This week went by so slow. Layla started preK on Monday and, well, let's just say she hasn't made it easy on me. She has made it very clear that she does not like school and that she wants to stay home with me because she misses me when she's at school. Could she break my heart anymore? She has a very hard time when I drop her off in the morning but after a few minutes her teacher says she is fine. When I go pick her up later in the day she is always playing with the other kids and has a big smile on her face so I know she has fun while she's there. I guess it's just drop off that's a problem. Even when I go to wake her up in the morning and tell her it's time to get ready for school, the first thing she does is start crying and tells me no. I know she'll get used to it and start liking it more and more every week but for right now it's hard for the both of us. The best part of my day this whole week has been going to pick her up in the afternoon. She is always so happy to see me and she talks and talks about her day, what they did, what she ate, etc. I just love that she's growing up into this little lady!
I still haven't gotten a very good school picture of her since she cries everyday so this is as good as it gets, for now. This is my precious Layla on her first day of preK! 
As soon as we found out that Ed would be gone for a couple of months my Mom and I went into planning for her to come visit and keep us company for a week. She decided to come right in the middle of Ed being gone so it would break up our time without him. We had such an amazing time. I just dropped her off at the airport an hour ago and I am already missing her. It's so nice to have her here but when it's time for her to leave, it's just awful and so hard to say goodbye. Layla got spoiled the entire week she was here, Grandma just can't say no to anything that little girl wants/does. We had a blast going out, showing Grandma around town, and even just hanging out at home, talking and playing. We got to go out to dinner, went to the movies and saw Gulliver's Travels, went shopping, went to gymnastics, played lots of board games, and wore matching PJ's the entire time she was here!
We had a blast with Photo Booth... we could not stop laughing. We were seriously on the ground, cracking up! Just looking at the pictures makes me laugh all over again. 
Layla and I loved Garden of the Gods so much the first time we went that we just had to take Grandma and show her how gorgeous it is. It was even more beautiful this time around as there was still some snow on the ground. We hiked around and climbed some rocks and just had a great time!
We even went to the zoo when it was only 35 degrees outside! My Mom isn't used to the cold weather, in California it is in the 80's and 90's right now but she loved it. Layla showed Grandma how to feed the giraffes and birds which was the best part, as usual. Our favorite animal this time around was the Meerkats, they were so funny. There was one little stretch of sunlight in their enclosure and all of them were standing on their hind legs trying to get the most of it. All of us were dying laughing, they looked so funny!
Layla made Grandma go bowling too! My Mom hasn't gone bowling since I was Layla's age and we had to force her to go with us and actually bowl! But she did! The first time I won, by a lot but the second time she made a come back and I completely sucked and she won. Even though she really wasn't interested at first, we had a great time!
And to top off our great week together, my Mom was totally my lucky charm. Guess who has a job (well, pending my background check which will come back fine)? ME! I am going to be doing all the admin/reception work for a big insurance company's call center. I am so excited to start! We even went and signed Layla up for school so my Mom got to see where she'll be during the week. 
I wish I could go on and on about our week together, it was truly amazing and I'm so glad Layla and I got that time to spend with Grandma. We are so close and it hurts so much when she has to leave but it's totally worth it for the amazing time we get together. I love you so much, Mom, thank you for EVERYTHING!!!
Hello 2011! I'm not too sure how excited I am for this year to come. Knowing that Ed is deploying in May/June for a year makes me kind of dread 2011. I'm sure that there will be lots of good things to come this year as well but just knowing that Ed won't be here for them makes me sad. I guess I'll just have to see how everything plays out, who knows, maybe some good, unexpected things will happen for us that'll make the year even better. Here's hoping! We rang in the New Year the best way possible, with great friends. It was a very low key New Years but also very fun and one we'll never forget. Drinking and dancing! What more could you ask for?
Ed left on the 2nd for a couple of months for some school in Texarkana which is on the border of Texas and Arkansas, sounds like a wonderful place, right? The first day Ed was there he called to tell me what an awful place it was, I could have guessed that just by the name. Every night before Layla goes to bed he calls to tell her goodnight. We always read Layla 2 books before bed so I put him on speaker phone so he could read with us. There are some books we know very well so he already knows them by memory, we tend to pick those to read when he is on speaker phone with us. Layla thinks it's so funny that he reads to her even when he isn't physically here with us. We even make him talk to Boots! It's amazing how much fun we can have by pretending my phone is actually Daddy!
My friend Heather and I took our kiddos to explore Focus on the Family. In case you haven't heard of Focus on the family, it is a global Christian ministry dedicated to helping families thrive. Through their radio broadcasts, websites, simulcasts, conferences, interactive forums, magazines, books, counseling and much more, Focus on the Family equips parents, children and spouses to thrive in an ever-changing, ever-more-complicated world. They have the cutest playrooms too which are totally free to explore and let the kids play in. For the older kids they even have a mock radio station where they can record their own shows and take a copy of it home. It's so cool! And of course we had to hit up the old fashioned Soda Shoppe for some nachos and ice cream. It was a super fun day.
And last but not least, we got our first BIG snow storm of the winter. It was only a few inches but plenty for Layla to play in and enough to make me not want to drive anywhere. Layla and I stayed in the house and I made homemade chicken soup for dinner, it was a perfect winter day. 
