A Sick Little Lily...

These are pictures I took on Christmas Day when Lily was playing with her brand-new toys she had gotten that morning.

She was so happy! She loves her table and chairs, along with her dishes and things for her kitchen.Then, Lily got sick. She was running a temperature of 103. We took her to the doctor and found out she has RSV. It is extremely contagious, which is why I have it now, too. :0) We are just laying around watching lots of movies together. She has turned into a movie-watching queen. We have seen Pete's Dragon, Oliver and Company, Tinkerbell (again and again), Tinkerbell & the Lost Treasure (again and again), and Peter Pan.

What has really shocked us is how upset she gets when characters leave in the movies! She cried and cried when Elliott left Pete, and she also cried when Oliver's friends left. She is noticing more and more that certain people leave her. She announced the other day, "Mama- Suzette always, always, always, always leaves." Then, she added, "Baba always leaves, too, Mama." I guess I am the only person who never leaves her since she leaves me at school each morning. I guess this is just a growing up thing. She is certainly doing that.

Please say a prayer for her because she really doesn't feel good. I will be glad once she is back to her giddy normal self.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

On Christmas morning, Lily did not want to get up to open presents. She wanted to lay in bed and snuggle. But, finally, by 8:30 we went downstairs to see what Mama and Baba bought for Lily!

Once she realized we were opening her presents, she was not interested in Orange Danishes at all, which is one of her favorites. She was ready to open up her 3 presents! (2 of them went together.)

First, she opened her camera. She was so excited! She had played with Liana's last time we went to see them. She had been asking for this present.

We all had on matching Miami pjs. Sorry we didn't take any family photos that morning! :0)

I love this smile! She was sleepy, but really happy about her pink camera.

She could not wait to use it, so we played with the camera for awhile. Her pictures are hilarious, but pretty good.

Next, she opened her Pizza Party for her kitchen. Then, she opened her Wok set for her kitchen. She has really enjoyed playing with these items. I just love all of the Melissa & Doug stuff. It is so much fun to pretend with!

Then, she opened up her highchair for her babydolls. These were our presents to her. Suzette came over a few minutes later, and she opened up the rest of her presents: her table and chairs, cradle, stroller, puzzle, Kai-Lan Musical Set, and baby doll.

Tomorrow, I will put on some pictures of her playing with all of her new toys!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is always spent with Jamie's family. We go to church, and then head over for a delicious tradition of Lasagna dinner. Then, once the food is eaten, we go into the living room to open presents. Lily couldn't wait...

She didn't completely understand the concept of asking for things for Christmas. However, this doll was something she has not stopped talking about for months. Nana wants to buy her a doll for Christmas each year, so this is the one she gave Lily this year.

I was glad that Lily fell for it from a picture on-line. It's name is Jade Lin, and it is a Lee Middleton doll. My Mom also used to buy me a doll every year for Christmas. I had many Lee Middleton dolls in my collection as a child.

Even though she had been talking non-stop about Jade Lin, she was still ecstatic to see her when she opened her present. I love this expression on her face. She was so happy.

Needless to say, Jade Lin has been having tea parties, eating lots of yummy food from Lily's kitchen, and been on many shopping trips in Lily's shopping cart and her brand-new stroller.

More Christmas Day photos to come tomorrow!

Christmas with Aunt Trina

Last Wednesday, Aunt Trina came over to have dinner with us. I think it might become a tradition to eat Dovino's Pizza and a MaryAnn from the Townhouse Bakery with Aunt Trina every year! It was delicious!! (Aunt Ruella- you were very missed this year! You will be here next year for our tradition, too!)

Lily opened up her presents from Aunt Trina. One of the presents was a purple Tinkerbell warm-up outfit that Lily loved.

Next, she opened up a Tinkerbell book that Trina had made for her with her name in it.

Next, she opened up something that was also wrapped in Tinkerbell paper... are you catching onto a theme here? Lily loves Tinkerbell.

And look what was in that box! Tinkerbell herself!

Then, Lily opened up her Hannah Montana microphone. Bless her heart, she has been using a Dora bat as her microphone for awhile now. She immediately wanted us to play the Hannah Montana concert so she could "sing".

We have been singing a lot over the past few days!!! Thank you Aunt Trina for all of the presents, but especially for being such a wonderful Aunt to Lily!!! You know her so well!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

We did not send out Christmas cards this year, but we will definitely do that next year. So, thank you to all of our friends who have sent us beautiful pictures of your families this year. We hope you have a blessed Christmas!

Kentucky & Holiday Hair

Lily is showing off her new haircut. I think this is the cutest cut she has had so far! She loves it! She goes around swinging it from side to side. She says it is her favorite!

Our trip to Kentucky was eventful. It took us over 6 hours to make a 3 hour trip. We thought we were outrunning the snow, but it met us on Jellico Mountain. We were stuck in traffic for hours, but the snow was beautiful. It was a winter wonderland!Finally, we made it out to Pop's house. Lily was happy to see everyone.

Here we are opening some presents. Lily got a Drawing Board and a Tinkerbell sticker book from Pop. Then, she got lots of Melissa & Doug items from her Aunt Nancy and Uncle Sam. She enjoyed opening up her presents, and she was not interested in eating dinner. She just wanted to play with everything. I can't wait until Christmas Day at our house! Pop's other presents for Lily are here for her to open since they were too big to take to the farm.

She also got some money for Christmas for her to put in her bank account. She liked getting money like a big girl! She enjoyed seeing her KY family. It was a long weekend, and we are thankful to be back home. We left all of the snow in Kentucky. I do miss it. It was so gorgeous!

Practicing Christmas Faces...

Lily is so excited about Christmas. We decided to practice our Christmas morning faces...

This is Lily being excited about opening presents...

Here she is when she gets presents that she has asked for...

and this is our favorite face! This is what she does when she is getting ready to guess what is in her present boxes. She covers her face and whispers what she thinks her present will be! It is too cute!

We have plans every day this week with family and friends, then we are headed out of town for Lily's first Christmas stop- Kentucky to visit my family. So, I probably won't be posting until next week some time.

Enjoy every moment with your family during this miraculous season! Hearing Lily talk about baby Jesus is the best gift we could ever be given this Christmas. What a blessing all of our children are!

Lily & the Snow

Lily was so excited that the snow came to see her this morning. She kept running to the window saying "Mama- Look! God did it!"

We couldn't wait to take her out in the snow again. Last year, she got to see it for the first time. She was excited then, but today- there was a new kind of excitement.

She had the best time playing with Baba in the snow.The Kentucky outfit was a gift from Pop last time we were in Kentucky for Thanksgiving. She loves her Kentucky clothes with her matching Crocs. Pop bought her the whole outfit. There is even a KY basketball shirt underneath.

One of the best parts was when without anyone telling her to- she picked up a snowball and started hurling them at Baba. She laughed and laughed each time her little snowballs would fly threw the air.

I hope this is just the beginning of a year filled with snowy days and time off from school!

One night before bedtime while listening to Switchfoot...

Lily loves to flip, dance, and sing. She adores everything that has to do with music! Next time, I will have to tape her singing. Her versions of "Twinkle, Twinkle" or the ABC's are too funny!

Notice all of the hand motions that she has learned from Dancing with the Stars!