Zoo Trip

Oh yeah, this zoo trip was over a month ago, but hey, I'm posting pics now so shut it (I say that with all the love and humor in the world).


This was Layla's last field trip for the summer, and man was it fun. They had enough chaperon es to let Layla and I be 1 on 1, so it was like we got our very own "Mommy and Layla day" at the zoo. We got to do our own thing, see whichever animals we wanted to, whenever we wanted, and we rode the carousel and choo choo train a couple of time too. We even stopped for a few snacks and on one occasion, Layla actually uttered the words, "How 'bout we take a quick rest?" Amazing, as I am quite certain I've never heard those words come out of her mouth.


The trip was a full day, so none of the kids had a nap. Let me tell you, by the afternoon, there were some dragging little ones. On the bus ride home, I had Layla sleeping on one side of me, and her tiny peanut friend Alanna (girl on the left in the picture below) sleeping on my other side.

All in all, this was by far one of my favorite mommy / Layla days I've had yet. It was so awesome to just hang out with Layla one on one and really interact with her and see what excites her. And watching her "lead the way" like a very confident little girl was the best. I can't wait for the next fun thing we get to do together... Here we come, pumpkin patch!!!

Chuggin' a lemonade on a warm late summer day!

Layla's favorite animal at the zoo is the zebra, so naturally, she picked the zebra for her carousel ride!

Cheeeeeeze!

Layla on the choo choo train.

Here's my ticket! All aboooaaaard!

Layla and her friend Jade being goofy at lunch time.

From left to right: Alanna, Layla and Jade. BFF's!

RRRRaaaaaar!!! Yes! This lion actually got right up in our grills! It was awesome!

So adorable... mommy lion and daddy lion, snuggling.

Layla w/ cheese popcorn on her face, standing in front of the lion. Not sure what they were looking at.

I think Layla was pointing out zebras in this one (her favorite).

Taking a snack break next to the pond. We also threw a few snacks in for the ducks.

My little flower child.

More snacks! I think was right after she asked to take a quick rest. :)

Shark tank!

Here, you can see Layla's zoo checklist - an awesome checklist with pictures and facts about the animals that my coworker made for her to take on our trip!

Baby Girl Turns 3 (on Sept 6th)

Gamma D, admiring Layla's new jewelry and purse from Auntie Tee.

Layla putting on her camo hat from Auntie Tee to model for the group.

Tired Bday girl, showing off her fancy Bday cupcake. Notice the blank stare. We were so beyond nap time here.

Grandpa Rog and Layla girl. Grandpa gave Layla this Tinker Bell princess outfit.

Nonnie and Layla. Awe.

Layla admiring her cupcake.

Layla girl, blowing out candles!

Cheeese!!!!

I'm baaaaack! ;) Oh yes ladies and gents, it's true. I'm blogging and I'm not dead. No siree! I won't bore you with reasons and excuses for my serious lag in posts ("lag", really? Is that even a real word?). Instead, I'll just give a brief "overview" of the latest haps in the Sherman house...

Jake started his new job at Plymouth and is loving it. The staff sounds amazing, community is great and students aren't complete idiots. ;)

Jake's commute has been a real challenge for the entire family - he leaves the house before Layla or I are even out of bed, and often isn't home until after Layla is in bed. We're managing, as best we can, and when we are all together as a family, we make the most of it because we know how precious the time really is.

Since Layla has turned 3, she's become quite the little miss "I'm all grown up and I know what I want". She's testing mommy's patience, especially in the recent months since daddy isn't always around to put an instant stop to her less than desirable listening skills. Last night we had a rough night, after Layla decided that instead of brushing her teeth and going potty, she instead would rather throw herself on the floor and have a tantrum about wanting to stay up and watch more of the movie we were watching (Glee). The night ended w/ me picking her up like a sack of potatoes and putting her in bed with the choice to sit there and cry w/out snuggles, or jump in my lap for some snuggles and to discuss the night's happenings so that we could learn something from what had happened. To that she answered, "I want my daaaaaaddy!" When I told her that daddy would provide the same options, she chose to snuggle and talk. My little lovely.

Let's see, what else... Work for me is INSANITY. But I won't get into the nitty gritty cuz I know no one cares about marketing in the world of finance. You're welcome.

There's more to come, but for now I'll cut this update short... Thanks for remaining fans - if there are any of you still out there!!!

Oh, and p.s. - the mansion on Foxtail will be up for sale soon. This is my test to see who really follows us on the blog. :)

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.

Layla's First Camping Trip

This weekend we took Layla girl on her very first camping trip. Real camping too (none of that pansie ass trailer / pop-up camper camping)! ;) We traveled far, all the way to Pike Lake State Park on Hwy 60. This was our attempt at ensuring we had an emergency escape route in case things got hairy with the kids (Mason, who's just over 18 months old) and the Schultz's came along for the experience. Thank God for that strategy, because Saturday afternoon it rained cats and dogs. We decided to pack up only the necessities after the rain hit and head back to the Sherman pad for dinner and clean up, with the intent to go back to the site after the rain. After realizing the rain wasn't going to have mercy on us, we surrendered and took a knee on camping. But, we made it a fun night w/the kids and grown ups at "Camp Sherman". :)

Friday night and Saturday were suuuuper fun... Bless Jason and Jake... they hit the campsite early on Friday afternoon and got everything set up for us so that when the wives and kids arrived we were all set to camp and have fun! Friday night we cooked up some grub, chased the kids around the fire to avoid any charred toddlers, threw the ball for the addict, Hudson, while Marley observed Hudson and relaxed with the humans. The kids had a blast with the glow sticks we brought for them (see video) and loved sitting by the fire with the grown ups. Both kids did fantastic (except for one random outburst from Layla during the night) sleeping in the tents and on Saturday both families (separately, due to conflicting nap times) hit the beach for some fun in the sun. While we were there, Layla lucked out and got to climb into a fire truck and ambulance (there was a family reunion going on and the Hartford Fire Dept came as an event for the day).

Once the beach trip was over, we headed back to the site. The rain started shortly after we got back from the beach, and it was coming down like it hadn't rained in years. When the rain started to creep into our tents, we made the executive decision to bail.

All in all, the trip was a success and I'm looking forward to many more camping trips with our little trooper in the future!

More pictures to come... Blogger is being a jack ass right now (as it always is... does anyone hate Blogger?).

Meyer's Visit and 4th of July

Alright... So I've continued on with my legacy of being a bad mommy blogger. I've got nothing to say about that except that we've been busy and I just can't stomach being on the computer any longer than I have to since I'm glued to it during the week at work. Boo.

I'll start w/the Meyer visit. Theresa ("Auntie Tee"), Brian ("BMeyer"), Logan ("Logie") and Cody ("Stinky Mouse") came to visit two weekends ago. Theresa was a peach and spoiled me with about 87 bottles of choice wine and a facial at Azana spa! Thanks girlie... I let Theresa take all the snaps for the weekend, and because she's some sort of super blogger mommy, she had the snaps and summary of our weekend posted w/in days of their visit. What better way to share our weekend w/ The Sherman Life blog followers than to plagerize her entry?? But before doing so, here's my contribution: The weekend with the Meyer's was great. Here's a visual to sum it up:

And, for more details on the fun, take a look at Theresa's bad mama jama entry.

The 4th of July this year was Layla's first experiencing full on fireworks... and man did she love them!!! Her favorite part was sitting on Jenny's lap, yelling out the colors of each of the fireworks as they blasted off. Did she sit by her mommy and daddy you ask? Nope. She misses Jenny and Pup dearly, so sat on Jenny's lap, right next to Pup. Too funny.

This year was also the first time Layla actually joined the rest of the kids (Roemer kids) at chasing candy that was thrown out at the parade. Honestly, watching her stand at the curb and hesitate when mommy yelled, "Layla run! Go into the road and get some candy!" was endearing and hilarious... All this time we've been telling her to "Never, ever, ever go in the road without holding a grow-up's hand," and now her very own mommy is basically pushing her into the road right in front of a monster fire truck. In the end, she made out with a lot of candy and had a blast doing it. I think the 4th of July might be her new favorite holiday.

My pocket full of sunshine... with her new "magic" glasses that turn to sun glasses when she goes outside.

The fam at the fireworks... before Layla decided to trade families.

The Roemer babies... Clay and Ally. So festive!

Future lovers. See how Layla is trying to be promiscuous??? Oye.