Fall {wrap up}

We are ready for Christmas, we are those people, our tree has been up for WEEKS. While we appreciate all things Thanksgiving our spirits are extra ready this year for all things Jolly. ;) We've had a fun Fall...here's a bit of what we were up to.

Beach Walks

Fair Fun including Lilly Rose's first fair rides and lots of them!

Helping mama in the kitchen

Celebrating daddy's Birthday

my girl has a sweet tooth, she lovessss cake

 

Papa turned 60!

Halloween - we spent the evening in Folkston with Papa and Yaya. Went to a few houses with our Minnie Mouse and woke up early the next morning for a trip to Georgia. We spent a day in Helen, GA and had a fun family day. Lilly Rose was excited to visit with her grandma and granddaddy Bird.

Helen, GA

Voting

Day trip to visit the cousins in Richmond Hill

Thanksgiving with these turkey's

Lunch with Great Grandma K

Watching the Macy's Day Parade & snacking

And LR's latest crafts. I feel like a terrible mom but I'm not keeping them stacked in a closet so I snapped a picture. when she comes home from school with handprints and a sentimental note, I'll keep it. ;)

Lilly Rose's latest sayings:

The moon is far away, mom.

 

I'm so happy! :: she says this multiple times a day. Love my happy girl!

 

Let's dance. I shake my tail feather. 

 

My name is Lilly Rose Bird. 

 

It's a little bit heavy. :: she says this while carrying heavier objects. 

 

I not sleepy mom. :: I hear this at nap time. 

 

I hold you mom. I wanna hold you.  :: probably my favorite saying because she says this when she wants me to pick her up and hold her. She has it backwards, so cute. 

 

Billy was leaving for work and I said "goodbye babe, be careful, love you". Lilly said, "is babe going to work? bye babe!" :: too funny!

 

Changing her diaper, "I can't see my hinny mom. I got stinks." :: she started calling #2 stinks a while back. However, we are in the midst of potty training (again) and the stinks part is tough! 

 

We pulled into Target and LR says, "we are home, mom" :: ha-ha, About right. 

 

*****

 

On to the holidays... We will be breaking out our new elf on the shelf this week (excited to do this with Lilly Rose), watching the movie ELF several times (my fav!) and wearing all our Christmas gear.

Checking In {beach bums}

I'm still here. We've been busy and while pretty settled with the move, have a lot going on. In our downtime, we are enjoying the nice weather at the beach. Although not "Fall" weather, anything below 90 degrees is a plus, right!? I think it's time for a little road trip north to find something in the 60s and maybe break out a coat or two.  ;)

 

This morning we took a long walk on the beach while the weather was still nice. We went to a different location in hopes of finding more sharks teeth and found not a one. I think we'll stick with our usual spot. Billy likes to add to his growing collection while Lilly Rose loves to "look for treasures". It's so easy to forget about responsibility with long walks on the beach. I adore this new timeframe in our lives.

 

 

I have a 'Lilly Rose Update' post brewing. But I'm the worst at updating. So before my girl hits 3 (how's that even possible!?), I hope to have it finished. My family book is going to be small this year!!! ;)

 

 

 

Florida Girls Again {our move}

Whew!

We've just come out of a whirlwind adventure. Just as we were coming up on our year mark in the Folkston home, that had such meaning to us, it sold quickly. We are so thrilled for Mom and Dad and it was the push we needed to make a move. While our time in GA was unexpected (long), it was so nice having family close. I know it only made Lilly Rose's bond with Yaya and Papa 10x stronger. I'm thankful for that foundation she now has with them. 

 

Since we had to pack and move in a matter of weeks, we decided to rent near Billy's job. And lucky for us his current store is minutes to the beach. The past couple weeks in our new place have been SO nice.  I feel our quality of family life has improved greatly. We have Billy home for lunch/dinner and his drive to work is literally 3 minutes. Big change from the past year! We've already enjoyed several walks on the beach, exploring new parks, family date nights and it feels so good!

 

Meanwhile, Lilly Rose has been such a trooper through all the change. We didn't bring her crib with us (stored it at yaya's) so the first night here was in her big girl bed. Such a milestone and with everything going on, I didn't have a moment to think too much about it to get emotional. Thank goodness! **i will have to find the not-so-great pix I took the first night or take some soon to add to this post.**

For Lilly Rose it was a big change and a little traumatic at first. I feared we made a mistake but by the 3rd night she was sleeping through the night again and telling me goodnight with that wide beautiful smile. She adjusted so well, I'm so proud of her! While we were unpacking I showed her the bedding I had purchased a while back and had put away, she was the cutest thing watching me open it from packaging. "Oh, mama, it's SO beautiful! I love it! So pretty!!" Ha! I love her expressive, appreciative little personality. Now, she's really loving her new bed and she likes to tell me "I love big girl bed, mama" - so glad, sweet girl!! It's extra special to us since it was MY little girl bed, too. Nothing sweeter to see her so happy in my old rod-ironed, well loved, double bed! 

I'm so behind in post I'll go ahead and post this and update more later...:)

 

 

Two and a half {2.5 update}

What a fun, relaxing summer we're having here in south Georgia. Yes, we are still in GA and while we are, we're taking advantage of Yaya's pool and good cooking on a regular basis. And I will admit outside of being too far from my favorite shopping spots (I love you Publix, Target & Starbucks!), Folkston is growing on me and I'm enjoying small town life. Plus, the people are pretty great. :) While Billy continues to work non-stop (that's how it feels anyway), Lilly Rose is keeping me busy! I could never express how much JOY this little girl brings us all the while, keeping us on our toes. Two really is SO MUCH FUN! :)

June 23, 2014 Lilly Rose turned 2.5 - that day came lightening fast...she already seems so grown compared to Christmastime. I've been taking notes for memory sake, here's a little what my girl has been up to:

Ready for church "I want to go to church, mama"

LR gave me her first "I love you" after I said it to her one night while putting her down. (June 12th to be exact) She has been verrrrrry stingy with this verbal affection and I finally heard it! Daddy was first as he was walking out the door a day or two before. Recently she said it to Yaya. So sweet, especially since she's not dishing them out.

Excited about our new finger paint purchase

Serious Business

Singing: Lilly Rose LOVES to sing. She knows all the words to many songs; twinkle twinkle little star, Jesus loves me and the soundtrack to Mary Poppins. The Mary Poppins obsession has only gotten stronger since our Spring trip to Disney. Lilly will ask for Mary "on puter" and will sit and sing with the soundtrack off YouTube. Lots of dramatic motions come into play during her singing. Broadway gal in training?? 

ready to hit the town :)

And while she's charming the skirt off me, she's also very good at expressing herself. Like i say, two is fun. However, it's also the beginning of mental exhaustion around here. A few examples of her frowned upon behavior would include:
"I don't want to take a nap" -- while crossing her arms and pouting. **I discovered Caillou has similar behavior and I think that's where she learned this, no more Caillou for Lilly Rose**
"I don't want to brush teeth" -- my least favorite part of the day. what once was fun to her is now my biggest chore.
"I do it, I do it" -- she wants to do everything by herself. very independent.
"My leg is broken" -- she would be a hypochondriac in the making if i didn't nip these alliances in the bud.
I will tell her to be careful and without fail her response is to fall to the ground with "uh-o whoopsie" -- I've had to learn to use my "be careful" wisely.

July 4th pool fun 

Cute things Lilly says to make up for the above:
"Please open" -- she's getting better with manners
"You okay, mama?" after I sneeze
While looking through her clothes in her closet she says, "So cute! Cute...blue, pink...cute!" --ha!
"Mmmmmmm deeeeelicious!!!" -- cracks me up

"Pleeeease mama, please please pleeeeeeaaasseee" -- she's mastering the art of begging but for now, it's still kinda cute & probably because she only uses it when 'necessary' :)
"Walk this way, mama" as she grabs my hand leading me to something.
"I go beach" -- repeat x100, she loves playing in the sand but "2" has brought a fear of the ocean so it's tough to take her alone since i over heat very easily and she refuses to get near the water, even tidal pools if we can find them. sigh.

Building her castle

First lunch and movie on the couch - 

she begged to watch "snowman" so we had lunch and watched Frozen together:)

Mickey has taken a back seat to his long time girl, Minnie. Lilly Rose has been obsessed with the mouse and her big cute pink bow. "Oh, Minnie is SO cute, Mama!" Minnie currently eats, sleeps and plays by Lilly's side all day long.

Here she's hosting a birthday party for Minnie :)

A growing love for cooking. She absolutely loves to help in the kitchen. It's impossible to tell her no unless I'm at the stove cooking. For prep work and baking or breakfast, i have extra helping hands. It's fun and there's nothing like that excited smile saying, "I did it, mama!" 

And i don't think her 2.5 post would be complete without mention of her heightened interest in the scary/dark side. She loves being scared and if given a choice she chooses the villain or "scary" cartoon. She's been asking about Disney World A LOT the past couple weeks (due to her Mary and Minnie love) and so we watch parades on YouTube. Lilly prefers the spooky Halloween parade instead of celebrate parade. 

She's a funny girl and I love every inch of her quirky-blond-big smile-full of joy self. 

Stats:
28-29lbs (she's teetering towards 29)
37" tall 
sz 5 diapers - just purchased sz 6 for the height purposes and we have taken a break on potty training bc LR started pushing back a little (on top of all the summer activity/trips) we are waiting. No rushing here! Taking her lead. 
Wearing 2t&3t and finding her voice in what she likes/dislikes, oh boy! ;)

Our Spring {ramblings}

Well I'm certainly not the most prompt blogger out here. We've been busy having fun and enjoying all things Spring! Let's rewind back to Easter.

Mom hosted a family egg hunt for the kids and Lilly Rose had a blast. It was really nice that Oana and Jordan were able to be in town and hunt with some of the cousins, too. 

Jaxx sugar. It's so sweet. I may have relished in the fact that I was able to put him down easily for the night by cuddling. :)

Easter Sunday was celebrated at church and then lunch with friends at Yaya and Papa's house. Lilly Rose and I had many egg hunts that afternoon. She really got into her Easter basket this year and loved all her goodies. Her favorite item was probably her Easter Minnie Mouse match game. The princess ball came a close second.

The week after Easter was our Spring vacation so we headed south to visit Mickey. It was fun to spend time together (seems Billy is always working) and enjoy all things Disney! 

The magical moment: Lilly Rose was enamored with Mary Poppins and wouldn't let go of her hugs. This picture seriously was like 4 minutes of frozen time. Mary was SO good with LR, very special indeed. 

 We've already had our fair share of fun in the sun...

Loving her little pink pool in the backyard - best summer purchase!

We also experienced a very sad time this month with the loss of Billy's sister, Peggy. She was the first sister-in-law (I'm blessed with lots!) that I had a relationship with as I was dating Billy. I loved her so and I know Billy has such a void, they were very close. Cancer sucks. Death is sad for us left behind but thankful for hope through Jesus that we will see her again. 

Billy, Peggy and Sharon last June

                        Cousins

Lilly Rose has been talking about Peggy a lot over the past months. We will be sure she will always know how special her Aunt was and how much Peggy loved LR.

Through the sad times Lilly was such a joy. She always is to me, but I'm glad she was able to add light to the family. I love the things she comes up with lately. Two is fun. #twoisfun I use that hashtag a lot because it's the simplest way to describe life right now. I have a list of moments I don't want to forget so I will blog them next. She is almost 2.5. I know...I blinked. Life is fast, fleeting. I'm learning to enjoy the moment instead of waiting for what's to come. So hard for the planner in me. So hard. But right now, I'm going to enjoy my two year old blessing and be thankful for the moment. 

My favorite moment today was baking this morning with my girl. Lilly Rose has asked for blueberry muffins all week. Finally I picked some up at the store last night and we made them for breakfast. Helping me in the kitchen is one of her favorite activities (not mine--I'll admit, I don't like cooking!) ;) Hopefully, her desire to help in the kitchen will grow and she will be a much better cook than her mama!