Girly girl

Necklaces and bracelets and pretty painted toenails make Lily "so 'cited!" (her new favorite expression)

Un week-end à chasser les poules et à promener le chien chez Tata Eliane

Lily finally met Mommy's BFF and her honorary auntie Eliane over Memorial Day weekend, when we drove to visit her in NC while Daddy was in Chicago. She behaved extremely well for Mommy and had a great time, especially because Tata Eliane had some very cool new things to play with. There was a keyboard and a guitar in the guest room, so Lily jammed out every morning when she woke up and after naptime. But we spent most of our time outside, since we were out in the country and there were chickens to visit. Eliane has two roosters, three hens, and five new baby chicks, and Lily was fascinated by them. She helped her Tata collect the eggs every day and feed the babies, and she ran around the whole time screaming "Cock-doodly-dooooo!" after she heard the roosters. She was also obsessed with Eliane's tiny Yorkie Taz, who was just the perfect size for her to walk on his leash. It was a great weekend and we hope we can visit again before too long!

Congratulations Aunt Lizza!

Last weekend Aunt Lizza graduated from Wofford College, so we all took the trip to Spartanburg, SC to celebrate. We also had a visit from Mimi that week, so Lily got to enjoy having double the love and attention from both her Mimi and her YaYa during the ceremony.

Our Little Prodigy

Lily finished up her first year at Little Prodigies a few weeks ago, and although she is happy to be back at home with Mommy, and she has been too busy with trips and visitors to think about school too much, she already misses her teachers and her friends and asks about them often. Here she is on her last day, giving a goodbye hug to her favorite teacher Miss Frances.

Eastereggstravaganza

I know Easter was almost a month ago, but we are still playing catch-up from finals week. We spent Easter with Ya-Ya and Papa in Vidalia, where Daddy had the excitement of shooting his first wild turkey on Saturday morning. We have since eaten him (roasted and in pie) and he was delicious!

Lily enjoyed the 90-degree weather all weekend by romping around outside with the dogs as much as possible

She also helped her Ya-Ya bake a cake, and now every time she sees me cooking anything she asks "Mommy, sit counter please?"

We took a family photo, in which you can see that Little Sister is getting bigger!

I had fun making Lily's first Easter Basket (she didn't get one last year, of course, since she was only 6 months old). It was even more special to me that I got to build it in this particular basket, which was my Easter basket when I was little. I labored over how many sweets to put in for an 18-month-old who had never (to my knowledge) eaten candy, and I think I found a good balance, but in any case she was most excited about her Elmo drawing pad and her magic baby bottles.

On Easter Sunday, she looked SO pretty in her navy blue Easter dress, and flat-out refused to stand still for a picture, so we had to content ourselves with memories and a couple of shots while she wasn't looking :)

iiiiiit's BATHTIME!

Here is our super-cute little stinker cheesin' it up in the bathtub with a shampoo mohawk in her hair

Down on the Farm

Since Auntie Tara is dating a dairy farmer, we got up close and personal with the cows during a tour of Williams Dairy a couple of weeks ago.