She's on Santa's List...

G-Ma Marcia got LeAnne this top this weekend. It says "I am on Santa's List". Daddy says "Which list are you on"? This weekend has been a rather challenging weekend when it comes to LeAnne and sleeping. It's been rough! All the rough moments make the precious moments even sweeter. Like today she was being fussy so I started to fake like I was crying too and then she stopped fussing and handed me her blanket with Binky attached. It was so cute!!

LeAnne & I hung out in my scrap room today for an hour. She explored every inch of it and I got 2 scrap pages completed! Yippeeeee!!

LeAnne's 1st Easter



I should be in a commercial for cute

Dayton Christmas Kick off

The Leonard Family in front of the Historic train Depot in town.



Collecting leaves at the train Depot


Mom, John, LeAnne & I had fun enjoying the Christmas kick off in our town. LeAnne was a bit cranky but did well overall. The Christmas decorations look so nice. The stores had some great deals and Christmas music could be heard through out the town. We picked up some "New to us" Christmas decorations, some Christmas candles and a Christmas gift for LeAnne. LeAnne has fun collecting leaves at the Historic Train Depot. Thankful today has been a better day. Lil girl napped for 45 minutes in her own bed and then slept with mama for another hour. :-) I love Christmas! KLOVE radio station has been playing Christmas music all day long and I LOVE it. LeAnne & I watched the Christmas Kick off fireworks from our house. :-) It was a great show. This Christmas season I look forward decorating our house, baking cookies with my girls, seeing my mama perform in the Christmas play, taking time to celebrate Jesus, going to Christmas events as a family, watching LeAnne's reaction to the lights, and seeing what she thinks of Santa this year, and I can't wait for Christmas morning with our family all together. Christmas is such a wonderful time of year full of love and hope.

Thankful

I have so many things to be thankful for! Our family is very blessed! This past year has been packed with firsts for us. God flung open doors, led us to a new life, and He has been so faithful and we are thankful for His provisions. In these hard economic times I am thankful both John & I have jobs. I am so thankful I have found a job I love. I really feel like I have been welcomed into a family and I enjoy working with my student. It's a little easier leaving LeAnne in the morning knowing that I am making a difference in this little boy's life. Were still trying to figure out how to juggle our finances to make ends meet but I have faith God will provide.

I am very thankful for my husband. I am so grateful for our friendship. I appreciate his encouragement, his help around the house, his hard work to make our home wonderful, and the effort he takes to spend time with LeAnne. I am so thankful that LeAnne spends one day a week with daddy. She's very blessed to have such an outstanding daddy who loves her very much. The most precious gift he can give her is his love and time. Thank-you sweetie!

I am thankful for my daughters! I love being a mama even more than I thought I would. I love my daughters more than anything. I can't believe Amanda will be 16 soon. She has a beautiful, loving heart. John and I are so excited Amanda will be spending Christmas with us this year!! It's so true that until you've experienced parenthood first hand you really can't comprehend what people tell you. It's definitely a lot exhausting work, not all roses, can be very frustrating but it's all worth it. Tonight as I was tickling LeAnne I began to well up with tears just thinking about how precious she is and how much I love her. Thank-you God!

I am thankful all of us are healthy. I am thankful our needs are met.

I am very thankful for our family and friends! It means so much to me to have their love and support. I am grateful that LeAnne can spend her days with grandma Marcia. I am thankful for all my mom's help and advice. I am thankful LeAnne has so many people who love and adore her.

I am thankful my brother, Crescent, Nataly and Jena were able to be here with us last weekend!

We had a fairly laid back Thanksgiving day. Mom came over to our house for dinner and helped us to cope with our grumpy girl who was boycotting naps. We had a yummy ham and scalloped potatoes dinner. John got our Christmas lights up and worked on a prop for the Christmas play mom is in. We are so blessed!!

A few quick pix

Great spot to watch Games! Just don't pull dad's hair.



I had taken lots of toys for her to play with but she was much happier with the boxes, Tupperware then Uncle Stan handed her this empty beer box while I was taking pictures and called it her redneck toy. LOL!!



She's doing this a lot lately - it's too cute!




We must get grandma a digital camera so she can take pictures of LeAnne while mama's working! These are some recent photos that were taken this last weekend at Auntie Kym's house. Uncle Greg, Auntie Crescent, Nataly and Jena came over for a visit. It was a lot of fun and mom cooked a yummy dinner for us. I walked in the door from work last Friday to find LeAnne asleep on Uncle Greg's chest. She's been having issues napping for grandma Marcia so Uncle Greg took her for a long walk, she fell asleep and when they got back he took her toes off and sat down with her. He was afraid to move her anymore so she still had her jacket on with hood up. It was a precious sight - wishin I had a photo to share with ya. LeAnne took to her Auntie and Uncle quick and Crescent was a huge help so Grandma could finish getting ready.

On a side note I am wondering if this little girl will ever figure out how to sleep well on a consistent basis. Our troubles go like this; she wakes up crying so once I know she's not going to soothe herself to sleep I go get her, we rock, she's asleep and then once I lay her down she wakes up. UGH! She did this 5 times last night between 1:00-2:00am. I was one frustrated mama. Now for mom she won't nap, same thing she rocks her to sleep and the second takes her away from her chest she wakes up screaming. Mom will let her cry it out some, I understand but don't like it, and sometimes this works.

It's freezing here this morning so I need to go get my car warmed up. Only 1 1/2 more days of work! SWEET! I am so looking forward to a relaxing 4 days off. More updates and pictures coming soon. Have a blessed day!!!

She's so smart & brave ~ Daddy daughter days!

Our girl is so smart, always thinking and trying to figure out how things work. This afternoon daddy and I watch her try to put her boot on her foot for at least 5 minutes. She has almost mastered the fine art of turning pages in her books, can screw a lid onto a bottle, and she's quite the motorcycle rider. Here is a cute video I took of her the other day while she was riding her bike. I think it will be sooner rather than later before she takes a good spill. EEKS! We are so BLESSED!!!

I have one awesome husband! I love him so much! I am so HAPPY has LeAnne with him once a week. It's a great time for them to spend some good quality time. Daddy does such a great job of taking care of his girl. Today they played outside, LeAnne played in daddy's pile of leaves and LeAnne looked adorable in the outfit daddy picked out for her. Then get this....John cooked dinner and CLEANED up! He's even volunteered to clean and cook one day a week for me from now on! WOW I am one blessed girl! Thank-you so much honey! You have no idea how much it means to me that you are willing to step up and help me. I love you!!

Big boots to fill...

WOW cousin S*****



Our Adorable cowgirl isn't sure she's ready for these boots!!

S*****was over last night and LeAnne was checking out her cowboy boots so S***** thought it would be cute to put her in them. You've got some big boots to fill sweet girl but stick close to your cousins and they'll show you the ropes. Her two youngest cousins have been having a blast playing with LeAnne at mom's during the week. LeAnne adores her cousins.

Home Sweet Home

We had a wonderful trip over the other side of the mountain. It was very busy but lots of fun. LeAnne was a trooper! We got to see a lot of people and do a lot of shopping. We did enough shopping to last a while. It was so nice to visit stores other than Kmart and Walmart. LOL!! I am so thankful I was able to see a few people from our old church and from Boeing. I sure do miss our old church, my friends their, the SPICE ministry. I pray we'll find a church here we like equally as much. I would have liked to have been able to see a few more family members but we just couldn't pack anymore into the time we had their and LeAnne started not feeling well at times. I must say though I don't miss the traffic or the humidity. ACK! Way too many cars! I was so glad to get home to our dry, clean air. The closer we got to home, the less cars we saw, and the more relaxed I got. I was even happy to see our vast lands. Their is just something beautiful about the simplicity of the rolling hills, the dessert landscape, the sage brush, the enormous rock formations and the now barren farm land. LeAnne was very happy to be home too. We were greeted by Gracie & Bella with lots of kisses for us both. Poor little LeAnne has got herself a bug of some kind I think. She's had a pretty icky tummy that has let to a bad diaper rash and she's been miserable. She'll be with daddy today as I go to work and I pray they do okay.

I feel oh so blessed to have a wonderful husband, 2 beautiful daughters, amazing family & friends, were all healthy, have a nice home to live in, good jobs, and live in a quiet community. My job is going well. I am getting to know the student I am working with more and more each day. He's a challenge at times but overall he's a pleasure to work with and I love his quick wit. I'll feel better once I get myself more organized so I am not up until the wee hours of the night or up at the crack of dawn prepping for his day. I would love to have lesson plans completed for a week ahead of time. I got him some really great rewards but now I need to come up with a reward system that is not to easy but not so daunting he doesn't get it. Any suggestions? I want to challenge him but not make it over his head.

I know it's been a little bit since I've posted pictures and I will try to get some this weekend. It will be a weekend of cleaning up the house, prepping lesson plans, grocery shopping and hanging out with my favorite girl. Love ya'll

We are going on a road trip

Thanks for the pig tails Sav!!














That's not an apple silly girl!!



















**Update** Daddy & LeAnne had an outstanding day together! I walked in the door to see daddy playing with his girl. She was having fun but happy to see her mama too! He said she was such a good girl all day long. She shared some Top Ramen with daddy for lunch and he said she was a very good eater all day long. She napped well, played well and only got into trouble a few times. I am so thankful Leanne has such a wonderful daddy!!

My job is proving to be a challenge in a good way. I'll be much more comfortable once we figure out a schedule that is going to work because it's a bit chaotic now and that's not good for either of us. I hear lil one rustling around so must get her off to grandma's house and then I am off to work.

I have a 1/2 day of work on Friday because the teachers need to prepare for conferences, no work on Monday because of conferences and no work on Tuesday because of Veterans day so its road trip time. I've been missing my family and friends in Western, Washington a lot so we are going to squeak in a visit before the weather gets nasty. I am so EXCITED to be able to see everyone and get a city fix. I am running out of time so much jet but please pray for daddy today as he will be spending the whole day with LeAnne. Love ya'll.

Now this is more like it! New job update

First let me say starting a new job at a school, in a K-2nd grade classroom on Halloween is just NUTS! What was I thinking! I think the kids had candy for breakfast, one little boy asked me about a billion times to tie the rope on his costume, another little girl asked the teacher to re-glue her fake eyelashes, stories of bloody, puking, man eating jack-o-lanterns were being told by the boys and you should have seen the pile of candy we sent them home with. It was a nutty day for sure! I don't think I've been that exhausted both physically and mentally since giving birth to LeAnne. It was a miracle in itself that I functioned long enough to get LeAnne to bed.

That being said this is so the kind of job I've been searching for. I felt like I was welcomed into a new family yesterday. Everyone was so nice and thankful I was there.

The young man I will be working with is very cool. I still have not met with the Special Ed teacher that serves the district so I don't know any specifics about his IEP but already have tons of ideas to help him whirling around in my head. From what I have observed he has very limited sight, he has a variety of ticks, and tends to want to hurry through everything if allowed. He is VERY motivated by positive reinforcement and I'll will have to work on gaining his respect for my authority to get his behavior under control. One of the first things I would like to do is help to make his daily schedule the same everyday, help him to know his schedule and give him his own schedule to carry to help him transition through the day better. I would also like to look into getting him some large print books, and larger writing supplies. I think I have found someone special to work with and I look forward to seeing him progress. I have some big challenges ahead of me but it's comforting to know I have a big God to help me!

Knowing that I will be challenged and have the opportunity to make a difference makes it a little easier to leave LeAnne. I pray it gets easier to leave her and we get into a new routine as a family. Saturday was a very busy day in the afternoon, mama got stressed a bit and I have to work on picking my battles.

Oops I forgot to change our clocks back! I just look at the computer and it says 6:25am and I thought it was 7:25am. There went my extra hour of sleep. LOL! On a good note LeAnne is still sleeping. Well since I am not sleeping I'll go make use of this extra time I have. Hee hee