Lilly's 3rd Birthday

Lilly had a very exciting birthday this year. Turning 3 is a big deal. On her actually birthday we had a dinner of white noodles (alfredo), opened presents, and had birthday cake. It was the first year we used our special birthday plate for a birthday dinner. The special plate was a tradition I had growing up so that was exciting for me. Lilly’s gifts included a camera, umbrella, large Minnie Mouse, stuffed cat, and Daniel the Tiger figurines. Lilly was excited about her cake and blew out the candles before we finished singing happy birthday or could take a picture.

The day after her birthday we had Lilly’s first birthday party. I decided to do a birthday party because I had felt bad about doing Lilly’s first two birthdays with just the three of us. That is something you usually do with extended family and since we were far away we couldn’t. So, I invited all of her nursery friends and we played carnival games and had cupcakes. Of course it was a Mickey Mouse theme – not Minnie Mouse. Our games included a fishing pond, clothes pin drop, ring toss, beanbag toss, and sucker pull. I got the cupcakes from the store and they were yummy. I also bought some fruit but I forgot to put it out. All the kids had fun. I am glad I decided to do it.

 

Dear Lilly,

And now you are three! You have had a big year. You went from saying one word at a time to talking all the time (non- stop), from a crib to a big girl’s bed, diapers to panties, and a single child to a big sister. You have taken all of these changes in stride and with ease (mostly).

You have turned into quite a little talker and you crack us up. The things you think of and say are hilarious. You like to tell me to stop so we can ‘talk about it’. Your favorite questions are ‘why’ and ‘what are you doing’. I don’t think you really want the answers you just want to chat about anything. You are extremely friendly and want to talk to everyone – almost too friendly. You are not shy at all and welcome everyone into our home. It is a good thing you can’t open the front door without me.

Some of the things we have been busy with this year is music class, art class, swimming lessons, play dates, trips to Chicago, and visits from Grandma Harris, your aunt Angie and cousin Logan.

The biggest change has been the arrival of your little brother, Bennett. You loved to talk to mommy about the baby the whole time I was pregnant. When Bennett came you were so cute and sweet with him. You like to sit and look at him. You call him baby Bennett and always make sure he has something to play with. You can’t wait until he gets big enough to play with.

Lilly you have been a joy to have in our lives. You are very loving and up for anything. We enjoy doing activities with you and taking you places. You get so excited and happy about whatever we are doing. I am so glad you are in our family.

We love you!

Mommy 

*Favorite Song: The Itsy Bitsy Spider, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Row Row Row your Boat, etc. You love to sing and will sing anything. You often make up your own songs.
*Favorite Books: Clifford the Big Red Dog and Pete the Cat. You like to read anything. *Does not like: Being told what to do and eating your food by yourself*Favorite Cartoon: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Cinderella, and Bubble Guppies*Things you are good at: Counting, shapes, colors, and sharing your toys with your friends

Grandma's Visit

In mid October we had the wonderful opportunity to have Tyson’s mom, Grandma Harris (AKA: Kathy), stay with us. We had so much fun and we always love company. Especially Lilly, she becomes fast friends with EVERYONE and will talk about you for months after you leave.

When Kathy was here we had a really fun time taking her around town. Tyson started the trip with taking her and Lilly to Chicago. At that time Bennett was only 6 weeks old and having a break from two kids was extremely helpful and enjoyable for me. It is funny how once you have 2 kids doing something with only 1 of them feels like a break.

While in Chicago the group visited Willis Tower, the ‘bean’, and went shopping on Michigan Ave.

It was such a perfect time for Kathy to come out. We were able to bless Bennett on the first Sunday she was here. It was so nice to have an extended family member be there since it was our first baby blessing away from home. The blessing went well. Tyson did a good job and there was no crying or squawking from Bennett during the prayer. Bennett was a little big for his blessing outfit though and his little legs hung out but he was still adorable.

We took Kathy to LeClaire to see the American Pickers store ‘Antique Archeology’. We also tried to take her to a restaurant in LeClaire but they ended up being closed on Mondays – way to go Iowa.  

Tyson took her on the exciting John Deere tour.

I took Kathy around downtown Davenport. The downtown area is interesting. It is an old town with cool old buildings and has old houses along the river that are beautiful. It was cold so the tour was really us driving around. I got lost a couple of times but Kathy was a good sport.

Davenport has a skybridge that goes over the riverfront road, with views of the Mississippi River. They call it the “bridge to nowhere” since it ends in a parking lot. I have wanted to go through the bridge since we moved here but haven’t found the time. So I was excited to finally go. We went through the bridge and then down to the river and walked along the path. It was cold so we didn’t last long outside. We were able to do all sorts of fun new things with Kathy.

We took Kathy to a little city in Illinois called, Galena.  Galena is an old lead mining town and was the home town of Ulysses S. Grant. It has become a large tourist town with a very attractive main street. It reminds me a lot of Park City, UT. We had lunch at a small café and then went shopping in all the cute stores. Tyson had class that night so we didn’t get to stay very long. There was a lot more I would have liked to have done but I am sure we will be back.

 

I am very lucky that Kathy was here when she was. I got very sick one day and could not function. Kathy jumped right in and watched the kids while I slept and went to the doctors. If Kathy wasn’t here I would have had to have Tyson come home from work to take care of the kids.  Thank you Kathy!!

Kathy was here for our wards trunk-or-treating and we visited our local museum, the Putnam Museum. The museum was actually pretty neat for being in such a small area. They had a travelling exhibit about Princess Diana, an interactive kids section, a Mississippi River local exhibit, a river animal exhibit, etc.

We really enjoyed Kathy coming. It was nice having another adult to talk to all day and she was so much help. The kids miss her like crazy!!

Halloween 2013

Lilly was obsessed with Halloween this year. I think way more than normal 2 and 3 year olds usually are. I had to hear about Halloween daily for all of October. It didn’t get frustrating until November came and I still have to hear about it daily.

Lilly told me she wanted to be a witch and she stuck with it so we got her a witch costume. We also looked for a little broom but did not have any luck so Tyson made her one. It turned out really cute and made a good addition to her outfit. We wanted to go simple with Bennett so we got him some skeleton PJ’s and the cutest skeleton hat. I think the hat made the outfit.

Trunk-or-treating was the Saturday before Halloween at our church and we were lucky because Grandma Harris got to come with us. This is the second time we have had her at our trunk-or-treating and we told her it is now a tradition and she needs to come every year.

Our ward did a good job with trunk or treating. They had yummy food, fun games, and a lot of candy. The best part was watching Lilly stop at a car with a big spider that would jump out every couple of minutes. She got scared with the first jump and ran away. Then she wanted to sit and watch and laugh at everyone else getting scared. Yes, she likes to laugh at other people’s terror.    

 

 

Tyson had a busy end of month at work and school so we didn’t have time to carve pumpkins until Halloween Day. Trick-or-treating starts promptly at 5:00pm here and we didn’t get all of our pumpkins done. I do not like carving pumpkins so I wasn’t much help. I did get the kids ready though. I let Lilly go crazy with the markers on her pumpkin but she was WAY too excited about trick-or-treating to spend much time on that.

We were able to get out of the house around 5:15. We left a bowl of candy on the porch and headed down the street. It was a rainy and cold Halloween which decreased the number of trick-or-treaters. It also decreased the number of houses we went to. I went down and back up the street with Tyson and Lilly before returning to the house with Bennett (he was snug and warm in his carrier). Tyson and Lilly made it probably another 15 minutes before she got cold and wanted to come home.

I know this is blurry but it is a good one of Lilly running from one house to the next

Bennett pooped out after trick-or-treating

We did run out of candy but we purposely didn’t open up one of our big bags because I had plans to return it. There weren’t enough people at the end to use the whole bag. So instead we handed out some of the candy Lilly wouldn’t eat. When we ran out around 6:45 we turned off the light. Lilly did not like this though and she would sneak over and turn it back on; which means we had people ringing our doorbell when we didn’t have candy – we just ignored it. Trick-or-treating ended at 7:00 pm and we spent the rest of the night hanging out at home, eating candy, and keeping warm. I love trick-or-treating in this area and how it is all scheduled out by the city.