Lily's favorite things (age 3)

1. Shoes (and socks)- for fun she just sits by her closet trying on shoes (including shoes from past months that are way too small for her) and then stands up and looks at them in the mirror. For some reason she must be wearing socks to don her shoes :)

Really got my money's worth here; Lily first wore these shoes at 15 months.

In mommy's high heels with yellow socks. Lovely!

Another nice look: She's wearing her purple princess high heels with Christmas socks :)

2. Eating (she is always hungry!)- anything and everything except for onions, black olives, and fresh mozzarella cheese. Mashed potatoes is her current favorite, followed closely by cheeseburgers and baked ziti :)

3. Being Dora the Explorer!

Lily's (I mean Dora's) outfit is complete with a pink t-shirt, orange shorts, white sneakers, yellow socks, a backpack, and Boots too:) She'd wear this everyday if she could!


4. Painting - rainbows have been the most frequent subject of her paintings for some time, as you can see in the 2 below:

Title: Rainbow

Medium: Watercolor

Age: 2

Title: Rainbow

Medium: Watercolor

Age: 3

5. Books- Here are Lily's favorite books over the course of her 3 years:

age 1: Water, Water Everywhere - Lily just couldn't get enough of that "opopus" (aka octopus)!
age 2: Millie Moo (given to her by Aunt Amy) - She loved this one for two reasons: It's all about bright and funny animals and, due to the repetitive story line, she was able to remember the words so that she could "read" it to herself.
age 3: Ballet Kitty - for obvious reasons :)


6. Doing EVERYTHING all by herself! Here are a couple of examples:

Ex. 1 Dressing herself

Nice job Lily!

Actually on closer inspection looks like she made a booboo with the shorts (they're on backwards)

and oops- the shoes are on the wrong feet :)

Ex. 2 Going potty (sorry Lily- I couldn't resist)

She now even refuses to use the potty ring. She just hoists herself up there and balances on the front of the seat!

7. Beginning and ending each question or statement with the word Mommy- just kidding :)

Not so favorite things:

1. Going potty in public restrooms (the result of the infamous chuckee cheese incident )

*Update: she has recently done this 3 times in bathrooms that I have made sure do not have automatic flush toilets (incentives were involved, of course) Yeah!

2. Strange/loud noises (ie "Mama, what was that noise, Mama!?" ) - fireworks, thunder, people banging around in the condo above us, and of course loud automatic flushing toilets, to name a few.


3. Sharing her toys with Sophie- getting better at it, though!- when not tired or hungry :)

4. "The hand"- a disembodied hand that she believes resides at Grammy and Bebop's old house. Thank goodness they moved!

Fun in the Sun at Grandma's Pool!

A couple of weekends ago, we spent the afternoon at the pool with Grandma and Paige. Here are some pics of the great and tiring day- Lily and Sophie slept most of the way home!

All 3 girls loved the little watering cans that they found at the baby pool. Here is Lily "watering" Paige!

So generous of Sophie to share some of her soggy cereal with Grandma!

What a handsome couple :)

Paige and Sophie sharing a towel- too cute!

This video of Lily and Paige is too adorable. Lily is showing Paige how to "swim" with a pool noodle- at least how she thinks it should be used- and Paige is more than willing to give it a try:)

Back at Grandma's house for more fun and more cute pics too!

One of my favorite pictures of Paige with her head resting against her hand- so sweet!

They may not be smiling or looking at the camera, but we somehow got them all together in one picture. Finally!

Couch potatoes!

Despite her attempts to play hard to get- Sophie can't help but love to be with her Grandma!

Lily (aka miss smarty pants)

During nap time today I heard a loud knocking sound coming from the girls' room and then Sophie woke up and began to cry. Here is the conversation that Lily and I had about this:

Me: "Lily, did you just wake up Sophie by getting out of bed and knocking on the side of her crib?!"
Lily: "Not really. . ."
Me: "Then what did you just do!"-my voice getting louder
pause
Lily: "It was more like tapping."

Out smarted by a 3 year old. I know, it's sad ;)

Visiting at Grammy and Bebop's new house!

We recently spent the day with Grammy at her (and Bebop's) beautiful new home in Aldie, VA and had a great time! Lily and Sophie just don't know what to do with themselves in this huge place- oh, well actually they do: they run around and around like very loud wild animals :)

Lily's favorite room; the kitchen!

Here is where all the crazy running takes place: in a loop created by the family room, kitchen, and two hallways. Sophie can't get enough of going up and down the steps to enter the family room!

Grammy giving Sophie her first piano lesson in the sun room(eg- making sure she doesn't fall off the piano bench)!

My little Beethoven's

This one reminds me of a picture in a calendar I once had with a bunch of kittens sitting on a piano bench, all looking in one direction!

Lily loves taking turns dancing to live piano music- first Grammy plays for Lily and then Lily plays for Grammy :)

In their new t-shirts brought back from Grammy and Bebop's recent trip to Italy- ciao bella's!

Bebop's home! Yeah!!!


Grammy and Bebop recognize the importance of Sophie learning their proper titles! Here is a video of Sophie's first of many lessons :)

New skills, part 2!- special bonus edition!

Its time for more new skills! In this edition you'll see Sophie riding the horse without help and Lily hopping on one foot for the first time!- Not an easy task for those poor little pronated feet :)

Special bonus: Lily is in the beginning stages of learning how to swing independently. She has been able pump her legs for some time, but hasn't been able to gather any momentum from just the leg action. She is now beginning to encorporate her upper body for brief periods before losing the momentum- she's quite happy with her latest accomplishment!

At the mall with Grammy!

Here are a few pics of our recent trip to the mall to have lunch with grammy. The kids play area at Tyson's Mall is one of Lily and Sophie's favorite places and getting to go out to lunch with grammy was just icing on the cake!

My little tree climber!

There just happened to be a kid's show at the play area when we were there. Here Sophie is clapping happily along with the other kids, having no idea why the heck she is clapping :)

Lily being a bad influence on the kid behind her :)

Thankfully got at least a one good pic of grammy and miss obstinate!

New Skills!

Its amazing how kids sometimes change literally overnight. One day Lily was too afraid to put her face in the water, the next day she wasn't and now she does it eagerly! One day Sophie needed assistance to eat with utensils, the next day she didn't!- still a messy event though :) Way to go girls!

Check back very soon for more new skills!