Christmas celebration #1: Papa Tom & Granny's

I'm a lucky girl. Yesterday was my 1st of 4 Christmas celebrations. Papa Tom and Granny Lori served us up a YUMMY taco bar with all the trimmings and homemade blue corn tortillas that I loved :)

I got some really cool books that I've already read through and a soft gingerbread blanket. We went on a walk through candy cane lane in the rain where I was not shy about getting up close and personal with the Christmas light displays, especially the reindeer. I also sat by Santa and saw Elmo (!) I was so excited I just hit the top of my head over and over (??) I was pretty tired from opening all the presents and running up and down the hall at Papa & Granny's and slept the whole way home.

Good thing I have a few days of rest before the next Christmas...more excitement to follow!

Merry Christmas! A note from my mommy

Merry Christmas from our family to yours. We wish you happiness, love, and abundance in 2009!

Our little girl is growing up so fast. What an amazing year! She hits the 19-month-old mark in a few days, and is a ball of energy. This year she is really into Christmas. She can say and recognize "santa," her christmas "tree," and loves Christmas music (and dance time with Dad in her room with her boombox in the evening.) We're doing lots of crafty projects to help her learn all about Christmas too...which she mostly likes to eat, rather than create. She does have something popping up from her mom's side of the family...very curly hair. It's so fun to see your traits come out in your very own child. Other mom traits: STUBBORN, sensitive, runs like a girl. Luckily, it looks like she got some of her dad's coordination and energy :) I'm not sure when we'll be adding a sibling to the mix, but Lily will be a fabulous big sister. She has her own little baby that goes with her EVERYWHERE. Lily pushes baby in the stroller, feeds baby her food, lets baby nurse a little now and then, and even tries to bathe her. She's also really helpful around the house. She helps mom mop and sweep every day (even if it's only her doing the cleaning, not mom!) What delight she brings to every day (providing she decides to nap well that day.) Seeing the world through her eyes is a joyful experience (again, as long as we've all got a good night's sleep!) Smarty pants understands and repeats EVERYTHING we say...so watch out! Looking forward to another year of watching our baby grow :)

-Jen, Joe & Lily

Hi there, it's me, Lily.

My Mom just figured out how to make the font on this blog big enough that people can actually read it! Maybe we will get some cool comments now??

My 1st Trip to the Zoo!!

On "Fieldtrip Friday" mom and dad took me to the zoo. We got lucky because Dad got the day off so he came along too. We met our friends Aubrey and Summer there. We saw kangaroos in the outback...

Getting a little tired :) Sometimes mom and dad were more excited than me, but I still had fun.

We saw monkeys (my favorite!!!) I did a lot of "oo-oo-ah-ah" (that's my monkey sound).

We saw giraffs so tall...

and fish too!

What an awesome, FUN Fall day with family and friends!

:) Next I am going to post some pics of all the fun artsy projects I've been doing this Fall.

Halloween Day

Halloween was a special day. Mom and I did our 1st baking project together. We made pumpkin chip cookies!! The dough was YUMMY.



Earlier in the day we made "spiders" out of crackers, peanut butter and pretzel sticks. My friend Aubrey came over to make them too. It was fun. Really Mom and Summer made the spiders while Aubrey and I sampled them. Pictures of those to come...

Lily is a trick-or-treating MACHINE!!!

I love trick-or-treating!! After we went to the first house I had it all figured out. I go to people's doors and they give me cool stuff. What could be better?? Yes, that's me dragging Grandma to the next house. Behind us is Elizabeth and Violet (the dinosoar) and some of my favorite neighbors (I kind of wanted to go home with them.)
The neighbor at the end of our block had a BIG Halloween display. Here I am waving bye-bye to him. I held my pumpkin bag the entire time and kept my ears on. My Mom was shocked at how well I behaved. She kept calling me her "big girl."

This is right before we left the house to hit the streets. As you can tell, I'm ready and waiting for everyone else.

Mom and I were both black cats.

Trying to sneak a cookie off of the table.

Done for the night. Except that I wanted to keep going. Mom said I should save some candy for the rest of the little kids. We got home and Dad and I went through my loot. My next door neighbor Helen even made me a special cookie :)

A Day at the Pumpkin Patch

Mom and I rode a big tractor. I was kind of tired because I decided to torture mom and skip my nap today. And my smart mom dressed me in my kitty outfit (head to toe black) and it was about 90 degrees out...I'm guessing she didn't think that one through. So if my cheeks appear red in these pics, I'm not bashful, I'm hot!

Violet and I climbed a hay bale. Well that's a little far fetched. Actually our moms placed us up here together. I would have climbed it myself but I was a little pooped.

But...I liked climbing/riding the pumpkins a lot!

Guess what breed of cat I am! (One that's sensitive to the sun I guess.) It took me only about 2 minutes to figure out how to untie mom's double knot and take this stupid hat off.

Fall is officially here! I am 17 months old and one sassy number!

Lots of new things in my world...

I love to play outdoors and spy on the neighbors...

I have my own cell phone...

I go "pee pee" on the potty...

This is my favorite baby. I call her "baby" and like to carry her around with me everywhere. I also like to carry my fancy red purse (actually mom's from her and Dad's wedding day).

Oh,

and I'm a climbing machine...


Mom just gave me my 1st haircut too. I'm not sure there will be a 2nd one though...

What does an Almost 16 month old girl look like?

She loves Mom's chocolate pudding :)

She LOVES to climb and swing at the park...

She's got a new potty (pictures too embarracing to post :) and here, she's getting ready for her most favorite thing in the world...music class and a chance to show off her new moves.

She eats with a spoon...

...pretty cool girl indeed.

A Fun (HOT) Day at the Fair

My first fair. Wow! It was awesome! We went to a show called "Bats, Rats and Cats" where I met a 20lb rabbit but didn't meet any bats (hmmm?)

My favorite part was the petting zoo for sure! I pet a deer, a baby goat, a sheep (to which I said "baaaa"), a little kangaroo, a pig and a donkey. They were all very friendly. One goat even tried to eat my dress! Maybe Mom should have spent the $2 on the feed for the poor guy. I watched cows being milked, but didn't try it myself (I have my own milk, thanks.)

I rode a pony in circles. It was OK. I was a little freaked out at first and then was more interested in waving at all the passerby's.

Then we ate BBQ and ran through the misters. Oh and visited the sea lion. The best part? Dancing to this acapella singing group who sang some fab oldies like Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison. They were these 3 HUGE Samoan guys with the most beautiful voices.

Overall, it was a perfect day! (Even though Dad got a tummy ache from his deep fried twinkie!)

Tom & Kim's Wedding

I enjoy licking Dad's head. This was the end of the party and I had kicked off my shoes to dance.
Family photo. Too many people to write all the names. Just know that everyone was there!
My Grandpa and his brother & sisters and my Great Grandma Mary
Lunchtime...why always the pictures of us eating??
Tom & Kim

In case you didn't know, Tom would theoretically be my Uncle. My Grandpa Tom is married to his Mom, my Grandma Lori. (Does that make sense?) Oh, and he's a cool guy too.

Daddy daughter dance. We matched too, both in blue :)

GiGi and Great Grandma Betty telling me stories and feeding me crackers. By the way, all I do is eat lately. Forget 3 meals a day, I just graze all day long. AND, I was 22.5 lbs at my 15 month check. I was 75% for my ht. too! Maybe I have some Yaroch blood in me. I think I may have some Goldbronn blood too, like my Aunty Candie, because man can I throw a ball and kick and dribble a soccer ball too!