Rock Climber Girl

Looks like we have a climber on our hands!

May Flowers

A few weeks ago I was at our credit union (which is on campus) one afternoon. I noticed, as I have only a few times before, the beautiful university gardens which are right across the street. It is a fenced in area with lovely flowers and trees, a gazebo, and even a little pond. It all of my years in the area working on campus I had never been inside these gardens. This day, however, it was a gorgeous warm and sunny May day and the flowers looked especially beautiful and inviting. It happened that the semester was over and Joe had a little bit of free time from work most afternoons. So just a few hours later we packed up the kids and headed to the garden. I have to say that it is a wonderful little place for kids. Because it is fenced in you can just let them run and explore- which is exactly what Lily did! She was so excited about discovering and smelling all of the different kinds of flowers. This is one of my new favorite places to take pictures and I am so excited to go back with the kids to explore what it might look like during all of the different Maine seasons!

Summer Love

Right now we are on our summer assignment in Bar Harbor, Maine. One of my favorite things about our summer assignments is the opportunity to spend extended amounts of time with wonderful friends that live all over the country. And now that many of us have kids our children also get to enjoy spending lots of time together. You might remember that we spent last summer living across the hall from our good friends the Kidds. Lily and their daughter Libby became such good friends last summer and it was so fun for me to watch. This summer there are a few children around Lily's age, but I think that she has developed a little bit of a crush on our friend's son Jack. She just loves being around him. Today on our first day off we decided to hit the beach and when Jack and his parents happened to be there too Lily was thrilled! The two of them had a great time playing together in the sand and water and even chasing ducks (and each other). So I know that as a parent you can't control these things, but on the off chance that in the future my Lily's little summer love turns into something more...well then I'll have the pictures to show where it all started!:) In the meantime I'm thrilled once again to watch Lily really enjoy these little summer friendships.

Mama's Helper

Lily is a fantastic little helper and she has been from a very early age. Whether it's helping to unload the dishwasher, feed the dog, or get a toy or pacifier for Eli she loves to help. Her favorite thing is to help unpack the groceries from the grocery store. I bring in all of the bags to the mud room and then I stand in the kitchen while Lily unpacks each thing and brings them to me to be put away. And yes, she did try to pick up this watermelon!:)
P.S. We do usually use the cloth grocery bags, but sometimes mama forgets them in the rush to get out the door with two little ones!:)

Lollipop Lollipop...the last part

Moments before the balloons escaped!

Floating away

Lily LOVES balloons. Any type of balloon really- regular, helium, balloon animals, etc... She asks for one just about every time she sees one (at restaurants, at Sam's Club, anywhere). When we went to the dollar store for some birthday supplies long before her birthday she was already asking for balloons. We managed to hold her off until the day of her party. Joe took her back to the dollar store to pick out 10 balloons- and let me tell you, they came home with quite an assortment including princess balloons, actual happy birthday balloons, and even a balloon shaped like a rose. Amazingly Lily played with these helium balloons for weeks (they lasted that long)! Well, most of them lasted that long...except for the free floating balloon pictured above! Lily learned the hard way what happens when you let a helium balloon go outside. And as you can see, Eli apparently loves balloons as well- Grampy entertained him for quite a while with the balloons! We had a great time at the end of Lily's family party just sitting outside, enjoying the beautiful weather, and watching the kids play with balloons and Lily's new swing set. So there you have it- I've finally finished Lily's birthday party! Thanks for bearing with me- I'm sure by this point you have probably felt like you were there!:)

Lollipop Lollipop...Part Six

About half an hour after Lily's party with her little friends we had her family birthday party. We figured that we might as well just do it all in one day- and it really worked out wonderfully! We had a fun, relaxing barbeque lunch, did cake and presents, and just let the girls run and play (and find any lollipops that were leftover in the yard)! Beautiful.

Lollipop Lollipop...Part Five

Lily wearing one of my old shirts so that her beautiful dress wouldn't end up covered in bright pink frosting or blue jello!

After the lollipop hunt we finished Lily's birthday party off with all of the fun birthday party traditions- blowing out candles, eating cake and goodies, and opening presents. It was just the most beautiful spring day so we spread blankets out all over the lawn and everyone just got to relax and enjoy.