M&M's

Today was the day to see Shrek Forever After! When Ed was here we had taken Layla to see Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs in 3D and she absolutely hated it so I already knew that we would just be seeing it on the regular screen. Before we left Layla told me "make sure we don't have to wear those glasses in the movie!" So if I didn't know before then, I knew now that 3D was out of the question. Fine with me, I actually don't like 3D movies either, they always make me dizzy. I don't like getting motion sickness while I'm trying to relax at the movies. Anyway, none of that is even the point to this post. When we go to the movies we get the standard medium popcorn and medium drink (which ends up being a Sprite) and then I let Layla pick out a candy. Layla knows that Daddy's favorite candy is M&M's so she makes sure to always pick those. Ed had called and talked to her before we left and he asked her if she was going to pick out candy, she told him "Yes, I am going to get M&M's and share them with you!" She is so cute and loves her Daddy so much, when she says those things it really makes Ed's heart melt. So while we were watching our movie and eating our junk food, Layla hands me the half full M&M bag and tells me to put it in my purse because she's done. I told her that there was still a lot left and that she should eat them. She looks at me and says "but Daddy loves M&M's, I want to save the rest for him!" How sweet is she? I can't wait until our family of 3 is back together again!

New Garden Additions

We've been having so much fun with our garden and getting such great results (who doesn't love fresh tomatoes and red peppers?) that we decided to add a couple more plants. Layla and I went to Home Depot today to see what they had and to see what was able to be in full sun since summer is here. Speaking of sun, I think our tomato plant may be slowing down, it's getting too hot here for it. Boo. Anyway, Layla was a big help in picking out our new plants. She was dead set on getting pumpkin and watermelon plants, so we did. I also picked up a cucumber and zucchini plant and we have basil and chives growing in the house (until they get big enough to transplant outside), so our garden has a nice variety. And I am excited to say that our strawberries are finally starting to produce. I don't know what took them so long but there are at least 5 strawberries on each plant now, can't wait to start eating fresh strawberries. Mmmm...

A letter for Daddy

Yesterday Layla and I were hanging out on her bed and Layla was writing a story for me. She would tell me what it would say and then scribble down letters. Then she switched it up and wrote Daddy a letter that said she loved him. I asked her if she wanted to write Daddy a real letter and we would send it to him and she got so excited. I asked her what she wanted to say in her letter and she said "I want it to say I love my Daddy!" I told her what letters to write and she wrote it, all by herself without my help even one time. She is doing so good with her writing. So today before school it was time to mail the letter. She loves mailing things and today she told me that "the mail man is going to give this letter to Daddy and Daddy is going to be so happy. He's going to call me and say thank you so much Layla, I love and miss you." And she is absolutely right, when Daddy gets his letter, it'll make his heart melt.

A diva, even in the rain

Today it rained, wait, I take that back. Today it sprinkled about 2 drops total and never even got cloudy, the sun was still shining away. Layla had been playing in my makeup and found red lipstick, and you know Layla, lipstick is a must! I was not about to let her put red lipstick on herself, can you imagine the places she would get it? I put it on for her and the rest of the day she walked around the house saying "I love MAC red, doesn't it look pretty on?" I think I've created a monster, or at the very least a mini me. She loves the rain and really misses it (while in Germany, that's basically the only type of weather we got) so as soon as she saw it was sprinkling she ran into her room and came out with her umbrella. She stayed outside until every last rain drop had come down, singing and dancing and just being a little diva. She's too funny!

How to give Grandpa a makeover

First we must brush Grandpa's hair (or what's left of his hair, anyway) until it's just right and not messy at all. You may have to add some leave in conditioner to it to get the knots out. Also, after it's finished you must tell Grandpa "Now don't go messing up your hair again!" After his hair is finished, it's time to apply lip gloss, and lots of it. Then, just when you think you have enough lip gloss on Grandpa, you thought wrong. He needs at least 10 more minutes of application time. This time with cell phone lip gloss (and while it's getting applied, don't forget the phones calls you get coming in as well). Taaa daaa! Grandpa looks beautiful and so very stylish! :)

Our First Carrot

We picked our first carrot today, way too prematurely might I add, but hey it's a start! I guess you could call this our carrot experiment because we really didn't know when to pick them, this was kind of a guess. Now we know we still have a ways to go with the rest of them. It was so cool to be able to pick a carrot from our own garden. I asked Layla if she wanted to eat it for lunch but she said no, she wanted me to save it and put in her lunch for school. How cute!

Shrek Forever After

Shrek Forever After comes out today! We actually won't be seeing it until next week because we have a lot going on but we're super excited about it. We went to Ulta the other day because they have my all time favorite nail polishes there, OPI, and I knew they had a Shrek themed line. The line had such cute colors and totally looks perfectly themed for Shrek. We ended up getting the pastel purple called "Rumple's Wiggin" which Layla is wearing on her finger nails and then we got the Shrek green called "Who the Shrek are you?" which Layla and I have on our toe nails. Now we're all set to watch Shrek Forever After next week and we can't wait!

Go Fish

First of all, I've decided that Layla is getting old enough to help me straighten up the house, starting with her room. She has been making her bed every morning (okay, that's a lie but most mornings). Now, it's not exactly perfect and my guess is if anyone else looked at her bed they would just assume it wasn't made. Wrong! That's just the way this 4 year old makes her bed. Not perfect but adorable. She takes the time to place each pillow, stuffed animal, and blanket on the bed just right. She even folds her blankets all by herself (if you count rolling them into a ball folding). So just remember, if you come over and Layla's bed looks thrashed, it's just her cute little way of making it in the morning. Now, on to Go Fish. Layla and I play lots of board games, I mean lots. For her birthday that's basically all we bought her, they are fun and educational at the same time. I love them. You know, when we first started playing them, we kind of let her cheat so that she could win. Ya, now we try really hard to actually win and she still beats us. Anyway, so since we've always played board games I guess I just never really thought about card games before. We got a Princess card game set from a birthday party and Layla brought them out to me today. My all time favorite card game is Go Fish and that was one of the games so I decided to teach Layla how to play. She caught on so well, almost immediately, well, minus the fact that she can't hold on to the cards too well so she lines them up in front of her. She loves "Going Fishing!" But loves it even more when she has 4 of a kind and can put them to the side. And let's not forget that we have to be playing music in the back ground while playing our games. Today's song choice (which must be put on repeat and listened to 234863875 times)? "Starstruck" by Christopher Wilde

Hawaiian Pancakes

Layla and I are really big on pancakes (well, add Ed to that list too even though he isn't here at the moment) so we try different combinations and shapes all the time, trying to change it up a bit. When my mom came home from Hawaii and brought along goodies for us, she had brought pineapple/coconut pancake mix and coconut syrup since she knows how much we love our pancakes. I'm not going to lie, when I poured out the mix into the bowl and saw chunks of pineapple and flakes of coconut, I wasn't sure I was going to love this (or even like it for that matter). I was determined to at least try it and have an open mind about it. Let me just say I thought I was in Heaven there for a minute. Oh my gosh, they were so good. I will most definitely be making these again within the next few days. The coconut syrup on top of the pancakes made it even better, they were so sweet and had so much flavor. I highly suggest trying Hawaiian pancakes if you never have before. Delicious!

Timeout

She swears that it's torture. Look at her trying to reach the outside world after 5 minutes of timeout in her bedroom! I wish someone would put me in timeout, maybe then I could actually take a nap.

Book fair, Yogurt Island, and the Airport

I remember when I was a kid and Scholastic book fairs came to my school. I loved them so much, it was so neat to be able to pick out whatever books I wanted and look through all the other trinkets and goodies they had. Now, it's so neat to be able to share the excitement of books with Layla and let her pick out what she wants at these book fairs. Since this was the end of the school year book fair, all the books were buy one, get one free (which I didn't even realize until I went to pay for the books so it was a great surprise for me). Layla got 8 books for only $25! As soon as we got home, we cuddled on the couch and read them all. We love story time! This morning as soon as Layla woke up she asked me "After dinner is it ok if we go to Yogurt Island?" I have no clue where these thoughts come from but I told her that of course we could go. So after dinner that's where we headed and Layla was such a happy little girl on the way home, with her yogurt covered mouth. And I'm sure you're wondering, what kind of yogurt Layla likes? Today she went for a nice mix of marshmallows, chocolate chips, animal cookies, fruity pebbles, and to be healthy, apples and strawberries on top of vanilla/chocolate swirl yogurt. What a combination! Me on the other hand, I prefer good ole' chocolate yogurt covered with peanuts, blackberries and raspberries. Mmmmm... And a couple of hours later we finally were able to see Grandma again! She has been gone to Hawaii for the last week and we have missed her lots. Layla was so excited to see her and was so happy with all the goodies she brought back for her! So happy to have Grandma home!

More and More Birthday Parties

Between Layla's friends at school, my friends, and our family, we go to at least one birthday party a week. Layla loves going, they're always so much fun and she has a pretty big collection of party bags now. My parents joke with me every weekend, asking me "Who's birthday party are you going to this weekend?" But seriously, it's so true. This is also the reason I go to Target so often, they have the best selection of birthday presents and I can get all my shopping done in one place. Anyway, on Saturday we went to one of Layla's school friend's birthday parties. This little girl's name is Charlotte and Layla talks about her all the time which is how I knew we absolutely had to make this party. It was amazing, I am so glad we went! They had the biggest water slide/pool that I have ever seen. There were probably about 15 other kids from Layla's school there which made it even more fun for her. It was such a great time. And today we drove up to Yucca Valley for my cousin's daughter's 4th birthday party. My brother and his kids went with Layla and I so of course that automatically meant that Layla was going to have a good time, she loves those kids. The party was fun and it was nice to catch up with some of my family members as well. On the way home, however, we had a very weird encounter. My brother and I were talking and out of the corner of my eye, I saw a ray of light. I didn't think much of it, just figured it was a reflection when all of a sudden it crossed my windshield and hit the antenna on my car so hard that it nearly broke my antenna in half. My brother looked at me and right away asked "Did you see that?!" He had seen and described everything the exact same way as I did. I have no idea what it was but it was creepy and I definitely think it was something.

Kid of the Week

Layla's in the newspaper today, she is featured as the kid of the week! I uploaded her picture into the Desert Sun a couple days ago and she's already in there. Ed's mom actually called me this morning and told me she was in the paper, good thing too, I might have missed it. Layla is so darn cute and now everyone else can see her too! :)

It's my Birthday!

Today was my birthday and with Ed being in Germany and my mom being in Hawaii, I thought I was going to have a not so nice day. I was very wrong! Thank goodness I have some great friends who made my day so special and of course my baby girl who kept asking "Who's the birthday girl?!" Then making me raise my hand and she would clap and yell for me. I woke up to tons of text messages from people wishing me a happy birthday, Desirae sent me about 20 throughout the entire day alone (also about 20 phone calls). One of my good friends, Christine, has an amazing voice and should be on American Idol. Seriously, she is amazing and I am her #1 fan! Anyway, she called and sang me happy birthday, it was so sweet! Then my friend Jessica invited Layla and I over for birthday swimming, dinner, and cake. It's just what I needed! :) She got me this adorable dress and such a yummy cake! It was a lot of fun! So all in all, even though I was missing two very special people (who both called and emailed numerous times), I had a great birthday! Thanks to everyone for making it so special.

More Tomatoes

As soon as we got home from San Diego I went to check on our garden (yes, I am pretty obsessed with it). There were tons of tomatoes that needed to be picked, just by looking at it you would have thought we would be picking every last tomato off the plant. Layla grabbed her basket and went to town, picking all the nice red ones. We got a ton! Good thing I love tomatoes in my salads, in the next couple of days there will be tons more ready to be picked as well.

Good Morning, San Diego

What a nice couple of days in San Diego we've had. I feel so lucky that Layla and I can just pick up and go on a little vacation when we want to. I had been thinking about going to San Diego for my birthday and when Desirae told me her and Logan were going to go around the same time, we decided to all go together. And I am so glad we did, we had such a great time! We got to San Diego around 2:30pm on Sunday and checked into our hotel. We stayed at the Marriott Marina and got one of the end rooms with an amazing view and windows encircling the entire room. It was gorgeous. After relaxing from the ride for a bit we decided to head on over to Coronado beach. It was pretty chilly (well for us desert rats, anyway) so we decided to just go walk along the beach in our clothes instead of putting our bathing suits on. Layla loves the beach and her and Logan had so much fun running around and collecting seashells. When we got there it was low tide and there were clams every where, covering the entire shore. It was amazing to see them all trying to dig their way back into the sand. After a couple of hours on the beach we went to another part of Coronado for a walk and food. We ended up eating at this amazing pizza place right on the beach, it was so yummy. After dinner and some walking it was time to go back to the hotel and settle in for the night. The next morning we woke up bright and early and got ready for Sea World (after a round of Starbucks). It was such a perfect day for Sea World and there was hardly anyone there so that was a plus. First up was the Shamu show! We decided to sit in the back of the soak zone, hoping we would get a little wet. When it was time for Shamu to splash everyone, we only got about 2 drops total on us and both Layla and Logan started crying and said they wanted to leave. They were both pretty freaked out by it, it was actually kind of funny. We walked around the park for a few hours and had a ton of fun. The kids were starting to get tired so we left and went back to the hotel for a bit to relax. Then it was Seaport Village time along with a horse carriage ride, at sunset, next to the ocean. It was amazing! And the driver kept calling the kids Princess Layla and Prince Logan and telling them that he had just took Cinderella to her castle. It was cute and such a fun evening. This morning I was so bummed to wake up and realize that we had to go back home. But not before one last trip to the beach! We had such a nice little getaway, it was just what we needed.