Catch Up Blog

I'm pretty behind on my blogging and a lot has happened since Lilly and Bryan made cookies. But, I'm taking the easy way out and combining a few things. Below you will see the abridged version of what should have been three separate blogs: "Playing in the Snow", "7 Days of Christmas" and "First Haircut".

Playing in the Snow

We had a sad excuse for a snow storm last week. I think it was the same system that brought about a foot and a half to my relatives in West Virginia and dumped about two feet on Washington D.C., closing the airport, delaying several flights and making it possible for Bryan's parents to come and spend a few days with us before Christmas...but, we'll get to that in a minute. Anyway, we took advantage of the dusting we got to take Lilly out to experience snow for, basically, the first time. We sat her in the it last year for some pictures, but I wouldn't say she 'enjoyed' it. This year she liked it.

First snowball.

First fall into the snow.
Hank loves the snow and every other part of cold weather too.
Bryan throwing a snowball at a poor defenseless child.

Lilly and her snowman. When we all walked away from the snowman she turned back to him and said, "c'mon man". Needless to say, he didn't follow.

7 Days of Christmas

We celebrated Christmas for the traditional seven days this year. We started on the 18th with a family Christmas at my mom and dad's. Complete with Us, Mom, Dad, Wes, Kristy and Grandma. Then, as mentioned above, Bryan's parents' trip to Germany was delayed due to the snow storm and they were able to come here on the 20th. We did Christmas with them and then they headed off a couple of days later to visit Bryan's sister Cammie and and her kids, Morgan and Matthew. Next, we made our way over to Wes and Kristy's on the 23rd for a Christmas Eve Eve party with my Aunt Brenda and Uncle Chris, Cousin and her husband, Easy. Then, of course, Santa came on the 25th. We opened gifts, got a visit from my Grandma and had my parents over for dinner.

Lilly sitting on the new stool that Papaw made for her. She was equally excited about the towel that the stool was wrapped in to keep it safe.

This must be a heavy one.

Riding her new pony.

Opening a gift from Cammie with Granddad.

Checking out what Santa brought. The stroller is a big hit. Yeah! Cookware!

Faceoff with the new kitty.First Haircut
After watching Lilly push the hair out of her eyes in frustration for the last few weeks, we decided it was about time for a haircut. We thought it was going to be a disaster, but in typically Lilly fashion she surprised us. She sat as still as a statue in the little red car and allowed the nice woman to cut her hair into the cutest bob and little bangs that I've ever seen, with a swiftness and dexterity that can only come from giving haircuts to toddlers. It was faster than I expected, and reminded me a little of how quickly the hygienist worked at the pediatric dentist's office.

The finished product.

Happy with the new due!

Plans Change

Earlier today I sat down to post a blog and downloaded some pictures of Lilly playing in the snow for the first time. It would have been a very cute blog. Unfortunately Lilly woke up from her nap and I was unable to finish. I figured I'd just do it later, but then Bryan came home from the dentist appointment bent on negating all of the hygienist's hard work by making Christmas cookies with Lilly.
I was understandably skeptical. My disdain for unnecessary messes and the knowledge that I would be the one to clean it up made me hesitant, but I put all of my reservations aside when Bryan proposed that he take Lilly to the grocery store to get supplies while I sat quietly on the couch. Even a few minutes alone in the house is a luxury that I just couldn't pass up, regardless of the price. So I eagerly agreed to the cookie making, I even made the list (I know, I'm a real party animal).

It turned out to be very cute and a time consuming event that was fun for the whole family. (In the two hours it took Bryan and Lilly to make, cut, cook and decorate the cookies I was able to do most of the housework that I planned to do tomorrow).

Mixing up the dough. At this point Lilly was more excited standing on the step stool than anything else. She would get down and then walk up to the stool and say "Up we go!". At which point Bryan would lift her to the top step.

Cutting out some fun Christmas shapes. She really got into it when she got to put flour on her hands to keep the dough from sticking. That was actually her favorite part, she would hold them out and say "hand, hand" and then rub the flour all over the cutting board. (And dump it onto the floor)

Lilly modeling her apron while Daddy bakes the first round of cookies.

Putting M's on some of the cookies. Quite a few M's were eaten during this step.

Ahh finally...the tasting of the cookies. All of Lilly's hard work pays off.

Point Taken

Whenever I write a new blog I can always count on alot of feedback. I get emails, phone calls and even a couple comments on the blog itself. I appreciate that and I love that you enjoy my blog as much as I enjoy writing it, but this last blog has made something painfully obvious to me...no one cares about Bryan and I. The only thing my blog followers want is Lilly, Lilly and more Lilly. I tried to do a nice piece on a great experience that Bryan and I had, without the peanut, and only one person even bothered to notice. (thank you Mom).

I can take a note. Don't worry it won't happen again.

Here you go....

Lilly hosted a tea party on Monday. She invited Kramer Bear, Elmo and her baby. Baby wouldn't sit in a chair and this made Lilly angry so she put Elmo in the chair instead and just laid Baby on the table (I told her that wasn't safe, but she didn't seem to care). She served tea and little cakes. Fun was had by all. Don't anyone stress, I took the pictures so I know that neither Bryan nor myself are in any of them.

Setting the table.

Serving the tea. She even holds up the teacups and cakes so that Kramer Bear and Elmo can get a bite.