What we've been up to...

Lily washing her fawn and her elephants in the bathroom sink. You should've seen the water mess on the counter and floor- not to mention the soap and the wet towels she tried to clean up with- but she had fun and was occupied for awhile. She was singing to herself and making the animals talk to each other.

Here's Lily the Muscle Woman lifting her weights and getting strong. Elmo was excercising on TV and she said she wanted to exercise too- so she got her little one pound weights and lifted them up over her head.

Later, we went to the park to swing and run around. She couldn't do too much running though because she still has a little cough but we had fun. We ate lunch at the picnic table but it was a bit chilly so we didn't sit too long. Lily said, "Its summer now mommy." If only....if only.

Lily's first Joke

Lily: Knock Knock

Mama: Who's there?

Lily: Orange.

Mama: Orange who?

Lily: Orange you gonna lock the door and lettuce throat?

Mama: What?

Lily: Lettuce throat.

Mama: Do you mean "Orange you gonna un-lock the door and let us through?"

Lily: Lettuce throat, lettuce throat, lettuce throat....Mama you have to laugh...

Uncontrollable giggling ensues....

Yucky Medicine...emerging logic???

Last night Lily had the most terrible cough- just dry and nothing coming up but everytime she tried to lay down she couldn't stop coughing. She hasn't had much of a cold or anything- just the perpetual Daycare slight runny nose. But I knew we weren't going to get any sleep- either of us- if we didn't get some cough medicine in her. I told her that it would taste really yucky but that she could have water right afterwards and that it would make her cough go away. She said ok. So I give her the medicine and she takes most of it then gulps some water. When I tell her she needs to finish it she says she doesn't want to because it tastes bad. I explained again that if she didn't finish she would keep on coughing. So I gave her the choice...and she chose to take the medicine though she said afterward that she would never take that medicine again. It was just a proud mommy moment for me because she really thought about what taking the medicine would mean and made a good choice. Maybe it sounds really simple but I was happy. Then she laid on my chest while I sat up so she didn't cough so much and we sang some songs. Normally she doesn't want me to sing to her anymore like I used to so I was happy to do that. Good job Lily!

PS Christmas Cookies

I forgot all about this video I meant to put up. Lily and I were making cut out cookies after Christmas- she did a great job!

Christmas at Gramma Deb's house...

We finally made it to Tacoma last weekend and got to see everybody. I didn't take too many pictures- sorry : ( Anyway, Lily had a lot of fun with her new play food and stickerbook and her new ponies too. Thanks Gramma Deb, Grampa Bruce, Aunt TT, Rick and Mamma. We had a great time.

Rudolph

My daughter must have inherited the "Christmas" gene. Last night Lily didn't want to go to bed (what else is new?). She tried just about everything possible to get out of it, though she must not have been putting all her energy into it because she wasn't screaming. Anyway- first she needed two stories then we turned off the lights. Immediately she wants a "Piggy Story"- which is a story I always start with three little piggies and she tells me what kind of adventure they go on. Sometimes they eat spider soup, sometimes they fall in holes in the forest- you never know. The only way to wrap up a Piggy story is to somehow sneak the piggies into bed and say "The End". Ha. Well, then its a drink of water (or two or three) and a bunch of wiggle worming. I am so tired and all I want to do is go to sleep- but at least she's not screaming right?- then she starts singing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. And that litte squirt knows all of the words- all of the right words too. And I totally break- I am dying trying to hold in the giggles- she notices and starts to giggle too. Then a tickle fight. Finally we both fall asleep- I'm not sure who first.

It's 2009 already somewhere in the world!

Can you believe that this is the end of 2008? I am a little disappointed because I like even years more than odd years and the number "9" is definitely not in my top ten favorite numbers, but what can you do? We had a great year this year (I even put together a little 2008 Year in Review Slide show which some of you have already seen- the rest of you will get to see it soon.)

This next week marks one year in our apartment which will soon be a new thing for me- living in a place for more than one year (Gasp!) Since I moved out at age 18 (8 years ago) I have lived in 13 different places- some for as little as a month but none for more than 12 months. I guess this means I am growing up..maybe. Unless my landlord decided to raise the rent to some ungodly amount then I will have to reconsider.

This weekend I really realized my little girl is not a baby anymore either. I mean I already knew it what with the talking back and the tennis elbow from carrying her up the stairs but just looking at her she really looks like a little girl now. She's more proportionate size wise and she puts two adjectives in a sentence to describe something. Last night she said, "Mommy, what is that thick brown ornament you have?" It was my little duck in a nest ornament from "Santa" that I got in my stocking. So articulate and her vocabulary blows me away sometimes. She was mad at me the other day and said "Mommy you are just horrible." Wow, thanks kid. I wanted to say "Well, sometimes you are horrible too." But I held my tongue. We have many years ahead of us for deciding that one.

Happy New Year all! We love you and thanks for making 2008 very special!

Merry Christmas to All

We've had a WHITE CHRISTMAS today with a few more inches of snow. We've also had a great relaxing day just hanging out and everyone playing with all their new toys...Here are some pictures from this morning.

Snow...snow...snow

We watched "White Christmas" last night. It looks like this year we might actually have a real white christmas...can you believe it?

So I am behind a whole month....

I seriously have been trying to post forever but everytime I try it ends up getting pushed further down the priority list by some more pressing issue (grocery shopping, Christmas presents, sleep...) and now with the weather pretty much holding me hostage at Dad and Di's house (sorry guys, it's true) I finally have a few spare minutes to get some pictures up...after I finally downloaded some microsoft update that literally took hours- but before then I couldn't even get on the internet (GASP!). Here are a few pictures from recent days...my beautiful girl.