Grandma and Grandpa in Town

Lily was sooo excited that her Grandma and Grandpa came to visit this weekend!! Every day after dinner, Lily and her Grandpa take a walk to go get ice cream.
As you can see, she likes that.
Lily enjoyed walking around the newly-reopened Eastern Market...
Snuggling with Grandma at breakfast.

Proud Big Sister

Lily was so excited to join Noah's birthday party at school... she kept talking about how she at cupcakes with Noah and his little friends.

Cover your ears...

... don't say I didn't warn you! This is hilarious (I was crying I was laughing so hard) but definitely not the most pleasing sound to hear :)

Happy Father's Day!

Lily and her little brother have a great Daddy, and they were excited to give him some extra love and attention today. wii-Mania taken over our household... for just the big kids, that is. Lily still doesn't know what it is. I've never known Jeremy to play a video game, but the thought of virtually teeing off at Bethpage Black was too much for this golf mortal.

Everybody was excited about Cubs tickets!!
Happy Father's Day to Jeremy, and all the other dads out there.

Reward Chart

Right around the time when I was regularly commenting to friends that the "twos" were not that terrible, Lily turned three and began kicking my parenting arse! We created a reward chart together this weekend, with Lily telling me the types of things that Mommy asks her to do a lot. It is (hopefully) not only an incentive system for Lily, but a way to make sure her parents are using as much positive reinforcement as possible. I am hearing myself use a 'mean mommy' voice quite often lately... SIGH.

Bikes!

Lily and her friend Fitz out and about in the 'hood...

I'm only happy when it rains...

Friends

Love this photo of Lily with her friends Annie and Bryn. Here she is enjoying bubble-making in Annie's yard (thank you, Sara and Orlando!!)

Zoo, Pizza Garden, yada yada yada

We were happily surprised to run into Lily's friend Carolyn at the zoo a few weekends ago.

The girls had a blast playing in the "pizza garden."
... and then they were off to see the animals!
This is why we now start at the back of the zoo and work our way forward to the Panda area. Once Lily spots a panda, she does not want to leave.

Playground Ribbon Cutting!

That's right... months and months of hard work have paid off at the playground near our house is open! Lily was soooo excited when I told her that she could FINALLY have some fun. Students at JO Wilson (where Lily will be attending in the fall) enjoying their new equipment...
Mayor Fenty and Councilmember Wells attended the ribbon-cutting... and notice our friend (and superstar ANC!) Anne in the turquoise :)
Happy little girl
Cutting the ribbon...

Herb Garden

Not sure if it's the yard work her Daddy has been doing or our frequent trips to the Botanic Gardens, but Lily is really into plants these days.

Don't know why, but she loves just digging in the dirt.
I love, love, love this photo... shows how much fun Lily and her Daddy were having!
Carefully planting our herbs

Botanic Garden

Since it's a nice walk from our place, we've been spending more time at the U.S. Botanic Gardens lately. Lily loves the kids area out back... there's a sandbox, a water fountain and we even received plants to start an herb garden (blog post to come!) on a recent visit. Toddler + sand + watering can = FUN