Lailah, ice cream, and having kids of my own

This short video from a year ago always makes me laugh. She is always so crazy. I think back about my own childhood - and I truly don't have any good memories of growing up - not sure whether this is because I have a truly bad memory, or if I actually didn't have any "fun" as a child with my parents. I think of the two of them, my mom was pretty stiff, and rigid in her ways (no spilling of ice … [Read more...]

New credit/debit card – surprise!

My local bank recently sent a letter indicating they were replacing my old debit card with a new "chip" card and offered me a choice of either their default (boring) design, or I could upload a photo to use in it's place. I think it came out really good (this picture of the card is fuzzy in some areas since I used photoshop to remove the numbers/dates, as well as the "chip" that was growing out … [Read more...]

Blogging about Lailah vs. re-watching “Better Call Saul”

Blogging about Lailah is so much better than re-watching S1 of "Better call Saul" (before moving onto S2). I'm pretty sure I left some good Lailah stuff out (with tonight's Lailah post) - that's what happens when you're an old fart and your brain has become cold pasta, and the Lailah encounter that you're trying to remember happened two days ago. Next time, I think, I'll use one of those fancy, … [Read more...]

More to blog about this weekend, but got Lailah tomorrow

Man, I've still at least 2 more (interesting) stories to go, and I've got Lailah to myself tomorrow - I'm never gonna to catch up with blogging the stuff that happened this past weekend. Have I mentioned what happened on Sunday?? Heaven! (How does that song go??) Doesn't matter - I was invited to go boating on Lake Minnetonka! What a great afternoon. With a great bunch of loving people. Will … [Read more...]

Saturday’s outing with Lailah

To set the stage: My kitchen breakfast nook area has a huge window looking out toward the walk leading to my front door. <you'all have probably seen it in my Lailah kitchen table videos.> I'm eating breakfast this past Saturday morning, reading my newspaper (on my e-device). And, I hear some giggling outside, which makes me look up. And, I see this little girl looking in my window, … [Read more...]

Lailah, painting model cars

Lailah decided she wanted to paint one of her "Hot Wheels" cars on Tuesday. It's original color was white. I think she needs a bit more practice if she wants to become a professional body shop paint person. (I told her, don't give up your day job, just yet.) … [Read more...]

Lailah and a child’s hand

After ~thirty-five years as an adult and not knowing what's it's all about, I am now able to relate to this short essay below (re: a child's hand laying casually on your arm, or their hand touching/exploring your face, or a tiny hand in your hand, walking together, outside), due to a little girl entering my life four years ago. It's been a truly wonderful, and beautiful, eye opening experience for … [Read more...]

Surprise visitor today

I am having a guest / visitor today, and we're going to have a wonderful time together today. She truly rocks my heart. Can't. Wait. To. Enjoy. The. Day. With. Her. … [Read more...]

Singing debut of Lailah

Lailah sings … [Read more...]

Lailah and growing up

Tired. Very tired. Had an opportunity to be with the girl today. Notice I didn't say "the little girl"? There are times when it's readily apparent she's growing up. So fast. Spent the entire day with her, from around 11am to about 8pm. Tired. Too tired to type up one of my stories. But, if I don't do it now, I'll forget everything by the morning. Supposed to go to the Eagan Art Fair - … [Read more...]

A Lailah memory on Facebook

Wow, from a year ago, even then she had an amazing personality (with making me laugh). I had so much fun all of last year having her babysit me on a weekly basis. This year, the visits are not as frequent (every 3-4 weeks), and, boy, do I truly miss her! I am so glad I was able to spend as much time as I did with her - just an amazing and loving experience. And, now, she's growing up so fast. Too … [Read more...]

Lailah thoughts

(this was part of another post, but I decided to separate them...) I was able to spend time with Lailah twice this weekend. Friday night was "Finding Dory" and then, we spent most of the day together on Saturday, going to a children's book reading session at B&N on Saturday morning, where an employee reads a couple of books to the children - we've done this a few times in the past, but this … [Read more...]

Dinner and movie with Lailah

The little one took me to dinner tonight ("fast food"), and then, we went to see the new Disney movie "Finding Dory". Each time I see her, I am slowly starting to realize she is no longer 2 or 3, she is now 4: she sat in her own seat for the majority of the movie, only sitting on my lap for maybe 10 minutes. She didn't fidget at all. She is such a well behaved little girl. I think she liked the … [Read more...]

Lailah and Grand Days

Had a surprise opportunity to spend the day with the little girl today. We went to Grand Days in Saint Paul. There is a special area just for children where they had a pony ride (which she loved), two different inflatable bouncy houses - we ended up doing both bouncy houses - twice, because we'd bought $10 worth of tickets and had to get rid of them somehow. She wanted (and got) some … [Read more...]

Lailah and her iPad

A year ago. That iPad was kind of an obsession with her - not any longer when she's with me. … [Read more...]

Grad ceremony and cameras (and little girls)

Omg, so much to share, don't know where to start. (Maybe, we'll only share one story right now) FYI: If you bring your 4 year old granddaughter to a one-time event, such as someone's college graduation ceremony, don't let them play with the camera before taking the pics. Camera "setting" icon was supposed to be on "green/auto". Ended up set on an icon of a "track/field runner". Which, if you're … [Read more...]

Lailah visiting after the grad ceremony

Icing on the cake tonight, perfect ending to a perfect day. Got to spend time with, and play with my little girl for the last four hours, first, at the "water park" (which unfortunately didn't have the water turned on yet), but they also have a huge playground with a huge jungle gym, swing set, slides, etc. We played there for a long time. Then we painted for a bit, read a few books (a new one … [Read more...]

Star Trek, Red Shirts, and Lailah

Almost every episode, a Federation "red shirt" from the Enterprise would somehow be killed, and Bones (Dr. McCoy) would be kneeling by the guy, checking his pulse, then while looking up at Kirk, say the words: "He's dead, Jim". (It really was like clock work) [I taught this phrase to Lailah more than a year ago, and she still says it to me, knowing i will laugh and laugh when she says it.] … [Read more...]

Lailah – spin art painting

"We" (the "Royal" We) bought this kid's art device, a splatter/spinner thing-a-ma-bob, in early or mid December. You know, the kind where you put a piece of card stock into it and it spins it around, and you then squirt paint onto the card stock as it spins, causing these multi-colored circle things... After the first one or two times using it in December, we (not the royal we, but Lailah and I) … [Read more...]

Lailah sightings

Lailah sightings have been a bit more further apart than usual, this last month or two. She is such a busy girl these days! This is one of two short videos we found of her, dated yesterday. We don't know the exact location where these were made, or even who the videographer/narrator is... First vid is only a minute long and the second is 3-1/2 mins long. [We also found a couple of brand new … [Read more...]