Goodnight stories

Lily has always liked to keep her night-time story in bed with her. But lately, this is what we find when we check on her before we go to bed. We hear her for hours sitting in her bed "reading" to herself.

Dance class

For about six months Lily has said, "when I turn three I can go to dance class!" Well it's that time, my little girl is growing up. She got a little leotard and tutu for her birthday and I signed her up at a cute little studio in Farmington. The big day finally came, she had been talking about dance class for days. But when it actually came down to going she got a little nervous. Luckily, her cute little friend Olivia is in the same class and she helped warm her up to the idea. In just five minutes she was hooked. She learned about shasay's, relevae, and the beginning of a dance for a spring concert! When we got home she was dancing all over the kitchen and said, "I want to go again, in three days!" She wasn't very excited when I told her she has to wait seven days, but either way, Tuesday's are sure to be her favorite days now!

2/17 - the big day

The morning...


The day...


For dinner...


For fun...

A 3 year old's birthday party!

Lily was so excited to celebrate her birthday with her friends and cousins. Her only requests for her party were to eat pink "cuppy cakes" with pink frosting and pink applesauce.


We played "happy..happy..birthday" (duck..duck..goose), slam the lid on the balloons when the secret word "birthday" was said, and a funny hullabaloo game we borrowed from little Laura and Zak where the kids just ended up running is circles. Then each friend got their own candle to blow out in their cupcake. Topped off with some white chocolate popcorn, carmel popcorn, jolly rancher jelly beans, and of course pink applesauce it was a great 3 year old's little birthday party!


When the parents started showing up to take kids home Lily got really sad and said, "I want to do it again." I told her we could probably make that happen in a year or two :)

Valentine's Parties

February is full of LOVE! And I like it!! Valentine's celebrations last a good three or four days with parties, dates, and gifts. Lily had so much fun this year making and giving out Valentine's cards and treats to all the cousins and grandparents. Grandma Stewart started out the love fun with making delish sugar cookies and letting all the kids frost and decorate them with yummy candies. Lily's favorite part about parties is spending time with the cousins. Now thinking back, I don't know that she even ate a single cookie (so far from her momma's thinking where food is the center of any gathering)!


Then the child in all of us comes through at the Heslop party. Grandma Heslop decorated the basement with pictures of everyone is giant hearts, so cute! Jaxon planned the whole night with games like heart..heart..broken heart (duck..duck..goose), shoot the heart with a dart gun, relay race with a balloon between the legs (we all had some good laughs with that one), and of course giving out our valentine's.

So many duckies

"Only rubber duckies can eat water! I can't eat the water though!!" - Lily

Daddy brought the kids a few rubber duckies home from a business trip. They could have played in the tub for hours with their new toys if I were to let their skin turn permanently raisiny! Thanks to Daddy for so many fun tubby times to come...

Tears and Highs

Our friends Shay, Olivia, and Korver invited us to Boondocks - a first for us - to play at their Kiddie Corner jungle gym. The afternoon was full of heart-wrenching tears and exceptional highs. It took Lily A LOT of convincing to try and climb the netted gym instead of just running around on the ground level. I even entered the miniature germ-fest myself to lead her in the right direction a few times.

Eventually, we're talking a good 15-20 minutes of baby-steps, with Olivia's help and my constant coaxing, Lily made it to the top row of nets. Only then she was frozen with fear and couldn't seem to move either way. Even with Olivia trying to show her the way, all she could do was cry :( So in I went again, climbing to the very tip-top on my hands and knees the whole way. I carried my little Lily the whole way down. Thank goodness no one else was in the Kiddie Corner to see my heroic act of love. I was a little shocked she was not more adventurous - we will have to work on that.

Stew had a bit of a rough go too at time. But for the most part it was a great day with friends that I know Lily will be talking about for days!