Happy Father's Day!!

Thank you for being a great dad! The girls are lucky to have you. Well, and so am I!!

Amber is 16 months

Oh, how times flies. It is so hard for me to believe that my little princess is nearing 1 1/2 years. Wow.
She is a talker with a number of words in her vocab, but some that only a mommy or daddy can interpret!
· All done
· Meeee (and points to something that she wants)
· Doddy (doggy)
· Daddy or Dada
· Mommy or MaMa (now sometimes Joe is mommy and Andrea is Daddy, but she usually gets it right)
· Hi and Buh Bye (with a wave)
· mo mi (more milk)
· baby (blanket)
· ashee (ashley - teacher at daycare)
· essica (jessica - teacher at daycare)
· ni ni (night night)
· nods "yes" and "no," and sometimes says no
· Nonna
· Grandpa
· outside
She is a great sleeper, and goes to bed with ease. You say, "time to put your jammies on" and Amber nods her head and goes toward her room. You say, "time for bed", she says "ni ni" and starts waving.
She still loves to take baths, but they are short ones because she refuses to sit down in the bathtub! She hates to have her nails clipped and her teeth brushed.
She adores her big sister, but she still does not share mommy's or daddy's lap! If Leah is sitting with mommy or daddy, Amber is right over there screaming at Leah and then usually starts to pull her hair and/or push her out of the way.
She is getting into everything these days. Nothing is safe anymore. She is a climbing machine! She can crawl onto the kitchen table in seconds and then she looks at you and giggles with an adorable smile.
She is working on 3 more teeth - 15 total now. She really has been an easy teether. She is a stubborn one...as one daycare teacher put it "I have learned, Amber gets what Amber wants unless it is dangerous."
She loves to play outside. She was a little hesitant at first on the grass, but this has faded as we get to spend more time outside. She really loves to swing. She has even taken a short nap in the swing!
She has graduated to sitting at the table in a booster seat with a tray. We did attempt for her to eat off of the table, but that was just a mess. Will try again soon. Right now, she seems happy with just being at the table with the rest of us!
She eats all table food now, no more baby food for this toddler. She is a great eater and not at all picky like her big sister. Her favorite foods seem to be bananas and (oh no) chocolate! She is getting better at using a spoon and a fork. She still likes to dump her food if it is served on a plate or in a bowl. She is a full fledged toddler, even graduated to the toddler room at daycare in May. She has had a few firsts since that last update:
· First time meeting the Easter bunny
· First time walking for March for Babies
· First time at Adventure Park
· First wedding shower
· First Pedicure (at daycare) - Leah just loved that Amber's nails were painted!
She loves to dance and listen to music She likes to sit on your lap and read a book (for a brief moment) as she typically does not sit still. She likes anything she can bang. She still puts everything in her mouth. Oh, and did I mention that she likes to climb!
She has the most precious smile and laugh!

Addendum:
She also says Pease (please)
She points to her nose when asked "where is Amber's nose"
She blows kisses (adorable)!

6/15/11 Taylor Swift Concert

Joe took Leah to the Taylor Swift concert last night. The tickets were her 6th birthday present. Leah decided to have Joe take her this time. I got to take her last year, so it is only fair for Joe to take her this year. Leah also said, Daddy should take me because he got the tickets.

Leah was so excited that she was up at 6am (even after strong encouragement the night before to sleep in). Since it was on Tuesday - her first Tuesday of summer break- we were at home. She did attempt to take a nap. The attempt lasted about 20 minutes before she came out and asked if she could be done. So, I had her play quietly for a bit. Then, she asked for her nails to be done and her hair. She then got dressed. It is now 2pm and she is ready to go! Oh, and we listened to the "Speak Now" CD multiple times during the day.

Daddy got home and showered. Finally they were off to the show. They left in plenty of time to get something to eat at the Excel Center. Joe thought they would sit down to eat at a restaurant. But, Leah would have none of that...she just wanted to eat from the concessions. So, they had pizza. Then, she wanted to go to their seats. They got to their seats at 6pm for the show which started at 7pm! The people next to them had many glow sticks. The young lady (about 13) sitting next to Leah made her a glow necklace and many glow bracelets. So nice.

The show starts. Opening act - Need to Breath (never heard of them) - Leah fell asleep! Don't worry, she wakes up for Taylor! According to Leah, there were fireworks even though it was inside, and she sang under a tree, and she wore pretty dresses, and she played the thing that she got when she was at the place Mrs Klar went to. Oh, it is so fun trying to follow a 6 year old. Let me translate - Mrs. Klar (K teacher) went to Hawaii, Taylor told a story of going to Hawaii and getting a ukulele which she proceeded to play while singing "Fearless." When I asked what song she liked best, she said all of them! Joe told me that she got very excited when Taylor was wearing a purple dress - Leah's favorite color. So, the concert ended about 10:30, Leah didn't make it through the entire show, she took a cat nap and missed about 10-15 minutes at the end. Joe was able to wake her for the last song, but she somehow managed to sleep through thousands of screaming girls wanting an encore! During the last song, "Love Story," Taylor was floating around the arena in a basket - Joe says that she pointed toward them as she went. Leah thought that was cool. Of course, after the show, she was wide awake! Joe did humor me, he took the camera - and even took lots of pictures! I am so glad that they were able to share this special night together. It sounds like they both had a great time.

Leah's last day of Kindergarten 6/8/11

First day of school: 9/13/10

2nd to last day of school: 6/6/11

Leah had her last day of Kindergarten on 6/8/11, so now she is officially a 1st grader. So hard to believe. I am truely amazed at how much she learned this year. She has truely grown, and is ready for 1st grade. But, as she told me: "mommy, you know what I will have to do in 1st grade?" I said: "no, what?" To which she replied: "Homework, and I don't like homework." She has also mentioned to us "I am ready for 1st grade, my teacher told me."

Leah made this very nice card for her teacher.

I needed clarification on this drawing, so I will share it. The person in the middle of the circle (?) is Mrs. Klar and she is reading to her students - The dash marks. The yellow squares are windows.

She got to spend the day with daddy on her first day of summer break. Joe said that she didn't want to do anything in the morning, that she seemed kind of sad. Leah told Joe that she was tired. That same morning, she wrote these notes to 2 of her classmates. She even put them in envelopes and wrote their names on the envelope. I am going to bring them to the school office next week to see if they will address and mail them for her.

Beth's Bachelorette Party 6/4/11

I had such a great time at my friend Beth's bachelorette party. Her sister, Suzy, did an awesome job organizing the day!

We started the day off by playing golf. What an adventure. 3 woman - never golfed, 1 (me) woman - golfed maybe 3 times, 2 woman who had golfed some. Well, needless to say we let a few people through. One thing I discovered about golf... I like it, but I don't like it when people play on top of you. Makes me nervous. Another discovery, an adult beverage does improve your game! Okay, maybe you just don't care as much. And, our last discovery was that golf carts are fun to drive.
Next, off to dinner for some pizza and beverages. We waited forever for our food. Apparently a cook left. That was not the problem, though. It was that we had a very rude waitress. Suzy and I were able to get all of our drinks taken off the bill. $25 for the entire bill...not too bad! We even headed back to this place later in the night.

What a fun night on the town in the limo. Unfortunately, the bars were not hoppin' on this night as there was a festival going on not to far away. We, of course, still managed to have a great time. We had the limo stocked, so we were set. This picture was taken at the end of the night. I don't think us girls look too bad - especially since we are not in our 20s anymore, and most of us are no longer accustomed to staying out late!!!