Mom + Daughter

I will treasure this photo forever. 

{This photo was taken this summer when we were at Seven Springs Mountain Resort in Pennsylvania for Matt's brother's wedding.}

Field Day 2013

Reese described Field Day as fun, happy, exciting and hot. And, she was right! 

Coach B set the kids up for a morning of fun. Each class rotated through 10 different stations and everyone participated in each one. I was able to get a lot of great pictures of the morning, but will only share enough to get a feel for the day. 

I'm not sure what this one was called, but they sent a water soaked sponge down the line and the person at the end squeezed the water into the bucket and ran it back to the end of the line.

A quick brother-sister photo op!

A good picture of the scene. 

Reese and her friends. 

I promise I didn't set this one up. 

They just love each other and surrounded Layla to cheer on their team during the roller scooter race.

Next up, the obstacle course.

I learned this day that Layla loves watermelon. She even ate the rind.

This is a shot of Layla's fan club. The kids in Reese's class just adore her. Everytime we are up at the school Layla's stroller is surrounded. It's just precious. And I have to say that Layla was an absolute angel this day. She stayed in the stroller the entire morning. There was so much action and attention that she didn't even ask to get out. So, I left her in and took pictures! :)

Tug-O-War!! Go Team Llamo!!

They won!

It's so cute to see them stick together even when they are out with friends and at school. 

That may change over the years, but a sweet friendship is forming. 

Pause for a shot with mom. 

They ended the morning with the good ole classic potato sack race!

Layla Bayla

Layla Bayla is 18 months old now and she's a hoot! The above picture so accurately shows her personality it's unreal.  (We have it on display in our living room.)  About Miss Layla...

She smiles and laughs all the time. 

She is into EVERYTHING! 

She climbs EVERYTHING!

She wants to be apart of everything, and she makes sure she is. 

She talks to everybody she meets. 

She waves and says "hi" and "How do?" to any neighbors going by. (That means "How are you?") 

She understands everything you say. 

She repeats anything you say. We have a lot of fun with this at the dinner table. She's our entertainment. :)

She talks and communicates over and beyond normal for her age. I love it when she comes over to me to ask for help and then leads me to what she needs help with. 

She nods her head with raised eyebrows to communicate "yep, that's right, that's what I want." and has most recently started saying "yeah".

She says "milk" with the most adorable cluck at the end, so it's more like, "mil-cluck" instead of the k. It's hilarious!

She calls Matson "nanny".

She sings "e-i-e-i-o, moo-moo".

She's fascinated with a small "Humpty Dumpty" book we have and loves to hear that rhyme over and over.

She wants you to watch her do stuff. I feel like it's really early for this. She will call to one of us, "watch, watch!" and then do what she wants us to see. I'm always amazed. :)

When she wakes up in the morning she plays in her crib for a good 30 minutes. Gives me time for a cup of coffee before she's unleashed!

When I am chewing gum she will come stick her tounge out at me b/c she wants me to blow a bubble.

Bubbles are the best distraction to get her to stay in the church nursery.

She's learning spanish in the nursery and says adios, bravo, ahola, and a couple more I don't know. She understands the spanish and will show her caregivers what they are saying.

She and Matson will play outside in the backyard together for 30 minutes without needing help. They can get into some mischief together. Today I went out there and the two of them were soaking wet from head to toe from playing in the water faucet.

One of her not so good traits...She's really rough with other kids. She goes up to others and grabs them. We first started telling her "gentle, soft" but she would just go in for the grab so now we tell her "no touch!" She loves other people so much, but is learning to be nice to them so they like her back. :)

She's not too big on the pool. She likes it okay, but is totally content out of it.

Let's see, what else...She's so sweet and fun and loveable and squishy! :) Everyone, especially my mom friends who don't have small children anymore, want to squeeze her chubby legs. I love to do it too and I probably do at least 15 times a day!

We love you, Layla Bayla!!

Sprinklers!

If my memory serves me right this was the first time we pulled out the sprinklers to play this year. It was back in early May. Matson and Layla had a ball! Reese chose to stay dry this time. 

First & Last :: Reese

Reese on the first day of first grade...

and then on the last! (again, forgot the chalkboard.)

She looks so much older to me. She has on the same dress so you can really see how much she's grown. Her legs are so much longer! She has the same pretty blue eyes and the same sweet smile, just missing one bottom tooth.

She continues to love school and really took off on reading this year. In her AR program she finished at  the Honors level which is one higher than she did last year and she has hopes to make it to the top level in second grade. She started reading chapter books in April and is beginning a love of reading. She's enjoying The Magic Treehouse series and the A to Z Mysteries and then other non-series books too. She loved her teacher, Mrs. Llamo. Reese loved that she was often asked to run errands for her. (I just have to mention how much I loved Mrs. Llamo's family oriented homework. I will miss that next year!) She did a lot of neat projects in her class including a project on Venuzuela in the Spanish speaking countries unit, the Wax Museum where she researched Rosa Parks, an animal study on the Nutria, a research project and 3D craft on the Swallowtail Butterfly. They also tok some really neat field trips including the Interactive Theater in the Heights, the Bayou Wildlife Park in Alvin and a day trip to Galveston Bay to the Moody Mansion, took a tour of an old battleship and then on a boat ride to see dolphins! 

She has a great group of friends at school who love to play at recess. She's become quite the expert at the jump rope songs and ryhmes where you clap hands with a partner.

She had a fantastic year and is now moving up to 2nd grade!!