Let's Make A Deal

I have my ladybug hat, ladybug necklace, and my purse. I'm ready to go!

I know I've commented before (many times) about Lily's love/obsession with accessories. Included in this love/obsession are purses. Lily hasn't quite gotten to the stage that she insists that her purse matches her shoes but she does insist that she carry a purse.

Her favorite purses right now are a little white purse that one of the older ladies in our neighborhood gave her and a pink sequined purse her Godmother, Laura, gave her. I can promise you if Lily leaves the house she will have one of these two purses with her.

So, what does a 26 month old carry in her purse...you ask? Priceless treasures I assure you! Each of Lily's purses is filled with a variety of junk...oops...I mean stuff she couldn't possible leave the house without.

Right now, in her white purse she has a small stuffed monkey (yes, you read that right), a miniature Slinky, a small plastic slotted spoon, one of my old makeup compacts, pink sunglasses, and a ponytail holder. In her pink sequined purse she has a plastic necklace, one of the shapes from her shape sorter, a small plastic hairbrush, and some loose change. These may seem like very random items but I assure you Lily put a great deal of thought into each item she selected.

Remember the old Let's Make A Deal television show? I used to watch this show at my grandmother's house. At the end of the show Monty Hall would walk through the audience and offer people money if they had a particular item with them. Something like, "Hey lady, if you have a hard boiled egg in your purse I'll give you $100.". I think it's safe to say if Lily had been in the audience of Let's Make A Deal Monty Hall would have met his match!

Pick me Monty!

Praying Mantis

For about a week this little fellow has been visiting our front flower bed.

If you are wondering what the white marks are on this little creature...and on the leaves...it's milk! One day last week Lily and I were playing outside and I realized she had brought out her cup from breakfast. Being too lazy to go back inside I decided to empty the little bit of milk Lily had left in her cup into the flower bed...then I saw something move. I looked a little closer and realized I had given this poor Praying Mantis a milk bath! It hasn't rained here in over a week so this poor fellow has been walking around all week with milk splattered on his back.

Anyway...back to the point...now every day Lily searches the Liriope looking for this little guy. I get the biggest kick out of hearing Lily say, "Mama, where's the Praying Mantis?" A 2 year old saying Praying Mantis?? It just cracks me up!

People always comment to us about how verbal Lily is...and they're right! She is such a little chatter box. Her vocabulary has gotten positively huge and for the most part her pronunciation is really very clear. Sometimes I forget that I'm talking to a 2 year old!

Now, trust me, there are still a few words where we need to use the "Lilyese to English" dictionary. Three that immediately come to mind are Bam Up (the opposite of sitting down), Man Chick (consists of 2 slices of bread and some kind of filling), Bert A Bull (a car with the top down). Sometimes I still need to use context clues to figure out what Lily is saying but that is happening less and less frequently. It looks like the days of baby talk will soon be long gone.

Lily has also begun to sing quite a bit, too. She loves to sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Pat-A-Cake, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, the ABC's and more.

The other day Lily was singing Old MacDonald Had A Farm and it morphed into Uncle Donald Had A Farm. When Lily realized what she had done she started singing Uncle Donald, Maggie, and Charlie to the tune of Old MacDonald. It was priceless!

The good news is that Lily doesn't have my "gift" for singing. Unlike her mother, Lily has the sweetest little singing voice!

I didn't write this post just to brag about Lily. I am writing this because as much fun as I am having watching and marveling as Lily grows...I am finding it really hard to say good-bye to the last little bits of her baby-ness.

Face it Mama...I'm a big girl now!

Back In The Saddle

Is it my turn, yet?

Last week Lily went horseback riding again with our stay at home parent group and LOVED it! The horse farm we visited runs a therapuetic riding program for children with disabilities. The staff is amazing and so are the horses!

This is my horse, Tips.

You can let go Miss Tina. I've got it from here.

Lily loves horses and gets so excited every time we pass a horse farm. However, up until she rode a horse the first time I assumed she would only love them from a distance. Wrong! Lily sits on that saddle and pats the horse like she owns it. You should see Lily's face when she's riding. It is a look of pure joy and amazement!

Daddy, for my birthday I want.....

Pizza, A Pet Store, And The Pied Piper

On Friday we were able to squeeze in one last Aunt T, Beanie, and Lily Day before Christina heads back to school tomorrow. As usual, the 3 of us had a ton of fun!

The stay at home parent group I belong to had an outing at a local pizza place on Friday. Bean, Lily, and I decided to check it out. What a hoot. Each of the kids was able to make their very own pizza. After the kids were done the restaurant staff sent the pizzas through the pizza oven and then the kids were able to dine on their masterpieces. I'm sure I don't need to tell you how messy and fun this outing was!

Christina was by far the oldest child there...and the most popular (especially among the boys!). Christina was a great sport and showed her usual patience and quick wit when dealing with all her young admirers...including her little cousin. Christina truly was like the Pied Piper. Wherever Christina went a merry band of toddlers was sure to follow!

After our pizza feast the 3 of us headed down to the pet store to have a look around. It is amazing to me how just walking through a pet store can provide so much entertainment. We were in the pet store for well over an hour! I guess it shouldn't surprise me. After all, with a million different varieties of fish, birds, lizards, snakes, etc. to look at I guess we could have stayed there all afternoon.

The absolute highlight of the visit to the pet store was watching several dogs being groomed. I'm not being sarcastic...the girls LOVED it! What a simple pleasure...no money spent and a good time was had by all. Well...maybe not by Christina. You see, her Pied Piper-ing skills didn't end at the restaurant. One of Christina's admirers/stalkers was also walking around the pet store with his mother and had his little heart set on holding Beanie's hand the entire time. She graciously agreed. It was so cute. Christina really is such a sweetie and displays a level of patience well beyond her years!

After we left the pet store and were able to shake off Christina's adoring fans we headed home so that Lily could take a nap. Christina and I had fun playing with Play Doh and chatting away while Lily slept. Once Lily woke up from her nap the Dynamic Duo were at it again. Here's the proof:

I can't begin to tell you how much I enjoy spending time with Christina...and Lily does, too. The two of them together are a riot! I can't wait for our next Aunt T, Beanie, and Lily Day. Guess we'll have to wait for a school holiday...or we can always schedule some time on the weekend!

Okay, Maybe I'm A Little Bit Partial...

...but aren't my nieces and nephews positively beautiful???

Ryan

Jamie

Katie, Sadie, and Maggie

Charlie

Beanie

Clare (technically she's not my niece...she's Ryan's girlfriend...but she sure is beautiful!)

Speaking of beautiful...I can't have a post without pictures of our little beauty!

It's All About The Hats

As I've mentioned before Lily is all about the accessories. Our girl LOVES hats, purses, and sunglasses. While we were on vacation it was all about the hats! Here's a sampling of Lily's beach hat collection.

The hat Suzy gave Lily for her birthday was by far her favorite (lower right). I don't think Nai Nai meant for it to be a "beach hat". In fact, I brought it with us to go with the beautiful dress Nai Nai gave Lily for her birthday. Obviously, Lily had other plans for it!

Turns out Lily isn't the only one in the family that loves hats. Mary Beth's cute straw hat made the rounds. Mary Beth even got the chance to wear it....once! Doesn't she look happy about it?

Apparently, the love of hats comes naturally in our family. Check out Dad Dad! He's had that lovely Schlitz hat since we were kids. It gave us all a good laugh and got us thinking...has Dad's head grown...or has the hat shrunk...or maybe a little bit of both!?!

Everybody

One of Lily's favorite parts of vacation (and mine, too) was being with "everybody". Everybody was also one of Lily's favorite words for the week. Is "everybody" on the beach? Is "everybody" upstairs? Is "everybody" going to eat lunch?

The Dynamic Duo!

Over the last 16 months it has been so much fun to see Lily grow more comfortable and confident with "everybody". Lily clearly loves her Dad Dad, aunts, uncles, and cousins and it is obvious that they feel the same!

To be so loved!

When we first came home from China I was a little bit worried because Lily was so much younger than all of her cousins. I was concerned about what kind of relationship she would have with them....silly me. It's a mutual love fest!

I had so much fun watching all of the cousins together on vacation. Yes, I said all of the cousins...including Maggie and Charlie! Don and the kids were able to come down for a few days this year! It was fun to have "everybody" together again at the beach.

The oldest and the youngest....can I just tell you how much I love these pictures!?!

It was so fun for me to be able to watch Lily playing on the beach with "everybody" or by herself. It was a really big step for Lily...and for her mom and dad! Lily loved being buried in the sand or burying other people in the sand. Lily also loved building sand castles, playing ladder golf, paddle ball, and catching crabs and clams. "Everybody" kept Lily so busy that I was actually able to read a little bit on the beach this year!

Having fun playing with my aunts and uncles...or just by myself!

Tony and I are already looking forward to next year's vacation and I bet Lily is, too!

Happy You, You Aunt Pappy!

Today is Aunt Pappy's 41st birthday!

This afternoon we attended a benefit for Kara, one of Patti's closest friends. Kara is an amazingly kind and giving person who is bravely battling cancer for the second time in as many years.

The benefit was unbelievable. There were literally hundreds of people in attendance. It is impossible to put into words how it felt to witness such a beautiful celebration of family, friends, life, and love. I honestly had goosebumps the entire time I was there.

What a powerful reminder of what a gift each day is. Patti, I hope your birthday was as special to you as you are to us. We love you!

Back To Our Tiny House

Friday night as I was getting Lily ready for bed I told her that this would be the last night in our vacation house and that in the morning we would be heading home. Lily looked at me and said, "Back to our tiny house?" I tell you...that little cutie cracks me up!

We had such a wonderful vacation. Lily loved the beach and loved being with the entire family even more. It's hard to believe this was Lily's second time to the Outer Banks! I hope we will all be vacationing together for many years to come!

The weather was beautiful...we enjoyed the sun and the surf...we laughed until our sides hurt...we ate and drank more than we should...we enjoyed each other's company...in the evenings we became Phelps Phanatics...and once again I was reminded why I look forward to this vacation all year!

I have hundreds of pictures to go through and almost as many loads of laundry to do! So, I'll keep this post short and sweet and write a little more during the week.

Here's a sneak peek of our beautiful little beach baby:

tiny swimming pool...BIG SWIMMING POOL!

...these are the words Lily said when we walked out on our deck at our vacation house for the first time and she saw the pool below us and the ocean before us. How cute is she???

We are having problems with our laptop and the wireless connection here. In order to fix the problem we need to reinstall from disks we don't have with us. Oh well. Ed is sweet enough to let me post from his PC but I'm not going to post any pictures. I'll post Saturday when we get home.

We are having a wonderful time. The weather is great. Lily is enjoying the beach and the ocean...being surrounded by family...and so is her mother! Will post more when I have an opportunity!

Pearly Whites

Friday was Lily's very first dentist appointment and she did GREAT!!!

Let me just tell you the improvements in children's dentistry since I was a kid. Geesh! There was a life size playhouse in the lobby, flat screen televisions showing a children's movie, a video playroom, and the list goes on. Not only that...the dentist wasn't some scary old guy with bad breath and too much nose hair. Instead, the dentist was a sweet, beautiful woman who was incredibly patient and kind with Lily.

Lily became a little nervous when we were first called into the examining room. Honestly, I think she just didn't want to leave the playhouse in the lobby! Not to worry, the nervousness didn't last long. Lily hopped up in the big, fancy chair all by herself and was so amazingly brave. I was incredibly impressed and more than a little shocked! The dentist was awesome as was the entire staff. Lily cooperated with everything they asked and only "checked in" with me a few times.

Lily received a glowing report and doesn't need to go back for 6 months. Lily left the office with a bag full of priceless treasures (aka junk) that she didn't want to put down for 2 days! It was really such a wonderful first experience at the dentist! Hmm, I wonder if they take adult patients, too???