Party

This morning we went to Miss Elizabeth and Lorelei's house for a Valentine's Day Party. This was a Mom's Club event and we had a lot of fun. Everyone brought food, Elizabeth had her table set up for the kids to make cards and all the toys were out.

When everyone else left and it was just us regulars (Elizabeth and Lorelei and Melissa, Chase and Kira) we had fun chatting and the kids L-O-V-E playing together. Here they are in Miss Lorelei's crib jumping around but took time out to pose for a picture. If you go to their blog you can see a video of the three of them :). So cute.

Tonight we also had a mom's night out! So much fun that we definitely need to do it more frequent before the baby girls arrive this spring!!

Ready Or Not

Yesterday, since Mike had off from work, we went to our church's Day School to sign Lily up for preschool. We talked with the director, took a little tour of the small school, filled out a registration form and handed it over with a check. So it's done, it's coming, Lily will be attending school on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Here are some tid bits of our upcoming fall:

*Lily will be one of six children in their two year old class that attends T/R

*School hours are from 9-1230

*Lily will need to have a lunchbox! To pack a mid morning snack and lunch

*Lily will also need a bookbag, large enough for all of her things (i.e. artwork, extra set of clothes, lunchbox and probably Rufus :) )

*The school year begins the week after Labor Day and ends the week before Memorial Day

*We need to sign Lily in and out of school each day

*The outside doors are locked during school hours

*We are to walk her to her classroom and do a "hand-off" to her teacher

*We are NOT allowed to accompany her into the classroom *tear* (but completely understand)

*They have Spanish, Music, Computer, Chapel and Art classes each week

*They play outside on their playground for half an hour each day

*The teacher, Mrs. Simonas is lovely!

*Mrs. Singer, the director, says she would be glad to offer updates through the day on how Lily is doing *smile* wonder how many she's willing to do?!?

*Lily does not need to be potty trained but the teachers are willing to help when she is ready (is it ready or stubbornness, hmmm...I think Lily is on the stubborn end of potty training)

So, ready or not September is coming and so is preschool. I'm sure Lily will be ready if she isn't already but are we??

Sara's Big Three-0

Today was not just your typical Monday, but a very special day in the Check Household ... Sara's 30th birthday. Due to Miss Emma, Sara chose to take a raincheck on a party and we just decided to celebrate as a family. I couldn't let her get by without a little party atmosphere in the house though. (Excuse the sloppiness, but I had to do this in the wee hours of the night for the surprise effect)

The original plan was to go out and eat, but since it was so cold out, we got takeout from Applebee's. Little disappointed with the service (no marinara, only one kiddie burger), but we had a good dinner. And it allowed us more room to enjoy some cake. As you can tell from the pictures, Lily had a great time celebrating Mama's birthday too! Fortunately, because Sara's friends Melissa and Elizabeth also made Sara some homemade treats, we will be well stocked in the sugar dept for the rest of the week.

Just a low key birthday, but I know Lily and Dada had a great time spending it with Sara. We are so lucky to have such a wonderful wife and mom (even a year older now).

Our Little Helper

We finally captured Lily helping us after we go shopping. During the week it's hard to video her since I have to help and guard off Maci from protecting her food in the pantry. But today, I was able to grab the camera and watch the essence of Lily!

Every time we run to the store, during the week or on the weekend, she helps us unload the groceries. Today she even carried bags from the front door to our brown throw mat in the kitchen (where I put the bags every time) and then started taking things out to put them away.

Mike told me that after I stopped videoing that she would stand there and look at the shelves with something in her hand to put away. He would ask her where it went and she'd just point up, like she knew it went up on a higher shelf but was trying to figure out how to get it up there.

Oh, we're so blessed to have such a wonderful little girl. I can only pray and hope this continues when Miss Emma arrives!!

After the groceries were all put away Lily got a hold of our camera. She has learned to actually look through the screen on the back and move the camera to see different things. This is a collage of "Lily Pictures" and some timer ones as well.

Best Pic of the morning

Hmmm...

Thought I could fit?!?

Dance Party

We borrowed Big Bird's Dance Party dvd (from 1992!) from the library last week and it has quickly become Lily's favorite to watch. We've paired it down to only one viewing per day, after dinner and we seem to think it's a great way to get out her last bit of energy before bath and bedtime.

This is the first dance of maybe a dozen different dances on this dvd and she knows EVERY single one! So funny and so cute! We try to get things done while she's watching and dancing but we seem to find ourselves just watching, laughing, clapping and dancing along most of the time. It's very contagious and the songs do get stuck in your head very easily.

Try, Try Again

Such persistence, such determination and sooo proud of herself.

Lily has been practicing jumping for a few weeks now and is getting better and better each time!

Way to Go Lil!

10 months vs. 22 months

So Mike and can't believe that we now have a 22 month old daughter. And in two very blink of an eye short months, she will turn 2! We have caught ourselves remembering last year at this time and how much she has grown in every single way.

Lily now runs instead of having the need to hold onto our fingers for help walking, she eats ALL adult food, she understands much more than we EVER anticipated, has a great sense of humor and can definitely laugh at herself, talks and tries to get us to understand everything she is saying, has a very good memory, loves her family and friends dearly and is the sweetest girl ever!

Lily, please slow down. You're growing up too fast for your Mama and Dada.

Morning Routine

Lily's morning routine remains the same pretty much day to day. Some days she wants to cuddle in the rocking chair while she gains the ability to open her eyes and sometimes she doesn't. Then, we change her diaper and talk about her dreams and how well/poorly she slept. As soon as I put her down off of the changing table this is what she does...

...runs to the kitchen to pick up Maci's food dish to put on the counter. For those of you who know Maci, this is no small feat for her to let Lily do this. Maci is old. She turned 8 this past December and still remembers how it is to be the "princess" of the family. This means that she is pretty territorial about her things, i.e. house, yard, toys, parents and definitely her food dish. So, kudos to Lily helping out every single morning and not making me bend over to get the dish off of the floor but also to Maci for learning to cohabitate with a toddler. Love my Girls!

Cute, Smart, Funny and Sweet

Mike and I discussed all the different things Lily has been doing lately so we could try to capture them in pictures and on video. (And I've even made a list, what don't I make a list for :) ). Luckily, these all happened Monday night!

CUTE:

Helping Dada pick up before dinner, such a good helper!

SMART:

Having fun with the self-timer while I finished up dinner. Lily is so good now, she can activate the timer and put it on the shelf in the correct place to take a picture!

FUNNY:

A few days ago, Mike showed her how to twirl and say this with her pointer fingers out. She did it a few times with him and then we haven't seen it since Saturday. All of a sudden she put her spoon on top of her sippy cup and tried to take a drink. It fell once and then after trying it again, knowing to balance it, the spoon stayed on. And, I guess to show us she started doing the fingers saying Ah Hah. TOO FUNNY!

SWEET:

This was definitely on our list of what to document with Lil. There are times that she just turns to us for a hug or a kiss. And, lately she'll grab our face with both hands to plant one on us. So glad that she no longer gives open mouth kisses!!

So here we have a Cute, Smart, Funny, Sweet Little Girl! We love you Lily!