Liberty Square

We have had a wonderful vacation with the Fennimores. Today we got the kids out of the house and we went to Liberty Square in Philadelphia. Seeing the Liberty Bell and being in the room where they signed the Declaration of Independence have always been on my bucket list. It was a wonderful experience to be reminded of what our country has, does, and can stand for. 

Liberty Bell, Christmas Eve, 2012

Freedom Hall (where they signed the Declaration of Independence and Constitution)

Halloween Songs

Eliza loves music. She always has. It's been manifest since the first week she was born. She reacted to music so positively we knew it was going to play a big part of her life.

Now that she is two it is so much fun to sing songs with her. She will tell me which songs she wants sung at night, who should sing songs, and even sing herself. (Okay, her singing is more talking with slight intonation differences, but it is so cute.) She has particularly loved some Halloween songs this season and we sing them constantly.Here are a few for you to enjoy with the lyrics underneath so you can understand her better.

I'm a mean old witch with a hat.
I ride on my broom with a cat.
My nose is pointy
and my chin is too.
I'm a mean old witch with a hat.
Waa haa haa haa haa....BOO!


(Please excuse Eliza messy, messy hair and the chocolate on her face. She had just woken up from a nap basically and also had a Hersey's kiss for a potty treat. What can I say, she's 2.

Halloween Play Date.

I have to admit that moving to Georgia has been a pretty difficult move. Not only is the SUPER far away from any family as well as a pretty awful situation when we got to our home (That's a different  blog though. Stay posted. There is no way I cannot not post about it), BUT I  felt extremely lonely. I don't know why this move was any more difficult than the 9 others we've been through, but it was.

One absolutely WONDERFUL thing about my new ward though is how inclusive they are. I was immediately invited to a play group that happens once every 2 weeks and there are tons of kids just Eliza's age. How perfect!

About a week ago I emailed the sister in the ward who was hosting the Halloween play date to see if there was anything I could do to help out in any way. Turns out, she was completely overwhelmed with everything going on in her life and felt as if she couldn't keep her head above water. So what's the natural thing to do? I volunteered to do it instead.

I have never had so much fun planning and putting together this play date Halloween party for 10-12 toddlers other than Eliza's 2nd birthday party. (That was fun to do.) I would get so excited looking at all the fun things I could do on Pintrest. I only did a handful of things that I wanted to do because I knew I could get overwhelmed too easily if I tried to do it all.

Here are some pictures of the yummy food that I made and was brought by others.  

Mummy Juice

Banana Ghosts, Witch's Hats, and Witch's brooms

Pumpkins, Ghosts with Jello and Faceless Frankensteins

We also had a few coloring/painting activities for the kids to do. They were super cute and real easy to do too.

Our crowning achievement though was the fortress.  Ryan and I spent hours building and taping the masterpiece together. Who knew that cardboard boxes could be more fun for adults than for kids. I spray painted the fortress to give it a more...authentic look. The kids had a blast in this. I think there were 8 kids in here at one point in time.

The wind was pretty gusty today and kept blowing one of the walls in. It made for a fun walk way though.

Now that the party's over, and the girls are asleep, I have some major picking up to do. At least I'm busy. :)

Lillian's Developments

 

Lilly is now 6 1/2 months old. I can hardly believe it. She is growing up so fast. She is such a happy girl. Very vocal, but very happy. She definitely lets Eliza know when she has crossed a line. I recently shared with some people how the "fighting" has begun already. Eliza was "reading" a book quietly to herself when Lilly crawls over and puts her hand on the book. Eliza immediately grabs the book away and yells at the top of her lungs, "No Baby! My book!" Lilly responds by squealing equally loud. It was SO funny! But that is just a quick example of Lilly not letting Eliza step over the boundaries. I would say between Eliza and Lilly, Lilly is definitely the more talkative. It is so much fun to hear to squealing with delight over some toy, or grunting with her daddy.

For her 1/2 month birthday she ate a 1/2 a cake...vicariously through her mommy. She actually reminds me a lot of her cousin Royal in this picture.

Some of Lilly's most recent discoveries include, but are not limited to:

grass

leaves

gagging on said leaves

rice cereal, which she absolutely loves

sweet potato puffs

eating books

shoelaces

bibs, especially pulling them out and strewing them all over the kitchen

zhu-zhu pets

tickling

sitting

moving from a tummy position to sitting upright

putting her own pacifier in her mouth, now if only she could find it at night so I can stop going in there. 

hair, especially Zaza's

bath time fun

picking anything up off of the floor and immediately putting it into her mouth. This is something Eliza never-ever did, so I'm having a bit of a difficult time with it.

And......drum-roll please.....

CRAWLING

Okay, so she has been crawling for about a month now, but it was more like a mish-mashed army crawl, and lunge. It was so funny to watch and now I'm kicking myself for not getting a video of it because now she is a bona fide crawler, something that Eliza wasn't until she was almost 10 months old. 

Anyway, here's the proof you've all been waiting for...the video.

 

See...isn't she so cute? I love that smile. She has been cruising everywhere today. I would often leave her in her room and then find her in the bathroom a few minutes later. Or leave her in the living room to go  work in the kitchen and she would follow me right in and just play at my feet. I will say it has made the whole separation anxiety thing 100 percent better. Now that she has the ability to follow and find us makes her feel so much more comfortable.

I love this little girl so much and love being her mommy each and every day. She really is a joy to have in our family and all of us a better people because of her. We love you Miss Lillian.

Beach Day and The Happiest Place on Earth

So much happened the week the Klemetsons came to town that the best way to describe everything that happened is through pictures with captions.

Friday the Klemetsons pulled into the alley behind our apartment to find a frazzled, worn out Jessie, Eliza and screaming Lilly. Not the best of ways for the aunts and uncles to meet their second niece. We were soon calm enough with the help of everyone and got dinner going for the night. After dinner most of the older kids went down to the pier to walk around and see the fun sights. They were able to see the pelicans dive and the seals swim in and out of the lights scattered throughout the water. It was a beautiful night. 

One of the amazing pictures Michael took of the Pier Friday night.

Saturday was our beach day. It was a windy day so a bit on the chillier side. But that didn't stop most of the group from plunging into the water. As the day progressed, "June Gloom" dissipated and it became a beautiful day and there was even some sun bathing involved.  Here are the pictures from the day.

Four of my favorite people from left to right Jill, Brittney, Woody, and Katie with one of my favorite views behind them, the Palos Verdes Hills. They had a blast boogie boarding and didn't let the cold water get them down. 

Waiting for just the right wave.

I love the surf right behind Brit

Way to go Jill!!!

Our family, minus Lillian who was fast asleep in the stroller..thankfully

It was a really windy day so these two were freezing when they got out of the water.

I swear if David was 4 years younger, or Eliza 4 years older they would be twins. They are so alike and get along in every aspect. They are such best friends.

I sure do love this guy.

I had to make sure to get a picture of our resident photographer. Mike took some INCREDIBLE pictures!

He fell asleep WHILE Eliza was putting handfuls of sand on his tummy. This is how he ended up by the time she was done with him. SOOO FUNNY!!!!

Proof that he really was asleep. He was so confused by the time he woke up.

Burying David. What a good sport

Three big boys taking naps like all big boys should. ;)

Great Grandma and Grandpa enjoying the fine conversations.

You can tell how windy it was that day by this hairstyle. Then again her hair is pretty much always like this though.

Poor Jess was freezing. She was also a good sport.

Two of the best in-laws a woman could ask for. And wonderful grandparents too, might I add.

After dinner on the day of Lilly's blessing the rest of the troup headed off to Anaheim to spend the next three days in Disneyland. Ryan had to work on Monday and I had other obligations so we were not able to join the rest of the family till late Monday night well after bed time. Tuesday and Wednesday were spent enjoying time with family in the Happiest Place on Earth.  Lilly's expression pretty much shows how all of us felt to be there together.

Again, two peas in a pod, those silly kids.

Eliza with Princess Aurora. She wasn't quite sure what to think of her once we got up close. I think she was disapointed to learn that she really was Aurora and NOT Snow White.

Family picture. I can't believe how dark Lilly's hair was. She was only 2 1/2 months old. Now at six months there is a lot less of it and mostly a strawberry blonde. I will have to do a comparison pictures it is just that unbelievable.

With Tigger. Eliza was so excited to go see him but then was equally terrified once she was there. However, she hasn't stopped talking about him ever since then.

Such a stud. Every time he came around on the carrousel, he struck a different pose. What a goof.

All tuckered out.

Mother and daughter. Two curly-ques.

Grandpa, Lilly, David, Grandma and Eliza with Mickey. Lucky, lucky!!!

Such a stud

Aunt Brittney with Lilly.

Group photo in our lime green shirts. Sure made it easy to find everyone when we were scattered abroad.

Uncle Brad and Grandma chillin' in front of the fire in the backyard of the rental house.

Uncle Woody took such good care of Lilly while Ryan and I went on my all-time favorite ride, Indiana Jones!!! Thanks Woody. That was the one of the three big person rides I got to do the entire two days. I really did appreciate it.

Me, Eliza and Uncle Brad cooling off in the shade of the trees. The heat never brought down Brad's smile. I think the only thing that would have made him happier would have been to have Kenzie there, right next to him. We all missed her.

Uncle David with Grandpa. He's so tall!

Even Aunt Jessica is a good aunt and knows how to take such good care of the baby.

These two hit it off right from the very beginning.

Right after Splash Mountain. I'm glad I finally did it. It was a blast. We got much wetter after the big drop because we all decided that the others were not wet enough and then proceeded to splash each other the rest of the ride. We sure couldn't have done that if there had been other people in the log with us. I think Ryan said it best when he said, "It's not so much about the ride as it is about the people you go on the ride with."
Oh, one other funny thing about this situation. From the back it looked like Ryan had let himself go and had an accident. When he turned around to show Eliza she gasped and said, "Daddy go pee-pees?" It was the FUNNIEST thing ever.

Waiting for World of Colors to begin

Disneyland: you were amazing. Eliza and I spent many days together wandering in and out of your masses to see the sights and go on an occasional ride. Yet despite how amazing you are, you are NOTHING compared to the people we spent those few days with. Klemetsons: you were what made dragging a toddler and an infant around in a massive double stroller worth it. Thank you for the fantastic time. We wouldn't do it any differently if we could do it again. We love you and are glad you made the trek down to sunny Southern California to enjoy a week together.