Father's Day/ Happy Birthday Grandma

Father's Day didn't really begin until about 5:30 when Chip got home from work. Lily was super excited to give him his presents!!

It was cute because she had to first show him the paining she did for him up on the wall -- which I mentioned before has been on the wall for awhile now. But she knew it was a Father's Day gift and it was now technically Father's Day.

Then it was time to open his other present.

She had to show him how she put her hand in and made it. It was cute.

................

After Chip opened his gift, we headed over to my parent's house.

Last time we were there and Grandpa was home, he played some old children's records -- some that were mine from when I was little and some that were his from when he was a boy. He had them out again to play for Lily. She wanted to hear the songs, but then kept telling him "I don't like this song" and making him play a different one. I think it is just because she doesn't know all the songs yet.

It is hard to see in this picture, but Lily kept giving my dad the funniest looks when he was talking to her. He was explaining the lyrics and story to the song "High Hopes" and she just looked at him like he was crazy! It was hilarious.

Opening Grandpa's gift!

Since Monday is my Mom's birthday, we celebrated it together with Father's Day.

We got my Mom photo albums with pictures of Lily. I know it doesn't sound too exciting, but she has been complaining that she doesn't have any pictures of Lily since they are all digital and she never gets around to printing them. So I went through and picked out 575 pictures of Lily since she was 5 months old (the last time my Mom got photos) and made albums for her.

.........................

Then we all went to the Cracker Barrel for dinner!

Lily didn't last in her seat too long since our waitress took forever. But Grandma was nice enough to entertain her for a bit.

Lily wanted pancakes for dinner and to my surprise she wanted the syrup too. Normally she does not like dressings or condiments of any kind. I thought she was just going to play with the syrup since it came in its own cute little bottle. But she ate pancakes with syrup! She has syrup dripping off her face -- she was sticky, but happy (and way hyper later).

Paula and Frank came to dinner with us too!

Lily likes to play and rock outside the restaurant.

..............

After dinner we went back to my parent's house for cake.

Lily blew out the candle for Grandma.
.......................

This morning for my Mom's actual birthday, she came over to play and we went out to lunch at Chuy's. Since Lily was decent (she didn't stay in her seat, but eventually ate her quesadilla), I let her have the ice cream that comes with the kids meal. She was getting fidgety inside, we took it outside to eat.

The colored bench made a fun background!

She had fun playing with her push up, but I ultimately got to eat it! :)

Father's Day Gifts

For Father's Day this year, Lily and I decided it would be best to make gifts for Daddy and Grandpa. We actually started back in May, but I couldn't post those pictures until now. Since Lily likes to paint, I got some stretched canvas from the Hobby Lobby so she could create her own works of art!

Here she is painting Daddy's picture:

The two-handed approach.

And Grandpa's picture:

I wasn't originally planning on framing them, but I felt that they needed a frame after all. I wasn't sure exactly how to go about framing the canvas, but I was so excited when I inquired about it at the Hobby Lobby and they said they would mount them for free after I bought the pre-made frame (which was only $10)! Now they really look like professional art!

Grandpa'sChip's

It is already hanging on our wall. He got it early since Lily was excited and couldn't keep a secret! :)

...................

Before I had the great idea to paint, I had bought a mold to make a stepping stone for Chip's Father's Day gift. I decided to go ahead with that idea too and give him both gifts!! Lily and I made the stone last week.

Getting ready to make her hand print.

The kit came with glitter and decorative stones and rocks.

Lily had a lot of fun making it!

The finished product! It will probably go out front near the front door.

..........................

Finally, we had to make cards. We've been working on this all week, but Lily has not been in the mood to color. So this morning I tempted her to finish the cards by giving her stickers to add to them:

Now we are all ready for Father's Day!

Potty & Chores & Cake!

Apparently Lily wants to start potty training. I am not ready yet, but I doubt I will ever be ready -- I am dreading this. I like diapers. They are easy. But Lily's friends Emily and Ashley are potty training and so Lily wants to "go potty like Emily and Ashley." I know I should use this to my advantage, so while at Target last week I bought 2 toddler seats for the toilet. I like these better than the little toilets on the floor since I don't want to have to clean those and I see no reason why she can't use her stool to climb up on the toilet. We haven't officially started yet, but I am letting her play with the seats and get use to them. She has been sitting on them since last Thursday just "going potty" in the living room, or wherever. She carries them everywhere with her!

Here she is sitting on one and playing with the other (I bought 2 -- one for upstairs and one for downstairs). Silly girl!

I think she is going to miss playing with them once they go on the toilet!

.......................

Yesterday Lily was my little helper as I unloaded the dishwasher. She'll get them all out and stack them on the counter for me. She is pretty good too -- she also takes the cups and bowls that have water pooled up in them and dumps the water in the sink first!

This is her latest obsession -- filling her own water bottles. Usually I give her bottled water (Chip is the only one who drinks from the fridge -- I am a water snob and the fridge water tastes funny to me. Seriously you can blindfold me and I can identify different brands of water).

She is getting better, but I still have to watch her and let her know when it is full. The first few times she dumped water on her head since she is too short to see when the cup is full!

.................

Tonight we will be celebrating Father's Day and my Mom's birthday (which is tomorrow). So Lily and I made Grandma a birthday cake. At first she was a little bummed that she didn't get to stir, but then she kinda found the mixer fascinating -- so it was ok.

She kept cheering the mixer on yelling, "go round and round and round . . ."

At the end she still wanted to stir a little! It is great for me since she did not want to taste the batter!! I am enjoying it while I can because I know soon enough we will be fighting over who gets to lick the beater! :)

Play-Doh & Jumping In!!

Yesterday afternoon I had a Dr's appointment and then book club in the evening. My Mom was nice enough to come over and watch Lily. One of Lily's favorite things to do with Grandma is play with the play-doh (not sure why, but she always has to get the play-doh out when my Mom is here!)

.................................

This morning we went to the neighborhood pool with all our friends. Lily was excited to "go to the big swimming pool with Emily, Hannah, Ashley and Elise." I didn't get any pictures at the pool since I had to tend to Lily and everyone else had to look after their kid(s), but Lily spend nearly 2 hours jumping into the pool! She started by jumping off the stairs into my arms, and then was ready to jump off the side!! A few of her friends were doing it too, and they would go all the way under, but I made sure to catch Lily before she was submerged. But I am sure by the end of the summer she will be jumping in like a professional! She loved it and would probably still be at the pool jumping in if I hadn't pulled her out kicking and screaming.

I did get a picture of her helping me apply her sunblock this morning. She knows that she needs sunscreen -- in fact if a beam of sunlight hits her when she is in the house she'll yell "I need block!". It is a great habit for her to learn! I hate having to goop it on her, though, especially her poor scalp where her hair is so thin from her twisting it all out. It is messy.

Bubbles, the Hose & A Blowout

Last night Lily discovered she got new bubbles in the goody bag at the birthday party we went to on Tuesday, so of course she had to go outside immediately to try them out.After she got tired of those bubbles, I brought out this cool bubble maker I got last summer at the Target Dollar Spot and never used:

It was fun, but took nearly a whole bottle of bubbles to fill the tray to soak the wand. Next time, I'll just make my own bubbles with dish soap!

I didn't really feel like setting up the little pool or anything since I didn't want to stay out too long, so I just let her go at it with the hose for awhile.

She has the most fun trying to get me all wet. She just chases after me yelling "I get you! I get you!"

..........................

This morning before Gymboree she found my authentic Texas cowgirl hat that I bought last year at Target. :) She loves to wear it and she looks so cute!

She sat like this, holding her glasses to her eyes for nearly the entire 25 minute drive to Gymboree! Apparently she couldn't get them to stay on (being upside down probably didn't help matters any either).

.............

After Gymboree, we were headed to the Super Target for week 3 of my Target vs. grocery store experiment. So far, I have to say, Target is WAY cheaper for groceries!! I think I have literally saved hundreds of dollars this month. Anyway, as I may have mentioned before, Gymboree moved way clear across town and is now 25 minutes away. So it took almost a half hour to get back to the Target near us (so my groceries wouldn't melt). As we got close to our house I noticed the alignment was off in my car and I was drifting to the left. I didn't think much of it and was annoyed that maybe they messed something up doing the inspection yesterday. Now, to get to the new Target I can either take the frontage road along the freeway, or just hop on the freeway for 2 exits. I do either, depending on my mood. Today I choose the freeway and as soon as I got on, my car started acting funny and then the road got way bumpy! I still didn't realize what was going on, but got off the freeway immediately and saw my tire shoot out behind me on the off ramp!! It was now way loud and bumpy so I pull off into a park which was the nearest place to stop and this is what I found:

Oops.
Apparently I got a flat and didn't even realize it. Luckily, I didn't do any damage to the rim.

I called Chip for help and him and my Dad came to rescue us! It was nice that we were in a park, Lily just played and danced while we waiting for help to arrive.

Not sure what she was doing, but she kept saying "Ta da!" and posing with her stick.

Lily had to be in on all the action and "help fix mommy's car".

She was so cute as she watched them!

It was nice that I had a real tire in my truck (as opposed to a spare), so I am all good to go -- I just need to replace the tire in my trunk someday soon.

Presents & Errands

Last night there was an exciting surprise waiting in the mail box for Lily -- a package from Aunt Linda and Uncle Scott! Of course, Lily was super excited to get a present! Here she is opening her gift, she got 2 adorable dresses, a shirt, sunglasses, hat and bracelets and necklaces!! Everything Lily loves! Thanks Anda and Scott!
....................

This morning we had lots of errands to run. It has been a year and my car is due for it's annual inspection (in Texas we have to get them once a year). Of course as soon as I am ready to take the car in my front headlight burnt out and I knew I get to get it fixed in order to pass. I got the light the other day and was going to do it myself, but the owner's manual scared me since it said to disconnect the battery and wear safety goggles! So I asked my Dad to do it knowing that he could get it done quickly and easily. And I was right -- he left the car running and got it changed out in minutes!

Visiting with Daddy at work, while Grandpa fixes my car.

Next stop was the car wash for the inspection (and a free wash).

Lily looked so cute today in her little outfit my sister sent!

It is a cute one piece that reminds me of something Christi Snow would have worn on Three's Company!

The jewels are also from Anda.

After the car wash (my car passed). We ran some more errands, and then came home to eat lunch and nap (Lily, not me). :) I feel good I got all that accomplished today!

100 Acre Woods and other stuff

Sorry no post yesterday. Chip and I went to the movies to finally see Angels and Demons yesterday afternoon! We are both huge fans of the Dan Brown books and I thought The Da Vinci Code was one of the best movies ever, so we have been wanting to go see this movie since it came out! Chip had been studying all morning at school and needed a break, so my Mom was nice enough to come hang out while Lily napped. Unfortunately Lily didn't get to hang out too much with Grandma since she was sleeping most the time and I think she was kinda bummed about that -- next time we'll have to stay out longer! :) Chip had wanted to take her back to the pool, but once we got home he thought better of it and decided to spend the rest of the night studying some more for his quiz today. I love going to the pool, but I didn't really feel like going either after having movie theater popcorn and milk duds for lunch! :)

Yesterday morning, before all that excitement Lily had playgroup at a local park. There was only one other kid there, so it was kinda a bust (our Monday playgroup blows compares to the great neighborhood playgroup we have on Tuesday). But Lily was excited to swing -- we haven't been to the park in awhile. It's been warm out and I hate having to goop her up with all the sunblock, so I have avoided it. But she has been so busy she hasn't really noticed.

The park is adjacent to a nature preserve with walking trails. I kinda wanted to take a little walk, but Lily did not want to stop swinging. So I told her it was the "100 acre wood." Lily is obsessed with Winnie The Pooh and all things Pooh. In fact the whole gang has become her imaginary friends. She is constantly talking to Christoper Robin; I have to make him food and snacks, tuck him in at night, hold his hand on the stairs, and wait for him to get in and out of the car. It is cute, but we are slow enough waiting for Lily and now I have to wait for Christoper Robin too!! So telling her we were going to the "100 acre wood" really got her excited!!

Waving hi!

It was really pretty. I enjoyed our little walk. Thankfully we found everyone (Christoper Robin, Eeyore, Piglet, Kanga, Roo, Rabbit, Owl and Pooh) so we could leave and take them all home. There are no concerns about Lily's imagination!
....................................

This morning we had a playgroup birthday party for Luke and Lucy who turn one next week! It was nice since they were some of the first people we met here (and who got us into the neighborhood playgroup) when the twins were just a few weeks old!

Lily had fun since they had the sprinklers on and a little pool to splash in! She loves the water!

Lily and Ashley

Lily wanted Ashley to "color" her (a chalk outline of her body).