Summer Catch Up

OK - so I get the bad, delinquent blogger award. So - here are a lot of catch up pictures from the past month of so!

Fun with the neighbors....Buzz and Woody

Mae Mae celebrates a BIG birthday and Papa celebrates Father's Day. Funniest part of that night was Ollie. Ann sent mom a great sheep for the porch, but Ollie didn't grasp the concept of "decorative animal larger than me" and went on high alert. We eventually turned the poor sheep around so Ollie could sniff his behind in a less threatening way...maybe you had to be there, but it was hilarious.

4th of July was fabulous. Lil once again one 1st prize for bike decorating (if you are keeping track, its now 4 out of 5 years). Basically, I over-decorated this year...so much that the pedals wouldn't even move. So, my dad had to cut them out a bit so the bike could actually GET to the parade. The Coopers were here as well, also celebrating tehir 13th wedding anniversary, so it was very fun. Unfortunately, I was hit AGAIN with wicked bronchitis and just couldn't be outside the whole time. But, I am healing and on the mend. Made it through yesterday without any breathing treatments (a big accomplishment if I do say so myself).

Lilly is really enjoying summer camp and its various field trips, and also loving spending every evening with the neighbors. Its a fun routine that I am appreciating.

Quick post & prayer request...

Just a quick post to request prayers for a former teacher of Lilly's. Ms Katrina taught Lilly when she was 18months, and Lil & I both adored her. Yesterday Ms. Katrina' s mother and her just graduated from high school daughter were both killed in a car accident. It is such a tragedy that many of my friends who all know her can hardly comprehend how one would keep going. But, I ask that she is surrounded in prayer. So, that when she doesn't remember to breathe or to wake up or to get out of bed or to eat or to put one foot in front of the other, that God does for her. Katrina is a woman of great faith, and I know she will lean heavily on her heavenly father to carry her through this nightmare. I hope you will all join me in prayers for her and her family during this awful time. Thanks...c

IMAGINATION MOVERS CONCERT!!!

Ok - if you have ever heard of these guys, you will LOVE this post. If you haven't been aorund much pre-school age rock music lately, sorry - this is way over your head here. :)

These guys have been described as Red Hot Chili Peppers for pre schoolers, which is a pretty good picture. From what I know, they were 4 guys in New Orleans who went to the same church and started this band/ministry for young kids that has exploded and eventually bought out by Disney. They do a great job of singing not-annoying songs that parents actually love and find themselves singing when they are without the kids, and the kids LOVE it. They focus on brainstorming, solving problems, etc. They make thinking and singing way cool. Anyway, last fall Kendra found they were coming to Richmond and got us FABULOUS tickets. We were able to keep it a secret until last week and the kiddos didn't qute believe us when we finally told them. I think we were as excited (if not more so) than they were. Anyway...despite having EXTREMELY HIGH expectations, it exceeded every single one. We had an amazing day (we all played hookie from work and school).

Rockin' the Air Guitar!!!!These guys came out into the audience and shook EVERY SINGLE KIDS HAND! They even headed up to the balcony and made each and every kids feel soooo special. Lilly's favorite "mover" is Dave (red hat on backwards) and she shook his hand / gave him 5 at least 5 times. He even picked her hat up and turned it around on her head backwards. Very cool.

So Much Going On!

Last Wednesday was her birthday, Friday was the Imagination Movers Concert and Sunday was her birthday party. Before that we had a surprise weekend at the Greenbrier thanks to Maren's law firm. My birthday is a few days away...so once we hit June I think we'll get back to "normal" for a while. But - May has been fun no matter how exhausting. May take a few posts to get in all the pictures!

Her 5th Birthday!!! She is officially "a whole handful" now!

Party Time on Sunday...soooo fun at the Paleontology Party

Blowing out the candles on the much-anticipated Euopacephalus Cake!

Digging for dinosaur bones....Running in the latest versin of Duck Duck Goode (Dino Dino T-REX!)The 3 Musketeers on the Swing...how the heck did they get this old?

Rainbows and Sidewalk Chalk

Life has been more than a little crazy recently in so many ways. But, every evening I get to come home to this amazing, smiley, energetic, bright, inquisitive, patient, kind and loving soul. Tonight we took advantage of the warmth to enjoy a little sidewalk chalk.

Through the spitting rain, we kept drawing her dinosaur tracks (definietly her current obesession). But, the rain and gorgeous sunset light created an amazing rainbow...so you know I made her pose in front of it. Aren't these 2 great shots - the last one is my favorite.

Lilly's Spring Break

This week is Lilly's Spring Break. I took off yesterday and we went to Busch Gardens on the most gorgeous warm & windy spring day. It was really fun, as you can see from some of these pics. She really wasn't interested in any of the rides, so we mainly did the play ground stuff and she swore that the splash park stuff wasn't that cold. My lovely parents get to have her the last four days of her break......enjoy the pics! The drum series is from the arcade area...she was rocking out & lovin' it!

Weekend with Old Friends

I know I am extremely behind in posting pictures and stories, but instead of trying to play catch up, I am just going to post some fun pics from last weekend. Our great friends from Cincy came in last weekend, and we all had a great time. Lilly LOVES hanging with the Lindell kids and fit right in despite being the youngest.

This was funny - the Lindells were trying to take their family Christmas pic in the "stocks" in Williamsburg, but Lilly was so "part of the family" I had to physically drag her out of the picture. I swear Lilly looks soo tall these days, but you can't tell it when she stands next to Francess and is only hald her size!

Kitchen Science

Was a bit shocked and embarassed to discover that my last post was the nativity story, and Lent starts tomorrow. Oops. But, in my defense...it has been a rough few months, including a bout of bronchitis/pneumonia that knocked me out of work for almost all of February.

But, I am back in the land of the living now and thought I would share a fun few pics.

Lilly is obsessed with science books these days - Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs, Encyclopedia of nature, you name it. And, lots of them include suggestions of science experiments. So....we tried some last night. Sort of a "What do you think floats in what" experiment. We had tap water & salt water, and thn a jar with karo syrup, water and vegetable oil and we dropped in all kinds of junk we found in the kitchen (eggs, carrotts, coins, paper clips, gold fish crackers, easter eggs, etc). Very fun....

For the record....goldfish crackers, chex cereal and dried bananas all float on vegetable oil (just in case you ever need to know!)

"The Jesus Play" According to Lilly

So...Lilly put on a play with with stuffed animals this morning - "The Jesus Play" Here is the best representation I can do without video...


Joseph (the tiger) and Miriam ( the cat - I know - she calls her Miriam - but as my pastor pointed out, that is probably more accurate anyway) had to go to Bethlehem from somewhere else. They traveled on their donkey (the dog w/ the Santa hat). When they got to the hotel, the keeper (the ladybug pillow) said there was no room there and they would have to stay in the barn with the animals. They laid the baby Jesus (the little cat) in the manger (the blue pillow). They didn't know what to name him, and then Miriam said to name him Jesus and Joseph said that was a good name, so they named him Jesus.
There were shepherds there too keeping watch over their floss (yes, floss) by night. (The shepherds are the elephant & snowman by their sheep - the floss). An angel (the pink flying elephant "Dumbo") came to the shepherds and the shepherds were so afraid. But the angel said "For behold I have good news for you. I'll bring you good tidings and to see baby Jesus. He's in the barn with his mommy and dad." So the shepherds went to the barn and they saw Jesus laying in the manger. There were also wise men (the purple elephant, the giraffe and a teddy bear off to the back right with their gifts three action figures - Buzz, Elmo & Big Bird) who saw a star and followed it to the barn. They gave their presents to baby Jesus. Then the shepherds watched Baby Jesus with Miriam and Joseph & all the animals. (And here she notes that the Moses part happened long before this). THE ENDThe audience engrossed with the dramatic presentation:

Happy New Year

Lilly & I had a fun Schmidt Girl Party for 2 last night...

The Bristish Crackers came back out, and when I asked Lil what she wanted for dinner...she requested aebleskevers. So, I made them for the first time. Not quite as good as my moms, but it wasn't bad for my first try. Topped off with sparkling cider in fancy glasses and we had a nice night.

Had a great time watching her smashing up the gingerbread house!

These are some of my favorite shots of her, as they really capture her personality....