Lily's First Birthday

My baby turned ONE on November 18th! 

 My how she's grown!  Weighing in at 80 pounds, miss Lily Bug Jones is one hefty one year old!  On her birthday, Lily got the biggest bone we could find... which she promptly demolished...

 

She also got a toy... supposedly for "strong chewers"... well, I'll let the picture speak for itself...

Amerah was desperate to have a birthday party for Lily.  She insisted that we have a huge party and invite every dog that we know.  I love my dog.  Not that much though.  We compromised by agreeing to have Uncle Rick and Aunt Donna over for dinner, with their dog Gracie.

It went very well!  I admit I was a bit nervous.  Last time Gracie and Lily met, they were the same size and Lily overwhelmed Gracie with her exuberance while Gracie taught Lily to respect her elders.  This time they got along well and played nicely.

I know... I know... I spoil her...

 

 

 

And no... they didn't get any cupcakes... :-)

It was really nice to have Uncle Rick and Aunt Donna over...

They brought Lily a new toy, which she absolutely LOVED!  She couldn't wait for Aunt Donna to get it out of its packaging!

We sang Happy Birthday... and Amerah was tickled to be able to make Lily's wish for her and blow out the candle...

Lily had a lot of fun playing with Uncle Rick and her new toy... I might add that, tough as the toy was, she's already separated it into three pieces: the head (which she uses as a ball), the middle (a ball that no longer has any fabric around it), and the many legged bottom that she uses as a tug o' war toy... sigh...

 

 

Aunt Donna and Gracie were all smiles!

By the end of the birthday celebration, Gracie was still ready to go but Lily was all tuckered out!

Happy birthday Lily, Mama loves you! :-)

First snow... November 10, 2011

On November 10, 2011, it snowed.  Big, white, fluffy flakes that promptly melted, as soon as their frosty tips touched the ground.

Amerah was over the moon!  She quickly donned her winter apparel and ran outside to frolick in in the white stuff...

 

 

If you squint... and cock your head to one side... you might, just might, see the snowflakes haha!  She was quickly joined by Christian, our very excited, four year old neighbor...

 

 

 

 

We haven't seen a single snowflake since.  In fact, today it was somewhere around 50 degrees or so!  I'm sure that winter will hit us soon, but for right now we are enjoying the warmer weather!

How 'bout them apples...

Alright so I'm behind on my blogging... again...

Our upstairs computer (my preference for uploading photos and blogging) has been having temper tantrums the last few months and Dave's been working on it... and working on it... and working on it.  Sigh.

On November 8th, Dave and I took Amerah, her friend Jordan, and miss Lilybug, apple picking.

We had promised Amerah that we'd go and we were afraid that the orchards would be all picked out if we didn't hurry.  As luck would have it, Erwin's orchard was still rockin' some good Empires and Jonagolds (they had Red Delicious too, but blech!).

Why do all of Amerah's school friends seem so tall?!  Anyway, it turned out to be a good time to go... hardly anyone was there so we didn't have to battle the crowds, plus... and this was a MAJOR plus... the wagons were no longer running so they allowed us to DRIVE through the orchard!  I was so excited! 

I LOVE apple picking and had resigned myself to sitting at a picnic table with Lily while Dave picked apples with the girls.  This enabled me to go into the orchard with them and watch the picking up close. 

Lily was NOT happy to be left in the car with Mama for most of the picking! 

So Amerah took pity on her and came back to get her... this photo makes me giggle, she's usually so photogenic... may be a good blackmail picture a few years from now... hehehe...

Lily got out of the van and made for the nearest apple, lying on the ground.  She proceeded to carry that apple through her short sojourn in the orchard.

Lily decided that she liked apples.  She ate the ground apple she found.  Once back in the van, she snatched Amerah's apple right out of her hand... twice...  Yep, Lily liked 'them' apples... until later when she got sick, poor baby.

Dave took the requisite apple orchard silly photos...

 

 

 

Mission: Wear the kids out... accomplished!

 

 

We came home with pleeeeeenty of apples!

Mmmm.... we love apples!

 

 

Halloween

After three Halloween parties, Amerah wasn't thrilled about once again donning her itchy, uncomfortable costume that she just HAD to have!  I found myself wishing she were just a few years younger and would have let me pick a costume for her.  No such luck.  For some unfathomable reason, she just HAD to be Wolfie from Monster High.  She doesn't own any of the Monster High dolls.  She's never read any of the books (if they have any) or watched the new cartoon that just came out.  Nevertheless she HAD to have a Wolfie costume, so Wolfie it was!

 

 

Is it just me, or does anyone else find the humor in the fact that I sent my child out trick or treating with a reusable grocery store bag that says "make half your plate fruits and veggies" Bwahahahaha!

 

Everyone who really knows me, knows how much I love holidays.  In my younger, single days, I dreamed of all the fun we would have when I had my own family.  Years ago I always had someone to hang out with on Halloween.  I accompanied friends when they took their little ones trick or treating, I went to parties, I had people over.  Not once did I envision a Halloween where my husband would have to spend the night at work and my daughter would go trick or treating with her mom because I was in too much pain to take her.  It didn't occur to me that ALL of my friends would make other plans.  Never did I imagine that I would find myself sitting at home, alone with the dog, handing out candy to a grand total of nine children (while trying to restrain an enthusiastic, half crazed, golden retriever who did not understand why strange looking people kept knocking on the door) and having myself a little pity party because reality wasn't living up to my fantasies.  No I did not have a fun Halloween.  My legs hurt.  A lot.  And I felt sorry for myself.  A lot.  It was pitiful. 

Sandy brought Amerah home early (by 7:30 pm) and she had fun even though she would have liked to trick or treat with friends her own age rather than her baby cousin.  Amerah curled up on the arm of my chair and snuggled for a bit after her shower, which dissipated some of my self pity.  Next year I'll have to figure something else out because I don't want another sucky Halloween... Sigh...

Halloween the prequel...

October was a busy month for Amerah this year.  She was invited to not one, but THREE Halloween parties, two at the homes of school friends and one at church.  The party at church was the last of the three and, by the time it arrived, Amerah was heartily sick of donning the uncomfortable costume she had INSISTED that she HAD to have.  Still wanting to look a little out of the ordinary, she dug through her closet and came up with a hippie-ish ensemble for the event.  You can't really tell but there are peace signs on her jeans.  By the time I took these pics, she had already shed the tie dye scarf that she had wrapped around her head.

Have I mentioned that Amerah has a baby obsession?  She does... and I have proof... she couldn't keep her hands off little Beckham!

 

 

 

Before I go further, I have to give a big high five to Cameron for the cleverest costume of the night...

Yes... he was a ceiling fan... groan... haha

It is absolutely impossible for me to post this blog without showing you the insane amount of cuteness going on at this party... so bear with me and get your awwwws ready!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aren't they the cutest little Halloweeners ever?!  I have about 3 or 4 more that I wanted to post but my computer just decided that I've uploaded enough and is refusing to load any more tonight. :-(  There were some other cuties at the party but they either whizzed by me too fast for my camera or didn't get close enough.  Since I'm not as mobile as I'd like to be I had to be content with photographing the people who stopped to visit.  All in all a fun evening!