Moments of our lives

Hi family & friends! I am going to start a new reoccurring theme here at Life with the Leonard's call Moments of our lives. My plan is to jot down things that happen in our lives daily and share the post at then end of the week. One of my biggest reasons for doing this is our little LeAnne is changing so much all the time and I don't want to forget the things she does and/or says.  This has already helped me with my scrap book journal writing. So here we go...

Tue 7/27/10 - John, LeAnne & I were on our way to town to go grocery shopping.  We were listening to LeAnne's Bible Action song CD after LeAnne said "Jesus please" like she does whenever we get in the car, which means she wants to listen to her Jesus CD.  The next thing we know she is singing to the songs! This is the 1st time she's EVER done this!  To hear her utter songs of praise made us so happy!  I know Jesus was happy too!


Thurs 7/29/10 - Today's craft project was to decorate a letter D.  I had glue on a paper plate, and a bowl of items for LeAnne to use.  In the bowl were marshmallows, various small noodles, buttons, rice and then I had glitter to go on top to add some bling. The first thing LeAnne did was put her finger in the glue and lick it. Oh the face she made.  Then she took a glue soaked marshmallow off the D I had put on for an example and ATE it! Ahhh!  It went down hill from there! She collected all the marshmallows and ate them. Then tried to eat the pasta and got made that it was hard.  I tried to get her to help me decorate the D and she put on the buttons but wanted nothing to do with putting on the pasta, and rice. Oh She did help with the sparkles (barxles as she calls them)  In the end I did a fabulous job decorating the letter D. It's my fault this happen, one day I tell her it's okay to eat your art (painting with pudding) and the next day it's not okay. LOL!!

Our Letter D crafts

Mama's beautifully decorated Letter D

Fri 7/30/10 - We were sitting at the kitchen table this morning, she was coloring and I was entering giveaways.  I sneezed and all on her own she says "bless you".  Oh my word! That today warmed my heart.

Fri 7/30/10 - LeAnne & I went to a really cute local bakery to have a doughnut since we have been focusing on the letter D this week I thought it was a fighting end to the week.  we had our doughnut, went to the park to play for a bit and then went over to water Grandma Marcia's flowers.  As we drove to the park she was singing the wheels on the bus song but since it's off her bible action CD its a different version and she was singing "the drive says go to church". It was adorable.

Friday 7/30/10 - As John is buckling in to LeAnne into her car seat she spells STOP then says Stops (we have a stop sign in front of our house. It was sweet!  Could she really be starting to get the concept that letter put together are words?


Saturday 7/31/10 - LeAnne asked for a glass of milk, this is a rarity because she's not a milk drinker. As I was cleaning up dinner dishes I hear her saying drinking slowly and I was puzzled as to why she would say that. Then it dawned on me that morning she'd watched a Word World where duck didn't drink his milk slowly so he got the hiccups. ha ha!

Saturday 7/31/10 - LeAnne was very into dressing up today. She even brought me her Easter hat and said "mama top hat" LOL!! :-) 

One of her interesting outfits on Saturday

  

 

 

 

 

 

 


I also want to add we are very proud of our oldest daughter Amanda, for doing a great job at her first job driving combine.  She has been harvesting rye grass the last 2 weeks and was recently switched to wheat.  She's not exactly happy with this switch because she has to pay closer attention but it is a raise in pay so I say keep your eye on the prize and think of the money you're making to buy your first car.  She has 3 more weeks of harvesting to go.  We miss her like crazy and can't believe it's possible she will be a senior in high school come September.  

Painting with Pudding Video's

Three blog updates in one day! That hasn't happened in a LONG time! Here I am to share some video's of LeAnne while she was painting with pudding earlier today.  I am so happy the kid in me couldn't wait until after her nap to do our pudding painting because since she's gone down for a nap we've had wind, thunder, lightening and now it's raining. She'll be bummed we won't be swimming this afternoon so we may need to do some baking or another craft. :-)

Right before her nap I put LeAnne in her bathing suit, took the paint and paper outside to our picnic table and we painted.  LeAnne was none to sure about eating paint so I had to convince her a bit that it was pudding. She was pretty reserved about it, kept cleaning off her hands and being very careful.  Then I suggested we make a foot print which she enjoyed.  The coolest part was after we were done I washed her feet off with the hose.  We will definitely do this art project again and she might be less reserved if she has a friend over to do it with her. 

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday - Painting with pudding

Vanilla pudding + food coloring = inexpensive finger painting fun.  This was our first experience painting with pudding.  It was very easy to make, it was safe to eat and easy to clean up. My daughter was very reserved, not sure about eating it and was she ever one serious pudding painter.  I'll admit I got in on the painting too, enjoyed licking my fingers off to change colors and I really wanted to go crazy painting on LeAnne but didn't think I should freak her out & I wasn't dressed for her to paint on me. Next time time... I highly recommend and we will do this craft again!  

For more wordless Wednesday fun head on over to 5 minutes for Moms!

Finger painting with vanilla pudding is  YUMMY!!

One serious pudding painter at work

Tada! See my master pieces! :-)  

Music to my ears...

Good Morning!! It's Wordless Wednesday and I have not taken a single photo since last week! (gasp!) I've thought a lot about pictures I want to take, thought many times about getting up to get my camera while John's folks were here but it just didn't happen.  I went to the doctor last week for a variety of things and left with many follow up appointments with other specialists. No worries, as health goes I have no major problems, just a few minor things that need taken care of and a lot of preventative things.  One of these things are some plantar warts, I though were corns on my foot and have neglected for way too long. Anyway I went last Thursday morning to have them looked at by a dermatologist. He froze a few and put some blister juice (his technical terms) on a few others.  I am on the mend but I've been doing my fair share of hobbling around. The end results will be good but in the mean time all I can say is OUCH! Hence no pictures today. 

We had a very nice time with John's folks!  It is always nice when they come to visit.  I especially loved watching LeAnne warm up to them a lot this time!  Her Grampy could do no wrong and she couldn't wait to show him everything.  She also had her fair share of cuddle time with Grammy who says she's her favorite 2 year old grand-daughter. :-) She enjoyed baking cookies with Grammy too! Yummy!  Since they left she's been asking about them and we hope to get down to see them very soon.

I know I've said it before and I'll say it again but I can't believe how quickly LeAnne is changing.  She's growing up right before my eyes.  It seems like just yesterday I was wondering if she'd ever talk and on our way into town to do errands yesterday she was singing along to some of he bible action songs.  Up until yesterday she has only been singing two songs ABC's & Twinkle Twinkle Little Star so both daddy & I were shocked to hear her singing along with her CD.  It was absolutely priceless!  :-) 

I love being our little girl's mama!  It is such a blessing to be home with her in the summer.  Of course I wish it would be a full time gig but for now it can't so I am focusing on what I have instead of what just can't be at the moment.  We continue to work on a letter a week, we are on the letter D this week.  Our darling daughter had been discovering D sounds like in duck, dog, dancing, dig, donkey, dinner, and so on. Today we are going to paint made with vanilla pudding & food coloring. I WILL take pictures and post them this week. :-) 

I must sign off and go make my guys lunch. It's been great to have him home for 7 days.  I appreciate how well he takes care of his family!  He plays an active role in every aspect of our lives and is an amazing leader, helper, and encourager. I love watching his whole face light up when LeAnne does something precious.  :-) 

Thank-you Lord for blessing our lives!!  Thank-you for all you provide for our family! :-)

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday - B is for Butterfly...

LeAnne & I have been having a blast learning about her letters & numbers this summer.  She is very hungry to learn & catches on so quickly.  At the rate she's going I figure she is going to read before she is potty trained, then she can read about potty training.

For more wordless Wednesday fun head on over to 5 minutes for Moms!

Auntie Kym found her this Butterfly!

Not so wordless Wednesday - Speesees Dress

Big Thank-you to Nina, an awesome blogger who's saving the sanity of moms & dads, one blog at a time! Please check out her blog Playground for Parents. It was on her blog that I won this adorable Speesees Dress.  Thank-you to Speesees for sponsoring the giveaway.  I have been so excited for LeAnne to wear this dress. It is beautifully made with organic cotton, is pigment and pvc-free prints, has nickel-free snaps, no formaldehyde,no dioxin and low impact dyes.  I LOVE the vibrant colors and the Prance Hankey horse pattern is fun!

 

She already loves clothes, make up & all things girly!  This day she grabbed my foundation brush  & was doing what mama does. One night she saw me putting on lotion with sparkles so I put some on her and now every night she says "sprinkles mama", then once she has her sprinkle lotion on she comes out to show daddy.

and last but  not least here is a video of our girl singing her ABC's & Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.



For more wordless Wednesday fun head on over to 5 minutes for Moms!

The Children’s Place Gift Card Giveaway (Ends 7/15)

The Children’s Place is one of my favorite kids clothing stores! They have a large selection and their clothes are well made! Not to mention, affordable! While I've never shopped there LeAnne has some really nice Hand me downs from her Cousin Emma that came from Children's Place. :-)   I had to blog about this contest because I'd LOVE to buy some clothes from Children's Place for our precious princess!

The Children’s Place is giving TWO lucky Serendipity Mommy blog readers a $25 gift card!! Its almost that time of year again to start school shopping, so a $25 savings is always sweet!

Sweepstakes Hosted At: Serendipity Mom
Prize: $25 Gift Card to The Children’s Place
Entry Method: Comment (extra entries available)
Giveaway End Date: Contest ends July 15 Eligibility: US Only

 

 This adorable top is a Children's Place hand me down from cousin Emma. :-)

Hello Sunshine - You make our days NICE & warm!

"That beautiful season the Summer!
Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light;
and the landscape Lay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood."
-   Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Now this is what I am talking about, Summer has arrived!  It's been in the high 90's, low 100's the last few days. This next week I will try to take some pictures of the beautiful landscapes around us.  The wheat is beginning to turn and it's so pretty! The rain has caused the farmers quite a bit of grief and kept the crop dusters very busy.  LeAnne is very happy playing in her pretty purple pool!  When we walk outside she say's "Hello Sunshine"!  Today after we got back from pickin raspberries on the farm I sat with my feel in her pool and actually read a browsed a whole magazine cover to cover. It was very relaxing. When I look back at the previous 2 summers it's amazing to see how much our girl has grown up.  She is so hungry to  learn her numbers and letters right now. She is always identifying letters and numbers everywhere we go and now she has been saying a word like tub and wants to know what letter it's associated with. It's amazing and fun. This week we did some fun coloring projects about the letter A.  I am excited next week to work with letter B. We might just have to bake our own break, bounce lots of balls and buy a balloon.  The only cartoon she asks for on a regular basis now is a PBS show called Word World (Click on link to see a sneak peak).  Well here are some pictures and videos of our beautiful busy little girl! Today we are spending the day with Grandma Marcia for her birthday & then heading down to the Tucanon Valley to have dinner & a yummy berry smoothie cheese cake for dessert to celebrate Grandma. :-)

Ridding Nubby at the farm!
















She had to have her hair down to play in the pool yesterday. :-)

She loves to water the plants!

Having a blast in her pool! This girl LOVES water!
She was waving to you but I didn't quite get the shot in time.

In this video below I was trying to get her to say "I busy", it's so cute, she said it but you'd have to turn your volume WAY up to hear it! :-)



Thank-you so much Auntie Katie for the adorable outfit, bracelet and Jewelry! LeAnne was so excited!

Daddy's handwork

4th of July weekend was a very productive one for John.  He planted some raspberries in our backyard, mowed our beautiful yard and painted our front door and the top of the garage a gorgeous red color.  LeAnne was there to help whenever she could be.  We really are very blessed that our guy loves yard work and takes great pride in his yard.  We get compliments all the time about how nice our house & yard looks.  Great work honey!!

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday - Our Little Fire Cracker

Fun 4th of July photos of our little fire cracker, LeAnne, 2 1/2. Grandma Marcia came over for a BBQ & we watched our neighbors fireworks from our front yard. LeAnne absolutely loved the fire works this year. She also had a blast with her glow in the dark bracelets from Grandma.

For more wordless Wednesday fun head on over to 5 minutes for Moms! 

Celebrate the Joys of Homemaking Event at Happily Domestic

Happily Domestic is having a Celebrate the Joys of Homemaking Event starting July 17th and it will run for at least 1 month maybe longer.  I can't wait to see the sponsors and start entering the giveaways!

Head on over to her blog and check out the event!

Our Trip to Western Washington

On Friday June 25th Grandma Marcia, LeAnne & I drove to Western Washington.  We had a very busy week full of fun for all and learning for me!  My Aunt Katie hosted a very fun Mary Kay skin care party!  She introduced me to a few very nice ladies and I learned a lot from a fellow beauty consultant who came to help me run the party. Sunday LeAnne spent some time with family while I assisted a friend, now my awesome Mary Kay director with a very fun skin care party.  I learned a lot of great tips and had a blast!  Saturday afternoon we had dinner at my little bro's house and played with my adorable nephew.  He's 5 months now and so strong. 

Then Monday Auntie Katie, Grandma Marcia, Jakobi, LeAnne and I headed to Ocean Shores.  I had not been to the beach since our trip to Lincoln City, Oregon with Amanda when I was only a few months pregnant with Leanne!  I was very excited when my Auntie suggested we head to Ocean shores.  LeAnne & Jakobi were equally as excited for the beach.  LeAnne had never been to the Ocean so she kept talking about seeing the ocean and playing in the big sandbox. We first stopped in Elma for a bit to eat & a ride on the pony. It was in the mid 60's cloudy with occasional sun breaks with enough wind for the kids to be able to fly their own kites.  We headed straight for the water where LeAnne had no fear of the ocean waves.  She kept saying here comes and smiling.  Then the kids and I build sand castles, smashed sand castles, flew a kite and went back to the water.  They had a very nice time playing for about 2 1/2 hours.  Then we got lunch, browsed some shops, both kids got tee shirts and ice cream.  Thank-you so much auntie Katie!!

 


On Tuesday Grandma Marcia, LeAnne & I had brunch with Nataly and did some shopping.  Then after I survived being stuck in traffic I had a great training session with my Mary Kay director. I stepped out of my comfort zone and lived to tell about it. Then that night the three of us headed out to stay with Grandma Alice.  LeAnne absolutely loved playing the organ while singing Twinkle Twinkle little star. 



Wednesday we hung out around Grandma Alice's until that afternoon when we went back to my little brother's house for another visit.  His little boy is absolutely adorable.  Both visits LeAnne did very well with her cousin and even said she wanted to have a little brother or sister at home.  I told her to tell daddy. :-) 


We headed home early Thursday morning.  It was a great drive and it feels so good to be home.  Our guy had the house clean, told me I couldn't do anything for an hour after being home and treated his girls to Mexican dinner. It was a very fun week and now I'm so happy to be home!