Silly Pics In The Mudroom

Laina is being a trooper, humoring me with my new camera! I just can't stop taking pictures!

Globetrotters Here We Come!

After just a few short weeks of practice.....Laina made a basket! Or two....or three....or four! Way to go kiddo! Mommy and Daddy are so incredibly proud of you! You worked hard and tried and tried and you got your baskets!

Best of Buds

Just a sweet shot of my two little buddies.

Laina and her "boyfriends"

We hosted a play date with Colby and Max and for the first time Laina referred to these boys as her "boyfriends". Uh oh! The three of them had a great time together and nicely posed on the couch for a picture at the end. Hooray! Look how grown up they are!

Happy 1st Birthday Cooper!

Little puppy Cooper turned one year old and boy did we celebrate in style! Laina and I made homemade peanut better dog bones, I took Cooper for a nice long walk, he had fun presents to open both from us and his pals at daycare and he ended the day with us singing happy birthday and him enjoying is frosty paws treat! Hard to believe this little bundle of furry love is already a year old!

Beading Fun!

Santa brought Laina a couple of bead sets for Christmas and we finally had a chance to make some of the fun designs. Laina and I made Minnie and Laina and Daddy made Daisy. Very fun and a great project to keep little hands busy!

Student of the Week!

Each week a student is chosen in Laina's class to be "Student of the Week". Well this past week it was Laina! She just loved having all her pictures displayed up on the bulletin board. And as a bonus, because of the holiday the following week, Laina got to be Student of the Week for two weeks straight! Not only does the Student of the Week get to be highlighted on the fabulous bulletin board near the door, but you also get to be line leader all week!

"and bersides, I love lello"

Laina is growing up. There's no two ways about it. She's just growing up on me. Every day I see little changes and know she has evolved from a baby to a toddler to a preschooler and is now approaching school age. One major area that Laina has changed in is her language. I recently found in my "mommy medical notebook" a list of all of Laina's words when she first started talking. At the time I was so concerned that she hit all her little language milestones that I would write down every new word as it came out of her mouth. Some words she would say clear as day and other words only Joe or I could decipher because we're her mama and papa. I look back on that list of emerging vocabulary and its almost difficult to remember a time when Laina didn't talk up a storm. Her language has grown and grown and for the most part she says all of her words just perfectly but there are still a few lingering words that she doesn't pronounce quite right and I JUST LOVE THEM. I will hold on to these words and cherish them and tear up every day when I hear them because I know that some day very very soon they will fade away. I have two current favorites right now that come to mind. Laina is big on the phrase "and besides" but for Laina it comes out "and bersides" and I just melt when she says it. I almost try to manufacture situations where I think she'll spew out a beloved "and bersides Mommy...that's what I was going to do anyway". The other current favorite is "lello"....otherwise known as yellow. I hope she never ever ever says yellow and that she's 25 years old and telling her friends she just bought a new "lello" shirt. A mama can dream, right....

Mommy's Birthday

Another year older, another year more in love with my family! We had a yummy dinner to celebrate my birthday followed by delicious cake made by Laina and Joe! Happy Birthday to me!

Sally

As part of her Christmas gift, Auntie Di gave Laina a gift certificate to Build*A*Bear Workshop. Laina always eyes the place when we walk by at the mall but she hadn't really known what it is until this past weekend. Well safe to say, Laina is a fan! She had a blast picking out her buddy, stuffing her, dressing her, creating her birth certificate, etc. I love the way she came out. Just as "girly girl" as my little Laina is. Meet Sally...

Sadie Palmer Nicholson

Day two of EXTREME snow here. It hasn't stopped snowing in about 48 hours I think. It feels like we live in a snow globe for goodness sakes. On the bright side, Laina and Joe built a delightful snowgal and Laina named her Sadie Palmer Nicholson. I'm sure Sadie comes from Aunt Lyn's dog being named Sadie and I know Palmer is from Amy Palmer who gave us the snowman decorating kit but who knows where Laina came up with Nicholson. In any event, she's awfully pretty isn't she!

Winter Classic!

Wow, did we ever get hit by a big snowstorm this weekend. Luckily it's a long 3 day holiday weekend and we had nowhere to be but home. We rented movies and hunkered down for the weekend.

Joe takes Laina out to play in the snow all the time and I just love watching them. I mostly love watching them from the warmth of the great indoors but I do go out and visit them for a bit. They were outside for about two hours playing in the snow. Sledding, beach ball and hockey. Even Cooper got in on the action! Here are some great shots of Joe pulling Laina in the sled and Joe and Laina playing winter street hockey. Fun fun fun!