He is risen!

I wish Easter came around more often. It is by far my favorite holiday. What a revival it always brings in my heart! Happy Easter!

"He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed." Isaiah 53:5
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Really Really Really Good Friday

I heard this song for the first time a few years ago. God used it to totally transform the way I worship Him. I can't get it out of my head these days. I've been using this blog to boss people around this week.... so if you didn't buy pink shoes like I told you to, at least do this next thing... and listen to this song. :) I believe God gave us the gift of music to bring us closer to Him, and few current songs do that like this one does for me. TRUTH in every.single.word.



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ATTENTION ALL GIRLS!

Do you know what's better than TOMS?

BABY TOMS! Pink, sparkly BABY TOMS!

I truly believe EVERY girl in the world needs some of these. We were innocently looking for new sandals for this spring and summer when we fell in love at first sight. The girl likes accessories already (thanks to her Grandmothers...and Fancy Nancy) but she LOVES her pink TOMS.
Its times like these I wish I was Oprah and could give them to every little girl I meet. "You get pink, sparkle TOMS! And you get a pair and you and you and you!!!!!!"

Just look at them!!!!If you aren't familiar with TOMS click here and read about their "One for One" promise. For every new pair purchased they will give a new pair of shoes to a child in need.

Get some! You won't regret it! For Leah's size, they come in silver sparkle and purple sparkle too, plus some not-so-sparkly colors. You know it probably won't be long before we forsake all other shoes!

(And that last picture has nothing to do with TOMS, she just wanted to keep her sunglasses on while we went grocery shopping... and I wanted to remember it. She's a funny girl.)

Leslie had a little lamb (or 4)

If you name your kid a weird name you have to expect that there will be a few comments made about it behind your back. (I'm not condoning it... its not nice to talk behind people's backs... I'm just saying...) The same goes for sheep. Just keep in mind that these already came with their names.

Meet Dashwood, Wickham, Norris and Brandon! (only not in that order, I don't think)

Leah loves the sheep. This was her first time to have them eat from her hand. It took awhile for them to warm up to new people. They still don't care for me.

Give us a kiss!!

Leah kept saying "Here you go Norris. You want some food, Norris? Norris, come here and get some more treats!"

After we spent plenty of time with the sheep, she ran for a while, like a maniac, through the bluebonnets and then she found a doodle bug and decided she wanted to give it to Grandpa. (That's her great grandpa... 95 years old and spends his days working in his yard and hoeing his garden.)

They had a nice chat about the roly poly and then we released him back into the wild. (The bug, not Grandpa.)

when girls go wild

I love the crazy look in her eyes! :) My sister spent the first few nights WITH her sheep so they could "bond." Yes, she slept in the barn stall with them. Initially she was going to sleep on Kevin's fancy cot so we set it up and Leah tested it out for her. But it turned out to be too big so she just slept on a bale of hay inside the stall. (She is allergic to hay...) After the first night she told me she woke up to 4 sweet, sheepy faces eating hay right out from under her... she was in heaven. (Have I mentioned that my sister is just a little bit nuts?)

We love to fly and it shows

Aren't you girls happy to be playing outside on this beautiful day? So, so happy...

As you can see, Leah's friend Lillie was going to do acrobatics on top of the plane, and Leah was just going to to clean out the cockpit for a little while.

Or maybe a long while.... 15 minutes later, and still cleaning. She's taking every single piece of dirt and gravel and putting it into a tiny hole in the bottom.

Or maybe all afternoon... "Leah, you wanna come on out of there and play?"

I guess not.... She stayed in there FOREVER.

And while Leah wasn't looking, Lillie rummaged through her bag and tried on some of Leah's undies over her clothes... and backwards.

Airplane maintenance is hard work.

Here is the main reason I posted these pics... So you can see this... over a year ago... same top, same jeans, same bow... (Her feet have grown from a size 3.5 to a 5 though!!)

I should have saved alot of money, but it hasn't happened because I put almost all of her clothes in the attic and just filled her closet back up! But every single thing I didn't put away at the end of last summer still fits... its just a little shorter!

Farm Fresh

Our adventure at Jacob's Reward Farm showcased alot of Leah's personality traits. When we got out of the car and she heard the roosters crowing, she plainly stated "I don't like roosters and chickens. I don't want to see them." She recounted our distressing experience with fighting chickens at a petting zoo last week. Her memory is like a steel trap and her opinions are strong as well.

When Cindy, the farm's owner, reassured Leah that these chickens were nice and it would be so fun to let them out of their coop, Leah changed her mind. She is all about fun, too.

I assumed that of all the animals we would be around on the farm, Leah would be most worried by the alpacas. They are big and a little strange looking and they just walk right up to you to check you out. But there were so many chores to think about she didn't have time to worry about these guys. She was helping Cindy fill up the water troughs. See her back there?

I don't know if its bossing or nagging, but she will insist on something until it wears you thin and you finally do it to her satisfaction. And once Cindy mentioned it, she wasn't leaving the farm until the water buckets were full of fresh water for the sheep. I'm telling you, don't mention something that needs fixing or cleaning or refilling around her or she won't let you leave until its done!

This moment reminded me of Leah, too. Alpaca are really nosey... And they get all up in your grill while you are trying to do something... But they are so cute you don't mind.

Her work ethic is fierce. And so is her play ethic. I love this about her. She works and plays with equal intensity. Cleaning up is still her favorite thing to do.


She has become quite possessive these days. When she finds something she feels is valuable she says this: "I want to see it, I want to hold it, don't take it away from me." Makes me sound like such a meanie! And for some reason she doesn't say mine she says "my's." Its the one grammar issue I don't try and correct. "It's my's!" is so much cuter than "MINE, MINE, MINE!" :)


"I want to eat it!" she said as she put the FRESH egg to her mouth. Yes, fresh as in just popped out of the darn chicken. Eeeeeewwwww.

Miss Cindy said "Show me your eggs, Leah!" Did you notice the one on the left is green??? Cindy taught us that different varieties of chickens lay different colored eggs! You learn something new every day! I hijacked that last pic from Cindy's blog on the Jacob's Reward website. You can see the post here. And you can find out more about how to get your own farm fresh eggs by clicking here. Thanks so much Cindy! We're already looking forward to our next dozen. We eat alot of eggs!

This was like a day in the life I dream about living! Maybe one day some of you can come to the Curley family farm to get your fresh eggs!

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the only thing that stays the same

Once in a while I capture a moment on camera that brings a sweet remembrance to my heart and mind... When I saw this picture I had taken this morning I immediately remembered a similar one and went in search of it. Here she is today: And here she is a little more than a year ago on 3/30/2010. We visited the arboretum to see all the tulips and go barefoot in the grass. Leah had been walking for about 2 months but this was the first time I remember her really taking off and running. Look at her go! :) Time marches on doesn't it? Time marches on. Leah marches on. And stripes are always in fashion. :)

We went to get our first farm fresh eggs today (that's what Leah is holding in her hand in the top picture) and I'll be sure and post about it ASAP, as well as a link to how you can get your own too!!

Oh, and Aunt Les gets her sheep this weekend!!! Stay tuned!

The Age of Aquarium

Kevin has been wanting to take Leah to the Aquarium since she was born. He has talked and talked about it and finally made it happen. He took Leah to the Dallas World Aquarium for a daddy/daughter date. And let me tell you, it has ignited a passion in LeahCurley.

Before they left Kevin said she wanted every single book she saw in the gift shop. She was especially excited about this particular one with a clown fish on the front (just like Nemo) and when he picked it up and saw the $4.99 price he knew it was the perfect book. :) He was right.

"I want to read my new book daddy got me at the a-care-ee-yum" can be heard in our house at least 10 times a day. And because of it she can now identify sea horses, sea dragons, lion fish, porcupine fish, sting rays and other flat fish, sail fish, dolphins and several species of whales and sharks.

Here she is checking out the BIG catfish up high. Check out those two on the right that are checking Leah out! There's Nemo!Since I wasn't there I can't "narrate" as well. She had a ball.

They talked about it for days!What a blessing Leah received when she was born with this man as her daddy. Thank you, God, for all the GREAT daddy's out there. Especially this one.

shampoo-poo

Her daddy taught her that its funny to tell people she washes her hair with shampoo-poo. Yes... he did. And I have a feeling this is just the beginning of this sort of thing.

You gotta love daddys. She is CRAZY about hers. :)

She's got a ticket to ride

The best time to take a ride on Thomas the tank engine is early-early-early on a weekday morning. Aunt Lisa gave us free tickets to go see Thomas in person and take a ride! We got there so early, the place was practically deserted! It was GREAT! By the time we left, it was a crazy zoo with loooooong, loooong lines. Thanks for FREE, 9 AM, WEEKDAY tickets Aunt Lisa!

Got my ticket for Thomas!

Who's Thomas? That's him right there.

AWWWWWW! Her first tattoo! And his name is James. Every mother's dream come true.

Giggle went with us. And Leah showed us around once we got on the train.

When the train started moving she sat just like this for a long time... look at those hands.

The conductor came by to punch our tickets.

And at the end, Leah officially became a Jr. Engineer.

Now for the Thomas bounce house...

Thomas slide...

Thomas imagination station... where she held her own in a room full of boys and their toys...

They were pretty cool toys...

And a final stop at the Thomas petting zoo?????? Whatever... a petting zoo always scores big... unless you have fighting chickens and fighting bunnies that scare the living daylights out of people! We found a couple of relaxed "bubby wabbits" in a corner. A fun day out with Thomas and Friends.