tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66312039977105056872024-03-05T15:51:30.662-08:00Laughing Leah Loves LiliesPictures, kid stories, thoughts, ect!Leahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160551209809872319noreply@blogger.comBlogger1408125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631203997710505687.post-27258761478595495262015-04-14T20:39:00.001-07:002015-04-14T20:39:56.093-07:00Well, What Do You Know?After nearly two years of being blocked out of this blog (and being too depressed, mad, and lazy to start a new one), I'm finally able to post again! I guess better late than never, but I'm so out of the habit of blogging (and SOOOO lazy about uploading photos from my phone to the computer!). This could take awhile to get back into again. All I know is that I have LOVED going back through old posts and being reminded of funny things the kids have said, little outings I'd forgotten about, etc. I know I'll regret not having made a better effort at documenting the last two years! <br />
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In a nutshell, we've moved an hour and a half from our home town (not easy, but getting better), the kids are involved in school and extra-curricular activities (swim team for Jared, piano and voice lessons for Emily, and inline speed skating for Connor), our family has gotten into hiking this year (starting out slow and sticking to some short, easier trails, though we did do one heck of a 6 mile hike a month or so ago, not realizing how difficult the trail was!), I've been nanny-ing for some new friends, Dan's around more often since we now live so close to work, and we are gearing up to FINALLY do some remodeling on the new house! It's a 30 year old house that was a rental for a large chunk of that time, so is pretty beat up. <br />
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Now that I know my blog is finally unlocked, I'll have to sit down and put a bit more thought and time into future posts. For now, it's good to be back. :)Leahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160551209809872319noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631203997710505687.post-90601397243931248152013-06-20T10:52:00.000-07:002013-06-20T10:53:17.523-07:00Why the long face?I found Jared making faces in the water faucet in the hallway where Em takes piano lessons, and couldn't resist joining in...<br />
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It was harder to photograph than you'd think...Leahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160551209809872319noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631203997710505687.post-15173536138221517412013-06-17T05:00:00.000-07:002013-06-17T05:00:13.684-07:00ParadeMy mother-in-law invited the kids to join her in the parade, walking with an organization she's very involved in. The overall theme of the parade has been pirates, so the kids dressed the part!<br />
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Dan and I stood at the "finish line" of the parade, and the kids zipped by so fast I barely even got a chance to take a photo!<br />
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My friend Stephanie stood more in the middle of the parade route, so got a good one when the "float" paused<br />
<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v288/leahmommyof2/blog%20pictures2/10070_10200498203791330_231710758_n_zps923451f2.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 10070_10200498203791330_231710758_n_zps923451f2.jpg"/></a>Leahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160551209809872319noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631203997710505687.post-58306936917321578442013-06-14T05:00:00.000-07:002013-06-14T05:00:12.698-07:00Piano/Voice RecitalEmily had her piano and voice recital on May 19th. She did such a great job!<br />
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She was VERY nervous about having to sing in front of such a large group of people, but she pulled through and did great. VERY proud of her! I would have been terrified to the point of tears in that position, but she put a lovely smile on her face and got down to business. :)<br />
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If you want to see her piano performance, click <a href="http://youtu.be/YKULCXoMaVc">here</a><br />
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If you want to see her vocal performance, click <a href="http://youtu.be/hW9oHPAAuEw">here</a>Leahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160551209809872319noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631203997710505687.post-45868626482719403922013-06-13T05:00:00.000-07:002013-06-13T05:00:03.018-07:00Two GoofballsConnor and I were bored while waiting for Jared to be done at swim team practice a week or so ago, so we were making funny faces and taking our picture. LOL<br />
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I super love this kid!<br />
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PS He'd gotten done with his own swim team practice (shorter than Jared's) and was dressed in his pajama bottoms with no shirt on, and kept being really paranoid as we were taking pictures that I was going to get pictures showing off his nipples. ???? ha! If you're that worried about it, kid, put a shirt on!! Leahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160551209809872319noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631203997710505687.post-71414655032535382122013-06-12T05:00:00.000-07:002013-06-12T05:00:01.645-07:003K Fun RunThe kids' elementary school recently hosted a 3k fun run. <br />
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I was standing at the finish line watching and watching for Jared to finish, and at some point, I turned around to see if I could see him coming down the hill behind me, so I'd have an idea when he'd be looping through the big field and coming up to the finish line. Suddenly, he was saying to me, having already finished the race and was working on his Otter Pop. He finished much faster than I'd been anticipating, so had my back turned and missed it!!!<br />
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Connor came cruising through much faster than I anticipated as well, but I had a better eye out for him, after having missed seeing Jared<br />
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Emily pretty much walked the entire thing with her friend Alex<br />
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All three kids placed in the top 12 for their grade level (they awarded top six boys and top six girls for each grade)<br />
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I've already had to promise the kids that we will register and come do the Fun Run next year (it's open to the public) if our new school doesn't have something like this. They really enjoy doing it. I was especially proud of the boys, who really pushed themselves, and each got their best time ever, by a couple of minutes! Leahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160551209809872319noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631203997710505687.post-52533458637858548772013-06-11T05:00:00.000-07:002013-06-11T05:00:02.088-07:00Rat SittingJared's class got two rats (which they named Spirit and Whiskers) as classroom pets for the last month of school, and they needed someone to take the rats home for the weekends. We volunteered for the first weekend. <br />
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Jared didn't like how they'd squirm as he was trying to pick them up, and kept insisting that they hated him, so was pretty hands-off with them all weekend. Jared and Emily absolutely LOVED having the rats. Jared finally got more comfortable with handling them the morning we had to take them back to school, and was wishing we could keep them longer. <br />
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Leahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160551209809872319noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631203997710505687.post-71002162751493047032013-06-10T07:16:00.000-07:002013-06-10T07:16:12.298-07:00JA BiztownEmily, along with the rest of the 5th graders at her school, got to attend JA Biztown for a day recently. Emily was "employed" at Chase Bank, and had to type in kids' account numbers (each child was assign an account number for the day, so they could deposit their paychecks and withdraw "money" to purchase items from the different shops), verify names, etc. She said it was a lot of work, but she had fun doing it!<br />
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She was voted by the other Chase Bank employees to read their prepared "commercial" on the Biztown Q13 News. (She's in the middle)<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI6cQYNtBfl6hOvC2Yh35jl5ihRgxA7INxJ6W8QrYDbLc0ui8CUa-hqvLswO8l48ElfZveMdYLj96zU1i6zR_WJUgzLKyRCz9tCD1la89RMwLYXzsrQ7x3nrnkuisd2H_eChobdPHIrek/s1600/Emily+JA+biztown.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI6cQYNtBfl6hOvC2Yh35jl5ihRgxA7INxJ6W8QrYDbLc0ui8CUa-hqvLswO8l48ElfZveMdYLj96zU1i6zR_WJUgzLKyRCz9tCD1la89RMwLYXzsrQ7x3nrnkuisd2H_eChobdPHIrek/s1600/Emily+JA+biztown.jpg" /></a><br />
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Sounded like a very neat experience for all the kids! I didn't attend (didn't have the time to attend any of the training sessions the volunteers had to attend), but I had some friends who volunteered and snapped these photos of Emily.Leahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160551209809872319noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631203997710505687.post-70276289573204104132013-05-28T05:00:00.000-07:002013-05-28T05:00:13.636-07:00Soup BowlsAfter seeing a cooking show at a friend's house where home-made soup was served to the gal's family in bread bowls, I couldn't resist buying some for my own family! Here is home-made Bacon Cheddar Potato soup (super easy crockpot recipe!) served in bread bowls. Huge hit with the kids!<br />
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My hands were a little messy after I finished with my "painting", and lots of splatters had overshot the plastic mat I'd set up, but they were so small they wiped right up off the hard floor without any problems. The crayons melted under the hair dryer in a surprisingly fast amount of time, and once you have the melted wax on your canvas, you can use the force of the air to move it around, blend it with nearby colors, make swirly effects, etc. I would do this again!<br />
<a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/user/leahmommyof2/media/blog%20pictures2/IMG_3708_zps8b070740.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v288/leahmommyof2/blog%20pictures2/IMG_3708_zps8b070740.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_3708_zps8b070740.jpg"/></a>Leahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160551209809872319noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631203997710505687.post-70584758743300797262013-05-20T06:00:00.000-07:002013-05-21T15:37:42.753-07:00Who Knew?!?!Connor bought himself a thing of Altoid mints with his own money at Jared's last swim meet. I can't stand Altoids and so have never bought a package myself. I don't know if they all come with this crazy message, or if there are other messages you can find??? Either way, we had a good laugh!<br />
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Looks like a normal gift in this photo:<br />
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Now look at it:<br />
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It was actually a very nice gift, just came in a very small size! :)<br />
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In honor of Cinco de Mayo, there were these cardboard cut-outs set up in the entry area of the restaurant we went to<br />
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Surprisingly enough, Connor was able to get Emily and Jared out of the circle far more often than they got him out!<br />
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When we were hanging out on the back deck watching the kids playing around, I was admiring the view<br />
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The kids ended up spending the night, and I admired the view again the following morning!<br />
<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v288/leahmommyof2/blog%20pictures2/IMG_3738_zps79b864ff.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_3738_zps79b864ff.jpg"/></a>Leahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160551209809872319noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631203997710505687.post-86500607697495881452013-05-15T05:00:00.000-07:002013-05-15T05:00:16.874-07:00Madisen GraceThis little sweetie was due VERY near my birthday, and I'd hoped she'd end up sharing a birthday with me, but she ended up being born April 26th instead. I babysat her for awhile a few weeks ago and she snuggled right in and took a nap in my arms. I miss "baby" snuggles!<br />
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We recently celebrated her 2nd birthday (a bit late due to her brother cutting open his head and almost needing stitches just before her previously scheduled birthday party) and her Grammie made this awesome cake for her rainbow themed birthday<br />
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Madi is my little buddy, and always comes running to give me huge hugs and kisses when I see her. She finally started saying my name about two months ago ("yay-ya" or "ee-uh", or some similar variation of those as she works on perfecting it! LOL), so now adds in hollering my name as she runs towards me. Warms my heart immensely every time. LOVE this little girl!Leahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160551209809872319noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631203997710505687.post-81738711719791342302013-05-14T05:00:00.000-07:002013-05-14T05:00:06.728-07:00Magnolia TreeWe have a Magnolia tree in the back yard, which has finally really started blossoming, just in time for us to be trying to move. I could be tempted to try digging it up and taking it with us somehow. It's still at a fairly do-able size, I think. :)<br />
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Absolutely beautiful.Leahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160551209809872319noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631203997710505687.post-86906650466749589812013-05-13T14:50:00.001-07:002013-05-13T14:50:33.039-07:00The Color Run 2013Emily and I got to spend Mother's Day/Em's 11th birthday with some wonderful friends in Seattle doing The Color Run. One of Em's besties, Rylie, came with us this year (huge thanks to Ry's mom for not minding the expense, and not minding us having her daughter for half the day on Mother's Day!) as a way to make the day even more special for Emily. Talk about a BLAST!!<br />
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Here are some before/after photos:<br />
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One of my besties, Stephanie, and me<br />
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Em and Ry<br />
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The birthday girl by herself<br />
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The "before" picture of Emily was taken moments before we started singing Happy Birthday to Emily at the start line for the race, with LOTS of other races joining in singing to her. :) <br />
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Emily and Rylie after the first color station (orange)<br />
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Emily getting more colorful by rolling around in what was on the ground<br />
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I was taking a picture of the girls in the blue when another runner stopped and offered to take my picture as well. :)<br />
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Poor Rylie got blue in her mouth!<br />
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One of the color tosses at the finish line<br />
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Hot pink fishnet gloves no longer hot pink!<br />
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An announcement was made at the finish line for people celebrating birthdays that day to come up on stage so Emily and Rylie got to go up and dance around while the crowd shouted "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!"<br />
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The Unicorn Successs Club with the Runicorn (We are pretty convinced the Runicorn came about because of US, by the way. There was NO Runicorn at any of The Color Run events prior to Seattle last year that we have seen or heard about, but after NUMEROUS comments by Color Run staff last year about our "costumes", the Runicorn started showing up at races later in the year, and LOTS of other teams started showing up wearing unicorn horns).<br />
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Fun group shots<br />
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Unicorn Success Club team members are generous with their color. LOL!<br />
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Colorful hair!<br />
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Brooke and I showing off the clean skin under our Color Run arm bands (which held our IDs, money, and cell phones)<br />
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Can't wait for September when I do it again in another town! And then scramble to clean off and head to a wedding. ha! Thank you Cindy, Stephanie, Emily, Rylie, Brooke, Kaitlyn, and Tamy for making this year so much fun! LOVED the drive home, especially, as we waved at other vehicles on the road, and experienced looks anywhere from scorn, fear, humor, etc. TOO FUNNY!!!Leahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160551209809872319noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631203997710505687.post-42213042049409466032013-05-10T05:00:00.000-07:002013-05-10T05:00:13.836-07:00Silly GirlIn honor of my soon-to-be 11 year-old (two more days!), I'm sharing this hilarious picture I came across while cleaning out some drawers in the never-ending attempt to purge and pack the house...<br />
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Little stinker was supposed to be napping, and came wandering out saying something about there being a problem. haha!<br />
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She's somewhere right in the vicinity of two years old in that photo. What a goof!<br />
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Leahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160551209809872319noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631203997710505687.post-7857574464738901032013-05-09T05:00:00.000-07:002013-05-09T05:00:09.879-07:00Swim MeetJared had a swim meet over the weekend. It was a little different than the other meets we've been in, because it was only a one-day meet, so a lot of Jared's regular events weren't an option. He swam the 25yd freestyle, the 50yd freestyle, the 100yd freestyle, and the 50yd breast stroke. He was also told last minute he was filling as the freestyler in the 200yd Medley Relay in the age 12 and under relay event. One of the older kids was a no-show and Jared was the next fastest 12 and under boy from his team at the meet. The relay took 4th place out of 9 teams, which is pretty awesome, especially considering Jared is only 8. :)<br />
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You can see him in the center of the picture wearing dark goggles and black swim suit standing next to a kid in blue, who was in Jared's relay, and towers over him!<br />
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Thank goodness for the iPad, because it kept Connor entertained for the entire four hours we were at the meet<br />
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Jared had a pretty good meet. He placed 6th out of 20 in the 25yd free (got a personal best time, too), 21st out of 31 for the 100yd free, 12th out of 27 for the 50yd free, 6th out of 23 in the 50yd breast, and the relay he participated in got 4th, so he came out with three ribbons from five events. Not bad!<br />
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His next meet is in June, and falls the same weekend Emily and Connor have their dance recital (ballet for Emily, hip hop for Connor), so he will only be participating on Sunday (50m breast and 100m free). Connor will be in that meet as well doing the 50m breast. He's not ready for the 100m events (and now that we're in long course season, there aren't any 25's for him). Leahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160551209809872319noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631203997710505687.post-47631811510849374052013-05-08T05:00:00.000-07:002013-05-08T05:00:17.392-07:00Swimming with the fishesThe kids and I went up to Dan's office building and helped him move his stuff into his new office. Once we were done and heading back out, I decided to have some fun posing the kids through the fish tank. <br />
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Dan pointed out that someone in the office made a list of the fish (at the time it was made, there were two of each type of fish in the tank) and their names. LOL<br />
<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v288/leahmommyof2/blog%20pictures2/IMG_3673_zps5f1be727.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_3673_zps5f1be727.jpg"/></a>Leahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160551209809872319noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631203997710505687.post-91807965765889480552013-04-26T05:00:00.000-07:002013-04-26T05:00:14.740-07:00Sushi!Dan took Emily Grace out for sushi a month or so ago and she LOVED IT, and has been begging to get to go again. The boys started asking as well, so this weekend we took them (I ate teriyaki chicken, I'm not brave!).<br />
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Connor was shoveling it in!<br />
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Dan, his mom, and the three kids INHALED five sushi rolls, and all three kids were asking for MORE. Connor even started eating the decorative veggie display in the middle. LOL! Won't be a very frequent outing because it was a very expensive lunch, but it's nice they were willing to try something new, and enjoyed it!Leahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160551209809872319noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631203997710505687.post-85637942856328614012013-04-25T05:00:00.000-07:002013-04-25T05:00:00.667-07:00Hotel StayWe stayed in a hotel near Dan's work one night over Spring Break, figuring it would be a nice little get-away for the kids, and one night that Dan didn't have a huge commute to work AND would get to sleep in. I picked one with an indoor pool, and the kids and I checked in at 3pm and pretty much headed straight down to the pool to swim while we waited for Dan to get off work<br />
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I hung out in the lounge chair with my iPad and read a book on the Kindle app.<br />
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About 15 minutes after they started swimming, Connor came shrieking out of pool saying his throat was burning and his ears were gurgling. I quickly realized I'd neglected to put in his ear plugs. BAD MOMMY! Nothing like having chlorine water "gurgle" through your tubes and down your throat for 15 minutes... I'm still not super used to having to do this now that he has the tubes in his ears! I'd even packed extra ear plugs in case any got lost, and then STILL didn't bother to put them in. SIGH! Dried out his ears, got the ear plugs in, and he was good to go. And I was GOOD and didn't forget for any of the other times we hit up the pool during our stay!<br />
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Em wore clothes over her suit down to the pool, but when we had to dash back to the room to get Connor's ear plugs, she didn't want to put her clothes on over her wet suit, so she grabbed up a towel and put on her furry boots (she forgot flip flops) and followed me up to the room. Cracked me up!<br />
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Five Guys burger joint was RIGHT across the street, so we took the kids there for dinner. Connor was obsessed with the free peanuts!<br />
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He got peanut stuff ALL OVER HIMSELF, and when I commented to him that he was making a mess of himself and the floor, one of the employees walked by and said, "Actually, the whole premise of the restaurant is that people are SUPPOSED to throw the shells on the ground, but sales in our west coast stores were way down until we tried out keeping the floors clean. You should see the floors of the east coast stores! So don't worry about what ends up on the floor; it's supposed to happen that way, and someone will come along and clean it up."<br />
<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v288/leahmommyof2/blog%20pictures2/IMG_3591_zps3c598a88.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_3591_zps3c598a88.jpg"/></a>Leahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160551209809872319noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631203997710505687.post-86859702996361811032013-04-24T05:00:00.000-07:002013-04-24T08:19:24.714-07:00Swan LakeEmily Grace LOVES going to see ballet productions, and we hadn't yet seen Swan Lake yet, so I bought us tickets this year. What a beautiful show! <br />
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We arrived with some time to kill, so we perused the gift shop, and Em tried on some hats and masks:<br />
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During the first Intermission, we treated ourselves at the concession stand. Em chose this fancy looking cupcake, and I picked out a brownie (which was heavenly)<br />
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Our favorite scenes in the ballet were where ALL the swans would dance together (24 of them!). They were so in sync and really just FLOATED across the stage. It was incredible. I couldn't find a comparable youtube video for the large swan scenes, but I did find this video (posted below) of one of the smaller swan scenes, which we think is pretty spot-on to what we saw. VERY VERY cool, in our opinion!!! (I did NOT take the video, just found it on youtube). I'd be hard-pressed to dance gracefully on my own, let alone joined to three other dancers doing those moves! <br />
<object width="420" height="315"><param name="movie" value="https://www.youtube.com/v/lgsTbKRNb5Y?hl=en_US&version=3&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="https://www.youtube.com/v/lgsTbKRNb5Y?hl=en_US&version=3&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="420" height="315" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>Leahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160551209809872319noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631203997710505687.post-55192566706355209562013-04-23T05:00:00.000-07:002013-04-23T05:00:02.972-07:00Ice Cream OutingThe kids had Spring Break last week, and we took advantage of the extra free time during one of the days to meet up with some besties for ice cream!<br />
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The girls' table: (Emily, Madisen, Kaitlyn)<br />
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The boys' table: (Cody, Jared, Connor)<br />
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The mommy table: (Me and Stephanie)<br />
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Emily and I got my all-time favorite, the pink peppermint candy kind, and Jared and Connor got a crazy green and purple kind with little bits of something in it (Rockin' Poppin' something or other... LOL). We were all happy with our choices. :)Leahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160551209809872319noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631203997710505687.post-59792918252963369472013-04-16T05:00:00.000-07:002013-04-16T05:00:03.670-07:00School Journal EntriesConnor's 2nd journal from First Grade came home recently. As with the first journal, I had a grand ol' time reading his entries. I just get the biggest kick out reading his thought processes and deciphering the phonetic spelling. TOO CUTE! I photographed a few of my favorite pages to share with you.<br />
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I'll translate each entry in the captions of the pictures:<br />
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My favorite food is raw broccoli and dip and the ultimate worst food to me is chicken<br />
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I love my mom and my dad and because they let me eat candy and because they are nice to me and Jared and Emily<br />
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It is important for kids to exercise and lift weights and run around and use your imagination and be creative and go to school that is very important and read and play and eat healthy food (I think we need to work on using periods!!)<br />
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Good friends shouldn't do mean things to other people especially you and your friend and if they do don't be their friend and stay away from cats (stay away from cats?!?! He kills me!!)<br />
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If I had diamonds and gold and rubies and jewels and a hundred treasure chests I would give it to the poor people in the world and the people that do not have homes (bless his heart!)<br />
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I want to learn more about math and telling time and reading and plants and science and bugs and everything so I can be a genius<br />
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There was another one I thought I photographed that talked about if he had a magic wand, he could clean all the toilets in the world and also make things move. hahahaha!!!<br />
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Leahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160551209809872319noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631203997710505687.post-33162186424277659152013-04-15T12:08:00.002-07:002013-04-15T12:08:17.816-07:00A Sunny NapI like the way my dog thinks! Except that should be a beach, not my kitchen floor. *grin*<br />
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