Have you ever had a period of time in your life that went by so quickly you are not completely sure it actually happened? Selling a house and building a house can do that!
I am going to do my best to remember the best moments and funniest Lilly stories!
Darren sent me this picture one afternoon while I was working at the theater. Lilly was having a snack on the couch while watching Elmo...apparently she was exhausted! Lilly is not a kid who falls asleep anywhere, so this was new for us.
I am going to do my best to remember the best moments and funniest Lilly stories!
Darren sent me this picture one afternoon while I was working at the theater. Lilly was having a snack on the couch while watching Elmo...apparently she was exhausted! Lilly is not a kid who falls asleep anywhere, so this was new for us.
Lilly loved the playground at Falcon Park! They actually took it out to redo it, so I am not sure this piece is even there anymore.
On June 7th we had Lilly's birthday party. We did a Frozen themed party, though the truth is Lilly stopped her fascination with Frozen a few weeks after. We did a brunch birthday party in the morning complete with "melted snow", mini pancakes with strawberries and homemade whipped cream, frozen punch, bagels and mimosas for the adults.
We told the kids to bring their bathing suits and just let them play outside :-) Lilly enjoyed taking a break to have some breakfast. Shortly after this, one of Lilly's favorite foods became mini bagels with cream cheese. I think this may have started that love.
Lilly and our neighbor, Sarah, enjoyed the water table.
Our amazingly talented and kind friend, Kelly, made Lilly's birthday cake and cupcakes. She has made every cake for Lilly, including her baby shower cupcakes, so it's a very special tradition for us. I absolutely LOVED her Olaf! Thanks Kelly!
Lilly definitely enjoyed her cupcakes!
I love that frosting-covered, smiling face!
Lilly had such a great time playing with her friends at her birthday party! It was so nice to have so many great friends celebrate with us!
Lilly fell in love with this pair of Cinderella dress up shoes. She was already into shoes (lucky us!), but she had trouble walking in some of the slip on dress up shoes. These were full shoes (complete with a small heal), so she was able to walk in them a lot easier. She would not take them off! Jess and Matt were very sweet and told Lilly she could borrow them and wear them home! I ended up finding her a pair on Ebay :-)
Lilly and Emma are so sweet together. We always have such a great time with the Robinsons :-)
Lilly got a new dress for her birthday. The dress is absolutely beautiful! We didn't need it for her party since it was an outdoor, water party, so we decided to have her wear it to church for Kristin's christening. Apparently Lilly was not a fan at first!
But she warmed up to it! She looked adorable, as always.
I love Lilly's energy and the joy she has is every new activity. Playing basketball outside in the garage and chasing after the ball was 15 minutes of sheer fun, laughter and smiles for all of us. Being a parent is the hardest thing I have ever had to do, and at the same time, it's the easiest. Sometimes I just stop and think, "Is this amazing, joyful, beautiful child really mine?" Don't get me wrong, it's not always sunshine and rainbows. We have a very sassy 2 year old on our hands, but the happiness and the joy FAAAAR outweigh the frustrations :-)
On Lilly's actual birthday, June 10, we wanted to celebrate with her, so we took her to Sweet Creations. It was the first time she got her very own bowl of frozen yogurt! She is so adorable!
While trying to get Lilly to eat her dinner, she asked for an apple. I didn't think this was a bad thing, so I grabbed an apple from the fridge. I was going to cut it up, but she asked for it whole. I was skeptical at first, but she just dove right in! It was so cute to watch this tiny little girl bite this apple. She left little teeth marks along the outside and probably only ate the equivalent of one slice, but it was a good memory. She still likes apples and enjoys biting it whole.
We bought Lilly a doll house with some of her birthday money. She loved playing with it at the babysitter's house, so we wanted to get her one of her own. Addie and Drew came over to play and the dollhouse was a huge hit! I loved watching these three play together. Even though they're all different ages, they played so well together!
Addie has the song down a little better than Lilly, but I was thoroughly impressed by BOTH girls renditions of "Let It Go" :-)
After dinner we went outside and the kids had popsicles while they played on the playground.
Darren left for Germany, so it was Mommy and Lilly-palooza for 10 days! I was a little nervous about it, but mostly excited to get some special time with my girl!
Grandma and Grandpa came down for a quick weekend visit. It was so nice to see them, though I wish it could have been for longer. Lilly loved showing them all of her toys. I remember that she was particularly interested in Grandpa and having him play with her. Dennis was so sweet and got right down and playing with her. Lilly also loved having a tea party with Grandma.
Darren usually does bath time, so I was excited to see how Lilly plays in the bath. I was excited to see her enthusiasm for coloring and drawing. She covered the whole wall with her bath crayons then sat back and said, "perfect". I have a video of it, but it's too long to load on here. She might be an artist like her Daddy!
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Lilly was rocking her baby on the swing and saying, "Shhhhh, s'ok baby." I love how caring she is to her dolls and how much she loves to play with baby dolls. I think she will make a great big sister some day.
We started enjoying some pool time during track out and took advantage of the pool at Amber Ridge. Lilly can actually "swim" on her own when she wears her puddle jumper, so it makes pool time so much more fun for her! She LOVES the water. Every time we mention pool, she would get so excited and start trying to get things ready to go. Darren was splashing her with water in this picture and Lilly was laughing and giggling like crazy. I am so glad she loves the water.
Darren bought Lilly this adorable viking princess hat while in Germany. If possible, it makes her look even cuter than she normally does.
We enjoyed celebrating the Fourth of July this year. On the third we went to Bass Lake Park to hear a kids musician. Lilly wanted to take a walk before the performance started, so we enjoyed a beautiful summer night by the lake. There weren't many people there, so it was a nice quiet night. Once the music started, Lilly enjoyed dancing, but was more interested in exploring the park and running away from us!
On the fourth we went to Falcon Park in the morning to burn off some energy and enjoy a beautiful day.
Our new friends, Kari, Jason, Addy and Zoey, came over that night for dinner and playing until fireworks! We have since gotten very close with them and Zoey has quickly become Lilly's best friend. Lilly and Addy play really well together, too, so it's a perfect situation. We had a great time hanging out with them and celebrating the fourth!
After dinner we turned on Frozen for the girls while the adults chatted. I found Lilly sitting by her bookshelf with all of her books spread out around her. I had to take a picture. My little book worm wasn't interested in Frozen, she just wanted to read her books :-) Like mother, like daughter!
After some crazy parking antics and a pretty long walk, we made it to the fireworks in Holly Springs. I was honestly nervous about this. Lilly was up way past her bedtime and I wasn't sure how she was going to do with the loud noises. Luckily playing with glow sticks with Addy and Zoey before kept the girls busy while we waited and created a fun and playful environment.
This isn't the greatest picture, but it shows the adorable way Lilly was watching the fireworks. She stared up at them with her little hands folded under her chin and just seemed in awe of the beautiful colors. I watched her more than the fireworks.
Here is Lilly again in her reading nook.
I love how excited Lilly is about going to school!
Spending time at one of our favorite places: Marbles! Lilly always takes time to make a few pizzas while we are there.
I was cleaning up lunch and asked Lilly to pick her books to read before nap. We always read 3 books. When I came into the living room, this is what I found. :-) Apparently we have different concepts of 3 :-) I guess nap can wait :-)
Addie and Drew came over again for a play date and Lilly and Addie enjoyed playing dress up. Lilly insisted on showing off her wings :-)
I love taking Lilly to story time, though lately, she is more interested in exploring the library than sitting and listening to the stories. Part of me wishes she would sit and listen, but the other part of me remembers that she is a toddler who wants to explore things on her own and that it's ok to let her!
The little boy in the picture actually played with us for about 20 minutes after storytime. He and Lilly played chase outside on the field and the "stage" that is outside of the Cultural Center. Lilly would run and say, "chase me!" and he was would run after her. Then she would chase him. I loved watching them play!
Somewhere in here we moved out of our house and moved into our friends Chris and Vanessa's house while our new house was built. It's all kind of a blur!
We spent many days at the pool over the summer. Besides swimming, Lilly's favorite part of pool time, was snack time!
Lilly and I went to Marbles one afternoon and the art project they were doing that day was painting with different tools. Lilly sat for at least 30 minutes and painted several pictures with long Q-tips. She absolutely loved it! I loved that she was getting to paint, which is one of her favorite activities and it's hard to feel comfortable letting your toddler paint when you are living in someone else's house! It's not exactly a clean activity ;-) Not that Chris and Vanessa would have EVER said she couldn't paint, but I would have felt bad making the mess!
After painting a few pictures with Q-tips, she went to the group canvas and used a big paint brush, a tennis ball, a roller and a few other random items to paint on the big wall. She had such a great time!
We went to Which Wich for dinner one night before heading to a magic show at Bass Lake and we finally decided it was time to order Lilly her own kids meal. This was the first time we have ever ordered her a meal of her very own at a restaurant (normally she just eats some of what we are eating). When I saw that they had a grilled cheese sandwich for a reasonable price, we decided to bite the bullet and give it a shot. She ate the entire sandwich (minus the crust of course...) and loved it! This was just one of those moments when you as a parent are smiling as though you just won the lottery while looking at your child do something that seems so normal. Watching Lilly eat a grilled cheese sandwich was a glimpse at the fact that we really have a little girl now, not a baby anymore.
We met Michelle, Chad, Allie, Ryan and Kristin at Bass Lake for the Magic Show. Allie took Lilly's hand and lead her to the little carpet squares they had set up to sit and watch the show. It was so cute to see them sitting there together and watching. Lilly sat with Allie until the other kids started to get really loud and wound up, then she came over and sat with us. She loves shows, but she doesn't like it when things get too loud :-)
Our staff had a picnic one afternoon at the Bob Barker retreat. Our staff is an overall young staff so there are a LOT of kids Lilly's age to play with when we get together. Lilly had a blast playing with everyone! Of course I didn't take any pictures of the beautiful lake, trees or field, I snapped one picture of Lilly drinking from a water bottle! Go mom!
Lilly and I were playing dress up inside and she decided she wanted to go on her playground. I asked if she wanted to change, but she insisted on wearing her Minnie Mouse dress and Cinderella shoes outside. I figured, why not? I love this picture of her. You can see how much fun she is having!
Lilly and Daddy were having a great time while I was working at the theater. This girl cracks me up!
We never had a removable shower head at our house, but we found out while living at Chris and Vanessa's that Lilly LOVES having a shower rather than just a bath. She likes to hold the shower head and spray herself and it's so much easier to bathe her!
Chris set out a spray bottle of water to use when the dogs would bark when people walked into the house. We set it outside on the porch so it could be easily grabbed before going in. Lilly would sometimes use it to "paint" the sidewalk, but today she figured out how much more fun it could be to "paint" Mommy or Daddy! She chased me around the yard and could hardly run she was laughing so much.
We went to Chad and Michelle's to play one afternoon and the kids got into the dress up clothes, I think we have a future fashionista on our hands!
We are so excited to have such amazing friends in our new neighborhood! These kids are going to have so much fun with each other!
Vanessa and Chris were just amazing with Lilly the whole time we lived with them. Lilly absolutely adores both of them. This is only one of many instances where Vanessa spent time with Lilly and gave her special attention. I love how Lilly imitated the way Vanessa was laying on her stomach to color. So cute!
Lilly's loves all animals, and has recently started enjoying the movie Finding Nemo. When we go to Walmart she always asks to go and see the "fishies". She could stand in front of that tank for an hour if we'd let her.
I said before how Lilly loves snack time at the pool. Well her little buddy, Zoey, loves it just as much! It became a ritual that we would make sure we always had enough snacks for both of them and they would take a break from swimming and sit down and have snacks. Sometimes they ate what Zoey brought, or sometimes they ate what Lilly brought (or BOTH!). It was so funny to see them sitting there chomping away together. They are so cute together!
We found the Harry the Dragon ride at Holly Springs Harris Teeter for only a PENNY! Crazy! I let Lilly ride it and she was over the moon happy! She didn't stop smiling the entire time! The last few times we've been there it's been out of order. I hope they fix it soon so we can see this huge smile again!
Can you tell we like Marbles??? Darren and I took Lilly to Marbles on Thursday to let her let off some steam and enjoy herself. I spent most of the time on both of our phones with two different mortgage lenders trying to get the best deal, since we decided it was a good day to lock in our interest rate. Darren brought the "good" camera and snapped some adorable pictures of Lilly playing.
I love her face in this picture! She was completely fascinated by this pulley system and raising "herself" up in the air with the rope (with a lot of help from Mommy and Daddy!)
I think the water fountain is one of her favorite spots at Marbles. Go figure!
Lilly is very into dress up. She is a girly girl when she wants to be, but she also loves dinosaurs, cars, building things and running around outside. We fully encourage all of these sides of her because I want her to feel well rounded and supported no matter what her interests. I love how coordinated her outfit is here (she picked out everything herself!).
She is also very into baby dolls. We decided to take her babies for a walk outside on afternoon. She piled a few of them into her strolled and even made sure she had her purse in the bottom basket like a diaper bag. I love those little details!
We were at Jason and Kari's house for Jason's surprise birthday party. The kids had a blast playing together. I love that no matter their age difference, they all just have fun together. Lilly, Addy and Ryan were pretending to have a sleepover. They pulled blankets and pillows off of Addy's bed and would go to sleep.
Lilly, of course, found a comfy chair in the corner to curl up with some books :-) I love my girl!
Here is another day at the pool and Lilly and Zoey's snack break! I wish I had more picture of Lilly IN the pool, but with my luck with phones, I would drop my phone in the water. So I only took it out when we were not in the water.
Kari and Jason had us over for a BBQ one day and then they took the girls outside to run in the sprinkler. It was funny to watch them try to run away from it as it moved back and forth. They are all such water babies.
Here is a few members of "the gang" all piled in to a few inner tubes at the pool. I think this might have been the day we were getting dive-bombed by some really large, freaky bugs!
We had such a great time at the pool!
Lilly loves talking on the phone. She will take it out randomly (as if it rang) and start talking. She often talks to Grandma or Grandpa, but lately she likes to call Zoey as well :-)
We all know that "kids say the darndest things" so I wanted to try to capture some of the funny things Lilly has said the past few months. I know I missed a few zingers, but I can't remember them right now! One of my goals with this blog is to be better about just capturing great moments. Hopefully now that we are settled in the new house I can take more time to reflect on our amazing experiences with Lilly :-)
Lilly quotes:
Walking by the beer aisle in Harris teeter: that's the beer that daddy likes!
Sitting with me early in the morning, lilly asked to watch a movie. When I asked her which movie she just said babies. Having no idea what movie is "babies" I joked with her and said, The Muppet Babies? To which she replied, "Yeah! The Muppet Babies!" I started laughing and told her we didn't have The Muppet Babies, so she said. "Oh. Get at Walmart later?"
I asked Lilly if she was going to have breakfast with Lauren and Ryan tomorrow at school. She said u mm mm (pause) sorry I'm too busy.
Looking at her baby doll, she said, "Let's count the buttons! One, two, eight!" (There were three buttons). We haven't quite mastered that one yet ;-)
While changing her diaper:
Lilly: "There's a monster on my butt."
Me: "What did you just say??"
Lilly: "There's a monster...on my butt. I need cream."
Me: "......."
Darren: "Did she just say...?"
Me: "....."
Lol!
Looking at her baby doll, she said, "Let's count the buttons! One, two, eight!" (There were three buttons). We haven't quite mastered that one yet ;-)
While changing her diaper:
Lilly: "There's a monster on my butt."
Me: "What did you just say??"
Lilly: "There's a monster...on my butt. I need cream."
Me: "......."
Darren: "Did she just say...?"
Me: "....."
Lol!
