Thanksgiving 1, Award, and CP Wednesday

This is a loaded post! Thanksgiving special--Part 1-our Thanksgiving take one, an award that I turned Thanksgivingish, and a Thanksgiving Crock Pot recipe...whew!
Sunday evening we had Thanksgiving with my Mom's side of the family! Mom and I spent the day chasing children, cooking, and cleaning house. It was actually a pretty good time. Then, our family came over and enjoyed a FEAST. Here is Lilly in her Thanksgiving outfit! I got this from Kari at the Candy Cane Lane Boutique show. My friend Amber also makes great tutus and tees as well if you are interested!! Amber, I will be ordering some tie t-shirts for Reid very soon!!! I love the one you did for Brody!

Anyway, I love this little turkey!

Great Grandma Berti and Reid. She couldn't get enough of him--even though he is solid as a rock and not easy to hold for long periods of time..haha.

See Reid's tie...it has a little turkey on it, too! LOVE it.

Playing with a ball and a hanger. This girl knows how to have a good time!

Posing with my cousin (not sure what that makes her to Lilly...second cousin?).
How many kids can fit in Lilly's couch-bed? I guess three! This is Lilly, her 3 year old cousin Emma, and her four year old cousin Ethan.
Reading a bedtime story!
This is Lilly's priscilla piggy bank that Lynn and Bill sent her from Australia. Anyway, it has some dollar bills in it. My mom went into Lilly's room and Ethan and Emma were shoving dollar bills into their pockets and she asked, "Where did you guys get that money?" Ethan's eyes got really big and he said, "Right here in this pig!! It was just sitting here waiting for us!!! You want some, too??" Haha.
My mom was getting the stuff out of the fridge to make a salad and Lilly snuck in and grabbed the tomatoes and took off!!!

We had a pretty hard time getting them back from her.

Aunt Shelly stealing some of my sugars from Reid.

Snuggling.

This was my attempt at getting a picture of Emma and Lilly together with their tutus. Notice how Lilly's belly is showing. Little cutie.

Another little cutie.

After everyone left, Lilly just relaxed on her couch!

Chillaxed! (That is a Modern Family word if any of you watch it.)

Then, my sweet blog friend Ginger gave me this award! She has got a little girl named Lillian Grace and is about to have a little boy named Thomas. I love reading about this family and all that they are up to and am so honored that she chose to honor me with an award! Thank you very much, Ginger!!

Ok, the rules were to say 10 interesting facts about myself, but since it is Thanksgiving week (and I have already stated 10 interesting facts about myself and I am not sure I have 10 more in me) I am going to list 10 things I am thankful for instead!! Then, I am supposed to pass it to seven blog friends. So, here it goes:

10 things I am thankful for:

1. Our family relationship with God. Although Matt and I have went to church less this past year than ever before in our lives, God has blessed us with a closer relationship with him anyway! I believe it is because when I became a parent and got to experience the love I have for my children, I understood so much more deeply the love that He has for us. The ways in which we get so excited over the most "trivial" milestones or how we truly wish that we could experience all of their pain ourselves in order to spare them any. The way we hold our breath as Lilly would stumble over and over when she started walking and how PROUD we are of her now that she is a little pro. I can't think about my love for my kids without thinking about how awesome it is that that is just a glimpse at how God loves us! I believe these little insights have brought Matt and I closer...that and not to mention the fact that our prayer life increased dramatically once we had our babies. Haha! And, while I would be thankful for just my relationship with God--I am so glad that my husband shares in it as well!

2. Matt. I know how extremely blessed I am in to be a marriage that is a true partnership. We are a team. He is my safe place in this world! He is such a wonderful husband. He is the leader of our household and he always puts his family first. He rushes home from work to be with us and this is truly where he wants to be. He is the best dad to Lilly and Reid and I couldn't ask for anything more!

3. Lilly and Reid. I am thankful for their smiles, their laugh, and their little personalities. I am thankful for their health. Sooo thankful for their health. I am thankful that they have all five of their senses, that I am able to hold and rock them and kiss and hug them every day. There is no way to list ALL of the ways I am thankful for my children and I am sure that I am leaving off some of the major things that I should've listed, but know that I am thankful even if I didn't list it.

4. Our family and friends. I love you all! You offer kind words and encourage us when we need a little push. You share your lives with us and we are so grateful!!

5. All of our blessings. I couldn't possibly list these. However, I am thankful that we are blessed enough to be able to help other out. At this particular time in our lives, (you know I have two babies and no job) time and money are pretty tight. However, here are a few things we do to show thanks for our blessing. I am not a cash carrier, but during the holiday season I always carry a few dollars so that I can put them in the salvation army buckets. I have to buy at least one toy for tots each year despite any money tightness. This last one is going to sound very cheesey but here it goes: I know that holiday shopping can get stressful especially since everywhere you go it is crowded and people are all over the place and some are cranky and rude...so while I am out--I try and smile at everyone. I know that is super silly, but I feel like being nice and polite is a way to bless others!

6. Ok there are more serious things to be thankful for but this is getting heavy, so the rest are small things that I am thankful for...starting with....Sonic drinks and Happy hour!! Oh, how these can turn around a rough date! Dt. Dr.Pepper with cherry and vanilla syrrup. Yummy!

7. Cable. The Biggest Loser, American Idol, Criminal Minds, How I Met Your Mother, Modern Familiy---these are the things that keep me sane after the kids are in bed and I just want to sit and be mind-less.

8. Being a stay at home mommy. Best job in the world!! Ok, this one is a little serious, but I LOVE it!!

9. Picture and memories. I have always loved photos and just sitting around and reminiscing some days.

10. Bubble baths and massages. These speak for themselves.

Ok, now to the 7 winners--you can do the 10 interesting facts or 10 things you are thankful for.

1. I am retagging Ginger for the 10 thankful things because I just love her blog, too!

2. Debbie at dining with debbie. Not only does she host Crock Pot Wednesday and the mother of my favorite doctor, she has a wonderful blog that combines good stories with good recipes!

3. Cori --she just had a beautiful baby girl named Katie!

4. Brittney -- she has a three year old named Trevor and 2 month old named Cruz. Reid and Cruz are already buddies.

5. My friend Kaci, we interned together. Anyway, she is a teacher and her church recently got a huge donation. Well, the church did the coolest things and gave the money to the people in the church for them to help others with. You need to go to her site and see how they spent the money--awesome is all I can say. I am so proud of you Kaci!!

6. Jennifer is a great mom who loves the Lord! Brody is close to Lilly's age and he is just a cutie!

7. Sarah --I was giving her an award but when I went to her blog to tell her about it--it just wasn't a good time! Anyway, she is such an inspiration with her attitude and beliefs.

There were so many others that deserve awards for great blogs-hopefully this will get to you all!

Now, in honor of Thanksgiving, here is my Crock Pot recipe for Green Bean Casserole. In true Sara Scott fashion, this one has cheese in it!

Ingredients
1 (10 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
3 ounces processed cheese (i.e. Velveeta®), cubed
1 tablespoon real bacon bits
2 (15 ounce) cans cut green beans, drained
1 (2.8 ounce) can French Fried Onions
Directions
Basically just mixing everything together (softening the cream of mushroom soup just for about 30 seconds in the microwave to make it easier to stir.) I mixed about 3/4 of the French Fried Onions in at the beginning. Then, about 10 minutes before serving, I sprinkled the rest of them on top. I cooked it on low for about 3 hours, and let simmer until I was ready for it. I made a double batch for yesterday and every one loved it and the leftovers were YUMMY too.

Lighting of the Square

Tonight, we took Lilly and Reid to the Lighting of the Square. There were over 400,000 Christmas lights on the square. We were there when they officially lit them up for the season. Then, after they flipped the grand switch, there was a parade. We got there a little early to get a good parking spot, walk around, and then find a good spot to watch the parade. Check, check, and check--missions were accomplished.

We also were like parade tourists--we got Lilly this light thing (the thing she is holding) that had lights that ran up and down it. It kept her pretty entertained (and her Daddy, too). She also got some cotton candy (again, so did Daddy). I kept imagining us in New York with the I heart New York shirts and hats with the Statue of Liberty on them, but we just wanted her to get the whole parade experience!!

Having a good time just waiting for the parade to begin.

This is how Reid enjoyed the parade...asleep in the baby harness.

Best seat in the house!! This is how Lilly watched the parade. Since the whole thing started at least 30 minutes late, Lilly got tired of the stroller. It was worth the wait, though! (I LOVE this photo!!)

This was Lilly's expression when they turned the lights on--PRICELESS!

This was one of the MANY "puppets" that were in the parade. They also had some of the monsters from "Where the Wild Things Are".

This dragon blew mist that looked like smoke. All in all, the parade was pretty good. Lilly loved it and really enjoyed getting to practice her waving skills. It was chilly, but not freezing.

Here is a picture...we were starving so we didn't get pictures of all of it, but it is pretty awesome!

Here are some pictures of Lilly enjoying her Goldfish Crackers in a Frisbee. Haha. I love this girl.

On another good note, everything in our house is now fixed! I am no longer hating laundry....God is funny like that! Papa Mike and DeDe came by on their way home from Branson today (no pictures-oops) so we got to visit with them. Tomorrow, we are doing Thanksgiving with some of our family--eventful weekend! I hope you all are having a great weekend!

What a Week!!

If it ain't broke...oh wait~it is all broke!! Our t.v. , washing machine, and garage door are all on the fritz. Well, actually the geek squad came and repaired our t.v. because luckily it was still under warranty. So, it is healed!! Whew, it was a rough week watching a 17 incher. Now, onto the washing machine--OH.MY.GOSH--a mom of two small babies needs a working washing machine. Now, this may be my fault because I was counting the ways in which I loathe doing laundry the day before it went kaput. Haha. Hopefully, the repair man will come to check on the washing machine tomorrow. The garage door is not really a big deal..it just needs a couple of new bolts. Oh, and to top it all off, last night we were using our blender and it started smoking...literally smoke was coming out of it so it is now in the trash. Geesh! However, it isn't all that bad--we were very blessed that Aunt CiCi let us do some laundry at her house. She was even sweet enough to come and pick some of it up for me (it could have been the fact that when she stopped by the house was a DISASTER zone, I was still in my p.j.s, and I was just brushing my teeth for the day and it was 4:00p.m--she probably saw that it had been a rough couple of days..haha). The washer quit mid-load while it was full of water and soapy so she even came and got our wet, soapy, heavy towels and drug them out the door--I don't know what we would have done without her!! Now, onto what my children have been doing this week. Look at sweet boy's neck muscles! Go Reid! Go Reid! Go!

Well, I think Lilly and Reid conspired together this week--apparently they agreed that they would NOT nap at the same time together EVER. Actually, today for the first time in almost two weeks they napped together at the same time. There was so much that I needed to do during that time but unfortunately I was just too tired so I napped, too! Let us just say that the house has suffered because ever since the vaccines, they have taken turns needing attention--resulting in them taking all of my focus. I just decided to embrace it because they are only like this for so long! I have started making some head way on the house work though and suspect that I will get caught up this weekend.

Lilly just loves it when I put Reid on the floor with her! This is a bad picture, but it is a picture of her laying her head on him. She really is sweet to him most of the time. The other night she accidentally chunked a horse at his head...let me clarify--she meant to chunk the horse, but she didn't mean to hit him in the head with it!

She plays very close to him the whole time..see her in the background. Reid is like, "Why do you still have the camera out?"

My sweet babies!! I am so in love with these two!!

She is always trying to hand him a hanger...like "come on bubba-play with me".

Lilly is grabbing the camera in this photo.

Haha! I love this one because she keeps trying to pick him up!

Lilly has done so much lately. She is "helping" me do laundry in this photo. On a serious note, she has just started saying all sorts of stuff! She says "eye" and point to the eye. She says "touch down"--however it really is just a "tuh" sound and "dow" resulting in "tuh-dow". She does it while she signals touch down and is pretty excited about it! There are a couple of others that are in the videos below.

Reid holding onto the link-a-doos. Man, he is going to be a smartie too!

Lilly took this photo--I have no idea how she got the red tint on it! I was letting her take the photo and I don't know what she did.

This is one of Lilly's stacking rings. She puts it on like a bracelet and then walks around with her arm straight up so it doesn't fall off. She will walk all around the house like that and it is soo cute. Honestly, I don't think anyone should be allowed to be that cute--the other day she was carrying a cup under her arm like a football and even that was cute!

(VIDEO above) Lilly has a farm and we go through each of the animals and say their sounds. Well, when we come to the farmer, I have always just said that the farmer says, "Hi ya'll" (I know stereotypical, but whatever). So, in the video, Lilly is saying "Hi ya'll"...it sounds more like, "Hi, yayaya" This is one of my favorite things that she does! LOVE it!

In this video (above), she "neighs" like a horse--she was trying to move on so I couldn't get a really clear one, but you get the point. She also points to daddy's eye and says eye. This one takes a few seconds for her to do so hang in there! Then, at the end she grabs the camera and flips it around. Nice!

Check-up, Shots, & the Petrino Show

Well, yesterday Reid went to see his buddy Dr. Payton for a 2 month check-up.....and shots.

We have a big boy! Weighing in at 14 pounds 5 ounces (90th percentile) and measuring a little over 25 1/4 inches long (95th percentile), Reid is in good health! His head circumference is in the 50th percentile. (Lilly's is still in the 5th percentile--his head is only 2 centimeters smaller than hers was at her 1 year check-up.) He has also met all of the milestones that he is supposed to have (cooing, smiling, lifting his head up, holding something momentarily, etc.)

He had to get his first round of shots. Ugh. This is right before. On the positive side, there were two nurses this time so they gave him his shots all at the same time. How did he handle it??

Not so well--he was NOT happy! When Lilly got her first shots, she cried for a couple of seconds and moved on. Reid--not so much! He was upset--I had to feed him to get him to calm down and relax.

This little girl got tons of attention at the Dr.'s office. Everyone said she was so cute and just loved her outfit!

Unfortunately, since we were there, she got her flu booster shot and the H1N1 vaccine and one of the vaccines she couldn't get at her 1 year check-up! Lilly, I want you to know that Mommy didn't want you to get any shots today--it was purely Daddy's fault!

She did super though! This is her sporting her hat that she was getting autographed later! She loved wearing it. She would take it off and look at it and then bring it back to me to put on her again.

I have to keep Tank's food and water put up because Lilly likes to play in it.

Last night we went to the Bobby Petrino show at the Catfish Hole. They have a buffet of yummy food starting at 6:00 and then the show is from 7:00-8:00. You have to call for reservations and it was packed!! The audience can ask questions and there were a couple of players there, too! Ramone Broadway (Corner Back) (#28) and Grant Cook (Offensive Lineman) (#72) were the players that were there last night, but I think they have different ones every week. Ramone and Grant were both really funny to listen to. At one point, they asked each one of them what they wanted to do after their football careers were over and Ramone said he wanted to be a FBI agent because he was little and wanted to be able to pick on somebody. They also were talking about confidence and he said that Coach Petrino referred to that as "swagger" not cockiness. He said it all much funnier, but we had a really great time.

This is at the beginning of the show and Lilly is watching everyone call the hogs (and enjoying a sucker that she eventually rubbed all over her face and hair).

She decided she was going to call the hogs, too!

Sitting on Daddy's shoulder watching the show...

playing the drums on Daddy's head....

bending down to look at Daddy--she kept leaning over and looking at him, it was so cute!

Aren't they adorable together? She is a Daddy's girl! Last night she was getting restless so I went to grab her to let her walk around and she turned away from me and clung to him!! I was like, "oh no she didn't!!" He was grinning from ear to ear. I swear he is training her when I am not around. I was pretty nervous because this was happening at her bedtime and she had shots yesterday, but she was really great!! Thankfully, I found a couple of packages of M&Ms that MoMo had put in the diaper bag for her last week and that kept her entertained and happy for the last 20 minutes of the show. Sweet!

Reid started out just taking it all in and watching everyone.

He was a little perplexed at times. What was all of the fuss about?

Then, he went to sleep and slept through almost the whole show.

Ray and his son Tyler went with us.

My cousin Amber went with us, too. We had such a great time! It was set up really nicely where everyone could see and we sat at long tables so we also got to visit with other families. You know I love to visit with people so this was right up my alley!

After the show, we got our picture taken with Coach Petrino--see Lilly clinging to me--I didn't really want to be in this photo, but I knew she wasn't going to him.

Here we are--all smiles. Coach Petrino was very nice and offered to take another photo, he was sweet to Lilly, and gladly signed her hat! It was nice to see that he was so friendly. Of course, who could not be friendly to our little Lilly???

Go Hogs!!!

A couple of days ago, Lilly took a little over 3 hour nap. I went into check on her (that might have woken her up) and things were normal she was in bed with all of her animals. Then, like two minutes later, I hear her chatting on the monitor so I put a grilled cheese on to cook and go to grab her and this is what I found. Big smiles and ALL of her animals on the ground--she was still talking to them when I walked in the room. She becomes more fun every day.

Happy Veteran's Day!

Happy Veteran's Day! Veteran's Day is an important day to me (especially during these times). I hope everyone remembers to say a prayer for the men and women who are risking their lives to protect and serve our country, our freedom, and our families. My father has served in the United States Army for over 30 years and is still in the Army Reserves (he was active duty for most of those years). He is currently a Chief Warrant Officer 3 in the Special Forces. Or as I like to call him, a bad ass. (I generally do not use profanity on this site--but I making an exception for the above--:-)

He is also Airborne and has taught several others how to take that leap.

These pictures are some of my favorite photos of him from his youth that I used to make a shadow-box for him a couple of years ago. To this day, any time I am anywhere and they ask for the men and women who serve our country to stand up and be recognized, I get a little lump in my throat and am filled with pride thinking about my dad and his service to protect our country.

This is a picture of me (NOT Lilly) wearing my shirt that says, "My Daddy is in the Special Forces"....I still have this shirt! It no longer fits, but I will always have this shirt.

My Dad is the one waving at the camera! He has been to some crazy training schools. At our wedding, he was dressed in his dress uniform with all the patches and medals and looked very official. Matt's little cousins asked, "Is Sara's dad the President?" Haha.

Him and one of his teams years back. When I was little, his team members would call and say in their military voices, "Is Master Sergeant Sanders there?" And I would just giggle and say, "you mean my dad, right?" I just didn't get why they didn't just ask for Dennis! He is also the only man I know who was bummed out when his orders got changed and he didn't have to go to war.

Dad, your daughter and grandkids are very proud of you and thankful for all you do to keep us safe and sound! We love you!!!

When I hear on the news about another "casualty", it is so easy for me not to think about that soldier having a family...maybe a wife, possibly kids, definitely a mother and father...but the truth is each one is important to somebody. A couple of years ago I was at Arlington Cemetary and they had a "faces of the fallen" exhibit. There was a picture of every one that had died in Iraq up to that point and some had notes and necklaces and little trinkets next to them. I will never forget that one of the pictures was of a little 2 or 3 year old girl hugging her father's tombstone. I thank God that was not me and that my dad is alive, but I do know that my father and most soldiers would proudly die to protect our great nation and the freedom that I frequently take for granted. Have you thanked a veteran today? (I will post cute pictures later since this post is so serious.)

Pumpkin Patch & Crock Pot Wednesday

Okay, so first off--I keep thinking today is Tuesday so my Crock Pot Wednesday is really early--oops! I already have it on here though so it is staying (it is at the bottom).

So, we packed up our little pumpkins and went to the Dickey's farm pumpkin patch a couple of weekends back. We had a great time!! This is definitely going to become a yearly tradition for us. Plus, grandparents you will be happy to know that we got several great photos--many that are featured in this post!! In one of the actual pumpkin patches--I think this was one of the patches with smaller, younger pumpkins in it.

I keep hearing the song, "Here I go again on my own" whenever I look at this picture. Haha. We let her down and she took off in every direction at once....how is that even possible?

Investigating.

She loved these cartons. I loved the pumpkin she was sitting on.

The pictures in this post feature a lot of "Lilly looks"--she has the funniest expressions!

Picking out some pumpkins...or squash...I am really not sure what we ended up with--I think we got a couple of pumpkins and squash--all small ones because Lilly picked them all out.

This was their set up under the tent--it made a great spot for pictures and since we were the ONLY folks at the pumpkin patch that day, it was perfect!

At one point we looked up and Lilly had a piece of hay hanging out of her mouth like it was a cigarette. She dropped it before we could so it all worked out.

Lilly got to take a short wagon ride.

How can a girl choose between all of these lovely pumpkins??

This one is nice!

Or maybe one of these!

Holy Cow--did you see all of these???!

Hmmmm. I don't know--I need to take a break!

"Mommy's New Man" kept on giving me the biggest smiles!

He is cooing in this picture. Is he not the sweetest, cutest, cuddliest, smiliest thing ever? (I admit I might be judging this with a little bias!)

Even his double chin is smiling at his Mommy!

I love this little pumpkin!!!

Me and my little pumpkins...

Our best family photo--Lilly was wanting to keep checking out all of the pumpkins.

A siblings photo!!

Still smiling--he can't wait to go back to the pumpkin patch!!!

Precious!!

Picking her pumpkins--we got two of the one that is laying on the ground.

Matt trying to round up the children while I pay for the pumpkins. He did not appreciate me taking the time to take this photo before offering some help--but they just looked so cute together!

No, Lilly has not caught some rare foot bump disease--that is dirt that got in the holes of her Crocks. Haha. Sooo funny.

I'm back this week! The last two weeks have been a little hectic--it is amazing how long it takes to get back into the swing of things after going out of town for one short weekend with two babies!! Does that sentence make sense? Oh well, I am too exhausted to care...haha. I actually got this recipe from a past Crock Pot Wednesday, but I thought it turned out good and wanted to re-share this recipe in case someone missed it!

Slow Cooker Chicken Parmesan
2-4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 egg, beaten
sliced mozzarella cheese
Jar of marinara sauce

Spread the 1 T of olive oil into the bottom of your crockpot stoneware insert.
Beat the egg in a bowl. Combine the bread crumbs with the seasonings and Parmesan cheese in another separate shallow bowl or plate. Dip the chicken into the egg, then into the bread crumb mixture, coating both sides with crumb mixture. Place the chicken breast pieces in the bottom of the crock. Layer 2-3 slices of mozzarella cheese on top. Cover with entire jar of marinara sauce.

Close lid and cook on low for 6-7 hours or high for 3-4. If your chicken is still frozen, it will take longer.

Notes from the chef (me): I double dipped the chicken. I also doubled the amount of cheese because we are cheese lovers here. I also used a BIG jar of marinara because my husband does not think it is possible to have too much marinara sauce. I thought it turned out delicious. I will probably use even more cheese next time..what can I say, we are just cheesy that way. I know that was a horrible pun but I am not operating on a lot of sleep this week so cut me some slack! (c: Oh yeah, I served this with spaghetti noodles. It was an easy meal that we will make many more times!!! It got compliments from our dinner guests as well.

14 Months

Holy Moly-Lilly is 14 months! I swear time has sped up somehow!! What has my sweet little Miss been up too?? Lilly, you love books! You bring me books to read all throughout the day. However, you rarely let me finish a book with you sitting in my lap. You like for me to read while you are playing--sometimes if I stop reading, you bring me another book and go back to playing. I draw the line at reading when you leave the room, though. Some of your favorite books include The Tawny Scrawny Lion, The Boy and the Tigers, Old MacDonald, The Jolly Farm, Toes-Fingers-& Nose, and the list could go on and on.

You spend lots of time with family. Both sets of your grandparents give you plenty of attention--I am not saying you are spoiled rotten (but I could..haha). You have gotten two new teeth this month! You are up to seven teeth. You have three teeth on top and four on bottom. You have had one tooth on top that has been right underneath the gum for two months now!

You play all the time! You are such a ham!! Tonight, we played chase for a long time (nothing makes you feel older than trying to keep up with a 14 month old). You were so funny. I would chase you and then I would run from you and when you moved closer I would scream and throw my hands up and then you would laugh so hard that you would fall down. It was hilarious!! It made tonight a night that I will cherish and remember forever! You are far too busy to give me many posed photo opportunities lately (i.e. the above one eye closed photo above).

There are people who carefully sit down on a couch and then there are people who just plop down--apparently you are the latter. Haha. Grandpa Dennis and Grandma Oksana got you this couch for your birthday. You love it!! You also have a rocking chair that you like. You are getting to be such a big girl! You are still my baby girl, though--and still will be even when you are old enough to read this by yourself.

You are using the grocery cart as a foot rest. You are always doing funny things like that. You are still into everything. We are worried we are going to have to figure out a discipline plan soon because neither your daddy nor I are going to be able to spank--but we aren't sure you are ready for time out. For the time being, we just try to distract you! The only problem is that you are too smart. You have figured this out and now try to distract us. For example, our end table opens up and I keep stuff in there like envelopes, books, the lap top. Whenever you try to get into it, I just hold it closed. Now when I do that you try to give me your paci or a toy that we usually play with together and when I go to grab whatever it is, you make a dash to try and open the end table before I can get my hand back on it! I am sad to say that sometimes your distraction techniques work and you manage to sneak whatever it is you want.

The next few pictures are just you playing on your couch!

(Except this one--this is of you playing with one of your many toys! Honestly, you could have no toys and you would be perfectly content playing with hangers, tupperware, and bowls and spoons...you love some hangers!!)

Back to the couch...

You are talking a little bit now. You say "dad-dee" and "momma" (you have said dada and mama for a while, but this is different), you also say "no" and "more" and "hi" and "bye" and you sign finished. You have figured out the meaning of finished!! I will lay you down to suck out your nose and before I can begin you are waving your hands around telling us "finished"--you hate when we have to clean your nose out!!!! You also say it when you are done eating...even if we are out eating and you are the only one that is "finished".

Your hair is getting longer--I am afraid that you are growing a mullet with a rat tail, but my fingers are crossed that the front starts growing soon. Haha. I am just kidding, you are so adorable that you could pull off a rat-tailed mullet if you needed too!! Your hair is also getting thicker--the back curls a little after the bath, but I don't think you are going to have curly hair. Strangers and people we see out are always commenting on your big brown eyes. You have one big dimple and one little dimple--just like your Mommy! You really are kind of a mini-me. You have also started putting yourself to sleep most of the time--you hum yourself to sleep--it is adorable!

You get a new bruise every day and I have no idea where most of them come from. You are just so busy and are always falling down or into something. You are eating more stuff lately, but I still worry that you aren't eating enough healthy food. You are just a texture freak! You have started eating yogurt--you really like the very vanilla flavor.

You also love your brother! You have been giving him lots of love lately. In these next couple of photos, you are just giving him some hugs!! You are a sweet big sister. I am so proud of how you interact with him. To be such a young big sister--you really are gentle.

Whenever I see you two smiling at each other, my heart smiles, too!

I think this might be one of the first pictures of just the two of you looking at the camera together! Sweet success!!

Also, yesterday, we took you to your first Razorback game!! You really enjoyed calling the hogs and signaling "touch down". You clapped a lot. We left the game at half time because unfortunately the game started right at nap time. We will definitely be taking you to more games!

Lilly, although I do not know how it is possible, we fall more in love with you every day!! You are such a wonderful little girl with a gigantic personality and we are just so proud to be your parents!!!!!