birthday party and a roll of toilet paper

This evening we took Lily to her best friend Andi's 1st birthday party!! Lily had a great time and was crawling all over the place. She even reached out and wanted to be held by Andrew's mom! Lily must have gotten the "grandmother" vibe from her! Andi was so adorable. She loved her cake but wasn't much in to the presents - go figure! She just wanted to sit in her new little rocking chair and play with this ball she got. So Alicia got to open most of the presents. Anyways... we had a good time and it was so fun/sentimental celebrating the first year of Andi's life! Happy Birthday Andi!!

And this afternoon I let Lily have a roll of toilet paper to play with. She loved that! Here's the before....

and the after....

breaking christmas rules and trunk or treat

I'm currently sitting here drinking a cup of coffee with gingerbread cream and listening to christmas music. Yes, you heard correctly. My personal rule for christmas music is November 1st but I just couldn't wait. I woke up to a chilly morning, saw the creamer, and just did it. The current selection on itunes: Baby It's Cold Outside from the Elf Soundtrack. VERY good song! I love that movie and the soundtrack.

Yesterday evening we headed to church for Lily's 1st trunk or treat. We had to bundle her up in a coat so she couldn't quite show off her cute ballerina outfit but that's okay. She held her bucket upright the whole time for people to put candy in. I couldn't believe it! No, Lily can't eat candy yet but we figured next year she will eat it so we should get to treat ourselves this year. Plus, I never got to trick or treat as a child so I deserve it!

When we got home, Matt and I got out of the car and then he went to go get Lily out. Well before he could open the door there was a scary cat that climbed up on top of the car. I was like um.... we need to get our child out. Matt finally got it go away. Then Lily had a hay day at home just playing with all the candy in her bucket. One lady actually had goldfish cracker packs so Lily was able to eat something.

This evening is Andi's first birthday party! I can't believe our little baby girls are turning 1!! Where has the time gone?! It's hard to imagine this time last year that Lily was in my belly just a tiny 6 pound 4 ouncer! I wasn't really sad/sentimental until today. I guess it's cause Alicia and Andi have been a big part of our lives this past year and Lily has been able to share her first year of life with her little friend Andi. Well... enough of the sentimentalness (don't think that's a word). I'll save it for 3 weeks from now when Lily has her first birthday.

And finally a cute pic of my little Lily in her new warm pj's:

visit from friends, Lost, niceness, and pee on the floor

Today was a fun day! We finally got to hang out with Alicia and Andi. It seems like there's always something coming up or a sickness that interfers with our weekly get togethers! Lily and Andi had fun together and even had lunch together here. And Alicia and I were able to catch up on things and what our girls have been up to.

Matt is trying to get me into Lost, the tv series. I never watched it because the ads made it look scary. Yes, I'm a wuss and don't like to watch anything remotely scary. Well, Matt convinced me that it would be okay and that I would like it. The kids had been watching an episode each week during after school program so that's how Matt started getting in to it. He borrowed the first season from a friend of his from work. I watched the first episode last night and although it was pretty good - still a little jumpy scarier and bloodier than I would like. I'm going to give it a few more episodes though before I give up. Matt said the blood/guts stuff wouldn't be as bad in future episodes since it's just the initial plane crash.

I would like to say that it makes me so happy when total strangers do something nice for me. I was leaving the grocery store this evening trying to get groceries in the car, Lily out of the cart, and the cart cover unfolded. All of this while it feels like it's freezing and VERY windy. I had gotten Lily out and a lady came by and asked if she could take my cart to the corral for me to put it away. It seems like something so simple but really brightened my day. I hope that I do things like that for others. My challenge for tomorrow: make sure to do at least one random act of kindness for someone.

And finally... before bathtime each evening I usually take Lily's clothes and diaper off for a few minutes to let her air out. She has never peed before. Well... tonight she got me back. She was standing up by the couch and I hear a gush of liquid. I look over and there's pee all over the couch and floor. Haha! Good thing I don't care about that kind of thing. :) It gave me a good laugh for the evening!

I'm excited for tomorrow... Lily's first trunk or treat at church!! She's going to be a beautiful ballerina! It just stinks that it's going to be SO cold!!

and then there was silence

Everyone's gone. Yes, our house is finally back to normal now with just us! I'm currently enjoying beautiful peace and quiet while Lily is napping. We had a good weekend though even though it's not quite over yet.

Yesterday afternoon it thankfully stopped raining and the sun came out just in time for the LU homecoming football game. It turned out to be PERFECT weather! So after Lily got up from her nap, we headed over to the game and met up with Matt, his dad, and Jake. It took forever to find a spot. Definitely a packed house! I really like going to the games and rooting on our alma mater but we just hadn't had a chance yet this year. Lily did great for her first game and seemed to like it even though it was very loud! She just sat there (thankfully) and took everything in. We ended up leaving early because I had to get her dinner and she started to get restless. Her favorite part was when the hip hop music would come on between plays. She was bouncing/dancing up a storm!

The guys stayed for the rest of the game so Vicky came over to hang out with me and Lily until she went to bed and the guys got back. That was a good break for me too with our house being quieter.

This morning was church and it was a packed house too because it was Friends Day. As usual, a good service and Lily had fun playing in the nursery. I'm really glad she does so well in there. Then we headed out for lunch at Friday's including kids eat free! Lily kindly shared her delicious mac'n'cheese with me!

Now off to lay down and enjoy some more peace and quiet!

family overload

Yes... I still have family staying at my place. My parents got here on Monday. They came to go with me to get pictures done and then for me to be able to substitute teach. They had no end date to leave and I had a few things to get done so I told them to leave Friday. So half the issue was me! Then Matt's dad and Jake were coming up for the LU football game today and we had assumed they were coming today (Saturday). So I figured that we would at least have one down day/night between family. That wasn't the case. They came up yesterday and got here like 2 hours after my parents left. I had a bit of a breakdown last night after we went to bed. It wouldn't be quite as bad if we had a bigger place and could essentially "get away" from others in the house. But we're all right here in the living room. I just have to tell myself only 1 more night/day! Then we're just us again!

To update from my previous blog about the neighbors... no knocks on our door since then thankfully. I have prepared my "speech" for when/if they come the next time. So here it is. Let me know what you think.

"We have been kindly trying to keep the noise down as much as possible even though we don't have to do this in the first place but like I said before there is nothing I can do about the noises that come from normal daily living. My daughter is 11 months old and she's only going to get louder as she grows once she starts running around. If you have a concern in the future, please take it to the clubhouse or move to a 3rd story apartment but do not disturb as at our home again." The question will be if I remember what I want to say when it comes time. :)

After the day I substitute taught, we pretty much did errand running. I had my appointment to get our WIC checks, did a little shopping for Lily, got groceries, and a few other things. Today is supposed to be Lily's first Liberty football game but I'm not gonna be able to take her if it's still raining. :( So we'll wait and see.

This coming week should be fun! Matt starts his new schedule (7:30 to 3:00) on Monday. Yeah!!! I'm so happy he'll be getting home MUCH earlier and we can actually have dinner together as a family now. Wednesday night is Lily's first Trunk or Treat at church. Guess mommy and daddy get to eat her candy this year! Thursday evening is Andi's 1st birthday party (Lily's bf). I can't believe that our girls are turning 1 year old!! I've started working on Lily's bday party planning. We're gonna have it on Saturday at the clubhouse which will be nice and offer lots more room. Her actual birthday is Friday though so we're gonna do something small with just our parents if they want to be there that day - cake and maybe a present or two.

Off to entertain family....