doggie

 was Lily's first word out of her extreme love for Shay.

 There is a very good chance it will be Sofie's, too.  

 She (and only she...he just shredded the new skirt Mia & Elisa got me for my birthday) absolutely LOVES Boone.

and got her first (not that you can tell, here) tooth!

everyday

 I don't even know how this happened, but suddenly, Lily was in and took over bath time :)

Ah, every night when I pray over these two dreamers I'm hit with the realization that the day will come when I go to pray over them and they won't be there any more.  OH man.  Then I get in bed and sigh and sigh until Matt says, "Ok, do you want to talk about it?" :)

 She's helping me do the dishes when she grabs this ginormous container of cereal and entertained herself for an hour.  Aren't these pix hilarious??

 Such a big girl...in the little bear overalls Grammy got Lily years ago, sitting in Lily's 1st Christmas present.  

baby Jesus

 Today Lily asked for "little pigtail nubby-nubs" which ended up meaning she wanted something like this.  She looked like a little bug all day :)  She also officially rode her bike today for the first time ever all by herself...she's got it!

 She is spending a TON of time each day, on her own, playing with her daily handmade ornaments (today we made clothespin Mary, yesterday fan-skirt Gabriel, and tomorrow, Elizabeth and Mary with big bellies) and her beloved nativity set.  I'm telling you, Lily has never spent as much time with a toy as she does with this Little People nativity set.  

She is telling everyone, and I mean EVERYONE about Jesus, the light of the world, Jesus, the big king of all kings, Zacharias, who didn't believe God and God closed His mouth, Gabriel and Mary.

Today, she had the wise men living in the book case, the shepherds watching over their flocks under the couch, and baby Jesus' house on the coffee table.  The wise men (named Elisa, Maria and Maxi) came to visit baby Jesus and to bring Him his birthday presents.  

"What are they giving Him, Lily?" I asked, curious as to what she would say about the little gold jars in their hands.  

"Ummm." She said, "They're giving Him Dora shirts!"

 At least she wanted baby Jesus to get the very best :)

6 months

How is it even possible?

 (I LOVE this picture...she loves her ball!)

How is it even possible?

to help me remember

Every day, I catch myself thinking: "Don't forget that when they get older!"

The other day, I put Lily down for her nap.  She was wearing underwear, shorts, and a t-shirt, and laying in the middle of the bed.  I left her when she was almost asleep.  I come back 20 minutes later to check on her, and she is like this:

It's starting to look a bit like Christmas around here...was down to 65 this morning, though in the 90's by noon, and our "Christmas Palm" is beautiful and festive.

 Lily loves the "Christmas flowers", and I'm always amused that poinsettias grow in the tropics!

 Lily and Sofie both LOVE "sittin' in the grass" looking at bugs, picking flowers, and, well, eating bugs and eating flowers.

 I don't know what the deal is, but Lily is suddenly REALLY into clothes.  She gets dressed and changes clothes literally DOZENS of times a day, she will accept NO help, NO guidance on outfits, and after a few minutes, wants to change again.  Hence, the polka-dot-dress-plaid-jammie-pants outfit.  

I wouldn't care, except that of course this means clothes are everywhere all the time.

 She is also really into washing dishes.  Over and over and over for as long as we will let her.  

 Grammy and Pop-Pop got her this cute shirt, and she looks like such a big girl in it!

 Sofie is at the "everything for my mouth" stage, and spends most of the time trying to eat whatever I'm doing, including the camera.

 But NOTHING thrills Sofie more than Lily.  Lily can make her laugh any time, and she starts kicking the moment she sees her.

 ...and then sometimes, she loves Lily (and her hair) too much.  And Lily can't get away :)

 We've got Sofie on a new schedule which has been rough getting started but much better now.  Week by week I can see her changing, and though she JUST started sitting up, she's already falling into a crawl and trying to move.  Oh man.

Love These Girls.

don't ever want to forget

...how excited Sofie gets when I come home from work and she buries her face in my neck.

...how excited Sofie is when I get her out of her crib in the mornings.  The moment she sees me she grins SO big.

...how Lily "mommies" us.  "Lily, I'm so proud of you!  Thank you!"  "Awwww.  You're WELCOME, sweetie!" she says.

...how Sofie blows raspberries, loudly, all the time...church...dinner...bedtime.

 ...how Lily tells us, "Mommy, Poppy, do NOT talk loudly!  Talk nicely!  Jesus loves it when we talk nicely to each other" if we ever begin to get upset about anything.

 ...how Lily can ALWAYS make Sofie laugh and smile.  I love when Lily tries to get Sofie laughing and then Sofie laughing makes Lily laugh and the two of them carry on and on (like at nap time today).  Nobody can make Sofie laugh like Lily.  

...how Lily HATES to share her things, but if you tell her something is yours, she says, "but I thought we were gonna share!"

...how Sofie grabs at EVERYTHING, and somehow can knock over cups of juice, grab spaghetti off your plate that is 2 feet away from her, clear countertops...she is truly at "octopus baby" stage.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is Lily's, "I miss you!" Thanksgiving face...

The turkey's Lily and I made for everyone...

 and the turkey Lily made for herself.