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.

Arg!

Lyla has decided she wants to be a pirate for Halloween this year. Here is a little sneak peak of her costume...hopefully we can convince her that pirates also wear pants.

A few words and phrases to remember

It seems like Lyla is growing and changing faster each day. She's gone from infant to baby to toddler...and now she is looking more and more like a big kid each day. Here are a few things we hear from Junebug on a daily basis that we want to get written down before they are gone...


"Who say dat?" (said whenever she hears a noise of any kind)

"What kind isit? (something she says when we tell her she is going to get a special treat/surprise)

"Stam up" (Stand up)

"Hide from Seek" (one of her favorite games!)

"...or no." (Usually said after stating what she wants to do instead of asking a question...

"...oh tay!" (okay)

Pink!

Pink, pink, pink. The girl loves it.
Ha! We always said we wouldn't have a girly girl tutu princess if we ended up with a daughter...we forgot to take in account that she would have her own opinions, likes, and dislikes. We try our best to sway her opinion, but as you can tell by this picture, she usually wins.
Pink it is.

Toddler Creed

I saw this on the parent's wall at Lyla's new daycare and thought it explained the current phase she is in right now.

TODDLER’S CREED

If I want it, it’s mine.
If I give it to you and change my mind later, it’s mine.
If I can take it away from you, it’s mine.
If I had it a little while ago, it’s mine.
If it’s mine, it will never belong to anybody else, no matter what.
If we are building something together, all the pieces are mine.
If it looks just like mine, it’s mine.

We are also deep in the "I can do it all myself!" (L's exact words) stage right now.

Summer Fun

We have been busy having tons of fun around here lately! Here are some highlights of our summer so far:

Lyla has finally discovered the wonderful world of food! It all started almost immediately after her 2 year checkup. She is trying and even eating things that used to make her cry when you would place them near her! She is still a bit of a "choosy chowhound" but she is definitely branching out! We have also started, with the help of Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Sienfeld, getting sneaky and hiding the nutritious stuff in her favorite meals. Here is what Lyla has to say about it:

"Oh my goodness, so yummy!"

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

In June, Lyla and I went with her Cousin Bliss and Aunt Chan to an amusement park just for toddlers.

Lyla preferred to watch from the sidelines while her cousin rode all the rides...boats, cars, a ferris wheel, pony rides, and a carousel. She wanted absolutely nothing to do with any of the rides. She did however get really excited about the airplanes and jumped right on. I honestly don't know what came over her to pick this one, but I was so proud of how brave she was to give it a try. Before they turned it on, I made sure they would be able to stop it at any time...

She rode the airplane for a whole 30 seconds before she realized that it was sooooo not what she had imagined it would be like.

Even though she wasn't into the rides, we had so much fun watching the other kids. They did have a train that met Lyla's approval which we rode as the finale of our day.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

At the end of June we went to San Antonio for a getaway! We spent most of the time by the pool, but also visited the zoo, ate yummy food at some great restaurants, met up with some good friends, and overall just enjoyed getting away from reality for a while.

Imitating the flamingos at the zoo:

Swimming and relaxing poolside