Well, summer has officially begun for Grace and Lyla. We're out of preschool and doing the typical summer things each day. On this particular day they wanted to have a picnic outside. Our new backyard is great for that because we have two great shade trees to sit under!
(Notice Lyla's outfit! black socks, purple camo pants, white t-shirt with green and yellow)
Here is Lyla's tattoo. It is 3, of course for her birthday. The other cheek had something blue on it because blue is her favorite color.
Here is Grace's rainbow tattoo. She loves rainbows. Her birthday had a rainbow cake in January.
Here is the wonderful Scooby Doo cake. My friend, Brooke O'Dell, makes cakes for people and designed this herself. She did a great job. It was ashame I messed it up. I tried to photograph Scooby's good side but you can still see the mess up on his right cheek. I sat the cake on a cabinet in my dining room Friday night so it wouldn't get messed up by someone if it was sitting on the table. Well, the next morning I came downstairs and the morning sun was shining directly on poor Scooby. Half his cheek had melted off. It was just a puddle in the box. We tried to make him look a little better by putting some chocolate icing on his boo-boo but it still looked pretty sad. Lyla never even noticed. Sorry Brooke!
Lyla was so proud of her Scooby cake.
Now, on to the presents....She was given a few Scooby Doo dvds, which she loved. We have played all three of them already. I love them b/c they have an entire season's worth of episodes on each disc so they just keep on playing!
My sister, Julie, gave Lyla Moon Sand. She was nice enough to call me and ask for my permission before buying this for Lyla. I told her OK even though I've told Grace and Lyla no to moon sand several times in the store. I thought I'd give it a try.
This was one of the gifts we gave Lyla. I searched everywhere for ScoobyDoo figures. They are sold out at every ToysRUs store in town! They have a Mystery Machine van to go with it but it is sold out too. Ebay has several of these but they are selling for more than twice what they sell for in the store. Crazy!!! So, I kept calling the store until I finally caught the Bellevue store when they had the figures. We never did get the van. Oh well.
Lyla is turning into quite a ball fanatic. She got a baseball bat and ball from my parents and a soccer goal for the backyard. I think you can tell from the picture she was pleased with this gift.
A tee-ball set!
My grandmother sent Lyla a pretty little Dora gown. I was afraid she wouldn't wear it because she won't wear any pj's right now. It's panties only for her! But, she did where the gown last night. She was so cute.
Another big ball from my parents. It has Scooby on it. She loves this one too.
This was the other gift we gave her. A stuffed Scooby. I got this from Ebay. She loves it. 
So, after everyone left and it was later in the evening she was playing with her new toys. We got the moon sand out to see what it was like. Well, it's sand, with coloring. It is a little stickier than regular sand so you can mold it quite easily. My problem with it is the clean up, which is why I have always hesitated to get it in the past. It's not like play-doh. It's so fine that once it falls to the floor or the chair you might as well forget about it. If it's not in the pile by the time playtime is over, it's getting sweeped into the trash. The other problem is that it doesn't come with any storage containers. You have to buy those separately! I ended up putting the sand in sandwich baggies. Plus, it's impossible to not mix the 3 colors together. It's impossible to keep it in a small pile on the table too. So, I would not recommend Moon Sand simply for the mom's sake. The girls loved playing with it, but, I think it's going to go into the sandbox outside. Julie, I'm sorry to say this, but it's just too messy for inside. It should come with a little miniture sandbox to play with on the table and a container to store it in. Oh well, you live and you learn. 
Goldfish! Eric's parents brought the girls about 7 goldfish on Friday night. Well, by Saturday evening two were left. By Sunday morning, one was left! "Goldie" is still hanging on and looking pretty strong but she's all alone now. The girls love it though. 
It was a good birthday for little Lyla Belle!
As you can see, they're not afraid. They'll do most anything.
This tree was some kind of sprinkler. That was pretty neat. Our little baby is now ready for kindergarten! I can't believe it. It seems like just last fall I was taking her to preschool for the first time. She was only 8 months old when I started teaching preschool and she starting going too! She couldn't even crawl yet! Now she's 5 years old and ready to go off by herself all day long for 5 days every week! She keeps telling me that in kindergarten she will go to school for 5 days and then only have 2 days off. It's going to be an adjustment for me to get in the school mode. While your kids are little and you stay at home you have such freedom to have such a relaxed schedule. We did have preschool 3 days a week but on Monday and Friday we could do whatever we pleased, including not getting up at 7am. It will also be an adjustment to have Lyla by herself all week long. She depends a lot on Grace for her entertainment and so do I. I want to make the most of this summer and really try to enjoy our time together. It won't be long before I won't even have her to myself during the summertime. It really does go fast! Everyone says that but it really does and you don't even realize it's happening until it's gone.
Here are some pictures from the graduation ceremony at preschool on Thursday. It was very sweet! Grace was looking forward to this for weeks in advance. They really practiced a lot at preschool to sing their songs and say their poems and verses just right. She didn't understand why she couldn't take her cap and gown home to play dress-up with. She doesn't understand why I can't just go buy her one at Wal-Mart to play with either. She did receive a child's bible, her tassel, and a certificate of graduation. My camera didn't take very good pictures because of the lighting so I'm only including the after-shots. A friend of mine that has a better camera is going to give me her pictures of the actual ceremony on cd. I'll post those when I get them. 
Big Sis and Little Sis...Lyla kept asking when it was going to be her turn to go up on the stage.
Best friends...Grace, Addie and Grace Dyer...We need to keep in touch!
Her new dress, a graduation gift.
Best friends...Grace, Abby and Noah...They've grown up together since babies. We'll have to save this picture for their high school graduation!
Abby and Grace, they're so proud of their new Bible.
Mimi, Grace and Papoo...They made the trip to see the graduation and for Lyla's birthday weekend. It's always nice to have them in town. I get so much done!
Grace, Eric, Lyla and JennyOn Tuesday we had Lyla's friend party at our preschool. We invited her class to stay after school to play on the playground and have cupcakes and scooby snacks. Lyla loves Scooby so everything this week is centered around that theme for Lyla's big 3 year old birthday. She's been looking forward to this since Grace's birthday in January. Here are some of the best pictures of her party at school. 
Thank you to all of our great preschool friends! Lyla loved playing with you and sharing her Scooby cupcakes with you. We appreciate the fun gifts you brought to Lyla as well.
