A birthday celebration

Since Layla's birthday party isn't until the end of March my mom and I still wanted to do a little something for her now. So we went out and bought her favorite mermaid decorations and decorated the house while she was at school. She has been asking for a certain cookie cake for the past month so I knew which one to get to surprise her with. When I picked her up from school and we got to the house, she was so excited! She had no idea we were going to celebrate her birthday, let alone have the house decorated up too. We decided to get McDonald's for dinner since that is her all time favorite place. So a big bucket of chicken nuggets, french fries, sprite, and sweet and sour dipping sauce it was. A few minutes later, Chloe, Jaydan and Uncle Glen arrived. Layla was thrilled! She loves her cousins so much and always wants to include them in everything. They had fun eating and playing and then it was time to open presents! Layla wanted Jaydan's help opening her presents, he had no problem doing that.
Once presents were finished, that meant it was time for CAKE! Cookie cake to be exact. Every time we went to Stater Brothers and saw this cake, she would always say "I want that cookie cake for my birthday!" so that is what she got. But boy was it messy! Layla had a chocolate smile the rest of the night.
I think her favorite present was this VTech Globe. She had fun finding where Daddy was and she always asks about Germany so she is able to find it on the globe and then it talks about Germany and the people there. She's my little German baby! :)

4th Birthday Interview

-- How old are you turning?

(She holds up 4 fingers) 5. Hahaha

You're not turning 5, you're turning 4.

Yes, I am. I'm a big girl. I am 5.

-- What will be the best thng about being 4?

Playing bouncing and eating birthday cake.

-- Who is your best friend?

Joseph (She puts up both hands to her mouth and starts laughing).

-- What is your favorite toy?

Barbies

-- What is your favorite thing to do?

Putting stickers on Silky's hand. Look, I put ladybug stickers on Silky because I really like ladybugs. Are we going to do more things about myself?

Yes, Layla, I am going to ask you more questions.

-- What do you want to be when you grow up?

A doctor.

Oh, so you're going to be Dr. Loredo?

No, I don't want to be called Dr. Loredo or Dr. Layla. I want to be called Dr. Flower.

-- What is your favorite thing to eat?

Fruit.

What kind of fruit?

Strawberries.

-- What makes you really happy?

Teddybears because they're nice and soft. Ask me my favorite toy again!

Okay, what is your favorite toy?

My Barbie airplane that Santa brought for me.

-- What's your favorite show on TV?

Wizard's of Waverly Place

-- What else should I ask you?

Bracelets and necklaces.

What about bracelets and necklaces?

They're my favorite thing to put on myself.

-- What's your favorite thing at school?

Playing in the sand box because my favorite thing is making sand castles.

-- What's your favorite color?

Pink, purple, white, black, and brown.

-- Okay, I think that's it, is there anything else you want to tell me?

I like to swing on the swings and have you push me. But at school I do it all by myself and one day I got hurt and got a boo boo. My favorite thing to watch is Hannah Montana. Mom, I want to ask you questions now. Oh, and my favorite thing is pushing the little baskets at the grocery store. I don't like fire, I like fireworks. I like to smell flowers. I like to catch butterflies with my butterfly net. I like to kiss you. I like to watch TV. I like to spin around and dance. I like to paint and glue, it's fun to glue and paint, right, Mommy? I like to take pictures.

Is there anything else or is that it?

No, that's not it!

Okay, go ahead.

I like to put jewelry and neckalces on me. I like to color, again, I like to say that again. I like to lay on you. I like to make you smell Silky. I like to do this (she gets up and runs in circles). I like to dance. I'm not done yet, Silly, you still need to type. I like to do things, like write things, like my name and Chloe's name and Jaydan's name and Daddy's name and your name and Grandma's name and Grandpa's name and Joseph's name and Jackie's name. I like watching the Jonas Brothers, Nick, Kevin and Joe.

At this point, I had to cut her off. I would have been here all night typing up her favorite things. Happy (almost) 4th birthday, beautiful Princess!!!

A very chill Tuesday

Usually on Tuesdays we do crafts and the letter of the week but recently we have been so busy doing this and doing that, that I thought we needed a break. So today we didn't do any crafts, nothing too educational, not much TV watching, but just played and hung out together. Layla has been wanting to drive her Corvette, so first thing first, that is what we did.
Silky was in the passenger seat and Layla had 92.7 bumping on the radio as she drove to the pool.
We reached our destination! Layla parked the Vette so we could go feel the water.
The flowers were a great photo op.
Layla loved the warm water and informed me that we will be swimming soon.
After that we drove back home and relaxed the rest of the day, playing in the back yard, making a mess with Barbies, and taking a nap. Lazy days are so nice every once in awhile!

My big girl!

From the time Layla was a newborn until 2 years old, she would go to bed all by herself. I would lay her down in her crib, tuck her in, and she would fall asleep. When she turned 2 years old, a switch went off in her head and she started being afraid of the dark. Every night I would tuck her in bed and lay there with her, sing songs and rub her back, until she fell asleep. Fast forward to a couple of nights ago, we were in bed and she asked me if she could go to sleep all by herself. What?! That was the only baby/toddler thing I had left, that I had to lay with her until she fell asleep and now that's gone! So, I officially have a big girl now, I don't even know that anything about her is a toddler anymore and it's kind of a bittersweet feeling.

I haven't wrote down any Layla funnies for awhile, I am always so busy doing something that I just forget to. Layla has such a personality, seriously, she has more personality than adults I meet and she is only 3! She says the funniest things and has so much attitude when she says them. I always tell people that she is 3, going on 13 because seriously, that is how she acts. When we were at the fair the other day, we were on a train ride and there were a couple of other boys in there with us. The one boy was probably about 5 or 6 years old and kept saying "This train is so slow, it's not fast enough." He said this like 5 times before Layla got irritated. She looked right at him and said "That's because this is a FAKE train, it isn't real!" then she looks up at me and says "Right, Mom?" This is the kind of thing she does often, I think this is called only child syndrome. She also, through out the day, will randomly tell me "Mom, I don't want you to have a baby in your tummy. I do NOT want a brother or a sister!" Once again, I think this is only child syndrome. Good thing we don't want anymore kids, poor thing would have a broken heart.

So, all in all, my baby girl is no longer a baby. I cannot believe she will be 4 years old in 1 week, it amazes me how fast these 4 years went by. She is in preschool at the Learning Tree and is doing so amazing, she makes us so proud. Her teachers always tell me what a good girl she is, she listens the best in her class and is so smart. That makes me so happy. She is growing up into a little lady right before our eyes. Ed is going to be amazed at how much a year has changed her.

KOBE'S

My all time favorite restaurant is Kobe's, has been for as long as I can remember. When there is a special occasion to celebrate, Kobe's is where I'll be. My family from Canada came down for a visit and to take care of some of my Granny's things and before they left, we wanted to all get together for a family dinner. So that is what we did, Kobe's style. Layla always makes me laugh at what she eats. I know I have said this before but I am not kidding, she is the best eater I have ever seen. My brother Glen and I got California Rolls and Crunchy Shrimp Rolls for our appetizer and Layla had to try one of each. She loved them! She had her little bowl of soy sauce that she dipped them in and used her kid proof chopsticks to pick it up and eat it. After that she ate all the mushrooms in her soup, a whole bowl of rice, all of her shrimp, and half of her steak. All of this with her chopsticks too, she didn't use a fork once.

My mom is not a big drinker, she'll occasionally have a glass of wine or a Cosmo at dinner. Glen noticed she had a Cosmo in her hand and immediately ordered a Kamikaze shot for the two of them. When it arrived at the table, she didn't know what to do with it, Glen made her take it with him.

It was so nice to visit with all of our family that we don't get to see too often and have a nice meal on top of that.

I love waking up to...

Our super busy, fun filled day!

Today was one of those go, go, go days where we weren't home all day. I like having those kinds of days every once in awhile, as long as we are doing fun stuff. This morning Layla and I went to Jeannette's house so we could visit baby Blake. He is the cutest little boy and getting so big. He's only 6 weeks old and 3 month clothes are already fitting snug on him. He's going to be a football player, that's for sure! Jeannette is doing such a good job with him, he's one lucky little boy.

After that Layla and I met up with Jessica, Ana, and Sarah at the Date Festival. It was such a beautiful but hot day outside, I think it was about 80 degrees out. As soon as we got out of the car, we were all instantly sweating. So much for winter! The fair was a ton of fun and that was probably our last time going this year. Military got in for free and when I showed my ID card the guy said "you deserve much more than this!" Ya, that's about all it takes for me to get teary eyed these days. Our first stop once we got in was the petting zoo, Layla's favorite!

After that we walked around and headed for the rides. The girls play really good together, not to mention they are both so stinkin' cute. They went on the carousel, train, and some kangaroo ride about 5 times, they didn't want to get off of it. They just kept laughing and laughing.

This picture just makes me laugh. The second we walked into the fair, Ana saw those chairs that massage your feet. She kept saying she wanted to sit in the "blue" chair and when we walked past them, she would get upset that she didn't get to. After this happened a few times, we finally stopped so she could sit in one and when she did, she didn't want to get out. That was the highlight of Ana's trip to the fair, the "blue" chair! LOL

The petting zoo and rides really wore us out and since it was so dang hot outside we were all in need of a drink. So snack time it was! Cheese fries, hot dogs, and Sprite really hit the spot. After that it was photo booth time and while we were waiting for our pictures to be developed the girls were playing on the stairs. Layla has become such a little model! She poses and smiles and gets mad when I put the camera down or try to take a picture of anyone else. Actually, she hasn't become a model, she's become a diva, that's more like it. The fair was a blast and I'm so glad we got to go with Jessica and Ana, we love those girls so much!

If that wasn't busy enough, after the fair we met up with Desirae and Logan at Pet's Mart. Logan kept climbing everything and Layla would be right there, helping him get down. It was so funny, Layla kept getting worried that Logan would hurt himself so she would be right at the bottom holding her hands up to him.

Then we got to go over to Desirae and Logan's new apartment for the first time, it was gorgeous! Desirae and I talked, gossiped and made dinner while the kids jumped on the couches and made a mess with balls, books, and Buzz Light Year. Desirae made the best stuffed bell peppers (which I am still waiting for the recipe, Miss Desirae!!!) and when it was time to do the dishes, the kids got in on the action. Bubbles were flying everywhere and water flooded the counters but they had huge smiles on their faces and that's what's important here. It was so nice to have dinner with two of our favorite people. Thursdays are our nights, it's a date! :)

V is for Vegetables

You guessed it, the letter of the week this week is V. Really, the only fun thing I could think of that started with V was vegetables. Layla loves vegetables, especially weird things like broccoli. What almost 4 year old in their right mind likes broccoli? I'm not complaining, she is such an awesome eater. So we started off the day with a corn search. I filled a bowl up with corn kernels and then hid the 26 letters in it for Layla to find. Every time she found a letter she would have to tell me what letter it was and what sound the letter made. She is so interested in letters right now that this was her favorite part. She loves pointing out letters to me and telling me what they say. She has also been saying a word, like grape or tomorrow, and then sounding out the first letter of the word and telling me what it is.

After that it was time to make our corn guys. I had already cut out the corn and glued them on a stick, it was her turn to glue the kernels on to make our corn guys complete.

And for our last activity, vegetable painting! I had squash, broccoli, carrots, etc. that Layla dipped in paint and painted a picture with. She had fun and although it was a mess, her artwork turned out just lovely.

After that it was lunch time! I made a vegetable plate with a side of ranch for her appetizer (the main course was fish and chips, totally not a letter V dish). Her favorite was the carrots with the tops still attached, she thought it was so funny.