Memorial Weekend Block Party

Yesterday we pulled the grills out front and had a block party in the court. Luke smoked a phenomenal brisket (that's not easy to find here in northern California.....tri-tip is the go to meat here) and some out of this world chicken! I made potato casserole, my yummy spicy barbecue beans and a delicious corn salad using Chili Cheese Fritos. For dessert I made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and for the adults to drink.....a delicious watermelon lemonade that I found on Pinterest! Gotta love it! Some of the other goodies we had were carne asada and chicken tacos, beans, rice, Caesar salad, fruit salad, chips, salsa and guacamole! It was all so good!

We blew up the bounce house and pulled out all the little cars and the little kids played and played and played (the big kids (grown men) played frisbees)! Leah was asleep within one minute of her head hitting the pillow! She didn't call out for me once like she normally does thirty times before drifting off to sleep! Tomorrow Luke's smoking ribs and we're just going to relax around the house! I'm looking forward to it already!

Date Night

Last night Luke and I went out on a much needed date.  We had 9:00 pm dinner reservations at Boulevard Bistro (one of our local favs) knowing that this would give us plenty of time to get Lane down for the night so that Kelley would just have Leah to entertain!  Leah never likes to go to bed, so we told her that she could stay up ALL NIGHT with Kelley (of course assuming that she would fall asleep on the couch just like she always does on family movie night)!  Well.....Luke and I had a FABULOUS time, but I don't know if I can say the same for Kelley!

At exactly 9:18 pm (just as our first course arrived) Luke gets a text and the following message transpires:

KELLEY (9:18 pm):  Can I make a bottle

Luke went outside to call home right away.  Sure enough, Laney Bug was wide awake and wasn't a happy camper.  He's been going down so easy lately and not waking until around midnight so we didn't expect this at all!  Luke told her how to thaw out the milk and make a bottle but forgot to tell her which bottle he'll even consider.

LUKE (9:30 pm):  It's the Tommie tippie bottle.
KELLEY:  Got it!
KELLEY:  Bottle no go
LUKE:  Walk him around or sway back & forth in front of the tv.
LUKE:  If u think he's hungry, he might need to get fed in our room where it's quiet.
KELLEY:  He took half but I think his stomach may hurt
LUKE:  Have u been watching the baby channel?  Did his diaper explode?  ...try to burp.
KELLEY:  He calmed down a little

We moved on to our second course and didn't hear anything.

LUKE (9:45 pm):  U ok?

LUKE:  Hold him where he is facing out and stand up & sway him back & forth as u watch tv.  He usually falls asleep.  If nothing else works give him your boob.

KELLEY:  Uhhhhhh

LUKE (10:02 pm):  How is the crew?

KELLEY:  Good just watching baby shows

LUKE:  He looks so happy.  Glad to see you got everything under control!  Your the best Kel!

LUKE:  Glad u got everything under control.

KELLEY:  Take your time

LUKE (10:27 pm):  Is anyone sleeping

KELLEY:  I am awesome!!!

LUKE (10:45 pm):  Is anyone sleeping

KELLEY:  Lane is out!

LUKE (11:08 pm):  Is he in his bed?

KELLEY:  Yupp

LUKE:  Awesome!  You're the best!  Be home in 30 or so.  Is that cool?

KELLEY:  Yeah just watching Santa Paws

At this point, we had closed down the restaurant (literrally.....the servers left the parking lot before us) and thought we were golden so headed to one of our favorite bars for a drink!

KELLEY:  He's up again

LUKE:  We'll be home in 15

KELLEY:  Ok

LUKE:  Call Kelley Prather, the baby whisperer...she'll know what to do!

KELLEY:  She's asleep.

LUKE:  Leave her there.  What about him?

KELLEY:  I got him

LUKE (11:31 pm):  Is he still crying?

KELLEY:  Nooo



All in all, Luke and I had a fabulous time with lots of laughs (unfortunately at Kelley's expense).  We totally had to break the "don't talk about the kids" rule on this one!  I hope we didn't scare Kell away already on Day 2 of her stay!  She said it wasn't really that bad, but that she was sweating trying to figure it all out and she never got to eat her pizza that she cooked!  Sorry Kell!

We got home right around midnight and both kids were wide away.  Lane was in the best mood and was so excited to see his Mama and Leah broke into to tears because we came home and she was still wanting to play with Kelley!  Awwwwwww!  This is the life!

I asked Kell today why she didn't text me instead and she said that she thought if she did I would say we needed to go home right then!  As if I wasn't sitting right across from Luke trying to solve the problem with him!  Ha!

Just a few pics from that afternoon...

I finally got Lane a cart cover so he got to ride in the grocery cart like a big boy!  He LOVED it, of course!

Daddy took the clan out shopping for Leah's soccer gear and to Home Depot for more dirt and bark for the back yard!  Soccer starts this week!

We got to do Face Time with the rest of the gang in Texas, including sweet Caroline!

Our Week Via The IPhone

This past week was a wild one!  Leah was sick with a nasty cold on Monday, I ended up catching it Tuesday - Thursday and Luke said his throat was scratchy yesterday.  Boo!  Thankfully we all seem to be on the mend today (and I'm even more thankful that Lane seems to have been spared)!  I'm so excited because I have been granted a nanny for an entire month!  She arrived yesterday and I couldn't be more giddy!  Luke and I are going out on our first date in months with several more planned!  Don't worry, though, we'll take good care of our nanny.....we're taking her to the beach next week, to San Fran the week after that and then to Yosemite the following week.....all of this plus one more week of preschool, gymnastics, dance, a dance recital and soccer practices and games!  The month of June is going to FLY by, that's for sure!

My big boy playing with two of his very favorite toys.....his train and his workbench!

Last Saturday we went to Wacky Tacky for Charlie's third birthday!  What a fun place!

Leah looked so grown up with her hair straightened!  She loves me to straighten it because it feels warm!  We call it playing "spa"!

Luke's been working hard getting our backyard all ready for summer!  It's almost complete!  Lane enjoyed eating his dinner outside while we watched Daddy work!

Daddy and Sister went for a quick swim!

On Monday we had plans to go to the zoo with one of Leah's little friends from gymnastics.  We had to cancel when she woke up sick, but I still needed to get the kiddos out of the house because we were having some flooring installed in the office.  Where did we go?  Where all other good Mommies take their sick kiddos, of course.....McDonalds for breakfast and to play on the playground!  Funny sidenote.....I don't do McDonalds (unless we're driving cross country and there's no other option).  You couldn't pay me to eat one of their chicken nuggets!  Anyways, Leah loves it so this is where Nana and Papaw take her.  This makes it a very special treat for her.  Well, the entire time we were there Leah kept saying things like "Papaw's McDonalds playground is outside, not inside" and "Put my jelly on my biscuit right here like Papaw does it."  This girl sure does love her Papaw and their McDonalds outings!

Leah was a very happy girl because she got some more mail this week!  Mimi made her some clothes for her Barbies and sent them to her!  Laney Bug also got a hat for the beach!  Thank you Mimi!

Somebody is sitting up oh so good!

Our nanny is here, and we love her oh so much!

Saturday morning snuggles (Lane joined us at 6 am, Leah at 8:30.....not bad for a Saturday)!

And of course we've already gotten some hula dancing in this morning!



HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND!!!!!

Dr. Hendricks

This is community helper week at Leah's preschool!  On Tuesday the police, K-9 and police cars came to visit and today the firemen and fire trucks!

To make this week even more fun, today the kids got to dress up as their favorite community helper!  Leah decided she wanted to be a doctor!  At one point she changed her mind and said she wanted to be a crosswalk lady (after we saw the crosswalk man one afternoon as we were driving) but I persuaded her back to being a doctor!

 Dr. Hendricks and Firefighter Tanner

Officer Ibarra too

Firefighters Kylie, Tanner and Mattew and Dr. Hendricks

Lane and I had a grand ol' time at home while Dr. Hendricks was touring a fire truck!

But when she got home, things took a turn for the worst!

He DID NOT want to be her patient!

Leah Lately

Just a few little things that Leah is up to these days that I want to remember!

• "twenty five eighteen".....this is how old Leah is going to be when she grows up!  She's constantly telling us things that she is going to get to do when she is "twenty five eighteen" and some even bigger things when she is "twenty five eighteen eleven"!
• Her very favorite thing to play on the iPad in any sort of dress up doll game.  She has at least ten of these and is always begging for more.  She is a pro at letting us know what "ages" the games are for when she's shopping as some of them are less appropriate in my opinion than others!  "But Mommy it says "ages 4"!"
• Her red cowboy boots (from last year that probably really don't even fit her that well this year) have become her newest favorite fashion accessory.  She would wear them EVERYWHERE if she could whether her outfit coordinated or not!
• She changes clothes (most always jammies) several times a day.  Sometimes the tops and bottoms match and sometimes they don't.  She loves the shirts that button and loves to button them herself!  The buttons almost always don't liine up, but she's way too proud that she did it herself for me to burst her spirit and correct them!  Today she was looking in the mirror and got a very puzzled look on her face when she saw that her shirt looked a little funny, she just wasn't quite sure what was wrong with it.  Of course, this time I did line the buttons up for her!
• Our living room has become a "museum" as she calls it.  She made at least ten different dot paint pictures and hung them up around the room with tape.  She told me that this room was "that place with all the pictures".  "The museum?", I asked.  "Yes!  This is the museum!".  They've been up for three days now, and I just can't bring myself to take them down yet!
• One day Leah was helping me put clothes away on hangers and I had a navy blue one and a white one.  "Those are your wedding colors Mommy!", she excitedly said to me!  (Black and white, close enough I guess!)  She went on to say "My wedding is going to be pink and orange.  When I'm 5, that's when I'm going to get married!"  "Well, more like 25!", I told her.  "Twenty five," she squeeled in delight, "that's when I can eat eggs!"  Bless her heart.....because she's allergic to eggs, we're constantly reminding her what she needs to say to someone if she's ever offered an egg to eat....."No thank you.  I'm allergic."  She has this down perfect!  I didn't know, though, that she was looking forward to the day that she can finally eat one!
• We were driving home from a friends house one evening when I was talking to Luke while Leah was watching a movie in the back.  I mentioned to him something about "my muffin" (you know my muffin top, the part of my stomach that just won't quite fit into my pants yet, ugh).  All of a sudden Leah perked up and said "I want a muffin.  Where's a muffin?  I'm hungry!".  Luke and I both died laughing!
• The girl does not require sleep!  She must stay up way later than 95% of all other three-year-olds (and those 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 for that matter)!  When she finally goes to sleep, she sleeps uninterrupted until time to get up, but getting her into bed is sometimes a challenge!  The new sound machine is working wonders though!

Best Big Sister

Leah is the BEST big sister to Lane!  I could not ask for more between these two!  Monday night I had Lane's food all ready to go, put him in his highchair and stepped away for two seconds to grab something (I can't even remember what it was).  Leah hopped into my chair and immediately started feeding him!  She ended up feeding him his entire dinner of sweet potatoes and oatmeal and did a FANTASTIC job!  I think he opened his mouth wider for her than for his Daddy or I!  She only gagged him once with the spoon (she stuck it in a little too far) but after we calmed him down and showed her how far to stick it in, she fed him like she'd been doing it for years!  I love my two little munchkins so so much!  Notice Lane has a spoon of his own.....this keeps him quite entertained and takes his mind off of trying to grab the spoon out of the hand of whoever is feeding him!  Silly boy!