Thursday, December 27, 2012

Christmas 2012

We had a fantastic Christmas! John had to work Christmas Eve so I read LeAnne The Christmas Story and Twas the Night Before Christmas then tucked her into bed around 7:30pm.  She got up at 5:30am on Christmas morning.  I came down first so I could take a video of her to show daddy later. She was very excited to see Santa had been to our house. He left her a stocking filled with goodies, a scooter and a Furreal Friends Bouncy My Happy-To-See-Me Pup.  The plan was she would do Santa presents and then we would watch a movie. Well of course LeAnne didn't want to watch a movie so I was left to find something else to keep her busy until Daddy got home 9am.  She played with her stuff from Santa, and we spent time downstairs laying on the bed talking about how she wants to decorate her new big girl room. It looks like we'll be painting a rainbow room. :-)  She was doing really well, asking to open presents but not losing her mind.  It was mama who broke weak and let her open one present before I went to take a shower.  It just didn't seem right for her to have nothing to play with on Christmas morning.  I let her open her Lego Hello Kitty house from Auntie Katie because it has  lots of pieces and decals for her to work on. She had a lot fun putting together and designing her house.  Then Daddy surprised us by getting off work early so he was home by 8am.  Opening presents was lots of fun! LeAnne filled the couch with all her new toys and clothes! What I loved the most about the experience is how she was appreciative for EVERYTHING she got!  She also enjoyed seeing what Daddy and I got. She even enjoyed opening a few gifts for Christian. Once the mess was picked up enough to find out living room Daddy headed off to bed to get a nap before we headed down to my sisters house for Christmas dinner.  LeAnne had a blast playing with her new toys while daddy napped.It was a beautiful drive down to my sisters. We already had about 2 inches of snow and it was snowing as we drove to dinner.   Christmas dinner was very nice and it is always lots of fun to watch the kids play. I can't believe how much my nieces boys are growing up. They're not babies anymore rather two year old little boys. Seeing the boys play makes me excited to experience having a boy of my own.  I am thinking it will be neat to have a girl and a boy and my hope is because they will be the opposite sex and 5 1/2 years apart they won't be as competitive for anything other than our time. My brother and I are 4 years apart and had little sibling rivalry and a very good relationship.  My favorite part of this Christmas listening to LeAnne be so thankful and all her cute statements about how excited she was. When I asked her how her Christmas was she gave me two thumbs up and said it was SUPER!!  

Look at all the candy canes Santa left us

Playing new games on her Leap Pad

Daddy excited about his model helicopter

One of her new Lalaloopsy dolls

LeAnne, Bella and her new puppy Peach

Working on her Lego Hello Kitty doll house

Clothes Daddy & I got for Christian

LeAnne in new dress and a new Lalaloopsy and her horse

Adorable Onsie Daddy got for Christian

Our Pretty girl

Toy box Daddy got for Christian

Now what to play with :-)

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Leonard Family Update

I really must improve on my frequency of blogging. Our family blog is where I come to record the happenings in our life to share with family and friends and to save for later scrap book journal.  So now here I am thinking what has happen since my last blog entry on Halloween...

In November John's brother and his family came to visit from Redmond, Oregon over the Thanksgiving weekend.  It was a lot of fun hanging out with them.  All of our kids has a lot of fun playing together. They're oldest, Emma, is 6 and they're son, Cash, is 4.  The Friday that they got here we went out for dinner then watched Dayton's annual Christmas Kickoff parade. Then we watched the fireworks.  It was during the fireworks show I got a phone call from Amanda with big news.  Her boyfriend has just proposed to her.  OMG! Our little girl is engaged!  Just yesterday she was 7 years old telling me to sit with her until she was asleep and I would know she was asleep when she started snoring. Now here she is 20 years old, about to start an accounting certificate program and engaged. She is telling us it will be a long engagement because they want to get better jobs ad move our of his mom's place before they get married.  

On December 4th we went to Klickers in Walla Walla to get our Christmas tree.  It was a quick trip because it was raining.  LeAnne enjoyed helping me put the ornaments on the tree this year. She chose her favorite and I loved telling her stories about different ornaments.  





















This pregnancy has been very different from my first. The morning sickness in the first trimester was terrible! I had to drink lots of water to keep from being hungry and dehydrated.  I never knew what I was going to be able to eat from moment to moment.  All meat was disgusting!!!   On top of the morning sickness I got the flu which left me throwing up so much I was in tears.  Then I got a cold that would not go away. I was never so happy to say goodbye to my first trimester.  In my second trimester I soon was able to eat chicken followed by ham but no other meat.  My poor husband is eating a lot of chicken.  I am carrying this baby a lot different, and have a lot of headaches.  On 12/12/12 John, LeAnne & and I eagerly went to my 21 week ultrasound appointment.  It was adorable to have LeAnne at my head watching the ultrasound and too cute when she said they're is the baby's heartbeat. Little one was being a turkey during the ultrasound, very active which made the ultrasound technicians job interesting.  After seeing the important anatomy she told us "It's a little man"!  Were having a boy! I was in shock and the first words out of LeAnne's mouth was "but I wanted a sister". Seeing our boy move around inside and hearing he is developing wonderfully was awesome!! After our appointment we enjoyed spreading the news to family and friends! Then came the fun looking at boys clothes and figuring out how to design his nursery.  I was excited when John said "you decorated LeAnne's nursery now its my turn to decorate Christian's nursery". It looks like he will have a Disney Cars nursery with some tools and some WSU cougar decor too. LeAnne is warming up to the idea of having a brother. She has asked if she can give Lucky the horse to her brother and can be heard calling Christian "My boy". I loved having a little brother and I am very excited for her to have a little brother.    I am feeling Christian move around a lot and LOVE it! 




















On 12/13/12 Dixie elementary kids sang beautifully for their Christmas program.  LeAnne was right up front being very animated. We got many compliments about her performance afterwards.  It was precious! 

Sitting on Santa's lap at Christmas program

LeAnne and I were thrilled when we woke up to snow falling from the sky on Christmas Eve!  We had fun building snowmen, making snow angles, and having a snow ball fight.  

















Monday, November 5, 2012

Halloween 2012

Halloween 2012 has come and gone thank goodness! Its not one of my favorite holidays and I am always glad to see it come and go.  LeAnne dressed up as Bat girl this year.  I wore some black pants and a black tee shirt with a skeleton of a baby on the front. Everyone thought it was pretty cute.  LeAnne's class had a ton of fun at their Halloween party. Then after school John, LeAnne and I headed over to the Hospital to see Nana. It was a nice visit and Nana loved seeing LeAnne in her costume.  Nana was feeling better than she had in a month and excited to head home to Bonney Lake later that week.  My nieces were also there with their little boys visiting Grandma Nana so it was nice to see them in their adorable costumes.  After the hospital we headed over to a church that was doing trunk or treating then walked down main street trick or treating businesses.  Then it was off to dinner at the Asian place in town and home to trick or treat 5 more houses per LeAnne's request. :-)  It was a pretty mellow Halloween but lots of fun for LeAnne.




Monday, October 29, 2012

Jana Alayra concert at HCC

On Friday October 26th John, LeAnne and I drove over to Renton to attend the Jana Alayra concert at Highlands Community Church.  It was great to be back inside our old church and saw two very special ladies I use to work with in Children's ministry. The concert was AMAZING!  LeAnne was up front, right  next to the stage, most of the concert.  She had so much fun singing, dancing and doing the motions to the songs she's been listening to since she was days old.  LeAnne got to perform up on stage with a group of 5 year old kids.  They performed Absolutely Nothin. John was one brave daddy when he got up on stage with all the dad's to perform Jana Alayra's song Change. So proud of my guy! I wasn't brave enough to get up on stage with the mom's.  After the concert we met Jana Alayra, she signed LeAnne's shirt and took a picture with her.  Jana is such an amazing lady! It was a great night of praising God!  We must find a home church.  Now is the time for LeAnne to start learning and I miss church so much!

LeAnne & Jana Alayra


See LeAnne down front                 






John on stage/in back

LeAnne on stage performing











Friday, October 26, 2012

Carving Pumpkins

Despite being all of us being sick with a doozy of a cold Daddy & LeAnne enjoyed carving pumpkins! We have one happy, one silly and on spooky pumpkin. 










Monday, October 22, 2012

How is it possible she's 5?

Its so hard to believe that on October 11th LeAnne turned 5 years old ! Her birthday fell on a Thursday and John had to work so he got up early and she opened her gifts from us before school. I also made her homemade blueberry muffins.  I had attempted to make cupcakes in ice cream cones for her class but ended up burning some of the cones so it was a trip to the store to grab cookies the morning of her birthday. Life happens!!


















Then we had her birthday party on October 13th at Jumpin Jellybeans. The kids had a blast jumping on the multiple inflatables, eating pizza, snacks and cupcakes! LeAnne was very spoiled with gifts once again. It was a Lalaloopsy birthday! She got multiple new mini lalaloopsy's, and many things for the lalaloopsy's to play on. As well as some very nice clothes and art supplies!







LeAnne is such a beautiful little girl full of personality!  She started Kindergartener this year and is doing very well. She is learning to read, write and do beginning mathematics. She loves her mornings with Mrs. Pickle, buddy reading, and music best!  She continues to be one very busy little girl! She is very artistic. She loves to draw, color, paint and this fall started beading necklaces and bracelets.  She loves to dance and listen to music.  Daddy thinks she might be musical like him. :-)  She is very kind, loving and is always full of hugs!  Her and I tend to butt heads a lot more than her and dad do. Daddy walks on water according to her! I am thankful her and John have such a close relationship and I pray that relationship stays strong.  She is strong willed for sure and we will have to keep her headed in the right direction as she gets older. She loves clothes and comes up some very creative outfits. Daddy and I had to say no to the flora top and plaid skirt. LOL!!  I feel so blessed to have such a healthy and beautiful little girl!  I always pray God will help me be the best mama I can to her and raise her in a way that would glorify Him.

Good Bye First Trimester!!

My first trimester has been rough to say the least!  I've been exhausted and morning sickness has been terrible. My food aversions are unpredictable so I NEVER know what I will be able to eat.  Sometimes food even sounds good but once I smell or taste it I find out its a no go. This is particularly true with meat.  I crave a spicy steak but ALL meat is a no go! The only meat I've been able to stomach much of is turkey and that is because it was disguised on a sandwich  with cream cheese and cranberries.  It seems that the stronger the taste the more I like the food. I have been so much more sick with this pregnancy! I detest being hungry but not knowing what to eat.  I drink lots of water and eat small meals when I can figure out what might stay down. I get full really fast. I am also a lot more nervous this pregnancy that something is going to go wrong with me or the baby.  Before my 2nd doctor apt on October 15th I was really nervous.   I left that appointment feeling so much better.  Not surprising I had lost weight. My blood pressure was great! Dr. V was able to pick up the baby's heart beat right away and it sounds super at 162 beats per minute. I look forward to my next appointment on November 12th and then I believe the next appointment is when we will find out who is joining our family.  Will it be Hailey Josephine or Christian Thomas? I look forward to being able to start planning the nursery! :-)

LeAnne is very excited for her new brother or sister! She is constantly coming up with names for our baby. The funniest name that she likes Cougar for a boy or a girl because daddy is a WSU cougar. She also keeps saying she wants our baby to be bald.  I told her its highly unlikely because both her and her sister had a lot of hair when they were born.

I am very happy to be entering my second trimester this week! I hope my food aversions subside at least some and my energy begins to return. I look forward to my baby bump, seeing our baby at the week 20 ultrasound and feeling the baby move. I also can't wait to start planning the nursery. I want to wait to find out what we are having so that I can have a gender specific nursery.   We probably won't put the room together until February since it will entail moving LeAnne to her new room down stairs.  For a while we considered having the baby upstairs next to our room but that will not work when John is working nights and the idea of walking up and down the stairs many times a day does not sound pleasant.  It will be a big step moving LeAnne downstairs but we plan to fix it up really nice for her and recently installed a wireless alarm system. It's so exciting to be adding another member to our family! :-)

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Expecting Baby # 2 April 23rd, 2013 !!

The Leonard family is thrilled to announce we are expecting our 2nd child in April 2013! Today was my 8 week doctor appointment.  Our little peanut looks and sounds great. My OB/GYN said everything is going well. My next appointment is Oct 15th.













 Big sister LeAnne is very excited! Today during he doctor appointment she was curious but didn't want to get to close. She did tell the nurse I was having a girl. The nurse said "if you can tell this earlier we are going to keep you around". I gave LeAnne the ultrasound picture to carry and she didn't want to let it go.  She also wanted the handout showing development during pregnancy and the pregnancy book the doctor gave me.  She studied that development chart. It was too cute!  Then after school I let her show some of the kids and staff the picture of our baby.

When we told LeAnne she was going to be a big sister was excited but  not sure she totally understood. When we told her mama had a baby in her belly she said something like "why do
you want to do that". She's made references to why doesn't the baby grow in a bucket. LOL!! Since we first told her she has enjoyed watching Youtube videos showing ultrasounds of fetal development  and enjoys checking out the apps on my phone each week to see how big the baby is getting. 



Seeing the baby and hearing the heart beat made it real for daddy that another baby is on the way! :-) He's been an amazing support through this first trimester. I've felt a lot worse than I ever remember feeling with LeAnne.  My super sense of smell sends me gagging often, I am dizzy a lot, cooking any meat is torture and I never know what to eat. Fresh veggies, fruits, salads and spicy meats are my cravings so far.

Thank-you Lord for blessing our family with another little miracle! I pray for the healthy development of our child. :-)