Christmas Cookies

Look how happy she is!!  The plan: Brooke and Emily would come over with sugar cookies they made and we can all decorate together!!  Happy happy joy joy!

 And what could be better than this crazy hair style!

 And yes, we had some interesting cookies.  And yes, we adults had to finish most of them ourselves.  And oh boy did we use some sprinkles!

And they ended the evening with a group hug!

Neverending Birthday

And it's Lilly's birthday again.  It never ends!  Thank you to all of you who remembered her on her special day!  Here are some snap shots from an impromptu gift giving session.

She loves getting "fancy" dresses and her Great Aunt Patty loves sending them to her!

                                       
She plays "Dr. Ganninger" with her new medical kit all the time.  We all have temperatures and need a band aid.

And here she is modeling her favorite fancy dress!

Fancy Nancy Part 3

A Walk in the Park

It has been brought to my attention by a certain male someone that I have not blogged since Lilly's birthday party.  Oops.  In my defense, I have been busy pinning things to make on Pinterest!  

 So we took Lilly to Mastadon State Park.  She had a great time!

 Here she is encouraging someone else to come down the slide.  Oblivious to the dangers of getting slammed into by the slider.

 And you can't see him in this photo, but Ernie is like an old man sitting on a bench watching the birds or something.

 Here are some photos of Lilly in a tree.

 We found a good pile of leaves and Lilly did what came naturally!

 And there's Ernie.  Again at the picnic table watching the birds.

 Striking a pose.

 or two.

Fancy Nancy Party part 2

Our friend Sophia decorating her treat bag.

 Sophia's treat bag!  She took this decorating challenge quite seriously!

 They then made pinecone bird feeders with peanut butter and bird seed.  This did not get nearly as messy as I expected!  And Lilly insisted we hang her bird feeder today and has asked to make more.

 My friend Angie.  She is so nice and came over to help me finish decorating and help me during the party allowing me to make sure it all went well while enjoying it myself.  I could not have done it without her!  And she is cheap labor!

 Lilly's bird feeder.

 The girl with the purple boa:  Brooke aka our neighbor.  She really liked the fancy aspect of all of this!  She was really fun to watch. 

 Lilly does not eat jello.  I don't know why.  So I made orange jello for them to eat with their peanut butter and jelly sushi rolls and mac and cheese.  Note to self:  Lilly will eat orange jello when you put forth the additional effort of making it a real orange! 

Fancy Nancy Party

So we had Lilly's Fancy Nancy Birthday Party this weekend and it was so much fun!!  This is the milk bar and appetizers for our guests.  Lilly worked very hard making the paper chain.  Mommy worked very hard on everything else. 

 The wine glasses are a. plastic and b. rimmed with white chocolate and purple nonpariels.  They were a huge hit!  So much in fact, Lilly is asking for milk in the fancy glasses now. 

 This was suppose to look like a sunflower, but I did not have any celery or cucumer or anything that would work for a stem. 

 Marshmallows - not just for eating!  Now they are a fancy decoration!  The kids loved them.  Moms were not as impressed.

 The boa room.  This is the set up for when our guests arrived.  They received a boa, a necklace, and a bracelet.  They decorated their own treat bags with stickers.

 And this is the "clubhouse."  I draped fabric from our dining room to the basement stairs using tension rods.  You cannot see it and the girls did not even notice, but I also hand sewed butterflies and flowers to the fabric. 

Little Turkey

So I made an adorable turkey shirt for Lilly to wear this fall and what's even more exciting is that she wanted to wear it!  And all the other moms at Little Gym loved it too!  I was pretty excited about it.

 This semester at Little Gym, Lilly is learning to do things with Mr. Mike without our assistance.  Lilly really doesn't need any help in learning to be more independent - she's got that down.  It is the listening that she needs to work on. 

 And this particular exercise was so funny for all the adults to watch as Mr. Mike worked to get all the kids walking in the same direction at the same time.

 She still loves the rings.

 And here she is working with Ms. Britany on the balance beam.  They are teaching them to walk backwards on the balance beam.  Really?  I am wondering if we should master walking forward first. 

Lilly's Love

conversation with Lilly tonight before bed:
me:  I love you.  do you love me?
Lilly:  shakes her head no.
me:  do you love Daddy?
Lilly:  no
me:  do you love anyone?
Lilly:  yes
me:  who?
Lilly:  Aunt Patty (her great aunt)
me:  anyone else?
Lilly:  my Daddy?
me:  anyone else?
Lilly:  Emily (friend across the street)
me:  anyone else?
Lilly:  Ms. Desi (Emily's mom)
me:  anyone else?
Lilly:  Mr. Keith (Emily's dad)
me:  anyone else?  (certain I am going to get a shout out!)
Lilly:  Emily's toys
I.   Give.    Up.

Who is in Control here?

No wonder I can't ever watch what I want on TV!  Usually Ernie or Lilly is dictating the entertainment venue around here, but this?  Well this is ridiculous - now Goose wants the remote control.

Guilty

 Of being the cutest thing ever!

 She really had fun this year trick or treating!  Ernie was a good sport and escorted her through the neighborhood.  She did not say "trick or treat" or "thank you."  She just wanted the candy!

Apple Butter Festival

The Kimmswick Apple Butter Festival was this weekend.  It is a huge craft show.  I asked Lilly if she wanted to go but she wasn't interested.  So I told her there would be pony rides and that she was interested in doing!

 And lucky me, they had several inflatables.  The price was quite inflated, as well, but she really did enjoy herself on them.  We only had to do one search and rescue and it was on this challenging slide.

 She loved this slide.  She stayed upright until the last quarter of it and rolled the rest.

 We finally got to leave the inflatables to explore the booths.  But stop, do you hear that music?  Go back Mommy!  So I went back to listen to the Native American play the pan flute.  It really was beautiful and she loved it!

 And here she is dancing some more.  I had a really hard time getting her to leave.  And yes, I bought her a pan flute and a recorder! O Happy Day!

And the apple butter?  We did not get any.