Lainie's Big Birthday Surprise

Justin and I had been asking Lainie what she wanted for her birthday for a while. We had planned on getting her a tricycle so she could learn how to ride it and use it on our walks. However, every time I asked her if she wanted a tricycle, she would say no. Here was an example of our daily conversations....

Mommy: "Lainie, would you like a tricycle for your birthday?"
Lainie: "No Mommy, I don't want a bike."
Mommy: "Would you like a pretty princess dress to wear?"
Lainie: "No, I don't want a princess dress."
Mommy: "Well, you love to color. Would you like some new crayons and things to do art with?"
Lainie: "No, I don't want colors."
Mommy: "Well, what would you like for your birthday, Lainie?"
Lainie: "I just want a kitty cat."

When your child asks for a kitty cat over and over again, it really is hard to continue to tell them no. It becomes even harder when you go visit PetSmart and she finds a cat, names him and then asks if he can come to her house. It becomes harder than that when you go back to PetSmart and allow her to play with the cat noticing that she and the cat absolutely love each other. And, it becomes even HARDER when her Daddy says she can have the cat without question. So, I guess you can guess what her big birthday surprise was. Daddy came home with "Greyson" aka "Spooks" last week after work. She was so surprised and SO happy to see him. They are absolutely inseparable and she refers to him as her "best friend!" Oh, and if you refer to him as a cat, she will quickly tell her he is not a cat....he is Spooks!

I actually wanted to name him Greyson, but she is absolutely sold on the name "Spooks." I have no idea how she came up with his name, but that is what she has called him from the minute she laid her little blue eyes on him! :) He really is such a sweet cat and loves kids. He lets Lainie Bug carry him around everywhere without a fuss. Bless his little "spooky" heart!

Lainie's expression as Daddy was walking up the stairs with "Spooks"

Pointing to her new favorite kitty cat!

Spooks meets Riley for the first time

The newest member of the Salmon family

County Fair Fun

Oh, I am so behind on blogging! I still need to post pics of Lainie's birthday, don't I? Ugh! Before I do that, I thought I would post pics of our trip with the Follis family to the County Fair. We had lots of fun even though Lainie had absolutely no interest in riding any rides whatsoever!! She wouldn't even talk about it.

She did get to go into a little Farmer's Market and pretend to be a farmer. That experience was really cute. We also got to see lots of animals! There were chickens, cows, pigs and piglets, little lambs (our favorite!), horses, goats, etc. We definitely plan to go back to fair next year as it was much more fun than we anticipated.

Happy 3rd Birthday Lainie!!

Happy 3rd Birthday to our precious little girl, Lainie! Three years ago today, I was give the most amazing and rewarding job I could ever imagine. I never understood a certain unconditional love until I met her three years ago. Of course, I love Justin unconditionally! However, the love a mother has for a child is indescribable. I am so proud of our amazing Lainie Bug!

At three years old, Lainie has become quite sassy and independent. She definitely throws more temper tantrums, is ever so very whiny, and loves to do things by herself! On the other hand, she is absolutely hilarious, has a very tender heart, absorbs things like a sponge, and such a little love!

One example of her new three year old ways....whenever you ask her if she wants to do something that she doesn't want to do at the time, her response is "NO, NEVER!!"

Mommy: "Lainie, take a bite of your carrots."
Lainie" "No, NEVER!"

Based on what we have experienced so far, living with a three year old is going to be very adventurous to say the least!

For those interested, the video above has been updated. Her third year starts at 9 minutes! Enjoy!

Our Little Ballerina

I honestly don't know that there are many things cuter in life than an (almost) 3 year old in her ballet attire! Lainie started ballet on Monday and loves it! We honestly struggled with making a decision between gymnastics and ballet for her. She loves to jump, flip, etc., so I really thing she would enjoy gymnastics. However, she is only (almost) 3, so Justin and I felt like she needed to do one or the other. I ended up deciding on ballet because when I asked her if she would rather do flips or be a ballerina, she told me she wanted to be a "rina."

She loves being a ballerina and actually was willing to have her picture made in her ballet clothes! :) She looked so cute and really enjoyed the class so much.

Sneak Peek

I took Emmie for her one year pictures last month and I think we got some really cute pics. Keri has been super busy lately, but she was able to post a few pics on her blog to hold me over until we get them all back! We tried to get a few of Lainie as well, and some of the girls together. As you know, Lainie is a little more difficult to photograph, but she did get a few cute ones from what I can tell!

For a sneak peek of the girls' pictures, click here:
www.kerikayphotography.blogspot.com

That is like SO 1970's

The girls and I were going shopping with some friends, and I decided to dress them in some of the dresses that my mom saved from when I was a little girl. Although these dresses are over 30 years old now, I still think they are pretty cute! I have several of the outfits that I wore as a child and the girls wear them still. Here are a few pics of them before we left for the day of shopping.

Lainie reading Em bible stories

Lainie Bug loves books!

Some cute pics of sweet and sassy Emmie!




Precious girl!

Political, I Am Not!

For those that know me well, it goes without saying that I absolutely H*A*T*E politics. I mean, with a passion.....HATE politics! Nothing gets on my nerves faster than people talking about politics. This might make me sound like an ungrateful citizen of my country, and that should go without saying that I absolutely am not. I love my country.

It should not surprise you that because of what I stated above, I rarely, if ever get involved in anything political. However, I am going to shock you and post something that I truly believe is only fair.

Congressman John Fleming from the state of Louisiana has proposed an amendment that would require congressmen and senators to take the same health care plan they propose for us. Under proposed legislation they are currently and curiously exempt. Sign the petition here.