Happy 2nd Birthday!

It is hard to believe that Lily is already 2! Where has the time gone. It seems like only yesterday that we were bringing her home from the hospital. For her birthday dinner, we went to Kathy and Bill's house and ate with Grandma and Grandpa.

"Sweet! A baby doll, a stroller, a high chair, and a cradle! Just what I wanted!"

Happy Birthday to me!

"This year I am can eat my cupcake with a fork mySELF!"

"Can you say SUGAR HIGH?!"

Natural History Museum

On Monday, Lily, Sarah, and Aunt Rachel picked me up at work and we all went to the Natural History Museum. Lily had a great time looking at the animals in the mammal room and was strangely fascinated by the prehistoric cavemen exhibit.

"These zebras looked like stripped horses!"

"Aunt Rachie, this is a lot of fun!"

"That giraffe is so tall!"

Apron

Aunt Rachie came to visit earlier in the week and brought a present with her, an apron! Now when we cook in our kitchen and serve food, we won't get dirty! Thank you Aunt Rachel and Uncle Steve!

Baby Ilana

Last weekend, our friend Ryan brought his new baby sister (and his parents to visit us). Lily loved watching baby Ilana and playing play-doh with Ryan.

"Baby Ilana is SO cute!"

"Here baby Ilana, you can use my buzzy seat!"

"What color play-doh do you have Ryan?"

Slippers!

For our 200th blog post, Lily decided she wanted to wear my flip flops in the basement. Because this isn't a safe activity, Sarah suggested that Lily wear slippers (she just got very cute ones for Hanukkah from Grandma and Grandpa). Lily didn't want to wear those slippers, but instead wanted to wear Mommy's Vera Bradley slippers...

"Thank you for helping me put them on Mommy"

"These slippers are much easier to walk in than Daddy's flip-flops"

Snowy Visit

With almost 2 feet of snow over the weekend, Lily had a chance to play alot with Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Dave. She had a great time! This included:

Helping Grandpa blow out the candles on his birthday brownie:

Playing with Grandpa and Uncle Dave at the "beach".

And, what would a weekend with family be without getting everyone together for a picture?

Last Night of Hanukkah & SNOW

For the last night of Hanukkah, Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Dave came to visit. After lighting the candles, Lily opened her presents and then had soup for dinner.

"Chopsticks are fun, even if they weren't meant for soup!"

And here is a video of Lily playing with her new "cut-able fruit."

Today, it snowed. A lot. (We think 24 inches.) Here are some pictures from the middle of the day (not done snowing yet). The deck:

The front (we had already cleaned 8 inches off the car in the morning):

"
"Snow is tiring... even if you don't go play in it because you don't want to take off your comfy pjs."

An Hanukkah Interlude

It's the 4th night of Hanukkah. Here are some pictures from tonight with Lily being cute and funny.

Happy Hanukkah!

Tonight was the first night of Hanukkah. After lighting the candles, Lily had a blast opening and playing with her presents.

Oven Mitts!

This evening, Lily was cooking in her kitchen when she decided she needed mitts to take food out of the oven. At first, she tried to use the real oven mitts, but they made it difficult to open the oven and turn the knobs. Then Sarah remembered a present Grandma and Grandpa bought Lily...Mittens! These turned out to be great oven mitts!

Thanksgiving 2009

Lily had a great time "helping" make stuffing for Thanksgiving dinner at Grammy's house in Pittsburgh. She moved all of the celery from the counter to the colander.

She also helped mix the stuffing together with Aunt Rachel!

All the Elbling girls!

Bowling

For her first birthday Uncle Dave got Lily a set of animal bowling. While she has always liked the animals and playing with the pieces individually, she's just starting to get the idea of bowling.

The Horn Goes Beep Beep

Lately, when we get home from school, Lily insists on climbing in the front seat and makes me close the driver's door so she can "drive" properly. Pretending to turn the wheel, saying "beep beep," wearing her sunglasses (of course), etc. I tried to capture it for you on video, but it didn't come out that great. But she still said "beep beep" so I figured it was worth posting.

"Mommy, I can't turn for a picture now, I'm DRIVING!"

"I can barely see over the steering wheel, I hope I don't hit anything."

Fun with Bubble Wrap

Today we got a packet that was wrapped in bubble wrap, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to show Lily how fun bubble wrap could be.

Party People

Lily has been lucky enough to be invited to a number of birthday parties lately. Not only are these parties a lot of fun, but they are also good practice for her upcoming birthday.

Music time at Dara's Party

"Watch me hula hoop!"

"Parachutes are always fun, can we do this at my party?"

"Playing might be fun, but not as fun as CAKE!!!!"

"and Ada's Mommy thought cake in a cone would be neater!"

Trick or Treat!

After dinner, we headed over to Stacy and Neil's house with Sara, Sadie, Dave, and Sadie's Mimi and Zayde who were in town. They have a great neighborhood for trick or treating with 2 toddlers. Lily was a little unsure of what to do at first but after watching Sadie for a few houses her toddler hoarding instinct kicked in and her little hand was reaching for candy like all the other kids.

"Hey adults! I'm all ready for trick or treating!"

Stacy had special treats for 2 of her favorite trick or treaters - goldfish!

"Sadie, are you sure someone is home here?"

"Daddy is a good trick or treater!"

"Ooh! Candy!"

"I got a lot of candy! I got a lot of candy!"

"Argh! This won't open!"

"Thanks for opening the mini oreos Mommy and Daddy!"

Halloween Day Care Party

Let me start by saying these women are BRAVE. I would not have volunteered to put a bunch of almost 2 year olds into costumes that honestly, a lot of them didn't want to wear (at first). But then there was a parade (fun) and cookies (really fun) and dancing (really fun and really cute).

"Parades are fun!"

"Cookie!!"

Raking Leaves with Daddy

Lily LOVES to sweep. She's been spending time in the 2 year old room at daycare and the teachers commented to me that they think that Lily wants to use the potty... until I showed them that the reason she was in there all the time was that she was trying to get the broom and dustpan! Here are some candids of her "helping" Jake rake leaves.

"First, help Daddy make a big pile of leaves."

"Then you have to get the leaves on your broom, just like Daddy does with his rake."

"Then you get your broom up to the bag, just like Daddy does it!"

"Now my leaves are in the bag!"

"Time for more leaves!"