Tonight was Trunk or Treat at our church. We have it every year for the kids at church. The kids play a bunch of games and then go trick or treating in the parking lot out of the trunks of people's cars. It is really fun and the kids really enjoy it.
I was excited to dress Laneah up in her costume. It is nice to get two uses out of it:) Laneah was extra fussy today for some reason (I think her 2 year molars are coming in because she wouldn't keep her fingers out of her mouth) so she didn't smile hardly at all for the pictures, but she had a good time. Hopefully we will get some better ones on Halloween. Laughing while playing a game of chase with daddy before Trunk or Treat. Before going in the church. Look at that pouty face! lol The theme of the night. She was like Cinderella with these shoes. Once inside, the bowling game quickly captured her attention. They had a lot of games, but this was really the only one that she was old enough to play. She did have a fun time at the coloring and craft table. This is the pumpkin she made. She is mad here because I wouldn't let her eat the glue stick. Bad mommy:) Laneah's favorite part was running around outside. She was drawn to the cars with bright lights and cool effects. One car that had a strobe light was her favorite. A lot of kids were scared of it (there was also spooky music playing) but Laneah walked right up to the trunk and just stood there staring. She kept saying "wow, cool". I think she would have stayed there all night if we had let her. Some people brought there dogs and that was a big hit with Laneah. Someone even brought their pet ferret. Cute! Laneah had a great time and didn't get very much candy (thank goodness) because she was busy running around. I think that she will have fun on Halloween.
Today Laneah is 22 months. She grows and changes so much; each day is a new experience for her and it is fun watching her learn new things and explore the world.
Favorite Songs and dances: Baby Bumble Bee Mr. Alligator Twinkle Little Star (she sings along and says "Dwinkle" instead of Twinkle, so cute!)
Just a few dance moves. I finally got the moon walk on video! That is not new at all, but new to video;) What is new is the attempted splits. She does that all the time now. Super cute.
Do the bunny hop! She loves to hop, she does it all day long. But it is especially fun when she has her bunny ears on.
A few of her new words and sounds: Apple: She is currently obsessed with apples. She would never eat them before, but I discovered that she only likes to eat them whole, she won't eat the sliced apples. She asks for apples and gets excited whenever she sees apples or things that look like apples when we are out and about.
Her newest animal sound is my favorite. Sometimes Laneah gets up in the middle of the night and can't go back to sleep. One of these nights, I was laying in her bed with her trying to get her to go back to sleep. I thought she had fallen asleep when all of the sudden she said "Whooooo....who..who...owl" I started cracking up. It was around 2 am and she was being a night owl. This was the first time she had ever made the owl sound and it completely took me by surprise. I was able to get her to say it on video while we were at Jason's mom's house watching conference. One day I got out my camera and she yelled "cheese!" I have no idea where she got it from. It is really cute when she says it, but unfortunately this is the face she makes when she says it...so most of her recent pictures show this expression:) Laneah will put her finger to her lips and whisper "shhh" now.
New things and current obsessions: "Melmo!" Laneah loves Elmo now, which is great for me because I get a break from Barney. She still wants to watch Barney, but loves Elmo equally. It is really cute because she calls him Melmo. She also likes the Wiggles, but I don't let her watch them very much because they don't have much educational value. She calls them "Gwiggles". I am not sure why she is adding letters before the word, because clearly she can say the word, but it is adorable. Laneah loves getting dressed up in my clothes. Here she put on my leather jacket, but she puts on my clothes all the time. She also likes to dress down. Keeping clothes on her is very difficult, as soon as you look in another direction, her clothes are off (luckily she does not do this in public). It wouldn't be so bad if she was potty trained....need I say more? She also thinks it is hilarious to come up behind me and pull my pants down, luckily she hasn't done this in public either, lol.
Her imagination is starting to come through. She likes to pretend to be animals, especially kitties and puppies. She will crawl around and say 'meow' or 'woof, woof'. Really cute. Laneah is really into coloring pictures with crayons. She also loves stickers. We play with these to things for just a few minutes at a time because she likes to eat the crayons and stickers and she also tries to put the crayons in her ears! Silly girl :) She loves talking on the phone, especially to Nana and Poppa.
She says hi and bye to everything, and I mean everything. All day it sounds like this "hi clock, hi flag, hi kitty, hi bike" Laneah has a really sweet little girl voice, but she can yell too:)
She likes to put on her own lotion.
Laneah is throwing temper tantrums all the time now. Any little thing can set her off so it is really difficult to take her anywhere right now. She also likes to hit, but the doctor told us we could, and should, start to use time out (woo hoo!) and we have been doing that. Hopefully that will work.
We just love our feisty little girl. She is also very sweet and loving. She likes to snuggle and give hugs, which makes up for all the hitting and temper tantrums. She is also excited for her baby sister. We love her so much!
When we found out that we were having a girl, two of our closest friends (both couples had baby boys) texted me within seconds of each other "claiming" Laneah for their little boy. Well, Dallas' mom, Kami, sent the first text and thus began the "betrothal" of Dallas and Laneah. (And I am using quotes because it is all in fun; Laneah and Dallas aren't really betrothed). Since Kami and I are great friends, we have play dates together with our kids. And to our surprise, Laneah and Dallas have this amazing connection. Most kids their age don't play with other kids, but Laneah and Dallas play together, and Dallas is even a year older than Laneah. These two can't spend enough time together, and when they are together, they are inseparable. They constantly talk about each other when apart. Dallas calls her "Neah" and Laneah calls him "Das". Laneah asks me at least once a day about "Das". And Dallas does the same with Laneah. (Also he used to call me Rachel, but now he just calls me "Mommy Neah" LOL)For one play date we went to Chuck E Cheese and when we left to get lunch across the street, Laneah and Dallas held hands and walked down the sidewalk together. Luckily, Kami had her camera handy because it was very unexpected, but so cute. Dallas just walked up to Laneah and gave her a hug. Dallas likes to make Laneah laugh. He makes funny faces and she cracks up. Playing their favorite game of "chase". Laneah will scream and then run, and Dallas will scream and run after her while they scream and laugh. Playing the piano on a play date. They both like to pet dogs.
At music makers during marching band. Dancing at a Kidsinger Jim concert. Eating popsicles together on a playdate.
Dallas likes to copy Laneah. When she decided to take a rest on the floor, so did he.
My favorite story of the two happened about a month ago. We were playing outside with Laneah and Dallas was walking down the street with his dad and little sister. Dallas saw Laneah and shouted: "Neah!" She looked up and they smiled and started running to each other arms open wide. Dallas was yelling "I comin' Neah, I comin'!" Right when he got close, Laneah turned and ran so he had to chase her and they started to play. It was the sweetest thing. We hope that they will stay best friends for a long time.
We have been chosen by a beautiful and amazing birth mother! We are so excited! Once again it was a very spiritual journey and we were blessed with God's guidance to help our family grow. A little baby girl will be joining our family in January!!!!!!!!!!
On Saturday we went to a Fall Festival put on by a local church. It was on a couple acres of property behind the church and filled with fun things to do, and everything was free. They had a petting zoo, pony rides, a game section, clowns, a moon bounce, a rock climbing wall, a hay maze, face painting and crafts. They also had balloons for the kids, hot dogs, soda, popcorn and treats. Laneah had a lot of fun running around. Her favorite place was the game section and the bubbles. We let her ride on a pony, but she got a little scared. It turns out that she didn't want to ride on the pony, she just wanted to pet it. Laneah petting the goats. The farmer showed the kids how to milk a goat too.
Laneah's cousins, Jordan and Blake climbing the rock wall. Laneah loved the game section where they had mini bowling, mini basketball, a tunnel, hula hoops and other games just right for a pint size person.
Laneah is still young, so we decided to get her arm painted instead of her face. She got a pretty pink, yellow and purple butterfly. After we had a yummy lunch of hot dogs and chips we had to take Laneah home for her nap. When she woke up we went to the pumpkin patch to get some pumpkins. We went to one of the local farms where the had rows and rows of pumpkins, lots of hay, scarecrows and some farm animals. The first thing Laneah did was run up to the pumpkins and tried to pick one up.
My little pumpkin with the little pumpkins. They had some forts made of corn husks that had openings on both sides. It was big inside and there were two barrels of hay in there to sit on. Laneah was running in and out and thought it was a really fun fort. All of us in the fort. Laneah in the fort with a pumpkin
Laneah coming into the fort. They had these cute little wagons to put your pumpkins in and Laneah liked to push the wagon. We ended up with three great pumpkins and we are going to carve and decorate them for FHE tonight. It was a packed, but fun day.
Laneah loves bikes. Every time she sees them she yells "bike!" and gets really excited. Earlier this week we were at Target and we saw this adorable Ariel tricycle and Laneah kept asking for it. Jason and I wanted to get her a tricycle for her birthday, but it is in the dead of winter and she wouldn't be able to ride it much. So we decided to get it as an early gift so she could get some practice and have some fun. Her legs were just a little too short to reach the pedals so daddy pushed her some and she "walked" the tricycle as in the video below.
The bike has a video screen, a talking ariel, and it blows bubbles. Here Laneah is playing with the sounds and video screen. Today we went and rode bikes and scooters on a play date with Laneah's BFF Dallas and his sister Scarlette. Laneah is drawn to the scooter, but isn't quite sure how to work it yet. I will do a post later about these two. They are so cute together.
Jason and I met at college in Hawaii. We were married in 2004 and moved to Maryland. We have two beautiful daughters and a son through adoption and live life to fullest.
Tonight was Trunk or Treat at our church. We have it every year for the kids at church. The kids play a bunch of games and then go trick or treating in the parking lot out of the trunks of people's cars. It is really fun and the kids really enjoy it.
Laughing while playing a game of chase with daddy before Trunk or Treat.
Before going in the church. Look at that pouty face! lol
The theme of the night. She was like Cinderella with these shoes.
Once inside, the bowling game quickly captured her attention. They had a lot of games, but this was really the only one that she was old enough to play.
She did have a fun time at the coloring and craft table. This is the pumpkin she made. She is mad here because I wouldn't let her eat the glue stick. Bad mommy:)
Laneah's favorite part was running around outside. She was drawn to the cars with bright lights and cool effects. One car that had a strobe light was her favorite. A lot of kids were scared of it (there was also spooky music playing) but Laneah walked right up to the trunk and just stood there staring. She kept saying "wow, cool". I think she would have stayed there all night if we had let her. Some people brought there dogs and that was a big hit with Laneah. Someone even brought their pet ferret. Cute!
Laneah had a great time and didn't get very much candy (thank goodness) because she was busy running around. I think that she will have fun on Halloween.
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