Friday, May 29, 2009

::dance party::

lily would do this all day... if only we could handle this music for that long!

ps. "rolling her hands" is something she came up with. one day she was dancing and told me to watch her "roll her hands!" since then, it's become her signature move!

Sunday, May 17, 2009

best thing ever...

lily and i drove up to DC today to pick ryan up from his flight back from london. we had been excitedly talking about his return all day. as we were driving, she suddenly got quiet and then said in her most serious voice, "mommy, i'm going to run to him."
and indeed she did.
love it so much.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

it makes our museum pale in comparision!

i was completely negligent in capturing anything on film while we were home. anything except for lily's first trip to the children's museum. the place is unreal. she actually RAN through the entire museum because she could hardly contain her excitement. it was awesome. (i think it brought out the kid in all of us!)












i remember always feeling a mix of excitement and a bit of fear (which i would NEVER have admitted to) in my childhood over this carousel. so, i wasn't so sure how lily would feel about it. well, as soon as the music stopped, i think she knew in her gut that the ride was about to end. she immediately looked at whit and with hope in her voice said, "maybe music come back on??" love accurately describes her emotions towards the experience!


after we realized how much she loved the carousel, we thought we'd save the 99 cents and see if a penny ride on the bucking bronco would appease her. well, buck it did... and it could not begin to take the place of the carousel...


so, being the truly amazing grandparent that muffy is, she of course, sprung for one more ride before we had to leave.
and yes, we did leave with lily in tears. it is just so hard to leave such a magical place! :)

thanks for a wonderful time at home to both of our families. we miss you dearly already!!

to be continued...

what started as a dream, came to fruition this spring. ry and both his brothers and mine had been planning the england-soccer-extravaganza trip for quite a while. and somehow, they actually pulled it off with all of their schedules and busy lives. so, these are the before pictures...

5 boys, going to england to do all things soccer. no women allowed. only a small backpack each. clearly not enough clean clothes for the duration. dozens of powerbars. lots of bank accounts with not a lot of cash. lots of reasons to celebrate between the five of them. and a great passion for soccer.

somehow, i have a feeling that when they all return tomorrow, none will look quite so fresh. hilarious stories will follow, probably many of which will remain sealed between the five of them. and memories that will last a lifetime will have been created.


(do note duke's "murse.")

CONGRATS!!

9 may '09 was a big day for our families. whit, brandon and colin all graduated at the same time...literally. we were very excited to get to share in the festivities, although we had to divide and conquer to make the most of it. but, we are so excited for all three of them as they begin this huge new chapter in their lives. congrats, twigs, b and col!!


colin accepting an award for anesthesia! (look on big screen to see him!)


it was not only a big day for our siblings, but for lily as well... her first visit to assembly hall! she could be found saying "go hoosiers!" all day long! (and ry could be heard saying, "lily, do you think you'd want to go to school here one day??")


i mean, you can see brandon, right? he was just to the right of the jumbo-tron.


she could not have been happier than to run up and down these ramps!







we are so proud of you guys. we love you so much. congrats!

Monday, May 4, 2009

Sunday, May 3, 2009

an ode to my dad...



you thought we invited you to come down,
just to deliver a bed.

little did you know about
the list of jobs i'd conjured in my head.

we worked you like a slave
for 24 hours straight.

we worked you to the bone
and in the end you were the one to fill our plate!

put together a crib three times?
make a new attic floor?

hang impossible items?
and then you said, "is there more?"

words cannot possibly thank you enough.
you truly are the best.

your expertise and help
are leaps and bounds above the rest.

so please, dear dad, thank you and
we hope you are resting.

and i wonder, after watching your wife do it five times,
do you think i am nesting?? :)

thank you, dad! we love you!!

so, my amazing father came down to visit at the drop of a hat, to deliver lily's new "big girl bed." he truly was coming on that pretense alone...but once i knew he would be in town, my imagination started going wild with all the possible jobs he might be an expert in helping us with.
this is just a list of a few of the jobs he did for us in one short day:

- make a new attic floor (and he and ry both said it was over 100 degrees up there!)
- remove a crazy-hole-inducing-hanging-calendar from the nursery wall.
- proceed to fix said holes in the wall
- rehang the calendar in a crazy place i conjured up that was nearly impossible!
- fix a phone jack that looked like it could electrocute someone
- install a new motion sensor for our outdoor porch light (he came up with this one on his own... i can't take credit for it!
- fix all five of lily's dresser drawers that were a HUGE pain!
- rearrange the nursery furniture with me about three different ways
- disassemble the crib because it would not fit through lily's door to go to the nursery.
- reassemble the crib in the nursery
- assemble lily's new bed
- get lily a mattress
- set up her bed with safety gate
- and still find time to take us on a run, get lily's FIRST ever donut (which she LOVED!) and go for coffee...and then grill us dinner!
phew!!

amazing, right? i know... he needs to charge us! thank you a million times over, dad!

and lily is in love with her new bed. upon coming home from any outing, she immediately says, "get in big girl bed??"
and last night when ryan got home the first words out of her mouth were, "daddy, look at big girl bed!" she ran back to her room with him and said, "daddy, isn't it beautiful?!" i have never heard her use the word "beautiful" before! wow! she is one happy girl!


lily waking up after her first night in her "beautiful" bed!

a tasting of some of the home improvements:

the nursery (and no, we don't know the gender...blue just happened!)


the less than 2' x 3' door that my dad and ryan had to finagle all of the wood through to the attic!


our new bathroom window.


new basement setup


new "office" space


and this may not look so tricky, but you have no idea how fortunate we are to have it hanging!

thank you again, dad!