Today is Lily's First Birthday!

Today is Lily's first birthday!! Aunt Rachel helped me take this picture this morning.

"I am 1 year old today!"

As many of you know, Lily is an excellent dancer. She loves dancing to the music on her new car from Papa J. Rachel and I thought her shoulder action was too cute not to share. Sorry I forgot that movie mode can't be rotated. Just turn your head to the left. :)

First Birthday Party

Lily's first birthday party was this past weekend and our family came in from out of town to help Lily celebrate.

"Hi Ryan, let's play with the music table together"

The cake was imported from the former Kaufmann's (now Macy's) bakery in Pittsburgh!

Yummy~!!

"Thank you Mommy and Daddy for helping me blow out my candles"

"This cake looks good!"

"It is good!"

"Practicing unwrapping presents at Hanukkah has made me an expert!"

Happy Hanukkah!

With tonight being the last night of Hanukkah, we thought we would post some pictures from the week of lighting candles and opening presents.

For the first night of Hanukkah, Grammy came to visit!

"Wow Grammy, this is a big box!"

"Thanks for the farm Grammy, these Little People animals are tasty"

Lily used Hanukkah to practice unwrapping her presents for her birthday party. By the third night, she was an unwrapping pro!

"Daddy, I can unwrap this all by myself!"

Lily's First Haircut

This morning, Lily had her first haircut! We took her to Sarah's stylist, Linda. Lily just got a trim of her hair in the back. Here are some before and after pictures and video:

Before

"Mommy's hair looks good, can Linda do that for me to?"

During

"This isn't so bad! They have cheerios to snack on here."

"I hope we aren't done, I don't really like the hair in my face"

After

"We look marvelous!"

Chicken Soup for Lily

A couple of Friday nights ago we had chicken soup for dinner. Lily enjoyed some of the meat from the soup and the carrots, but she wasn't satisfied until she had some soup. Watch for yourself:

Cooking with Mommy

This past weekend, Lily got the chance to "help" Mommy cook. To make sure she was safe while she watched Sarah, we got out our travel backpack that we used for Maryland games.


While she wasn't in the backpack, Lily enjoyed emptying out our pumpkin basket full of tea!

Lily at Daycare

We are very lucky to have found a daycare that takes great care of Lily. Lily's teacher, Kim, keeps her digital camera with her at work and recently emailed me some shots of Lily at school. Here are a few:

Apparently Kim found the sunglasses in Lily's backpack. :)

"Even super stars like me have to stop and eat their Cheerios."

"Really, I'm done resting!"

"I like music time."

"Hey Kim! Can you see my tonsils?!"

"I called up Audrey this morning and told her to wear her Carter's heart shirt and purple pants so we could be twins. I kept crawling into Faith's room and she would go, 'Wait, which one is Audrey?!' It was funny."

Playing Ball

Lately, Lily has been enjoying playing ball. Tonight she played with Sarah for almost 10 minutes!

Lily's First Thanksgiving

As many of you know, we spent Thanksgiving in Pittsburgh with Grammy, Papa J, Aunt Rachel, and Uncle Steve. Here are some pictures of the weekend.

"I'm so excited to be in Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving!"

"I knew I could count on Papa J to give me apple pie the night before Thanksgiving. Grammy makes good apple pie."

"Turkey tastes like chicken."

The girls in the kitchen after dinner.

"After mom put me in my pjs, I got some pumpkin pie. That was better then the apple, Grammy! I ate the whole piece, sans crust."

Eddie pouting because he's no longer the center of attention.

"Ok Brayden, so when they think we're playing quietly, you create a diversion and I'll grab the rest of the pumpkin pie. We'll meet behind the cooler to chow down."

The Major Giggles!

We got back late last night from Thanksgiving in Pittsburgh and will post pictures a little later today from our visit. For now, enjoy these two videos. The first is of Lily with the major giggles. We were playing in Grammy Cookie's living room and got the giggles.

This second video is Lily "shopping" in our basement. She has figured out how to use the shopping cart to walk around the basement.

Tickle Monster

Lily got attacked by the tickle monster! Enjoy the giggles...

I can stand up byself...

... as long as I don't realize I'm doing it. Then I get nervous because no one is helping me.

Walking

Lily has learned to walk a little if you hold her hands. She hasn't, yet, figured out that she needs to bend her knees, so her walking is this cute, stiff-legged movement.

Dinner with Ryan

Here are 2 cute pictures of Lily and Ryan at dinner together.

"Lily, do you think your mom is going to eat the cheese off her burger?

"She's not?! Aw snap! That means we get it!!"

The Step

As many of you know, we have a step between our living room and dining room. A couple of days ago, Lily decided that while she was playing with me in the living room she wanted her Mommy who was in the kitchen. So off she set and for the first time figured out how to climb the step. Now it has become a relatively routine activity for her. Tonight, I was able to capture her step climbing in all its glory. Make sure you notice how she half stands up in order to get over the step. So cute!

The T-Shirt Doesn't Lie

It was quite warm here yesterday, and Lily got a chance to wear one of her new short sleeve shirts. What do you think? Does the shirt make you smile?

As you know from our previous post, Lily is crawling. Because we have a step between our living room and dining room, she has been contained, thus far, in the living room. This is great for Sarah and me, as we don't have to worry about her wandering away. Last night, she made one of her first attempts at climbing the stair. She is so cute trying to figure out how to get her knees up and over the step.


She hasn't figured it out quite yet, but I'm sure she is going to any day now! That is both exciting and scary.

Crawling!

Well, it finally happened - Lily is not just crawling one or 2 steps. Two nights ago she scaled the basement. Here's a video of her crawling yesterday:

And here is a picture of her today, on her 10 month birthday. Hopefully we will get a chance to take "formal" 10 month pictures tomorrow.

"I got the monkey!"

Quenching Lily's Thirst

Lily has recently been drinking water from a sippy cup. Tonight however, she decided she wanted water from my cup. I thought her mouth was hysterical.

Once her thirst was quenched, Lily played with her shopping cart.

"I know those eggs are in here somewhere..."

"Here they are!"

Chicken & Broccoli

Tonight, Lily informed us that she is ready to eat Chinese food (minus the soy sauce). She had chicken and broccoli for dinner!

Lily's menu has really grown lately. Current favorites include mac and cheese, cut up hamburger, and cheese. We are lucky that Lily's daycare serves a hot lunch everyday. Lily is really enjoying Mr. Raul's cooking!

Maryland v. Wake Forest

This morning, we headed to College Park for the Maryland/Wake Forest football game. While we didn't stay very long at the actual game, Lily had a great time tailgating.

The Whole Family :)

"Mom, your kisses are tickling me!"

"This tailgating thing is fun!"

"Are you sure I can't have this soda?"

Yom Kippur

We spent Yom Kippur in New Jersey with my family. Lily had a good time playing with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle David, and Great-Grandma Irene. She even enjoyed her time at synagogue on Thursday morning.

"Hi Great-Grandma, do you want to play?"

"Is everybody looking at me?"

"Uncle Dave!"

"You are a good playmate, Grandma"

An "Interpretive" Reading of Goodnight Moon

Lily LOVES her books. Here is a cute video of her "reading" (and by reading I mean blowing raspberries) Goodnight Moon. You may need to turn your sound up.

So you're wondering now: Sarah, what's up with Lily's hair??? Well, she's been pulling her barrette out at daycare and putting it in her mouth. She's never done this at home. Her teacher suggested the fabric ponytail holders. Don't worry, this is only a daycare hairdo. We still use the cute barrettes on the weekends.

Rosh Hashanah

Yesterday, we returned from Pittsburgh and Lily's first Rosh Hashanah. She celebrated the new year in style with the family.

Erev Rosh Hashanah Dinner

"Hi Uncle Irv"

Cousin Justin

After services with Mommy

"Look how tall I am Papa J"

"Cousin Morgan, we girls have to stick together!"