She Can...

I don't know exactly when she was able to do all these things, but I have noticed over the past few months or so that Lilly has been able to do some new things.

She can:
* turn on the faucet in her bathroom (it is one of those pull/push knobs and it is really hard to do)

* use the breaks on her bike at the stop signs instead of me having to stop her

* read many simple words and even some simple books

* fix herself a glass or juice or water by herself

* come up with some creative places to hide in a game of hide and seek - this one is very new because it used to be that she would either hide out in the open where I could see her or hide in the spot I just hid in.

* draw some animals

* write other people's names (mostly relatives)

* complete a simple addition problem (sometimes in her head - she got this from her daddy)

*  put on a belt

Dizzy, Dizzy

It was raining and I was watching my neighbor's child and Lilly.  We had already played with play-doh and slime.  They had been in the living room to play and in Lilly's room to play.  We had danced and we had watched TV.  We even did shadow puppets for about 5 seconds.  I was running out of ideas.  I call a friend and she suggests a fort - great!

I build a fort under our dining room table.  The kids get pillows, books, flashlights and a lantern.  They play in the fort for a long time.  I'm thinking this is great, until about 30 minutes pass and they are done. 

So, I get out our 2 office chairs put them in the middle of our living room and start spinning children in them.  They just sit there and let me spin them - laughing hysterically!  After a while, I stop them and say they have to take a break so they don't get dizzy.  They both tell me that they aren't dizzy.  I say, if that is so let me see you walk to the couch and back.  Both of them get off the chairs and almost immediately fall down, they can't even walk a few steps without falling down.  Now, I'm the one laughing hysterically.  Eventually, they walk to the couch and back.  They hop into the chairs and are ready for more. 

Amazing what fun you can have on a rainy day!

Snow Globe

Like I have said before, my daughter loves art projects.  She usually isn't that great at following step by step directions, she's more of a freestyle artist. Lately, I have been trying to do at least one "following directions" art project a week with her because sometimes, in life,  you do have to follow directions. 

One of our projects was making a snow globe - one of her gifts for her birthday.  It was a hard one for her because you do one step and wait a day, do another step, wait another day - a lot of waiting for a 4 year old, but we managed to finish it.

Getting ready to mix the plater and put it in the mold.

Holding the finished product.

Up close picture!

Dr Lilly

Besides being obsessed with clowns or anything clown related, my daughter's next favorite thing is doctors (or baby dolls, it's a toss up).  She has a doctor set at home which she loves to use any chance she gets.  Once, while on a visit to Charleston, my Uncle Tommy (who is a vet) gave her a real stethescope - she LOVES it!  Lilly loves going to visit her doctor and she knows her name even though we really only see her once or twice a year. 

Recently, I have been feeling under the weather, so I decided to go into a nearby clinic just to get checked out.  My daughter loved watching the doctor check me out and she listened to every word he said.  After picking up my medicine from the pharmacy, she would remind me that I needed to take my medicine. 

About a week after going to the clinic, I went in for another visit with my regular physician.  Lilly, again, went with me.  She was very content to watch me get checked out and she even offered to hold my hand while I got my blood drawn.  It didn't bother her one bit that I had a needle going in my arm. 

After my doctor's visit, I had to take some more medicine which could not be taken with milk or milk products.  Once she learned this, Lilly was very quick to remind me that I could not take that medicine with milk and then telling me what I could take it with - juice or water. lol 

This little girl is the same way at the dentist.  She loves her dentist and enjoys reading all kinds of books about dentists, doctors, EMT's, etc.  Jokingly, we said she would probably be a clown dentist or  a clown doctor - she thinks these are great ideas.  Who knows? Maybe she will be a clown doctor like Patch Adams one day.

Chef Lilly

One of our friends made Lilly this wonderful chef's hat for her birthday - yes, she made it!  It is beautiful and Lilly loves it.  She thinks it is perfect as a clown hat as well.  The other day, she thought it was hilarious to dress up as a clown chef.  Here are pictures of her modeling it.  She's also wearing an apron that Nana bought her.

Privacy Please

One night, while getting ready to give my daughter a bath, she runs to the bathroom and says, "I want to take a bath myself, Mom. You never give me any privacy and I need some privacy."  Giggling, I replied, "I will let you sit in the tub by yourself, but I will be right outside the door."  She had about 3 minutes of privacy before she was calling me in there to look at something.  She shows me her "trick" and then says, "Okay, you can leave now, I need some more privacy."  This goes on for the whole bath time. 


It is hillarious to me that she says I never give her any privacy, isn't it the other way around?  If I leave the bathroom door unlocked while taking a shower, she will be in there in a skinny minute to tell me something.  If I tell her it is time for "quiet time" (we don't take naps anymore), she plays for about 20 minutes before she is yelling downstairs for me to do something or see something. If I ask her to play with her Daddy so Mommy can have a little time to check e-mail or whatever, she can't stay away from me for more than 10-20 minutes. 


I have no problem giving her privacy, but while she is in the bath it makes me nervous.  You never know what can happen.  Several times I have peeked in on her and she is standing in the tub, so I tell her that maybe we should have our privacy at another time.  She insists it must be bath time. :)  Oh brother, what to do with this girl.


Here's a privacy song on The Big Comfy Couch - it starts around 3:25 if you want to fast forward to it.

Strawberry Mango Smoothie

Smoothies are so yummy and pretty nutritious.  We decided to make one for a snack while we had friends over.  I gave each of the kids a cutting board and a knife and let them help me cut the stems off the strawberries and then into quarters.  They had so much fun!  I had so much fun watching them that I had to take a picture! 

The Lorax

We went to see the movie, The Lorax.  We saw it in 3D.  Lilly has only seen one other movie in the theaters and it was Winnie The Pooh.  I love that as she grows up, she is able to sit still longer and enjoy new things.  Towards the end, she did mention that it was a long movie, but overall she did great!  She thought the movie was "soooooo cool!"  It is definately something we will have to do again some time soon.

Beautiful Lullaby

I bought a JJ Heller cd recently.  Turns out it was not the one I intended to get, but I definately think it was the one I was supposed to get.  There is a beautiful lullaby on it.  I have played it in the car a few times and now Lilly and I know most of the words - maybe one day soon I can sing it to her at bedtime.

This is the song.  I wish I knew how to put this song to a video of Lilly - maybe my brother James could do that for me, huh?  Have a listen and let me know what you think.

Mommy and Daughter Day

Both my daughter and I had been saying for quite a while, that we needed hair cuts.  Our hair was just too long.  Like me, when I was younger, she doesn't like to have mommy brush her hair each day because it hurts.  So, right after her birthday, we decided to have a Mommy and Daughter day.  We went to have our hair cut, ate lunch and went shopping. 

Lilly has had her hair cut before, so it was no problem for her to sit still for that part.  I was concerned with how she would do waiting for me to get mine cut.  Thankfully, she did really well about staying close by the hair station and she waited very patiently.  I war really proud of her!

Here are the before and after shots of our hair cuts - hard to tell the difference in length because we had ponytails but we both had a few inches cut.

Daddy Moments

My husband travels a lot for his job.  I know many husbands who travel and they call cabs to take them to the airport or they drive to the airport and leave their cars in the parking lot.  To us, it is important that we see Daddy off and be there to pick him up when he arrives home.  We try to make the most of the moments we have with him by:
* getting dressed up to pick Daddy up from the airport
* having a nice family dinner together before he leaves
* planning Mommy/Daddy date nights
* planning Daddy/Daughter dates
* playing games with him
* going places when he is home

While he is away, we do get to Skype and chat which is nice and really helps Lilly stay connected with him.

Eating out before Daddy heads out

Waiting for Daddy at the airport - Rodeo display

Hair Dos

The other day, I was looking at facebook and Lilly was sitting in my lap.  We saw a picture of a friend's daughter with her hair all done up.  She had her hair in braids and then up in two pigtails.  Lilly says she likes her hair and decides she wants her hair fixed that way.  I like to try new "dos" with her hair, but I'm not very good at it.  But, I try it and it turns out okay...here are the pictures:

the back

goofy girl

the front

Artist Hands

My daughter is a creator.  She loves to sit at the table and create - pictures, sculptures, mosaics, etc.  If it involves paint, glue, scissors, markers, crayons, stickers, and paper she is all about it.  Her sitting at the "school table" creating is a normal occurrence at our house. 

 I am constantly telling her that she gets this from her Uncle James, her Aunt Susu, and her Uncle Vic - they are all very creative. 

There are only 2 down sides to her always creating:
1)  We have a million art projects in our house and she wants to keep them all. 
         * My solution has been to make a "keep box" where all art that she wants to keep has to be put or it goes in the trash.  About once a month, we go through the "keep box" and she gets to pick 3 or 4 that she really likes and I get to pick 1 or 2 that I like.  Don't want to end up on some hoarder's show.

2) She doesn't like to do things that have set directions to follow. 
         * My solution to this has been to let her "free create" as much as possible, but letting her know when we're about to do something that requires her to follow directions.  It works sometimes.


When I go to wash her hands before meals or whenever she, no doubt, has some kind of marker, glue, paint, or a combination on them.  I tell her she has artists hands and that makes her smile.  I'm glad she enjoys it, I'm glad it makes her smile.  Her love for art and her smile when she is praised on one of her creations totally outweighs the down sides.




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I Can't See God

Me: "Please stop growing."
Lilly:   "I can't!"

Me: "Please stop growing."
Lilly: "I don't want to because I want to be an adult" 

Me: "Please stop growing."
Lilly:  "I can't, God makes me keep growing." 
Me:  "Ask God to let you stop growing for just a little while."
Lilly:   "I can't see God to tell him that." 
Me:  "We talk to God all the time...before we eat, before we go to bed, it's called praying, remember?  You could just ask Him and see what God says."
Lilly: "I can't hear God so how will I know what He says."
Me:  "You'll just have to listen very carefully and see if He stops you from growing."

Operation Fun

One of Lilly's presents for her birthday was a gift card, so during our Mother and Daughter date we went shopping to spend it.  We first went through the toy aisle and just picked up whatever she really liked, putting it all in the cart.  I informed her that we were not getting all of it, but that we would pick a few things after we finished our stroll through the toys.  My daughter is really into a few things - baby dolls, play-doh, doctors, creating, and clowns.  After our stroll, we had the game Operation, a doctor Barbie, a new play-doh kit, a hula hoop, a doll that could take a bath with you, and a baby doll that really eats and pees. Luckily, I was able to convince we did not need the baby doll that eats and pees. :)  One of the things she did pick, was the game Operation.  I wasn't sure how she would do because it is for ages 6 and up, but she loves it!  She knows what all the pieces stand for and loves telling the "sick man" that she's there to help him feel better.  She's not really good at getting the pieces out, but that doesn't seem to bother her - she really just loves playing the game and watching others get the pieces out.  I'm so excited to have found something so entertaining for her.

Making Cupcakes

We made cupcakes for Lilly's Sunday school class at church, so that they would have a chance to celebrate her birthday  with her.  This girl is a lover of funfetti cake, so we made funfetti cupcakes with blue funfetti icing.  She loved the fact that I let her help me ice them and she loved eating them even more!

I Don't Remember

My daughter has this friend who could not say Lilly very well, so instead she called her "Nony."  Lilly liked that she was called Nony.  She would come home from playing with her friend and say, "I'm Nyah's Nony."  It was very cute.  I would say it has maybe been 6 months since her friend stopped calling her Nony and started calling her Lilly.

The other day, Lilly was saying "Nony, Nony, Nony" over and over again.  So, I asked her, "Who used to call you Nony?" She looked at me with a blank stare and said, "I don't know...me?"  I couldn't believe that she really didn't know, so I asked her again, "Who used to call you, Nony? Don't you remember?"  To which Lilly replies, "I don't remember."  So I told her and she just continued to give me the "I don't know" look, like she had no recollection of what I was talking about.

I am amazed that she could forget this - like I said, it wasn't that long ago and it was something she talked about a lot.  I have always been amazed at the memory of a child, how they can remember something you just mentioned a week ago.  This "lack of memory" really shocked me.  Is this when it starts? Is age 4, when you start to "forget" stuff?

Zoo Visit

The day before Lilly's birthday, one of her bestest friends came into town to visit.  While they were here we spent time with them at the zoo.  We love the zoo and there's always something to learn there.

watching the chimpanzees play with bottles

experiencing the 4D movie

friends :)

petting the goats

giraffe fun

more giraffe fun

Celebrating 4 Years!

This year, 2012, was a leap year.  That means that it was a year with a Feb. 29th and it was the first year Lilly has had a real birthday since she was born.  So, to celebrate we tried to make the day really special for her.


First, we decorated her doorway so when she woke up, she would have a fun surprise.

Next, I made her a special "clown" breakfast pancake.

Then, we had a special clown party for her.  We had a photo booth:

Face paint:

Musical Statues:

Pin the nose on the clown:

Pizza and cookie cake

All in all it was a very fun birthday celebration.  The birthday girl had a great time!

Derby Race

Last weekend was the derby car race at Awana.  Lilly is in the cubbies group for 3 and 4 year olds.  My husband and my daughter "worked" on the car together to get it ready.  He shaved it down for speed and she picked out the color of paint for looks. lol

I was really surprised how detailed the event was.  The cars all had to be weighed in the night before the race and then they had to "spend the night" in the "garage."  The next night was the race and Lilly had a great time seeing her friends and watching all the cars race.  She was a little concerned that she didn't get a trophy at the end, but she wasn't too concerned once we told her that her car just wasn't the fastest.

Here are some pictures from the event:

Cars in the "garage"

Aren't they colorful?

Sitting on Daddy's shoulders to watch the races.

Sitting with friends!

The finish line.

Lilly's is the purple one on the right. :)

Here's a video of one of the races - Lilly's car is in lane 2.