3rd birthday party...

Thanks to everyone that made it out to Laela's paint party! She had a blast!!!We had face painting, nail painting, and painting on paper. Everyone seemed to love everything, but the face painting was a hit!Fingernail painting was the first thing Laela hit up and she thought it was pretty awesome too! So awesome, in fact, she wanted to do the same. She got out the paintbrush and watercolors. Then suckered Nanna into letting her "paint" her nails. Laela is so serious when she paints. :)I set up a table with watercolors, crayons, markers, etc and the kids had art time. We loved seeing all of the fun creations the kids made!Oh! Speaking of set up. This year's decorations were not my best, but I did get a few comments on how I used the fun, rainbow of colors throughout the house. Including them in the paper decorations, cupcakes, and assortment of food!Laela enjoyed having everyone sing Happy Birthday to her and she did phenomenal blowing out her candles. I just knew Laela would LOVE a giant cupcake, but when it came time to eat it...she just wanted to lick the icing! What a dork. The cupcakes were a little time consuming, but I totally recommend doing them for a fun event. I found the how-to on another website, but with a little food gel...the colors were so vibrant! I loved them. :) A little bit of sidewalk chalk, watercolors, and bouncing got everyone tired and ready for naptime. YEA for a successful birthday number three! (Oh...just for the record. Laela's favorite part...the nail polish.) :)

PS - A big "THANK YOU" goes to Aunt Karri for taking pictures during the party! :)

First dentist visit!

Well, sorta.

We read the books. We talked about the dentist a lot this last month. Laela was very excited and ready to go. All the way there she asked if "that" building was her dentist. Then...we walked in the door, she stops talking, and hides behind me. Oh goodness. I stayed positive and all of the office staff was very nice. First, they wanted to take pictures of her teeth, but she was not having it. She just did not want to sit in the big chair. No prob. We moved on to teeth counting a a quick clean. HA! HA! Again...the big chair. We tried bribing her with a balloon, sticker, toothbrush, prize...even new flip-flops. Laela was not having it! I got her to sit in the chair facing me, but that was not okay for the teeth check. Finally, we resorted to her sitting in my lap, facing me and the dentist put his knees up to mine. We just leaned her back and she screamed while he counted her teeth. :)Overall, the dentist said her teeth look fantastic! They are very clean, she has all 20, and she does not have any cavities. YEA! Somehow, that girl walked out of the office with a balloon, toothbrush, and bag of goodies. Why? That is the tough part for me. I promised her those things when she acted like a big girl. Eventhough she did not act as expected, she still got goodies. Hmmmmm... now we have an appointment in 6 months for a cleaning. Laela tells me that she will sit in the big chair next time, but I don't know. Oh! I have an idea...Ro can take her! :)

Happy 3rd Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Laela Grace!I don't know how it happened, but you have gone from this little, sweet baby ...to this beautiful and caring big girl! I say it all the time, but seriously....time flies when you are having fun! Laela continues to lighten up our life. She says some of the funniest things. For example, Laela loves to add on actually to her sentences..."Actually, you do it like this mom!" :) Just recently she has been noticing when something is wrong and she says "Sorry you have a hurt finger" or "I am sorry that you don't like that drink." We also do not like her saying "what?" to us, so we encourage her to say "yes or yes sir". For several months now, she has taught others the same. She will catch someone saying "what?" and she tells them how it is. We just have to work on the tone of voice! HA! Laela's facial expressions are the greatest! She just happens to make the expression at just the right time too! (Imagine that.) :) Ro commented the other day about how much she really is like me. Kinda weird to see a little person grow up and take after your mannerisms. There are some that I don't even realize. Then Laela will do it and I think...oh my! She got that from me. AH! Another part of Laela's life that doesn't get talked about much is her relationship with Allie Mae. I was always a little worried when Laela was a baby on whether the dog and her would get along. What was I thinking? Laela makes the perfect pack leader. She tells Allie what to do, when to do it, and to "knock it off!!" when she barks. Maybe its time for dog #2?? We will have to sneak it by mom.
About Laela right now...
*Clothes: Still size 4T
*Shoes: Size 8-9
*Height: 39 Inches (Inching up on dad every day)
*Weight: 34 pounds. She was 34 pounds at 9 months.
*Favorite evening activity: Running (in circles, on the sidewalk, or at the park). Singing in bed.
*Talking: All day, everyday!
*Sleep Habits: Naps are 1-2 hours a day and she usually hits the bed at ~7:30 pm (Followed by 20-30 minutes of singing). She has transitioned to her new bedroom seamlessly which has been great. Her wake up time is ~6:30am (She runs into our bedroom and makes sure we are all in the correct spot).
*Favorite characters: Woody, Buzz, Tinkerbell, and Mater
*Favorite Stuffed Animal: Dog, Dog, and more Dogs.
*Favorite Show: The Funny Show (i.e. America's Funniest Home Video)
*Word she always mis-pronounces: She calls one of our good friends "Mr. Ting" (His name is really Kheang(Pronounced King)). It reminds me of the little boy in Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom. Cracks me up.
*Weird Habit: Cleans her toes with anything she can find (Hair Clip, Keys, etc). Weird. Funny thing is that Kelli HATES anything to do with feet. HA!
*Favorite Drink(s): Milk, Apple Juice, and anything we are drinking.

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. :)