Detroit Zoo

Notice the huge snake in the background.

Before I write about Ryan and Lilly's trip to the zoo, I have to share that I am an I-phone dummy! The other day, I was trying to download my pictures from my phone and within a second, my phone became Ryan's phone and all my pictures were lost. I wanted to cry. All my pictures for this past month have been deleted, gone, no longer in my life... I am very upset about this, but have moved on. Ryan has his phone synced to i-tunes and the minute I plugged my phone in, it synced his to mine. Now, you all understand why I haven't added pictures in a while!!

On with the zoo trip... this was a Friday trip to the zoo. I wasn't there, and as usual I was wishing I was! They had a great day. The weather was beautiful and the zoo was pretty empty. Lilly loved seeing all the animals, playing at the park and just hanging out with her daddy! I'm hoping this summer I'll be able to join in on the Friday fun!!

65 Degree's In March...We'll Take It!

Long Day Today!

Today, we spent the day outside! It felt great~ We're hoping this "Spring" like weather is here for good (even though we are very familiar with Michigan weather) we can still hope!

Friends Before They Were Born

Lilly has many friends that were already her friend before she was born... does that make sense? Well, let me explain. When I was pregnant, I knew 10 other girls that were pregnant at the same time. They were either a family member or a friend. So, Lilly had many playmates before she was born. The unique thing about these friends, Sophie and Will is I've been friends with their mommy for 34 years. She was a friend of mine before I was born! And, we've been best friends since. If you ever here me talking about my friend, Julie, I refer to her as my cousin just because she's not only a friend, but she's family.
Sophie and Will came over this weekend to play with Lilly while Julie and Tony had things to do. It was so much fun to watch the kids all play. They played so well together. Will and Lilly are days apart and then Sophie is the oldest, turning 6 in the Fall. Lilly LOVED having someone over that enjoys dressing up in princess clothes just as much as she does. When they had to go, Lilly asked if they could come back and have a sleepover with her next time.

Girls Only

Dance Outfit

Painting (notice a different outfit)

Coloring in our Jammies

In my bed (different Jammie's)

Ryan was gone Saturday for the day and night, which meant it was just Me and Lilly. We had a pretty lazy day. It was the first time in a while that I stayed in my Pj's until 1 in the afternoon, and it felt great! Lilly also enjoyed it, she was in and out of dresses, dance clothes and Pj's all morning! We did manage to get dressed and head out for a bit, but for the most part, we spent the day home. I think it's fair to say that our slumber party in my bed was her favorite part! We snacked on carrots and dip and watched TV. When she woke up the next morning, she was all smiles saying that she had so much fun! It's a special treat for her~ and me too.

Kids gotta Play

Today, we took Lilly to Kids Gotta Play. It's a great place for kids and even better that it's indoors and free! Lilly reminded me of this place yesterday, so I promised her we'd go.

Happy Birthday to Me!!

Headed to dinner to celebrate my birthday!

Aren't we silly?? We were getting ready to leave for dinner, I love Lilly's hand on her hip just like her momma!!

I turned 34 this week! I didn't feel old until my students sang happy birthday to me! An old tradition is clapping as they count up "are you one, are you two...." when they hit 27 and started cocking their heads and looking at me like wow keep going, it was at that moment I realzied that, yup, I am getting old! I may be getting older, but I feel fabulous! Getting old doesn't mean a thing, right??Ryan was the best husband this weekend. He took us out to dinner on the night of my birthday and then the next day he cleaned the house, brought me lunch and prepared dinner and made a cake. I came home from work and literally had to do NOTHING! It doesn't end there, he even did all the laundry! What a man! Lilly couldn't wait until my birthday party! She had her party dress on and was ready. My family came over and as always we had a great time! They spoiled me with gifts!
It was definitely a great birthday!

Did you know...

We have a fashion diva that lives with us! This girl LOVES to change her clothes about 7 times a day. If we are only home in the evening, it's about 4 times. And.. she doesn't forget the accessories. Sunglasses, shoes, bracelets and more! Yup, she's definitely a girly girl! The downfall is, I have a lot of clothes to put away at the end of the day. O' well, she's having fun and we love watching her come down in a new outfit!

Men's Locker Room

Coach Jeff Blashel in the middle!

Men's locker room you ask??? Well... last night we went to watch the Red Wings play! The exciting part was that we were going to go down to the locker room to meet one of Ryan's friends. He's the assistant coach for the wings. It was a really neat experience. We felt pretty lucky~ we did see some of the players, but didn't meet them. We met Jeff in the locker room and took lots of pictures and hung out for a bit. My brother scored a hockey puck (from one of the photographers) and Stacie Lynn and I got to see a few players in towels! lol Ryan was just excited to see his friend! Unfortunately, they lost during the shoot out. But, still a good game and a lot of fun!

It's Coming Together!

Our dinning room

Dinning room

Kitchen

Kitchen

And new couch! Sorry, not a full room shot!

As most of you know, I love to decorate my house.. but I especially love when my house gets painted! This winter, a more than overdue project was getting our kitchen painted. If you remember, it was a bright, mustard yellow. I like it in some homes, but not in mine. It just didn't flow with the rest of my house. I've tried for the past 3 years to get it painted, but Ryan wasn't having it. Poor (cry, cry) Ryan spent countless hours prepping and painting so he wasn't giving up the fight. Usually, he doesn't care about decorating, but the kitchen he did! Well, I finally got what I wanted and we had it painted. I'm not done decorating, but here's what he looks like right now. We also got a new couch this past week! I am in love~ It just goes with the rest of our house. It's amazing how new paint and a new couch change the look of a house! Of course, there are a few more things I'd like to do, but for now... I think I can say that I am content!

Tea for Two

Lilly and Whitaker played "tea party" this afternoon. Whitaker is such a good boy, he laid there and let her serve him and he participated so nicely. Lilly said she was the mommy, because she was wearing her purple shoes, a bracelet and a "beautiful dress" (I know what you're thinking, Kelli dresses in a dress, purple shoes and a bracelet everyday- no.. but to her a mommy needs to look nice!) Funny, because she sees me in my sweats more than my nice clothes! Anyway, she enjoyed playing tea and we loved watching her!

Getting Ready For Valentine's Day

Lilly is having her valentine's day party at Miss Kelly's this week, so we thought we'd make her friends a goodie bag! We made crayon shaped hearts and homemade valentine's day cards. With those and a yummy box of conversation hearts stuffed in a bag, we felt like it was a perfect gift for her friends. Lilly and I had so much fun getting "crafty". Having her helping me was so much fun this year. I'm sure it's going to be like this from here on out, and I can't wait! It's fun having a little side-kick. Hope you have a Valentine's Day filled with love, laughter, family and friends.
Happy Valentine's Day~

Kensington Farm

Here's another one of Ryan and Lilly's adventures. This past Friday, they took on the freezing cold weather and visited the animals at the Kensington Farm. They were the only ones there... I guess I'm not surprised since it was one of the coldest days that we've had thus far. Lilly loved seeing the donkey and petting it, the pigs, and the ducks. She said some of the animals were there and some weren't. They also went upstairs in the barn and played with some of the toys.