Lyla's 2.5 pics

Earlier this month Lyla turned 2.5 and I've been meaning to do her pictures but just hadn't gotten to it. Yesterday she looked SO cute for church that I had to snag a few photo's before church started and her hair started to fall out :) So we jumped out of the car, had a 2 or 3 minute photo shoot, and walked into church. Here they are...

Lyla ...

• is a GREAT big sister to Ruby. She loves making her laugh, giving her her binki, helping to change her diaper, helping to put her down for a nap and greets her when she wakes up. If she steals a toy from Ruby, she'll definitely replace it for another toy. And Ruby just adores her big sister.
• Is starting to become more girly. I asked her what shirt she wanted to wear the other day and she insisted on wearing a dress and putting cute clips in her hair.
• Is becoming very independent. She always wants to buckle her carseat, do "potty business" by herself, push the cart at the grocery store and put items in the basket, and she even pulls out my pony tail and tells me she'll "fix it" and then try to put it back together.
• speaking SO WELL! Sometimes I forget that she is only 2.5 but she will put together long sentences that actually make sense. But sometimes she'll blabber a sentence as if that was also supposed to make sense. She's funny.
• Is getting good at learning her colors.
• Is ALMOST done with potty training (except for during the night). She went two steps forward, took a step back, and is starting to head forward again. Go Lyla!
• is so TALL and SKINNY! I think last we checked she was 38 inches and she weighs about 27-28 lbs...only 7-8 pounds more than Ruby.
• She loves to sing and will often make up words to the tunes of songs she knows (ie: she will sing "London Bridge is Falling Down" and just plug in the phrase "cut my hair" or something to the sort, over and over again).
• She LOVES to dance.
• Loves to swim.
• Loves books, music, pictures, and movies.
• Loves animals.
• Can be a really good and compassionate friend.
• Loves helping with household chores.
• Occasionally will fall down and automatically yell out "I'm okay mom!", even if I didn't see it.
• Really enjoys using the phrase "right now" or "right here". Last night Lyla went downstairs to the common area of our apartment building and I told her that she needed to "come upstairs right now" and she just said "No, I'm staying right here!" while shooting me a very stern look. It's scary how much she imitates me.
• She has been sooo cuddly lately and I am LOVING it!
• She is a total goofball.

And I just want to write down a quick funny story that happened a couple months ago that I don't want to forget about...

Lyla has been picking up on a lot of the things we have been saying lately. So the other night we had some friends over for pizza and games and Lyla was walking around and playing with her friends and some toys. Then we see and hear her pretending to talk on the phone saying "Oh crap" over and over again as well as "I hate you!". I was mortified!! Nate and I both say "Oh crap" at home and I'll say "I hate you" when I am joking around or if I am being teased. Then, as if that wasn't embarrassing enough, she drops everything she is doing, walks over to the table, stands on a chair, picks up a two liter bottle of Root Beer and just starts chugging! We were all so shocked and just laughing so hard. It was definitely a reality check that she sees and hears EVERYTHING we do!

I love my Lyla!

He's 27!

Happy Birthday to this great guy right up here ^. He is the greatest husband, father, and friend. He makes me laugh. And he makes me so dang happy. I love this man!!

Quick trip to NC

Last weekend Nate and I dropped our kids off at our good friend's house and took a trip to North Carolina so we could do some house hunting before we moved out there. However, we ended up finding a place through Craigslist and signed a contract before we even headed out there. Since our trip was already booked, we decided to go anyway to visit the campus, see where we were going to live, and also pick up a car that we bought online (I know, we're crazy!).

I have really struggled the past 2.5 years only having 1 car. It's hard having kids and staying at home and just feeling "stuck". Grocery shopping, running errands, doctors appointments, play group or anything social would all require me to use the car. Not that I never had it, but it would take Nate finding a ride to work, or me taking him. Just a pain. So, we decided it was time for us to upgrade in that department.

Thursday evening when we flew in, we went straight to go pick up our new (to us) van. Since we bought it online, I was a little nervous to finally see it but it turned out to be even better than we expected!!! It has Stow-N-Go (awesome!), and has a TV for road trips, automatic doors, trunk, seats, etc. Everything is in really great condition and it drives really well! We were SOO pleased with it! I actually thought it was funny because 2 separate people came up to us while we were out there and said "That is a really nice car you have there!" Which, I agree it's a nice van, but it's also just a van. I don't know, I just never look at a van and say "Wow, that's a really nice car!". It made me feel like we were driving a fancy sports car! It was pretty funny :)

Anyway, here it is...

The next day we went to visit Duke's campus. It was way bigger than we expected and it was just BEAUTIFUL! The landscaping was gorgeous and they had some beautiful buildings. I think the most beautiful of all was the Duke Chapel (I don't know if that is the official name) pictured below.

We didn't have too much time but we definitely wanted to go by the Fuqua School of Business (where Nate will be attending) and check out his building. Here's one of the classroom's we checked out...

I think they called this the Hall of Flags. If not, it seems appropriate. They even had a flag for The Latter-Day Saints!

Nate is SOO excited to start school again. He LOVES school (weirdo) and I think he will just feel like he is right in his element. To be honest, I'm a little jealous. I would love to go back as well.

The next morning we were able to go see the house we already signed a 2 year contract with :) We LOVED it and I can't wait to finally live in a HOUSE and to have a private backyard! I am definitely over the apartment living/shared walls/small space phase of our lives.

We LOVED North Carolina. It is beautiful there and everyone is so dang nice! We definitely experienced some great southern hospitality! We were also able to visit Duke's Gardens (which was gorgeous), go see 2 movies, have a romantic dinner, and just get the last time to ourselves before we start our crazy life as students again.

We are definitely ready and excited to start this next chapter in our lives but we are also really going to miss Chicago and the friends we have made here. Moving is always so bitter-sweet.

While I was in the shower...

Lyla LOVES photo booth on our Mac and every time I am on it, she points to the icon and asks... no... BEGS me to pull it up. Typically we will take pictures, make funny faces, make video's, etc.

So, the other day after my shower, I came out into the living area and saw that photo booth was pulled up and I quickly realized that she had finally figured out how to open up the application all by herself! I was pretty impressed.

What I was even MORE impressed with was when I came home from vacation last night and the application was up and I saw this picture...

She must have also figured out how to take a picture of herself. I love this girl!