L - E - A - H

Leah

(Sung to the tune of Bingo)

There was a girl who loved ice cream

And Leah was her name-o

L-E-A-H

L-E-A-H

L-E-A-H

And Leah was her name-o!

Because we sing this song all the time.....

Happy Birthday Maddie!

Today was Leah's little friend Madelyn's 2nd birthday party! Leah had so much fun at the party.....a bounce house, swing set, Elmo chair, making crowns, cake, ice cream.....what's not to love! The little stinker, though, refused to participate in eating her lunch! All of her favorites (hot dogs, grapes, chips) were on the menu but she wanted to be upstairs playing with all of their fun toys! She did manage to squeeze in a piece of cake and ice cream, though! Funny how that little tummy of hers works! She even got to enjoy her very first sucker, and she thought it was pretty good stuff, of course! It was so fun to get to see Leah and Maddie play together because we never get to see them really playing together at daycare. They had the best time and finished off the party by playing many rounds of "Ring Around the Rosie"! Precious! For Maddie's gift we gave her a little chef set complete with matching pots and pans. I made her card and put a picture of Leah from when we baked cookies last week and wrote "From one little chef to another". It turned out so cute! I wish I had've gotten a picture of it! With Maddie's birthday behind us, it can only mean one thing.....Leah's is next!

Making a beautiful crown!

See that Elmo chair! Leah LOVED it and wanted to take it downstairs!

Bounce, bounce, bounce!

Helping open presents!

Daycare buddies.....Molly, Maddie and Leah!

Yummy sucker!

"Ring Around the Rosie"!

Bye hugs!

Tee Tee Dance

Tonight we did a HUGE celebratory tee tee dance because Leah went tee tee ON THE POTTY! She wanted to sit on the potty before getting in the bath and she went tee tee! We yelled and screamed and cheered and jumped up and down! She got super duper excited because we were! In fact, she's still saying "yay" and throwing her hands up in the air! This may turn out to only be a fluke, but we were so proud of her tonight. She got FIVE chocolate chips as a reward! She had a minor melt down when these five were all gone because, of course, she wanted more, but she'll just have to wait until the next tee tee dance takes place!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Today after nap time, Leah and I got busy in the kitchen baking chocolate chip cookies! I try to bake a special treat each week and today cookies sounded so good! My little sous chef did an amazing job stirring and sampling. I'll let you guess which job she liked best!

On a completely non-baking related note, Leah spent LOTS of time on the potty today. Within the last day or so she has become extremely interested in the potty. We have never ever pushed potty training on her at all, this was completely on her own. In fact, I would love to push this off for as long as possible for purely selfish reasons. I have an EXTREME FEAR (if that's what you call it) of public restrooms (germs) and I know that potty training will make me face these fears head on! On Saturday night we couldn't find her and when we did she was sitting on the potty (in the dark) on top of the lid with a big piece of toilet paper. I asked her what she was doing and she told me she was "wiping". This was the first time I have ever seen her be the least bit interested in the potty. Yesterday she wanted to "go potty" before her bath so today she and I went to Target to get a potty seat for the big potty. I want to train her on the big potty and avoid a little potty seat if at all possible. She helped me pick out one with Elmo on it so today she has asked SEVERAL times to "go potty". She and I have spent LOTS of time this afternoon chit-chatting on the potty and tearing "paper towels" as she calls the toilet paper, one square at a time! No success stories yet but I have a feeling potty training may come much sooner than I expected or wanted! At this point we are not pushing this on her at all but the potty seat is there for when she asks (and so are the "paper towels")!

Happy Father's Day

Today was all about Leah and her Daddy! We let Daddy sleep in this morning which is a huge treat for him! The rest of the day was spent with a quick trip to Home Depot and working in the front yard! It is almost finished! All that we need now is a few more lights and more bark! We put down six bags but it looks like we need six more! We bought two solar powered lights to try out and it looks like they're going to work perfect so we'll grab a few more this week. We finished the night off with a quick swim and a picnic of barbecue ribs, grilled corn and fried potatoes! Happy Father's Day to Leah's Daddy, Papaw and Grandpa! We love you all!

All ready to go swimming!

Trying out the Puddle Jumper! I loved it and Leah didn't mind wearing it!

Front yard as of tonight!

ELLLLLMOOOOO

What could be better than taking an almost two-year-old to see one of her favorite characters in action? How about second row seats! This morning we took Leah (and Elmo and Big Bird who she wanted to take along) to see one of her loves, Elmo, in Sesame Street Live's "1-2-3 Imagine! with Elmo and Friends"! It was so so cute! You never know what to expect at these kind of events but this one was super duper cute! I bought the tickets the first day they became availabe for purchase but I could have sworn that I bought balcony (cheap) tickets; however, when we got there they escorted us to our seats and we were led straight up front to row number 2 (not so cheap, now I know why my receipt was a little higher than I thought it would be)! Talk about perfect though! Leah could see everything and we didn't have to worry about dodging heads in front of us! The characters would come down on the floor ever so often so we got to see them up close and personal! Leah loved it! There was lots of singing and dancing, bright lights and confetti.....what more did we need! She got a little antsy a couple of times and started saying she was "all done" but we distracted her with Lucky Charms (she only eats the marshmallows out of the cereal but it keeps her entertained for quite awhile trying to find them all) and juice! I don't like getting sucked into the money traps with all of the overpriced JUNK that they sell at these things but we did give in and buy her a program because she was trying to take one off of the chair of the people sitting in front of us. I have a feeling we'll be reading this "book" for bedtime all week! Now it's time to come up with something else to remind her to be a "good girl"! Reminding her about going to see Elmo worked really well all week! Lucky for her, we already have another little surprise planned for her very soon!

I can't tell who's more excited here!

Snack time!

ELLLLLMOOOOO!

"Reading" her program!

Blowing Elmo kisses!

She had just as much fun (if not more) running up and down the hill outside the arena!

So Soft

Luke prefers to spend most of his time at home shirtless. Leah has discovered a fun new thing on her Daddy's shirtless body.....his armpit hair! She loves to touch it and say "so soft". Gross, gross, gross, I know, but hey, it's gotta be cleaner than most things she touches out in public!

Busy, Busy, Busy

We have been soooo busy lately! I LOVE to cook so I always gauge how busy we are on how many nights a week I actually get to cook dinner! Last week......ONCE! I did manage to whip up a batch of rice krispie treats, though! Man, those were good! Luke's sales manager was in town traveling with him Tuesday through Thursday so there went three nights out the window! I can't even remember what happened Friday night and then Saturday and Sunday we busted tail working in the front yard. We were so busy with this that we didn't even make it in the pool! It's mid-June and Leah hasn't been swimming in the backyard yet! I know there will be plenty of swimming in her future so I'm not too sad! We finally got the rest of our patio furniture so we were able to get that put together and have our first picnic outside! Leah's favorite part.....eating "big corn"! This girl LOVES corn on the cob (aka "big corn") and can out eat her Daddy and I! We still have a little work to do in the back (mainly deep cleaning) but it's pretty much ready for lots of summer get-togethers! I've also been busy working on Leah's big birthday party that will be here before we know it! I'm already starting to feel behind! As busy as we've been lately, I don't think it's going to slow down anytime soon! We have a date with Elmo and Father's Day next weekend, a birthday party the next, our anniversary and then it's time to bust out the red, white and blue! Here's a few pictures from our weekend!

Leah's new thing.....wearing her towels like Mommy after she gets out of the bath!

Enjoying some "big corn" at our first backyard picnic!

Our front yard so far.....plants still need to settle, still needs black bark, lighting and a deep cleaning! I'm loving it so far!

A sneak peek at Leah's big birthday bash.....

Weekend Recap

We had a busy, busy weekend! Saturday Leah had a playdate with Khloe and Jaydon. Katie, a friend from high school who now lives in Bakersfield, was in town for the weekend so they stopped by for a visit on Saturday. What a small world! We had lots of fun and Leah got a crash course in sharing her toys! That little lesson started out rough but she was having so much fun by the end of the afternoon! Luke was the master husband and grilled out hotdogs for us all! After they left it was naptime for one of us (although we ALL could have used one), a golf outing for another and the other got all ready for a date!

Luke and I went out to dinner Saturday night at Boulevard Bistro, a fancy little place in town that we've been wanting to try for forever! We first met up with some friends for a couple of drinks at a different restaurant, went to have our WONDERFUL dinner and then met up with them again for just a bit. We were home to relieve our sitter, Nora, by 10:00 pm! Leah was FANTASTIC for Nora! It didn't hurt that she was still asleep at 6:00 pm when we left for the evening so she didn't see us at all when Nora went to get her out of her crib! This always seems to work better when Mommy and Daddy aren't even an option! She was still awake when we got home, but we had told Nora not to worry about bedtime because she doesn't even go to sleep until around 11:00 pm anyways!

Sunday was an afternoon out with the girls for Mommy! I met up with a few friends to go and watch "Sex and the City 2" and then out to lunch at California Pizza Kitchen. I get together with this group of girls for a 'girl's night' dinner once a month and we always have so much fun! The rest of the day on Sunday consisted of grilling out steaks and building patio furniture. Our set is almost complete! All we lack now is the dining table and it should be here next week! We now have two chairs, a loveseat and a little table to go around the firepit, two chaise lounges with a little table for around the pool and six dining chairs waiting for a table! I plan to get some fun pillows and a big rug to dress it all up. I'm just trying to decide on what color I want to go with. I'm usually a red girl but I'm trying to force myself to go for something different, maybe green. I'll let you know what I decide!

And here's a little video of Leah singing her ABC's! All thanks to Elmo!

Double Deuce

Only two more months until my baby girl is t-t-t-t-two! She is twenty-two months old today! Wowsers! I can hardly believe it! I haven't updated her list of tricks in awhile so today's the day! I'm not gonna lie.....she's the smartest one-year-old I've ever met! I can say that because I'm her Mama! She blows us away daily with things that she knows! Here's what she's up to these days:

• can count to 10 (she knows her numbers up to 15 or so but sometimes they get out of order after 10)


• can count to 10 in Spanish


• knows how to sing her abc's just perfect thanks to Elmo! She sings the last part like this: "next time won't you sing with Elmo! Yaaaaaaay!" because that's how Elmo sings it!


• knows her colors - red, green, blue, yellow, pink, orange, black, brown, white


• is FASCINATED with hearts and always wants us to draw one for her


• knows a few shapes - heart, star, circle, triangle, square


• carries on full conversations with us. She doesn't speak in two- or three-word phrases but in paragraphs it seems


• she knows what she wants, when she wants it! Be on the look out for a good tantrum!


• has mastered eating with a spoon


• has become an excellent eater. She eats anything that is put on her plate although some of her favorites lately are poppyseed chicken, green beans, pink and blue yogurt, chicken nuggets and french fries with ketchup, "big corn" (corn on the cob), marshmallows


• her vocabulary blows me away. She knows more words than I can even begin to list and pronounces them extremely clearly.


• does NOT like anyone helping her brush her teeth. She doesn't mind brushing them but wants to do it all herself! Too bad! We now have to bribe her with a "prize" each night that she lets us help her brush her teeth!


• is a night owl. We put her down each night between 8:30 and 9:00 but she doesn't fall asleep until anywhere between 10:30 and 11:00, sometimes even later. She just hangs out in her crib and reads a book that we let her take to bed and talks. You'd think that she'd be crabby in the morning, but she's just as happy as can be! She also likes to sleep in on weekends until about 9:30. She is just like her Daddy.....can stay up late and is happy as can be in the morning no matter what time she has to get up!


• is extremely athletic just like her Mama. Not! She does the most perfect somersault and can jump/hop with two feet. She loves to jump, climp and run! I see lots of sports/gymnastics in our future! She jumped off the rock wall ledge in the backyard last weekend and cut the back of her head. Scared us to death!


• Her favorite shows to watch are Barney, Chuggington and Elmo (Sesame Street)


• She is a nosey neighbor! This cracks me up! Anytime we're outside and she hears ANYTHING through the neighbor's fence she runs over to investigate and finds a little hole to peep through. She'll drop what she's doing to check it out!


• isn't a HUGE fan of toys. She would much rather draw and color or read books or put on jewelry. A few that she does play with are her bunny dollhouse, Elmo, Barney and her Brooklyns (babies)


• gives us "pop kisses" and "squeeze hugs". Love them! She sucks her cheeks in like a fish so that her lips and puckered and they make a "pop" sound when she kisses us or her animal friends. For "squeeze hugs" she wraps her arms around her neck and squeezes so hard while making a grunting sound.

I hope I haven't bored you to death! I haven't updated this list in a couple of months so I just want to make sure I get it all down so I don't forget! I love my super smart baby girl so so much!