The Third Time's A Charm

Last weekend Tony, Lily, and I went to the movies to see the new Winnie the Pooh movie. Lily LOVED it!! You know what??? So did Tony and I!!!

It really is a wonderful children's movie. With an emphasis on children.

Really, it was great! There were no villains...well

...spoiler alert...

there was the Backson...but it was obvious...even to a 5 year old...that it wasn't really a villain.

There is no evil step-mother or step anything...no villain...no mystery missing parent...no thinly disguised adult humor.

It was a children's movie...plain, simple, and beautiful.

I mean that as absolutely the HIGHEST compliment.

We've taken Lily to the movies two other times and each has been a complete and utter failure.

I tried to look up my previous posts about the other two movie outings and found nothing. I imagine it's because they were simply too painful. Honestly.

As I've mentioned numerous times before, my sweetie is *extremely* sensory sensitive. A dark theatre...a soundtrack that is blaring...coupled with the fact that we don't watch TV or movies at home...and I think the entire experience has been too overwhelming.

That is until we saw Winnie The Pooh. Lily LOVED the movie so much we are going to see it again next week with Christina, Katie, and Aunt Baba. Lily can't wait!!!



Okay, admittedly, this picture has nothing at all to do with this post. But, as you can see, Lily is THRILLED to be picking tomatoes.

With vegetables in our yard...it's not the third time that's the charm...it's about the millionth time.

See, each year we plant vegetables...and the squirrels eat them all. Every. Single. One.



That is until we put up all these "LOVELY" mylar pinwheels. Twenty-five of them in all. Our patio now looks like a 3 ring circus, but we haven't seem one of those bushy-tailed rats eating our veggies since!

Sunshine And Roses

I've been blamed on more than one occasion of only writing posts that make motherhood seem like a walk in the park.

I'm not going to lie to you, Lily does make being a mother a whole ton of fun. But, this isn't a post about that...this is a post about something that is driving me absolutely C.R.A.Z.Y!!!!!

Lily has a very active imagination and loves to play "pretend". Sounds harmless enough. Sure.

Since Lily doesn't have any siblings I am lucky enough to be her frequent playmate. Again, sounds harmless enough.

That is until...until...Lily magically becomes Lily Spielberg.

Then. Watch. Out!

Here's a brief reenactment of one of our delightful little pretend sessions:

Mommy, let's pretend we're both polar bears. You be the mommy polar bear and I'll be the baby polar bear.

 Sure, honey. That sounds fun.

Um. No, Mommy. You don't stand there...you have to stand over there.

Oh, Mommy. You don't say that...you say this...

 (Insert Mommy starting to take deep breaths.)

Oh, never mind Mommy. Let's not be polar bears. Let's pretend we're waitresses.

Okay, Mommy. I'll wait on this table.

 Okay, Lily. I'll wait on this table.

No, Mommy. I'll wait on all the customers. Um...why don't you sweep?

 (Insert lava beginning to pour from Mommy's ears)

You get the idea.

I know this all sounds really, really petty...and...you're right. It is!

I also know that there are many parents that face real challenges with their children every day. I'm sure any one of them would gladly sign up to deal with this "burden".

I'm just trying to be honest and this "pretend" phase is making me more than a little nutty.

It turns out having two control freaks under one roof can be a bit challenging! Who knew???

I do try and talk to Lily about how she can't dictate every single detail of our play. I explain that there needs to be some give and take. That Mommy doesn't want to be told Every. Single. Word. To. Say.

It seems to sink in...for about 3 seconds.

During these pretend play times I do my best to try and channel my inner Mary Poppins. Really. I do. Sadly, I'm afraid, more times than not it's my inner Attila the Hun that comes out.

I'm sure this phase will pass. Soon.

Right? Right?!?

Oh my stinkin' heck I hope so!

Thanks for letting me get this off my chest. I'm hoping it will postpone my impending extended stay at The Ha Ha Hotel...at least by a few days.

Beanie's Beanie

Last Thursday was our first Aunt T, Lily, and Beanie day of the summer. Better late than never!!

Let's just say at first I think Bean was a little skeptical of our plans to go frog and crayfish hunting at the state park.



Skeptical...that is...until Beanie caught her first crayfish...and then...LOOK! OUT! Beanie became a catching machine!!



I'm not sure what brought Beanie such good luck. Perhaps it was her hilarious self-talk about being a ninja fisherwoman...or wearing a wool beanie in July...or just mad skills. Either way, at one point I know Lily had more than 20 crayfish in her net - all courtesy of Christina.

We had so much fun at the park and stayed much longer than I ever anticipated. The weather was perfect, the girls were having a great time together, and when you're a catching machine...you don't want to mess with the mojo!





When I was finally able to pry the girls away from the park we headed off to the pool to get wet like civilized people do.

Again, it was so much fun to watch the girls play together! Sometimes the 7 years that separates them can seem huge...other times not so much.



We ended our fun Aunt T, Lily, and Beanie day together with an unexpected treat - dinner with Sadie!! It was so nice to have a chance to catch up with Sadie. As for Lily, she just *LOVED* eating dinner squeezed in between Sadie and Bean. She was absolutely in heaven. And, really, who needs elbow room???

Bowled Over

Lily absolutely LOVES to bowl. Her Mama...on the other hand...not so much.

Our local bowling alley offers a program where kids can bowl two free games every day all summer long.

Of course, we don't go every day...but when it's 900° outside...and I can't stand the thought of going to the pool one more day...somehow the thought of paying to wear shoes other people have worn doesn't seem quite so repugnant.

Anyway, the other day Lily and I were planning to go bowling when Lily said to me, "Mommy, you know who I think would REALLY love bowling? James!"

I have no idea why Lily thought James would love bowling, but it just so happened he was home visiting for a few days. Lily gave James a call and he said he would like to join us.

God bless James' sweet little soul. Not only did James join us, but much to Lily's delight, he brought along his little sister.



How many 19 and 23 year olds do you know that would be willing to spend their afternoon bowling with their 5 year old cousins??? It almost made paying to wear other people's shoes tolerable!



Have I mentioned lately how much Lily and I LOVE all of her BIG cousins?!?!

Christmas In July

Since we were in North Carolina on Lily's birthday we weren't able to celebrate Lily's big day with Nai Nai and Aunt Sheila until last week.

Nai Nai and Aunt Sheila are always EXTREMELY generous in their gift giving. Lily's 5th birthday was no exception.



After they backed up the semi and unloaded all the gifts our living room was literally covered in presents!



Lily's birthday extravaganza continued last Sunday when Pat and Howard were in town and stopped by for dinner.

It's always great to visit with Pat and Howie! Spending time with them reminds us how much we wished they lived closer.



Oh, Pat and Howard also arrived with a ton of gifts in hand.

How can one little girl have so much stuff??? I think we're going to have to put an addition on our house! Seriously!!

Udderly Ridiculous

Last week I drove thru Chick-fil-a to satisfy my serious iced tea addiction. While I was waiting to order I saw a sign announcing that July 8th was Cow Appreciation Day.

Who knew??? I know I hadn't herd.

According to the sign, if you came in on the 8th dressed like a cow you would get your meal for free. What a moo-velous idea!

We NEVER eat fast food. Um...unless...you consider Panera Bread fast food. It's just that the idea of dressing up like a cow seemed too fun to pass up. I really just had to milk this opportunity for all it was worth.

We rounded up one of Lily's friends and her mother and brought them with us to Chick-fil-a for lunch.



There was free food, games, and cow mascots. Quite a few people got a kick out of Lily's chocolate milk cowstume and the owner asked if he could take Lily's picture.



We all had a blast...and that's no bull!

Apparently this is an annual event. So, mark your calenders for next year. It really is a lot of fun. I wouldn't steer you wrong.

Okay, okay...I'll stop with my VERY lame attempts at cow humor.

Now You See It....

Now you don't!



As you can see, Saturday was a pretty big day around these parts. Lily lost her very first tooth!!!

We were at Maggie's graduation party when Lily bit into a strawberry. With a quiver in her voice Lily said to me, "Mommy, what's this on my finger?"

At first, I didn't realize it was Lily's tooth. Then, I looked up and saw a little blood on Lily's lip. After Lily was able to rinse her mouth out she was pretty excited about being "a big girl."

On Friday, Lily had a dental appointment. Lily's dentist could not believe Lily still hadn't lost a tooth. A year ago Lily's dentist was quite concerned about all of Lily's loose teeth.

Dr. J also mentioned that she thought when one of Lily's teeth came out it would have a domino effect on the other loose teeth.

When we got home from the dentist on Friday I took the first picture you see above. The last picture of Lily with all of her baby teeth!!

After Maggie's party Lily put her tooth in her little Tooth Fairy pillow.

Lily wanted no parts of putting the tooth or the Tooth Fairy pillow under her actual pillow. Nope. She didn't want the Tooth Fairy anywhere near that close to her bed!



With the Tooth Fairy pillow and tooth secure on a shelf near her bed, Lily was ready to go to sleep.

Before she fell asleep Lily told me she hoped the Tooth Fairy would leave her a trip back to the Great Wolf Lodge. Um...YIKES!!! Obviously, Mommy had to do a little bit of managing expectations.

Unfortunately, I didn't manage the Tooth Fairy's expectations. He...I mean the Tooth Fairy...put 5 one dollar bills in the pillow!!! Um...whatever happened to a quarter???

With all of Lily's loose teeth...and this current rate of payment...Lily will be able to pay for us all to go back to the Great Wolf Lodge soon!

Speaking Of Dads

One of my favorite parts about vacation is having almost my entire family in one place...under one roof. I absolutely LOVE it. Of course, it would be better if everyone could come on vacation every year...but I'll take what I can get!!

Sure it can be crazy, chaotic, loud, messy...oh...and did I mention messy and loud? All of that pales in comparison to the comfort I get in just having us together.

It's true that we all live close to each other...and we see each other a lot more often than other families. Be that as it may, there is something about living in a "family compound" that appeals to me. Seriously. I'm greedy like that.

Not only would I be surrounded by my best friends, I'd also be able to spend more time with this beautiful man:



















I "blame" him for my love of family.

It's something we all learned through Dad's example. The fact that I've elevated that love of family into a pathological need...well...that's all on me.