All About Lyla at 4 Years Old

Lyla still has her little spunk and attitude she has had since day 1. She can be a ton of fun and sweet one minute and hitting and yelling the next. I am hoping in the future her strong head and independence will bode her well.

Some funny things she says:

-Inky (for pinky). I never correct her because I think it's so cute
-Old McDonald (for McDonald's). Shows how often we go there...haha. But she does recognize the sign when we drive by
-Whenever she really wants something she looks at me with a serious face and her eyebrows up and says "Mom, just ONE more, and that's IT"
-Ding Bell (for door bell) Also never correct her on this :)
-Nakey Feet (whenever she had no socks on she says she has nakey feet, pronounced, nay-kee)
-Hi-Pad (for the I-Pad, which we don't own, but both G-mas do and Cindy)
-Couple Whiles (as if to say a little while or a couple minutes)

Some general Info:

-Sleeps about 11 hours at night
-Wears 4T clothes (I think for the first time in her life she wears the size of her age)
-32 lbs., 40 inches tall
-No naps for awhile now, but has to stay in her room for at least a half hour for "quiet time"
-Wears size 9 shoe
-Can write her name, and a few other letters, but mostly just her name
-On the verge of knowing how to swim, I'm betting by the end of summer she will be able to at least dog paddle across the short end of the pool
-Can count to 20, but gets mixed up after that
-Knows her letters and points them out everywhere we go
-Can draw pictures of people (draws our family frequently), rainbows, a sun
-Great at cutting things out due to lots of practice at preschool
-Working on coloring inside the lines and getting better all the time if she concentrates
-Recognizes her numbers 1-10 when she sees it, and a few other random ones above that
-Favorite movies: Tangled, Toy Story, Brave

Her personality:

-Imaginary sister named Consume came out about a day after she found out I was having a brother and not a sister. She took the news fine, but then quickly created her own sister that occasionally needs to be buckled into the car, or a plate at dinner etc. She knows she is pretend though because she has told me, but still acts like she is real
-Loves Mac to pieces most of the time, but then has her mean streak and hits and bugs him
-Changing clothes, either different ones from her drawer, or into dress-ups happens at least 3 times a day. When she gets the dress-up clothes on she immediately goes into a pretend world and talks to herself, sings, dances, and walks around like a princess and runs from bad guys
-Understands were are having another baby and kisses my belly daily and says she loves him. She likes to feel my belly move when he kicks. She is excited to be a big sister again and loves babies, so hopefully means good things when he arrives in a few months. The official name for the baby is "John Smith" because it was going to be Pocahontas but since its a boy she decided it had to be John Smith. She refuses to even help with naming him anything else.
-As most kids, loves to be in control and will only do things that are her idea or have some sort of award attached to it
-Has moments of tenderness where she gives hugs, wants to snuggle, or just spend time together, but all of that is always on her own terms
-Loves to draw, color, crafts, do puzzles, play games, build forts, play chase, play with dolls, dress-up, anything active outside, pretend
-Stubborn. I told her we were throwing her toys away if she didn't want to pick them up. She said "ok" and helped me put them into the trash. When we were done she saw a toy in the corner and says "mom, we forgot one" and went to pick it up and throw it away. Most discipline tips I get or have used don't work on her. We are still working on the best method for doing things she doesn't want to do :)
-When she wants to be sweet, she is the sweetest thing ever. She can be kind, sticks up for Mac if anyone even thinks about hurting or bothering him, loves to sit with G-pa R in his chair and watch Tangled, will occasionally stroke your cheek real soft and tell you she loves you, when she knows I am sleeping will be very quiet so she doesn't wake me up, will share any type of food even if its something she loves and there is only a little bit left, gets really excited to see people she loves and will run up and give me a huge hug when I leave and come back, even if its for a short trip to the store, waves/blows kisses and tells Mac she loves him whenever she gets out of the car for preschool and many other things I'm sure I can't think of right now.

We really love our independent, strong willed little girl. It makes her who she is and we love her to pieces, even when she is testing our limits for the millionth time. I can't even believe we are about to have our 3rd child and that our first baby is a 4 year old and learning new things every day. She has matured so much in the past year and it has been fun watching her grow and become a little lady. 

How she draws her name. She is getting better already at connecting the Y.

Here is her family picture. We are all holding hands. The girls have long hair, the boys have spike-y hair. It melts my heart every time she draws this. 

Lyla's 4th Birthday

Lyla was as spoiled as she could possibly be for her birthday this year. It was stretched over a good week and she had 3 special days celebrating. The weekend before her birthday the Green's were in town and so we celebrated with them first. We had Mike, Connie and Derek's family over for dinner (Davis was sick) and had cupcakes after. We then went to the trampoline jumping place which is one of her favorite activities.

On her actual birthday, which was a Wednesday, we celebrated again. That morning I let her open one present, which was some "Rapunzel hair" that I made out of yarn. She saw this same thing about a month ago and really wanted it and was so surprised and happy I had made one for her. She danced around the played with it for a good hour that morning. As per birthday tradition we also went to the store and picked out a balloon and donut, except she decided she wanted a massive cookie instead of the donut. I figure they have the same amount of sugar, so why not.

My parents came over and we had lunch at the house together and then they stayed with Mac while he napped and Lyla and I went to the salon to get our nails painted. She LOVED it. We of course had to get matching pink and purple and she was so happy the entire time and chatted with all of the ladies around us. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of both of us with the matching nails, but got a few of her getting them done.

We hung out for a bit after we got home and waited for Josh to get home. Once he got home she immediately wanted to open her presents. They had been sitting on the fireplace mantle since that morning and she couldn't wait another second to open them. She got a Merida doll, sleeping bag, tulle skirt, and a Minnie game. Then with Grandma and Grandpa Roskelley, Aunt Cindy, and our family we went out to Red Robin for dinner. We specifically went there because I was under the impression they sang Happy Birthday there and she really wanted that. (She has seen the servers sing to other people at restaurants before and always asked if she could have that on her birthday). Well, of course they don't sing at this particular Red Robin, but did bring out a free cake and so we just all sang to her at the table instead. She didn't seem too disappointed there wasn't a huge crowd of strangers clapping and singing to her. I was glad we escaped that without too much ado.

 She is wearing the new tutu she got and holding her Merida doll

That night she insisted on sleeping in her sleeping bag. She surprisingly slept really well in it and requested to do it again the next night. Such a cutie. 

Then lastly, that next Saturday we had a party for her and her friends. We went to a place called Jungle Jim's that is right around the corner from our house. They have several indoor rides (which are quite cheesy) that she loves and is perfect for her age. We played there for several hours, then sat down and had cake balls, sang Happy Birthday and opened presents. Most of the time she ran around with Sadie who is currently her idol and does anything she wants to do.

Lyla's favorite ride. It goes super fast in a circle and has little hills that make it bumpy. Then it stops and goes backwards. It would make me sick going on it 10 times but it didn't seem to bother her a bit. She would just laugh and scream the whole time. 

Tried to get a picture of everyone who came. From back left: Crew, Sadie, Lyla, Kaylee, Joelle. Back Right: Quinn, Kyler, Miles, Brooklyn

Opening presents. You can see a little bit of the cake pops in the back there. I tried to make them presentable by wrapping them with pink tulle and sticking it in styrofoam. 

Whew! It was quite the birthday week. Hopefully next year we can condense a few of the events so we aren't out-doing ourselves before she even turns 6!

Broke Ground on our House!

We FINALLY broke ground on our new house. We didn't get to go out right when they started but went about 4 days later and they had already dug the hole, put in the foundation and started the basement walls. We were so surprised that they had done so much already. I even had the kids bring shovels so we could "break ground" but with so much dirt around and the big hole we had to just kind of stand to the side. Only 3 more months to go! 

There she is! So excited to see it come together. If only it could be done BEFORE the baby came...

The cement in the back isn't our house, its the neighbors, but it was easier to dig in front of his, haha. 

28 Weeks- Baby #3

Here is an updated belly picture of the baby at 28 weeks. Still feeling really good. Not uncomfortable and haven't had any bad infections or anything. This has been the best pregnancy yet and I am enjoying it. Thinking about names for the little guy all the time but haven't settled on any that we love. Just trying a few out here and there. 

(Lyla took this picture of me standing in the kitchen, pretty good for a 4 year old!) 

Valentine's Day

 Josh is always so good at spoiling us all on Valentine's Day. We woke up and went down stairs to see a counter full of goodies.The little red basket was for Mac, the pig was for Lyla and the flowers and chocolate was for me. 

Lyla had a great time getting and giving all of the Valentine's this year at preschool. It was her first time exchanging Valentine's and was so cute to see her get all excited about it. She helped me make little flower Valentine's with a sucker in the middle (similar to the one in the bottom right). We put a stamp on it that said Have a SWEET Valentine's Day and then she wrote her name on each one, which was about 18. This was the first time she got really good at writing her name and was a fun way for her to practice. 

Valentine's Day was on a Friday so Josh went to work and Emmy came over for the day while Derek and Libby worked. I made a bouquet of chocolate covered strawberries and rice krispy treats and dropped them off as a surprise at Josh's office. Forgot to take a picture of it. 

We hadn't made big plans to go out and were still watching Emmy so I went and got a heart pizza from Papa Murphy's and we shared that with some of our favorite sparkling pink lemonade. It wasn't the most romantic of Valentine Day's but we made it work and were happy with the outcome anyway. 

Ice Castles

 While the Green's were here for Lyla's birthday we went up and saw the ice castles in Midway. I wish I got a better shot of it from far back to show how tall and cool looking they were. It was getting warm already so it was dripping all over our heads but still fun and interesting to look at anyway. 

There was lots of little areas for kids to crawl into. Next time we will have to bring snow pants so they can crawl around more! 

 Lyla's favorite part was a surprise that we didn't even know about. The princesses from the new Disney movie Frozen were there. Lyla got to go on a daddy daughter date with Josh to see the movie and loves listening to the songs on YouTube. She was so happy to see them there and was a fun little extra. 

Eating Us Out of House and Home at 2 Years Old

This child just ate 2 packets of oatmeal, 2 scrambled eggs, and a huge pile of blueberries. Did I mention he just barely turned 2?! He out-eats Lyla at most meals and some days he must be on a huge growth spurt judging by how much he eats. Crazy little boy! 

Lyla's First Haircut

 A few weeks shy of her fourth birthday Lyla finally got her first ever haircut. Josh needed his cut and I thought it might be fun for her to go in and at least get the ends cut off that so badly needed it. The ends were stringy and crazy so the trim made it look a lot better. 

She was worried that by cutting it she wouldn't have long "Rapunzel" hair anymore but I assured her it would help her hair grow even faster and prettier. She has since asked for another hair cut because of that reason, ha :)