School!?! Who is this Big Girl???

Laney started school this morning! I can't believe it. She is going to the Early Childhood Center at our church two mornings a week. Laney is really comfortable at our church. We go there to visit Daddy and Grandmommy lots and she really likes her Sunday School class on Sundays. So we were hopeful that she would be excited to start school at church too.

I have been really emotional about Laney going to school. I know that it will be fun for her and that she will make lots of friends. I know that it will be so great for her to have somewhere fun to spend her time when the twinadoes get here and are a little demanding of my time. I just also know how much I love my one on one time with her and how those days are dwindling. Not trying to be a baby, I just want to express my feelings about this very FIRST first day of school!

Laney got a new ladybug backpack for the big day and she was really excited to put it on this morning. It is gigantic on her, but she sure didn't want any help carrying it.

Laney was all smiles getting ready to go. I still wasn't sure if she was going to be this happy at drop off, but I was loving her excitement all morning! It blows my mind to think about taking pictures right here on all of our subsequent first days of school. I know that those days are going to be here before I know it.

Walking into school with lots of other first timers.
Here's a picture of us right before drop off. Laney was awesome!! She went right into her teaher's arms with no hesitation and definitely no tears. I was so grateful that she wasn't sad or scared. I wish that I could say that there was no hesitation and no tears on my part, but I recovered somewhat quickly.
On Tuesday morning, we got to go and meet Laney's teachers. No moms or dads allowed in the classroom on the first day, so this was our chance to go in and look around with Laney. Her teachers were so sweet to her and she got to meet some of the other cutie pie kids that will be in her class!

Laney got to pick what color apple she wanted her name written on and where she wanted it placed on the tree. We talked a lot about going back to her class and getting to see her apple by the birds' nest.
Laney loves to play in her toy kitchens at home. So, we sat down to play a little in the kitchen to help get her acclimated to her classroom.

Let the learning begin!
As we left Laney's classroom, she reached out and gave Miss Kathy a hug!!! It made me so happy to see her comfortable enough to dole out some love!!!

Truck Driver!

My dad gave Laney this power wheels truck for her birthday several months ago. While she has always been a little intrigued by it, she has never liked to get in it by herself and drive it. She didn't like the noise that it made. Yesterday we were playing in the backyard and she was absolutely loving it. Everytime she pushed the pedal down, she would burst out laughing which is a very different response than what that sound generated in the past! She would push down the pedal and then look up at me laughing to make sure that I heard the hysterical noise too.

I got a couple of videos of our silly truck driver, but this is the only one that I can upload for some reason.

Tu-tu Cuteness!

One of our friends in our small group was talking about how she made a tutu for a friend of hers. I went on and on about how much I love tutus and I guess she got the hint (which I wasn't really trying to make) :) and the next week she brought this cutie pie purple and pink tutu over for Laney!!! We went to her daugther's birthday party last weekend and it seemed like the perfect opportunity for the tutu to make it's adorable debut!!!
Laney really did love it and she was so awesome at letting me take her pictures, even smiling when I asked her to. That is not something that I am familiar with. Seems like one more sign that she is growing up!

Such a cute little bootie!!

Laney loves to play chase in our living room. We run from one corner to the other, but we don't ever really "get" each other. We just run back and forth. She laughs this hard every time. The game always ends with her shouting "tent! tent!" and then we dive into her tent that is in another corner of the living room. I love the joy that she gets from so many small things!

Park time with our Cousins!

This past week, Jessica and I took our kids to several different parks. Jess was trying to capitalize on the last week of summer by doing lots of fun things. We definitely had fun!!!


Note Laney's puppy purse. It has rarely left her arm this week. One might think that it would slow her down while playing, eating, sleeping, bathing......she has found a way to make it work in all scenarios!
Laney and Tessa really love to do all things together. They climbed all over and around the playground equipment together each one copying the other! Laney loves hanging over the slide before she goes down.
And so does Tess!
I wonder where they learned their dangling techniques!!!!




Another morning this week, Jessica and I took the kids to another park and the girls decided immediately that they wanted to go on a walk and pick flowers.

This particular morning, she decided that she needed to carry not only her puppy purse, but also the sack that our breakfast bagel came in.

The path at this park has a lot of big grassy areas to run and play in. Laney was taking advantage of all the play areas and running everywhere in search of more flowers.
I think that Grandmommy will love this picture because she loves Laney's furrowed brow. It reminds us all of one of our very first referral pictures of Laney when she was just five weeks old. I do love that we have those pictures that captured Laney's expressions for us before we were able experience them first hand like we get to now!!!

Said picture of little Laney with this same cute face!

After picking flowers, we headed over to the playground to climb and slide, never letting go of the purse, the sack, and the addition of Tessa's sippy cup.

Laney and Tessa sliding together. Laney enjoys all things exponentially more when she gets to do them with Tess.

Our next park excursion was to feed the ducks with the Hayes boys. Laney asked for her sunglasses while we were swinging and she wore them for the rest of our stay at the park.

The kids loved feeding all the ducks that swarmed us on the steps. I think that the ducks might experience a bit of a lull during the 100 + degree heat of August, so they seemed very grateful to see us and our stale bread.

I love this picture of Laney running behind the big kids. They are all soaking wet from a water fountain that had a renegade spigot

Beach Trip Day Four

After the fun that accompanied the baby pool the day before, we definitely brought it down again on our last day at the beach. Laney and Tess got to climb on in and wait on their sweet Bobbis to fill it up for them again!
I love that Laney has her purse with her at this point. There are several things that we don't go on trips without. One. A stroller. Laney loves her stroller so much and it provides hours of entertainment. Two. Baby Doll and Baby Diaper Bag. As long as Laney can change her babies' diapers and rock them to sleep she is a happy girl. Three. A purse. Laney loves purses and this little puppy purses has recently advanced in the ranks. She has been carrying it everywhere and even taking it to bed with her. Laney and Tessa got a little boogie board to play with in the pool. It wasn't quite big enough for both of them. Enter the giant boogie board. Laney turned the "baby one" over to Tessa and started trying to ride the "big one!" I wish that I had a recording of Laney saying, "big one" She says it all the time about everything. Bites of food that she is taking, trucks or tractors that we see while driving, pieces of sidewalk chalk that we are playing with........everything. She says it in a deep voice with an emphasis on the word BIG. It is so funny. I have started saying it to Todd about stuff, to which he usually just rolls his eyes.

It didn't take long for Laney to claim this board as her very own and start mastering all her boogie boarding techniques!

I loved watching her have so much fun for so long with this silly board.

She grabbed onto this little handle and said, "Hold it tight!" Wouldn't want to fall off into that rough water!!!
Laney was laughing her head off laying her whole body out on the board. Wipe Out!!! This is Todd's favorite picture from the trip! My mom brought these freezer pops that we used to eat all the time when we were little. Jessica set a record of eating like 60 in one day on a family reunion one year. This was Laney's only one this day. No record for her!I did mention that Laney did a great job of sharing on this trip. Here she is trying to share some lovely seaweed with me! My sweet sisters! All the "Jordan Girls" (although Cait is the only that can still officially claim that title)
Driving home, I think Laney was asleep before we were even out from underneath our house. She usually sleeps for a max of an hour in the car when we are travelling at naptime. She slept for a record breaking two and half hours on our way home on Sunday. She was so wiped from all of that fun on the beach and playing with her family. She did a great job for the remaining hours in the car on the way home. She was in such a good mood. It was the perfect ending to our fun trip!!!