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Lilypie Second Birthday tickers
Lilypie Fourth Birthday tickers

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Happy 4th of July!

We usually aren't home for the 4th of July as John gets a day of vacation from work. We usually take advantage of this and try to go somewhere. This year, we were excited to be staying home for a few reasons 1) Our neighbors usually have a party, including consumption of alcoholic beverages AND the release of some very big fireworks. Every year we've been home, I've been certain they were going to burn down our house. It's nice to be home in case someone needs to call 911. 2) William is finally old enough to enjoy the celebrations! Hurray! I was so excited to take him to his first parade, fair, and fireworks! The kids in their red, white & blue!Red white and blue!
Smiling and holding his baby sister! What a combination!The girls The boys
Mama getting ready to take Amelia to the parade!


The weather was FAR from cooperative! It was pouring down rain! I was so sad that we weren't going to be able to see the parade until our friends called and said the parade was still on with the exception of the marching bands. Their son was going to be on a float with his boy scout pack and so they knew it would still be happening. I STILL really wanted to go and the parade route went about 6 blocks away from our house so we decided to try for it.

Amelia's rain gear - also included an umbrella over Mama


Daddy's rain gear (he pulled the wagon with William & our friend's daughter in it)

William watching the parade - he was fascinated by all the vehicles!

Oooooo! Big trucks!




One of the big trucks

After the parade, we went home for some lunch and to dry off. Our friends came over in the late afternoon and we grilled out for dinner. After dinner, we walked over to the local Freedom Fest fair which is about 4 blocks away.



Playing in the bouncy slide at the fair (this picture is from the previous day when we walked over to check things out)
Sliding down the big slide all by himself

The slide is a little scary! He is going down backwards here.
William getting his face painted at the fair
He did a pretty good job holding still for the lady painting his face!
The finished product! He didn't do a very good job keeping his hands off of it, so it got everywhere right away.
Playing one of the free kids games
Playing with his balloon hat - he picked it and then decided he didn't want to wear it

Trying on William's balloon hat
Amelia crashed in the baby carrier - in the background you can see the fair rides and wet sidewalk from the rainy, rainy day!


When we got home, we enjoyed some ice cream on the driveway while we waited for the fireworks to start as we usually can see them pretty well from our house...until it started to rain. Then we enjoyed the company of about 3903942 mosquitoes in the garage until it became clear that the fireworks show had been canceled due to the weather. So sad. The saddest part was the huge meltdown William had due to being up so far past his bedtime without any fireworks to balance it out. It was a good thing we were able to catch the make up show the following night (they moved it earlier so William was able to see it). What a great (wet) day!

Road Trip!

I'm so behind! On June 20th, we drove to Minnesota to have ourselves a little vacation visiting our family!

John was excited to try out his new birthday toy. Meet his Australian princess. She rides in the front seat with him and bosses him around. He loves her. Even if she told him to turn onto a "road" (click to enlarge) without any other specifics.

Amelia did a lot of sleeping in the car, despite my attempts at entertaining her with stuffed objects in her face.

William read a lot of books. A lot of books.

And colored. Mama slept while she could and spent the rest of the time getting out toys, picking up toys, handing out food, picking up food, wiping faces, wiping behinds, feeding babies and reading stories over the back of my seat. It was lovely.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Summertime fun!

We've been doing all kinds of fun, summer-y things together. I won't lie and say it isn't a whole lot of work running around a park with a 2.5 year old and a newborn baby. Lucky for us, we have a lot of friends who are willing to meet up with us and lend a helping hand!

William is super into climbing right now.


We actually had to put away the Fi$her Price barn this week because he was using it to step up onto to reach things on the fireplace mantel. Let me tell you when I discovered he was doing this, it was a heart stopping moment!

Checking out who is at the top of the slide.
We've also filled up the kiddie pool to swim on the deck. I put warm water in it and by the time we got ourselves in it, it had warmed up too much! William couldn't even sit down in it - John had to bring cold water out to make it bearable!
Amelia in her cute suit! (this may be the real reason I got the pool out! I'm afraid if we waited too long, this suit wasn't going to fit her anymore!)

Chins!

Kids in the pool together

Amelia wasn't sure if she liked it...

She'd rather be with Mama - and that's okay with me!

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

3 Months Old!

Look at our sweet baby girl! Can you believe she is 3 months old (0-3 month slide show is in progress)? This picture above is one of my new favorites as it shows her dark blue eyes closest to their true color. Amelia's 3 month birthday required a photo shoot at Mama's studio: my bed. Just another reason to not make my bed - it is a great backdrop!


Her newest trick: sucking on her thumb! Will she be a true thumb sucker? Hard to say, right now she is enjoying chewing on that thumb!


Look at her hair in this light! She does the cutest thing (to be honest, most things she does are cute!) when she wants to suck her thumb. She hold her hand open and uses her other hand to hold back her fingers so she can suck/chew on JUST her thumb. So cute, so smart!

Evidence of a healthy diet: Exhibit A, the chins


So serious! She has started noticing the camera when I take pictures. It makes for some serious faces when she see the camera - she likes to look at it and figure it out!
She has also started reaching for things...even the second time around with baby #2, it is a thrill to watch Amelia develop and hit her milestones!
Distracted and smiling for the ceiling fan (if you look closely, you can see the reflection in her eye!)
Tiny fingers
Tiny toes

Thinking hard about....
Crying!


Sucking on her fingers...and look how long the hair is getting! And red!
Working on that thumb...
This is a look I think I will be getting a lot of when Amelia turns 13.

So sweet! My 3 months old baby girl!




And for comparison purposes:
Amelia at less than a week

Amelia at 3 months old

Amelia in the boppy at 1 week oldAmelia in the boppy at 3 months old!

She has grown!

Friday, June 26, 2009

For Mike

Uncle Mike was very entertained by Williams awesome running style. The last time we visited, Uncle Mike spent some time trying to copy William's coolness. I thought he might want a video to further practice!

William runs

William jumps


William demonstrates his musical skill

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Friends!

Our friend Lilly came over to play last week again. She was happier this time and so we took some pictures!

Mia and Lilly=happy babies
Of course, you can't take a picture without the big boy getting in on the action
Then Amelia required an outfit change due to a diaper leak. Shouldn't this size 6 month outfit look bigger on her?
Last Saturday we went to a graduation party at a friend's house. John and William matched. I wonder how long that will be cute?
William loved this swingset! Too bad there really isn't a way to get a set in our backyard. Look how strong he is!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Sleeping Beauty


I guess you could say that I am a huge fan of sleeping baby pictures...









Short video of Amelia waking up