Leah's 5th Birthday

Happy birthday to my Leah Lulu.  Leah has been in love with Pandas for a while now, she even has an imaginary pet panda named CheeChoo who shows up occasionally.  She is also my little princess girl so she really wanted a Princess Panda cake. 

Hooray for my Carebear cake pan it once again saved the day.  Leah wanted a pink cake and strawberry ice cream for her birthday, go figure.

 Luckily it was a beautiful June day so that we could have her party outside.  Leah picked a guitar for her pinata this year and had so much fun strumming it in the store and at home that mom rescued it to survive until the party.  Leah was excited to have a family party as long as we could have balloons, games and a pinata.  Leah's Howell and Funk cousins came to join in the fun along with Nanas and Papa, aunts and uncles.

The festivities didn't end after the party though.  Leah had her Howell cousins: Gabby, Sage and Kirsten over for a giant sleepover.  The girls watched a Liken movie and then crashed in sleeping bags downstairs in the living room.  The next morning mom whipped up some yummy waffles at Leah's request.

 

Leah's present arrived a day late for her party but on time for her birthday.  She was thrilled with the Squinky Carousel just like the one she had been pining over at the Museum of Idaho gift shop during the Carousels exhibition.  She was also so excited to receive the movie Wall-E, "I love it" she exclaimed.

Leah requested to go to Leo's place for her family activity where she, Abi and Tal racked up a ton of tickets playing games in the arcade.  Leah fell in love with a ribbon dancer prize and Abi and Tal were kind enough to pool all of the tickets together so that she could get it for her birthday.  Afterwards we went and played at the playground.  As we were exiting the van Leah  excitedly told me, "I always wanted to be a ribbon dancer, and now I am.  I'm living the dream."  This girl cracks me up.

10 Things About Leah

1.  Leah remains my girly, girl..  She adores dressing up, wearing skirts, tutus, wings and crowns.  

2.  Her favorite color is still pink but "violet" not purple is making a run for it.  She loves violet because it is a color in the rainbow songs, while purple is not. 

3.  This girl loves her TV.  She has been running Netfix since she was about 2.  She is only allotted 2 hours of "screen time" a day but she will sneak downstairs to watch shows when I am not looking.  She loves CareBears and My Little Pony just as much as Fairly Odd Parents and Sponge Bob.  She just finds a new cartoon and watches all of the episodes.  Leah also loves playing games on the computer on the PBS kids website.

4.  When watching TV Leah loves doing art projects and crafts.  She loves to color, paint, cut, glue, and recently had become quite the little drawer.  She loves drawing princesses with poofy dresses and long hair as well as pictures of our family.

5.  When we go outside, Leah loves to ride her bike.  Her stamina isn't great though so we are challenging her to ride from our house to the bridge this summer, 0.5 miles, without stopping.  She also loves drawing with sidewalk chalk, jumping on the trampoline and playing with best friend Sam Hurley.

6.  Leah loves fried eggs, macaroni and cheese, ramen, strawberries, cheese sticks, yogurt and chicken nuggets.  She also has a sweet tooth and LOVES candy.  

7.  She is losing her baby teeth at an incredible clip.  The top four that came in with weak enamel that flaked off, we have been able to save from fillings or caps.  Hooray.  She is great at letting me brush and put on her paste.  

8.  She continues to have the cutest little lisp and difficulty saying R's and L's.  The lisp is accentuated by the loss of all of the baby teeth bu.t her Pediatrician says not to worry..

9.  Leah is our little entertainer.  She loves to sing and is one of the loudest in Primary.  She sings herself and Eva to sleep nearly every night.  She dances and twirls to Abi's piano practice.  And Leah can tell the funniest, most amazing stories.  

10.  Leah loves her babies.  The end of her bed is piled with stuffed animals, dolls, blankets and treasures.  Each night she takes a cadre of different babies and toys to bed along with her Ladybug Pillow Pet, Pink Fuzzy Pillow, and normal cupcake pillow.  It's almost hard to find our Leah in the bed.  

Memorial Day - Remembering our Loved Ones

We love spending Memorial Day each year with our family and remembering those who have passed on.  Abi created this festive hairdo for Leah before we went out.

We visited the Field of Honor Memorial at Freeman Park this year.  There were over 1000 flags posted to remember and honor those fallen in battle.  It is a solemn site to see.

I hope that my kids will someday grasp the significance of this... I think I am still trying to.

We also spend the day visiting the graves of my and Kris's grandparents who have passed.  I enjoy making bouquets from the flowers out of my yard to decorate each grave with.  It may seem a little silly, but I find it a little extra special that my flowers come from my yard where I baby and love them into bloom every year.  It's like I am putting a little piece of me out there to show my love for our grandparents.  I hope that my kids will "get this" someday too.
May 27, 2013

Look Out World, Eva is almost 2!

After 3 other kids, I knew this day would come.  Luckily I am getting smart enough to just grab the camera and take a picture rather than getting mad.  Eva loves getting lip gloss and powder when I get ready so I should have been prepared for an independent make-up session.  My little Eva is turning into quite the handful.  She thinks she is soooo Big.  Her body thinks she is big too as she spurted up and has been wearing 3T clothes since March.  Eva skipped right over the box of cute little 2T summer outfits into these 3T's.

One of her favorite activities is to "ride bikes."  Big sister Abi is a good sport and accompanies Eva on some of these rides.  Eva hasn't quite figured out the pedals but rather pushes herself along on her "bike.  She loves to race up and down the sidewalk between our house and the neighbor's.  Ever since the weather warmed up she wants to go out and ride every morning.

Eva also loves going on bike rides in the trailer behind my bike.  Her favorite songs are Popcorn Popping and Springtime is Coming which I sing every nap and bedtime.  Eva loves following big sister Leah around and doing whatever she is doing including blowing bubbles, drawing with sidewalk chalk, and jumping on the trampoline.  Eva mastered the trampoline ladder this spring and is happy to be independent now.  Eva also loves flying kites and wrestling with Tal.  She continues to be a snuggle bug when waking up or going to bed and loves to look at board books with mom and dad.  Her vocabulary has been exploding this spring and she went from little phrases to full on sentences in what seemed the blink of an eye.
May 2013, 23 months

Leah's Preschool Graduation

Leah's Preschool Program was a day for her to show off all that she had learned with Mrs. Dance and wow us with her smarts.  The class sang several songs, skits, and dances.  Leah's favorites were "The Mean Old Witch with the Cat", "Poison Ivy" and "The Chicken Dance."  She has enjoyed her year at preschool working on numbers and letters, sign language, and science and social studies packets.  Every Friday Leah would race to the van with her Hello Kitty bag in tow excited to show me her books and papers and tell me all about what she learned.  I  hope that she continues to love learning.

Mrs. Dance and Leah

May 22, 2013

Sixth Grade Graduation

Just knowing that this day was coming was enough to make me cry for the week prior to 6th Grade Graduation.  I had been working with the whole 6th grade on their graduation songs for about 6 weeks and I knew that I would get so emotional.  When Abi walked in, my heart jumped up into my throat but mostly I was proud of her, her hard work and all of her accomplishments.  Papa Fife came to see Abi in this big day too.

During the program the 6th Grade sang two songs, Unwritten by Natasha Bettingfield and The Climb by Miley Cyrus.  After all of our hard work with enunciation, notes and rhythm especially on the clapping, I was thrilled to hear them sing so well.  They really represented themselves well.  It is a tradition for the students to sing Unwritten so I was proud when several parents told me that this year's performance was the best they had heard.  One of Abi's good friends, Matt Miller, was one of the student speakers.

Abi shaking hands with her counselor Mrs. White and receiving her diploma from Mr Gauchay.

Our family is so proud and excited for Abi and this next step in her life.

Friends: Elizabeth Whitley, Taylor Lords, MaKenzie Welch, Abi, Aubrey Hatch, and Elle Russon.
May 21, 2013

Field Trip to the Zoo

Leah's Preschool teacher, Mrs Dance, takes her classes on a field trip to the Zoo every year.  Eva and I were excited to go along too.  I love going in the spring when it is cooler because more of the animals are out and active.  We caught up with my friend Michelle Riley and her two girls Emma and Evie and had a fun time tooling around.

The girls all loved feeding and petting the goats.  Good thing I remembered to grab a few quarters on our way out the door that morning.

The male lion was out and strutting his stuff in the enclosure.  We were excited to see him awake and active versus the snoozing lion we normally see later in the summer.  I tried to get us with the lion, but alas, it was not to be.  

Eva and Evie ( too confusing sometimes) just loved brushing the goats.  This mama goat was kind and patient enough to hold still for them.  Eva loved the baby goats but they kept running away from her and the brush.

After our fun day at the zoo we enjoyed a picnic lunch near one of the playgrounds.  Yeah for preschool.
May 20, 2013

Fast and Furious

Abi was so excited to train for and participate in the 6th grade track meet this Spring.  Each year the four elementary schools that funnel into her Middle School hold a track meet.  Abi is both fast and a good distance runner so it was hard for her to pick what to compete in.  But each participant could only compete in one individual race, one relay and one field event.  Abi chose to run the 200, the 4X100, and the shuttle run. Abi worked hard training both at school and running after school.

First Place Speed Demons: Kayci Barfuss, Karley Greer, MaKenzie Welch, and Abi Meek.  

The night before the meet I took Abi and her three friends to the track to practice exchanges and to get a feeling for the track.  Then on meet day they were speed demons blowing up the track.  During their first heat a bumbled handoff left them about 20 meters behind but Abi, running the final leg, shot out of her handoff and made up the difference racing by the competition to win.  Then in their final Abi's team again blew away the field and Abi sprinted down the track to a first place finish.

Abi's last race of the day was the 200 meter final.  Unfortunately she was on the far outside land and started a little slow.  When they hit the strait away she took off but was just a skosh behind Kayci Barfuss, her teamate from the relay.  Abi was moving so fast that if she had 10 more meters she would have beat her.

I was so proud watching my little speed demon tear up the track.  I think she had a great time and is looking forward to running track in Middle School.
May 16, 2013