We have lived in Texas for the last 3 years. For us that's a good amount of time. And yet, I still don't like it here. I'm not complaining or trying to criticize the state, but I just don't like it. I hate that the grass looks and feels so different than what I grew up with. I hate that the bugs here are bigger and a little more scary. I hate that I don't feel comfortable walking on unpaved paths. And I hate that the predators here seem so much worse than everywhere else. I guess since Pioneer Day is coming up, somehow my thoughts began to think about the pioneers. I gained a new appreciation for what they must have surely went through. I know that if we continued to live here, LaNea would be just fine with fetching balls out of bushes, rafting down rivers with alligators nearby. I admire anyone who has made a change like the pioneers whether for a better job or to be closer to family. I can't imagine that any of those first pioneers were every very comfortable in their new surroundings and yet they stuck it out for the benefit of their future. Pretty impressive to me. Anyways...
Now, I am sorry that I haven't really taken any good pictures of LaNea lately, ever. One day, I'll do better. For now, here's just a few to show what LaNea's been up to lately.
I hate that she sucks her thumb. Not that it doesn't look cute but I know way too many horror stories to want it to continue. Now that LaNea has a terrible habit of picking her nose while sucking her thumb, I have the perfect excuse to encourage her to stop! :)
This little girl is Lexi. I was watching her for the last little while. LaNea loved Lexi and would always enjoy getting her to laugh. That's not to say she didn't get completely jealous of Lexi too. If I was giving Lexi too much attention, LaNea would make sure she climbed in between Lex and I, who cares if I was giving her a bottle!
LaNea has begun making many friends in church and at playgroup. But her best friend would still have to be Izzie. She always needs to know exactly where she is and is always willing to share her food with her. Izzie is now sleeping in LaNea's room at night and I'm sure that's only helping the friendship grow. Now if only I could teach Izzie that "dom" means "come", LaNea would be in Heaven!
This is just to show how helpful LaNea is. She's always okay with picking up her toys and putting her clothes in the basket. She is also good about putting dirty dishes in the sink, throwing away garbage and LOVES to wipe down the house in general. She's also very interested in helping unload the dishwasher. The good side for me is I tend to unload it twice as fast to make sure she doesn't get to the breakables! I love my little girl and how big she thinks she is.
LaNea has the funniest routine in the morning. Eric always opens her door and normally she's waiting for him. She will always grab both her pillow and her blanket to bring with her. She also likes to bring a doll if she had one with her. But this morning she decided she needed a little more than she could carry on her own, so she loaded her daddy up. She held onto her blanket but brought daddy a pillow, a book and a random part to her kitchen. She in turn held onto the blanket and her doll. She's funny because while she's not attached to one thing in particular, she loves to have her things around her!
Unfortunately her favorite spot is in her big chair, right in front of the tv watching The Cat in The Hat!
At the beginning of the month, my mom paid for LaNea and I to come and visit with her and my sisters. I think we all had a lot of fun and LaNea really enjoyed getting to see her grandma. I'm sure it helped that she didn't have to take all her naps and got to stay up with all the adults each night.
Laura's boyfriend, Fernando planned a small surprise for Laura while we were all there. While she was spending the morning with us, he got their apartment all decorated with streamers and balloons and set up her birthday gift. He also got her a delicious cake called a Tres Leches cake. Soo yummy!
Mom and Laura
Dinner out
Getting to cuddle with Aunt Melissa
After our short hike, we stopped for lunch at a really fun restuarant that even allowed dogs to join us.
This was my favorite picture. It was such a beautiful day to go hiking.
While I was there I got to visit with one of my closest and longest friends! I had so much fun getting to visit Amber's family and together we got to relax and catch up!
We also met up with our other friend, Melissa. We hadn't seen her in a LONG time.
Overall, I was very happy to be able to go back to my own schedules and sleep times but it was great to see everyone and especially to have LaNea get to know her family. Thanks again for the trip mom!
While we were in Utah, Melissa's good friend and amazing photographer took pictures of LaNea. You'll have to take a look on her website
sharstinmillerphotography.blogspot.com
(Sorry, don't know how to make a link!)
Since Eric wasn't able to go to church since he's on standby, I gave him the task of hiding all the eggs. He did such a great job by making it a little difficult but still in plain sight. LaNea loved the idea of finding eggs. I almost want to do stuff like this more often.
She had a ton of her goldfish crackers, now its time to share with Izzie. 
Putting the final egg in her basket.
So this picture is just thrown in because I just had to show the proof of how much this little girl loves her daddy! Every morning she'll drag her blanket and doll and crawl up into daddy's lap to watch TV. She also seems to know whenever he's getting home from work and she'll stand by the window ready to call out when she sees him.
Here's just a few more pictures that we took of us outside this weekend!
So I always love trying out new things especially when you get to be creative. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not perfect at any of my hobbies but I love to at least try. For our visiting teacher this month, my partner and I decided it'd be fun to make bows while we talked and checked in our gal. These are my amazing creations!!!
Loved the fact that they are so easy to make and not expensive in the least, though hopefully that's not obvious.
For most of mine I just used colored brads in the center of the flowers. I love the simplicity it brought!
Sadly, I'm not a ribbon bow maker. I tried as you can see. Most of my bows turn out to be way to large for LaNea's small head or incredibly lopsided. I don't think the "practice makes perfect" theory is really applicable for me here, especially with these being the best of the best I've made! Still have had lots of fun trying though.
I know I do a lot of posts that are just about LaNea but really, who wouldn't when they have a kid this cute. She is talking so much more. Lately she's been calling everything "daddy" which I'll admit, I hate. She's still working on the Potty Training and we tend to always have at least one mistake but she's trying and we can't get mad at that! I believe she has most her teeth in for a while so hopefully I'll be finding fewer teeth marks on things. She enjoys keeping things clean. She's really good at putting things away. Just this afternoon, she started randomly picking things up and putting them away. No idea how she got that gene but it'll definitely be a motivator for me to keep up on the house. She loves to laugh and be happy. She rarely stays mad for long. I feel so lucky to have her and despite our major disagreements, I love her to death!
Like most out here in Texas, we've been really enjoying the warm weather. LaNea has a love/hate relationship with her pool. She always has to slowly realize that it won't hurt her and that its okay to play in it!
We also took advantage of a great deal at Big Lots and got this little picnic table. Its fun because LaNea always knows when we buy something that's for her. She's only a touch possessive. 
Did I mention she has a passion for shoes. Apparently it runs in the family as both Grandma Shauna and Peyton would tell you! 
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
