Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th everyone! We spent our weekend at the cottage with my family. We went up Thursday evening and stayed until Sunday. We had a great time.

Summer Fun

I watched Preston and Malaina one day. The kids had a blast together! They play so well together!
Lilly also loves to play outside with her daddy! He is home on Fridays with us now. We love it! He's down to 4 day work weeks.

Play Dates

Summer is definitely here! The weather has been perfect. Lilly and I have had many play dates. We met up with my friends from school and all their kiddies. It was nice to hang out outside of work. Here are a few pictures from that morning.

Happy Father's Day!

Building sand castles with daddy

Getting use to the water

Lilly loves to smile for the camera!

She would eat ice cream everyday if we let her.

playing in her pool

Well, I am officially done for the summer! It has only been a couple of days, but boy is it great! We've been busy playing outside! We go out in the morning, come in for lunch and a nap and then go back out. Lilly is exhausted before 7.

Today for father's day, we spent the morning with my dad (and mom, and grandma) while Ryan went golfing. In the afternoon, we all went to my sisters for tacos, rice, dips and more! It was delicious. We had planned to play in the water, but the weather changed on us and got cloudy, so a boat ride and a short dip was all we got. I promised Lilly all day that we would go swimming, so in the water we went. She wasn't into it much! I wasn't either:).

Lilly Lately: She's starting to go on the potty (a little). I am hoping to do more training this summer! Lilly talks non stop. The other morning she found Ryan's ear plugs and tried to put them in my ears (like I need them hee hee). She turned my head and said "hold on momma, almost done, got it!". I was cracking up! She gets up in the morning and looks outside and says "not raining, not wet". She's into calling everything big... or baby... For example, she calls string cheese "baby cheese" and shredded cheese "big cheese or Dada cheese".There are so many words that she says and Ryan and I think, how did she know that. She has pretty much mastered most of her colors. She knows what a circle, triangle and star are. Her new favorite song is Little Bunny Fufu.

Whitaker lately: He continues to snore really loud! We also think he is deaf. So, for those that have been to our house, the sign in our yard is staying! It fits our family well:) Poor Whitaker is going to the vet this week. He needs a major teeth clean and his ears need to be checked too.

Happy Father's Day to all the father's I know! Especially, happy father's day to my dad and Ryan! Two of the greatest dads ever!! I love you both:)

Love,

Kelli

Happy Memorial Day!

At the parade

Feeding her babies

Getting so big

Our Memorial Weekend started with a big scare and ended with a rainy, relaxing day! On Friday, Ryan called me at work worried about Lilly. She had eaten a nut cluster and had an allergic reaction. She had such a bad reaction that we rushed her to the hospital. Yes, we know that Lilly has an allergy, but didn't think it was that sever and it wasn't to that particular nut. She broke out in hives, her eyes were swollen, and her breathing was wheezy. Our ride to the hospital was scary~ we hit a stalled train, a ambulance and a 2 mile traffic back-up. Through all this, Lilly was a bit lethargic and quiet. I called her pediatrician (allergist) and talked to the nurse our whole ride there. I tried to administer her epi-pen but forgot to take off the security lock. I was nervous...trying to stay calm. We were so close to the hospital that I didn't have to try again. When we got there they did and also gave her a steroid to clear her up. Lilly was so good! This was a hard lesson learned! We knew that she had an allergy to walnuts and pecans. I bought these nut things for school and Ryan got into them! He gave Lilly a bite, and then realized when he did he shouldn't have. When he called me at work I told him she would be fine, but she wasn't. These snacks were made in a plant that has walnuts. From this experience, we now know that she is deathly allergic and will never have nuts in the house again. Lilly is doing fine now:)

Today, we took Lilly to the Memorial Day Parade in Walled Lake. We went with our neighbors and my brother, Stacie and the kiddies. It was a great time. The kids loved it. We had a perfect spot under a big tree!

Lilly Lately: Lilly can count in Spanish and English from 1-10. She does better in Spanish! Lilly talks a mile a minute. She loves to say "momma it's nice out". When we pull in our sub she say's "where home". When we pull in the driveway she'll say, "Lilly's house, Momma's house, Dada's house". Lilly doesn't use a booster seat at home anymore, she is big enough to sit on our bench. Lilly loves to swing on the neighbors swings! She is finally excited about the vacuum, she got one for her birthday and vacuums with me! She's at a fun age! Everything is so exciting to her!

Enjoy the nice weather!
Kelli

We're 2!

Birthday Party

This past weekend we celebrated Lilly and Preston's 2nd birthday. We did their party together this year. It was absolutely perfect. It was a small party with only siblings and grandparents.

Lilly was a bit under the weather... but still managed to smile and enjoy the day. She was a bit shy at first (just like at her first birthday party) but warmed up. Preston and Lilly loved opening gifts together and blowing out their candles. They were so cute! It's like they're twins. Lilly loves all her gifts and we do too. It's nice to put some of her old toys in the basement for a while and play with new. Preston and Lilly are both ready to hang with the big kids in the neighborhood... they both got scooters and tricycles.

Just Like New

Okay, so we finally got new window treatments for our kitchen. We use to have vertical blinds! They are gone!!

This is the dinning room. It's pretty empty, but looks so much better!

Here's the new family room. Ignore the glare at the top. I love my new house!

Lilly loves it too!

This is one of the "work in progress" pictures.

We are so glad we finally got to painting. Ryan loves it as much as I do. It was long over due! There are still a few things that we need to do... but this is WAY better(unfinished) than it was before. Stop by to see it anytime.

Happy Birthday Lilly

Going down the Slide at Castaway Cafe

Wee

Lilly's new bike

Opening her gift from Lita and Papa

Heading to my parents for birthday breakfast ( love her boots and PJ's)

Happy Birthday to our sweet little angel Lilly. She turned 2 on Saturday. We had a wonderful day. We started the morning out with breakfast at my parents. Then we took her to Castway Cafe in Howell. She LOVED it! It's a huge indoor jungle gym. In a couple of weeks we are having a small birthday party for Lilly with Preston. We decided to celebrate their birthdays together. I can't wait. Lilly was able to open a few gifts on her birthday. One of her favorites was a tricycle from my parents. It's a pink raido flyer! She can just barely reach the pedals. She would take her bike to bed if she could.
This week has been a exciting week for us (me mostly). We are getting our house painted in the inside. It's long overdue! I will post pictures when it's done.

Lilly Lately: Lilly loves to sit on our bench at the kitchen table instead of her chair. She loves to play with her babies. It's really cute to watch her feed them, and put them in bed to sleep. Lilly loves to put make-up on (I pretend to put blush and lipstick). She loves to play outside, it's often hard to get her to come back in. She continues to expand her vocabulary. I am constantly amazed by the things she knows! We are also finding that Lilly is super funny- if you ask her if she's poopy, she'll blame it on Preston, even if he's not over! She also blames Whitaker for her toots. Ryan and I are always laughing at her!

Hope you are all doing well~!
Kelli

Spring Has Sprung!

Our home photo shoot

Lilly in her new car

At the rainbow rec.

Our Monkey

Laurel and Lilly having a snack

We made it to best buy today to purchase our new camera! But... I also got a new phone that takes pictures I can download to the computer... I feel high tech. I've been waiting for a month to get a new camera, and in one day I got 2! Watch out blog!

Lilly has been home with me this week. This week is my spring break, which means mommy + Lilly = separation anxiety on Monday (I hope not). We've had a wonderful week playing with friends and family!
Some of Lilly's favorite things to do these days are... climbing rock walls, playing with balloons, blowing bubbles, playing in her new car and singing her ABC's. I took Lilly to the Rainbow Recreation in Milford/South Lyon on Tuesday and she fell in love! It's a large room with trampolines, a basketball court and several jungle gyms. It's fantastic! So, Ryan and I took her again today (Thursday). He loved it just as much as we did!
We also got a new car this week... it's a Pink Barbie Escalade. Thanks to my brother for getting that for Lilly to enjoy! She loves it.
Lilly found a love for Balloons a few weeks ago and it's everlasting! Each time we go shopping, she spots balloons a mile away. The other day we went to Uncle Laylor's (this is how Lilly's says his name) and Titi's house. We left with 2 balloons. The next day, the balloons suddenly had a slow leak and we threw them out. A few days later, I felt guilty and bought her a new balloon. I told her when we got it, that it had to go night night when she did. So far, so good. Tonight, we put the balloon to sleep (in the bathroom) and then she went to bed. It's the only way she'll go to bed without being upset.

Lilly Lately: Lilly has learned how to sing the alphabet, clear up to G! She has also started to walk down the stairs (we are right there), she's saying so much...we can understand most of the time, but when we don't it becomes a guessing game- she'll tell me no until I finally get it. You should see how excited she gets when I say the correct word! I crack up. Each morning we look for buses (even on Sat. and Sunday), and she loves to play outside. I can't believe she'll be 2 in a couple of weeks. Where has the time gone?

Happy Spring Everyone~
Kelli

Our Little Van Gogh

Finger paints

or water colors...

If you ask Lilly... she'd say finger paint. She knows when I pull out the water colors, she'll point to her hand and say "hand, hand". I don't blame her, getting messy is more fun!

Lilly Lately: Lilly loves to sing, you'll catch her singing "happy birthday". She enjoys feeding her babies, building towers with her blocks, playing puzzles and her most favorite thing right now is stickers! I am on the hunt for a sticker book.

That's all the pictures for today.. our camera is on it's last leg. I am hoping for a new one soon!
Hope everyone is well,
Kelli

More Pictures