Sticky Kisses & Dirty Hugs

CHRISTMAS TIME

This is by far my MOST favorite time of year

Everyone seems to be a little nicer

Everywhere smells a little better

Everything looks a little prettier

Why do I love this time of year so much?

I love to make diaper cakes for soon to be Mommies.

Each one is personalized and they are full of lots of love

I love babies and this is my little way to welcome them to the world.

Here is my collection of Pink and Green cakes I have made:

My dear beautiful 4-year-old daughter, Lyla, is in "love"

There is a boy in her preschool class that she will not quit talking about.  For his anonymity I will call him "Billy".

The conversation on the first day went something like this:

Lyla: Mommy, Billy is so handsome.

Me: He is?

Lyla: Yup. He is so handsome.

Second day:

Lyla: You know Billy is handsome right?

Me: yea, he is pretty cute

Lyla: He is NOT cute. He is handsome. I am cute

Me: Oh, i am so sorry.

Lyla: Can I marry him?  Do you have a dress i can wear when I get big to marry him?

Me (thru muffled laughter): Yes I have a dress.

Lyla: Oh good.  Does daddy have a suit for Billy to wear when he gets bigger too?

Me: Yes Daddy has a suit.

At this point I am having a hard time controlling myself.  Where in the world does she come up with this stuff.  Fortunately, she is not done yet and the third day is by far the best.

Third day:

Lyla:  Billy is handsome Mommy.

Me: I know

Lyla: Can I kiss him?

Me: NO! You are too young to kiss boys

Lyla: It's ok! He is four and I am four.

Me: I know but you are too little

Lyla: Ok well I am going to hug him and when he comes to my birthday party I am going to wear my princess dress for him.  He is so handsome and he is so strong.

Me: ........speechless

She continues for about another 15 minutes about "billy" and I am all smiles the entire time. She is so funny.  I realize later I am in a WHOLE WORLD OF HURT.  This is all too soon.  She is too young.  I told Todd about it later that night and he was totally freaked.  That is his baby and she won't be kissing ANYONE, at least not on his watch.

My baby girl is growing up.  I love her so much and want her to stop growing right this second.  In fact I insist she stop.  Oh, but I don't have control over that.  I guess just enjoy these times of innocent thoughts and first loves.

Day six

Day Four:

Elfie did not return because my Lyla has a hard time composing herself and keeping her grubby little paw of Elfie.  He lost his magic for a whole day

Day Five:

Day 3

Day 2

Here is day one of the return of Elfie our elf on a shelf

My baby girl, Stella, got her first haircut last Wednesday.  The first cut is always the hardest but it was NEEDED so bad.  She was a perfect angel the entire time. 

BEFORE

DURING

This morning I was doing a little reading on one of my favorite blogs and Casey Wiegand was answering a list of her FAQ's and I was struck, as usual, by her immense love and pride for her husband.  It made me wonder if I show the same love and pride for my husband.  Also, this month some people have decided to do an "I'm thankful" post everyday on facebook until Thanksgiving.  I think it is FANASTICAL!  I also think it is something we should try to do all year, even though I know that won't really happen.  I posted today that I am grateful for my husband.  I posted a short little something but then realized that isn't enough to show my appreciation so I thought I would elaborate here.

My husband is an amazing man.  He is the best daddy I know.  He loves our little girls "to the moon and back" as we like to say.  They squeal with delight the second he walks in the door from work.  It warms my heart every time.  He plays dress-up and collects bugs with them.  He spends his one day off a week with them for "daddy day".  He also works in Lyla's preschool a couple times a month.  He would do anything for those two girls.  I mean ANYTHING.  He completely encompasses everything a daddy should be.

He is also extremely hard working.  When Lyla was about 6 months old he was offered a job working overnights from 11pm to 9am.  It was meant to be an 18 month deal and it was a good financial opportunity for our little growing family.  Well, 18 months turned into a little over 3 years.  This put a strain on him physically and mentally.  It also put a strain on our family.  I am a firm believer after this time of him working nights that it is unnatural for humans to be up at night and sleep during the day.  It takes a little something out of you.  Ages you a bit.  It is hard to put into words the toll this took on him.  I know he did it for our family and I am so grateful to him for that.  It ultimately lead to him eventually working during the day but he works long hours and misses family activities at times.  He is always sad when this happens.  I have to remember that when he is not able to be there he is working for us.  So either way his love is there. Thank you for all you do for your little family of four.

Todd, I love you to the moon and back.

Something left over from bath time.  Yes, that is princess leia in the warrior outfit.

A lot of questions are left unanswered by my discovery this morning.

Who are these 2 people? Where are they going? Why do they need such a big pumpkin?

Even with two sick girls, Halloween was pretty fun this year.  It was Stella's first "real" Halloween and once she realized that the people at the door gave you candy it was game on.  She really just wanted the suckers.  That is her new favorite thing.

Lyla of course is an old pro by now.  She knows what's going on and she takes charge.  The nice thing is she got just enough candy before getting tired so it was a nice short trip for us.

As you can see we had fun with the pumpkins this year.  Todd even carved Stella's itty bitty pumpkin!

For the Saturday before Halloween we decided to go to Knott's Camp Spooky with the girls.  Lyla wore a costume but I was going to just put Stella in her Halloween shirt.  Only problem is the shirt was long sleeve and it was going to be very warm.  So I did what any mother would do, I cut off the sleeves and hot glued the seam.  I figured that this was the last day she would be able to wear the shirt so I did the following:

1. Plugged in hot glue gun

2. Got a short sleeve shirt of the same size as a template.

3. Laid the short sleeve shirt on top of the long sleeve shirt

4. Cut the sleeves

5. folded the shirt over to make sure both sleeves were the same length

6. Turned the shirt inside out to hot glue the seam

That's it! The whole thing took five minutes and Stella was nice and cool.

 This is Lyla's super happy and excited face

We had a whirlwind crazy experience on Saturday. We were all in the front yard playing and Todd was unloading a bunch of stuff from his trunk.  When everything was removed Lyla jumped into the trunk and was messing around.  Todd asked her several times to get out but of course she didn't listen.  Jokingly he pretended to close the trunk by tapping the hood and to his immediate surprise it latched closed.  (disclaimer: the full time Lyla was in the trunk was under 10 seconds) We both looked at each other and he immediately ran to the front of the car to unlatch it.  The thing is, Lyla completely FREAKED out being in the trunk.  I freaked a little too.  I know it was an extremely short time but boy it left an impact on her.  She jumped out when it opened and ran straight to Todd and started swingin'.  She was so mad and scared.  After all was settled down the funny commentary from Miss Lyla started to come. 
She has been going through several stages of "recovery"

Then she really wanted to hear the "story" of events.  She climbed into bed with me and said "Mommy, tell me the story again about how Daddy locked me in the trunk. Could you hear me? Was I hitting the hood? What did Daddy do?"

She continues to INSIST it was on purpose.  We tell her constantly it was an accident and her response is always the same "It was not an accident"

Last Thursday night was the annual Back to School Night/ Spaghetti Dinner at Lyla's preschool Fullerton Community Nursery School.  This is a great parent participation preschool.  I love that we get to be involved in her early education.  She loves learning and loves her school.  Here are some pictures of the event. Stella got in on the action as well.

Stella enjoyed the reading nook, the discover table and the play house area

I really love this school so much and how interactive it is.  Can't wait for Stella's turn.

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