Lily turned 4!

I’m a little late posting this . . . but Lily turned 4 in April and was SO EXCITED! She wanted her fairy to be on her cupcakes, but we couldn’t find her (ahem . . . Scott), so my mom went out and bought a Rapunzel doll . . . which Lily LOVED!

Lily loved her gifts, especially, her new Barbie bike.

On her actual birthday, we let her decide what we would do. She requested spending the night at Grandma Charlotte’s house, going to the zoo (which includes riding the carousel), and dinner at Old Spaghetti Factory (sitting in the caboose).

We love you Lily Monster! We’re so grateful to have you as a part of our family.

Tulips!

For the past three years, I’ve told Scott how I want to go to the Tulip Festival. But every year, something comes up right when the tulips are in bloom: school, work, someone wearing grumpy pants, a newborn baby, etc. This year, I told Scott that no matter what, I was getting pictures of our family in the tulips!

Scott, Lily, and Zeke indulged me. And my mom, bless her heart, came along to take pictures of us.

As we drove up, it was pouring rain. Scott gave me that look. The look that says, you’re being ridiculous. But we kept going.

When we arrived. it was overcast, but not raining. I won’t bore you with all the pictures. Here are some of my favorites:

And here are some of the behind the scenes shots:

   

Thank you for indulging me!

Happy 1st Birthday!

Earlier this month, our Buddy turned 1. Happy Birthday Zeke!

And here’s some highlights of his first year:

 

We love you so much Buddy! Thanks for being a part of our family.

5 years – 1 weekend

In February, Scott & I celebrated 5 years of marriage!

Thanks to my parents watching our kids for 2 days, Scott & I were able to enjoy a very relaxing, island weekend getaway. It was the first time we were both away from the kids (minus when Zeke was born).

Happy Anniversary, Sweetheart!

Kobe's Dad's Friend

So I play basketball in a church league right now. Candice usually works late, which means she can't come to my games to watch with the kids. When Lily found out I had a game yesterday, she really wanted to come and watch. She loves basketball.

She approached Candice and said, "Dad said I could come watch his basketball game." Of course, I never said such a thing because I knew that there would be no one to watch our little 3-year old as I played. Candice explained to her that I didn't have any friends that could watch her as I played.

She retorted, "Yes, Daddy has friends there."

"Oh really?" Candice asked in response. "Like who?"

Lily replied matter-of-factly, "Kobe Bryant!"

So apparently Kobe and I are buds now! Now that I know that, maybe I can get him to give me some nice front court seats at a Lakers game sometime;)

When Candice told me what she had said, I told her that if Kobe Bryant was going to be there, I would gladly watch her and let Kobe play in my place. Unfortunately, Kobe didn't come to the game last night. I guess he was too busy dismantling the Boston Celtics instead!

A glimpse at what we’ve been up to:

2011 has been so exciting. We visited some of our friends (Scott finally beat them at Settlers!)

Zeke turned 9 months old, and I turned 29.

Lily is a Sunbeam now. (That’s a class at church for 3 year olds . . . a huge step up from the Nursery.) She also started preschool . . . and absolutely loves it!

I applied for HGTV Design Star Season VI (I haven’t heard anything back. Click on the link to see the submission video)

My dad turned 60, so Mom and all of the kids (minus Blake) got together to help him celebrate.

Zeke has 4 teeth now (sorry. no picture yet). He loves to stand and walk around furniture. He can stand on his own for almost 3 seconds, and then he realizes what he’s doing and panics.

And Scott has a job interview this Friday! Wohoo!

"I didn't ask for lots of toys."

Lily saw some cheap toys (McDonald's quality toys) in the store the other day. She really wanted a couple of them. I probably would have considered buying them, if they were only like a buck a piece. But I looked at the price tag: $4.99 each for junk that you could find in a happy meal. This is our dialog:

Lily: Dad, can I get these?

Scott: I'm sorry Lily. Those are too expensive.

Lily: Can I please have them daddy. I want them.

Scott: Lily, you have lots of really nice toys at home to play with. You don't need those.

Lily: Yes, I do have lots of toys at home. But I didn't ask for lots of toys. I asked for those toys.

I busted out laughing at this point. Lily also started to laugh when she saw that I thought what she said was funny. It was seriously one of the funniest and wittiest things she's said. Although it seems like her wit is showing up more and more each day. I love my Lily!

I got to thinking later on: I doubt she'd be too happy if we traded in all her toys and dolls, her kitchen set, train set, tricycle and all for some stupid happy meal-type toys. I'd love to see her face though if we did. I don't normally delight in seeing my daughter upset, but It'd sure be a lesson for her to appreciate the things she has. But don't worry. I love my daughter and won't do such a thing just to teach her a lesson.

Our Clepto Daughter (Not really)

Lily: Mommy, I like that (points to statues of Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus). Can we get that in our yard?
Candice: You like that huh?
Lily: Yes. Can we steal that for our yard?

Don't ask me where that came from. I just hope she never does steal anything. We had a talk afterwards about stealing, especially stealing Jesus statues.

Why is Mommy so much bigger? Or better yet, why is Daddy so small?

So this is a picture that Lily drew this week. It is of her family. In order of appearance, it features Daddy, Lily, Mommy, and Zeke.

Noticing that Candice was drawn larger than the rest of the characters, Candice asked Lily why. Lily responded, "It's because daddy acts like a kid."

OK . . . Thanks Lily. Why don't you tell me what you really think of me? I love you my sweet little girl. You've got such a clever little whit about you, and I love it. It gets you in trouble from time to time, but it's what make you my Lily. I suppose I should take it as a compliment, indicating that I'm the fun one:)

Hopefully, I shouldn't resent the fact that it appears like mommy is supporting the rest of us in the picture. I know I'm still seeking employment, and technically she is the breadwinner for our family at present. But I don't need further representation of my inadequacy through a child's artwork. I'll just write it off as coincidence and that I am reading too far into her illustration.

A less stress Thanksgiving

No holiday can really be stress free. But this year, our Thanksgiving was filled with minor stresses. Instead of worrying about baking or dishes, we joined Scott’s family at Buca de Beppos for a Thanksgiving meal.

I did miss having lots of side dishes to choose from and pie for dessert. (Anyone who has ever lived with me knows how I love pie, especially, pumpkin pie.) So I probably don’t want to make a tradition of it, but it was a nice stress free experience. And I was so proud of Lily for staying in her seat at the restaurant (we had a lot of talks ahead of time about it).

Afterwards, we joined my family for some games of Whirlyball. It was so much fun! Everyone was so good about helping with our kids so that both Scott & I could participate.

Lily was so excited to sit in one of the cars for pictures. We had a hard time getting her to look at the camera and give us a decent smile. (She’s such a ham sometimes.)

Our day was filled with family and fun. I’m so glad things worked out for us to be able to spend time with both families this year.

Snow is falling all around!

A few days before Thanksgiving, we had a snow storm. The kids were so excited! (I wish I had video taped Lily when she first saw the snow. It was priceless to hear her squeal, “Snow!”)

I couldn’t find Lily’s snow pants, so I improvised with garbage sacks.

Scott went out and bought Lily new snow pants, so we could take her sledding with Mickayla and Brooklynn.

Scott knows how to make everything more fun, whereas, I’m more conservative. He was able to convince Lily to go off a jump with him. (They caught some air and lost the sled, but he held on to Lily. Lily got bumped around and was crying. Scott asked her who hurt her. She replied, “Mommy!” What?!)

Zeke was so adorable in his fluffy snowsuit. He was such a good baby, and didn’t complain while he was out in the cold with us.

The Ring

Lily always likes looking at my engagement/wedding ring. Last week, she was trying my rings on, and asked if she could have them (keep them). I told her when I die she can have them.

A few days later, I was brushing Lily’s hair when she said, “Mommy, I don’t want your rings.” Hmmm . . . “Why not?”  She answered, “I don’t want you to die.”

What a sweet little girl!