Birthday Baby {two}

Happy 2nd Birthday, Lilly Rose!!!

I'll work on a "two" post later with all the latest. For now, we are recovering from a fun day celebrating. We even had some cousin time with homemade milkshakes. Thanks girls for visiting and thank you, Yaya, for the yummy treats! 

Our full (but pretty low-key) day ended with presents and cake. Lilly Rose you make our lives so much fun & fill our hearts with joy.

Love you "mamas baby" ... To the moon and back a trillion times.

Christmas-time {oh what fun}

I could cry. As I clicked publish on the post (and saved it numerous times) it just poofed into thin cyber space... time lost. Oh my! Since I have lots to do, I'll just post the pix and captions for memory sake.

We've had a busy December getting ready for Christmas!

Headed to Disney World :)

We love the teacups!

It's a magical place to be at Christmas time. 

Lilly Rose did great at Disney! We got about 6 good hours out of her before she passed out right after the parade.  

Krispy Kreme is our Orlando tradition since we don't get them at home. Lilly enjoyed her first donut.

 Minnie Mouse is our newest family member.

Visited Santa Claus at the Town Center - no lines!! No tears and no smile (well unless you count this as a smile...the best we could get and literally the last picture taken). Lilly's into her beads these days and added that special touch to her outfit ;)

We had a girls lunch with one of my good friends and her sweet girl. Lilly Rose enjoyed herself so much.

Callahan Christmas Parade...turned girls day with Yaya.

I have a happy child, she's 98% of the time a party waiting to happen. However, this pix was taken exactly (to the week) a year apart. Same outfit, same kind of pitiful...teething in both pictures. Just proof that we all have bad days around here. :)

Caught touching the tree. 

And tonight we get to play with our cousins, eat Yaya's famous Italian and stay up a little past bed-time. I know a little girl who is so excited... 

M-I-C-K-E-Y {love}

It's a love like no other...

MUAH

"night night"

Since our girl has a love for Mickey (and maybe I do to!), we're headed to his house to celebrate! Lilly really does love the mouse, these photos show a glimpse of the mickey love, just a normal afternoon with my camera in hand following her around. :) Our Christmas baby will be two so very soon (16 days, not that I'm counting) and Disney is just the place to party. Hey there, Hi there, Ho there! Can't wait!!

Wedded Bliss {5 years}

Five years ago today I married the love of my life. I cannot believe 5 years have pass since our wedding. Times flying and we're still having fun. :) After meeting Billy I instantly became a true believer in soul mates. I wasn't 100% sold on the idea before him. No doubt that we were made for each other. I'm so thankful for our marriage and the road we are on. God has been so good to us.

December 2008

5 years later

Happy Anniversary, my love!
There's nothing better than 'doing life' with you!!

Thankful {thanksgiving2013}

A little late ...

BUT we are indeed Thankful! Last week we celebrated Thanksgiving. Jordan, Oana, Carlo and Jaxx were here for the holiday weekend. They even brought Oliver! I cannot tell you the excitement I felt seeing 'my' boy again. {Long story and not sure if I documented here but Oliver went to live with Jordan when our house sold and is now Carlo's dog. They've been great for each other and while we miss him terribly, it was a good decision that fit everyone}. My heart was going to burst between the puppy love, seeing my family in one place and kissing on my new nephew, Jaxx. Let me share that this baby is sweet, super relaxed and so very cuddly with his chubby self. Seriously, he is only 10-11lbs lighter than my almost two year old! Super cuddly and I couldn't get enough. LR did pretty good with him, too. :)

For Thanksgiving lunch we feasted with the Markham family. I was so busy talking and enjoying the good food that I didn't take one picture. It was a really nice day!

Thanksgiving craft (in Christmas pjs ;))

Baby Jaxx (3mo)

Lilly Rose and Mama

Lilly Rose and Daddy

"Mama...shoes!!" - LR (my girl loves shoes and thought Jaxx had some on with his footie pjs)

Taking time for Tea

After the black Friday madness was complete and Billy was free for the weekend, we hit the road to Grandma's house. It was nice visiting with Billy's family and having Grandma Bird spoil Lilly Rose with her good cooking and some new toys. So thankful for time with family.

Happy Fall Y'all {the low down}

Our Fall has been busy, busy. We moved for the 3rd time (since June). Long story short we have settled for the moment in Folkston, unloaded our POD (it was like Christmas seeing our stuff!!) and currently making my parents old home, home. For now. It's for sale. Anyone want a really cute home in Folkston...preferably AFTER Christmas? ;) You'll never know how much you'll miss your own dishes, etc. until you haven't seen them for months. We are thankful to mom and dad K. being so gracious with us while we figure out our new adventure. 

Lilly Rose has been so much fun. I just can't get enough of this toddler stage. She's very social and loves a good time. Every thing is a party around here. Love that about her. A few things I want to remember from the past couple months:

cheesin' with mama on the way out the door

 

--We went to a church closer to "home" and walked into the nursery with LR while the worker explained their procedures, etc. I leaned down on the floor with Lilly to fix her dress and she took off. I stood up next to Billy and we watched her begin to interact with the other toddlers. She never looked back, just began to play. I was shocked, impressed, sad but thankful it went so well. After service we walked in to get her and she said, "hi, mom" and continued her play. Totally not bashful like her mama. I was hiding behind Theresa's skirt at that age! Ha. 

--LR had her first county fair experience (unfortunately, Billy had to work), but Papa was sure to treat her to a little taste of fair food (funnel cake). She liked it, but only ate a little.

--The Dawgs pulled off another win against FL. Papa was sad (again). This picture has become tradition.

--Visited with Great Grandma on her Birthday. GG is 91 years young.

 

--Lately, I've noticed a trend around here. Toys/things lined up in a row. I've been walking over lined up toys a lot lately. OCD much?

--A few of her favorite things to say: "of course", "go bye byes mama", "shoes, pants, iPhone, keys, bye byes" (a few times a day if we haven't left the house yet), LR tells everyone (that helps us in any way), "thank you".  Sings the ABC song, tells yaya "my girl" so they can watch temptation videos on YouTube together. "Mama see me" and "Amen" sounding like "aaaaaa-men" when ready to eat or in play with her teacups. 

"aaaaa-men!"

 

Yaya brought her home a pumpkin cookie

 

--Loves Youtube videos (ABC, Shapes & color songs), Mickey, Elmo, & Cookie Monster. Being outside, going to see papa, yaya & "sosie", loves dancing with daddy (still very much so) & loves to sing. LR is getting really good at singling along with her play list (Sinatra, Buble', Garth, Lyle Lovett, The Everly Brothers, Joe Nichols, Louis A.... You know normal toddler stuff, ha!) Billy is responsible for this. I take no part in her singing along with Lyle Lovett! ;)

So, the Christmas decorations were a big hit! We decorated this weekend. LR points to a sheep ornament and says, "bahhhh" (haha) & calls the round ornaments pumpkins. Ha. She really loves to talk about pumpkins when we see them around. 

Speaking of pumpkins. I never blogged about Halloween! Our girl was a friendly ghost. Because that's what I knew how to make without sewing! I just couldn't find anything online or in the stores that was striking my fancy. And since I had this year with no opinions from LR (is this my last year where she doesn't care!?), ghost it was. (Thanks Pinterest for the idea!) 

We went to main st in town (Folkston) and enjoyed trick or treating at the shops. Lilly was really taking it all in. After we went to yaya and papas and Aunt Rosie and Uncle Kens. It was a nice little evening for our friendly ghost. She wouldn't (couldn't?) say trick-or-treat but she would say, "Boo"! Appropriate!!  

 

Trick-or-treating

 

The next morning she wanted to see her bag of candy and I let her grab a few pieces (to hold). She lined them up. This was when I started to notice her lining things up. Anyway, I allowed her a sucker later in the afternoon. Her first candy. An orange dum-dum.  After 3 licks she wanted to touch everything with it and that was that. No more candy. :) 

We are looking forward to Thanksgiving with family in a few days!  And next up is our fun December...our Anniversary (5 years, already!?), 2nd Birthday (LR turned 23 months Saturday...the countdown is on) and Christmas! Hopefully I won't wait so long to blog & will have a shorter post next time. :)