Tea Party, Anyone?

Lily decided to invite a few "friends" over for tea this afternoon.

She poured tea for her kitty friends and purple Paz (Yes, all penguins are Paz- only relevant to those of you who have Hi-5 watchers!)

The party grew and grew, and Lily continued to place the kitties' faces in their cups after pouring their tea.

Then, she moved on to the real kitties to see if they wanted some of her tea, too!

On a new note: Lily has officially decided that only Lily will choose what she wears each day. So, now we have a drawer of outfits for her to pick from. It is much easier than hearing "No way, Baba" or "No way, Mama" each time we get her dressed. :0)

What Lily says...

At the moment, I am remembering happier days for Lily. This weekend, she has had her first virus. She threw up this morning for the first time and second time. Of course, she is still a child. She threw up while getting ready to slide in the playroom; therefore, the mess went all over the slide. On the bright side, it was pretty easy to clean up. After she threw up, she sat there for a second, then she said, "Shewy, Mama." A few minutes later, she was playing again...kids?....and she threw up again on herself this time. She was extremely upset that her shirt was wet. So, we had to get new clothes on her quickly. But, did that curb her playing enthusiasm. Are you kidding? Now, is she fussier than normal... yes. Is she much needier than normal.. yes. But, did she still pull out the playdoh and demand that we play in the kitchen... yes! Kids are too funny.
One other moment I have to share happened before the sickness this morning....
Lily is speaking in short sentences a lot now. One she loves to say has to do with everyone we know sliding on her slide. So, she starts with herself, then she says, "Mama slide, too." Of course, I slide, too. Then, she starts naming stuffed animals, people who aren't here, and lastly she always wants our cats to slide. The first time she said it, we thought it was so cute that we got two of our cats and forced them to slide for Lily. What were we thinking? So, this morning, she said, "Jo Jo slide, too, Mama." I responded," You want Jo Jo to slide?" Lily replied, "Yes!" Jamie voiced his opinion, "Have you asked Jo Jo if she wants to slide?" Lily quickly replied, "Yes." Then Jamie cameback with this statement, "Well, what did she say?" Lily stopped and stared at Jamie for a split second, then she said, "Meooow." (in her perfect Jo Jo voice.) We cracked up! You never know what children are going to say, do you? Besides, it sounded just like something Jo Jo would say. :0)

P-A-R-I-S

In December of 2002 after my Mom passed away, Jamie and I took a trip to Paris, France. When you lose someone who means everything to you, it seems as though life takes on an entirely different meaning. Life is too short, and I had always desired to see Paris for myself. So, we went, and we had a wonderful time. We are passing on our love of travel to Lily, and she already knows so much about Paris (especially the Eiffa Towwur). We can't wait until she is old enough to go back with us for a return trip.

Sorry Abby!

This was one of our many funny moments with Lily over the weekend. You have to really listen closely to hear her tell Abby- her K'nex Abby made with building blocks- that she is sorry. Lily has started saying complete sentences now like "Where did Baba go?" and "I love you, Mama- I love you, Baba" and "Lily slide, too, Mama" and " Excuse you, Baba" and "Lily go to bed now". Who says all those things about terrible 2's? I love this age!

Party 3

My sister came over and celebrated Lily's actual birthday on Sunday. She was really getting used to this whole present idea by the third day of celebrating.

First, she opened up her new bowling ball set. She really liked the ball and her animals. She quickly got the hang of setting them up and knocking them down.

Then, she was off to get her other presents...

We got her some magnetic letters for the filing cabinet in lower case and upper case. She loved them! We had to let her get one out at a time and tell us what letter they were before she could open up anything else. After this present, she opened her new legos which were a bonus set that go with the set we got her for Christmas. She has started making the "iffa towur" a.k.a. eiffel tower with her legos. She also got a brand-new Vera Bradley purse from Suzette that she is in love with. It is the same purple punch pattern that I have, so we are matching once again. I am sure I will get pictures of her with her new purse very soon.

After a long weekend, we ended the evening with a good, long bath. She has really enjoyed this weekend. She has one more weekend of getting presents since we are going to visit my family this weekend. I guess there is nothing better than having birthdays that last for days!

Party 2 and Matching with Mama

Lily's second celebration started with spending lots of quality time with her Aunt Trina and Aunt Ruella. They came over to spend the evening playing with Lily. Lily loved showing them how to have a tea party. She loves filling up the cups with "tea, sugar, and cream".

Lily's Nana and Poppa gave her this balloon which Lily adores. She likes to kiss her feet and laugh!

After dinner, Lily got to open up her presents from Trina and Ruella. They stuck with the Abby theme. They got her some Abby books, an Abby shirt, and a set of Abby K'nex building blocks.

They also got her these adorable Abby New Balance shoes. Lily loves her new shoes, and she loved everything else. She said, "Abby" over and over again with a huge smile when she opened each gift. It took a long time to open these presents because she had to stop and play with each one. She also had to read each book and point out Abby on every page.

Here Lily opening up her second present. She loved the purple paper and the pretty bows!

After bathtime with Ruella and Trina, Lily wanted more playtime before time for them to leave. So, they headed back downstairs to the playroom. She enjoyed spending time with them.

Lily had the best time at her party on Saturday night!

She had a big grin on her face all evening long!

Earlier that day, we went to Manda's graduation from college. (Manda is Jamie's sister.)

For those of you who don't know- Lily hates dresses. So, we endured 30 minutes of crying and complaining while we were getting ready.

However, the fact that we were matching finally won her over. Plus, I showed her how you can twirl in a dress. She got over her contempt of dresses after the initial shock of us making her wear one.

We love wearing our matching clothes from Hanna Andersson. When Lily was still a little teary eyed in the car on our way to graduation, she said, "Mama- I jouve you." I said, "Lily, I love you, too." Then, she said, "We match." That just made me smile. The tears quickly faded and all was well. Then, she wanted to wear a dress to church today, too. She didn't even want to take it off when we got home. What have we started....

More pictures and videos of this weekend to come this week!

Birthday Party #1

Jamie made Lily cupcakes for her birthday. It was his first attempt at cupcakes and homemade creamcheese icing- and I must say, he did an excellent job! They were delicious!

Tonight's celebration was held at Jamie's parents house (a.k.a. Nana and Poppa's). The whole family was there. We had an Abby-theme which will continue for her next two parties this weekend. Here she is getting ready to help blow out her Abby candle.

Lily's cousin, Elijah, is watching while Lily opens up her play-doh from Aunt Mindy, Uncle Michael, and Nathan.

She is checking out one of her birthday cards. She also got an Etch-a-sketch and a Paddington Bear from Harrod's Department Store in London, England. (Her Uncle Gene just returned from a business trip in London.)

Her Nana and Poppa bought her a tricycle. She loved it! And so did her cousin, Nathan. Since we have gotten home, she has been riding her tricycle all through the den and kitchen.

I will post more pictures tomorrow of her next party with Aunt Ruella and Aunt Trina!

Gymnastics!!

Jamie and I took Lily to her first gymnastics class today. We had no expectations- and we had no idea how Lily would react to the class. Do you see her back there touching her toes?

At first, she was shy and she just stood watching everything closely and intently. Then, she just joined right in. Of course, the girls were all older. So, she loved being around them. They took her hand and led her in the right directions during the class. Here, she is talking with one of the girls- who knows what they are chatting about.

She loved the balance beam! She wanted to do it over and over again. But, she understood that she had to take turns. Keaira is also in this class- she is a China sister who goes to church with us. Keaira is 4 years old.

I did not get any pictures of Lily hanging on the bar which is back in the corner of this photo. But, she loved it, too! She has had lots of practice on the bar- in my closet. She has been hanging since she started walking, so this was familiar to her.

She also really enjoyed bouncing on the trampoline. We were pleasantly surprised at her involvement, and Mrs. Kim is great with Lily and the other girls. She was blowing kisses and saying, "Bye girls" when we left. Then, she has been talking about "nastics" all evening long. She has also been doing some of the moves she learned in class tonight, and she stands up and says "Tada" every time she does something with arms raised straight up in the air and a cute little stance. We had a really good time tonight!

Come back for lots of birthday pictures this weekend! We are looking forward to the celebrations!

ABC's

Lily now recognizes all of her alphabet, except for X and Y. She still gets them confused. She will just sing bits and pieces of the ABC song, but she loves saying whatever we say. So, this is one of her copycat moments. She loves copying everything we say and do!

Those 3 Beautiful Words...

Lily started trying to say "I love you" a few weeks ago, but now, she seems to actually understand what it means, and her words are much clearer every day. She says, "I joooove you, Mama" and "I joooove you, Baba" all of the time now. It seriously brings us to happy tears. It is hard to believe we have waited so long to hear those words. The wait was soooo worth it!

You are my Lily...

Here a couple of cute pictures of Lily before we went out to eat with her Nana and Poppa last weekend. She is all about smiling for the camera these days!

This is one of my favorite Hanna Andderson outfits!

Lily has just learned a new word- Tennessee. Of course, she says it with an N at the beginning. But, we were impressed, anyway.

We have been singing this song to Lily since she was little. Now, she has started singing it to her Abby doll. We love listening to her sing- usually the last word of every line. And of course, the last word is loud and long! Have a great weekend!

On our way to a bob...

Lily got a new hair-do! We went to get our hair trimmed last week. She did well, and she was excited about seeing Troy, our hairdresser. He trimmed up the back, and we have an appointment in 6 weeks for our matching bob haircuts. We are really hopeful that her bangs will be grown out by then. I will be so glad when her hair is the same length. Growing out these bangs are hard, to say the least. But, I am glad we are getting this over with. She is so good at night when we blow dry her hair. She loves it! Now, I am even clipping it up and blowing it dry on a big round brush section by section--- like I do mine. Her hair is so poofy and thick when I get done. I am soooo jealous... but in a good way.
We hope you all have a great weekend! I should have some new videos to post next week.

Wee Wee (a.k.a. This Little Piggy)