December was such a wild ride. We visited with family, celebrated several birthdays and Christmas. Lily still loves to play dress up and she got even more outfits for xmas. She got a balance bike for Christmas and her goal is to be as fast on her bike as she is on her scooter (it shouldn't take very long). She has thoroughly enjoyed all the Christmas festivities and yummy treats that go along with them. She loves Clara except when Clara tries to steal her food.
THIS MONTH:
Lily Loves:
-her balance bike
-amusement park rides (I think she would totally go a big rollercoaster if she was tall enough)
-Santa and Christmas lights
-candy
-putting Band-Aids on non-existent boo boos
-dress up
-angels
Lily Hates:
-bedtime (her stalling tactics are legendary)
-sweet tea
Favorite phrases:
-"Ohhhh.....I neber seen dat a for" (I've never seen that before)
- Me "Lily when you get older you can be in the Christmas pageant too. You could be a shepherd, a wise man or an angel."
Lily "Or maybe a princess."
Lily "Or maybe a princess."
Right after Thanksgiving we put up the Christmas tree. I put up all the breakable ornaments and saved some for Lily to put on. She added several ornaments over the course of December from school.
We also spent some time with my aunt and uncle from Las Vegas who were in town to visit my grandma. Lily enjoyed showing off her dancing/ lip syncing skills to "Mamma Mia".
A few days later we made an impromptu trip to see our neighborhood xmas parade with one of Lily's friends. By adult standards the parade isn't that big.....by 3 year old standards it was AMAZING!!! It had tractors, a helicopter, policemen on motorcycles, miniature horses, a fire truck, floats with people throwing candy, a marching band, Santa and a cardboard cutout of smokey.....what more could you ask for.
getting a high five from a police officer
The next day we went to went to a birthday party at a party place that had a climbing wall, slide and hidden playroom (which was totally not adult sized and I got a nice bruise on my knee to prove it). Lily had a blast and really didn't want to leave.
is there something on my face?
balloon fight!
The next week Lily got to go to the dentist for the first time. The dental hygienist said that she was a pro when got sat by herself and her teeth cleaned. She does have a cross bite which were not too worried about since these are her baby teeth and I figured was going to need braces anyway.
That weekend we went to my mother-in-laws work Christmas party. Lily and Clara sat on Santa's lap. My MIL was dressed up as Mrs. Claus...thank goodness Lily didn't ask too many questions. There is always so much to do at the Christmas party: balloon animals, cookie decorating, face painting, making ornaments, decorating xmas cards, etc. Lily wanted to get her face painted and the lady that was painting faces had a examples of all the designs she could do. Lily opted to have her face painted green "like scary witch"...no surprise there.
This year at our church the Christmas pageant was held the Sunday before Christmas so we were able to see it. We let Lily say with us instead of going to the nursery and when it started I even took her and moved towards the front so she could see. She had a major meltdown when 1) the angels wouldn't wave at her and 2) the pageant ended and they left the alter. She was crying so hard that we had to leave the sanctuary where, luck would have it, we ran into the woman in charge of the pageant costumes. She offered to let lily wear the extra angel costume. It was all fun and games until we had to take the angel costume off. Then there was another meltdown involving Lily, a crowded hallway and a toddler umbrella that resulted in us forcing a screaming Lily into her car seat in the rain while she did her best impression of a wet noodle.
That same day (after a nap) we went to a friends house for "Friendsgiving". Lily made some new friends and figured out how to scale the barstool chairs to sneak several chocolate covered pretzels.
deep in conversation with her godfather, John
sneaking a cookie
she caught daddy under the mistletoe
Later that week my sister, brother-in-law and 2 year old twin nieces stopped at my parents house on their way to Gainesville, FL. We drove out to Maryville to spend the day with them. We had a busy day planned that included a hay ride, a birthday party for GG (grandma), dancing, a bear hunt (through the basement) and lots of play time. Lily was so sad to leave Nana and Pop's house but we told her that Hazel and Bea would be stopping again on their way back to NYC.
Who put ross in charge of the kids table??
Two days later we headed back out to Maryville to attend my parent's church for their Christmas pageant....which is appropriately named "Holy Commotion". Lily was able to be an angel again. After the service we went to the assisted living facility that my grandma is staying at and had Christmas dinner. After dinner we celebrated Clara's 1st birthday with some cake and a "smash cake" for Clara.
being an angel in the pageant
Christmas day we spent at our house with my parents. It was very relaxing since we didn't have to rush off anywhere. Lily and Clara got a joint Santa present (a small bounce house) and Lily got a balance bike.
Santa brought her an Ursula shirt
The day after Christmas Andy and I took Lily to Dollywood. Apparently this was a very popular idea because it was PACKED!!!! Andy kept saying we should come back a different day it's normally not this crowded but Lily didn't know any different. She rode 5 rides, played 2 fairway games, got to hug Rudolph and got ice cream with her dinner so it was pretty much the best day ever.
First ride was the ferris wheel
waiting in line we took a selfie as Lily said "Daddy we having so much fun!"
Until next month:
she likes to play dress up while I'm trying to get Clara to sleep
cookie decorating at her school party
PJ day at school
Checking to see if Lily was asleep so Santa could come
watching Clara eat her cake
