Five Little Monkeys

Family Picture

This is an older photo from before Lily got sick, but she was so proud to point out to us where she had drawn Daddy, Mommy, Lily and Noah.

Grandma and Grandpa

On Saturday, Lily finally started to act like her normal self and showed some interest in playing with her new toys.

Excited to open Candyland and give it a try... Playing her first game with Grandma and Grandpa...

Stocking

The day after Christams, Lily finally showed interest in her presents... here she going through her stocking once she felt a little better.

Lily asked for band-aids from Santa... luckily he came through.

Markers + Band-Aids = happy girl!

Blue Christmas

Poor Lily. She was sick on Christmas Eve... and though she woke up excited on Christmas morning, got sick again after opening a few presents.

Santa brought Lily a train table and set up her tracks and trains, along with a few new pieces and engines...

Thank you to Aunt Brandy and Uncle Nick for her Thomas 'laptop'...

After just two presents, Lily spent the rest of the day just snuggling or sleeping... poor baby.

George kept an eye on her... neither of them wanted to sleep upstairs so they curled up on a blanket in the living room.

He's Crafty

Lily and I were feeling pretty creative on Saturday. Lily had also been having a hard time not touching our Christmas tree, so I figured we'd make an ornament that would be "hers" to touch and move.

Cotton balls + construction paper + glue = A masterpiece... right?!

Here is her ornament after she proudly hung it on our tree...

... but, all of a sudden, Daddy felt creative. He grabbed an empty coffeemate bottle and before we knew it -- he had one-upped us! Who knew J. was so crafty?! I was very impressed... and so was Lily.

Under the weather

Lily wasn't feeling well this week, so we spent time cuddling and hanging out at home. After a little while, she decided that she no longer needed my help to take her temperature. I have great affection for whomever invented Pedialite pops...

Big Sister

Lily never tires of holding her brother... although sometimes Noah seems a bit freaked out by it.

It's not a box...

Lily loves this book, and earlier this week while sitting in a box she yelled, "I'm flying to LA...see you later!"

A Cold Weather Quest...

The cold weather has halted our never-ending search for new playgrounds in DC... it has been replaced by a quest to see as many holiday train exhibits as the city has to offer. We strolled around the Botanic Gardens near the Capitol (after a friend of a friend at a holiday party just RAVED about how cool it was - turned out they were right!) over the weekend...

Lily was very excited about the Christmas tree as we walked in... we actually had to pull her away from the tree in order to check out the trains. It was a fairytale theme this year... here is the Old Woman in the Shoe.... alongside a speeding train, of course.

Lily and Mommy...

As an added bonus, the humidity of the gardens provided a welcome respite from the frigid weather outside!

Lily's holiday gift of choice

Gingerbread House

Lily and I had fun making a gingerbread house last weekend. (No, I did not bake! I got a fabulous kit and Trader Joe's and Lily and I got to enjoy the fun part - decoratng!) She is very excited for Christmas and keeps asking if she can eat her house yet...

Christmas Tree

As opposed to the acquisition of last year's Christmas tree, this year we decided to stay true to the fact that we are urban dwellers. We took a Sunday drive up Mass Ave and found a lovely tree... and celebrated the extra time we saved NOT driving an hour outside the city by getting Lily some yummy hot chocolate at our favorite cafe. It appears that in addition to someone else doing the heavy lifting, they can shake out your tree to get rid of the loose needles. Needless to say, I was a big fan of this guy...
Lily and Mommy, shivering but smiling!

Lily Hearts Pancakes

Nothing like a little Bob Marley tune to sweeten the prep work...