Lyla's 1st Day at School

Today was the big day. Lyla started Daycare. We were all excited and some were nervous (me) but it turned out to be a great day for our little 'leader'.

Last night we Lyla picked out her backpack and we had to pack it up with the essentials - sunscreen, Dora pants, extra clothes. Lyla decided to help me pack and added a few essentials of her own - a hanger, a tooth brush, her ocean wonders controller, her pajamas, Thomas books in the suitcase, toothpaste, a hair elastic, another Thomas book, and her 3 best friends - Teddy, Reindeer and Horsey. Lets just say the bag was overflowing but she sure was proud of her back pack all packed up.

So after I got her bag repacked, filled out all the rest of the paperwork, and headed off to bed I actually slept fine. Then this morning we woke up and got ready for the big first day. Lyla wanted grilled cheese for breakfast and she also ate a cheese string. I started by giving her cereal and soon found out all she was eating was the sugar on the cereal so I gave into her request for a grilled cheese. Lyla is very into the princess theme right now. Which means she wants to wear a dress all the time. With the change in temperature it makes dress wearing a little more challenging. Good thing I bought this outfit for her to wear on her first day of school.

We did a series of pictures of the front step as we were getting ready to leave. The obligatory pictures with the backpack on and the excitement in her face as also present. This pictures turned out pretty cute..

I especially like the above one - as she is standing on her tippie toes in excitement.

This is Lyla's backpack from behind. Dora and it lights up as well. She can also roll it, but she prefers to wear it.

This is the sweetest one.. Such a cutie pie..if I do say so myself - I know I am biased..



Here we are getting ready to go into Lyla's school...

And at the door to her classroom... (this actually was taken after I had picked her up)

When we drove up to the school I told Lyla that I would be leaving her there as I had to go to the dentist and get some cavities filled. She started to cry and said she didn't want to be at school without me. My little heart broke and of course I had planned it so I could stay for a bit if she needed and that was what I did. I stayed about 45 minutes before I left her. Here she was eating her morning snack which was a pancake, which she exclaimed to everyone that 'It is delicious'. The teachers oohhed and aahhed over her - saying no one had ever said that before, and that she was such a cutie. When I looked around her class - she is in a class of 12 and she is 1 of 2 girls. 10 boys!!!

When you are done eating you have to wait to hear your name called before you can leave the table. When you are done eating you can put your hand up and wait for you name. Here Lyla is waiting for her name...

I left after that. And she was really brave. I said that I was going to go now but I would be back for her after her lunch and she is said in a sad voice 'okay muma.' She gave me a hug and a kiss and told me she loved me. Then I made my quick exit out the door and looked back through the window to see one of the teachers talking to her about the doll house she was playing with. I had a huge ball in my chest and tears in my eyes, but they did not come out as I knew Lyla was being brave so I needed to too.

Then off I went to the dentist for a torturous 3 cavities and 1 bonding! I am still frozen! and hungry!

I came back about 3 hours later and peered through her window and saw her playing on the matt with some toys. I had talked to Ryan who called the teacher for me who told me she had cried after she realized I had left. Miss Betty hugged her and wiped her eyes - this is what Lyla told me. They also went outside which cheered her up too. When I said 'Hi Lyla!" when I walked in the door the look of joy as she hoped up and ran to me. A huge smile and a little voice yelling 'Muma! You came back!" She hoped in my arms and hugged me and kissed me. We were both happy to be together. The teacher told me everything about her being upset and right away she said to me 'She is a leader'. I just smiled - and to be honest I couldn't talk to well because of all the freezing in my mouth - and the teacher said - 'you already knew that didn't you?" Lyla also called Miss Betty silly - which Miss Betty seemed to like. Lyla seemed happy at school and is excited to go back next week.

Here Lyla is which her lead teacher Miss Betty (in blue) and her assistant teacher -Miss Tiffany.

We drove home and Lyla sang some songs they had sang at school, told me what Miss Betty had said about certain things and told me what she had done at school. She received a present from the class - a Disney fairies Frisbee - for joining the class. And we are excited to go again next week.

Summer's Last Hurrah

Hard to believe that summer has come and gone but it has, and looking back I really neglected my blog. I really didn't blog all summer. Sorry blogger! I guess that is a good indication on how much fun we had this summer. Lyla is growing more and more independent as the days go on - that is not to say that she isn't a muma's girl - as she surely is - ask Ryan! But she is working on potty training, talking like a 20 year old and having the most fun any 2 year old could ask for.

Tomorrow we have a huge milestone - Lyla is starting a day of daycare each week. I will post more on that tomorrow. But for tonight I had to post some of our pictures from our last hurrah of summer time fun.

Last week we went to Nana and Papa's house to spend a couple of days with them and Lyla's cousins. We were only there a short time but we made the most of our time with everyone.

It was really hot last week - in the 90s! And we needed some relief -So the first day that we got there we headed to the splash pad as soon as Lyla had her nap. Splash pads are in almost every community in Ontario - not so much in Michigan so this was Lyla's first experience with the splash pad. It was not without excitement and injury - two typical things in any toddler day. The excitement came just from the fun of the entire scene - fun with her cousins, and fun with water. The injury came when Lyla climbed up on the wall you see behind her in the picture below and decided to have Jillian catch her as she jumped off the wall. . Lets just say my heart was in my throat as I saw this scene unfold - Lyla is lucky she didn't truly hurt herself more than some abrasions.. Just check out these pictures from the splash pad and you can see everyone had a blast....

The 3 friends and 3 cousins....

Lyla really likes her older cousin Matthew. He really entertains her and makes her laugh. she is still talking about him this week and mimicking him... Thanks Matthew for the laughs...

The next day we planned to load up the van and head to the beach. Two sisters and their 4 kids! It was so much fun. We really didn't know where we were going - just to the lake and once we got there my memory of a beach trip when Emily was Lyla's age was our map. We went to Port Franks and had a great September 1st at the beach. The sun was hot, the water was warm and the family fun was great! I can't wait to go back next year, and it left me asking my sister - why we hadn't done this earlier this summer!

Here are our 2 princesses bathing themselves in the water at the beach. I love this picture!

The nice thing about this beach was the shallowness. We were able to go out quite a bit and the girls could lay in the water and enjoy the water. It was really nice..

No trip to the beach is complete without the kids splashing their moms. . Lyla even got in on it.. and on my camera - I have pictures of her coming up to me after seeing the kids splashing Aunt Pam... Lets just say Aunt Pam was no long dry after this splashing ..


Loving cousin Emily...

Loving the beach...


More splashing...

Like I said, great beach for kids - Here is the gang all out swimming together. Thanks Emily for watching over Lyla...

3 of the kiddies ... Sorry Pam - I didn't post the picture of Jillian crying about Lyla not holding her hand...

Lyla loved wearing Matthew's goggles. In fact today she was telling me about wearing Matthew's sunglasses at the beach. I think it was quite the fashion statement don't you?

The next day we all gathered at Nana and Papa's for a lunch and a cake to celebrate family time as well as Miss Jillian's birthday. Matthew spent a lot of time pulling the girls around in the wagon with Lyla yelling 'FASTER!' at him.

Such a cute picture. As we all sang happy birthday to Jillian she reached for Lyla's hand and held onto her hand. Very cute.

Thanks for the great summer visit! We can't wait until next summer comes and we can all play again at the beach and splash pad!

Dora's Cupcakes

So yesterday morning, Lyla and I had NickJr on and we saw a recipe for cupcakes decorated like Dora. We decided we needed to make these. When Lyla woke up I had the cupcakes ready but we still had to make all the fun stuff for decorating Dora. As you can see my assistant Lyla loved this! Here is the finished cupcake.. So cute - and Lyla loved them and they were great for getting her to eat her dinner.

Viola - here is the presentation.

These were really yummy and you can find the recipe on NickJr.com under recipes. This Sunday is Dora's Birthday movie release. These would be a great idea for the party celebration!

Just an update...

Time is flying by and I guess blogging has been put on the back burner.. so here I am with a quick update. The summer has been jammed full of just general fun stuff. The computer has been put aside and we are outside any free second we can get.

Lyla is starting the potty training experience. She has been pooping on the toilet since 19 months but has recently started to pee more frequently. Last Thursday and Friday she went all day without accidents! Yippee!! Then some days with accidents, and so far today has been good. The biggest thing with Lyla is that she doesn't want to stop to go pee - she has places to be and things to do!

On Thursday August 5th - Lyla sang the alphabet song to me! So she now knows the alphabet (at 26 months) and can count to 11 (omitting 3 and 4). I am very proud of her. There isn't any word or sentence that Lyla will not attempt in saying. She speaks very well. We are working on her pronunciation as she says -'Yeye-ya' as her name but yesterday Ryan heard her say it more clearly. Lyla is very social and loves kids. She goes up to them and says "Whats your name" Or "What are you doing" or she just follows them around..

Today we went to the local outdoor aquatic center and had a ball... Here is my little swimmer. I couldn't get any other pictures as I was in the pool with this fish the whole time.

Whats in our front yard....

BABY BUNNIES...

Here is thier home - right smack in the middle of our front yard. In fact, Ryan went over it a week ago with the lawnmower!! And here our the little sweeties... Aren't they cute and adorable!!! Lyla loves them!

Great Wolf Lodge - Niagara Falls

We had the opportunity to go to Niagara Falls for a wedding a couple of weekends ago and we seized this opportunity to go and stay at the Great Wolf Lodge. This is an indoor water park with a strong nature feel. Lyla LOVED it here. It isn't uncommon that Lyla will ask every day if we can go back to 'Wiley's House'. As I am typing this she is sitting at my side telling me that this first picture is where we went.
So here is a picture of the main entrance to 'Wiley's House' a.k.a. Great Wolf Lodge.
This is a pretty good family photo of all of us. Like I said we had a wedding, so here we are all decked out for our wedding best..

And here is the pretty princess all by herself...

Lyla and Daddy looking at some totem pool artwork...

Now, here was the all time favorite part of our trip. Meet Mo the Moose. Mo and his other forest friends were in the lobby of the GWL, and they would put on a show every day at 10 am and 8 pm. This was a highlight for Lyla. Other times of the day you could go up to the animals and activate them to talk to you by placing your hand on a hand print that correlated with each of the talking animals - a tree, bear and mo the moose.

Here is a picture of the entire gang - Mo, Mother bear, and the tree... During show time other friends would appear..
Lyla and the tree...

So as I said they had show time at 8 pm and then after that they would have bedtime story time. On this particular weekend it was Father's Day and for that occasion they took story time outside that night.. They danced and told stories -- her is Lyla dancing to YMCA.

Here she is listening to the morning show the next day...


They also had a service called cub club. This was a spot that you could go with your child to make a craft or play with toys. They also offered babysitting as well. We went to Cub club-where Lyla colored a t-shirt and made a flower pot.

Sitting on her balcony with her new friend - Moose. In the gift shop she made that moose - build a bear style...

Then of course there was the water park - we spent lots of time enjoying the water spraying and playing here at the water park.

Here is Lyla playing on what we called 'Frog Pond' - which wasn't what the actual name was = but it worked for us.. She loved jumping from Lilly pad to Lilly pad..

This big bucket of water would drop every so many minutes - we loved to see it spill over it made us laugh!

They had an outdoor pool as well - so nice... Lyla loved to swim around here..

They had a great deli and bakery for some oh so good sweets. Here is Lyla enjoying eating a Mo the Mousse.

More fun at bedtime story time - -

The guest of honor was Wiley the Wolf. He came and listened to the stories..

And then you could meet Wiley after - which Lyla still talks about..

They taught the kids how to do the great wolf howl.. here is Lyla howling her little heart out.. And of course, no trip to Niagara Falls would be complete without visiting the falls themselves...

We had a blast at the Great Wolf Lodge, Niagara Falls and we cant wait to go back!