zoo

Lulu and Lilly's Trip to the Zoo

Lulu was in town and since it was such pretty weather we loaded up Lilly for her first trip to the zoo. It was lots of fun! Lilly loves animals and was so interested in all of them! Her favorites were the goats, the camel and the elephants. I left my good camera at home so I documented the highlights with my phone. 

Lilly was so intrigued by the goats. She kept trying to sit right next to them and give them lots of hugs.

Petting the Pony

Up close and personal with the camel

Riding the camel... very uncomfortable but fun!

Lulu showing Lilly the sound the elephant makes with the trunk movement and sound!

You can tell L is getting tired! :) She wasn't quite as interested in the giraffes as I thought she'd be...

We ended our adventure with lunch at Eno's Pizza. Yummy! It was the first time Lilly has ever had a meltdown in a restaurant. She was worn out from the zoo and finally pulled it together but it was oh so embarrassing there for a while. :) All in all a very exciting day and adventure! Thanks for the memories lulu!

Valentine's Day

This Valentine's Day was lots of fun! It can seem like such a commercial holiday that celebrates something we should be doing every day, telling our loved ones how much we love them and putting forth effort to show them. But what I do like about V-day is that it makes me pause, take a moment from the busyness of life, and devote a day to reflect and tell my husband and daughter how much I love them. I love what Kevin has to say about this topic here. I hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day and made an effort to make it special for those you love.

Lilly and I made Valentine's for her friends. She helped me put the crayons in the heart shaped pan, but other than that I had to do most of the work. :) I thought they turned out very cute! I got my inspiration here.

Lilly opened her Valentine's Day happies when Daddy got home and before bed. One of my students brought her this cute lamb lovey! :)

She was so excited!

Mommy and Daddy gave her a Romeo and Juliet counting board book,

some heart-shaped crayons,

and a tea set.

Don't ignore Mocha in the corner of the picture chomping down on one of Lilly's new heart-shaped crayons. Ugh... I can't imagine that tasted very good...

Happy <3 Day Lillybug! We love you!

After getting Lilly in bed we cozied up by the fire and had a home cooked meal. 

I tried new recipes... some were delish and some were interesting but probably not repeats. This beautiful purple cauliflower was used to make pink soup. Not very appealing or tasty, but thematic nonetheless. Actually it was tasty, but you add Apple Cider Vinegar to make it turn pink, and I think I added too much so it was a bit too tangy.

We enjoyed the first course with a yummy spinach, cranberry, and walnut salad with poppyseed dressing and a bottle of wine from our favorite winery in California.

The main course were these cute heart shaped spinach stuffed ravioli. They were delicious and adorable! I would make them again for the taste, but not sure for the effort. Whew...

We topped off the dinner with chocolate covered strawberries for dessert. Yum!

For Christmas, I got a sewing machine and the essentials needed to start a sewing station. I set it up in the back house and I love it! I have lots of ideas brewing in my noggin about how I want to pull it all together and make it cute... but I'm not sure when I'll get around to it! Hopefully soon...

My first project was sewing Jeremiah's valentine. I love how it turned out. 

It's not perfect, but it was made with love!

The below can be used to switch out on the buttons to leave little messages for each other.

I loved our little homemade Valentine's Day! You have to get creative with a little one around and I'm not a big fan of messing with the crowds on that one particular day.

16 months

Dear Lilly,

You are a sweet little peanut! I have to say that I love this age! At 16 months you are definitely communicating and talking a lot more. You understand almost everything and even follow simple directions like: sit down, put it in your mouth, take a drink, blow kisses, give Mommy a hug, wave bye bye, smile for the camera, etc. You are quite your own little person and I love hanging out with you! You are definitely down to one nap a day in the afternoon and have been for about a month which means more play time and flexibility which is nice. Your new favorite word is BERRIES which is still your favorite food. :)

Since I've done quite a few posts this month here are the randoms from my phone!

You found the scale in the guest room closet. If I can't find you I always check here because you love to stand on it and watch it light up. Currently you weigh 19.8 pounds. :)

The students that I tutor LOVE you! They love it when you waddle in to tell us goodnight in your pjs.

Even the boys are smitten with you! They always want to hold you even if you sometimes resist.

Lilly LOVES to give kisses and most of the time insists on kissing on the lips. We've been working on the cheek so she's not deemed "that girl" at school. :)

i just want to eat up your stinkin cute flushed cheeks!

Little Gym is still one of your favorite weekly activities! You love the bells, balls, bubbles, beam, and bars... maybe you love the letter B?!? You can do a forward roll with a little assistance and the song "hands up high touch the sky, hands down touch the ground." You practically run down the beam and you can do a pullover on the bar all with a little assistance of course.

You are my little acrobat and you are learning lots of other important lessons there like sharing and cleaning up.

Memaw and Papaw came to visit! They brought Lilly a Valentine gift which was a cute heart charm with her monogram on it for her charm bracelet.

Lilly loved opening it and wearing it around and listening to it jingle!

L had story time with Papaw.

And lots of sugar and love before they headed home.

We are so glad yall came to visit!!! It was so fun!

Uncle Jon, Aunt Caroline and Uncle Matt came in town to meet the twins. You had lots of fun hanging out with them and wished you could see them more often. :)

Aunt C, Daddy and you loved having fake phone conversations. It must be a Marshall thing!

You were kicking and screaming not wanting Uncle Jon to leave!

Lilly you challenge me and are teaching me so much. It's amazing how God is using you to continue to mold me and sharpen me in areas where I need it. I am so blessed that God chose to give me such an amazing gift and responsibility. There are times I'm scared I'm going to fail and I'm scared of raising you in this crazy corrupt world and all the challenges that will entail. But... most importantly I'm in awe of how full my heart is and how much love I have for you. You are precious! I love you so much and want to teach you and mold you into the woman God created you to be. What a task I have ahead of me... the most important job in the world! I pray you love the Lord with all your heart, mind, and soul. My hope is that you follow your dreams and seek to bring glory to God in all you do. I love you lil stinker!

xoxo,

Mommy