I Don't Want to Leave

Recently, I think we are reverting to a stage I do not wish to repeat.  If you have young children, you might remember the stage where they would cry every time you left the park or a friend's house or any place they were really enjoying themselves.  We went through that phase and now, unfortunately, I think we are back there.  In the past week or so every time we have left a park, pool, or friends house Lilly has had a melt down.  The crying goes on forever and it is a tired cry.  I thought maybe she wasn't getting enough sleep, but she is getting 10+ hours a night so I don't know.  It is frustrating for me to see her so distraught over leaving some place especially when she was having so much fun and now I am the cause of her sadness.  My mom suggests I don't  make a big deal of it, so I guess I will do that...reminding myself that "This to shall pass." 

Hello Kitty Ring and Husbands

For some reason my daughter likes to bring up the topic of husbands and marriage quite often.  Sometimes, I think it is too often for a 4 year old.  However, when she brings it up, it reminds to pray for her future husband - that he will be a God-fearing man, love Lilly very much, be a family man, and be able to provide for his family, etc. 

The other day, she mentioned that when she does get married she wants her husband to buy her a Hello Kitty Ring as her wedding ring.  I told her that I would write that down to tell him when we meet him. :)

While we were on our trip to SC, we spent some time at my Dad's house.  My 15 year old brother lives there and Lilly absolutely loved spending time with him.  During our visit, she decided she was going to marry my little brother.  More recently, we had a conversation about who she could and couldn't marry.  She asked if she could marry Scott (my brother), Grandpop, Daddy, and a whole list of other relatives.  I told her you can't marry anybody who has the same blood as you and went on to explain that she has some of my blood, her daddy's blood, her grandparent's blood, etc.  She looked at me with an expression that told me she thought I was out of my mind. 

So, then I went on to name all of her friends who were an option for her to possibly marry one day.  I think she is beginning to get it, but I think she needs a little more information on the "blood" thing.

Lucy

My husband surprised us last weekend with a trip to the pet store.  He told me just a few hours before that he wanted to go and get a dog.  I was totally shocked because we had been asking for a pet for months and his answer was always no.  Anyways, we kept the pet shopping a surprise for Lilly until we arrived at the store.  Even after we announced that we were going to get a dog, she looked at us and replied, "A real one?" "Are you sure?"  She could not believe we were really going to do it.

We had a great time picking one out of the selection available.  We asked lots of questions and played with a few and finally decided on our black lab, pit bull mix - Lucy.  She is super sweet and fairly calm for a 6 month old puppy.  Of course, she likes lots of attention so she tends to want to be in the center of us.  When we are putting Lilly to bed, Lucy wants to be in the middle.  When we are watching TV or reading she wants to be right on top of us.  Lilly loves having her around.  She enjoys feeding her and giving her treats and even telling her "NO" when Lucy is into something she shouldn't be. 

It is super cute to watch the two "sisters" (this is what we have started calling them) play together.

Gymnastics

Before summer began, my husband and I talked about wanting Lilly to involved with some physical activity once the school year began.  We looked into several programs and narrowed it down to soccer or gymnastics.  Both sports had equal number of pros and cons on our list, so I took the decision to my daughter.  She immediately decided on gymnastics. 

In the past month or so, I have signed her up for the class and even though she didn't have to have it to take the class, we bought her a gymnast leotard.  She loves the leotard and is super excited to start her class - we are counting down the days.

I am praying she will love the class.  I have one little concern though and it is that Lilly thinks she is already supposed to know all the moves before she gets to the class.  I am hoping that she doesn't get frustrated if she can't do a certain more, but we have talked about it often so prayerfully, that will not be the case.  Even if she does get frustrated, I know this class is going to be a lesson in perseverance - sticking with it. 

Here are a few pictures of my sweet girl showing off her leotard:

Zip Line

We have been moving furniture around at our house and so things have been a little chaotic lately.  When I get started on projects like that, I tend to just want to finish no matter what the cost (not eating, not playing with my daughter, etc). 

The other day, I could tell that Lilly just wanted me to play with her so I took an idea I had seen on pinterest that day and decided to give it a try. 

It was a zip line for stuffed animals/baby dolls. 

First we got a piece of fishing wire we had lying around (not sure why).  We tied one end of the string to the balcony on the 2nd floor and the other end to a table leg.  Next, we used a skirt hanger with 2 clips on it so secure a stuffed animal to the hanger.  Lastly, we hung the hanger on the wire and let it go. 

It was a pretty fun little project that kept Lilly entertained for a while.  She loved switching out the animals and watching them zoom down  the line.

Name for a Husband

This morning at the breakfast table,

Lilly:  When can I be a Mommy?

Me:  When you have a baby?

Lilly:  When can I have a baby?

Me :  When you have a husband and are much older?

Lilly: What kind of name do you think my husband should have?

Me :  What?

Lilly:  I want my husband to have a good name like Mark or something like that
(side note - her Daddy's name is Mark)

Me:  Well, why don't we focus on finding a husband who loves God and loves you and wants to be a good Daddy rather than his name.

She give me this confused stare.  hahaha

Indiana Fun

One of our trips this summer was to visit my family in Indiana. Here are some fun happenings from the trip.

There were different painted "brains" all around Bloomington.  Here was the one next to the library.

Lilly loves Candyland, here she is playing with Aunt Susu and her boyfriend John.

Dress up with Uncle Jamie

Working on the tool bench with Daddy

Playing in the sand

Dinosaur dress-up

Doctor dress-up

Park with Papaw

First Pedicure

Watch Daddy ride a ladybug

Ride a ladybug herself

Pedicure picture

Craft project with Uncle Jamie

Planting flowers with Nana

And much, much more!