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

Key Largo

Going for a walk

On the airplane

Watching the bird show

At Bass Pro Shop

We just got back from a wonderful family trip to the keys. We stayed in a condo/villa with my brother, Stacie and the kids. My parents were above us with my sister and Saylor. The place was absolutely beautiful. The weather was a record low... but not complaining. It was in the high 60's for most of the time. The first day, we were able to play in the water and get some sun. The rest of the trip was sunny, but chilly in the shade. We were busy playing in the sand, taking walks, playing tennis, the guys fished and golfed and the girls did some shopping. The kids played from the moment they woke up to the minute they went to bed. Lilly's first words every morning were "Pres".
While there, we took the kids to a bird sanctuary. It was neat... some birds were in cages, and others were walking around and flying above us. At one point,there was 10 or more of them above us perched on the roof to a cage while I was holding Lilly... just watching us. I was nervous they were going to either come at us or poop on our heads! An umbrella would have been perfect!
Another memorable afternoon was the dolphin show. Lilly's face was worth a thousand words. She loved it... she was clapping and "woo hooing" the whole show! While there, we took a boat ride on a "bottomless" boat. It was really neat. The dolphin swam in the middle of the boat while doing tricks for us! We also saw a bird show and a sea lion show.
Needless to say, it was a great trip full of lots of memories.

Lilly Lately: Well she continues to talk more and more. She is calling Whitaker by name now instead of dog. She is doing a pretty good job of cleaning up after herself (and sings the clean up song while doing it!), she knows where her heart is and can show you where yours is. She loves to get her nails done. She just seems like she is getting so big. I feel like the past week or so she acts like such a big girl. Really soon, she'll be 2 and can show you on her fingers and say 2!
Hope all is well with you all!

Love,
Kelli

New Pictures

Here are some new pictures of Lilly. For some reason the blog wouldn't let me upload pictures, but Ryan just figured it out! Finally!!

This weekend was an exciting weekend at the Tarchalski Home... Lilly went on the potty 3 times! What a big girl~ she was proud of herself and so were we!! She's 21 months today.
We had a fun weekend hanging out at home. We played with Lilly's new aqua-doodle, play dough and her new blocks our wonderful neighbor gave to her. We also made it to the dog show.We took Preston with us! They especially loved when the border-collie was herding ducks.The lady brought over one of the ducks for the kids to pet. Preston was nervous at first, but built up the courage to pet it. Lilly was shy, she turned her head away when the lady put the duck near her.

Last weekend we had fun catching up with some friends. Lilly played with her friends Laurel and Madelyn. It's been really neat watching them play as they get older. Maddie is 10 days older then Lilly and Laurel is a couple of months younger. They play so nice.
Lilly Lately: Lilly is trying to walk down the stairs (instead of going down on her belly), she's really interested in the potty and she loves to dump all her toys. She also loves to stand on the bottom drawer of our entertainment center. She just about twisted her leg off the other night, so it's now rubber band closed. Ryan was at the side door ready to take her to emergency after that accident. He was sure she broke her leg. She was fine though. She continues to talk all the time. I can't think of any new words, but repeats EVERYTHING! We really have to watch what we say.

Kelli

Lots To Say

We've been finding ways to stay busy when it's too cold to go outside and play. If possible, we try to take Lilly out sledding. We were able to take her and Preston sledding the other weekend. You could hear them both giggling the whole way down, it was funny! They love their new sleds they got for Christmas. Thanks Papa and Lita!!
A few of Lilly's favorite things to do lately are talking on the phone. When someone calls, she loves to say "hi" and "I love you". It's the sweetest! When I was off, we'd call Ryan everyday just so she could talk on the phone, plus I'm sure he loved it! Lilly is also having fun playing with play dough, coloring, playing in her kitchen with her new cooking toys, and pulling everything out of drawers, baskets etc.. She'll start to sing her clean up song; I get so proud of her because she's cleaning up... but it's short lived, she dumps everything again! Must be fun huh!!

Lilly Lately: Her new words or phrases are " oh, there is it", "get down" ( that is to Whitaker when he wants her food), "Oh Man" and is counting to 3!She has found a new love for ketchup, ranch and ice. The floor is always wet with little puddles. One of my favorite things she did the other night before dinner was... she climbed up onto her chair, grabbed her tray and put it on her chair, snapped it and all! I was cracking up. Now, she didn't have her bib on, but I bet that's coming. But, maybe not.. each time we go to snap her bib, she'll say.. "hair, hair" oops must have caught her hair one to many times.
I must say, more than ever she is cracking us up. We are always surprised with the words she knows.
One a final note, Lilly went to the allergist 2 weeks ago and found out that she is allergic to nuts. So, we have become a nut free home!
Happy Winter to you~
Kelli
PS For some reason each time I try to upload pictures, it doesn't work. The little pictures on the side is all I can get right now. Sorry:(

Celebrations

Christmas was absolutely wonderful this year. We began our festivities on Wednesday by going to church with my family and the Baranowski's. This has been a tradition now for the past 3-4 years. After church, we went to my parents for drinks and dinner. I love going to Orchard Groove for their Christmas Celebration. Lilly also enjoyed herself. Christmas Eve was spent with my dad's side. We are so large, that we have our gathering at a hall. We had dinner and caught up with family we don't see often. Later in the evening, Santa came. Lilly's face changed the minute she saw Santa walk in. She said "no" even before I asked her if she wanted to sit in his lap. When her name was called, she held me so tight, she was pretty scared of him. So, we went up together to get her stocking and I didn't even try to sit her on his lap. Lilly loves "ho, ho, ho", when he isn't real!
Christmas morning we opened gifts as a family. Lilly loved opening her presents. It was so much fun watching her. Later in the morning my parents came over and we had breakfast. In the afternoon, we went to my sisters and celebrated with my moms side. Later that evening we did our family exchange. My parents spoiled the kids! and us too. Another tradition in our family is to find our stockings. My mom finds great pleasure in watching us find them! It's fun for us too! The in laws had the most trouble haha!!
We all stayed the night at my sisters and played games when the kids went to bed.
The next morning Saylor made his yummy breakfast! Our final Christmas was today (Sunday). We had Ryan's family over. Again, Lilly got lots of gifts!
We are so lucky to have such giving families! Thanks to you all~

This morning, we took Lilly sledding. She had a smile on her face the entire time! Here are a few pictures.

Lilly Lately: She continues to talk more and more. Some of her new lines are "Oh Man", "get down" (this is to Whitaker when he is trying to get her food). She surprised us the other day when I held up the yellow crayon and asked her the color, she said "lellow" and then same with red, "wed". I was shocked! She found a love for the Christmas tree, or should I say she loved to torture Ryan and I by purposing running her stroller into it, or backing into it. That's our girl! Sassy as can be:)
We love her so much!!

Hope your holidays were as bright as you hoped!
Love,
Kelli

Lilly and Ryan on the carousel at Canterbury Village

Me and Lilly on the Carousel ride at Canterbury Village

Thanksgiving Day ( Looks like her first day of school)

Stung by a wasp ( look at her poor cheek and eye)

We had a great Thanksgiving! We spent the day with my family at my grandmas. Lilly played and danced with Preston and we all cheered them on! It's not a Santiago get together without dancing!! Lately, it's been the kids and not the adults!
On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, poor Lilly was stung by a wasp. Yes, I know in the middle of November. And, it was in our house. A wasp was wrapped up in her blanket as she was nuzzling her face in the blanket. She started screaming and holding her face. We looked and looked and didn't see anything, until I noticed a wasp fly out of her blanket. If you know Ryan, he is not a fan of bees and wasps so you can imagine the reaction he had! Her left cheek and eye swelled up right away. Thanks to a few friends advice we gave her Benadryl. The next morning, her eye was still pretty swollen, so I took her to the dr. We weren't sure if this was an allergic reaction. It wasn't. She just swells more than others. On top of that, Lilly is allergic to nuts, so we really have to watch with her.
Late that week, we went to Canterbury Village (where Ryan and got married). We went with my mom and dad. For those that don't know, there's a Christmas Village behind the castle. It's really fun! We walked around and took Lilly on the Carousel. She loved it.

Lilly Lately: Lilly loves to say "thank you", she is just so polite! She has also learned to say "peeese" when she wants something. She says it with her head tilt and her hands under her chin. How can we say no to that! Lilly say's "whats that" when she hears an odd noise. When you ask her a question she'll answer you with "yeah". She loves her cousin Malaina. I watched her the other day and Lilly helped me with diaper changes. She's still not eating that well... but can always get her to eat oatmeal before the end of the night. Finally, I we cleaned out the basement and Lilly loves to play there.

Happy Winter~ I'm looking forward to a little sprinkle of snow. Call me crazy... I know:)
Kelli

November

Lilly with her cousins Jordan and Abby

Lilly trying to walk Whitaker

Playing outside one evening

Lilly and Momma

Lilly Marie (getting so big)

November has been full of weekends with family and friends. Just today, we took Lilly to the circus with our family. She watched the whole show. She especially loved when the dogs were doing their tricks. It was fun to see her reactions!
Last weekend,Lilly got to have a sleep over with my mom (my dad was hunting). We went out with family and friends for my brothers 30th birthday party. Lilly stayed up and partied with my mom and her friend, while we were out for the first time in a while. Ryan and I also had a great night! Yesterday, we spent the afternoon at our cousins house. We had a yummy Thanksgiving dinner. Lilly loved watching her cousins Jordan and Abby play. It was cute, she would follow them around and watch what they were doing. Our weekends go by fast, but they sure are fun! I am looking forward to Thanksgiving. I get 5 days off!
Lilly Lately: Lilly knows how to say her name. We ask her so much, she must think her parents are a bit odd. She recognizes herself in pictures and says "Lilly" but in the cutest voice. Lilly loves her Papa. When we are with my parents, she usually wants just him. Lilly loves to sing. She also loves to make me crazy by not eating. I must fix everything I can think of and she ends up taking 3 bites. I wish I had that much control! And, Lilly just finished her swimming class. By the last class, she was an old pro.
With Thanksgiving coming up this week and my 4 year anniversary, I must say that I am very thankful for Ryan and my sweet Lilly. They sure make me smile each and every day. I am also very thankful for my wonderful family and friends.
Gobble, Gobble,
Kelli