What a princess!

Tonight as we flipped through Lily's coloring books she stopped at this page and started to analyze it. After a few seconds she said, "Hey, that's Mommy and Daddy! My mommy and my daddy!!"

Minutes later she crawled into her toddler bed, gave me a kiss, and fell right asleep.

Sometimes Lily is too precious for words!

Enjoying the weather

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Morning girl-time together--Hair & Make-up!

Our daily routine isn't complete without a little Dr. Pepper chapstick.

Spring time!

Today we took advantage of the 70 degree weather and played outside for more than two hours before dinner!

When picking Lily up from school, I received a note from her teacher informing us that Lily is one of four (out of sixteen) 2 year olds that can alternate feet while walking on the balance beam. She happily showed off her skills at the playground near our house--Cirque du Soleil, here she comes!

When we got back home, Lily insisted on organizing all of the balls in a row in our driveway.

Getting the balls to cooperate was quite a challenge, but she never gave up!

It is fascinating to see how industrious she is.

Lily was so proud of her accomplishment that she attempted the ball line-up a second time as we put her outdoor toys away. To her credit, Lily is a fast learner and her strategy was much improved the second time around!

Snake Saturday Parade!

North Kansas City has a parade and carnival this weekend for Saint Patrick's Day so we met up with a few friends in the morning. Lily's favorite parts of the parade were the marching bands and animals! My favorite part of the day was the carnival food!

Yogurtini!

After Saturday afternoon with Alexa, Lily couldn't wait to see her again so we took the girls out to Yogurtini, in Zona Rosa. Eric gave them both about eight ounces of frozen yogurt topped with candy (WAY too much), but they both ate about three bites before the drama started--Lily wanted some of Alexa's maraschino cherries and Alexa wanted some of Lily's marshmellows, but neither wanted to share. Somehow, despite the fact that they had the same flavor and most of the same toppings, they were still finding things to be unhappy about...and after a few minutes both girls decided they didn't want any frozen yogurt at all!

So we left Yogurtini and headed to the indoor play area, The Grove, but the drama continued. The funny thing about these girls is that they act so much like sisters...they bicker when they're together, but cry tears when they have to part!

"Home"

After the morning at Shatto, we dropped Lily off to play with Alexa so Eric and I could have an afternoon date. We took a tour of Boulevard Brewery (again) and enjoyed tapas & sangria at La Bodega.

It's so rare that Eric and I get time together without Lily, it was wonderful to just get away for a few hours! I don't know what we would do without the help of our amazing friends Eva & James!!

This picture is of Lily on our drive back to the city. She's "whistling" along to Home by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. She loves that song!

Shatto Dairy

Today we took a tour of Shatto Milk Company (http://www.shattomilk.com/) in Osborn, Missouri. I've been wanting to take Lily for a while and my Junior League group happened to plan two visits this spring.

Shatto is a small, local operation which produces milk (plain and flavored), butter, ice cream and a few specialty cheeses. What makes Shatto unique is that the company uses glass bottles and has a fantastic marketing campaign.

We were able to pet the calves, watch the cows get milked, and watch the bottling process. The tour was led by the owner, who was surprisingly very funny! The dairy still has that small-town feel, which I really enjoyed. I highly recommend making taking your kids, if you live in KC!

First thunder storm of the year

Today we had the first thunderstorm of the year. It was nothing compared to the big ones we'll get later this spring, but it was still fun to enjoy. Lily was never bothered by the noise as an infant, but this evening she was hiding out in her blanket pretending to be scared.

She must get her flair for the dramatic from her father. :)

New jammies!

It's been a tough week in the Smith house because Lily is a little...backed up. We tried fresh, home-made juice, prune juice, and new pajamas to help her out...no luck yet. I think she is holding it in because she's afraid it will hurt, and that is only making things worse.

Even though she's been miserable, she is such a little sweetie and has kept a great attitude!

Lily is officially 2.5 years old today!

I took Lily to Lemon Tree today to celebrate that she is officially 2.5 now!

She picked cupcake flavored frozen yogurt topped with kiwi, blueberries, blackberries, pineapple, and a few marshmellows.

She really enjoyed picking out her toppings and we had the place all to ourselves!

I just can't believe that she is growing up so quickly!

Update on La Petite Academy

Lily has been at La Petite for eight weeks now and we could not be happier about it!! She just LOVES her teachers, Miss Melinda & Miss Sierra, and we do too! So many things about La Petite have impressed us, but I cannot say enough wonderful things about the staff!

Lily attends three days each week and has blossomed immensley during these last two months! The first week she was there, she came home singing new songs (complete with choreography) and she adjusted really well to the new meal & nap routines. Knowing Alexandria was in her classroom was such a relief for me as well because I knew Lily would have at least one little friend right away!

Each day we recieve a report of what she ate, what projects they completed, and how many times she went potty. What's incredible is that Lily wears panties at school and has not had an accident yet! She brings home so many crafts--we do not have enough magnets for everything!

I am so glad we enrolled her in La Petite...I know it was the right decision!

Field trip to Union Station

Today we took Lily to Union Station to see One World, One Sky: Big Bird's Adventure (http://www.unionstation.org/OWOS.html). It's a 25 minute movie in the planetarium and is the PERFECT activity for families!

This is a picture of Lily as we headed downtown...we got those Strawberry Shortcake glasses in the dollar section at Target and she just adores them! Best dollar I've spent in a long time!!

Red Robin

I love this picture because Lily still has her same little Charlie Brown profile from our ultrasound images!

Tonight we had dinner at Red Robin--We love this place because it's kid-friendly and they make the best strawberry milkshakes ever! Thanks to advances technology Lily can enjoy Super Why while waiting for dinner, which gives Eric and me a chance to catch up!

Lily & Alexa

Last night we had a little Valentine's party for Alexa and Lily, while Eva & James went to dinner. We had pizza, baked cookies, took a bubble bath, built tunnels & forts with couch cushions, danced, sang...it was a very busy evening!

Happy Valentine's Day

Last night I made three dozen cupcakes for my coworkers to celebrate Valentine's Day. Lily really likes to help out in the kitchen, so I waited until after her bedtime to decorate them all. But really, I look forward to the age when she can help me with projects like this!

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!! XOXO

Valentine's party

On Monday, Lily has as Valentine's Day party at her school. To get ready, we made valentines for her classmates and decorated her mailbox. Lily just LOVES stickers so this was a fun and easy project for us to do together. What makes Lily's mailbox extra special is that we used the Valentine's stickers her Auntie Marissa sent!

Next WNBA star?

For Christmas Lily got a new basketball hoop from Grammy. We figure with all the athletic ability in the Smith family, Lily may be the next WNBA star! This week in the mail, Lily got a Blazers jersey from Andrew! Now we just need to get her some warm-up pants and she'll be set!

Hair cut

This week I noticed that Lily had been using scissors at school during her cut & paste projects, so I had the genius idea to buy her a pair of round-tipped Fiskars to use at home! Normally, I cut up little pieces of paper for her to glue on to cardstock...but this way, she could cut out her own little pieces of paper!

Friday evening went well! I showed her how to cut away from her fingers, I demonstrated that we only cut magazines and construction paper--not books, and we had hours of practice without any hang ups. We cut so many little squares of paper, we didn't even need to glue them to the cardstock anymore...we were having fun just cutting!

Saturday morning, Lily asked if we could do a project together. I got my huge craft box down from the table and set it out on the living room floor. Eric was laying on the couch, two feet from Lily, when I stepped away for 30 seconds to use the restroom. Upon my return, Lily stood triumphantly, a chunk of hair in her hands, proudly declaring, "I cutted my hair. All by self. I cutted my hair. Look!"

Of course, I immediately responded inappropriately--shocked and yelling, "Lilyyyyyyyyy!! Nooooooooooo!!" Which caused Lily to drop the handful of hair on the carpet and start crying. Waking Eric up from his drowsy state, panicked. Making me feel horrible for scaring Lily over something that wasn't her fault...

Needless to say, Lily's bangs now start further back on her head to blend the missing pieces, her scissor priviledges have been temporarily revoked, and I learned a valuable lesson!!

A bit too cold

This morning when Lily woke up, she couldn't wait to play outside...but it was freezing! So I tried to explain that it was too cold and windy to be outdoors..."we would need to be dressed VERY warmly!"

A few minutes later, she came strutting* out of her bedroom...What Lily understood from my statement was that she would need to bundle up--she put on a fleece zip up, under her winter coat. What she didn't understand was that flip flops (on the wrong feet) would not be appropriate! She is sooooo funny!

*Maybe you witnessed this during our last trip home...she has a bounce in her step, sorta pushes her chest out, proudly showing off what she's wearing?? Yeah...that's what she was doing this day!