Help?

So... I got a sewing machine for Christmas and I haven't the slightest idea how to use one. I'm hoping that I can find a friend who could maybe go over the basics with me, once we return?

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve started out at my Mom's house. Our tradition is to open pj's and wear them while eating dinner. Layla was having a ton of fun playing with all of the toys she left there from summer time! She almost didn't need any new toys!

We have spent Christmas Eve with our friends the Atherton's every year for quite a while now. Heather and I go way back. Lots of memories. They are always so thoughtful and creative with their gifts to us! Layla got a little shopping cart, just her size! It's so cute. I should post some pictures soon, but right now she keeps getting frustrated that she can't sit in it.

Then we changed and headed over to the Dickson Christmas Eve party at the Puyallup church Building. Yes, they reserve the building each year because their family is so huge!! Tanner's Mom's maiden name is Dickson, so it's all of his family from her side. It is so crazy and fun, we wouldn't miss it! Here's Grandpa (Layla's great Grandpa) giving his annual speach. What a great man. 

Layla was SOOOO excited to see Santa come! (Grandpa dresses up). The minute he walked in the room she started saying, "ho ho ho" and kept saying it with increasing volume. By the time he walked up next to her, she was practically shouting, "HO! HO! HO!" and just wanted to touch him so bad! Very cute. Here is her present from Santa.

Princess Mega Blocks!!

 "Dat!"

Snow here too??

I've got to admit that I wasn't too excited to see more white stuff up here in Washington. I was really hoping for a clear break from the craziness. BUT Layla did get a chance to play in it a bit with Dad, which was really fun to watch.

Here's Layla getting all bundled up at Great Grandma and Grandpa Dickson's.

She was lucky enough to get a ride home in Grandpa's sled! (He lives up the road. And she REFUSED to wear her gloves! We tried, but since it was such a short ride, I said "ok".... I don't know why I feel like I have to explain my bad parenting)

Picture Explanation

I know that the picture in our header is extremely blurry... but I really like it because it reminds me of Christmas morning how I've always known it. I wear contacts and have since the 6th grade. I remember always waking up, WAY too exciting to fiddle around with putting my contacts in, so the world was a bit of a blur. So that's how I see it. Ha! Now you know what it's like.

There's snow one cuter...

"This is fun Mom, really..."

"Look what my furry boots did!"

Sick Days

Layla has had it rough this past week and a half. Sick as a dog. And we've tried everything to make her happy and comfortable. In this instance, an inflatable pool floaty is working quite nicely as a bed.

(look at that lip!)

Watching the Baby Einstein for the 1,000,000th time.

Christmas Tree!

Behold our wonderful fake tree! (without a star)

My nativity that I finally get to set up! YAY!

I love it!

What our house looks like from the outside

I absolutely love it when it's getting late and you just have your tree illuminating the house... it's so magical!

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Christmas!

I decided to try to decorate my light fixtures. This is the one in the entry. Looks simple and festive. I did the one over my dining table too... but I can't find a picture.

My kitchen isn't too festive, but I just put up a little garland on my cupboards. I like. I would really like some curtains for Christmas. 

Maybe I can learn to make some!

Chuck and Rita

Ike has been nicknamed "Chuck" by his Dad... and I'm not really sure why. But, "Rita" is the way Ike pronounces Layla. And he is dead serious when he says it too. I think we asked him a million times, "Say, Lay-La" and he would go, "Wreee- Tahh!" So there we have it, Chuck and Rita.

Rita thoroughly enjoyed all of Chuck's loot. 

And she learned a new trick! Thankfully we don't have a coffee table at the moment.

Rita: feeling her new molars

Chuck: playing with an I-Dog and watching Dumbo

Tanner: staring at me taking a picture... kinda creepy

I think this picture is hilarious for two reasons:

1. It looks like Rita thinks Chuck needs a bath.

2. Dumbo's bum is in full view at the same moment.

So great!

This is what Thanksgiving looked like...

We were invited to Leah's house! I always forget how pretty the mountains are. Maybe it's because they're right there, in your face, so you just can't ignore them!

A lovely "kid" table decorated by the Lovely Leah.

The Lovely Leah herself... cooking a masterpiece Thanksgiving Dinner. I really felt like I had it pretty easy this year. Kicking back, watching all the action, making a dish or two, and then enjoying everything that Leah (and Sharsti) had made for me... or uh, I mean, everyone. 

Tanner's job. Slice the turkey. He took this very seriously. And the pieces were perfect.

Layla learned to be a bit bossy. She found out that if you run up and shove a book in someone's face and sign "please, help" along with making the cutest face ever, they will become your slave. 

All in all, this was a great Thanksgiving! We got to see some of Tanner's family and eat the yummiest food. I still have dreams about the yams and stuffing! I can't wait to see the Knighton's again, hopefully sooner than later.

So Pretty

Well, minus the dumpsters...

An Update

Well... I wish I had something more exciting to share or announce, but really we're pretty boring people. Layla and I have enjoyed each other's company quite a bit these past few months, while Tanner works hard at school. Our relationship status has probably been bumped from good friends to BEST. Yep, my best girlfriend is my 14 mo. old. We do all the fun girl things, bathe together (sorry if that's weird), do each other's hair (hers usually ends up looking better than mine, painting toe nails (okay this time it's all me), and watching the soaps (and that's a lie by the way, but we DO watch our Ellen and Oprah together daily). We have a blast together and it has really started to hit me that this is the only time in our lives that it'll probably be just the two of us... like this anyway. Soon there will be pesky brothers or annoying sisters getting between us. Well, not TOO soon, but I've definitely been feeling the hunger lately for a teeny tiny one in our home. 

I've been trying (and mostly failing) to start up a little hair bow/clip business, but it's still fun to pretend. My mom's friends order some things every once and a while, which is more of a confidence boost than a real piggy bank increase. I like to create things and see what I can imagine up. Hopefully I'll learn to sew this next year. I think that'd be really fun, although I suppose I'd need a sewing machine first. Dang, those are expensive. Another goal of mine is to actually decorate my house. We've been living here since Aug. and I still feel like it's empty. I've put up a few pictures and added a couple personal touches, but it just doesn't feel or look right yet. I'd LOVE to get curtains and all the fixin's. 

Layla is growing up way too quickly, I think. She can open doors now (beware if you've forgotten to lock the bathroom door and you have company over... she'll surprise you and your friends). She loves to dance and has her favorite tunes, like the theme song to Ellen and anything rap. Yep, she's aspiring to be a "shake your booty girl" in the background of a rap video. I'm so proud. She loves to sign and to learn new signs. It's actually pretty useful now instead of just adorable. 

Here is her signing vocabulary:

help

please

thank you

eat 

drink

milk

more

shoes

fish

bird

blanket

bath

sleep

baby

Jesus (kinda)

and probably more that I just can't think of now...

She can also SAY things too, like:

"Da" (dad)

"Ma" (mom)

"aahside" (outside)

"sooze" (shoes)

"gock" (sock)

"wock" (rock)

"dak" (duck)

"cook cook" (sound a duck makes)

"baba" (baby)

The phrase Layla has made famous..."Wass DAT!" ( What's That!? ....over and over again)

"Baff" (bath)

and more... but my mind is at a blank now.

Well I hear Layla waking up over the monitor.. saying, "Dat! Dat! groan, mumble... Uh oh! Wass Dat?!" She's very vocal when she awakes.

Fun with Mom

Layla was "helping" me fold laundry yesterday and found my nursing cover in the closet. I put it on her, like a cape, and she thought that was pretty cool. She kept running up to the mirror and kissing herself. So funny!

I was finally able to successfully paint her toenails too! I was really excited and so was she. Her little toes look so cute! She kept pointing to them afterward and saying, "Ooooh!"

Just enjoying some more chubby piggies!

Of course she loved rolling around in all the piles of folded laundry.

And I just kinda liked this shot, even though there isn't much light by her face. It just makes me stop to appreciate a little child's view of the world around them. She's looking out the window, upstairs. She loves people watching and seeing the cars drive in. Everything to her is so fresh and exciting. If only we could capture and preserve some of that wonder and keep it for ourselves. 

Bathtime

Nothing can come between Layla and her bathtime. The word alone, "bath" holds so much power! There have been many times where she'll be driving me up the wall, being a moody little monster, but once she hears those magical words, "Do you wanna take a bath??", she'll transform into the sweetest angel. She lights up and immediately tries to undress, wherever she may be, and practically sprints to the tub. Silly girl.

She looks so sweet here! I was trying to play with her hair while it was full of suds. She loved the extra attention.

Side View of the mess.

I've been trying to capture a picture of her grinning really goofy, so I can see her teeth more clearly. I know she has some new ones, she just wont let me near her mouth. (unless, of course,  I'm giving her food)

Happy Halloween!

Here's the sunrise on Halloween! I was taking Layla's diaper out to the trash early in the morning and saw this! What a pleasant surprise.

Layla loved the music at the Halloween Party. She would go and reach for the music and then do a little dance.

And once she spotted the goodies, there was no fooling her! She kept running up to that table desperately trying to grab anything she could.

And she scored!! 

I just think this picture is so funny! This is Layla's cute friend Deagan. They were both hanging out around the food when Layla's poofy skirt kept tickling him in the face. His expressions were so great!

Excited for Halloween!

First, here is the game that I made for Layla's preschool playgroup Halloween party! Bowling for Ghosts. Does it look fun? Well it is. Tanner and I played tonight, testing it out, and I think the kids will really like it! 

WARNING: This next picture may freak some people out, but it was too weird not to capture. I was cleaning Layla's playroom out last night and out of the corner of my eye I saw something move. (side note: I really REALLY dislike spiders and am ALWAYS overreacting when I find one). I jumped and nearly hit my head on the lower ceiling, but then started laughing, because I noticed that the little spider had crawled into Layla's dollhouse pool! Upon further inspection I see that he has a friend! Really weird, but kinda funny. So anyway, I decided that they were on a spider date and decided that because it is almost Halloween, they needed to create a Haunted House for Layla. (Don't worry, Tanner got those suckers out of there! And I vacuumed EVERYTHING in that room the next morning.)

Funny Faces

Here are some recent Layla faces that I love. This first one is from this morning. She woke up extra early, but wasn't lacking in energy or spunk!

Okay, this isn't much of a face, I just thought it was cute. It kinda captures her fear of heights. She was standing on the kitchen island and got nervous when I let go of her. I like her sweater too by the way.

This is her "I'm getting into trouble, but I don't care!" Attitude face.

A curious, partially scrunched face. 

Glee!!

Garbage Bag

Aren't I a great parent?? I give my child a garbage bag to play with. She's always so excited when I pull out a new clean bag and place it in the trash can, so I decided to see if that excitement would last if I gave her one of her own. 

(I was with her the whole time she played with it. No suffocating occured.)

Here, she's thinking practically and tried to use it as a head rest.

"Uh oh" 

(I think she just knew that she doesn't normally get to play with a bag, so she kept pausing, looking at me, and saying "uh oh")

Another new development. She LOVES her belly button. What a weirdo.

And here is her new scrunchie face that she makes ALL the time!

So cute!!