Its Christmas time!

Hello everyone. I can't believe it was Easter last time I posted. For those of you who do not have facebook- I do a much better posting pictures on Facebook. Sorry! So life has been going well around here. Lilly is getting very excited for Christmas. And then her looonng trip after Christmas- we are driving to MO the day after Christmas and are trying to prepare her for how long she will be in the car.

This is a picture from the day of decorating for Christmas. Lilly got a pink Christmas tree for her room. This is how she went to bed- her santa hat on, snuggling with her Rudolph, and all my musical snowmen lined up viewing the pink Christmas tree.

So last year I thought Lilly was a blast at Christmas but I think this year will be even more fun. She is very into the spirit of things. When I was a little girl, we had a countdown to Christmas called the "elf." Each day the elf would bring us candy or a small gift. We have passed on this tradition and I now do a countdown. Lilly loves it. It brings me such joy to have her talk about the elf being fast and how Papa and Nana have seen him blur by. A couple nights ago she got a race car track from the elf. She was soooo excited to get a present that I was a little worried she would be disappointed the next night when all she got was candy but nope! She loved it just as much!

Here is a picture of her and her friend decorating a ginger bread house last Saturday. They had so much fun. All I did was put it together and put the icing where they wanted it.

Each year we have gone to our local zoo at Christmas to view the Christmas lights they hang all over the zoo. They give out cookies and hot cocoa and you can go see Santa too. It's usually very cold out and just helps me feel like it is actually Christmas when it is sometimes hard for me to feel it because of the weather.

It's in the air...

Hello everyone! Im so bad at keeping this thing updated. To explain a little my main computer is now called a Dell mini which has 9 inch monitor so blogger makes it quite difficult for me to manage posting pictures. But I have a feeling I might be blogging a little more because... WE ARE EXPECTING AGAIN!!! We are very excited- all 3 of us. I am due March 1st so Im not very far along but I want to announce it anyway. :) Lilly is very very excited and cant stop talking about babies in bellies. She has already been talking to my belly and patting it and kissing it. The other morning she said that the baby isnt mean it's nice. She has no clue what that means for her but Im trying to help her realize.

A cute story- when she first started talking about babies she told Papa (Logan's dad) that he had a baby in his belly. He laughed and went right along with it. So for several days she kept announcing it to everyone that Papa had a baby in his belly. Finally I explained that no, Papa doesnt because only girls can have babies in their bellies. I wasnt sure she understood but the next day she came to me and said she had a baby in her belly. And I said noooo you cant have a baby in your belly and she then replied but I'm a girl! So then I told her that well you have to be old and married to have a baby. So she thought about that for awhile and then tells me Ok, in two years I'll marry grandma and get a baby in my belly. OH! My poor confused and cute daughter.

So the weekend before I took a test and confirmed I was pregnant Lilly kept telling me I had a baby in my belly. Logan and I have been trying for a little while with nothing happening so I just shrugged it off and laughed. Little did I know that she was right! Well when I told her that yes I did have one in my belly she looked at me with wide eyes and patted me and then said not one baby but two babies! Hah Hah Hah Lilly. You are sooooo funny! :)

Vegas and Birthday!

So I know all of you are looking for Easter pictures but I had to blog this first. Last weekend, we were able to drive to Vegas and meet my Dad and his wife while they were on vacation. It was a really short trip- we got in at 1 on Friday in Vegas and at 2 on Sunday back at home but we had a really really good time. Lilly did so well the entire time. She slept in the car, was perfect both Saturday and Sunday even with no naps and lots of stimulation from vegas. She took to Papa Lyon very fast and was his little buddy the entire time. She still asks us to take her to Papa's house and I try to explain that he lives very far away but I dont think she quite understands. But I do think she misses him terribly. It makes it sadfor me because I know family is so far away. While we were in Vegas she got to make very first stuffed animal at Build A Bear. She was very excited that she got to push the button to stuff it. She picked a very over the top, Vegas-like, sparkly unicorn and named it Sparkles. It is very girly and made me realize that my daughter is becoming very girly...not sure what I think of that! :)

So it was Mommy's birthday this past week and like I said before Lilly has been having a hard time grasping the idea that she has to wait for her birthday. She kept saying "it's Mommy and me birthday" and I would say "well it's Mommy's but Lilly's is soon." Regardless, she did enjoy herself. I shut down daycare and Daddy, Lilly, and I had a nice morning together. I ended up with the flu but we were still able to have a birthday party on Friday. Here are some cute pictures of the celebrations.

 

So one last thing before I finish, this is a picture of Lilly friday night after her bath. It's not only cute but it is also the last picture of her hair this long! She has been asking for a haircut for over a week now and every time we go by a hair salon she begs us to take her in. So Saturday we took her to get her hair cut and she was such a big girl. She sat in the chair all by herself and wanted Mommy and Daddy to sit in the waiting area. It got cut pretty short but I love it! It makes her look so much older. So in the next post with Easter pictures you will get to see how cute it is! :)

Fun in the Spring!

We've been plenty busy! Spring always seems to keep us running around. We went to the Renaissance Festival this year and took Lilly with us. It was a lot of fun. I think she really enjoyed all the food. There were several rides for her too and the best thing was that they were free! She really liked the turkey legs and an orange covered frosty dessert. In the afternoon she was starting to get tired (but never really cranky) so her and Daddy went to go play in the grass. They had fun throwing grass in each others faces.

We have been to several birthdays recently and Lilly keeps asking about hers. She gets pretty upset when we try to explain to her that it is someone else's birthday and that her birthday isnt for a little while longer. Once she gets to the party she forgets that it isnt her birthday party and just has fun. She even likes passing out the presents. Anything as long as she can try to be the center of attention...silly girl. These are just some misc. pictures from the past couple of months.

We've had the pleasure of seeing lots and lots of the Freemans recently. During Libby's surgery we took care of Ben and Abby and had them for several days. I think they had a great time with us. In fact, Lilly and Abby have become quite the best friends. They crack me up. When they ride in the car they hold hands and are pretty much inseperable. I think Lilly likes having someone who is willing to follow her around and do whatever she wants while Abby enjoys all the attention. The Sunday we watched them we bought them all matching orange outfits for church. They all looked pretty darn adorable. 

It's a New Year!!

2009 came in with lots of fun for us this year. We all went out to eat for Pam's birthday and then headed back to our house for a little party. We had every intention of letting Lilly stay up late but at about 9:00 she came to Daddy and said "bed?" My daughter is a very good sleeper and quites enjoys going to bed at night. Of course then she is a morning person while Logan and I are NOT. So that can be quite interesting. At 7 in the morning she is all yak yak yak and we can barely keep our eyes open to crawl to the chair to "supervise" (aka snore) in the living room. 

Anyway, Daddy got Guitar Hero for Christmas and our whole family is addicted. Lilly loves putting the guitar on and pretending to play. She is very into the

 games that we have and will probably one of those 4 year olds who beat everyone. So here is a picture of her playing the guitar. (Notice the new entertainment center in the background!) 

Christmas 2009

So Christmas this year was a blast. Lilly was soooo into everything. I think the "elf" made the biggest impact. See, everyday we were "visited" by the elf who left a present behind. So she got to open a present everyday in Decemeber before Christmas. She still talks about the elf and how it left her presents. Early on in the Christmas season we took Lilly to Toy R Us to see what she was interested in. I was thinking of a tricycle but she didnt seem interested at all. We finally decided on some Fisher Price Little People's castle and princess set. So Black Friday I found the stuff on sale and got it and was so excited that my shopping was done for Lilly. About 2-3 weeks later we all ended up at Toy R Us again to shop for some toys for the Angel Tree kids we took. Lilly spent at least 45 minutes riding a tricycle and ends up telling us that she is going to ask Santa Clause for a bicycle. Over and over again she tells us she wants a bicycle for Christmas. Well we cant very well not get her the gift she asked Santa for the very first year she understands who Santa is and what he does! So she ended up getting a bicycle from Santa and got very spoiled this year. I dont think she minded a bit. 

All of Lilly's loot. She was too excited to sit there and take a picture. Lol.

On Christmas Eve, Lilly totally knew what was going on. Every Christmas Eve the elf brings us new Christmas pjs. When she got hers and we put them on, she was so excited and kept running around yelling "Whoohooo!!" She would run up and down the hall and then get to the livingroom and roll around on the ground. We tried to catch some of it on video. I truly enjoyed Christmas this year. We also had my mom here and her parents came to visit over Christmas as well. So it was a full fun house. I really enjoyed my grandparents visiting. I hadnt spent time with them since early highschool. Lilly enjoyed everyone here as well but she didnt handle the goodbyes very well. My grandma Betty and Uncle Jerry were also in town staying with Pam and Brian. She really enjoyed their visit as well and was sad to see them go. So here are some pictures. I hope you enjoy them!

  

Lilly asleep before we woke her up Christmas morning. 

Lilly and Mommy got new aprons from the elf. Now Lilly always wants to bake but she calls everything cake! 

Lilly saying thank you to Grandpa Gene and Lois for thier present.

Lilly reading Grandpa Jim's present! 

Lilly's new castle!

Christmas with the Freemans! 

All of us dressed up on Christmas Sunday. Lilly absolutely loved her dress.

Yes I'm 2!

I'm sorry it's been so long! Life has just been so crazy! I should be able to blog more than I have a laptop in the main living area. But we'll see... :) So Lilly continues to surprise me and frustrate me and crack me up and drive me nuts all within a span of a few minutes. She is so independent that it is hard to handle sometimes. One day she'll be perfectly fine if I put her in her car seat and then the next time I do it and she starts to cry and will climb out of the car, shut the door, open it again, climb into the car and into her carseat all by herself. It's very time consuming and can be quite frustrating. She does not bend on anything that she puts her mind too. She is very confident too. I know that these things will hopefully be good characteristics later in life but man right now I just wish she would let Mommy and Daddy help her a little bit!

Right now Lilly is off with Grandma. Every Tuesday or Wednesday is "Grandma Day." My mom has been living with us for the past month or so and Lilly has loved every minute of it! You would  think Grandma is better than any piece of candy...well actually to Lilly she is. Lilly has gone hiking and to the park and today she is going to the desert museum (a wildlife zoo). 

Well, there has been a ton going on so I'll just leave you with some pictures to explain the rest. Enjoy!

While in MO Lilly and Vance got their pictures taken together. Arent they adorable?!

All ready for church, just waiting to leave...

I took the daycare to a trip to the zoo. We had a blast and saw a lot of active animals.

Lilly was Tinkerbell for Halloween. She loves Tinkerbell right now. Daddy was Hook and I was Wendy. Every time we see a picture of Tink Lilly yells "Tinkerbell!!" and wants to go and look at whatever it is.

While we were in MO Lilly got to visit Great Grandma Betty. She loved playing with her cousin Vance and brushing Aunt Penny's hair.
 While in MO we went to a very neat pumpkin patch and picked pumpkins. Lilly had more fun playing with the kittens than she did getting a pumpkin.

The looks I get already...isn't she too little for those?!                                                                                                 At least they turn into this. :)