Random January Pics

Outing with Lisa

Aunt Lisa and her friends took Leah to the Natural History Museum all by herself for her birthday. 

She LOVED the individual attention almost as much as she loved the precious gem exhibit. 

Leah absolutely loves jewelry,accessories, and, now, diamonds, rubies, and emeralds.

Leah's 4th Birthday

Leah's 4th birthday party was a year in the making. She celebrated for weeks, and I think we had four different parties to commemorate. 

The highlight for her was her friend party. She had been planning it for a year, and it didn't disappointed. 

We talked for months about her cake, and she really wanted a princess cake. I didn't want to pay the bakery so I just made a mix cake and bought some figurines from the Disney Store. It was simple and easy, and she loved putting all the characters in place. 

We invited all of Leah's friends from church, and we had a crowd. They had fun, and I think Leah felt special. She was really nice to let all of her guests open their own presents. 

Even with the family gifts, she let Sarah open some and always shared with her. It's sweet to see. 

Four Years Old

Four has been such a great age for Leah. All of a sudden she seems so grown up and mature in so many ways. She is very inquisitive and wants to know how everything works and why. She is not satisfied until she really understands. 

The biggest change is how she treats Sarah. While she has always been really good with her sister, she is even more calm and patient with her. You can tell she really loves and cares for her sister, and it's so sweet to see how much Sarah looks up to her.

Often times they will be playing, and I'll hear Sarah say "Mommy, Mommy." When I go down to see what she needs, Sarah will look at me like why are you here and say, while pointing at Leah, "No, THIS Mommy."

Leah is really into accessories and clothes. She's been dressing herself since she was 18 months, and she is really good at it. She will often add a little flower clip to her headbands or shirt.

Leah loves necklaces and has quite a collection. A few weeks ago, I let her pick out a few necklaces that we inherited from my Grandma Sides. She was thrilled, and she picked two to wear to her friend Tyce's house.

Tyce's Mom told me she over heard Leah telling him, "Oh Tyce, I just love wearing my dead grandma's jewelry." 

Her Greek ancestry is coming out in her food tastes. She loves banana peppers, feta cheese, and pickles. She will eat feta cheese by the spoonful straight from the carton.  

She also loves avocados, and she makes her own guacamole adding in the right spices, mixing it up, and tasting it until its just right. When I let her pick avocados at the grocery store, she insists that we buy at least by 5.   

Four Year Stats

Height: 41 inches, 75th percentile
Weight: 36 pounds, 50th percentile

Williamsburg

Luckily all of us got over the flu before my parents came in January. 

While they were here, we took a week-long getaway to Williamsburg. It was so much fun. 

The weather wasn't great, but it didn't matter. The girls loved being at the resort, doing crafts each day, and going to the swimming pool. It was nice to get away from the daily routine.

David took the Amtrak down to meet us on Wednesday evening to celebrate Leah's birthday and spend the remainder of the week with us. 

Flu

We rang in 2013 with the flu. It was awful.

Leah actually got sick twice. She just got over a quick 24-hour bug when David got terribly sick with something else. I'd never seen him so sick. 

The doctor said that it was lucky he got a flu shot, or he would have been sick for twice as long.  

The sickness made its way through all of us and took us out for an entire week. The best thing that came out of it was David and I watched two entire seasons of Downton Abbey.