Little Miss Lily

What a fun little person this girl is! She is so delightful, we just couldn't love her more. She is now two and a half and has become very independent. It's actually a pretty funny comparison between she and Benson. Benson is almost five but he still wants help with many things. He doesn't get himself dressed or put on his own shoes, and is thrilled when someone is willing to feed him or accompany him to the bathroom. 

Lily, on the other hand, is constantly saying, "I do it!" usually with an exclamation point! She wants to dress herself, feed herself, put on her own shoes, and go potty all by herself. It takes us about four times as long as it used to in order to do anything. Leaving the house is a major ordeal when she has to put on her own shoes and coat, plus bring along her backpack of treasures. And, often she feels frustrated when she finds she doesn't have the dexterity to complete the tasks she attempts. However, she just keeps at it until she succeeds. It's a good thing I've slowed down so much this semester in preparation for the baby so that I can give her the time she needs to "Do it herself".

Lily continues to be a huge Mama's girl. I feel badly because I think it hurts BJ's feelings a little. She wants me to do everything with/for her. If I leave the house without her, she cries. At mealtime she wants to sit next to me or on my lap to eat. At bedtime she insists that I put her to bed. Last night she woke up in the middle of the night. BJ went in to help her and I heard her shouting, "No Dad, go 'way, want Mom!" She cried "Mommy" over and over again until I went in. I'm certain she'll grow out of it and probably become at total Daddy's girl but it's going to be a little tricky when the baby comes to have her feeling so Mommy-centric. I guess we'll all have some adjusting to do.

Truly though, Lily has been my little companion and friend. She is charming and outgoing. She loves to dance and sing. She has decided opinions and expresses them now in full sentences and with impressive clarity. I'm so grateful she's a part of our family.

Christmas Morning 2014

I would venture to say that this Christmas morning was the most fun yet! The kids were at great ages for understanding that Santa was coming. They wrote their letters to Santa and counted down the days till his arrival. They also each asked for some fun toys and were delighted at receiving some of what they asked for and a few surprises too.

Benson's Preschool has a "ziggle" and he loves it. He always reports on the days when he get's to ride the Ziggle at Miss Suzie's. Santa must have known how much he enjoyed it because he received one this Christmas!

Santa also brought all three boys (Benson, McKay and Daddy) each a Nerf gun. They quite enjoy having wars together. And, Lily likes it too! She runs through the room shouting and chasing while they play. She loves to be part of the action.

Lily got a play kitchen from Santa and lots of play food. She also found a sock monkey in her stocking and carried it around all day.

Benson loves to do puzzles and is very good at them! He got a new puzzle for Christmas and had fun putting it together.

We had to have this picture of Lily on record! She got a set of 7 pairs of underwear in her stocking and immediately insisted on opening the package. She then proceeded to make us put all the new pairs on her at the same time! It was hilarious!

Oh, and she wouldn't put any pants back on because she wanted to be able to see all the new pairs of underwear!

The kids, of course, stayed up late on Christmas Eve and woke up about 6:45AM on Christmas morning. So, they look a little bleary-eyed (like Mckay here).

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Lily got a tiny telescope in her stocking. She played with it for days, each time putting it right between her eyes (like at the top of her nose) and "looking" through it. 

And of course, this little sweet tooth girl found the candy in her stocking and started madly stuffing it into her mouth as fast as she could until we noticed what was going on! Nothing like candy for breakfast.

We didn't want Lily to miss out on any of Christmas morning so as soon as the boys woke up, we got her up too. However, she usually sleeps in later than that and was pretty tired all morning. Here she is snuggling with her Nana, Baba, and blankie. Who could ask for anything more?

The only thing McKay asked Santa for this year was a Robot. He was thrilled to get it! It's called a MIP and is controlled via cellphone. Of course Santa didn't bring him a cellphone too, so he uses ours. He loved to drive it around, have it dance, and pick up/carry items around the house.

Though he never "officially" asked for it, McKay kept saying how much he'd like to have a giant nutcracker at our house during Christmas.  On Christmas morning, there was a two-foot-tall nutcracker which McKay and Benson loved to play with.

Benson out demonstrating his Ziggle skills (which were quite good, by the way)

Nana and Papa spent Christmas morning with us. Here they are, opening our gift to them, a new set of luggage for their upcoming trip to Hawaii!

Though it's blurry, I love this picture of Benson and McKay giving each other a hug after opening their presents to one another (both Lego sets). They have such a great friendship and brotherhood. It makes me so happy to see how much they love each other.

Here Lily is playing with her new kitchen and play food. Below she's stringing her new beads. Once she realized that great things were inside the wrapped packages, she was ALL about unwrapping. 

We loved having Christmas morning at our home and watching our kids be so thrilled with their gifts. We felt blessed that they could have such a fun Christmas. Nothing brings greater joy than seeing your kids so happy. :)