Fall Decor, Playgroup and the Giraffe

Happy Fall! I really only go all out on the decorations for Christmas, but the last few years I have bought little pumpkins for the bowl on my table and this year I added to that with a couple pumpkin candle holders I found awhile back. With the exception of the jack-o-lantern candles, this decor will last through Thanksgiving and until I get the Christmas stuff out!

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Our playgroup this morning was a total success. I was a tad nervous since Lily is often uneasy with strangers in her home and we had 7 Moms, 6 toddlers and 3 babies! She did cling to me for awhile, but never cried or anything. And after only a few minutes she was out of my arms and talking to other Moms and playing! She didn't really play with the kids, but kept bringing toys to some of the other Mothers! I was very proud of her! I was planing on taking pictures while they were here, but I didn't. I am bummed now -- but I did get this after shot of the front room:

I brought most of Lily's toys down from the playroom and scattered them in the front room and living room that way we'd all have more room to play and kids wouldn't be going up and down the stairs. It was a huge success! Lily loved it the most, it was like waking up on Christmas morning since we brought the toys down after she went to sleep last night. She was so excited to play with them all, even though it is all the same toys just in a new location!

Hopefully we can host the playgroup again soon since Lily seemed to have so much fun! I did feel kinda bad since I had mentioned to some, but not all the Moms that I had cats. Of course the ones I told had no problem with it, but the ones I forgot to mention it to all had allergies! Oops. I locked the cats away upstairs, but they knew they were here once their eyes started itching and noses running. Sorry! I hope they come back again anyway!

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It is amazing how bringing a toy from one room to another can change how one feels about it Lily has had this giraffe since before she was born. There was a time when she was afraid of it since it is bigger than her, but lately she is just kinda been like "whatever" about it. Well, now that it is downstairs, all of a sudden she loves it! It was getting hugs all morning and then after everyone left she had to bring it onto the couch to sit with her. I had to take a picture since we had a photo shoot with the giraffe when she was 3 months old.

April 10, 2007

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One last thing -- when I was cleaning up just now, I found Elmo sitting on the couch eating goldfish crackers! :) Lily cracks me up even when she is napping!

Washing Hands

My parents left Friday night. Sorry to disappoint you Mom, but Lily hasn't really asked for them at all! I am really surprised that she hasn't missed them more. It really seems like she understands that they left but will be back in two weeks and two days! It probably helps that I have kept her busy. Yesterday morning we ran all kinda of errands. We went to Old Navy because they were having a pretty good in store sale and I desperately need new clothes. Of course I found nothing. I didn't even find anything I liked for Lily! Then we had to go to Target to get a birthday present for a party we are going to on Tuesday. A neighborhood boy is turning one! And then we had to go to the market for food and snacks for playgroup on Monday morning -- it is our turn to host! So that should be interesting. Anyway, it may not sound like we did too much but we were out and about for nearly 4 hours! Lily was tired and came home and took a nice long nap while I started cleaning for our playgroup visitors!! I still need to vacuum, but I am pretty much done. I just wanted to make sure I got all the crumbs and goldfish crackers up off the floor since little kids manage to find everything!! Lily pitched in this morning by helping me wipe all the bubble residue off her toys!! :) I can't wait to see how she reacts to all the kids in her house . . . I am a little nervous!

Check out her new favorite barrettes (thank you Target dollar spot!):

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In other Lily related news, she is obsessed with washing her hands. Well, maybe I should rephrase that -- she loves playing in the running water! I bought her stools for the sink awhile back, but she is not quite tall enough. However, I am tired of hoisting her up over the sink to wash so I thought I'd try the stool again.

She can just barely get the tips of her fingers under the water

Up on her tippy toes! Above, one foot is not even on the stool! (I couldn't decide which picture I liked best) :)


She looked so cute up there washing her hands. Hopefully she'll tired of it soon -- but not so much that she never wants to wash her hands. We need to find a happy medium!

Gardening & Nuggets

We're still just enjoying out time with my mom in town. Lily is enjoying playing with Ga and I am enjoying not having to entertain Lily constantly!! Actually, that is only partly true -- sometimes I enjoy being able to look through a magazine or catalog without Lily tearing it out of my hands, but then I start to miss her and all the attention I usually get.

Last night we went outside to do some weeding. Having a yard is so overrated. I'm not sure how some people actually enjoy gardening. I mean good for them, but I got attacked by ants. Seriously attacked, my right foot is now polka dotted. And, we uncovered a baby frog in the yard!!! We weren't really scared of it or anything, but a frog, really? I thought we were in Texas, can't I just throw a cows skull on the yard and call it a day?? Isn't that what you think of when you think of Texas?

My Mom was nice enough to help trim a plant that has gotten way out of control!

Lily is a big help, as usual! :)

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Here are some photos that kinda sadden me . . . my baby sitting at the table eating her chicken nuggets for dinner. When did she get so old??

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OK, my keyboard is only registering like every other letter. I keep having to go back and bang on the key to get it to work. I am annoyed, so I' just blog some more later!

The last few days in pictures

The last couple days we have mostly been hanging out playing with grandma. Lily has so much fun playing with her "Ga"! She even gets my mom to sit on the floor for awhile and play! It is cute too, since my mom has a bad back, so once gets up off the floor she'll walk with her hand on her back and Lily will follow and walk with her hand on her back! It is so funny watching her follow her around imitating her walk. I'll try to get a picture of that!

In the meantime, here are some pictures from the last couple days:

Kisses for Elmo

Story time with grandma
Making Grandma wear an Easter basket on her head! :)
Going Downstairs
Furniture shopping
More furniture shopping
Washing Lily's hands
She LOVES to wash her hands, or should I say play in the water

Gymboree

Sitting at the Dining Room table! She is such a big girl!!!!
Deep in conversation with Grandma

That's all for now . . .

Our Big Night Out

Yesterday morning Lily and I went to playgroup at a local park. Then we came home to relax to and spend the whole day with grandma and daddy. Yes, Chip actually took the whole day off work! Since it was also his birthday, we let him play the Wii all day long (instead of catching up on our TV programs). I didn't get any photos, but it was fun to play Mario Kart and I really like the Wii fit!! Then my mom watched Lily while Chip and I went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant. Chip normally feels rushed when we take Lily out to eat because he knows it is only a matter of time before she gets bored and wants out of her high chair. It is funny to me since Chip also gets bored quickly at restaurants -- he is so not the type to hang around and sip coffee after his meal; he usually hands the waiter the credit card before he can even clear our plates! Anyway, last night we had the whole evening to take our time. I think we were at the restaurant a whole 20 minutes! Our food came out super quick, we ate and then we were like well, that was fast what can we do now?? We could have totally brought Lily with us!! But it was nice to get out and have a good dinner just the two of us!

Here are some pictures of Lily at the park from the morning. It took her awhile to warm up, especially with all the other kids and moms playing, but she eventually climbed up the playground equipment:

She loved running back and forth on this little bridge! But it is on an angle, so she would gather speed on her way down and there are drop offs on both sides! It made me so nervous!! I was a total stress case by the time we left the park!

Happy Birthday Chip!!

Today is Chip's birthday!! I surprised him last night by throwing a mini party in the middle of the Cowboys game. We had some friends over to watch the game, so I decided to make a cake and turn it into a birthday bash at the last minute. Chip was so clueless -- he saw the cake with the candle, saw Kristi bring in a present and still didn't catch on until I piled all his gifts in front of him during halftime!! It was a nice evening, we grilled chicken and steak kabobs and ate dinner wile we watched the game. Thankfully the Cowboys won, so it didn't ruin his birthday!! :) It was great that my parents were in town and that Dave, Kristi and her daughter Taylor were able to come by. We missed Linda and Scott, but they were nice enough to pitch in on the gifts and Linda called during the festivities!! Thanks Linda!

Chip giving a big thumbs down to his birthday!
Everyone hanging out. It took Lily the 1st half of the game to warm up to them, but then she was having a blast playing.
Helping Daddy open his presents.
He got the Wii (from Lily and I), Wii Fit (from my parents), Mario Kart w/ 2 wheels (from Linda and Scott), an extra Wii controller (from Dave & Kristi) and a weather alert radio!! My Mom didn't want it to be an all Wii birthday! :)
I made a Dallas Cowboys themed cake! :)

Lily eating cake. She is actually "hiding" from the camera. She'll close her eyes and figures if she can't see you, you can't see her!
Yum!
Since Dallas was playing Green Bay, we had to bring out the Cheesehead! Lily and Taylor had fun playing with it!

A Busy Day

Yesterday at the golf course they had a private party for all the people in my parent's neighborhood. No, my parent's did not throw it -- the builder was the host, but they decided to have it at the course! I guess they had a great turn out and got to meet some of their future neighbors. Lily and I stopped by after her nap because we heard there was a bounce house and we had to check that out! In typical Lily fashion, she was very hesitant to go in the bounce house.

But I was not afraid to go and bounce!

She finally kinda got in and sat with grandma -- by the time she warmed up to it and really wanted to play they came to take it down! Out by the pool at the course

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On our way home from the course, we were lucky enough to catch some of the annual Plano Balloon Festival. I really wanted to go check it out, but we have a lot going on this weekend so we weren't able to actually go to the festival -- but we did see a bunch of the balloons take off! Tons of people pulled over (some were full on picnicking on the side of the road) to watch them take off. We were lucky to grab a spot and watch. It was pretty:

I wish the pictures looked better -- I don't recall the sky looking so orange in person!




Someone got a hold of Mommy's glasses!

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After that we stopped by my parents house to check out the progress. There is not much left to do! All the granite and tile is in, as well as the light fixtures. The water is running. . . all I can think of that is left is carpet!! But I'm still not sure when it will officially be done. Here are some of the pictures I took:

Kitchen

Family Room
master bath

The house from behind
Walking down the front steps

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When we got home Lily and grandma played with Lily's pillow book -- on their heads!

Even Ernie is in there with them! Lily was having so much fun, but I think poor grandma tired of it way before Lily did!