Lily's New Year Eve Celebration

We have had a very busy New Year's Eve and it is barely 2pm! Lily woke up a little on the early side this morning, which first annoyed me, but then ended up being a good thing as I got almost all my Christmas decorations put away already! I still have the trees to put away, but everything else is back in boxes and all my regular stuff is back in its place!! I am always sad to put it all away, but with all the new toys scattered around it is nice to clean up some of the clutter. Plus we have to start cleaning up for Lily's birthday and I am hosting playgroup both Monday and Tuesday next week, so it was time to say bye bye to Santa! :( Lily was actually a huge help and stayed out of my way while I cleaned up. So that was nice. But then I noticed that she was too quite, which means she must be up to no good! Sure enough, I found her sitting behind the Christmas tree playing with Britney.

Then we had to get ready to go to Peter Pipers Pizza for a New Year's party with the MOMS Club. We had never been there before and we can't wait to go back! It was a lot of fun! Kids under 3 eat free with the purchase of a $4.95 all you can eat pizza buffet! It was a deal since Lily ate 2 pieces of pizza on her own! Then at 12 noon we had noise makers and counted down to 12:00 o'clock (just 12 hours early)! It was fun for the older kids, Lily just wanted to eat more pizza! After we finished eating, it was time to play! They have an arcade and play area in the restaurant and I wasn't sure if Lily was really going to want to play any of the games. But she totally surprised me! I didn't try to get her to ride the little mechanical horse or car after she freaked out riding the Mickey Mouse toy at Babies R Us, but she had a good time playing the games!

This was the best for her age (and height). It was called Pat A Cake and you had to hit the buttons when they lit up! We got lots of tickets playing this game!

Lily also enjoyed the little kid toys, since well, she is a little kid!

Playing Whac A Mole!

Her favorite, and mine, was Skeeball!! She had SO much fun throwing the balls up the ramp. None of them actually made it up into the goal, but she'd catch them when they rolled back and did it all again! It was so cute to watch. She was screaming and laughing! I had fun, throwing the balls around her and she loved it when I got a good shot! We'd both cheer!

The first couple times she didn't stay in our lane, but after that her aim was really good. Tara and Grace are playing to her left.

Then she played on the dance game. The goal is to step on the buttons as they light up, but I think she had more fun pushing the buttons that start the game!

We won 124 tickets and bought a glitter baton, 4 rubber bracelets and a hand backscratcher! It was a good afternoon!

Happy New Year!

Christmas Lights

Yesterday I promised I would try to find something good to blog about today. . . and I am not going to disappoint!

Last night we finally got around to visiting that neighborhood with all the Christmas lights (remember we tried the weekend before Christmas, but there was too much traffic and people trying to see all the pretty lights?) . I know Christmas is over, but Chip got busy and sick and we never made it back, so we thought we'd try again just to see what all the fuss was about. It is a beautiful neighborhood and the majority of people put up some lights and a few people went all out. Just having every house lit up in someway really made it pretty! You can even take horse drawn carriage rides through the neighborhood -- but we just drove.

Anyway, we got to the street that was causing all the traffic to backup and it was another house with the lights choreographed to music on a local radio station. It is super cool and they had TONS of lights, but I was a tad disappointed since we had already seen 2 homes like this with no wait at all before, I couldn't imagine how I would have felt if we waited an hour!

So we stopped and watched the light show. The people who lived in the house already scored points with me since they had a leg lamp all lit up in the front window -- a major award! So that was cool . . . but then this happened. I whipped out my camera as fast as I could and caught one of the greatest Christmas moments ever.

Watch and enjoy:

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

How great is that? I mean who uses a snippet of that song for a holiday display?? They are my new heroes!

I have gotten into such a good habit of blogging everyday, that I kinda feel bad when I have nothing really to write about . . . We had playgroup this morning and then ran a few errands. Lily is napping and I am getting some stuff done around the house. Just another day. No new pictures (I will work on that). Last night we just watched the Cowboys self destruct in the worst game ever and then we weren't really allowed to talk to Daddy the rest of the night. :) Hopefully he is feeling better today. Last thing I remember him mumbling before I fell asleep was "can't believe the season is over. i can't believe it".
So that's all that is going on here! :) I'll try to think of something better to write about tomorrow.
:)

Quick Update

Everyone seems to be feeling better now. I am fine. Lily is still coughing at night and periodically throughout the day, but her nose has stopped running and she is as playful as ever. Chip is taking a little longer to get well since he hasn't had much time to rest, but even he seems to be on the mend. Yesterday, my mom came by to see Lily and all her Christmas loot. Of course Lily was more than happy to show Ga all her new toys. For some reason, I didn't take any pictures :(
This morning I had a few errands to run so we invited my Mom to come with us. It ended up being a really good thing that she came since Lily wanted to "walk" and did want want to get in her stroller. So my Mom said she'd hold Lily's hand and watch her while I did my shopping. We just went to look for a new dress for Lily to wear in her 2 year pictures and I found a really cute pink and brown one!! I haven't had her pictures taken since her 1 year photo (not that there is a lack of photos of Lily), but it should be interesting to see how the photo shoot goes! We probably won't go until the weekend after her birthday. Anyway, Lily looked so cute and old walking around the store with her little sweater and pigtails and of course it was the one time that I didn't bring my camera with me in an attempt to lighten my load! So no new pictures today either!

But I do have these from the other day of Lily trying to ride her new tricycle in the front room:

She tries to work the pedals, but her legs just don't make it all the way around. So she just scoots herself across the floor!

Christmas Day - All Day Long!

We had a really nice Christmas. It was a little strange staying at home in our pajamas all day, but with Chip and Lily under the weather, it ended up being the perfect way to celebrate. Our day started with Lily coming downstairs to see the presents that Santa left for her. She was surprisingly excited about the tricycle! She may not actually ride it for awhile, since even though the seat is adjustable, she still can't quite reach the petals! Then Lily had a great time going through her stocking and checking out all the great surprises inside! After that, we took a break so Lily could eat breakfast and I could get the traditional Christmas morning coffee cake made and in the oven. Coffee cake is Chip's favorite so I decided a few years back that we would make it a tradition to have on Christmas morning. After that was done we started opening presents! Lily was loving it at first and couldn't wait to open more and more "all day long". I have no clue where she picked up the phrase "all day long" but she kept saying it over and over all day long! :) She wanted to open presents "all day long" and eat cake "all day long." Sometimes she used it in ways that made absolutely no sense and it was like ok, well "all day long" to you too!
After the first few presents I think Lily was a little overwhelmed. We'd open the toy after she unwrapped it to give her a chance to check it out while Chip and I opened our gifts. I could tell she wasn't in the mood to continue, so we would take breaks and open more gifts once she got bored with the latest one she opened. It worked out well since we had nowhere to be and had the whole day to open gifts "all day long!"

Getting on her new tricycle!

Checking out the fun stocking stuffers! Santa put some fun toys in there!

Daddy pushing her on her bike.

Eating pancakes and watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse at her new table.

Chip trying to yo-yo with the light up Star Wars yo-yo he got in his stocking. I think he needs some yo-yo lessons! :)

Opening presents!

Getting a closer look

Lily with her new Baby Elmo doll and Chip documenting the whole morning on video.

Chip and Elmo (I am not sure why he always feels the need to pose like an Asian tourist)

Lily climbing on Daddy's new ottoman -- that was the big gift that was under the tree that she climbed on before when it was wrapped! She is holding her Princess flashlight that was in her stocking. She really loved the flashlight!

Family Photo! Not sure why Lily is leaning that way

Lily wanted to help work the camera, so we got one of just Chip and me.

Lily playing with her bowl of fruit. She got a whole bunch of educational food -- this counting fruit, sorting cupcakes, ice cream cones to help learn colors, counting cookies and pizza to teach fractions! I figured we may as well learn something as we play!

It is funny how the simplest timeless toys are the ones that entertained her the longest!

...........

That was all in the morning. Then Lily went to take a nap and Chip and I ate left over lasagna and watched an entire movie! That may not seem like any big deal, but it was super special to us! With Lily and Chip's work schedule we have not watched a movie all the way through in its entirety since 2006! So it was really nice to curl up and spend some quality time together. We watched Superbad. I had taped it off Starz in July and it had been sitting unwatched on the DVR for 6 months! It was a really nice way to spend the afternoon and break up the day!

When Lily woke up, I had one more present waiting for her -- the one I thought she would like the best; a set of dolls, twins, with a double stroller and double high chair that converts to a double swing! It also came play food, bowls, spoons, bottles and a little diaper bag and changing pad! I was right -- she loved them! She loves to play mommy!

Opening her dolls

Putting them in the stroller

Feeding her babies

While I was getting dinner ready, Lily and Daddy opened the last gift of the day. It was tiny cars with Pluto and Goofy driving (she had already opened the Mickey/Donald set)

Dinner! We had ham, turkey, potatoes Au gratin, stuffing, green beans, corn and biscuits! It was yummy! Lily actually ate and liked the stuffing (that was all she ate)

My wonderful husband bought me a Pearl Jam concert DVD, and although he is not a fan at all, he actually suggested that we watch it after dinner!! Of course I was excited and so was Lily! She was dancing the whole time! In the above photo she is dancing with her doll! I loved it! :)

After an exhausted Lily went to bed (she did not wake up until 10:45 this morning -- she slept over 12 hours straight!) Chip played with one of his new toys -- the Wii zapper gun which was a gift from Linda and Scott!

Lastly, a picture from this morning, the day after. Where are the elves to come and clean up and find a space for all our new stuff??

Christmas Eve

Since it was just the three of us for Christmas this year (and 2 of us are sick) we had a nice low key Christmas Eve. I made my favorite, lasagna, which I usually only make once a year around Christmas time! So I was pretty excited about that! Then we let Lily open a couple presents and watched a little of A Christmas Story on TV before we went to bed and waited for Santa! Lily ended up running a fever right before bed time! I can't believe it -- she was on antibiotics for 10 days (Monday was her last day), how on earth is she sick again??? I am assuming Chip has what we already had -- I hope he hasn't brought in another new strand of cold altogether! Argh! I am so over being sick!! But all in all, it was a very nice night and a wonderful Christmas Eve considering we weren't with all our family and friends like normal. This is the first time ever that I have not been with family for the holidays and I thought it would be really really hard, but watching Lily have fun took my mind off of it!

My lasagna! The best part is the leftovers for days! :)
I also made a Caesars salad and garlic toast!

Since Lily just played with her lasagna, she ended up eating chicken nuggets later

Time to open a few presents! We first opened the gifts from Paula and Frank!

Lily got a Minnie Mouse Doll with different outfits that you can change! She loved it! Every gift she opened she just kept saying , "OH CUTE!"

Lily dressing Minnie

Next, to keep with the theme, I let her open her Mickey Mouse Clubhouse from Chip and me.

Of course she was super excited about that!

The family -- amongst the mess of Christmas gifts and wrapping paper!

Since we were all sick, I did not make Lily and Chip dress up. So we kicked it in our Christmas PJ's (note to self - buy Chip festive pajamas for next year!)

After Lily went to bed, Santa came! Apparently Santa and his elves were extra busy this year so he asked Chip and I if we could help assemble her presents. Chip put together the tricycle.

And I put together the table and chairs

All ready for Christmas morning!! Her stuffed stocking is on her new little table and cookie monster is riding on the tricycle!

After all our hard work, we had a piece of Christmas cake and went to sleep with visions of sugar plums dancing in our heads!