Picture Catch Up

Some pics and snippits from the past few weeks...

Lilly actually ENJOYING doing the dishes after an evening making cookies...(check out the cute apron...my mom got Lilly and I matching aprons for Mother's Day...I love them!)

Here are some pictures from her actual birthday...and her "school party" where we passed out cookies at school. The reception in the "new room" was flat, but her old teachers saved the day and brought the entire 2 year old class over and seranaded her and made her feel like a queen.

Here is the dark side of toddler birthdays....the meltdown at the end of two days of being the absolute center of attention....I had told her she actually had to go to bed and stop playing...she was NOT happy, but came around. We were playing outside because the power went out in the middle of making dinner (Jackson and family came for dinner that Monday)...it was out for more than 7 hours! But, it made for great memories as Lilly and I read stories by candle and flashlight on the porch before bed!
Then it was my birthday about a week later (May babies only in this house apparently)...Lilly enjoyed it a lot - especially opening my presents. Here she is admiring a button necklace.

This weekend we headed to the Pungo Strawberry Festival in VA Beach. It was a looong drive, but we split it up and stopped at IHOP halfway. Pungo isn't actually near the beach...its at the very southern tip in the farmland area just north of the state line. It was fun...but sort of standard festival fare...I think next year I will just stick with local festivals without the long drive. It would have been better if Lilly wasn't scared of the parade. I keep thinking she'll grow out of that - and I keep being proven wrong. She cowered in my chest until I took her away from the parade to play in the dirt. But it was a long parade...I mean, any thing that includes a corvette carrying Miss Outstanding Pre Teen Virginia Beach is too long. BUT, after that she started to recover her mood. We headed into an "antique" shop (really just for a few minutes of AC), and she marched up to a stranger and announced "I AM NOT HAVING A GOOD TIME TODAY" The lady started laughing hysterically - as did I. But, then we did some shopping and she perked up. I swear - just when you think she is all tomboy, she will drop anything to go shopping and has MUCH more stamina to shop than I do. Anyway...she had a good time by the end of the day...and enjoyed ice cream w/ Jackson and the standard trio....

What A Day!

Birthday, Mother's Day, 2 Year Anniversary of our Family!!! Quite a 48 Hour Period! We had a joint Mother's Day / Birthday Party at our place last night...and little miss lil had a great time. Enjoy the pics.... She wanted a "Worm Cake" like Max makes on Max & Ruby ("But not real worms, mommy").

We had a slight incident with Lilly running face first into the dining room table. She got a bloody nose, but recovered quickly like a champ - sugar, presents and loads of attention have that effect on kids.

At the end of the night...demonstrating to Papa that she will be THREE the next morning!

Musings...

Work has been rather tough lately, and today I found myself rushing out of work to make it to the day care by 6 to get Lilly. I had thought I would leave right around 5, but then the phone rang and I got stuck in a long and heated conversation. Kendra called on my cell to say Lil looked a little tired and bummed to be one of the last kids there when she was getting Jackson...and man was she right.

They were playing outside on the playground and had just come in when I got there. The big fat tears were still on her hot little red cheek when she saw me and gave me a big hug. They had come inside through the 4 year old classroom (both the 3s and 4s open to the "big kid" playground and later in the afternoon/evening, the 3s teachers are gone and the 4s teachers oversee the combined group), and apparently got really upset. I can only imagine what she thought...man I haven't even been in the 3s a week and now this?!?!? Are these folks out of their minds?? Anyway...she was worn out and very happy to see me.

I asked her if she wanted to go home and have dinner or go out to dinner, and she very quickly said she wanted to go to the local diner for dinner. Now - this diner is OLD SCHOOL. It is an old airstream diner that has been the greasy spoon there for so many decades that my grandfather used to eat there when he was working here...and he retired about 40 years ago (and passed away 12 years ago). I think the diner has been there since the 40s (it fed the folks building the ships for WWII at the local shipyard). Anyway...Lilly and I were one of only 2 customers, so they were making a big fuss over her. She got to watch the chef cook her hot dog, etc and loved it. He was very nice to her and gave her a lollypop. AND THEN HE SAID IT. HE THOUGHT I WAS THE GRANDMOTHER. GRANDMOTHER?!?!?!?!?!? I know I didn't have her when I was in my early 20s, but I am not soooo far off the mark here. Mid 3os! GRANDMOTHER?!?!?!?!? Hmmmm......

Ups and Downs of the Threes

So this was the "Visiting Week" for Lilly and Jackson and the new Three Year Old Class. Basically they both went to the new class for a little bit Monday, and then increasing time each day until they were there almost all day Friday (mostly everything but nap).

Wednesday night Lilly lost it as she was going to bed. She had been unusually quiet all evening...usually she talks constantly, whether or not anyone else is around. I've even overheard her putting her toys in time out for not listening to her. Anyway - there was none of that Wednesday...and then she threw all her stuffed animals off her bed onto the floor, followed by her blankets including her baba (blankie). Then she threw herself on the bare bed and cried. I kept trying to pick her up and cuddle her and kept asking what was wrong...and she finally let me hold her on my lap on the rocker. A few minutes later she cried/whispered "Mommy, I don't want to go to the threes. I miss my friends" I tried to be encouraging and reminded her of how excited she had been, how so many of her friends were already in the 3s, how she had the big, fun toys now...to which she said she missed her little toys and then kept crying. LIKE A KNIFE TO THE HEART!!! Anyway, we talked about being brave, how you can be sad and excited and happy all at the same time. She finally fell asleep. She did pretty well the next day during school and didn't say anything that night. Then Friday morning there was more "mommy, don't make me go to school, please don't make me." Ugh. BUT, Friday when I picked her up she was a whole new gal. She was smiling and running around the playground. When we got in the car all she could do was chatter about all the fun things she had done that day. I asked her if she liked the 3s now, and she said yes...that she was a little sad to miss somethings but was excited. Today on the phone she told Maren all about how she got to go to the 3s and go on the big slide, and how her friends were there. I still think Monday morning's drop off will be challenging, but I am hopeful next week will go much smoother!

Had a great day today playing outside and just hanging out together around the house and a little outing to Home Depot...(thinking of putting some paver stones near the driveway...stay tuned). No new pics, but here are some old ones to enjoy!

Jackson is Three!

Friday was Jackson's THIRD birthday! We went out to dinner on Friday night & headed back to his place for cake and presents. Then Saturday afternoon we all went to the Norfolk Botanical Gardens for the children's gardens....which was a BLAST. The weather here is HOT. It was 95 today! 95! Its April!!!! ANyway - the kids LOVED running around in the fountains and exploring all of the playhouses and adventure places, and then we all had a great picnic dinner.

We also finally found the brick I had bought for Lilly in the children's garden when she came home ... TWO YEARS AGO!

Monday is the BIG DAY!

Lilly has been soooooo excited to move up to the 3 Year Old Class, and tomorrow is the BIG DAY. She has been so excited that we had to start a giant count down with a sticker each day this month until the BIG RED CIRCLED MONDAY where she starts the transition to the new class. Tomorrow she "visits" the new class for a couple hours, and then a little longer each day so that by Friday she does everything but nap in her new room...making the "real" transition next week easier. I am fascinated to see how it goes. She has been so psyched about it, I am almost worried that she will be disappointed or won't let herself be nervous. We shall see....

And, the last week of her twos she made "Superstar of the Week...." enjoy the pics. Will post again with pics from Jackson's bday and our fun outing to the botanical gardens.

Hat Day

So while most people think of today as Earth Day, at Lilly's school it was Crazy Hat Day...as part of "Week of the Young Child." We spent last night looking through her hats and trying on options... she then tried on some cinderella-esque slippers that she had gotten for Christmas. She loved it until she tried to walk...WHOA! She said she likes the bows but now how it hurts. A girl after my own heart. She also wanted to wear her butterfly wings and Guatemala hat. Fabulous!
Then she ditched the shoes, wings and hat and changed into her (formerly my) superhero cape (circa 1977) and did some sort of dance...more fab!Then today she decided on a different hat at the last minute...and when Mae Mae picked her up we got some fun pics in the back yard.

Catching Up....

Here are some overdue Easter pics & stories (see above: investigating her Easter candy up close with her new magnifying glass). Its been a busy week & I have managed to come down with a pretty bad case of bronchitis. But, mom & dad have helped out a lot, taking Lilly both days this weekend so I can rest. I do pretty good if I don't have to talk or move much...but then as soon as either of those have to happen I am a coughing mess.

The funniest overdue story is from Good Friday (what I am now referring to as The Great Milk Debacle of 2009) .... the Coopers ended up coming over for a last minute dinner. It had been a long week for all, and so lets just say that after a long week, and a good dinner, the three adults let our parent radar fall just a smidge...and man did we pay for it! The kids were running around playing and having a great time while we chatted at the table. They came in and asked for more milk in their sippy cups, which we gave them. About five minutes later they came back and asked for more milk. I looked at Lil and asked what she was doing with the milk...to which she replied "We're not spitting it on your bed." !!!!!! So I asked immediately got up and headed back to see what they were spitting it on...turns out they were taking gulps of milk and spitting it at each other and doing this all over the house. EVERYTHING was COVERED in milk...my bedroom, her bedroom, the bathroom, the hallway, and a lovely path to through the dining room. So - we each grabbed our kids and gave them a talking to & jumped into clean up mode. Jackson immediately jumped on the clean up and be good train. Lilly...not so much. She had a complete meltdown...screaming and crying and throwing herself on the floor...for an HOUR! I kept telling her that she either needed to be in timeout or cleaning up. She didn't help clean up...so I kept putting her back in timeout. She kept standing up and throwing herself on the floor....and teh HILARIOUS part was that everytime she got up, Jackson would come wipe down the timeout chair. After 45 min - an hour, she finally pulled herself together and helped clean up and apologized to all involved. I think she had never been in that much trouble before and didn't quite know what to do with herself. So, for Good Friday, Kendra, Coop, Jackson, me and eventually Lilly mopped the floors of the whole house, and had to soak the various fabric items that had been doused with milk before it went sour. They also managed to spill milk all over the scrapbook I had made of her year in Guatemala...but luckily we were able to pull out the actual scrap pages and save those, but the book and photo sleeves had to be trashed. When Kendra told Jackson they were going to Mae Mae's house for Easter dinner...his comment was "we don't spit milk at Mae Mae's" Uh...right. Thus endeth The Great Milk Debacle of 2009.

The pics of the egg hunt here are from a party we went to the Saturday before Easter at one of Lilly's classmate's house. It was a fabulous party that the whole neighborhood participated in, and they had one whole yard for the "under 5" crowd and four other yards for the "above 5" crowd...and the cul de sac was filled with all of the neighbor's grills. Too fun.

Easter was fun too, and included one other Lilly meltdown, but she pulled it together after 10 minutes or so. The Easter Bunny was a hit...and she is still enjoying the stamps, magnifying glass and gardening gloves.

We took some video and I am trying to learn how to upload it, but I need some technical assistance from Rhonda...but stay tuned!!!!

easter sneak peek...

Running late, but I know there is a certain someone (Jo!) who needs a picture fix...so here is a sneak peek of the Easter fun....I promise there is more to come.....

Nice Day at The Botanical Gardens...

We both had a blast...we even saw a bald eagle & its nest....very cool...enjoy the pics of our first AMAZINGLY beautiful day of the season...