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State Fair 2010

State Fair here we come! On Sunday, we headed out to the State Fair. Our plan was to be there right when they opened at 10:00, but this crazy girl slept until 8:30! (Someone obviously knew that we were all EXHAUSTED from the previous week.) The traffic was a little crazy, taking us an hour to get to the fair and almost 25 minutes to park. Oh well, we made it in and had a wonderful time!Ro and I got the awesome Fletcher's corn dog and funnel cake that we went for, Laela got to see the dog show, and we all had fun walking around enjoying the people-watching! (If I don't watch that girl, she will run right into a wall because she is watching what others are doing. I DON'T KNOW WHERE SHE GETS THAT FROM.) HA! Anyway, Laela did enjoy a few rides. We started out easy with the little whales spinning around in the circle of water. Then we bumped it up to the "Ladybug" ride. We happen to walk past and stop to watch. Then Laela said she wanted to go on it, so Ro took her. It was fast! She did not look so hot during the actual ride, but she said she liked it!

Then a little more relaxing with the swings.

Finishing out our rides with the worst of all. We were walking back out and we walked past this house with a cool roller coaster. She said she wanted to go and the people coming out were laughing and happy. OH MY! Not Laela's case...she was literally trembling when she came out. Ro looked a little spooked too! I was seriously worried that Laela would have nightmares, but she didn't. Here they are coming out of one of the doors and then getting ready to head back in. Poor baby. She is holding on to her daddy! Oh! I almost forgot! Oh course we had to play a game, so Laela chose duck picking. She ended up winning this cool bouncy, purple ball. Laela is still playing with it tonight. One of the favorite parts of Laela's day (besides skipping naptime which we have not done but maybe twice in her life) was riding the "train". Okay, okay. It was really a tram, but Laela called it a train and we went with it! Whatever makes the girl happy! Ahhhhh...our day was successful! Much needed fun for the Murthy family!

Pumpkins at the Arboretum....or Not!

This morning we decided to head out to the Dallas Arboretum for a fun morning of pumpkin exploration. Laela has been talking about pumpkins this week and it was a great way for us to spend some time together. Well, we did not start out on the right foot. We pulled in, got our stuff, and started walking away from the car when a man and woman in a golf cart pull up and tell us that we can not park there because the are trying to clear space for handicap parking. We said that we did not see any signs for handicap parking and there was someone that just pulled out that was not handicapped. The continued to hound us, even yelling at us. In MOST cases, we would have complied, but this time we decided not too. I know. You are thinking we are horrible people; however, the workers had put me over the top by this point. To make it even better, when we started walking to the entrance, the man and woman followed us and sarcastically said "thanks for helping us out. what you are doing is illegal." Oh man! I was on fire! We got to the entrance and the woman at the desk was incrediblly rude too, so I decided to ask to speak to a manager. She called someone and then quickly said, "sorry, the manager is too busy to come down. fill out this paper and i will send it over with the proper person's name." long story short we argued for a minute, i took the paper with us, and the lady let us in for free. She said that she was doing us a favor and letting us in at no charge and hoping our experience would be better. Hmmm. Interesting start and I am hoping for a good experience because I am not sure we are ever going back.Finally, we get in and it is beautiful. There are pumpkins everywhere! The day is already starting to get warm, but the scenary is beautiful. Thre are literally thousands of pumpkins lining walkways, constructed into houses and piled on hay bails. AWESOME! Then, Laela Grace decided that she did not want to have anything to do with the pumpkins. WHAT? Are you kidding me? At this point I honestly thought there was a candid camera following me just waiting for me to BURST! Then I thought, oh well. She does not have to love the pumpkins, but I will. Then...out of the corner of her eye, Laela spotted a water fountain! Oh yes! Life was good again! We actually found a few different water sources. There was even a few picture opportunities between fountain locations, but overall...not a pumpkin picture kind of day.

Monday Madness and Little Miss...

Happy Monday to all! (Yes...that is a Halloween shirt. We only have one month to wear them, so I started now. I love this purple, batty shirt that I found at the resale shop. WOOHOO for bargains.)
Oh man...our house is in full swing these days. Ro and I are busier than ever with work, football season has officially started, and Laela is growing like a weed. I just wanted to take a minute to say how thankful I am for my Little Miss Laela Grace. I have been working so much lately, and honestly I have not spent enough time with that crazy girl. Last year, we would talk on the way to school and back but we can't do that this year because her daycare is close to the house and Ro takes her and picks her up A LOT. I didn't think it would be a big deal, but I miss the drive time with her in the car.
Tonight was mommy and Laela night. Ro had to work late and we got to do our own thing. She helped out with dinner, we ate together and then outside for play time. Seriously...that girl just makes me laugh. Some of the things that she says and does are so wonderful. She loves to tell herself "Good job, Laela" and so do I! One minute she has me sitting in the middle of the street (literally) watching her perform and the next minute she is "baking" cookies for me in her kitchen. I love that girl! We had a super-duper night and I was so thankful to spend the time with her. YES...I am exhausted right now, but that is okay because I got to play with my sweet baby girl.

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!