Easter 2011

We had a wonderful Easter! I slacked on getting Lily's basket together so the night before I left it in Mike's hands. He was working overnight so I told him while he was out in between calls to grab stuff for her basket. He did an awesome job if I do say so myself. It was fun to see her pick the things out of her basket. The winner, of course was the "baboon" She loves balloons so Mike knew this would be a hit. She also loves the little plastic eggs. We didn't even fill them with anything since she can't have candy ( though she did have a bite of mommy's Reese's egg) But she still loved them. she just walked around saying "ball! ball!" very cute.

After we got settled we headed to the Hunt Club, a local farm that puts on events for kids during holidays. I was so happy to see that Lily caught on to the egg hunt pretty quick. She was so proud of herself for putting eggs in her basket. She also loved the bigger eggs.. or balls, haha. 

She even did alright sitting on the bunny's lap... though I couldn't get a smile. 

Here is her photo from her first Easter 2010

And this Easter.. 2011. Look how she has grown! blows my mind. I can't even imagine going with 2 kids next year!!

She enjoyed the petting zoo part, though she wouldn't touch a goat for anything. she enjoyed saying "hi boo boo" which is what she calls our dog, Bailey. I guess they looked similar to her, ha.

After Hunt club we had lunch at Mike's grandma's house where Lily enjoyed running around in the backyard. She was so sweet and probably picked his grandmothers garden clean. Girl loves some flowers. I don't mind though ( his grandma might! haha) I think it's sweet that she goes " mom, flower!" she is really talking these days. I'll save that for when I do her 14th month post... which in true Stephanie fashion is going to be 2 weeks late.

We really enjoyed a nice day together, hope yours was great too! 

Better late then never.. Thanksgiving 2010!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. This was the first year that both my family, and Mike's were together. This year my parents came over to Mike's grandmother's house. Normally we eat at Mike's family's then head over to my mom and dad's house. It was great to only have to go one place this year!

I have so much to be thankful for, My wonderful husband. He works so hard for me and Lily. Though I still have to work, he works even harder than he should so that I don't have to work as much, he loves every smile Lily gives him, and gets just as excited about every giggle and squeal she makes as I do. I am thankful for Lily. In her almost 10 months here with me (18 is if you count when I was pregnant) She has taught me so much. I am thankful for her health, happiness and for the love she has for me. There is nothing greater. All of my family has been so supportive and helpful this year. I am so blessed to have them. And though I complain about my job daily, I am thankful to have one. I am a very blessed girl.

Lily LOVES to feed herself. We plopped some mashed potato's on her high chair and let her dig in. She loved all the attention she got and we all loved the food!

My father is terrible at pictures. He was looking at Lily the whole time. ha. best I could get.

Lily eating her first Thanksgiving meal!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving too!

Lily's first parade!

Just recently, Lily attended her first ever parade. Every year the city of Norfolk holds the Grand Illumination Parade. Basically it's when they turn on all the Christmas lights in the city, and then have a parade to celebrate! Lily did phenomenal, considering it ran a little past her bedtime, and my kid loves her schedule. Her favorite parts were the bands, and the floats with lots and lots of lights! Me and Mike really enjoyed seeing her get so tickled by it! we plan to make it an every year tradition!

 All snuggled up.

Watching the floats go by

I was so excited that my family joined us at the parade! my mom, dad, brother and his girlfriend came along :)

We had such a great time! can't wait to do it again next year with two children!

I will do a Thanksgiving post, and pregnancy post here soon, this house isn't going to clean itself! ha!

Halloween and a crawling baby!

My baby girl is officially crawling! Life will never be the same now that she is fully mobile. But it's adorable and this mommy couldn't be prouder. It was exciting today because my twin sister got to see Lily crawl over skype! Thank God for skype, it makes me so happy that we can still be involved in things even if we are 1000 miles apart.

We also really enjoyed Halloween. Lily was a cow, and we thought she just looked darling in her costume!

She was pretty well behaved as we went trick or treating. We only walked around for maybe 30 minutes, after all, the kid is only almost 9 months old. But mommy and daddy have enjoyed the candy she did collect. ha! poor kid. We went with a friend of ours and her little boy and Lily and Landon just love each other. He just says "baby! baby!" over and over again.

So cute!

I love my little family! can't wait for next year!

Holiday weekend re-cap!

We had such a great 4th of July weekend. 

Saturday me, mike and my sister went to a friends of ours surprise birthday party. We had tons of fun hanging out and most of them have babies around Lily's age so we had a great time hanging out. Our friend lives in northern VA so we don't see them as often as we'd like.

Not only is Sunday America;s birthday, But it also happens to me my Dad's. My family came to our house this year and we had a mini cook-out and enjoyed Ice cream cake for his birthday. We all chipped in and got him a tour through back bay in kayak's. Him and My mom went today and they really had a good time, I'm so glad he liked his gift! 

After Ice cream we packed up and headed to Mt. Trashmore for fire works. We parked close to my work and walked from there. I was so pleased to find that it wasn't too crowded hen we got there. We arrived at about 7:30pm and there was still ton of good spots on the Hill. Lily, Dylan and Madison had a BLAST being out side. The weather was perfect, about 85ish and a great breeze and they loved just laying on the blanket looking up at the clouds.

I just can't believe we got a picture of them ALL SMILING! oh my gosh!

Lily was in a great moos and looked cute as a button in her outfit!

She also was all giggles while we were walking to the park. She much prefers to be riding front and center with daddy, than in her stroller...

Even though she slept through her first fireworks ( I expected this, she is a very scheduled baby and is always in bed by 8:30, so I didn't think she'd make it until the fireworks) We had so much fun and I will always remember her first one! I'm glad my parents, sister and her babies could be with us on this special holiday! And me, mike and Lily had such a great 4th!