Cubbies Patch

Lily got another patch at Awana tonight and she was super excited to add it to her vest!

Bed time stories

Last night before bed Lily decided she would tell me a story instead of me reading to her a story.

This was the plot: I was making breakfast but a strong wind came and blew the pancakes away. So Lily found a long rope and lassoed them down from the sky and back onto our plates. We added syrup to the pancakes, finished breakfast and were very happy.

She has a great imagination and she is very animated!!

Dream come true

Lily is in headband heaven right now!

The B-I-B-L-E

Lily learned this today at church!

Name that Tune

Lily just made up a song about "toots" to the tune of Moves Like Jagger, by Maroon 5. She informed me that the song is called Toot Toot Song, then exited the room singing Jesus Loves Me.

She can make any dull moment colorful and bright!

Miss Smith

Tonight at Awana, the Cubbies were supposed to dress up as their favorite profession. 

It's a little hard to pick a costume when Lily wants to be 

Princess of the dinosaurs at Berry Bity City when she's older, so we settled on dressing up as a teacher. (Hey, she's super smart and has natural leadership abilities...It seemed like an obvious choice!!)

Now, it's a little difficult to convey the teacher vibe when you're three years old so we played up the nerdiness of teachers circa 1990:

1.) Over-sized eye glasses (I popped the lenses out of her Strawberry Shortcake shades)

2.) Old lady jewelry (plastic pearls from the Target dollar section)

3.) Grandma hairstyle (she originally had an adorable little bun, but it was just a regular ponytail by the time we left the house because it was hurting her head)

4.) Conservative dress code (Yes, that is Bermuda Plaid she's wearing) 

5.) Coordinating cardigan (with embroidery and a flower attached)

6.) Accessories ("Miss Smith" name tag and educational books)

And after all our hard work bringing this costume together, can you guess what happened during drop off? She gave me back the books, name tag, and glasses...so she just looked like a prairie girl who's parents forgot it was dress up night!!  :)

Sunshine!!

It is unseasonably warm in Bend so we walked to the park and let Lily burn some energy. 

It was nice to get outside and feel the sunshine again! 

Hair appointment

Here's Lil getting her hair done like a big girl!

Lily and Logan, cuddling on the couch.

Logan is a maltipoo and belongs to our friends, Ameer & Hailey. Of course, Lily wanted to hold him, once she found the courage, and they cuddled on the couch for a bit. She's very sweet and gentle with animals...I wonder when she's going to want a pet of her own??

Christmas Eve

Lily still doesn't have an understanding of exactly what Christmas is, but it has been fun to see her excitement about it all. Tonight she opened one gift before bed and Eric read the Night Before Christmas. It feels good to be around family this season and we're excited for Lily to create holiday memories with loved ones!

Lily & Eric

Marissa & Tyler

"Punkin" & Andrew

Christmas time is here!

Although we'll be spending Christmas in Washington, we still decided to get a tree for our home. This was one of the first trees we saw and knew it was the one! Now to find all our ornaments...

Preparations...

Well, it took a few trips back and forth to get this all in from the car and I still didn't get everything on my shopping list!! The best part of hosting family for the holidays is anticipating the fun we'll have together, the worst part is worrying that I've forgotten something...

This special delivery was from Eric's boss. It was such a thoughtful gesture and exactly what I needed to finish the table setting!

Weekend getaway: Clambake Cottage

We didn't get to celebrate Eric's 30th birthday the way we originally planned, so we were really looking forward to a weekend way in Lincoln City, Oregon. 

Clambake Cottage

View to the left of the beach access

Lily collecting sea shells

Even Grandma Minnie was happy for a weekend away...and she hates the beach!

Lily squishing sand between her toes...I think she was delighted and confounded at the same time!

Country Mercantile

Today we took a trip to the Country Mercantile for some fall festivities! 

Lily, Tristan, & Eva...COUSINS!!!

A stranger's home movie

So, this is a completely random post but the video is super sweet so I wanted to share it with you. My mom sent me a link to this video and watching it totally made me cry! 

It's exactly the type of surprise I want to plan for Lily one day!

Would you like some coffee with that?

Does anyone else's child ask for coffee with their breakfast?! 

Well...ours does. 

Lily found this baby headband in her closet and decided we should both wear one because it made us best friends. And who wouldn't want to be best friends with such a fun little chick?! 

Yes, I wore her baby headband around the house this morning. No, I will not post those pictures.

Here's Lily kicking back, finishing off my coffee

And here's about the time that the caffeine kicked in...time to dance to some Willow Smith!

And after "whipping our hair" it was off to the front room to practice our cool tricks...eating breakfast in between routines, of course.

Eventually, the headband had to come off...it was throwing her balance off

And she worked on her little flips until she got the landing just right

Ah...sweet success!!

Is anyone surprised that she's a natural little performer? We're working on her stage name...how about..."Trixie LaRue Too"?

Spa day!

Eric was in Sacramento this week for a business trip so Lily and I had a spa night together. We painted our nails, we put on avocado face masks, she took a bubble bath...it was really nice to have our girl bonding time together! And of course, she was super excited to look "scary".

While shopping at Target I got this random idea to buy an avocado & oatmeal face mask, the kind I used to have in college. That night, I put the green mask on while Lily was in the bath. The first time she saw me was when I brought her a towel and instantly she said, "Mommy, I want to be a dinosaur too! Raaaarrrr! Mommy, I want to be scary too! Scare me, Mommy! Come get me! Raaaarrr!" Her reaction was hilarious and she was even making her hands look like dinosaur claws!

She makes us laugh everyday...I never imagined our life could be so comical!

Bend Fall Festival

Tonight we went downtown for the Bend Fall Festival and decided we would make the occasion extra special for Lily. I have to say, it may have been the greatest day of her life! She got cotton candy, a caramel apple, she rode a pony, she got her face painted, she jumped in bounce houses, climbed inflatable obstacle courses (intended for children 5+), she went down giant inflatable slides, she made a bracelet, she danced...it was FANTASTIC!!

I don't know if Eric or I ever had a day like this growing up, so it makes us both really happy to be able to plan a day when we can say "Yes!" to whatever she wants. And the best part is that she wasn't acting spoiled at all! We had a wonderful time!

Lily: "Ewww, stinky. He's going poo poo! Ewww!"

This slide was so big & steep and Lily doesn't weigh much so three feet into it she would catch air and basically free fall to the end...but she LOVED it!

When she landed, she would bounce right up, like a natural little circus performer.

Shopping trip!

Lily and I had a shopping date this morning. First we stopped at Starbucks for snacks and then we visited  FIVE home decor shops. Lily is such a little socialite, sometimes I actually forget that she is only three! 

At the last store she picked out this giant lemon poppy seed scone to bring home. It was only slightly smaller than her face and made crumbs like you would not believe. Eventually, Lily stopped eating it because it was making such a big mess that even she knew it wasn't worth the hassle!