Party time!

Lyla's 4th Birthday

This past weekend we celebrated Lyla's 4th birthday in style!  She requested to have a unicorn themed tea party, which was an absolute blast to put together!  She wanted everything super fancy so we had cloth napkins, real tea cups, beautiful flowers everywhere, and of course tutus, pearls and bow ties so everyone could get nice and fancy for the party.

Gorgeous Unicorn Cake by my sister's very talented friend

Where the kids sat for "tea" (apple juice) and cake!

We had a lovely spread of food including unicorn shaped sandwiches, and unicorn horns filled with popcorn!



With all the fun to be had, our little party girl did not want to slow down for pictures.  Unfortunately this was the only one I caught of her in her unicorn dress I made for the special occasion.

Time to get fancy!  Lavender tutus, necklaces, and bow ties!

Beautiful peonys and hydrangeas thanks to my sister!

Pin the horn on the unicorn!

Unicorn races

Everyone enjoyed the photo booth!

The beautiful birthday girl!

The Diva

The Professor

The day couldn't have been better!  We are truly thankful to have such amazing friends and family come out to celebrate our fabulous four year old.  Happy Birthday Junebug!

Pink Room

For Lyla's big 4th birthday we decided to paint and redecorate her room for her. It's been 4 years since we have decorated her room...actually, longer than that because she hadn't been born yet! Needless to say, it was a very exciting process!

We let Lyla make a few decisions about the room, but most of it was a secret so it could be a birthday surprise. Her two big requests were that she wanted everything PINK and that she wanted a canopy over her bed. We fulfilled her wishes and much much more!

I painted over her baby blue walls (that were painted by the previous owners) with a very light pink called "powder puff". Lyla wanted something much more...pepto like, but we told her this paint color was called "fairy pink" and she was sold. It's hard to tell in the pictures, but the color a really beautiful light and airy pink.

We had made the decision to not get her a new bed yet, but at the last minute I checked Craigslist and found a decent toddler bed for $20! I painted it white to match her dresser and it looks brand new!

With a little guidance and inspiration from a link I found on Pinterest, I made a pretty little canopy out of a mosquito net canopy we purchased at Ikea. We also got the bedspread at Ikea. You can't see the design in the picture, but it has little leaves, plants, and pine cones printed on the pink background. Adorable!

We wanted the room to be playful and fun, so we added this tree and birds vinyl decal from Sissy Little. It looks great across the room from her tree growth chart!

While looking for some boxes we left in storage at my parents place, I found a few things to add to the room. Lyla has been wanting a little reading lamp for a while now, so I rummaged through my Mom's "collections" and found one that had potential! The lamp had a rusted black metal base and a yellow shade. With a little pink paint and adorable fabric fat quarter I found Joann's it turned into the sweetest little bedside lamp!

While looking around, I also found a great little wooden table which I painted white, a beautiful antique mirror, and a cute little bird house to make the room really come together. Thanks Mom and Dad!

I think it turned into the sweetest little room for our Junebug! She was so surprised and loves everything about it. This might be the best birthday present we have given her yet! Happy early birthday to our little girl! In just two weeks she will be 4!!

Four Christmases

When I made this Advent Calendar for Lyla when she was a baby, I had no idea it would hold up this long!
Here is Lyla over the past 4 Christmases!

A star is born!

Lyla's first ballet recital was this afternoon, and it is clear that this little ballerina is destined to be a star! She seemed a little nervous when we got there, but she took to the stage like a fish to water and did a fabulous job. She can't wait for the big spring recital!

At the end of the show she was surprised with flowers and a dance metal from her wonderful family (she had a total of 10 supporters there!!) who came out to applaud her. It was such a special day!
We all couldn't be more proud of her!

After the recital we all came back to the house and enjoyed some yummy cupcakes (her favorite!) in honor of her debut.

Chalid

Lyla has been talking about her dear friend Chalid for over a year now...so I've realized it's about time he gets his own posting.

We have known about Chalid for quite a while. She first started talking about him while she was attending day care. He and another friend Moby were talked about on a daily basis. She would tell us about what they looked like and what they did, but that they did not live nearby and they went to another school far away. A year later and Chalid is still mentioned daily (however poor Moby has been long forgotten). Chalid always does things differently than Lyla does...or what we ask her to do. Example: "Lyla, it is bedtime not dance time, please lay down and go to sleep." "Mommy, Chalid's mom lets her practice ballet in bed while she is lying down. (Chalid is both a boy and a girl, by the way.)

Chalid doesn't ever wear shoes or have to take baths. He/she eats chocolate/sweets all day and never has to brush his teeth. I will have to start writing down and sharing more about Chalid...he is quite a character.

The picture above is a picture Lyla drew of Chalid just recently. Nice to finally put a face with the name!

Christmas wants

Lyla has declared she wants a real unicorn for Christmas. She even told Grandma that she can find one "at the end of the rainbow."

She also asked for "real music notes".

Santa has is work cut out for him.

First Dance Class

Lyla has been interested in dancing for a while now and has been prancing around all over the house after watching a few ballet related cartoons. So when we saw a Living Social save voucher for a month of dance classes, we jumped at the chance to sign her up! We are thrilled to say that her first dance class was a complete success!
They don't normally allow parents in the room during the class, but since the kiddos are practicing for a recital, the teacher thought it would be fun to bring in a few parents for a small audience. I am sure the teacher quickly regretted that decision as two of the kids broke down in tears at least one other suffered a serious case of stage fright. However, I was thrilled because I got to take a video of Junebug's very first dance "routine" (which by the way was BRILLIANT!).

Professional Pics

A while back we had professional pictures taken of Junebug for the first time. They turned out amazing! So much better than I ever dreamed...it is amazing how the photographer was able to capture the absolute essence of our little one. They all turned out so wonderful, but here are a few of our favorites!

Big Girl

Not only has Lyla said good by to her paci, but a few days after the paci was given up, Lyla decided it was time for her to have a big girl bed. We held off as long as possible, but she made such a big deal about it that we gave in and took the bars off her crib. Boy was she was in heaven! It ended up being the easiest transition by far and we are so glad we waited as long as we did. We haven't had to deal with her getting out of the bed, which was our biggest concern about the whole toddler bed issue. We had a few crying moments, and had to threaten several times that the bars would be put right back up, but overall she did fantastic!
Then, several days later, she decided she was too big for pull-ups at night time and those have gone away as well. All of this happened in a week. I think we all deserve a medal or some type of award. There isn't anything left to give up or say goodbye to...she is officially a big girl!

Bye Bye Paci

When Lyla was just a little over a month old, we introduced her to her very first paci.
Well, introduced isn't exactly the right word...we basically forced it upon her. She was a bit of a fussy baby and there were many times when we had to do Dr. Karp's 5 S's all at the same time in order to calm her down. Her paci quickly became one of the only things that would fully soothe her.

At Lyla's one year well check up the Dr. told us it was time to say our goodbyes to the beloved paci. We tried the method of cutting back the paci bit by bit. She wasn't fooled at all...after several weeks of that we went to the store for new ones. We decided 2 years would be an easier age for Lyla (and us) to handle the transition. Two came and went...and somewhere in there she decided one paci was not enough and had to have another one. One to suck on an the other to hold in her hand or up to her nose next to the other. We have been slowly weening her from them and for the past year or so she has been allowed to have them only at nap time and bed time. We finally set our sights on the summer of her third year to say our goodbyes.
We just had to figure out how to do it. We wanted Lyla to be involved so we talked to her about the paci fairy and all the different ways we had heard how she could say goodbye. Hanging them in a tree in the yard, planting them in the garden, giving them away to a new baby (which she did for a brand new pack of paci's we had in the cabinet- thanks Iris and Lily for going along with it!), or even having a visit from the paci fairy herself...Lyla finally decided on a fun idea I had read about in a magazine.
This morning was the big day! We headed to the Build a Bear Workshop in the mall and she put her paci's inside a brand new bear! She loved the idea of always having her paci's with her even though she couldn't suck on them anymore.

Getting ready the head to the mall.















Lyla had her heart set on a purple bear.




















Putting her paci's in her new bear.

All of the staff at the Build a Bear Workshop were AMAZING! They were so excited for her and made a really big deal about her becoming a "big girl" today. Amber and I were both teary-eyed at this moment. I think this may have been harder on us then her!














Picking out her bear's new heart.



















Giving her new bear an "air bath"














We are incredibly proud of our big girl! She is napping now for the first time at home without her pacis. So far so good...we will see how tonight goes!

Bad blogging Mommy

Okay, so it has been a while since my last posting, but...summer vacation is only 6 days away! Hopefully then, I will have more time to update the blog on all things Lyla...like her 3rd BIRTHDAY (seriously?!)!

Farewell Lucy

A few weeks ago, we lost our beloved dog Lucy. She went into heart failure on Christmas evening and after a long and very difficult night, by the morning of the 26th it was time to take her in to the vet. It's been three weeks since she has been gone and it is still a bit of adjustment every day.

For those of you who didn't know Lucy, she was...well...a very interesting dog. I can definitely say I have never know another dog quite like her. She had many "quirks" about her and I have actually missed many of the crazy ridiculous things she used to do.

One of the biggest things about Lucy was her appetite. She was always looking for something to eat...whether it was edible or not. And she never stopped...even at the very end...if she found something that interested her pallet, she would devour it, from soap to nuts...and no, that wasn't a typo. We always had to keep our toiletries out of her reach after that episode. Her appetite did work at our advantage sometimes...she was by far the very best vacuum cleaner/mop combo I have ever had. I never had to think twice about food that was accidentally dropped...or thrown from Lyla's plate. She cleaned up all kind of messes around the house...She also made messes. Her veterinarian diagnosed her with serious anxiety and hyperactivity which made it difficult for her to relax so we found upset trashcans and chewed up possessions around the house on a daily basis.

Much to our surprise, Luce did mellow out a little bit once Lyla came along. We were worried that there might be some jealousy issues and her anxiety would get worse, but things turned out quite the opposite, and they ended up becoming good friends. I think Lucy even felt a little protective of Lyla as she could often be found sleeping in the hallway at night outside her bedroom door.

One of the funniest things I remember about Lucy is her obsession with balloons. Even as an old dog, she could still put up a good fight with one. Here is a video of her going at one back her her younger days.

Lucy was like the Energizer bunny...she never stopped. She was so full of energy you would have never guessed she had a heart problem. We always thought she would calm down and relax in her old age, but she just kept going. Perhaps that is why it is so difficult to understand that she is actually gone now.

So, farewell Lucy girl...the most loyal, passionate, crazy dog I have ever had the pleasure...and occasional displeasure...of knowing and loving. You will be greatly missed.

Santa Claus

Lyla was very excited about Santa this year…on paper. However, when she stepped within 20 feet of him she would lose it. Needless to say, we did not get a Santa pic this year. I did however get this great video of Junebug and her cousin talking about the big guy in red.

Holiday Time

The fall/winter holidays have come and gone and now we are already starting a brand new year! It is truly unbelievable how fast time goes by. In addition to enjoying lots of time with both sides of our families, we tried to get out and do lots of seasonal activities in hopes of making the holidays last longer. We went to the Sights and Sounds Festival, the Zilker Tree, drove around and saw lots of lights, we even went on a glass bottom boat tour. It didn’t slow down time at all, but we had a ton of fun and have lots of great memories of Lyla’s 3rd Thanksgiving and Christmas!

Here is Lyla's Thanksgiving message. In early November Lyla started coming home from her school talking about Dino Dan. Once we finally figured out that it was not an imaginary friend of hers, but a new TV show on Nick Jr. we let her watch it at home. It quickly became a major obsession of hers. By the time Thanksgiving rolled around she was schooling us all on the difference between a Brachisaurus and a Quetzalcoatlus...





For the second year in a row, we went to Breakfast with Santa at the Driskill with my parents and cousin Renzo.
They have a huge Christmas tree in the lobby which Lyla found pretty mesmerizing.




















It was a wonderful event and we thought it would be the perfect atmosphere to capture a memorable photo for a holiday photo card...this was the photo we got ...
















I don't know if it was the excitement of it all or the pancakes and syrup, but that was the longest she sat still that morning...so we gave up on the photo opp.

Lyla loved pulling out the ornaments from the pockets on her advent calender each day.
She also loved searching for Jingle our Elf on the Shelf each morning. I think Jingle is a little camera shy as he somehow eluded our family snapshots this year...





















Lyla has become obsessed with TV lately. It all started with Dino Dan...and then once the colder weather started TV time has increased a little bit in our household. She is currently obsessed...no...OBSESSED with The Little Einsteins.

Playing with her new doll house from Santa

This last picture here is for my mom who is determined Lyla will be the 2030 Miss USA...

Happy Halloween

Arg!
We had a great Halloween this year! Lyla decided to be a pirate and her cousin who was planning on being Dora, decide that two pirates would be more fun than one! Turns out she was right!









Lyla giving her best pirate face. She kept saying "Arg!" "Ahoy Matey!" and "Walk to the plank!"












Waiting for treats!





Lyla was a little scared at first about going to random strangers doors...but once she saw that they were handing out free candy on cue, she was racing her cousin to the next house.