lily-isms

lily has fully embraced toddler-hood, i think.  she is becoming more verbal everyday (yay!) and has her little habits and rituals she likes to adhere to. here is a sampling of some of our favorite lily-isms:

• when you say "bye-bye" to her, she responds with "bye.  see you." it's hilarious.
• if you ask her what she wants to eat, she responds "strawberries."  it's her favorite food, and that kid will chow down on them like they are going away forever.  but hey, it's fruit, and i will let her eat as much fruit as she wants.  but hearing her ask for strawberries makes me smile, every time.
• when we're facetiming, she doesn't always say goodbye to the person we're chatting with, but once the call has ended and the computer closed, she waves.  (we've got to work on timing)
• for some reason, lily loves to eat crayons.  they don't taste good, but she keeps going back for more.  maybe she thinks they will change flavors? i'm pretty sure that is the definition of crazy.
• she will refuse to eat anything all day, but if you bust out a french fry, she's all over that thing.  
• she doesn't want you to feed her, but she's more than happy to feed you.  with the food from her plate.  off her fork.  after she's licked the bite.  because, obviously.
• she still won't wear hats.
• lily is obsessed with my jewelry box and is always trying on my bracelets (i've now dedicated a drawer to my old costume jewelry that she can play with. and she knows right where to go). 
• why ride in the shopping cart when you can run all over the store?  i'm pretty sure that's lily's current personal motto.
• lily grabs the hymnal out of our hands during sacrament meeting so she can hold it and "sing" with the congregation.  currently, she's a very pitchy soprano.  

our little bean is growing up, and i am loving it.  the older she gets, the more interactive and responsive she gets, the more i am enjoying parenthood.  lily is a lot more fun, now, and i'll be excited when she gets a little more verbal.  it will make life so much easier.   

nursery

it's here, it's here!  hooray!  today was lily's first official day in the nursery.  kevin and i survived 18 months of church with an extremely vocal and active child, and our reward is to now enjoy sunday school and relief society/priesthood uninterrupted.  we dropped her off, she found a toy she liked, and never looked back.  we walked out the door without looking back, either.  i may have done a happy dance in the hall.  and it may have been witnessed and understood by a myriad of friends who have been where i now stand.  ah, nursery.  i am grateful for your existence.

lily on her last trip to sunday school with
mama and daddy before being nursery eligible.
also, an example of modesty, obviously.

oakland zoo

because we're grown-ups with jobs and a kid, we decided the next step would be to get a membership to the oakland zoo (because we're fancy like that).  our inaugural visit was on saturday.  it was beautiful weather, not too crowded, the animals were out and awake, and best of all, the thurmond's joined us for some zoo strolling and quality time for lily and ren to play.

lily is obviously unimpressed, but she'll learn to love it.

new skills

in an effort to spend some quality time together, vanessa and i signed up for cake decorating classes through michael's craft stores (side note: they are amazing and teach some wonderful skills.  i highly recommend).  we chose a store halfway between our respective homes, and for four glorious tuesdays in january, got our cake on.  some things turned out better than others, some people (ahem, vanessa) have a more natural aptitude towards the artistic things, but i had fun.  and definitely feel more confident the next time i have to frost a cake or cupcakes.

our first night we practiced on cookies.  

learning the art of the cupcake.  and random flowers.

my final product on the last night of class

vanessa's final class product.  

all work and no play...

kevin and i both work full-time.  we have the same 9/80 schedule (he goes in later and drops lily off...i go in earlier and pick lily up...but we both work 9-hour days and have the same fridays off), but sometimes it seems we are not on the same schedule when it comes to the house.  we can be masters at putting a chore off f-o-r-e-v-e-r, just because.  maybe we're hoping our fairy godmother will swoop in and clean for us (as a girl raised on disney, i am trained to dream and believe in the impossible).  to that end, i've decided we need a chore chart.  with stickers.  something that will hold us accountable for what needs to be done, will stare us in the face, and something with a little positive reinforcement.  like putting a sticker on the completed chore, and so many stickers = an extra date night or something.  i don't know.  i do know i work best with incentive, so it seems only logical to apply this to the things i hate doing.  like chores.

life, as seen through my iphone

the past couple weeks have had some fun (and funny!) moments.  where else can i preserve them for posterity but my blog?

the dog park is wonderous and great for so many reasons,
but mostly it allows us to let maggie and lily run free and get
massive amounts of energy out.  all while being fenced in.

teaching lily to drive in the church parking lot.
whenever she sits in the drivers seat now, she puts a "key" in
the ignition, fiddles with the gearshift, and then turns the wheel.  hilarious!

cousin levi's birthday party!  a love of frosting is born.

vanessa and i decided to take a cake decorating class.
we practiced on cookies our first week (and vanessa
immortalized me on one of them!

just a girl and her dog, investigating the backyard.
(this photo is the sweetest thing, and my new favorite of
the two of them.  i love my girls.)

the backyard store has some very eclectic things for purchase.

don't type and drive!

we managed to get a great family selfie.  that practically never happens.

grandpa chuck bought her a stuffed lion and she has
been cuddling that thing every chance she gets. 

trying to put a sparkly shoe on daddy's foot.
it only fit on a couple toes, but lily gave it a good effort.
she's a shoe girl, and very particular about which one's she wears every day.
that makes this mama pretty happy.

academy of science

we went into san francisco with kevin's parents to hang out in the academy of science.  that place is amazing.  i've been before (sans kid), but since i'm a 5 year old at heart, it all works out.  now that lily is around, i have an excuse for my enthusiasm, and people don't look at me as funnily as they used to.  but i digress.  the aquarium, albino alligator, penguins, rainforest (with tons of butterflies), and living roof are just amazing and so much fun.  until next time, academy!

lily kept tapping on the glass, trying to pet the giraffe.

penguins!  seriously, i could watch these guys all day.

statler & waldorf of the rainforest.
(i don't know if they have names or not, that's just what i called them.  it fit.)

seriously.  so pretty.

flowers & butterflies.  love!

traditional family selfie.
somehow we all came out looking at the camera, all smiling,
and all looking pretty decent.  that almost never happens.  

the only thing that went through my mind
 whenever i saw this guy was the theme from "jurassic park."