Just another Sunday

Today was an early day. Matt & Leah went out for a bit. Matt ran some errands while Leah played with Lindsay & Ruth & George. Mom stayed home cleaning in peace :) Abuelo & Vivian came over later in the day, had dinner that was grilled on our new outdoor electric grill. The grill's cooking efficiency surprised all of us. It cooks up burgers & hotdogs very quickly, they came moist, not dry. And even had a lil bit of the grilled taste you get used to with charcoal & gas without the chemicals.

Snapped a couple of pictures of Leah before she went out for the morning/afternoon.

Dancing in the front of the house.






This is when she started telling "Mama it is sooooooooo hot! I am melting like the witch in the Wizard of Oz. I'm mmmmmeeeelllttinnnnng."


Face she gave me when I started laughing my booty off.

Good Morning, Good Morning

Our morning routine has improved greatly especially now that Leah can dress herself for the most part. Just another reminder to us that she is not a baby anymore and will really be 4 in a few weeks.

Happy 4th of July

We really lucked out when we moved to the new house, in so many ways. One way is that we have great neighbors. They are nice, generous and get along beautifully with Leah. They are also down to earth and respectful. The kind of neighbors you can count on and also hang out with.

We went to our neighbor's parents' house for the 4th of July. Tons of food, good company, music & fireworks. Leah had a blast.



She fell on her bum about 10 minutes after we got there. We knew the nice, clean white shorts wouldn't stay white for long.


Leah is not a fan of loud noises, noise in general. She also does not care for fire, so put fireworks together and this kid wants no part of it. This of course does not stop us from inflicting them on her :)

Summer Time

Without a doubt the summer is turning out to be the best thing about living where we live. The pool has become Leah's home away from home. She has been swimming every day this week. The park is great and Leah loves playing there. Sitting out on the porch & stoop. Hanging out in the terrace area outside the pool, it really is great this time of year.

Cabin Fever

We were suffering from major cabin fever today so we went out to the mall for a bit. Only in the suburbs is that a solution to cabin fever, going from one building to another O_O but it worked.

Namebrand Awareness

Leah just informed me that she would like me to order her a pair of crocs, actually she wants a couple of different pairs of crocs.

She wants these:


She also would like these:


And she would like the cayman crocs in every color along with lots of Jibbitz to put in them.

This is the first name brand thing she has ever asked for. This is only the beginning.

Ice Cream Party

School is over for Leah, summer camp/pre-school will begin in 2 weeks. There was an ice cream end of the year party and the kids sure loved every bit of making their sundaes. Afterwards we walked around outside. Leah performed some musical for me, original Leah creation.

Our Little Mermaid

We already knew Leah loved the beach. She loves the sand. She can be there for hours on end and not complain at all.

Since the pool opened on the complex she has been living in it. We bought her these arm floaties hoping she'd start swimming. We didn't expect her to start after 30 minutes of having them on! With our neighbor Michelle's help and the lifeguard's instructions Leah was off to an awesome start on her swimming. All by herself. The kid is amazing.

She is going to be ready for swimming lessons in July.

She has to practice kicking and the proper technique for her arms, submerging herself, holding her breath and laying on her back.

We <3 Fair

Leah likes to go to fairs, I like to go fairs, Matt does not like to go. But we all go anyway. Nothing like fatty food, fast rides & petting zoos to make things just right.

Happy faces on the carousel.




Not so happy face on the dragon coaster.






Matt definitely enjoys feeding the animals. He always stays there longer than Leah. He is so good with animals.



Vanilla ice cream - cherry dipped. Followed by...


Leah's first corn dog. She loved it. Deep fried batter & hotdog? After a cone? Probably bad news & more rides.

Our Budding Photographer

Leah loves taking pictures. She took some of us just hanging out on the couch.




SELF-PORTRAIT- MYSPACE EMO STYLE


Stewie is all about the Budweiser

Go Yankees

Leah got a Yankee baseball cap from Ruth & George. For those who do not know Matt is not a fan of the Yankees, at all. He would like to start a bonfire and throw the hat in. Leah loves it. She looks so cute in it. She reminds me of a picture my parents have of Lani, Ernie and me. 2 of us wearing Mets hats & 1 wearing a Yankees cap. So cute.

Scooting Around

Leilani, Kain & Keith bought Leah a scooter as a gift when they came to visit. Leah loves riding it. One of things I love most about Leah is that she is such a mix of different personalities. She is a skirt wearing, girlie, town-boy...she is a walking contradiction.

Arggh!

PICTURE HAS BEEN REMOVED

Skull headband, black nailpolish, skull bikini, goodness I love this kid.

Big Apple Circus

It has become a yearly tradition. Every year we go to the Big Apple Circus. We love it. One ring circus, always great performers, amazing acrobats. Intimate as well.

Leah had two favorites, well three really.

She loves Grandma the Clown.


The Kovgar Troupe was absolutely astonishing with their teeterboards. Amazing last performance for the show. They also do a great jump rope routine in the beginning.

Then there is Yelena Larkina who does a hula hoop act that is breathtaking. Quite beautiful. She is married to another great act in the show, and legendary juggler Kris Kremo.

We all had a wonderful time, cannot wait till next time.

Our Mini Goth In Training

Leah asked one of her teachers to paint her nails black. This particular teacher always has her nails painted with black polish and Leah absolutely adores her. The teacher asked me if I'd have a problem with it. Yeah...me? The person who for 7 years only owned black clothing...hmm...not likely I would mind. She painted her fingernails and I did her toenails to match.

Leah's Recital Song

The song Leah danced to for her recital was "Three Little Fishes, aka Itty Bitty Pool".

Recital

First Dance Recital Dress Rehearsal

Leah did beautifully today at her dress rehearsal. She looked so adorable in her costume. The dance they do, the music, it is all very cute. Tomorrow is the recital and I am sure she is going to have a ball at it.

Going green

I got Leah a laptop lunch box. Last night she helped me prepare her first lunch in it. She choose strawberry yogurt, angel hair pasta w/olive oil, Parmesan cheese, red pepper flakes (leftover from dinner), strawberry & blueberry fruit salad & small cubes of mozzarella cheese. She added a bottle of water & box of apple juice.

There are many reasons for this change. It helps us reduce waste (which as a family we make too much of), it helps cut down on the amount of prepackaged junk we are used to giving Leah for lunch thanks to the convenience factor. It helps Leah have an active role in preparing her lunch and getting her to eat different types of food. Hopefully, it will also make her eat a lil more of her lunch every day. She is a notoriously slow eater and picky when it comes to her school lunches. I am hoping her participation in her meal preparation and the whole packaging of her meal will make her eat a bit more.

We are also going to begin recycling. We didn't at first due to no recycling pick-up on our complex, which really isn't a very good excuse considering the grandparents have recycling pick-up so it isn't like we couldn't bring out stuff there or even directly to the recycling facility. Pure laziness on our parts. We do have pick-up now and it is important for Leah to understand things like recycling and why cutting down on waste/garbage is beneficial to all of us.

Maintenance

Due to a change in servers and about two years worth of pictures being deleted I will be working on fixing broken links on the pages for the next week or two.

Red Light, Green Light 1-2-3

Conversation with Leah:

Mom: I'm still thinking of going out tonight to the city.
Leah: says rather matter of factly I'm not going to let you.
Mom: Oh yeah? How do you plan on stopping me?
Leah: This is red light (shows her right hand), this is green light (shows her left hand). Red light is stop and green light is go and right now its red light (holding up her right hand).

Only my daughter...just for the record, I never did go out.

Future Video Gamer?

Matt is playing video games? SHOCKING? Nope, not one bit. No surprise Leah enjoys them as well.

Mayah's Birthday!

Today was Mayah's Birthday party. Mayah is a friend that Leah has made here on our complex. Her parents are awesome and she is a wonderful little girl. When we first met the family Leah was Mayah's age and now Leah will be 4 in a few months and Mayah turned 3. The birthday party was at a local My Gym. The place is awesome. The party hosts were great and all the kids had a wonderful time. Leah can't wait to go back.

We snapped some pics of her in the car on the way home. She got this little bottle of water and was having a blast drinking the water. She really enjoys drinking water, definitely a good thing.

Now if we can only break her of her terribly bad habit of always needing to find comfort in biting her nails! As shown in the second picture, she loves her fingers.