Lily's Birthday Weekend
For Lily's birthday this year, Keith and I wanted to keep things simple. Her birthday technically was on Thursday, but we decided to have a little family celebration on Saturday.
Thursday I took Lily to our favorite local library class for toddlers and babies. We love this little class that we go to and I have met some fantastic women who are stay at home mommies. The lady who runs the program is great with the children. The first time I met her I was a little taken aback because she portrays the role of a middle aged "biker chick." I fell in love with her the minute she began singing her silly songs to the babies. The children adore her and even Lily will crawl over and let her hold her. We bang sticks, parachute, play with scarves, and practice dancing.
Friday morning Keith took off as usual for work in the morning and Lily and I got up and got ready to walk over to my mother's group that was (lucky for him) with in walking distance. I kept seesawing between borrowing the car or just walking because of the threat of rain, but in the end I decided to walk and I'm sure Keith felt really relieved...for a good reason!
While I was in the middle of washing dishes that afternoon I heard the door to the living room open. In alarm I set down the plate I was washing, a million things running through my head. When I walked into the dining room Keith was standing there with two other people. It took me about 5 long seconds to put together the fact that he'd shown up with
JULIA and
MARK!!! (They are my sister and brother in law.) After things started to connect in my ever-so-slow-firing-neuron-center I completely freaked out. I couldn't believe that they were there! I have honestly only been THAT surprised maybe two or three other times in my long little life. I'm sure I said a million dumb things in that moment, but I was ecstatic to have them in my living room in the flesh.
Julia had found killer tickets online and cooked this up with Keith to surprise me and it was awesome!!! We had a great weekend with them and had a chance to get to know Mark who got back from a tour of duty in Iraq last month. I have to say, what a catch! We are so happy Mark is in our family. And, oh boy, so is Lily! He quickly became her favorite person in the house. She preferred Mark over everyone and made sure he was by her side at all times. She spent the weekend sharing EVERYTHING with him, constantly requesting him to hold her, and gave him tons of hugs and kisses. If I didn't know better, I would swear she's trying to sweep him off his feet! Julia tolerated it because Lily adores her too! It was wonderful being surrounded all weekend by great people.
Saturday we took Lily to the skating rink for her birthday. I bought a cheap umbrella stroller, we rented some old school skates and hit the rink! It was pretty fun, but Lily was a little weirded out by the new experience. She made sure Julia or I were holding her hand at all times. Julia was a pro at taking Lily around the rink in her stroller and Lily stuck her whole fist in her mouth, trying hard not to cry and be brave. It was fun to go old school.
We came home and gave Lily a chance to dig into her cake (see previous post). She was just the pickiest little thing and unsure what we expected out of her. I can tell now that she is going to be an obedient child. She waited for instructions and even then was hesitant. I made a "Hello Kitty!" cake because she adores cats (Hi Romeo! Hi Sophie!) and it was one of her first words. We then opened presents and she insisted on sharing each gift with Mark and Julia. I have to say, they are going to be GREAT parents. Can you tell that I adore my sister and brother in law?
A cute little piggy bank from Grandma Miles...it even says Lily!
Lily models her new outfit from Gramma K. (she posed all on her own).
What a great weekend! Thanks Julia and Mark for coming to play!
