Almost Caught Up!

Right after Thanksgiving (which, by the way, was delish and festive and fun, but no pictures to prove it, sorry!), we had the honor of being invited to a special lighting ceremony at the temple visitor's center.  Each year, the church organizes a lighting ceremony before it opens to the public.  The first night, ambassadors from around the world are invited and a general authority usually comes to speak.  The second night, all the stake presidents and their families from the surrounding area are invited with all the staff of the ambassadors.  There's a short fireside-type program, then they turn on the amazing set of over 500,000 lights!  Along with the lights, there are Christmas trees scattered throughout the visitor's center, each one decorated by a different stake in the area.

Here's the Suitland Stake tree.

Here's a sample of Lillie trying her hand at taking pictures.  We need to work a little on the focusing.

I may be a bit bias, but the BEST part of the evening was when they called all the children to come to the front to sing a few songs with the Washington DC Choir.  Where's Waldo...I mean Lillie??

Stunned, but cute, right?!?!

Here's Lillie with some of her friends we saw there, from the stake.

How's THAT for a pose!!  Nice shot Daddy...ha ha

Yes, she looks tired or iritated or something, but I promise I wasn't pinching her!  HONEST! ha ha

Did I mention over 500,000 lights!!

We are a Hap-py Fa-mi-ly!



It's ALL About the Glasses

Let me give some background.  EVERY time we go to a store where they sell glasses (and I'm not talking Lens Crafters or anything, I mean Office Depot and Walmart where there are little turnstiles with ANY type of glasses!), Lillie takes a minute to try some on.  So, while looking for Halloween costumes, we found some pretty snazzy costume glasses that she LOVED.  So with her new "glasses" and her newest obsession with electronics, this is what we get...

"Shhhh!  She's concentrating"

"Oh yes, that's right.  Let me write that up."

"Hold on, I need to proofread that!"

A hard day of work in her office!

LONG Overdue!!

So without going into TOO much detail...we had technical difficulties and thought we had lost some pictures we had taken.  Well, to our surprise (and delight!), we "fixed" everything and voila, we have pictures again!!  So, without further ado, we present...well, you'll see.  Happy Halloween!

It's Mulan, of course!

The pose of choice, obviously!

There's the smile!

Ready for anything!

Off to trick-or-treat

At the neighbors, with the neighborhood boys.

Seriously, can you get any cuter!!!???!

Daddy's desk at work

Lillie gave daddy this snow man for Christmas, and daddy decided to put it on his desk.

On Saturday, Lillie went to a birthday party for twin girls that are friends from DC.  The theme was an Animal Safari.  The day started out with some Model Magic and the kids could make any animal they wanted

 Lillie decided to go with her present favorite animal...the butterfly.

 Then it was off to play an animal game, loaded with props, some charades slash pictionary, and a lot of fun.  Notice the creature in black and white to the right of Lillie.  That was one of the birthday twins.  There was a professional face painter hired for the party.  Lillie usually NEVER likes face painting of any kind.  Mainly because it often gets her itchy and she worries about her eczema.  BUT....

 Look who took the plunge!!  It's the Asian Tigress!  Seriously, how cute can she be!!

 After asking for a mirror and trying to see her reflection in the tv, refrigerator, and anything she found shiny (I'm totally not exaggerating!), we went out for a little pinata fun!

 Go Tigress!!

 It was a very fun party, where Lillie got a soft clay butterfly, a book, "Bread and Jam for Frances", some treats, a cheese pizza lunch, lots of play time, and a makeover that lasted until she took a bath that night!

 "GRRRRR!"

 And of course, look who had to get involved!!!  Daddy Tiger!  ha ha

The County Fair...Woohoo!!

Well, it was sort of a woohoo. A smaller fair came into town at the beginning of the month, but we told Lillie to hold off until the big county fair came. The whole county closes school for a day during the fair - FUN, huh??!! Anyway, she agreed and waited. Well, the week of the fair was not the greatest weather! It pretty much rained the whole time. So on the night we planned to go, we packed our umbrellas and, slightly grudgingly, drove to the fair. On the way, we told Lillie that if it rained too hard, we would need to leave early. Well, as luck would have it, it rained the whole time we were there...ugh! Not too hard, and barely a drizzle at times, but we tried to have fun anyway. It's a good thing that all the rides Lillie wanted to go on were covered!

The first stop, however, was the lion's den! Lillie was NOT that happy, but I had to get a shot of the cool white tiger!

Then after some great carnival food (the best pit beef sandwiches EVER!), it was on to the rides! Carousel first...twice in a row.

Then Mr. Alligator took Lillie for a ride.

Lillie couldn't pass up the speed boats!

Then we ended with the all important ferris wheel.

Blurry, I KNOW! Just remember...rain, umbrella, moving object.

"I'm DONE!" Not really. Lillie loved every minute of the fair. I know through pictures it doesn't seem like a lot, but Lillie rode many of those rides twice and sometimes THREE times! We ended with some freshly squeezed lemonade, cotton candy, and some fried pickles! YUM! (I know, one goes a little crazy with the food choices at the fair!). Lillie would have stayed all night, if she could. But alas, we headed home with a full belly and some great memories.

So it's been a little while, and a few things have taken place since.  First of all, with some MAJOR help from a friend, I tried my hand at making a dress for Lillie.  True to form, we didn't follow a pattern completely.  In fact, we used the top pattern from a dress, a different skirt pattern, some made up stuff here and there, a few snips, and tucks, and voila...here it is!

 I can see all the flubs along the way, but Lillie loves it, and that's all that matters.  The circle skirt gives a BIG twirl, which you know earned BIG points from Lillie!  Happy Twirling, Baby!

This past weekend we went to an Artsfest. It advertises as the largest fair featuring local artists, food, and activities for the kids. We didn't quite know what to expect, but we had a fun time.

There was a tent of fun things for Lillie. They had tissue paper collage magnets, foam purses, and a fairy mural. They had over 100 booths of local vendors selling everything from plants, to clay sculptures, superhero capes to stained glass, and everything in between. It was fun to look around. They also had a fun little scavenger hunt for Lillie...looking for the gnome homes nestled along the wooded paths of the booths. Lillie started by saying, "C'mon, Mommy we have to find more Gnomo homes." But by the end, she ALMOST got the name right! ha ha

While we listened to local musical groups and ate delicious fair food, Lillie played in the ZANY ZONE! A cute little setup of ribbon wands, hoola hoops, puppets, BIG inflatable balls, and walking feet.And how could I forget...bubbles!Walking feet - I couldn't figure out what to call them. This ended up being Lillie's favorite.Here's daddy enjoying some fresh squeezed lemonade. I know, creepy but cute!A short walking bridge among the treesHere's my cute girl!

So with a crazy week of earthquakes and hurricanes, Lillie started school, had a break from school, and then started again. In all, I believe the county closed schools for 3 days while they removed debris from roads so buses could pass and schools got power back. Well, we couldn't let that time pass by, so Lillie had a play date with her favorite classmate, Sammy.

Much of the day was spent playing house, store, dress up, and princess.

Princess and the Castle took a good chunk of time, and the girls loved being together.They also had a picnic in the gazebo on the deck, then decided to pretend they were butterflies.

It's great to have the day off and a good friend to play with.