Figuring things out

Sometimes you just like to figure things out for yourself. That goes for adults AND babies! I came into the diningroom yesterday late afternoon and found Connor walking through with the box of Cheerios I'd set up on the dining table that morning (slob!) having no clue he could get to; or any thought that he'd even TRY. NEVER underestimate your children!

I decided to just grab up the camera and run with things and see what became of it all. I got a BIG laugh out of it all and hope you'll share in my amusement...

Here he is, just getting started. He KNOWS what's in there, the problem is getting it OUT!


okay, got my arm in the box, but know there's that bag thingy in there mommy always rolls up nice and tight...


I'll show her! I'll just take it out of the box!


Ah-ha! I see a way in!


Better double-check there's something in there before I work at this too hard


Oh yeah, baby! I see what I'm looking for!



Aughhhh!!!!!! (for those of you that don't speak 14 month old baby language, that, at this moment in time means "MOM!!!!!!! Jared's trying to take this away from me!!!!! Or maybe he's just trying to help me, but I don't want to take any chances and am yelling because I know you'll help me!!! MOM!!!!!! MOMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!! HEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" something like that anyway....)


Okay, where was I again? Oh yeah...



Just gotta reach a little further in...


Ahhh! The sweet reward of a job well-done! A mouth full of cheerios!


I wonder if there's any more in there? Better check!


Someone should really make a cereal bag better suited to the length of a baby's arm! This is WORK maneuvering my arm AND the bag to reach down in far enough!


But the end result is soooo worth the effort...


Ack! There's two sticking to my hand! That means mommy is going to come at me with a baby wipe and try to clean me up; better do something quick!


There! Take that mommy! Saved you the effort!


Hard work, I'm tellin' ya! Takes some DEEP concentration!


This is sooooo GREAT!


My best advice for ya people, NEVER eat Cheerios one at a time. It's best to just shove them in by the handfull; here, let me show you...

The Jersey Race

We went to the minor league baseball game in our area last weekend, and shortly after we arrived, we were approached by two young gals wearing the appropriate attire for the sport and carrying clip boards and looking all professional. They asked Emily and Jared if they wanted to be in a Jersey Race after the first inning. My children happily agreed, probably not having any idea AT ALL what they were agreeing to... LOL Jared heard something about real jerseys and helmets and was allll for it, and Emily, not about to be outdone by her brother, decided she was alllll for it as well.

I wondered if they knew they'd be on the field in front of thousands of people, and that Dan and I wouldn't be with them?

Dan and I spent the time before the game started (about an hour) hyping the kids up about how COOL it would be to run the bases on a REAL baseball field, and how we wished WE were little kids so we could do it to. Emily seemed a little nervous and Jared was totally clueless. Halfway through the first inning, the kids and I went to the first place gate where we were told to be and Dan stayed behind to save our seats. We waited and waited and waited and no one really explained what was going to happen, or paid much attention to us at all... I think the look on Jared's face plainly shows how thrilled HE was with the wait! LOL

(by the way, I can't take credit for these pictures as I, unfortunately, did NOT have my camera that night, of all nights!!! The Corporate Partner Services Assistant, Kari, took the pictures and so graciously offered to email me copies!)

Jared waiting:

Emily waiting, much more patiently than her brother:

"Ready, Set, GO!" Jared takes off running toward first base, while Emily takes off the opposite direction to third base. Who will reach their respective bases first? (EMILY!)

But Jared made a FANTASTIC effort and it was just the funniest/sweetest thing to see a little boy running as fast as he could on a big basefall field.


You can do it! Get that jersey shirt on!


Now run, run, RUN to second base!


Gotta love the "flying" look with his arms all stretched out to keep the jersey up high enough to run! (Emily's arriving at 2nd base for the helmet already, see her?)

J's still making his way there; GO Jared, Go! WOO HOO!!!

Almost there!



Emily rounds off from second base and head towards first. Jared prepares to don the helmet that is several sizes too big. Can he make up the time he needs?

There he goes, folks, headed off to third base, hoping to reach it faster than his sister can reach first base...




Emily's arrived at first base, she's ready to get into the jersey pants. Will she be able to run in them? The suspense is killing me! And where's Jared (somewhere between second base and third, but wel'l never know just where for sure, that was the last pic of him above)



Here's Emily, still working at getting the jersey pants on. And wait! to the FAR right of the pic, you can see the lady in charge of J squatting down to get him into HIS jersey pants! It's a close race folks!


WAIT! WHAT'S GOING ON! I sense some cheating going on right about now! (I wish you could more clearly see that her helmet is completely tipped forward over her face, but not before I caught a glimpe of the "WAIT! WHAT'S GOING ON?" look on her face...


And EMILY is our winner of today jersey race. Thank you so much to Emily and Jared for your participation (something along those lines....)


To the sound of cheering crowds and laughter (it was adorably HILARIOUS watching these two race!), Emily is exited off the field and posed for one last picture before they took the jersey back. Jared is SOMEWHERE in the stands with the person in charge of him, on his way back from exiting by 3rd base...

The kids received t-shirts for participating. Adult Medium. LOL!! Because they'll have to be about my size before an adult medium will fit them, I think we'll just pin the shirts to their bedroom walls for the time-being to help them remember and enjoy the event.

You just never know on any given day what incredible experience will be handed to you and how each decision you make in life affects the rest of it, even in a minor way. Had Dan waited to use the bathroom, the kids and I wouldn't have been standing around waiting, and wouldn't have been there to be approached. Had we not missed a game earlier in the summer, we never would have arrived so early for this one, and again, wouldn't have been there to be approached. I guess that's what makes life so exciting! You NEVER know when you'll show at a ballgame and get to do a Jersey Race! LOL!

Title picture

I know it's not me, and I know it has NOTHING to do with Lilies, but it was a stinkin' cute picture of Emily I took the other afternoon and I couldn't resist playing around with it a bit and using it for the blog. I'm sure it will change periodically to show off the boys as well, and maybe eventually will be suited to fit the actual title, but for now, Emily Grace in her recital outfit will do just FINE for me as the title picture! (I don't need to be faced with a picture of myself on a daily basis anyway! And all my lillies are done blooming, so expect it will be a long time before the title art matches the title, IF EVER! ha ha ha!)

Why I've decided to blog...

I originally thought blogging sounded really stupid, to be totally honest. WHO in their right mind would want to read other people's online journals? WHO in their right mind would want to SHARE their private pictures and thoughts online for the whole world to potentially see? And then, as I was emailed several different links to the blogs of friends, I quickly realized a blog could be a very neat way to a) keep family and friends updated with the daily events of your life, and b) document for yourself life's little tidbits. My interest spiked tremendously when I came across the blog Confessions of a Pioneer Woman She's hilarious, brutally honest and open, witty, thoughtful, and so positive about life... I am OBSESSED with reading her blog!! And I'm taking others down with me, too (be warned, you're next!). I've got several friends now hooked on reading her blog, and I think I've sucked my Auntie in as well. LOL! I also realized that I spend a lot of time entering email addresses each and every time I send out updates or pictures or funny stories about my children to friends and family, and let's face it, I do that A LOT.

I began to realize that I am the sort to enjoy reading other people's online journals, and I would want to share my private pictures and thoughts for the whole world to potentially read (though my goal is to just keep family and friends up-to-date in an easier method than entering a million email addresses each and every time--and I can post as many pictures as I want without worrying how long it will take the email to open for any remaining dial-up'ers). So here I am!

My next issue is narrowing things down into one topic a day! I have several ideas running through my head at this very moment... "The woes of teething children", "Connor, the climber", "Jared vs. Curious George", or maybe even a compilation of pictures that best describe the personalities of my children (and a strange compilation it would be, too!). Maybe "The soon-to-be famous artist, Emily" would be a good one... Won't you just be surprised to see what I come up with? I'm sure I'll probably surprise myself! ha ha!!

Explanation of the blog title...

There are several explanations for the title of this blog, the very STRANGE title of this blog. That's right! I admit it, it's strange. And as much as I almost hated pressing "continue" on the blog set-up screen, I also almost secretly LOVED it at the same time. It's strange, but you won't forget it, I'll bet!

Anyway, on with the explanation... I tried TEN, yes TEN different names. ALL ten were currently in use already. I even decided to be really lame and just use "something creative" as the title until I had more time to sit down and actually BE creative. "something creative" had already been used as well, go figure (guess it wasn't something creative after all!) It was at that point I gave up my search trying for something normal, because if I couldn't use a rather odd title such as "something creative" then I knew I really needed to dive right in and aim for something REALLY odd. There's the first part of the explanation. I was DESPERATE for anything to go through as "available" and not "currently in use".

The second part is that, truthfully, I really DO love lilies; they're gorgeous flowers and smell INCREDIBLE!! Just the other week I walked outside into my friend Carole's backyard and smelled lilies and nearly fainted from the pure pleasure of inhaling the scent of her lilies (here's where I'd post a picture had I thought at the time to take one!).

The third part of the explanation is that my three monkeys and I (tried "three monkeys" as a title, too, I should add!) read The B Book tonight before bed. The B Book, in case you've never read it, consists almost entirely of words that begin with the letter "B". Somewhere near the end of the book you have big brown bear, blue bull, beautiful baboon, blowing bubbles, biking backwards, bumping (someones) banana baskets and bob bunny's something or other and they all break baby bird's balloon...

My name is Leah. It starts with "L". I love lilies. I needed something strange so I could FINALLY find an unused title for my blog and move on with the whole process. I read The B Book to my children tonight. Lots of B's... I knew I could do something with lots of L's. So I did. Laughing Leah Loves Lilies. And there you have it!