Snow bunny

My favorite CO picture so far.

We went out to play in piles and piles of fresh, powdery, wonderful Colorado snow. Leah LOVES LOVES LOVES the snow, just like her Mommy. Leah was climbing a big hill and it was so soft, she fell in and face-planted right in the snow. All she did was pick herself up, lick her lips and say "Mmmm." The hat WAS hot pink, purple and orange, (made with love by Essy) not mostly white as it appears here.

not so fast, leah curley

Its almost here.... Leah's 2nd birthday is just a few days away!!!!
Not so fast, please!!!!

Pops' New Year

For my dad's birthday this year we went out for Mexican food. He will ALWAYS pick Mexican food. You can count on it. And when given a choice, Leah will ALWAYS pick "Kay suh dee yuhs, please!" So the two make a great pair.

I now have a new favorite picture... After dinner they checked out the "big, hot fire!"




And when we were full as ticks...we went back to the house to have some birthday cupcakes!

All day we practiced. "Say 'Happy BIRTH-day Pops!'" And every time she'd say "Happy New Yeo Pops" with such enthusiasm! Can she not remember? Or does she just know it will always make me laugh? Even now, a week later, she asks to look at pictures and videos of Pops' Happy New Year party.

Pops' favorite combination is yellow cake with chocolate icing. His other choice is white cake and white icing... but I don't do that sort of thing.

(I don't even think it really counts as cake unless it has SOME chocolate in it.)

Happy New Year Pops!

Notice of Retraction

I am officially retracting my post entitled "righty." This morning Leah ate every single bit of her blueberry yogurt.... with her LEFT hand. And made it look just as easy.I should have known. Children will make liars out of their parents FOR AS LONG AS WE LIVE! :)I guess I'll just wait a few years to make any more such announcements. The lick of the cow may be accurate after all.

little winter olympics

This girl could seriously win the GOLD in icicle eating....

And snow angel making...

I know its bad manners to brag... but...

Tell me that's not the BEST snow angel you've ever seen!!!

what a difference

a year can make...















Then again, maybe not so much has changed. She was grumpy on the exact same day last year! :)

Once in a while I just like to see what we were doing 365 days ago, and it looks like we were washing and folding diapers. We did that alot in those days.

Time marches on.

righty

For two days in a row now Leah has eaten every bite of her yogurt with her right hand. This may be trivial information for most people, but I've been waiting to see if she's be a righty or a lefty since she was born!

At her 2 week check-up Dr. D took one look at her head and said "Are there any lefty's in the family?" Apparently there is a study that's been done on handedness and most people have the main swirly cowlick on the left side of their head, and they are righty's... and a good portion of right-sided swirly cowlick people are lefty's. According to the lick of the cow... Leah was going to be a lefty.

I'm mainly interested because when Kevin and I were dating I noticed that it seemed he had missed the day in 1st grade when they teach proper pencil holding technique... and he didn't get a make-up lesson. Its crazy awkward! And his handwriting... atrocious! (Yes... mine is horribly messy, but at least it has a little stylistic flare... some people say.)

Come to find out... early in his life, the forks, spoons, pens and pencils Kevin picked up naturally for use in the left hand - had been taken and put into his right hand! Over and over again. (I'm not naming any names.)

So I'm convinced Leah's daddy IS a lefty... by birth. And until recently I really thought she was favoring her left more of the time. But I think this yogurt business has answered the question.

I should be relieved... because although statistically more geniuses are left-handed than right-handed, so are a much higher percentage of the criminally insane!

Happy Groundhog Day! (Punxsutawney Phil says it's gonna be an early spring!)

How germs are spread:

Last week, Leah woke up one day with a super high fever just feeling cruddy. So she spent most of the day in mommy's bed watching tv and reading books. (What did moms of sick kids do before there was tv?)

Mid-sneeze...

'

The blanket and baby dolls I understand, but why did she need to snuggle with her wrench?

Plus it looks like she is getting ready to "wrench" one of her babies!

'

Isn't she sweet? Sharing EVERYTHING!

A thousand words...

thirsty!

As I mentioned in this post, our girl loves hot tea and was only convinced to come in from the snow on the promise of hot tea. The only problem with this beverage is how long it takes to prepare! She was patient though... I can't even count how many times she said "There it is, have hot tea" while we were waiting for it to steep. :)

I know I know... its January 16th

But I do hate it when the Christmas season is over, so I was looking at some pictures just now and saw some of the funny outtakes from our attempt at this year's Christmas card photo. I love these girls!

its snowing??

Sometimes I go days without turning on the radio or tv. This is not on purpose, and I'm beginning to realize it is also not very smart. But there are chores to do, people to see, places to go and there is lots of playing to be done!

'

Last week/weekend I managed to go a few days with out seeing or hearing any news or weather forecasts. This adds up to the fact that I had NO IDEA that there was a winter storm approaching. Did I mention that Kevin went out of town last weekend? So there were none of our usual conversations involving me asking what he knew about the forecast.

'

When it began raining Sunday morning I thought it was just a cold, rainy day. That cold/rainy combination was the only thing that made me throw Leah's warmest winter coat in the car with us on the way to church. As we drove to church the thermometer in my car dropped from 43 to 30! And the sleet began! I still didn't realize that this was a predicted storm until the snow was pouring down outside and I overheard someone at church say how it had been predicted all week! How am I the only person in North Texas that didn't know it was going to snow?

'

We enjoyed the snow in the church parking lot. But NOT the icy (3-times-longer-than-usual) drive home... with trucks in ditches everywhere you look! After we got home safely, Leah got a nap and then Daddy came home so we all played in the winter wonderland together. Kevin built a pint-sized snow man for Leah... Leah threw some snow in the air. She was up to her knees in snow and it was still coming down hard. She tasted the snow.And liked what she tasted... I think this it the only picture I got with Beans in it... sort of

Snow angels and snowball fights made it difficult for anyone to want to come inside and finally we bribed Leah with her favorite drink... hot tea. This is her excitedly saying "HA-TEE!!!" She LOVES it.

middlenamesake

We have breakfast every Christmas Eve with the same group of friends. It started over 40 years ago with my dad and a few of his fraternity brothers and their wives. In a few years, they all began having kids, and now many of their kids have kids. Those of us who still live in the area and are able, continue to enjoy the LONG tradition.
'
2 years ago, I was great with child at Christmas, and Leah Curley (the fetal version) still didn't have a middle name. We had 2 in the hopper at the time, and I was still routing for no middle name. I think sweet little Caroline was 4 at the time, and while Kevin and I were talking to her and we look at each other and both say "What about Caroline?" We liked it and then took it under serious consideration. Kevin decided it had to be Leah Caroline. I said I still didn't know if she needed a middle name. I just wasn't 100% certain. But Kevin was. In the end he told me I could make the decision. The night before going into the hospital I printed up a page for her scrap book and put her full name on it and surprised Kevin. He was surprised and happy.
'
I had forgotten that Caroline's middle name was Leigh. So now on Christmas Eve we have Caroline Leigh and Leah Caroline. This year the girls had alot of fun together. Leah was loving on Caroline who was eating it up! I thought these pics were too cute to keep to myself.Caroline also helped us find out that Leah Curley doesn't know how to jump! Did you know kids aren't born knowing how to jump? I don't know why I assumed that she could! We do lots of dancing and stomping and twirling and a million versions of follow the leader but in all her days we'd never attempted a jump! She is starting to get it now, so once we perfect the jump I'll be sure and post some of the before and after video. We have had TONS of fun watching her try!

good loot

Bibby and Pops got Leah a kitchen for Christmas. Aunt Leslie went along with the theme and got Leah an apron, chef's hat and a bunch of kitchen accessories and utensils. She continues to be favorite Aunt, bringing Leah new pieces of plastic food each time we see her. (She bought the girl a set of 120 pieces of food which we all agreed was a bit much... so right now we are focusing on grapes, 2 flavors of ice cream cones, cereal and some canned goods.) Leah has been playing in her friend's kitchens for quite a while now so she knew just what to do. She got to work immidiately and actually had to be bribed away from it.
'

She is always RIGHT UP UNDER ME when I'm trying to work in the kitchen... so we positioned it just next to Mommy's kitchen so we can work simultaneously for the time being. She LOVES her kitchen! Even on Christmas Eve... little-women's work is never done. Dinner in the oven and laundry to be washed. My mom also had my old rocking chair repainted for Leah! Leah likes it, but I LOVE IT!!Granstan gave Leah a new baby doll, Baby Caroline. She loves to feed her babies and burp them. She especially loves Baby Caroline because she has a "jacket and hat" and because, well, Granstan gave it to her. (Leah and her cousin Jaxon are just thrilled about Christmas...) Great Grannie got Leah her first "LittlePeople" set up. Campin' Girl. With her own tent, campfire, smores and a guitar. She really loves this. No matter what she is doing if she sees campin' girl we have to stop and play for a bit.

Christmas morning brought fun things too... including the movie version of her current favorite book, Beauty and the Beast! We've watched it 2 full times now, and for a few minutes before bed every night. She LOVES the wolves and Gaston??? Hmmmm.... hopefully not a sign of things to come. Thankfully mommy reminded daddy that our DVD player had been broken for months so he quickly got a new one before the big day and wrapped it up for mommy just in time! Nothing has brought more pure excitement than the big legos or "BIDDING BOCKS!" as Leah has been known to shout when she is ready to play with them. Yes the kitchen and baby dolls are great, but its work work work... The costumes are fun, but everything takes more time and effort when you are wearing satin gloves and high heels! (Don't I know it!) But in no time at all, Leah can build towers and "cassows" (castles) and then knock them over... and over and over. Oh what fun it has been with new toys in our house! Thanks again to all our sweet family.

The Best One

The funny-in-your-guts-belly-laugh, if encouraged, (and if it initiates near nap time or bed time) almost always leads to the apneic laugh. (For those who desire a more lengthy video, this blog won't let me upload but these tiny little clips. Good news for those who are bored by long video clips. ;)