Family Fun

Linda, Scott, Jeremy and Katie got here on Thursday afternoon.  We went to meet them for lunch and frozen custard before swim and then met up with them at Grandma and Grandpa's house after.  We were all so excited to see them.  Lily adores them and misses them everyday.  She literally counts down until they visit.  Plus, we were all so excited to meet Katie!!!

Lily and Jeremy have always played together so well and nothing changed with this visit.  It is so cute.  And I was blown away by Danielle who had to get in there and play with the big kids.

Sweet cousins!

 Me and Katie!! 

Nothing says family fun like a sword fight!

On Friday they came to play at our house since I am nursing Chip who had nose surgery on Friday morning. 

Playing princess castle with Grandma.

Dani was playing catch with Grandpa.

9 Months Old

I know I say it every month, but I seriously can not believe that Danielle is another month older.  I have noticed the biggest changes in her this last month with her learning to crawl.  She just seems so much older.  She is so good at just crawling around the room to play with all her toys and does well with independent play - she'll entertain herself for a long time.  Danielle is still the sweetest, happiest baby.  She is always laughing and smiling and hardly fusses.  We are all so lucky to have her in our lives.    She pretty much sleeps through the night now 99.9% of the time and goes to bed around 7:30 and wakes up about 5am and then goes back down until about 7:30/8 (although this last week was waking up about 6:30). We've pretty much got a nap schedule down -- she is still just taking one nap a day, usually around 11:30 - 1:30, for an hour to two.  Which is much better than before and works with our schedule most of the time.   She is pulling up onto her knees and trying to get up on her feet so we had to lower her crib another notch this week.    Another tooth popped through this week - her left top fang.  So now she has the two middle teeth on the bottom and her two fangs on the top.   She is just a bundle of perfection and I adore her.

Thursday evening after a very busy day we stopped to take this pictures and she was not very cooperative, but I managed to get a few to commemorate her turning 9 months old.

My vision was to get all pictures of her looking into  the mirror, but she was not having it.  These are the best I got and they are not that great since the mirror image is not in focus.  I may try this again one day.

This is how most the mirror pictures look. :)  One of the rare times she is fussy!!

Swim Lessons

Lily started back at swim lessons to get ready for the summer.  We decided to go 4 days a week for two weeks instead on once a week for a semester.  I figured she'd learn and retain more this way.  Needless to say, it has made for a hectic and busy week to add this to our schedule everyday!!  But she is enjoying it and started out strong.  On Thursday she practically swam across the pool by herself!

This Will Never Get Old

I LOVE this crazy kid!!

"hi!"

Really Big Girl

I am not sure how I feel about this pictures of Danielle sitting in Lily's princess chair.  She looks SO old.  I think I need to put her back in the bumbo asap!! :)

BIg Girl

Danielle got this "house" for Christmas from Santa Claus.  She has played with it, but she is finally starting to get it's full potential as she crawled through the doorway for the first time on Monday.  I can not believe how quickly she is growing up.  It is so bittersweet.

She has her "concentrating" face on.

Mother's Day

For me Mother's Day started on Saturday evening since Chip had to work on Sunday.  We went out to dinner with the girls at Chuys.  It was a nice evening especially since we haven't gotten out much with Chip in the last 5 months.  But now that he has a few weeks off till Summer school starts we are going to try to take advantage of every second!

Lily enjoying her push pop after dinner.

Sunday afternoon for actual Mother's day, my Mom came over to hang out, play and we went out to lunch.  Lily made her a book and I got her pictures of the girls.  It was a nice afternoon and it was nice for us all to play together instead of Lily making Grandma play only with her. :)

Later in the evening, just me and my girls were playing around and having fun.  I love these two more that I can possibly express and I am SO lucky to be their mother.

Kisses

This is not the best picture of me, but I finally got a picture of sweet Dani kisses.  She opens her mouth wide and goes "mwah".  She's been doing this since she was teeny tiny and I hope she never stops.  I love my sweet baby kisses!!

Technology

Danielle playing on her iphone. . . .  like all normal 8 month olds do nowadays. 

The Mommies

Friday night we went out to celebrate Jenn's birthday.  The guys all came too, but we got this cute pic of us gals.  As usual, it was a fun night out with good friends!

Patti, Rhiannon, Me and Jenn

End of an Era

Friday was Lily's Pre-K program and graduation.  Technically she still has two weeks of school left, but they have already all "graduated".  Mom, Chip, Danielle and I went to the program.  It was so cute.  Both Pre-K classes got together and sang about 6 songs.  They were all SO sweet.  Unfortunately since Lily is tall, she was in the back row so it was hard to get good pictures or video of her.  It is crazy that she is already done with preschool.  Honestly, I am handing it WAY better than I thought I would. My biggest issue with Kindergarten is that she would be at school all day.  But having her in Stay and Play twice a week helped me get over that fear.  We still have lots of time to play on those days and she loves being at school.  It is going to be a LONG July and August since she gets so bored here at home (she will go to summer school in June to help keep her busy).   She loves school and I know she is going to love Kindergarten.  It is just hard to believe that my tiny baby girl is growing up so fast.

Singing their songs.  They have all practiced so hard over the last couple months. 

Getting her Pre-K Diploma from Ms Jancy.

With her teachers, Ms Megan and Ms Jancy.

After the program they had cookies and juice outside and the kids go to play.

Danielle playing with Grandma and her necklace -- just like all the grandkids do!

Makayla and Lily

Parker and Lily  (apparently they got married at school one day).

Hadley, ?, Carys, Makayla, Lily, Haley and Kiera

 

The sandbox, where they have played together for many many hours over the last three years.

 

Lily, Makayla, Haley, Hadley and Carys

My big girl.

Random Post About a Mesh Food Holder.

I bought Danielle these mesh food container things awhile back, but never used them.   Her fang teeth on the top are coming in and she was pretty fussy this week, so I put a cold pear in the feeder hoping to help ease some of her discomfort and get her to eat some fruit.  She liked it at first, but the novelty seemed to wear off pretty quickly.  But we'll keep trying.  It is a good way to get her some cold fresh fruit this summer.  I could even put in frozen berries or ice . . . . the possibilities are endless.