Biggest day ever? Story time, skipped nap, snow day, painting, and a pizza party!

This morning Leila got up early in anticipation of story time - this is normal and she had a great time.  Today was the last of February's bear-themed story times.  We drew a picture, sang and danced, and read a book.

Afterwards Leila experimented with nap skipping, aided by her big girl bed's lack of walls.  We spent 90 minutes or so with the lights down pretending Leila was asleep while she peeked at us from around door frames with wide eyes and no noise.

Mommy went out to judge an art show in the afternoon and when she came home she brought a snowball to toss at Daddy.  Leila and I hadn't noticed the snow with our shades down and the lights low.  Immediately we all bundled up and went outside to build a snowman.  Even Frida enjoyed dancing around in the midst of a snowfall.  It's still falling - this is by far the most snow at one time we've seen since we moved to Memphis in 2005.

Leila had a pretty long afternoon due to the nap skipping, but she did manage to talk mommy into painting with her on the kitchen floor.  Leila painted about 15 purple water-soluble Leila-paint-on-printer-paper masterpieces before she grew tired of that.

Dinner was an exciting surprise.  We visited our next door neighbors who have two boys, one nearly Leila's age and the other a few months old.  We played with all of their toys and then enjoyed pizza and cookies and milk.  Leila was terrifically excited by the whole party and then went home to fall into bed without a word thirteen hours after she woke up.

mommy's store

Mommy just opened up a storefront at etsy.com.  Check back often, we'll be adding new artwork on a regular basis.  I added a link on the sidebar of this blog in case you forget:)

big girl bed

mommy sewed the sheets.

Bear parades and Mardi Gras trivia

Excellent weekend thus far!  Leila enjoyed a pizza party with her parents last night, managing to eat her own slice without help from anyone.

This morning we went to the bookstore for a special story time featuring a BEAR PARADE!  Leila brought one of her teddies and had a blast singing, dancing, reading books, and leading a line of 50 or so people in a big loop around the store.  We stopped at different stations to pick up bear-themed cookies and cards for Leila's goodie bag.  Leila made sure to be first in line every chance she got.

Saturday afternoon Leila got to share a Mardi Gras-sprinkled doughnut with Mommy while Daddy tried a far-too-sugary doughnut with sugar filling and sugar icing.  Luckily there was milk at the doughnut store.

After doughnuts the three of us went to our local grocery store and had a great time getting a new Pinkerbo (Tinkerbell) toothbrush for Leila because Daddy lost her old toothbrush.  We enjoyed some meatball samples (Neetball, says Leila), picked up a Mardi Gras king cake to share tomorrow, and THEN something really exciting happened.

The grocery intercom announced a Mardi Gras trivia contest with a prize to the first person to arrive at the seafood counter with a correct answer.  Mommy and Leila charged off in their shopping cart in the direction of seafood as the grocery lady read out her question:

Which city was the first in the United States to celebrate Mardi Gras?


Mommy was first to the counter with the correct answer: Mobile, Alabama!  Another lady was right behind them but she didn't quite get there in time.  For their efforts Mommy got a free three-liter bottle of orange soda and Leila got a new purple beaded necklace.

Great weekend so far and it's only Saturday!

sports fanatic

For the past week Leila has been talking about Soccer a lot. Daniel and I were a little confused about where this sports obsession was coming from, but we got a new clue every day. She'd start yelling about soccer in the kitchen, and by the time we got out the ball and bundled up to get outside she seemed to have forgotten what all the fuss was about. After a few rounds of this she started to get more insistent. Finally, after making one of us pick her up before we went to get the ball, she pointed to a bag on the counter and told us "open bag open bag!" It was a little gift bag filled with valentines candy.

Including suckers. :)

Leila's lets the good times roll!

This weekend Leila went to Mobile to see her first parade (and some other things).

She drove all afternoon on Thursday.  Riding in the back seat alone is hard work, but at least she got to have a happy meal that came with an American Idol cowboy that says YeeHaw!  She had lots of books and toys with her too and she played parrot with the newscasters on the radio, practicing pronouncing words like google and 'conomy.  Leila is very good at repeating everything she hears.

On Friday, she was so excited because her cousin Roman Ramsay was at GiGi and Boompa's house too.  Leila and Roman played together a lot.  Roman brought way more toys that Leila, but since Leila is bigger than him she had to demonstrate to him how a lot of things worked.  Then Roman and Leila took everyone to feed the turtles and fish in a pond on the golf course.  Those fish were hungry, but the turtles must have been taking a nap.  Later that night Leila and Roman went to Mommy's art show at ASMS.  They were pretty impressed with the food, but were quickly ready to get home to bed.  

On Saturday Leila and Roman decided to go to a book signing.  Boompa was signing his book An Act of Congress at a restaurant called Jesse's in Magnolia Springs.  Lunch at Jesse's was delicious--Leila had the french fries and Roman mostly just had a good nap.  After the book signing everyone decided to go home and not take a nap.  There were too many important things too do!  After her not-a-nap, Leila rounded everyone up to go feed the fish and turtles again.  I don't know what those fish do when Leila isn't around to dump crackers on their heads.

Later that night, Leila and Roman went to their first Mardi Gras Parade.  The Pharoah's and the Conde Explorers threw plenty of beads, moonpies, and stuffed animals to fill Leila's loot bag to overflowing and she was very impressed by the parade horses.  Her favorite part of the parade was getting to ride on Boompa's shoulders and dance to the marching band music.  Of course, it was officially declared "Big Fun."  

Roman got tired of the parade pretty quickly, since it was past his bedtime and he had been very patient with all of his weekend activities.  We decided we would humor him and head home to bed.  

The next day Leila and Roman waved goodbye to each other and to GiGi and Boompa and they each drove through Mississippi back to their own states.  I predict extra naps for everyone this week following that adventure:)

Big weekend in Memphis *and* in Mobile!

This past weekend Mommy drove a lot of her artwork down to Mobile to hang a solo show at the Alabama School of Mathematics and Science where Mommy and Daddy attended high school together.

Leila and Daddy had a great time together - alone in Memphis.  We went to story time at the bookstore on Saturday morning.  Saturday afternoon we rode Leila's bike and played around the house.  Sunday morning we read books and drew pictures and colored by the fireplace.  Sunday afternoon we went to a baby shower for our good friends the McGregors - they are expecting a baby in February.

Mommy made it home just after seven on Sunday and we were all very glad to have her home!

Mommy and Leila will be heading back to Mobile this weekend for the opening of Mommy's show.  They hope to see lots of relatives while they're in the area!