Happy New Year 2013!

We spent New Year's Eve up with friends eating good food & playing fun games. Layla even had a few of her little buddies over to watch movies & play with! We all stayed up well past midnight & spent most of the next day being lazy. Layla got up relatively early, but by the afternoon she had passed back out!

I found Layla asleep like this one night. She was holding the blanket to cover her ears, and you can see how her left leg is crossed up over her right.

Layla has been a tomboy from the time she was born. She's loved cars, trucks, and trains (everything considered "boy") She's always collected Thomas the Train toys & toys from the movie Cars. Now she's getting into other "boy" related toys. She loves Superheroes, and she got a transformer from Santa so we've had to watch the Transformer movies and cartoons.

Layla's favourite part of school is PLAYTIME! (Surprise!) She loves playing with blocks or legos, anything she can build with. The other day she was so proud of this bridge she built, she asked me to take a picture of it when I picked her up.

She loves Supergirl & is proud to wear her Superhero shirts! Unfortunately some kids at school have started teasing her for wearing "boys" clothes. I've had to reassure her that the shirts are kids sizes, not boy sizes. One little boy was teasing her, but once she stood up to him and told him that girls like superheroes he let it go. There are 3 little girls who still keep bugging her about it, her teachers have been wonderful about talking to the class and trying to teach them to be nice to everyone, no matter what they're wearing or what they look like. It sucks that this is starting so early.

Cute & funny things Layla has said:

• "Do you remember how salad turn into ice cream when it wake up?" "No." "Well, I do!" (There were dramatic hand gestures and arm waving during this conversation.)
• "Mama, what's my brain thinking?" "I don't know, what's it thinking?" "I don't know!" "It's your brain, Layla. I don't know what it's thinking." "Well, I don't know either!"
• Layla decided she wanted to eat "X marks the spot" so she carved and X into her cookies.
• "Mama, do I look stylish?"

• "Daddy, don't eat all the cookies!" "I'm only going to eat three-quarters of them." She thinks about this for a second, then her eyes get all big, "Cookies ARE shaped like quarters!"
• "Mama, you have a funny kid!" "I know I do!" "Mama, it's ME!" "I know!" "Because it's me!"

We finally got some snow here in England! Layla was SO disappointed when it didn't snow for Christmas, but it took a few weeks and we finally got a few inches. Seriously, we got like 2 inches the first day, then maybe 4 from the biggest storm, but everything pretty much shut down because England doesn't know how to clear the roads. Everything gets packed down and icy, then when it warms up slightly it becomes slushy and muddy. Layla had so much fun playing in it & eating cupfuls, maybe the next time we move we can go somewhere that has more snow in the winter for her.

Last year the arts and crafts store had a big sale on canvas, so we have quite a few laying around. I painted Wonder Woman on one of them, Layla decided she wanted to make a drawing just like it.

Someone got a new sweatshirt in the mail from Grandpa Pete. I think everything he owns is Under Armour, so when he saw a little UA sweatshirt he had to get it for miss Layla. He thought it was going to fit her perfectly, but she's still and itty bitty thing! She wears it as a dress now.

Look at this kid. She's just so much cooler than me!

I know I've posted pictures of Layla & this rabbit before. His name is Truffles, and he is the Youth Centre Pet. Every Wednesday we go for gymnastics and after class we stop to say hello to Truffles. Poor kid wants a pet so bad, but with as much as we move, it's just not something we can do right now.

It's been too cold to play outside much lately. Even before it snowed it was pretty cold, but now that the snow has melted it's actually started to warm up. In fact, if it weren't so windy lately it'd be pretty nice outside! Any spare moment we have to play outside, Layla takes it!! I'm looking forward to the warmer weather so she can play outside more.

When Layla and I go to pick Jeremy up from work we like to get there a little early so we can sit in the parking lot and read or play games on the iPad. Layla likes to sit in the drivers seat while we wait.

If you know me at all you know I love blankets. I love homemade blankets. My mom has been making them for me since I was a kid & now I love to make them as well. My mom recently found some SUPERHERO fabric so she made Layla a blanket and matching pillowcase & made a blanket for me as well!

Happy new year everyone. I hope your start to 2013 was just as fun as ours!