Where's Lilly?

Have I mentioned how much fun Lilly and I have together these days? Despite the fact that almost daily she asks, "Lilly, school? Lilly, school?"she is not in any sort of school yet and I, for one, am SO glad. We have all sorts of conversations as we run errands and complete the mundane tasks that must be done around the house that she amazingly never seems to tire of.
For the last few weeks Lilly has been slowly understanding the concept of hiding. When I come to get her in the morning or from a nap as soon as I walk through the door she shouts, "Boo!" And, each morning as I put on makeup and do the other things girls do in the morning she stuffs herself into my closet and says, "Where's Lilly?"

Aren't those little red shoes and purse sticking out just SO precious!?!?

To which I have to respond worriedly, "Oh no, where's Lilly gone?!?!" "Boo!" she says excitedly as if it were the first time she'd done this. And then she repeats the whole process. I LOVE it. I mean, after awhile it does get old- but how long will she actually do this? Soon, as I've learned, she'll be on to other things. So I think I'll appreciate our silly games for now....thanks Lilly.

Our baby blowed up the microwave!

That's what my two older girls told at least 5 people yesterday on the way to Chelsea to buy a new microwave that Lilly did indeed "blow up". They got looks of sheer horror with their news, and while it wasn't quite as dramatic as they made it sound the microwave is indeed dead. Here's the evidence.....

I was cleaning the plates after dinner while Josh and the big girls sat at the table discussing the day (although I'm positive the scene was not actually as calm as I just described- my kids yell....constantly and about everything, regardless of what they're saying be it nice, mean or in between I can pretty much guarantee....they're yelling- whew, now I feel better that I've gotten that out!). Lilly was ambling about as usual, doing goodness know's what- when all the sudden I smell smoke. I whirl around to find smoke billowing out of our laundry room. I'm not sure what happened after that other than that Josh appeared out of nowhere (did you jump over the table, babe?!?!) grabs the microwave and flings the thing outside. The entire house smelled like burned plastic- and still does I think. Yuck.
So, now we have a new microwave. And little miss Lilly has strict instructions to never go near it....or at least put battery laden toys in it. We hope.

We're back!

Well, we made it back from the good ol' US of A yesterday and I have to say it was a pretty seamless trip! Amazingly Annie fell asleep for the first time EVER on an international flight- there may have been a little medicinal help (nothing too much though!)- but either way she and her mama felt MUCH better yesterday than we have in years past. I don't have anything ready for the blogosphere quite yet but thought I'd post this link from my mom's....

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!!

...a little late...

We've had such fun over the last two weeks spending time with all sorts of family on this side of the pond that I haven't been able to find any spare minutes to blog- but here's Annie, her favourite cousin and their beloved Nana on our Christmas morning. A good time was certainly had by all- more on their fabulous time with cousins to come!

 And...Happy New Year! It was an unbelievable day today with not a cloud in the sky and 60 degree temperatures. Josh decided we needed a New Years Eve hike so we piled into our very large (in comparison) minivan and headed down the road from Nana and Papa's to Tallulah Gorge. It was amazing!

Even Lilly was up for the hike!

It wasn't too far that we had to hike in before we were amazed by the views. Apparently it's the deepest gorge east of the Mississippi.

I have to say, it was so fun to be able to do something like this with our little, but growing family. We never would have attempted a hike two years ago with our 2 year old, 3 year old and newborn!

They all needed a little help back to the car....Lilly still very happily rides in my Ergo (LOVE that thing!)...

The the "big" girls? They got a little different sort of ride, ha! Go Daddy!!

Happy New Year from our family to yours....

Cutting the curls!!

For the past few weeks Lilly's curls just haven't been what the were. She had never had a haircut, so when we drove by the JJs kids cuts today I knew we needed to stop.

On one hand I was hoping that cutting the ends would revive the curls but on the other I was so scared that cutting them would make them go away!!! But, I was SO relieved to find that it totally revived them and now she's looking more like our sweet little curly-haired Lilly....and not like a rodent made their nest in her hair! Yay, Lilly!

"Lil-ly 2!"

Yes, sweet Lilly is two today (well, actually yesterday- I'm a day late!)! I've worked with her for the last few weeks on this question, "Lilly, how old are you?" And until today she would respond with, "Lilly". Argh! But today, she finally got the question right! I asked her and she said, "Lil-ly 2!"
Unfortunately she had to travel on an airplane all day today, but she didn't seem to mind too much- especially when she was greeted by both of her grandmothers, Papa, Uncle Matt and a very pregnant Aunt Melissa! I didn't get many pictures from the day, but I'm sure we will when we celebrate tomorrow. For today though I had to share this sweet "card" that Annie made for her a few days ago in anticipation of Lilly's big day.

Merry Christmas to all....

Father Christmas came to Marville Road early this year! At least I suppose that's what the girls thought....if they actually stopped to think about it. Up until this year we haven't had to answer any difficult questions concerning the man in red- but when Annie came home with this....

I figured I'd better think fast!
It reads...
1. a DS (well, upon further questioning she doesn't even know what that is!)
2. an earthworm house
3. a fairy
4. a battle gun
5. a bell
6. a groovy girl (which she also wasn't sure what this was- so sweet, she said she put it on the list so she could find out what it is!)
And then came this....

And yes, she did tell Father Christmas that she wants a remote control tarantula for Christmas!! haha! Thankfully my brother is already on top of that one- right Uncle Nick?!?!
Anyways, "Father Christmas" did come through on the Ant House- however he forgot to think through the fact that ants are hard to come by in England during the winter, hmmm....
And, in case you're wondering, when asked about Father Christmas I responded with, "What do you think?" And then managed to change the subject, whew. And, thankfully nobody asked this morning when they came down the stairs to this...

We had a great morning opening presents and just being together...

Daddy reading the Christmas story to his girlies

Big sisters showing Lilly the ropes, it didn't take her long to catch on to the whole process.

Lilly finally has her own scooter!! And, notice Annie's headphones...she LOVES them! 

Christmas Breakfast...we had red velvet pancakes- thanks to pinterest!!

And, their last present was the news that.....WE'RE GOING SKIING!! So here they are decked out in their new gear. 

Here's Daddy's main present- a vintage map of Fulham, the area where we live

Afterwards they needed a bit of downtime- The Muppet Family Christmas is a classic Shores tradition, so here they are taking it in for the first time. 
Merry Christmas!