Baking with Lilli

We had a great Saturday today. On the news this morning we saw it was free day at the Country Music Hall of Fame so we had a fun morning downtown. I'll post those pictures later because I really want to keep everything chronological on here.

This one of Pippin just cracks me up. It's with the wide angle lens Brent had borrowed.Last Sunday I had Lilli help me bake some cupcakes for work. A coworkers had bought a few of those gift-able sets for holiday cupcakes that have all the stuff you need in them, and she ended up having one leftover after the holidays so she sent it home for Lilli and I to make together.

This kid knows how to make cupcakes. I got the tins out and she started putting the papers in each one without even being told what to do.
She loves to watch the KitchenAid at work.
She really does know exactly what to do. She loves scooping the batter into the papers but WOW does it end up getting messy.
Batter everywhere!! There's not enough hands to help, or maybe too many hands helping!
And then the sampling starts.....
Thanks goodness I think germs bake out!
I can't believe I didn't take any pictures of the finished product. They turned out so cute - probably in large part because I did the icing and decorating after she went to bed. And the poor thing didn't even get to try one since they were all snapped up pretty quickly at work!

Terribly Terrific Twos

Here's a few more pictures from last week into the weekend.

Last Thursday night we went to the monthly story-time at our local library. Since it falls on the 4th Thursday they didn't have one in November or December, so it's been a while but Lilli quickly remembered Mr Andrew and made herself right at home.Turnout was pretty much non-existent! It was just us and one other little boy, and that was his first time there. They're starting some weekend ones, but Mr Andrew looked right at us and said "it's for kids older than her.". Huh??? She's really not that bad and if there had been more kids there we wouldn't have let her stand so close. And the other boy was literally reading the book out loud with Mr Andrew, so it's not like it was a formal gathering. We may check it out sometimes, my tax dollars pay for these story-times after all!
Afterwards we always let her pick out some fresh books, this one she wanted to read while we were there. She mentions something about Cheetahs (aka Cats) and then around 21 seconds there must be something about a "Daddy" in that book because she starts saying No No No. Otherwise she's just making stuff up!



Last weekend Brent borrowed a wide angle lens from a friend of his. It was a lot of fun to play with and I just love how it could capture a room. Most of our foyer pictures are in pieces and you couldn't really tell how the new staircase looked. This made it pretty easy to see! It would have been a lot of fun to have during the heavier stages of renovating this house.
The outside of the house:
Lilli felt awful last Friday night. Her nose was SO runny, she was coughing and even had a little fever, so we didn't go out. When we put her down for bed she got sick a few minutes later and threw up, but thankfully got a lot of the gunk in her chest up. We kept her in most of the weekend except a trip to Target and dinner on Saturday night. We really don't like to expose people when she's coughing and all snotty, there's really nothing we have going on that's worth getting other people sick.
It was a gorgeous weekend and we just had fun playing in the yard and watching the estate sale going on next door. People literally streamed in and out all week last week. On Monday morning they were already forming a line down the sidewalk when I left for work at 6:15 (the sale didn't start until 8) and on Saturday and Sunday there was a constant stream all day long. Mark said he thought about 5,000 people had been in and out. Brent went over on Saturday and Mark sent a babydoll he had found over to Lilli, so Sunday we took her over to say thanks and his house just looked so bare!
She was feeling a lot better on Sunday so we went across the street to the playground. She can now do all the stairs and everything (up and down) totally on her own, but of course she still wants us to go with her!!
And pudding for snack? That ALWAYS makes us feel better!

All the two year olds are doing it

We really haven't been up to a ton of stuff since Lilli's birthday. It's been cold (mostly) and then a few days after her party she came down with a fairly bad cough/cold that Brent is now getting over as well.

She still uses the potty, when it suits her. She could totally use it all the time but often can't seem to be bothered and would rather just tell us about it about 15 seconds after she's gone in her diaper/pull-up. Some friendly competition at daycare does help her on some days to be better about it. She's just always SO happy when she does go, but I think in another month or two she may be ready to really commit to it.We had another snowy day last week (I think it was Wednesday) so I had a helper with me at work (again) for a few hours until daycare opened at 9. This time I came armed with Brent's Ipod and she stayed pretty occupied for a while and didn't start climbing on top of my desk (literally) until it was nearly time to leave. I am so over all this snow.
I'm always getting all kinds of free books and product samples from work, and the other day I brought home a Noah booked called "Noah Didn't it Rain". It's by some country singer (maybe someone from Alabama? The Gatlin brother? I really don't remember.) and it comes with a CD of the guy singing a song along with it. It's pretty bad but she loves it and it makes her want to run around with her Dora umbrella and sing along.
When she came home from daycare that night, while we were eating dinner, she pulled her dress completely apart and took it off - it's just snaps all the way down the front. She did that numerous times that night. I'm thinking it was probably a pretty interesting and X rated day at school and I probably won't send her in this outfit again.
On these boring, cold winter nights we're spending more time with gadgets. She just loves Brent's Ipod. She has her own spelling game App that she can load up and play. It's great - it's sort of like Scrabble and helps her learn to spell words and identify all sorts of things, and she is REALLY good at it. She's been getting great marks on all her work at school - matching similar size things, all kinds of pretty advanced stuff for her age. And she knows all her colors now and likes to talk about the colors of everything!!
She makes herself VERY comfortable on me when doing pretty much anything.
No really, VERY comfortable!

The After Party

Just a few last pictures from the day of Lilli's birthday party (almost two weeks ago!!!)

I just loved her dress I had made for the party. I used the same lady in New York from Etsy that I've used on several things. I sent her links to the party decorations and she found perfect fabric to match and it came out so adorable!! It's a reverse knot dress, so she'll be able to wear it this winter with stuff underneath and in warmer weather with either T shirts or nothing underneath. And then it can grow into a top, so it should have a long life!After the party she just wanted to run and do laps in the front yard. I think she needed some fresh air!
The back of the dress was so pretty with the big bow!
We picked up Pippin from Camp Bow Wow while Lilli was taking her nap. I think he was worn out from playing and he was really glad to have Grandma's lap to nap on.
Later that afternoon Brent's parents stopped by with his Granny. Lilli found a friend to feed chips to Pippin with.

That game came to an end when Lilli nearly tossed him a bowl of salsa to go with all those chips....
Lilli had fun playing with Madison, too. Somehow she got out her bag of feathers we use for art projects and they had fun tossing them in the air and watching them land on their faces.


Oh feathers, they are hilarious!
So that's the end of Lilli's big birthday party day!!! She had quite the time and certainly slept well that night.

The Big 2: Parting Poses

Another two posts in one day, yay!!!

Before people leave I always like to get a parting shot, then you can see how much the kiddos change from year to year. This would really be better in theory as everyone arrives since they were all so tired for naps at the end of the party and just general cranks, but that makes for much more interesting pictures anyway!

Lindsay and I with Evelyn and Emeline (I guess Tristan was still having a good time playing on the slide, HA!) Clearly all three girls have had a great time.Lilli patting Evelyn on the back. Lilli is such a "nurturer". They told us two weeks ago in Sunday school that a new little boy had cried the whole time and she kept patting him on the back and telling him they got Goldfish, ha! Apparently she gets rather excited about the snacks they have.
Tonya and I with Rachel and Lilli. Apparently something very exciting was going on below us!
Hugs for Rachel!
Lilli with Taylor. She just LOVES him and squeals when he comes in our class after Sunday School.
Brent, Lynda, Levi and Micah with Lilli and I. We are always glad when Brent can make a party so he can start the Birthday Song!! (He's our worship leader.)
Jana and I with Haven and Lilli. Hopefully at her third birthday the kids will be better at posing for pictures!!!!
Wesley and I with Kairo and Lilli, who is totally checking him out.
Hugs for Kairo! She also gave him a very serious face and I think she was going to kiss him right after this!
Outside with Adam and Julia. Apparently all the sun was in Adam's eye, otherwise this is such a cute picture! I still expect to see this framed in their nursery next time we go over.
And that's all from Lilli's 2nd birthday party! We've actually eaten most of the leftovers (including a REALLY good black bean soup tonight that all of us enjoyed!) and Brent even said he could eat at Blue Coast again and I totally agree - we can't get enough burritos in this house!!

The Big 2: Playtime

These pictures don't really fit into any certain category, but they were just too cute not to share. I think the best thing about a house party is all the fresh toys the kids get to play with!

Rachel really enjoyed pushing the grocery cart around!Levi bonded with the horse. The irony here is that he gave Lilli that for her first birthday last year.
Brent was there!!! I asked Adam to also take a few pictures, and so I do have proof that Brent was there. Thanks for the pictures Adam!!!
The slide was a major source of entertainment for most of the group, especially the larger boys - Taylor, Micah and Tristan. It's really a pretty small slide and I'm pretty confident they greatly exceeded the age and weight requirements, HA! I guess it just provided that sense of danger boys need.
Levi chewing on a party horn....
Lilli and my Dad hanging out in the kitchen, talking about something.
Micah loved our "back door" bathroom. It is quite the party hit. That part of the house probably used to be a covered back porch and was then converted into a bathroom as part of the house, hence the weird door with a window in it.
Rachel still loving the grocery cart. I guarantee if she owned it she would never play with it, just as Lilli has never even touched it since we brought it home from Target.
More slide shenanigans.
Liam pushing the baby stroller....he didn't feel well at all and left Lilli an Elmo book and his bad cold, which Brent and I have also shared in. She was actually pretty sick the latter half of last week and the early part of the weekend.
Future Musician??? Kairo breaking it down on the keyboard and microphone.