I love coming up with a great excuse to bake with Miss Leyba. Today’s reason for throwing caution to the wind and eating some processed (but oh so delicious) sugar? Our favorite gluten-free chocolate brownie mix was on sale!

We’re all about the ultimate fudge brownie. And licking the spoon. After all, it’s terribly important to taste test while baking to ensure your treat is turning out right… just ask Miss Leyba!

I admit it: we frequently do diaper changes in the car. We’re rushing. We’ve been out running errands for a while. We lose track of time or have to do a quick change right now. It happens.

This week Miss Leyba decided to change her dolls diapers in (on!) her own little red convertible:

And just when you thought you had seen everything, here’s “Cat Leyba” getting her diaper changed on the steering wheel!!

While she took the whole thing very seriously, I thought it was rather hysterical.

Okay, I guess she is on the verge of smiling in the last two shots… probably because I was laughing so hard! We have so much fun together.

I have admired and considered buying eeBoo Lacing Cards to help Miss Leyba develop her fine motor skills, but couldn’t bring myself to spend $$$ on something that I could make fairly easily on my own. Well, surprise surprise, I haven’t had a chance to design, print off and punch any cards yet, but we found these adorable ones at our local thrift store for… two dollars! (instead of $14 for a new set)

Now I would not have personally picked this particular design, Fairies of the Field (I know, it’s adorable; it’s just not very us), but if going for them means I save $12 and also don’t have to make something similar (when I have enough on my plate as it is), then I’ll go for it!

A purchase at our thrift store also benefits our neighborhood hospice and keeps items like this from being thrown away, so it’s a win-win situation for all (except for the manufacturer, I suppose) and eco-groovy to boot. (Don’t worry, eeBoo, we already own several of your matching/bingo games and I CAN’T WAIT to get Miss Leyba your puzzle pairs.)

Looking for something similar? Amazon sells the Fairies of the Field design and other eeBoo lacing card that I think are cute include the Under the Sea Lacing Cards, Friendy Bug Lacing Cards and the Musical Friends Lacing Cards.

Miss Leyba hasn’t figured out the sewing action yet (we just bought them this afternoon), but in the meantime she’s having fun playing with the shoe laces and over-sized cards!

Any time there is a break in the rain, we slather on sunscreen and rush outside to enjoy the beautiful weather.

Spring has sprung! We have walks to take and gardening to do!

Oh, how I love a good deal.

Last week I found another Melissa & Doug Wooden Cutting Fruit Crate at our local thrift store for … drum roll, please… 4 dollars! (instead of $20) As far as we are concerned there is no such thing as too much play food for when friends come over.

We had a wonderful time.