Fly in July

I've always loved being artistic & I want to spend my days nurturing Layla's creative instincts by creating fun things and doing interesting activities together. We're making memories and she's learning so much! She especially loves when we do science projects & seeing how different things react to each other.

Learning about how baking soda reacts when vinegar (coloured with food colouring to make it a bit more fun!) is poured into the same container. We made fizzy bubbles!

Mixing paint colours to see how they change when mixed with other colours. I didn't have enough of all the primary colours so we had to get creative. I also put the paint in bags then taped them to the table (with white paper underneath to make the colours pop!) so that it would be a mess free experiment. We're definitely doing this one again!!

Blowing bubbles!!! For this activity I cut the bottom off of a water bottle, fastened a wet wash cloth to the bottom using a rubber band, poured some dish soap inside, then let Layla blow! The washcloth gets pretty heavy with the water and bubbles, so it's important to teach them to hold it upward to blow, but not too far up so that the bubbles run down into their mouths.

You know she loves to learn about everything astronomy, we have that huge book that she loves to go through looking at the pictures and asking about what everything is. The other day I was going through a few boxes we have in storage and found a few more books about astronomy, so she was thrilled to have even more to look at. She had a lot of fun painting this poster of planets & stars! We used fun, glittery paint!

We had such a busy month. Gymnastics was cancelled and she only had her ballet class to go to every week. So we kept active by going for bike rides & going to the track to let her run around.

Layla had a really bad bike accident before we left Monterey (she flew off the bike & landed face first on the concrete, he face was pretty messed up) & since then she's been reluctant to get on the bike, but after a few times riding in the trailer behind my bike while running errands, she decided she wanted to give it a go again. She's still a bit shaky & won't go very fast, but she's getting more and more confident.

Bundled up at the track. I was walking around & she cuddled a bit before deciding to run around.

Pretending to be a fountain in between laps on the track!

We also had a big milestone this month; Layla had her first slumber party at home!! While a friend was moving into a different house we watched her daughter (one of Layla's best friends) & ended up keeping her over night so her mommy could get some work done on their new house.

They cuddled while watching a movie. They were nice & quiet, but that didn't last long! We had a fun evening, played games, watched movies, ate dinner, and played some more.

Isa & Layla ready for bed!

So these two woke up, ready to play. They were both sniffling & sneezing a little bit, but I was just thinking they were sleepy from their exciting night and were up pretty early. As the day progressed we didn't get to do any of the fun things I had planned because they got sicker and sicker. They just wanted to lay around and be cranky. So we went back to the house, laid around on the couch, and watched some movies & fell asleep.

   

Layla & I both ended up sick & were actually sick for quite a while. So instead of going out and staying busy we spent about a week and a half cuddling, watching movies, and playing.



Things Layla Says:

• "I want to send Grandma Bird a flower. A purple flower. I think that would be lovely." So we sent her a picture of Layla standing next to some lovely flowers.

• "Mommy, what are those?" "Cough drops." "What are they for?" "When my throat hurts they make me feel better." "Sorry" "What are you sorry for?" " For choking you."
• "Don't put tape on me, I don't want to go to the arm doctor."
• Layla is in the bath & I'm in the next room while she plays. "Mommy, I got somethin'!" "Okay honey." "Mommy, I got somethin'! Come look at it!" "I'll see it in a couple minutes when I come in to wash you." "Mommy....it's nipples!"
• "Mommy! I said you're welcome!" "Did someone say thank you?" "No, but I was being polite."
• So we were out walking in our neighbourhood & Layla sees some boys picking on their little sister (poor girl had 3 older brothers) & they were just being mean siblings to her, nothing malicious, but Layla thinks it's mean. So she yells from her stroller as loud as she could "Don't do that! Girls are superheroes!!!!

• She put my bra on her head & told me that's what Wall-E did!

We've also had a busy month with friends. For a week we went to a class called "food play date" hosted by the health and wellness center on base. It was a week long class about the food pyramid and why we eat healthy food. Layla had a lot of fun because her friends Isabella & Jojo were there too. They not only learned about the food groups, but they also had exercise time. Layla had so much fun running around. She didn't like the zumba day, so she led a revolt & got the other kids to run laps instead of dance too. The other days there was more running and fun obstacles to climb & jump & all that fun stuff. She also loves burpees now! Her favourite part of the non-exercise portion of the class was the hands-on stuff in the kitchen. She liked cutting things & now she helps me cut up her snacks at home!

One especially warm evening, Jer had gone to bed (his work schedule this month has been insane!) so Layla and I were trying to find creative ways to stay cool. Sitting in front of a fan just wasn't working, and it was pretty boring. We don't have a pool, but Layla wanted to sit in some cool water to relax. I made a bath at a comfortable temperature for her & turned the lights off. Then I threw some glow bracelets in with her!! She sat in there playing with the bracelets, mesmerized by the way the light bounced through the water. She took the bracelets apart and put them all together to make one giant ring around the tub. It was fun & a great way to cool off!

I've talked about them before, but this past month Layla has become really close with two other children. After months of living here and not meeting a lot of people, we've finally made great friends with Jojo & Isabella. Their daddy's work with Jer & their mommy's are really great! It's always nice when Layla makes friends with kids who have awesome parents. It's an added bonus for us, because get-togethers & play dates are so much more fun for us when we can get along with the parents of friends. & these two kids are great! We've had so much fun playing with them & I'm so happy Layla finally has friends to play with.

At the end of the month we went in to Layla's school for an orientation! She starts school at the beginning of September, and she is SO EXCITED. The visit to her school was great. We met 2 of her teachers, toured the grounds, and played with the toys! She loved that all of the furniture was HER SIZE! Even the toilet was tiny!

The grounds were just beautiful. Out back they had a little play area with tiny play houses & little cars & fun outdoorsy things to play with. Just past that was the farm. This place was huge! There were green houses, and outdoor gardens where they grow beautiful flowers as well as vegetables. There was a fruit orchard as well! There were also farm animals! They had alpacas, chickens, goats, and mini horses! The kids are going to learn how to take care of these animals, and the school sells all the produce! You can buy the vegetables & fruit, as well as chicken eggs! & someone mentioned something about yarn from the alpacas!! Gasp!! I might have to buy some of that & make Layla a sweater or something fun.

She had so much fun at the school, and I can't wait for her to start! Once a week she'll be taking swimming lessons in the indoor pool! She's really excited for that! We're also thinking of putting her in a language class. They offer French & Spanish. I really wish they offered German, but she can take that when she's older. I think Spanish would be more practical back in the states, but she could become a world traveller & French could be useful in her future. Plus, French is so much cuter!

Trying On Hats!

One of Layla's favourite things to do while we're out & about shopping is stopping to try on hats. She'll try on every hat in the store if she can. She just loves trying them on & looking at herself in the mirror or taking pictures.

I know she's not wearing a hat in this one, but doesn't she look super cute in my scarf?!

Flashback Friday

So I've decided that instead of just the update once a month, I'd sporadically add in some themed posts. I'm not going to do them every week, or really that often to be honest. I think with our busy schedule I'll post when I get the chance.

So this week, flashback friday!

About 4 years ago, when Layla was just a wee little thing Jer deployed for a few months. It was hard to be away from him being a new mommy with a baby that didn't come with instructions (gasp!!) We both missed him tremendously. I know she was just a baby, but I swear she could tell that she was missing that other diaper-changer, bottle-feeder, and bath-giver that she was so used to.

We were very happy to have him home!!

Summer Fun in England

We are enjoying our English summer here in the beautiful Suffolk countryside. There have been lots of rainy days, cloudy days, and cold days. Though, we've started to get regular visits from Mr. Sun & we take advantage of it every chance we get!

Today was my birthday, and since Jer's work schedule is crazy, Layla and I were going to be stuck home alone. We ended up making last minute plans with some friends so we could take advantage of the warm weather.

Layla and I filled up 3 of the large tupperware containers with water! Perfect for playing with toys or the little ones climbing in to cool off!

We also decided to add a little artistic fun to our day! Layla and I mixed some sidewalk paint. We made about 12 different colours using water, corn starch, and food colouring. Then Layla and her friend JoJo covered the driveway in dry cornstarch & GLITTER!! It was so pretty! On top of the dry cornstarch, they dumped the paints out, used sponges and paint brushes to spread the colours, and used spray bottles to add more colour. They had so much fun turning my driveway into a sparkly rainbow! 

Layla & Jojo's friend Isabella also joined in on the fun & they all ended up in their underwear and having a big water fight! They sat in the water, dumbed it on each other's heads, and sprayed us all with water guns & squirt bottles. 

After all was said & done we cleaned up the yard & headed inside to cool off, because the water was just not enough under that hot hot sun! We spent what little time we had with Jeremy inside & then we went out when it had cooled down a bit. I cut the bottom off a water bottle, then I fastened a wet washcloth to the bottom using a rubber band, just adding some dish soap to the inside and blow! The more air you blow, the more bubbles!! It was SO FUN & a prefect activity to sit in the shade & enjoy after the sun had dropped low enough to let us have cooler temps! 

To the Tune of June

I can't believe June is already over!! I can't believe 2012 is over halfway through! Why does time fly so quickly?!
We had quite the busy month. We have our routine every week & along with our usual things we've been busy with play time & movie dates with friends!

Watching Layla learn is such a neat experience. She questions everything & wants to know all that she can. I've learned so much looking at things through her eyes. Two of her favourite subjects to learn about are astronomy & anatomy (particularly the skeletal system) She's going to be a SCIENTIST!!!
We have this huge book about astronomy & it has these great photos and so much information. I have a basic understanding of astronomy so I read about what the pictures are with her, but watching her & Jer go through this book is something else, he understands it all so much better & explains things to her to help her understand what she's looking at. And you can see her just soaking it all in, it's just so fascinating to her & she can do this for HOURS!

As you may know, we are a very active family. Layla has a lot of cute little outfits, but because most days we are outside running around or at the gym or out doing something active we usually wear clothes designed for this. It's difficult to find work out clothes in Layla's size because kids don't really care what they're wearing when they're running around playing, and most girls actually want to wear their cute outfits and dresses no matter what activity they are doing (when I was little I was playing in the dirt & catching lizards, but I just had to wear the girliest dresses to do so!) Layla likes to be comfortable & to my excitement we found some Nike running shorts IN HER SIZE!! I was so thrilled! They had 3 different ones and Jer told me to only get 1 or 2, but since it's so rare to find these in her size I convinced him to get her all 3! 

Back in late April/early May (I can't remember) Layla collected some pine cones in the little forest at Heritage Park. She told me she had to make bird feeders with peanut butter & birdseeds. We've never done this before & I didn't even know how she knew that (best guess is that she saw it on T.V.) so we went out & bought some bird seed to make a pine cone bird feeder! Layla was thrilled & had so much fun making it!! We hung it up with blue yarn & left it in the little forest where we found the pine cone. Well this month we were walking through again & saw that the yarn was still hanging on the tree!! The pinecone was long gone, but Layla was just thrilled to see the blue yarn still hanging & was happy to know that the birds enjoyed her little pine cone treat.

Funny things Layla has said or done:

• Layla had her yearly check up this month & while we were sitting in the exam room waiting for the doctor when Layla saw this sign. It's in every doctor's office & it is their system for assessing the pain a patient is feeling when they are sick or hurt. So we explained what it was to Layla & after studying it her conclusion was "those feelings don't have any hair."

• Layla was talking to herself one day & I had no clue what she was saying, so I asked her. She laughed & told me she was saying Spanish words!! She's been learning Spanish while watching Handy Manny & Dora the Explorer!
• "Is it Christmas yet?" "No." "Why is it taking so long for that snow cloud to come? Snow cloud is far away!"
• So I was watching a show (New Girl) that played ACDC's "you shook me all night long" & I look over to see Layla dancing her little butt off in the living room. She sees Jer & I watching her & says "This music makes my booty move!!" She likes to blame the music when we see her dancing, like she has no control over her actions & Gloria Estefan was right; the music really did get her!
• "Mommy, I farted on my foot. I think I need a bath."
• "Layla, how do you spell stop?" "Five." (She really does know how to spell stop, I don't know where this answer came from.)
• Layla laughs out loud at a random moment then turns to Jer & I and asks, "What's so funny?"
• She was running around with a mini gift bow on her shirt & exclaimed that she was "the fasterest" because of her bow!

Wearing daddy's hat. She thought she was pretty funny wearing this.

The base theater was playing 'Madagascar 3' one weekend, so we went with some friends of ours to the movie & went out for pizza before. Layla had so much fun with their 3-year old Jojo!

More gymnastics pictures!! One day at class her teacher let us know that the last 30 minutes of class was going to be free play, where she lets them run around doing the activities they want to do & that the parents were allowed to come in to take pictures! The kids had SO MUCH fun showing off to their parents & Layla was thrilled to show me all of the fun things she had been learning in gymnastics. It was really sweet of the teacher to include us in the class.

One day I was pretty much useless due to a running injury, so as I spent most of the day on the couch Layla had a movie on in her room & I made sure she was stocked up on art supplies so she could have fun. When Jer came home from work he went up the stairs & was surprised by something, so I went to check it out. Layla had drawn our little family and hung us up with stickers from one of her Avengers books! (Since she's not allowed to have tape without someone to help her.)

Since we live in base housing we are forced to listen to the fighter jets that fly ALL FREAKING DAY. & if you know me, you know how much I hate them. They are SO LOUD, sometimes they fly really low over the neighbourhood so our old, brick house shakes & I swear, I can feel my brain rattling against my skull. So the other night it was a little after 8 & they were flying non-stop in our area. Jer wanted to go outside to watch them so he took Layla out with him. Instead of getting ready for bed (since sleeping while those jerks are flying around is impossible) we all went outside & while Jer watched the planes we also played a bit of footie. Layla loves kicking the ball around with us!

When we took Layla in for her check up she had to get the last round of vaccinations (other than the flu vaccine, she's done until she's 11!) So she had to get 4 vaccines & was NOT happy about it. We tried to explain to her that they help her stay healthy, but she doesn't understand why they have to give her booboos. We were warned that one of the vaccines was going to really sting & would probably bother her for a day or so afterwards. So Layla hung out on the couch with Jer's iPad & some cartoons for a day. The next day she was pretty sore & was still limping a lot. It was hard to force her to walk when she was in so much pain, but she really needed to move around to get her blood flowing so her leg wouldn't hurt longer. I was worried she wouldn't be able to do gymnastics the day after that, and I warned her teacher she might not be able to do everything, but her teacher let me know that after being cautious in the beginning she was having so much fun that she forgot all about her booboos!

One day before ballet the youth center was conducting a fire drill, so instead of joining the students out in the rain we sat in the car waiting for the all clear! Layla had so much fun sitting in the front of the car. There are so many buttons and things to looks at and play with that she doesn't ever really get a good look at while sitting in the backseat. She had a lot of playing with everything & seeing what they did.

June was another active month for us. Layla loves going to the park or out in the back yard to kick the soccer ball around. Her gymnastics & ballet classes are really the highlight of the week (aside from playing with her friends!) She looks forward to her classes & is always sad when it's time to go home.

I love having a daughter. When friends find out that they're pregnant with a girl I always exclaim that girls are so much more fun! I know that this it just a matter of opinion & if I had a son I'd have just as much fun with him as I do with Layla. I only say this because Layla and I have so much fun doing girly things together. She LOVES having her finger and toe nails painted. We recently found these nail paint PENS so we can actually draw little designs. We now paint our toes and fingers about twice a week & Layla loves having polka dots, smiley faces, stripes, flowers, and anything else she can think of painted on her little tootsies.

The weather has been very, well, English! It changes so often throughout the day! One minute it's pouring rain, then the next the sun is out and it's blue skies as far as you can see! The sun is up so long here during the summer, so we'll have a few hours of sunlight in the morning, then a few hours of rain, then the sun pops out again, rain again, then the sun pops out again later that night just as it's finally setting. Layla and I have been taking advantage of the weather, whatever it is. If it's sunny, we're outside playing and soaking up some vitamin D. If it's rainy, we're outside splashing in the puddles!

A friend of ours received some bad news & was feeling sad one day, so Layla and I decided to cheer her up a bit with some smiley toes!! Layla laughed and wiggled the entire time I was trying to draw these on her toes, it tickled her!

This was after Layla's first ballet class. We're not allowed to sit in the room to watch the class, so afterwards I went in with Layla and asked her to show me what she has learned. She ran around the room so fast that most of my pictures didn't turn out well, but I got a few that I just love!! My beautiful ballerina.