The PURPLE Present

David and I wanted to get her a guitar for her birthday. She loves to recreate her music class at home, playing David’s guitar that’s way too big for her. We felt she needed one more her own size.

She picked out this guitar herself. It’s a real child-sized (yet inexpensive) guitar that she can grow into rather than a toy one with poor sound.

To make it more child-friendly, we tuned the guitar to a G chord, so it really sounds great when she plays it. (Assuming, of course, that she doesn’t keep trying to tune it herself. I admit that right now it’s a little bit less in tune than it was originally. Ahem.)

The perfect, purple, birthday present! She loves it!

Year Three in Her Own Words

A look back over the past year…

January:

“Daddy! Are you?!” for Daddy, where are you?

Falling over and catches herself. Says “good catch!” to herself.

All rabbits are “Peter rabbits!” and so are bats, evidently.

“The Leyba’s coconut water!” evidently means the Leyba’s are drinking coconut water

David took a sip of cider and Miss Leyba said “Good job, Dad!”

To dog: “BACK! STAY BACK!” (with hand up for ‘stop’) then she walks over to pat him and he’s thrilled. ON HER OWN TERMS, right?!

Shouting, “Surprise!” and throwing her arms up above her head. Then adding, “It’s fun!”

February:

Rocking her baby doll, saying “Shh shh shh! Time to sleep! Close your eyes!” Repeated over and over again. Sounds very familiar…

She drops something and asks us “Are you okay?” even if we are halfway across room. “Be careful!”

“One moment. I’m working!”

Takes a sip of water, shouts, “Yum, yum, yum!” It isn’t that delicious.

Quickly memorizing, singing, and adapting the songs from Mamma Mia? “Honey, honey, how I wonder!” (instead of ‘how I want you!’)

March:

What do you want for dinner? “Food! Um… Ice cream cone!”

Informed me that she wants to go to Costco tonight. “Just a quick trip, Mom!”

Our two year old performs “So Long, Farewell” from Sound of Music each night before she heads up the stairs to bed. Auf Wiedersehen, Good Night!

April:

Any type of leafy green is called “salad.” Wilted and cooked vegetables included.

A little voice from the living room: “Care, Care, come here!” (Yes, David frequently calls me Care.)

May:


(On using a clear cup) “No, thank you! I need a purple cup.” (David found a purple one) “That’s fine.”

First words out of her mouth this morning while she was still asleep: “No!!!! Penguins!!!!!” Absolutely no idea.

Do you want some avocado? “No, thank you, Dad, I’m reading.”

June:

What does a fire truck say? “Fire, please!”

Reading “Are You My Mother” with David and now referring to him as her “Daddy Mother.”

July:

“Let’s go in the car! C-R-A!” Soooo close with that spelling…

“Oh no! Oh me, oh my!” Direct quote.

“I want to wear my new bra to [get] ice cream. Wait, it’s too big.” That would be because it belongs to mom.

Toddler has been using tweezers to remove pretend splinters in her feet. “I feel better! I don’t have to walk on my tip toes anymore!” Phew!

My daughter to the big kids at the playground, “I’m almost three years old… I turn three in a month.” Yeah, more like six months! :)

August:

Calling a yard stick a “garden stick”… hey, we call the garden “the yard” all the time too!

My daughter’s imaginary friend? Winnie-the-Pooh, of course! Evidently he fits in the palm of her hand. “He’ll get bigger! He’s growing.”

“My tummy led me home! I’m not Pooh-bear! I’m [Miss Leyba]!”

September:

“Do you like honey? Good. Me too.” (She’s eating honey on toast. Our compromise when she asked for a smackerel of honey.)

“I can’t fly. I don’t have wings. I will grow some!”

“Don’t go to work, silly David. Stay home with us!”

David says, “This is hard work.” Daughter replies, “Do you want Mama to do it?”

Toddler says, “I want a cookie!” I suggest a banana instead. She replies,”Um, okay.” Can’t believe my ears. This will never happen again.

David says, “Please be careful with my (@BrandonSandrson) book.” Toddler’s response? “Okay, I’ll try not to pull out any pages.”

October:

“Namaste, Daddy! Namaste, Mommy! Namaste, Lucy!” Someone loves her yoga class.

Nonstop chatter about our Colorado Trip. Investigating her winter clothing situation, “Do you think Uncle Lee will like this hat?”

Breakfast request, “potatoes and eggs AND pizza!!”

Evidently knows what M-O-V-I-E spells. My bad.

My daughter just announced that she wants a “Moon Penguin” tattoo. Luckily, “It’s okay if it washes off!” Phew!

Toddler did not go for dinner. I guess zucchini pizza (“I love it!”) sounds way different than it tastes (“Hmm. I’m going to play!)…

November:

About her doll: “Her middle name is Emily, but her full name is Lucy.” The Little Bear phase continues.

Emphatically, “He’s my Daddy. He belongs to ME!”

Surprised to find my daughter completely dressed herself this morning. Today’s outfit? Leopard print pants! My girl has style.

December:

Playing freeze dance: “Mama, freeze it! Freeze it!” So much for a surprise break in the music.

Singing a heartfelt song about a rutabaga.

At the gas station: “When I grow up, I am going to get gas every night!” She LOVES watching the meters showing how much gas we’re buying.

January:

“Daddy is crazy ’cause he goes to yoga in the dark. It’s so early!”

“Mommy, you are my sweetheart!”

We’ve had a great year.

Birthday Party Fun

An outdoor birthday party in January?! Was it too much to hope for?!

Thankfully the weather cooperated: 70 degrees, sunny and beautiful! We could not have wished for better weather for a winter birthday party!

We ate a delicious, kid-friendly lunch:


Clementines, cheese sandwiches, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, edamame, blueberries, raspberries, cucumbers and carrots with humus, babybel cheese, and chedder bunny snacks for the kidoes; grapefruit and walnut salad with a cheese platter for the parents.

We sang to the birthday girl:

She sang to herself too! (It’s a favorite song, after all!)

We decorated cupcakes:


Cake is serious business.

We scootered and rode bikes up and down the lane:




Happy birthday girl!

I could not have wished for a more perfect, fun party for my daughter! We all had a wonderful time!

(Of course, it helps that my closest friends are the mamas of my daughter’s closest friends. Makes for a great gathering for everyone.)

Happy birthday, sweetie!

Birthday Crown

Our blog countdown to the three-year old’s birthday party continues!

Today we share a mother-daughter project that’s been three years in the making.

The birthday girl and I made this special birthday crown based on Amanda’s crowns, adapting the template and technique in her inspiring, wonderful book, The Creative Family.

My daughter involved herself in each step of the project (no surprise there!). She picked the colors, dictated the embellishment shapes, and placement of all items. She hand sewed the green star-burst on the pink bird. She held my hand as I cut the felt, assisted me in pinning and gluing the embellishments, attached the velcro to the tags (omitting the elastic band in the back, allowing for a more seamless crown), and helped me sew the entire crown, pulling the needle through after I placed each stitch.

Let me tell you, this crown was a labor of love and so worth it.

Want to see it on her? That’s tomorrow’s post!

Labeling Juice Boxes

Our blog countdown to the three-year old’s birthday party continues!

When faced with the conundrum of how to keep nine kids worth of juice boxes straight, I set out to create labels with their names to adhere to the juice boxes.

Then I paused upon realizing that the kids, aged 2-4 years old, don’t know how to read yet.

Clearly some pictures were going to be involved.

I picked out favorite photos of each of the kids from my hard-drive and made 100 by 100 pixel sized avatars, if you will, for each of our party guests. Then I opened up a label template in Microsoft Word, copied and pasted each kids photo in, and wrote their names underneath. I then printed out several labels for each guest in case they wanted more than one juice box.

Easy! And SO worth it!