Fairy Leah

Fairy Leah all decked out:



Attacking the Frankenstein pinata:

Mother and Daughter together:

The Latest Adventures

While we've been on vacation in the exotic and far-away land of northern Utah, we had the opportunity to go on several exciting adventures. (Click on any picture to see it enlarged)

She liked the huge pillowy beds in our hotel room. That's the right way to watch Nemo.

Thursday, we visited the Dinosaur Park in Ogden. It was very cold. Once we went inside, Leah was frightened by the realistic mechanical dinosaurs that kept growling at her. I just told her to growl back.

On Friday, we visited the Aerospace Museum at Hill Air Force Base. It was free! Leah occasionally noticed the airplanes and was temporarily amazed, then continued to play with the exhibit ropes and look at her reflection in the floor.

On Saturday, we visited the Treehouse Museum in Ogden with the Lewises and the Rowberrys. There, kids can dress up like knights and put on a show, make noise on drums and marimbas, play with trains, dive into all of the greatest story-book scenes, and much more. Of course, we forgot the camera, but it was a blast for young and old!

Leah got to experience what it's like to be a guitar hero!

Gramma sent a new dress which Leah wore to church on Sunday. She likes that her new Mary Janes are so tappy on hard floors, so she doesn't want to take them off!

Monday we took Leah to the Hogle Zoo for the first time. She especially liked the monkeys, the elephants, the "teddy" bears, the penguins, chasing turkeys, growling at the growling tiger, the drinking fountains that look like lions, the slide that's shaped like a snake, the stray sparrows that aren't really part of the zoo, the train, and the waterfall inside the aligator house. It was really funny to hear her try to repeat "Rhinocerous" and "Alligator." Here are some highlights:

Chasing a turkey.

She was so awestruck at the sight of a real elephant that she wouldn't look at the camera. I guess that's the whole point.

Climbing on the Tiger statue. We couldn't exactly let her cuddle with a real tiger, could we?

Riding the Zoofari Express.

Sitting on the statue elephant's trunk.

At the wrong end of a gorilla.

All tuckered out at the end of the day. Whew! Mission: Accomplished.

Fun times with Lola

Lola and Russ came through this past week for a few days, and I've since sorted through over 300 pictures to bring you a select few. Enjoy!

Playtime!


















Showing off tricks for Lola and Russ


















At Thanksgiving Point's Scarecrow Festival. She had to hug each and every pumpkin.


















Yes, there was a certain amount of climbing before she could come down! She was fearless even though the other kids could have easily trampled her.



















Playing in the water and sand at the Dinosaur Museum. I think she looks like Mommy when she was a little girl.



















Check out my giant dinosaur that Lola got me!



















Story time with Lola

Favorite activities

Leah's favorite activity is jumping. Here she is playing in a pool full of balls at the Scarecrow festival (we mostly stayed in the toddler tent). We were so inspired that we came home and recreated the ball pit in our very own basement. She loves it!

Why kids are so stinkin' expensive

First of all, they cost a lot to get here. From the initial pregnancy test (I get mine from the dollar store) to months of maternity clothes and outrageous pregnancy cravings, it is an expensive process, not to mention the hospital and doctor's bills. Then there's the nursery to outfit and stock, including a crib, a rocking chair, other furniture for baby's room, clothes and diapers for a newborn, all the accessories needed for nursing and travelling with convenience and safety-the carseat, stroller, diaper bag, etc.

Once the baby is born, you have to constantly supply diapers for a minimum of 2-3 years. Right now, Leah wears 5 or 6 diapers a day, and at approximately $.25 each, that's over a dollar a day! You have to provide food and clothing for the child, who is constantly growing and therefore requiring a progressively increasing amount of food and continually needing new clothes and shoes each season.

Then of course are the developmental expenses that creep in along the way: she's crawling, so you need to buy a gate to keep her from tumbling down the stairs. She's teething, so you need to buy teething gel, tylenol, and cough syrup. She's imitating everything you do, so you buy her a play camera, a play phone, a play set of keys, and of course you have to document it with a real camera for the grandparents to see. She's graduated from a bottle and you need to outfit the cupboards with sippy cups, but it takes 10 tries to find the right kind. She needs age-appropriate toys to help her development, so you buy new toys every six months, and all manner of devices to provide entertainment for the child so you can do something else. She wants to feed herself, so you need to buy kid forks and spoons and bibs. She's old enough to start sitting on the potty, so you buy a training potty and start buying more expensive, less effective diapers (we haven't gotten here yet). Then there's the painful expense of replacing things that your dear little one has broken, something we have yet to experience the joy of, but that I know is coming.

We haven't even gotten to the school-age stage of music lessons and sports teams, school fees, field trips, 11pm sugar-cube igloos. I don't even know what I'm missing!

Granted, it is not as expensive to have a second kid as it is to have the first, since you can use the same nursery furniture, clothes, carseat, toys, teething gel, etc. But it's dang expensive! First of all, why would anyone have children at all, and secondly, why wouldn't you have a second based on the decreasing relative price!?!?

But, oh the joy!