad because they did not have any friends. That triggered a "I'll be their friend, dad!". We saw another one and it was pretty cool because they were actually playing around (One put straw on its head while the other tried to knock it off). Laela thought this was hilarious.Then came the chimpanzees. Now Laela was def. into it. She saw the chimps stuff as much food in their mouth as possible. Then the baby chimp came out and all was good. Mission accomplished!We could have left but it was only 9:35 so I figured we would finish the rest. Elephants, cheetahs, and giraffees followed. Actually got to feed a giraffee too which was kinda cool! Didn't know they have long black tongues! And I didnt know 3 strands of cabbage costs $5! Next, we hit the children's part of the zoo where Laela changed her mind about 25 times about riding the pony. I finally gave our pony pass to stranger as I was defeated! We wrapped up the visit on the carousel and decided that Laela had earned herself a stuffed animal. Between the "Ok, Dad", "Yes, please", and "No thank you's", I figured that mom must have slipped something in her milk. She made my morning a breeze. Anyways, I asked her what she wanted and she said "Gorilla". Woohoo!! A small gorilla and hot pink pouch (Dad = sucker) is now on Laela's bedroom dresser.

Zoo was followed up by Cicis and a much needed nap for dad....I mean Laela. All in all an excellent day. Laela definetely brings out the kid in me and I love spending these times with her. Makes me a little sad to think in a couple of years, she will be in kindergarten.....It feels like yesterday that she was rocking with me in the glider as I fed her a bottle.

I'll be "that" dad sitting outside her elementary school classroom peeking in.