Monday, June 29, 2009

"Hop"

Leah loves to sleep with her dolls, then it was the monkey Eric brought back from his Ireland trip...now it's her "Hop". She seems to have a slight obsession with rabbits....


Saturday, June 27, 2009

2nd Birthday Party!

We (finally) threw Leah a birthday party today (only a month late...ooops). They have a park on base that has shade (praise Jesus), a playground and a water splash park....and bathrooms! So it was ideal. In fact, there were a couple other parties going on at the same time. It was a small party, but lots of fun. There were four kids (all girls) who had a good time going in the water and then playing with the sidewalk chalk under the pavilion. We sang the traditional "Happy Birthday" while she gave us a confused look. However, she did blow out her candle...and definitely enjoyed her cupcake!
Enjoying some watermelon before the guests arrived.
Sydney showing her how to color her shoes (instead of coloring her legs).
"Why are they all looking at me and singing a song??"
Blowing out her "2" candle...
She goes right for the icing...licks it off first and then eats the cupcake :)
Sydney after enjoying some sweets...
I was a tad bit late on this picture. Apparently she had cupcake hanging from the other side also and looked like a walrus...or a man with a handlebar mustache.

Eric and Leah with Becky and Sydney..splashing in the (cool) water.
Sidewalk chalk...
Playing with her new Gabba book :)
And with her Build-a-Bear bunny from Katherine...

Cherry Picking

Leah was "helping" me pit and cut cherries one night.  At first I couldn't keep up with her...she was packing them in quicker than I could do my job.  As you can see by her messy face, she thoroughly enjoyed them!

Monday, June 22, 2009

ABCs...

Our morning routine:  I get Leah some fruit and juice and she plops on the couch and watches Yo Gabba Gabba while I get some breakfast and laundry started. She's really taken to the monkey Eric brought her back from his trip. She MUST have it velcroed around her neck..and if her little purse is around, she wants to hold it!

Eric and Leah have a nightly ritual of sitting and watching the cars go by.  Leah gets all excited when one passes, tells him the color and then asks for "more"!

Eric's been working really hard on the dresser we found for Peanut.  We found it at a local antique store that fortunately was overstocked and very willing to negotiate on price.  It was originally a honey maple color.  Eric's stripped and sanded it and now is ready to stain it.  It's going to be a dark espresso to match the rest of the furniture.  
Eric's parents sent him some scratch off tickets for Father's Day, and Leah "helped" him scratch them off. Even when he was done, she wanted to keep scratching...she loved them :)

Leah and I go through her ABCs every day...and she consistently has trouble with a couple letters (G and X are two of them). This time I think she was a little distracted, but it's still cute :)
We saw an adorable advertisement that had a little girl holding her mom's pregnant belly...so we tried to duplicate it. Although we did get some cute pics, they can't compare to the advertisement (surprise surprise!). She's taken to kissing my belly lately :)

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Leah's New Tricycle

We got Leah a tricycle for her birthday. Even though she can reach the peddles, she doesn't quite get the concept of peddling yet. She's relying on being pushed at this point. Okay for Eric...more challenging for me to bend and push her :)




Stopping to smell the flowers...
It's been pretty hot here, so Eric and I let Leah run around in the sprinkler in the front yard. She really enjoyed it. She'd run into the sprinkler and then back to give me a hug....repeat process :) We also got her a little lawn mower that blows bubbles...if only she could really mow the lawn!






When Leah gets up in the morning, she calls for me and then I tell her to come into our room. She sees Eric first and gives this really cheesy "hiiiii" (too adorable)! Then she gets into bed with us, gives us both hugs and Eskimo kisses. I swear it's my FAVORITE part of every day. What a way to start the day!!!  

I neglected to post some pictures a week or two ago from Eric's cousins', Gary and Lynne, visit. They stayed at the Sandestin Hilton and celebrated their 30th anniversary.  Congrats to them!! Unfortunately Eric was in Ireland, so it was just Leah and I who were able to visit with them. It was a really nice couple of hours. Gary carried her down to the beach and held her, letting her put her feet in the water. 



Racked out with Tigger
She's seen me put my bra on, so she grabbed one when I was folding laundry and held it up to her chest. It was hilarious! By the time I got the camera, she wouldn't turn around and face the camera...I'll keep trying to catch her in the act though!

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Play Time with Katherine

Tracy and I decided to swap babysitting days (one day I'd have Katherine the whole day and Tracy would do whatever she wanted...and then the next day I'd have alone time). At one point while I had them, they decided to stand on the side table and face plant into the couch. They had so much fun. I wish I could have recorded their giggles...they were sincere and cute and wonderful!! I put some pillows on the floor just in case they rolled off the couch, but then they decided to jump off the couch onto the pillows...oh well :)

Then we gave the girls a bath. I had just replaced the possessed bubble blower the day prior, so they were able to enjoy it for bath time.  Both loved it...in fact, every time we tried to turn it off, they'd turn their heads and yell "bubbles!"
The girls love to give each other hugs (sometimes they even do it unsolicited).

Leah's definitely at the point where she wants to pick out (or at least help pick out) her outfit...including the color hair clips I put in her hair. This particular morning she chose a yellow and white shirt with purple shorts (not too bad).  I picked up the yellow pony tail holders and she told me "blue, blue". So I told her I'd give her the blue clip after the pig tails. Once that was in, she wanted the pink one too!  So here's Miss Rainbow Brite!@@