Halloween Photos

It was a full day! Lily had a great time but was exhausted by bedtime. Her daycare had a parade at 10 am, and Lily held hands with her friend, Vincent, as they strolled around in their costumes. Then I brought her into XM, but she was really tired so we ended up coming home and taking a nap. From there we went to Lily's friend Fitz' house for some costume fun with the neighbors. It was hard to find time to take photos, but here are a few: (note - check out the links to Lily's friends' blogs too - likely there will be even better pictures than mine posted in the next few days!)

Snuggling with Lily and Georgie (of course he was a bee, too!) And then struggling with Lily and GEorgie... they are quite the handful!
Cute little busy bee...
Lily's friend, Bryn...
Enjoying dinner (thanks, Kara!)
Playing with Chloe

When we got home, I tried to no avail to get a cute photo of Lily and George together....
By evening time, George was tired of his costume (if he wasn't already!)
Lily's new favorite activity...giving George treats!
Awww...

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Birthday Song for Mom

Thought I'd finally join the 21st century and learn how to blog (web + log = blog, for you luddites out there). Here is a song you might be familiar with sung by yours truly with Lily accompanying on backing vocals. Enjoy the melody!

Mom's Birthday - Photos

Happy Birthday Mommy! Early morning birthday kisses are the best.
Mmmm...icing tastes good!
Check out the icing on my fingers...sweet vanilla goodness.
Hey mom, lick my finger please.

This mere table cannot stop me from getting to mommy's birthday cake...
One taste for me, one taste for mommy...
Open up and say ahhh...
Mission accomplished...this cake is even better than I thought it would be.

Dodgeball!

"If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball..."

Chatterbox

My dad was in town this weekend... though Lily had a blast with her Grandpa, she kept walking around the house asking for "Grandma? Grandma?" When my mom called on Sunday, Lily could not stop chatting!

More Pumpkin Patch Photos

Aly and Greg are much better photographers than I... here are a few more shots from today.

All smiles...
Lily giving Aly some lovin'.
Hugs for her mama
Julie giving me a squeeze...
The girls trying on their moms' shades...

Pumpkin Patch

We headed up to Butler's Orchard with friends today. Lily and Juliana had a great time playing with the pumpkins... it was a little harder to get Lily to choose just one!
Cutie Juliana checking out the pumpkins with Lily...
Lily and Julie posing on top of the hay bales
Daddy found one that he liked...
Lily is not convinced.
Maybe this is the one?!
We have a winner!
Family fun...

Spoiler Alert - Lily's Costume

So in case anyone out there would like to be surprised by Lily's Halloween costume, do not read on... I have been slightly frustrated because I bought the CUTEST butterfly costume for her, but she would not let me put it on her. In fact, any time I grabbed it from the closet she would run away, saying "No, no, no."

After further costume research, I found an adorable (though admittedly, not as cute as the butterfly) bee getup. Seemed like an good idea -- Lily is busy as a bee lately, and makes the funniest buzz sounds. And she actually let me put it on her! Check out the cute factor for yourself...

So Big

Remember when "so big" made us think of teeny baby Lily raising her hands and saying "So Big"? (If you've forgotten, you can check it out here.)

Well, these days, Lily is such a flurry of activity. She'll say "book" and then "color!!" and then her version of "Play-Doh?". And I'll sit and watch her doing all of these things (in a matter of 30 minutes, mind you!) and think to myself, "Wow, she is so big."

Daddy's Hat

Very into J's baseball caps lately...

Delay Tactics

Miss Lily enjoys her bath, but it is quite the struggle to get her in it these days.

Everything's in stages... we get her shirt and shoes off, but then it's time to color. She says "color" so clearly and cutely that we say okay. I know, I know... we'll have to put a stop to this soon.

Now the skirt is off but she is distracted by boxes waiting to be recycled...
No, there's no Sierra Nevada for Lily :)

Park!

Lily has always liked the park, but she's really kicked it up a notch lately. She says "park!" anytime I grab the stroller or say we are going bye-bye. It's also a page in her new favorite book, Wow! City!, so as we read each page she gets excited for the "park!" page.

Here is Lily enjoying Stanton Park on Saturday. She has no fear of the slide anymore; in fact, she tried to walk down it!
Lily's second favorite activity: a close runner-up to playing at the park is running away from Mama.
Taking a break...
Lily's friend, Lucas, worked up quite the sweat!

Here's some video of Lily in action:

Morning Routine

Lily has been alternately waking up at 5:30 am or after 7am (obviously we prefer the latter), so it's been tricky figuring out her morning routine lately. The one constant is books - if I put on her shoes, she then says "book!" and will go pick something out. Same thing if I ask her to brush her hair - she'll do it, then say "book!". Here are some recent photos.