Leah

Leah or "L" (Aunt Lisa calls her this) or Eah or Leah Lou

Leah is almost five, and she is a very independent girl who knows what she wants. 

She started preschool this year at Bethel Lutheran Church. She has a lot of friends that go there so it's been nice for her to be around some familiar faces. It also helps to have people to carpool. At least two days a week, we have extra friends that come over to eat lunch and play with the girls. 

She loves learning and looks forward to her classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings. I wasn't super excited about preschool when we started thinking about it last year. Now, I'm glad we did it, because I see how much she loves it, and it's nice to have something for her to do.  

Leah is super stylish. 

She picks out her own clothes every morning -- and she usually changes them two to three times a day. I'm usually surprised at what she puts together. 

Her outfits are usually creative. She mixes colors and patterns and rolls up leggings, ties shirts, uses belts in creative ways. Sometimes she wants to cut up clothes or gloves or scarves to change them -- I haven't given in to that yet. 

Once she begged for some adult socks that were left over from the young women gifts. I told her over and over that they wouldn't fit her. She insisted. I gave in. As soon as we got home, she cut the foot part off and made them into adorable leggings. 

See Mom. They fit. Of course they do. 

She loves shoes, and she has about six pairs (thanks Aunt Lisa and the JCrew warehouse sale). She still wants more. Girly ones with heals and glitter and flashing lights. She's claimed three pairs of mine that I don't wear much when she gets old enough to wear them. 

Leah loves her sisters. She watches out for Sarah. She loves on Anna and loves to hold her and make her laugh and be around her when she's awake. 

Leah likes her space. She doesn't love to cuddle or hug or give kisses. Every once and a while, she'll put her arm around you or sit extra close to you on the couch. 

Unless you are Anna, then she kisses you nonstop all day long.  

She loves her family, and she loves being home. 

She has lots of friends and people like to be around her. 

At the mall food court once a girl came up to us and said to Leah, "Hey! I saw you leaving the play area, and I wanted to play with you. Can I eat lunch with you?" It's nice that so many kids come up and want to play with her, because she isn't one to go up to others. 

She is courteous and kind and attentive and very, very cautious. 

She is smart and inquisitive and obedient. 

Two Month Stats

Height: 24 inches, 54th percentile
Weight 11 pounds, 2 ounces, 8th percentile

Anna Lyn

or Anna Banana Bo Banna

Does anyone else take a series of pictures and have a hard time deleting them?

I love these pictures of Anna, because they capture her personality at this moment in her life. 

She smiles a lot and giggles and generally is really happy.

Anna is so slobbery! She is always blowing raspberries and drooling. She's the first of my babies to have a wet shirt by the middle of the day from her slobber!

She loves to stand and jump. 

We got the jumperoo out a couple of weeks ago, and she stands in it while we eat dinner. It will keep her happy for quite a while. 

She is really strong. She holds her neck up like a baby twice her age and can almost sit up on her own. 

She sucks her fingers and chews on toys like Flounder the Fish, her Duckie, Elephant, and teething keys.

She doesn't really like a binkie, but will suck on it for a little bit before she starts chewing it. 

She doesn't like riding in the car when she should be sleeping. It's about the only time she cries. 

She likes to nap in her room. 

She has a good routine, and she is always asleep sometime between 6:30 and 7:30 depending on her naps that day. She'll sleep until 11. After that feeding, she's been waking up every two hours or so for the last couple of weeks, and that's been exhausting. I'm hoping it's a growth spurt, and she will grow out of it soon. 

When you smile at her, she can't help but give you a smile so big back that it forces her to look away. It's adorable and just melts your heart. 

She seems to talk the most to David when he gets home from work just chatting away about her day. 

She loves her sisters, and they love her so much.  

Sarah's Birthday Party

Summer birthdays are the best!

Sarah wanted an Ariel swim party, and lucky for her, our party planner (Auntie Em) was coming for a visit and was able to help plan the party. 

We wanted to have a water blog, which is a tarp duck taped together and filled with water. 

I had David working on it all morning--picking up supplies, taping the edges with water proof duck tape. 

When we filled it up, there was a slant in the back yard and it didn't work. Bummer. 

So we put it at the end of the slip n slide which worked fine. We also had some other games like a water balloon launch, fishing pond, and frog jump. 

The water balloon launch was the favorite. 

We had goldfish, fruit snacks, chips, salsa, guacamole, watermelon, and turkey roll ups to eat. 

We invited the neighbors and some close friends. It was really fun!

She loved the presents of course. 

Auntie Em helped her decorate her Ariel cake. 

She is such a sweet girl!

After the birthday party ended, the neighbors didn't want to go home. They played in the back until I had to finally say the Stathis girls are coming inside. 

We really love where we live. 

It's so nice to have friends that live next door to us that play with the girls for hours and hours. It makes it nice for me and little Anna who likes to stay home and sleep all day.  

Even though we don't have a backyard, we have a park just a couple houses down, and it's nice to feel so connected to your neighbors just by stepping outside your front door. 

Three Year Stats

Height: 38 inches, 70th percentile
Weight: 32 pounds, 60th percentile

Sarah Neeley

Sarah, or Sayah as she calls herself,  is three! 

There are so many things we love about her.  

 Sarah loves to cuddle, and when she is upset she can always be calmed down with a hug. 

She likes to eat carrots with "branch", bananas, daddy's favorite cheese (sharp cheddar), crackers, grapes, broccoli, beans, salad, and smoothies. She LOVES orange juice in the morning with waffles or pampakes. 

She's a good eater and is always so proud when she likes something like Mommy and Daddy. She's always willing to try something new.  

Sarah is such a good helper, and she's tidy. She puts her clothes away and organizes all her toys. She also does something the first time I ask her, and the day-to-day things she doesn't even need  me to remind her. 

Sarah has such a funny sense of humor. She has great one-liners, like one night David asked her to eat her dinner, and she looked at him and said, "Aye, Aye Captain"

She loves to be silly and laugh. She also tends to think potty humor is the funniest.

She adores her sisters. She is loves to play with Leah, and she is so sweet with Anna. 

She loves taking care of her baby dolls, playing polly-pockets and barbies with Leah. 

Her best friend is our next door neighbor Ashlee. She lights up when she sees her, and makes sure Ashlee is well taken care of at our house. 

She is a really good artist and colors as good as, if not better, than Leah. She is very particular about the colors she uses and never colors outside of the lines. 

August Highlights

August brought a new job for David, birthday celebrations for Sarah and me, and our wedding anniversary. 

Auntie Em also came to visit.  

The girls taking Sophie for a Summer walk. Notice Leah is wearing three skirts.  

On he way home, she styled it up a little differently. 

A little light exercising. 

Anna started talking up a storm. 

Popsicle and nonstop play with the neighbors.

More smiles from Anna. 

Dress up with friends. Aren't those just the cutest girls?

Sorting through three to six month clothes.

David started a new job as the IT director for a non-profit organization called America's Charities. 

His office is only 20 minutes away so we meet him usually once a week for lunch. 

Ah, he's so handsome and sweet with his girls. 

Whenever we take Sophie to the park, she gets swarmed by kids.