Isabella’s First Birthday

We celebrated Isabella’s first birthday today at her house. We loved watching the Birthday Girl sit back, relax and enjoy every bite of her cake: 

Lyla, of course, was very curious:

Lyla was in NO MOOD for photos:

Enjoying a Birthday Cupcake:

Helping the Birthday Girl unwrap a gift or two:

Discovering a baby doll:

After a great party (and no nap for the day), Lyla and I headed to Urbana after we left, the perfect time to make a long drive – she slept almost the entire way there!

Happy Birthday, Dear Isabella! We love you so much!

Night Ramblings

I love waking up in the early morning to the sound of Lyla's sweet little voice saying, "Mommy" and "Daddy". She is perfectly happy and isn't calling for us...she's laying there practicing her words.

She's now onto another favorite, "Nae-Nah" (Aunt Shana)...over and over again. Then another new favorite just learned this week: "Nanny" (Aunt Nancy).

The sweetest sound of all sounds is Lyla's little voice.


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Hiding Place???

So, Lyla has discovered a new hiding place, and unfortunately, it isn’t in the safest spot. We have to watch her every move these days…maybe putting her books in this cabinet wasn’t the greatest idea…

A Visit to Elizabethtown

The winter months in Louisville don’t leave a lot of options for a growing girl who wants to climb and run. Today, we took a trip to Elizabethtown to visit Mimi and to hang out for awhile at the play area at the Towne Mall there. Lyla lit up as soon as she saw it and, of course, was drawn to a pyramid that she wasn’t quite ready to climb up independently, but she certainly tried….again and and again and again:

Lyla has also developed a new skill: crawling. She is so excited to be able to go under things as well as over them, something she sort of skipped over when she was learning to walk:

Crawling to get to Mimi on the other side:

Lyla also greatly enjoyed sliding down the drawbridge:

Hmmm…what to do next?

Another wonderful day with our wonderful girl. She is so much fun!

Hanging Out with Abby & Sarah

Sarah & Abby came to visit this afternoon. Abby and I actually had to go wake Lyla up from her nap so that she could see them late this afternoon – I think her nap schedule is beginning to evolve to one nap a day, after lunch. Lyla enjoys sleeping…kind of her like her Daddy.

Here are pics:

Abby took this one of Sarah & I:

Our sweet girls:

An Evening with Isa & Uncle Kip

Tonight we spent the evening with Isabella and Uncle Kip while Aunt Beccs is out of town on a trip.

It is so much fun to watch the girls up and around together – lately, it’s the ultimate form of entertainment to see what they’ll do (and where they’ll go) next. They sometimes chase each other, dance together and they love to get into things with each other. It just keeps getting cuter and cuter.

After an afternoon of playing, we had pizza and veggies together. The girls loved it!

 

Then, a little more playing before bath time:

After bath dancing:

Our sweet, wonderful little girl:

Going through Mommy & Daddy’s (Aunt Weslea’s and Uncle Lance’s) laundry basket…needless to say, I had to fold these clothes TWICE:

Here, Lyla engaged in one of her new favorite past times – pulling off her socks:

It was a great evening – I think Uncle Kip especially enjoyed the Lyla’s “Where Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone” CD…

Hmmm…maybe Isabella will receive one for her birthday…..

A Visit from Blaire

We were happy that Blaire stopped by after her Gymboree class today – especially when Lyla pointed at her and said, “Baarre!”. We’ve been working on her name in her pictures, and it looks like it worked.

The girls had a good time playing together, after prolonged naps, that is. Of course, it was also very nice to spend some time with Aunt Jen as well.

Here are pics of our sweet girls:

Lyla + Liam

Today, we were happy that Liam came over to visit while Aunt Ang ran a few errands in preparation for Liam’s new cousin, Sam, to arrive home. We all had a marvelous time playing with Liam, especially Lyla. She is so happy that he is officially up and around – they really are great playmates.

Liam’s “creepy crab crawl”:

An early Valentine’s kiss for Liam:

Dancing together – incidentally, we LOVE Liam’s dance moves. Pictures just can’t possibly do them justice:

Up and around together:

Belly laughs at Liam:

Liam is a very special friend to Lyla. We feel so blessed by him, and we love watching him grow!

Snow Day!!!

Today was one of those magical days when all the stars align and everything just works out. We spent the afternoon with Ari & Rand, and Lyla loved every moment of playing in the “..nnooww”, as she calls it.

I love watching the relationship develop between Lyla and Rand. They are becoming good friends, and I think she will remember him as one of her very first playmates. He watches over her, and is really mindful of everything she does, like a big brother. Likewise, Lyla loves watching every little thing he does – while she can never keep up, just watching him slide down the hill on his brand new tube gave her great pleasure.

I am struck at the difference between this year and last, when we were “snowed in” with Rand & Ari at almost this exact same time of year (It was early February, 2010 to be exact). Startling differences in the photos:

Then:

Now:

Then:

Now (Love the smile, Rand):

Then:

Now:

What a difference a year makes!

Here are more pics of the afternoon:

One of Lyla’s great joys in life these days is eating snow. It doesn’t matter if it’s outside, or if it’s snow that Mommy and Daddy have tracked in the house, we have to keep a close eye on her. I was very proud of her today when her “Christmas Story-esque” snow suit caused her to lose her balance and fall literally face first into the snow. She popped up, licked her lips and kept on ticking. I, meanwhile, successfully resisted the urge to run inside in search of a dry towel for her sweet little face. :)

We laughed until our sides hurt at Rand and his new tube. It FLEW down the hill, even a little faster than I think Ari originally anticipated:

And, of course, no snow day would be complete without some hot cocoa and chocolate chip cookies after. Ahhh, it was truly a wonderful day.

Are these WAVES in Miss Q.’s hair?!?! Hmmmm…..