Catching up!

Wow, it has been a while since I have updated on here! Lyla is doing so many new things since the last post. The most important would be WALKING/Running I suppose. She is mimicking so many words that Casey and I say now too!! Its so precious! A couple words she likes to repeat when she hears them are "happy" and "Duke", "elbow", "woah

OH! This is by far my favorite word she says so far... "amen". Casey and I pray with her everynight before bed and about a month ago she started saying "AMEN!" Very loud... like she was proud to have figured out how to say it. So sweet. One night I started "Jesus we thank you..." and Lyla chimed in with 'AMEN!' before we even got started. She was really sleepy I suppose... :)

Next part might be TMI. Unless you have kids of your own...

We have also been telling her about using the potty; pee pee and poo poo. We started talking more about it last week so she would start understanding the concept. We weren't trying to potty train or anything just introduce a new idea. However, she has caught on quick! She now tells us when she is dirty by walking over to us and pulling on her diaper or bringing us a new one. Also, she says "pee pee" directly after she has done that in her diaper.

We decided to buy her a training potty and she will go sit on it if we ask her if she needs to go potty. She hasn't gone in it yet ( thank goodness she's still really young!) But i'm very pleased to see how interested she is in the topic. It shouldn't be too hard to train her completley. Praise God!

I don't think I've mentioned her praising before or not so I will again!

She loves to stay out with us during praise and worship at church. We don't let her very often, but when we do she fully participates! Lol its so neat. She claps of course and will raise her hands if she sees other people doing it. Swaying side to side is another favorite of hers during praise. What a joy she is!

She is also catching some phrases out of some popular childrens songs and singing them in her own way. Ex: "How I wonder what you are" from the song Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is sung wow i wow woah woah woah .... hilarious. And E-I-E-I-O to Old Macdonald had a farm. Its not very clear, but she joins in on those parts during the songs. Row Row Row your boat... etc.

Ok so I think thats about it.... Here are some pictures!

Lyla is showing us her "abee" here. More commonly known as "Belly button"

Our new furniture!

Casey was having fun making Lyla's hair stick up from static here. He mentioned that this photo gives the illusion that the pillow is floating. haha

At the park on one of the nicer days before the big snow!

Swinging! She really enjoys it! Sometimes she decides to lean foward to look at the ground while she swings... which can be a little scary. She did well this day though.

Very excited to ride the rocking duck.

I just thought this one was sweet. Anytime we go to a park and there are guard rails she looks through them like this... don't know why.

Snow Days!

Lyla and I

She was digging through the snow here.

Lyla and Daddy

Waving to Samuel and Joshua next door.

Plum tucker'd. Don't we all just love a sleeping baby picture?

Peek-A-Boo

About a week and a half ago, Lyla really got into the peek-a-boo, or where's Lyla game. This is a video of us playing one day after lunch. This shows the first time she discovered it could be a game. :)

There is a park about 4/5ths of a mile from our house that Lyla and I walk to sometimes. They recently put a new jungle gym in with a hard rubber floor. This day when we went to play, there were about 8 kids playing at the park. She would watch what they were doing and even talk to them (yell if they got close enough to hear). She finally crawled over to the monkey bars and pulled up. She watched so many of the kids climb up it so she knew exactly what to do!

First bar down...

Second bar down...


And that's as far as she could reach.

On the way home, Lyla was really sleepy. I had just stopped pushing to catch a picture of her napping. She could tell that I stopped and woke up for a second.

And here is our precious sleeping baby.

Philidelphia, PA Trip

Last Thursday Casey, Lyla and I; My mom and dad; and my sister all flew to Philidelphia, PA. For the weekend. We had a business conference up there on Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday afternoon. We went up early to see some sights. We had so much fun sight seeing mostly on Friday. We saw Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, Christ Church (National Treasure was filmed there), Elfreth's Alley (a truley beautiful alley of townhouses, built in the 1700's), and Philidelphia City Hall. Tim and Sandi flew up Friday. It was also my birthday on Saturday. Mom and Dad bought me and extremely chocolate cake from an amish cake stand in the marketplace ( a block away from our hotel). It was very yummy! My camera died :( just after we saw Elfreth's Alley so that is all the historic pictures I have.

The BEAUTIFUL plane ride up there!

;)

Say cheese! ... Or Chew!

Elfreth's Alley

The path through Elfreth's Alley

Casey standing in front of someone's home. (People still live in these neat townhouses, even though its a tourist attraction.)

A tunnel leading to a backyard of one of the townhouses.

A beautiful Catholic Church.

On the way back! Lyla seemed to know we were on our way home. She was so excited, and really enjoyed looking out the window of the plane.

Last 2 Weekends/ 8 Months Old!

The weekend of the 6th Casey, Lyla and I had nothing planned. We decided to go walk at Bona Dea trails and look at motorhomes. We probably walked for and hour and a half and accidently made an adventure out of it! Lyla loves riding in her stroller. She sits up as far as she can and sometimes rests her chin on her tray. We also love watching her enjoy the outdoors!

Casey pushing Lyla in the stroller.

Lyla and I

Our beautiful girl.

This was a trail that led to a swinging bridge crossing a creek. This trail was gravel to begin with and changed to a path through the woods. When we got to the swinging bridge there was in fact NO swinging bridge.

Lyla did not like the "swinging brigde" path. It was pretty rough. I ended up having to carry her.

Working out!

Goofing off!


Lyla's 8 month birthday!!!

Family day was this past weekend. It also happened to be Lyla's 8 month birthday.

The guys met up to play paintball at 2 and the girls drove on to D'Lisa's mother's house to swim!

Her house was absolutley beautiful. The pool area was right next to the lake in her backyard. There was a nice tree that shaded most of the pool, so that was nice.

After the pool and paintball, we all met up at Burn's Park to cook out and play games!

Kiddy Pool!

We found a blow up Kiddy Pool at Wal-Mart around a month ago. We can fill it up to about 1ft, so she can float in it, or just a few inches so she can crawl and sit up in it. Also, the edges are soft which will prevent any slipping and hitting her mouth, nose, head, etc., as she tries to pull up on the sides. The first day we got it we began blowing it up! Lyla watched very intently curious as to how this big blue plastic thing was supposed to entertain her. She was patient. It took a little while to blow it up. We had a manual air pump and the top and bottom part of the pool had to be blown up.

Lyla watching daddy blow up her pool!

Getting curious...

And now maybe a little impatient... ;)

This video is her first time in the pool.

Attempting to climb up the sides.

I love this picture. They are both smiling so big!!

Here we have the pool filled up about half way. Lyla enjoyed it just as much!

Here, Lyla was getting pretty sleepy. She climbs up me and puts her head to my face when she is ready to take a nap sometimes. So cute!

Catching up! Home Enhancement

Wow, Its been a while since I have blogged. It has been a great summer so far! A few weeks ago Casey and I decided to clean up our patio in the backyard, so we could actually enjoy it. I cleaned most of the junk out and swept it really well. We had an old sink/countertop that was left here when we bought the house that we got rid of. At first we thought we would use it, but it was less convenient than we hoped. So after moving everything out of the patio, we pur out pressure washer to use!! It was very exciting to see all the dirt and grime come right up! Casey sprayed the concrete and the walls. It made such a BIG difference. Then he put his creativity to work and made a charcoal grill out of the non- working gas grill that is cemented into the ground. Now we can grill! YAY! We grilled out for the first time on memorial day! It was a blast. Tim, Sandi, Mom and Dad came over. We had burgers, baked beans, Lays chips, and a Raspberry Limade Cake. Very good! It was Casey's first time to ever grill out. We are still getting used to how HOT the grill gets and how quickly the burgers cook. We both really like the charcoaled flavor though... as long as its not charred. :) He did great though!

We also have tiki torches around the patio to keep bugs out! About a week ago, Casey added a light and ceiling fan out there too! He loves finding new ways to add to the house. It's wonderful having a live-in electrician.

Here you can see how clean the concrete is. It used to be very splotchy and light shade of brown. Wes and Stacy Boster gave us this swing for Lyla. She really enjoys it.

Another angle.

Another angle.

Casey found a neat and handy place to hang his grilling tools! He's so clever.

Ceiling fan Casey put in. It makes a huge difference!