Layla's new playset - custom made by the Ice Man

This weekend, we packed up the Envoy and trekked North for a visit to Crivitz. Over the past couple of weeks, Grandpa Ice has been working diligently on a fancy surprise for Princess Layla - per a recent request... Not too long ago, Layla asked Grandpa Ice for a swing. Well, obviously, he took that request to heart and went right to work. Not only did he build her a swing, he built her an entire play set! Now, every time we head to G'pa and G'ma's house for a visit, Layla has a full blown playground in the back yard!

Thank you Grandpa Ice and Grandma D... Layla is truly blessed to have you in her life!



The carpenter and his granddaughter... happy as can be.

The family... G'ma D, G'Pa Ice, and Little Miss Princess.

Rings! Layla is on her way to becoming an Olympic champ on the rings! She LOVED these things!

A perfect slide... Not too steep, not to sticky, not too slow. She loved it (and, for some reason, loved going down it with the bottle of bug spray).

Watch this! I'll jump up and grab the rings with one hand!!

First horseback ride!

On Saturday, our friends Greg and Kamie had us over to hang out and share their horses with Layla girl. Layla LOVES horses (not sure where she gets that, because mommy is scared to death of them), so she was SUPER excited to have this opportunity... thanks a bunch Grit family!

One of the most special parts of the day was getting to meet Nelly. Nelly is the baby horse (or "philly") that Dolly (the big mamma jamma that you'll see in the pictures) had about a week ago. Nelly was not an expected gift for the Grit family. They had no idea Dolly was pregnant (they bought her about 10 months ago, so she must have been pregnant then and the seller wasn't aware of it)... Last weekend, Greg went out to feed the horses and was shocked when he came upon Dolly's stable. There was Dolly, and her baby, who they named Nelly (maybe because when they saw her they said, "Whoa Nelly!"

Layla had a blast getting to pet the horses and loved her first horseback ride with daddy! What an exciting thing for her... When we drove up to Greg's house, there he was, having a Summer Shandy, sitting next to the world's biggest horse and her new baby. And, to top it off, Greg and Kamie have two German Shorthairs, so Hudson was also in Heaven! And, two kittens, so Layla was pretty excited about that (and, Hudson thought they were rabbits that needed to be destroyed so we had a few high blood pressure moments around that but all is good).


Layla and Adella, waiting for their rides! :)

The three muskateers - Hudson in front, then Keela, then Gretta

Adella riding Dolly, with Nelly following close behind. Check out how LONG Nelly's legs are!

Brand new baby Nelly.

Sleeeepin.

Daddy and Layla, out for a ride!

Getty-up!

Awe! Too cute!!!

Layla's First Dance Recital

I know many of you have already seen most of Layla's first dance recital pictures, but there are a few that I know don't have access to Facebook and I'm long overdue with updating the blog. Below are a few of my favorite Layla Bean pictures from her first dance recital, back in July.

And, here's a link to her tap routine, which I posted on YouTube (I'll update the posting later so that you don't have to navigate away from blogger): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9lZEqlXjoQ


Here's Layla, already in her designated "spot", just waiting for her teacher to put down her star place marker.
I love this picture... Sitting with perfect posture back stage, waiting for her moment to shine.

I think this was the part of the routine where the girls were supposed to be pretending to play trumpets.

Waiting for the music to start... and, perhaps, picking her nose.

Rosy red cheeks. Excited to perform, and proud to be back stage with all the big girl dancers!

Although this one is pretty blurry, I dig it. You can tell Layla has just spotted us sitting in the front row and is so jazzed to be up on stage!!!

Scratching her head, waiting for the music to start.