G&G

I love my grandparents dearly. And I felt I needed to take a moment and dedicate it to who they have helped me to become. Growing up they were more parents to my sister and I than my dad. We lived with them for many years and even when we didn't live with them we visited every weekend. Needless to say our bond was very close. As a little girl I remember just watching my grandma do her daily chores and never EVER complain. It's just who she was and I think she truly loved it. She had her own laundry room downstairs and I remember going down there and sitting on the laundry basket for hours watching her iron. She ironed everything, jeans, shirts, pjs, undies, sheets, & tablecloths. You name it she ironed it. Regardless I loved watching her. We never really talked, but we didn't need too, it was our quiet time. My grandma was and still is a fa-nominal women. She used to scrub the kitchen floor on her knees every week, and dinner was always promptly on the table at 5:30 (a tradition that I try to carry on) and her dinners were always made with love and from scratch. Rarely did we eat out. As I get older I am starting to see that all of my hours watching my grandma have rubbed off on me, because I too find pleasure in serving my husband (meaning being a loving understanding wife who tries not to pick fights and taking care of him), cleaning my home, doing laundry, ironing, and all of the other wonderful things she did. Without her guidance, which at the time I'm sure she felt like was never going to pay off, as most parents have felt at some point, I would be a total mess and have no idea how to be domestic. I have 2 of the best women living inside of me, my mom and my grandma and I couldn't ask for better people to guide me. I love you grandma and you will always be with me!

Sledding Take 1

Taking a walk...my sweet little bear

*Lilly at the bottom of the hill waving*

There seems to be a lot more snow than last year, which is great, Lilly is getting to a point where she now appreciates it and wants to play in it. Although with the snow some freezing cold temps so you can only stand to be outside for maybe twenty to thirty minutes max. There were a several of Lilly's friends who had already been sledding and I was for some reason avoiding it, but with the most recent snow I got the guts to take Lilly out. I wasn't sure how she was going to like it. Some of her friends liked it and some hated it. I decided to "make" a sled for Lilly out of an old plastic laundry basket, an old blanket for bum padding, and an old scarf to pull it. At first I was bummed it wasn't a real sled but I think that worked to our advantage, Lilly felt comfortable and safe in it. We got all bundled up and started our journey to the hill after a few photos. It was going great Lilly was thirilled, and then all of the sudden we hit a bump and she tipped over, she was a little freaked out and I tried to clean as much snow off as I could but she just kept saying "all done, all done". I convinced her to stay in a bit longer so we could go down the hill. We could only go down the hill once though because sill mommy couldn't climb back up it, let alone climb back up and pull her. I wasn't wearing snowshoes and kept falling on my bum, so we had to take the long walk home all the way around. We were out about 45 min and by the time we got back home my lungs were burning from pulling Lilly in the cold. When we got home and I let Lilly out she wanted to walk around for a bit and stretch her legs and after a few minutes of that we headed inside to warm up. It was a fun fun morning.

Merry early christmas to us!

Ziff and I have been wanting one of these for SO long and we finally got one for Christmas! But we couldn't wait till Christmas to use it, so I begged Ziff to make me some of his yummy yummy french toast on it! So much better than the pan we used to use. I can make so many more things so much more easily now! Steak, pork chops, pancakes, eggs, french toast, bacon! Oh man I can't wait to use it again!!!!

My man right where he should be barefoot in the kitchen cooking, while I am pregnant! (by the way the back of his shirt says "get er' done", perfect I think for this pic)

Ching-ching -ching

One afternoon before playgroup I was running around trying to get some last minute things done. I thought they were going to take less time than they did but I move a lot slower these days. Anyways Lilly was having another mommy day, one where she just wanted to be carried around and I was trying to make soup, write cards, pack snacks, and get myself ready to go all of which are much harder with a baby on your hip. Thankfully Ziff was home so I asked him if he could please rescue me and keep Lilly entertained for a bit while I finished up and he was so quick to say yes, it was a delight. He has grown into such an amazing dad. Lilly is always full of smiles and laughs when he is around. But on this particular day I was overly impressed with his daddy skills. Lilly is just starting to get into imaginative play and Ziff is coming around to the idea of this can be really fun. So he took our wrapping paper rolls that were empty and turned them into swords. Lilly was THRILLED! She was laughing so hard and after daddy showed her how to use the sword she got the hang of it, cornered daddy and beat him up. Not literally of course, but imaginatively she slayed the dragon. At one point she went to hide behind the couch to sneak attack him and he threw his sword at her. She of course being smarter than that kept the sword and attacked. Daddy asked me to grab his sword for him and so I did and I tossed it back to him and Lilly turned and charged me! After the battle was over it was time to ride away on the horses to find the treasure (her shoes, socks, and jacket) and so magically the swords turned into horses and they rode away to find the treasure. I know I was supposed to be getting things finished but how could I not stop and stare in awe at this wonderful memory unfolding before me? The answer I think is pretty clear, I couldn't.

Santa is comin to town!

Outside of Santa's workshop posing with daddy

This year was the first year we took Lilly to see Santa, last year Ziff said no because she wouldn't understand it, but this year he let us go! I was a little weary because of all the stories you hear about tots and Santa, but in some ways I felt like she'd be okay. We talk about santa all the time and tried to get her to be okay with the name Santa and each time we would see on on tv she would say ho ho ho and wave, but you just never know with kids, seeing the real on could have been completely different to her than the ones on tv or in books. We got her all dressed up in her Christmas dress which she was thrilled to wear, mostly I think because her dress shoes tap as she walks and she thinks that is way cool, and we loaded up into the car to see the big guy. The car ride over was a rough one. She was very unhappy mostly because she had a rotten nap, but we thought why not lets just do it anyways. So we got there and let her walk which of course perked her up...tap tap tap all the way to Santa's workshop. When we got there and told her who he was she was stunned she just stared in awe. She didn't really talk just looked at him with her jaw dropped as if to say " he is real!" So sweet! Santa talked to her a bit and then finally it was time to take the picture. Santa was very hesitant, I am sure mostly because of his past experiences with children, but I told him I'd like to give it a go and so he agreed and he was shocked when Lilly didn't make one peep in protest. And after the pictures were done she warmed up to him and started chatting to him a bit on her own. Then we said our good byes got a yummy candy cane and headed home. I am very glad Ziff got to be there for this very important first. It's hard sometimes with work schedules for him to be a part of every event and activity we go to and I know he cherishes the ones he gets to see first hand.

Too funny to not post

Although there are no pictures of this happening it is too cute to not share.Today we went to lunch with our good friends, Kathleen and Tyler. One of our last...since they are moving, but we love them all the same :-). The restaurant was wonderful, it was so quiet and so enjoyable and the kiddos were just chattering away with no worries of bothering anyone and Kathleen and I were able to visit too. But anyhoo the funny part. Lilly started getting restless towards the end and decided she wanted to stand up in her high chair, and Tyler got a very stern look on his face and pointed his finger at Lilly and said "get down get down get down". It was priceless. He kept repeating himself until finally Lilly got down. At least we know he doesn't have a hearing problem, he hears his mommy when she is talking to him.And now every time he sees Lilly he reminds her at least one "get down Lilly"

Miss Snuggles

These days Lilly has found a new joy in her stuffed animals. She hugs them, kisses them, dances with them, takes them on outings with us, has picnics in the living room with them. it is quite sweet.I have a feeling tea parties will be something that we share a lot of in the future. When we see her with her stuffties it shows us her sweet gentle side, and we have seen a lot more of that the older she gets.
Lilly recently found Ziff's old teddy from when he was little (yes we keep them in our house and not in boxes, both of ours are in our closet) She asked if she could hold him and then decided she would make him her new friend. They watched sesame street together under daddy's blanket and every once in a while she would lean over, give him a kiss and honk his nose. She carries him all over the house by his hand, talking to him and sometimes even singing him a little tune. He is pretty fragile though seeing as Ziff got him for his first Christmas, so he has had to go back up on the shelf but Lilly was lucky enough to get a teddy of her own from one of her friends in playgroup. We are still trying to think of a name for her though...so for now she remains a nameless bear.

Lilly insists on sleeping this way. Every night we check on her before we head to bed and every night she has covered herself in her stuffties. Sometimes she has the blanket over her head too, so I have often wondered if the chattering and humming we hear from her room at night is her talking to her stuffties under the covers.

Thanksgiving

It has taken me forever to blog lately. Lots has been going on but it's all our same usual routine...plus I feel like sometimes I blog mostly for myself so I have slowed down a little, but anyhoo. Thanksgiving this year was great. We stayed home and celebrated our little family. This year was much easier than last. In fact we were kind of excited to be all together with no where to go and no one to worry about but each other. Ziff went with some guys from church to play a turkey bowl, which I know was the highlight of his day, since last year that's all he talked about was how he wished he knew some guys to play with. I was really excited to cook, I love all the yummy food of thanksgiving and I love the feeling of cooking all day. It was my second year cooking a turkey and I must say it turned out rather nicely. I also tried out 2 recipes that I had never cooked before but had as a kid, green bean casserole and sweet potato scuffle. I think both need some practice to perfect but they turned out pretty good. When we woke up we all watched the parade which surprisingly Lilly was really into however it was not really Ziff's thing he read the newspaper ads while we watched. I really thought this year Lilly was going to be able to make it through dinner, but with her naps being short sometimes and needing 2 she sadly did not. She started to eat with us but then decided she didn't like the food and was acting very tired so she went down for a rest. After Lilly went to be we put up the Christmas tree, we waited till she was down because although she'd like to help I think we are going to wait till next year to let her. But when she woke up the next morning she was really excited to see the tree and is always asking to turn on the lights. It was a great thanksgiving and each year I find it's getting better and better. I can't wait to see what the future holds.