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.

Prima Ballerina

Layla's first curtsey! Awe!!!
I love being a dancer!!!
Chhheeeeeeeeze (and, Hudson says Cheese too... the big dummy wouldn't get out of the darn pic)!
She HAD to sit in her car to pose for a picture. Hilarious.

Yesterday was Layla girl's very first day of dance class. She's taking ballet, tap, jazz and poms at the Dream Center in Hartford. It was adorable and heart warming all at the same time (and, a little sad, as my little baby is not a little baby anymore, but instead a beautiful ballerina full of curiosity and wonder ready for her first dance).

The dance studio is set up so that parents can stay and watch, but the kids aren't distracted because we're behind a one-sided mirror. Instead of pressing their mugs up against a window, yelling, "Mommy! Mommy! Come in here! See me dance," they instead admire themselves in the mirror while their mommys (and yes, some daddys) admire them from the other side. It's priceless.

I wasn't able to take pictures at the actual dance class for two reasons; 1) I'm not sure they would've turned out through the one-sided mirror / window thingie and 2) I forgot my camera. Yep. I did... Give me a break, it was a suuuuuper long day at work and I think I was just so JAZZED about dance starting that it was all I could do not to forget my own shoes. I did, however, take pictures in the back yard after class. LOVE how proud she looks!!

Happy Birthday to the Most Distinguished Dog in the World

Dear Hudson,

Today, you are five years old. In human years, that's 35. So, you have surpassed the age of your owners and are now the "senior" in the house. What an accomplishment, and what a shock... These past five years have flown by like nobody's business. When we brought you home, you were a tiny, fat little pup, who's ears dangled on the floor when you ran. You were a champ from the start and loyal from day one.

Hudson, you were my baby boy and my little one who "needed me" just after your daddy left on deployment. Although you were a complete and TOTAL spaz for the first year (okay, three years), you made me laugh, kept me on my toes, and brought many smiles to my face when you'd nuzzle me and fall asleep on my shoulder (all 65 lbs of you, eventually).

We're looking forward to making more wonderful and hilarious memories with you. One that we'll add to the memory books that just happened yesterday; After five years, you finally grew up the courage to jump out of the back of your dad's truck. Thankfully, Jake was only traveling about 3mph, but in any event, I'd really like to know the thoughts that were running through your head at that moment because man, it was a far drop. Jake said that all of a sudden, he looked to his left and BAM, there you were. Looking at him like, "Holy Shit. I did it. And it wasn't nearly as glorious as I thought it was going to be. It was scary as hell and I just saw my life flash before my eyes. Tennis balls and all."

Happy Fifth Birthday, Huddy Duds. Dudley Joes. Duddies. Roy. Roysiph. Slap Nuts. Porch Hound. Randolf. Shovely Joe. H Dazz. Hud Dazz if you will. Thunder Foot.

And, of course, The Most Distinguished Dog in the Word.