Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Preschool Graduation

LeAnne graduated from preschool on June 13th, 2012 from Dixie Elementary School.  It was a fun night of celebrating our children!  One of the mom's put together a very  nice slide show of pictures taken through the school year. As I watched LeAnne walk up on stage in her red cap & gown I was reminded of the journey through infertility and how blessed we are to have such a beautiful daughter.  There was a time when I didn't believe I would ever be a mother.  My heart over flows with love for our daughter and I love being a mama!  LeAnne was very animated through out the whole presentation. Bowing after each song the kids performed caused her cap to start to fall off but her amazing teacher helped her put it back on.  During the interview part of the night LeAnne said her favorite part of preschool was "playing dress up".  She definitely hammed it up for the crowd. Her teacher next year remarked after the program that she was looking forward to never having a dull day with LeAnne in her classroom.

I can't believe out little girl will be a Kindergartener in September!!




















Tuesday, June 12, 2012

PhotoadayJune - Day 12 - From a Low Angle

 Those little girl eyes,
Are so full of hope in you,
Every dream she has,
She knows will come true.
Your love as her father,
And Your integrity as a man,
Protect her from the world,
Like nothing else can.
Her Daddy is her hero,
As he rightfully should be,
She cherishes every cuddle,
And every bounce on the knee.

PhotoadayJune - Day 11 - Door

This is the door to a place I love! It's a place where I can be myself.  It's a place full of many beautiful memories.  It's a place filled with love & laughter! It' not always a clean place but it's lived in so I don't expect it to be perfect.  It's a place I share with my handsome husband, busy bee daughter, 4 dogs, 1 cat and 1 fish!  It's our home!! The window in the door i at the perfect height for our kitty to peak in when she's ready to come inside. :-)


PhotoadayJune - Day 10 - Best Bit of Our weekend

The best bit of our family weekends that I love is John and I sharing precious moments with our daughter.  In this picture LeAnne is being silly next to our new pear tree that John planted on Sunday!  We now have an apple tree, pear tree, blueberries, raspberries and a small garden in our backyard!


PhotoadayJune - Day 8 - Six O Clock

I bought LeAnne her first electric toothbrush today and here she is at 6:00pm brushing her teeth.  It was also fun because she was able to decorate it herself with stickers.


Sunday, June 10, 2012

PhotoadayJune - Day 9 - Your View of Today

We had a work party at my mom's house today.  Some worked on putting up a gazebo over the back porch so mom and grandma can enjoy the summer without being scorched by the hot sun.  My husband cut down a tree in her front yard.  LeAnne and I helped him by loading the debris into his truck.  While doing this LeAnne found a birds nest.  She carried it around for a while then we left it in a tree hopefully to be used by another animal.

Teach Your Tween Girls About True Beauty with Help From Lily {Giveaway}

One of my desires a Godly woman is to teach my daughter to be modest and help her through those awkward years.  Since my daughter is only 4 years old I thought I would have some time to learn how to teach her but she' already began to notice women on TV wearing rather risque' clothing moving inappropriately.  I've begun by simply saying that clothing is not appropriate and then showing her examples of women dressing modestly. I am also realizing I am already starting to build a foundation of what it looks like to be a young lady both in regards to outward appearance, actions and self worth.


I was very excited today to find this review and giveaway on My Four Monkey's blog! Thank-you Nancy Rue for writing a books young girls can relate to and  learn biblical principals to help them go through those awkward years. 

Her the fiction book Here’s Lily starts the conversation about her body and her sense of self worth. I remember how difficult these years were and now as a teachers aide in an elementary school I've watched young girls go through so many changes. Here’s Lily and The Beauty Book (geared for girls ages 7-11).Here’s Lily is a fiction read with no pictures and short easy to read chapters. The story follows fun, and entertaining sixth grader, Lily, as she discovers what ‘real beauty’ is.

Click here to see a digital flipbook of Here’s Lily
 
The informative book The Beauty Book provides tips and tricks for various beauty related topics from hair to nails.  It also includes fun quizzes and activities she can do with her friends.


 

To find more faith-filled books and videos for children online at www.tommynelson.com, check out the Tommy Mommy blog for inspiration and encouragement from moms like you. Be sure to visit the Tommy Nelson Facebook page, and follow @TommyNelson on Twitter!

Head on over to My Four Monkey's blog to enter to win a copy of Here’s Lily and The Beauty Book!

Thursday, June 7, 2012

PhotoadayJune - Day 7 - Drink

I don't drink alcohol very often but a few weeks ago I just felt like a few Mike's hard cranberry lemonade to take the edge off.  Two drink later and this light weight was plenty relaxed. :-) 


Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Photoaday June - Day 6 - Hat

This is my darling daughter LeAnne wearing the hat daddy got her.  I love the way it sparkles just like her personality.  We were hanging out in our backyard roasting marshmallows over our little fire pit. She wasn't so sure she liked how hot the fire was and had to wear her had to protect her head.


PhotoadayJune - June 5 - Sign

They're are actually a few signs in this picture but I love how it shows the old time charm of our small country town.


New additions to the Leonard Family

Late Saturday night June 2nd I get a text from my husband that says "Might have a new family member" with a picture of two puppies in a box. My initial reaction was "Really"? Then he explained a patient at the Veterans hospital had found them at a rest stop on his way to WW from Idaho.  He explain to John and his partner that while in the restroom he saw a box, thought nothing of it until it moved and that is when he discovered the puppies. He couldn't leave them.  Upon arriving at the Veteran Hospital he brought them to the police because he couldn't keep them during his appointment at the sleep lab and really had no place for them because he himself was living in hotel.  The next text I receive is a picture of John and the little brown female saying Can we keep her?  Please please please!!  He and I went back and forth about the costs until he said "afford a dog"?  "you want a whole person". He has a point.  So I gave in and said okay.

He show up Sunday morning after hi shift with a box and there are 2 puppies in it. TWO!  I thought we were only getting the female?  He said "well I couldn't separate them and the veteran can't keep him". Well LeAnne and I started taking a liking to BOTH puppies right away then the male quickly because LeAnne's favorite.  So now we have two puppies! 

We named the brown female Ginger due to her coloring.  LeAnne call her "Ginger bread".  We named the black male Kane which means little battler.  LeAnne calls him Candy Kane.  They are very sweet puppies and quite adorable.  We think they are Irish Terriers.  We shall see what the vet has to say. 

I still can't believe our dog family has gone from 2 to 4 just like that.  Bella could care less and Gracie is a tiny bit jealous but more taking on a motherly role with them.  :-)







PhotoadayJune - Day 4 - Close Up

This is a close up of a peacock feather a friend gave to LeAnne. Here in Eastern Washington we have wild Peacocks. The person that gave us the feathers has 3 males and numerous female that live near her home.


Sunday, June 3, 2012

PhotoadayJune - Day 3 - On your Plate

The inspiration for today's photo came from my 4 year old daughter.  I was thinking out loud about what to have on my plate and she said "a foodie face" so I said "sure sounds like fun".  We used one of our nice plates for the face, linguine noodles for her crazy hair, peperoni pieces for eyes, a big marshmallow for her nose and smarty candies for her smile!

Saturday, June 2, 2012

PhotoadayJune - Day 2 - Empty

This is my empty glass!  I drank all my water on the way home from work.  Most of the time you will find my glass full of ice water with a few splashes of MiO to give it some flavor!  My favorite flavors of MiO are Berry Pomegranate and Strawberry Watermelon.


Friday, June 1, 2012

PhotoADayJune - Day 1 - Morning

This is my favorite place to wake up in the morning!  If the weather is nice I open the window to the left of me and enjoy the sounds/sights of the morning while I drink my coffee and surf the world wide web.  This morning I heard then saw quail and turkey in our front yard.  This is my time of the morning to check e-mail, Facebook, Tweet giveaways I've entered, play a little words with friends and do any prep work I may need to do for my student at school.