Ruben Jr. has an after game Party

Leila's First Birthday Package arrives

Greta, Jim, and Seamus Blau sent Leila her first birthday package by mail this week. Leila was very excited about it and wanted to open it herself. She loved every last bit of her package and wanted to immediately try out every thing. She asked to try on the cupcake and the "ondaweths." She lotioned up her doll the following day and applied her "lipth-tick," as often as she could remember. I, was not allowed to try it at all, ever... greedy little thing.

Chalking the Driveway

These pix are from a month ago. Leila enjoys drawing on all kinds of surfaces and with all types of mediums. We drew with her. When she saw Shannon finished the dinosaur, she went to stand inside its mouth and said, "Oh-no, Dinothor eating me!"

Jackolantern and Calaca from Dia De Los Muertos

Here is a picture Leila took of her baby jackolantern and her calaca. She decorated it at a Lawndale Dia de Los Muertos festival and art exhibit. We did a lot on halloween. Cooked up two types of pasta. One was black linguini with shrimp and arugula in a red sauce. The second was a red chili linguini with butternut squash and pepitas. It was sweet and spicy and good mix of textures. Leila had been wanting me to cook the "scawy pasta" since three days before. I drew the face on the jackolantern and Shannon carved it out. Leila stuffed it the next day with hot cheetos, pirate's booty, and some change. It's starting to wrinkle a bit, pretty soon it's going to melt into its insides.

Leila Makes Friends Around the Neighborhood

It's nice to see Leila pick up bugs of all kinds without thinking twice about it. We had a very tough time convincing her that it would be a good idea to let her friend the caterpillar go home.

The next day she found this little guy.
She kept him for a long time. Took him for a ride on her motor scooter. Good times! (I am not sure if the lady bug was alive at the end of the excursion but at least he had a moto ride before kicking the bucket.)
Shannon documented their time together. The lady bug at first rode on the back of the bike. You will notice a tiny dot there that Leila is trying to make sure has not fallen or run away.
In her right hand she is holding the tiny bug as she cruises.

Halloween 07

This year Leila dressed as the Ferngully, a rainforest fairy. Here are pix of the trick or treating with her cousins.