This one's for Stef!

I just had to do this for my good friend Stef, over at Never Too Many, cuz she had a great day! Her paperwork prayer was answered (for adoption #2), so Lily and I were celebrating over here!
YAY!!!!!!!! We are doing the "Happy Dance" for you guys tonight. Woo hoo!!!!!!

Can't seem to get enough coffee!

I am a serious coffee lover over here, and lately I just can't seem to get enough of the stuff. I don't know if it is because I am so cold all of the time, or I am so TIRED of spending such a ridiculous amount of time indoors (avoiding freezing my tail off), or if spending my days with an extremely energetic toddler has just taken its toll. But, I want coffee ALL OF THE TIME! I am actually wishing I had a nice, steamy cup in front of me right now and it is going on midnight. So, I will refrain. I go to bed thinking about the cup I will enjoy in the morning. I make a pot for Jay and I when he gets home from work in the evening, and it is (sometimes) a real highlight of my day. It has to have flavored creamer, and lots of it, so I have switched to FAT FREE french vanilla(I haven't been getting much exercise lately). Jay is a huge fan of the coconut cream. Truth be told, I love them all.
Lily loves "toffee" too. She is satisfied with a sip...unlike her addicted momma. She is much more interested in making it. She gets the coffee out of the fridge, retrieves the filter, counts the scoops, pushes the button, etc. Loves it. Every evening it is the same: "Lily help momma make da toffee!" And , when she is in the mood, she will ask for her own cup, and she will join us for a cup of joe. Good to the last drop!
See, Becky, if only we lived closer...we could have so much fun together! We could drink soooo much coffee!!!

Random cuteness

I am devoting this post to random cuteness that emerges from my daughter on a daily basis. There will be no rhyme or reason to it, but I hope you find it entertaining. I sure do. This kid cracks me up!!!
- Her imagination is amazing. She, as of late, has been looking in our warm mist humidifier at her fishies. Yes, apparently it is an aquarium in her mind and in it swim her pet fishies. One of them even has a name...Ned.
- Since momma is a meanie and rarely takes her outside to play, she has been making "carpet angels" in the house. It seems to make her happy, so it is a win-win.
- She keeps me on my toes! Last week she tried to ride her tricycle down the stairs. I heard a thump, thump, thumpity, thump...then her tricycle landed upside-down at the stoop, followed by Lily (head first). She cried for a nano-second and said that her mouth hurt, but was completely unharmed. (Thank the Lord)
- She thinks it is hilarious to call me "Aunt Nikki" and hubby "Uncle Jay", but when we give her a nasty look she will quickly change her story and say "Logan and Braden call me Aunt Nikki and Uncle Jay"..."I momma...I daddy".
Hey! We waited a long time for these important titles. Got it, kid?
- Is extremely amused with her bodily functions. Loves to announce loudly when she hiccups, burps or passes gas. Although she has recently added a new one to the bunch..."passing poop". Not sure if that is for more serious gas, or if she is just keeping it interesting.
- Loves to imitate everything we do. She "rocks out" to daddy's horrible music and even knows some of the lyrics to his songs. She has been heard singing "White and nerdy" on more than one occasion. (Oh boy!)
Her imitation of me looks more like this: One hand on her hip, the other hand pointing a finger (tsk tsk)..."You stay wite hewe momma. I be wite back. WITE NOW!"
HMMMMMM...I don't do THAT!
I think she is just the funniest, most beautiful, and most interesting girl on the planet. She is my little pal and we have so much fun together. Hope you enjoyed a sneak peek into some of the cuteness that happens around here.
To be continued, I am sure...

Lily knows her opposites...well, sort-of

As I have mentioned before, one of my favorite things to do with Lily is read. Actually, I love watching her "read". She is an amazing little sponge and I am completely blown away by her. She has memorized several books now and has her own little versions of how they are told. One of these books is called "Opposites" by Sandra Boynton...she is an amazing author. Anyway, I tried to get Lily on video doing her version of the book. She does one of two things when I try and tape her:
1. She gets sassy, shakes her head, and runs away.
2. She gets extremely silly, and hams it up.
She did the latter of the 2 for this particular video...I hope you can understand a bit of it. Her verbage still requires some translation at this point.
(About the "old like Booma"...sorry mom!)

Favorite Photo Friday -- Flashback

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Well, it is flashback time again! My sister Jody is on the hot seat today. As you can see -- I couldn't pick just one picture of us. Well, I suppose I could have, but I didn't want to. It is hard for me to put into words how I feel about my little sister...I feel too much. Those of you who know me well, know how crazy I am about this girl. She is my family, she is my dearest friend, she is just IT for me, man! Ninety-five percent of my memories include her. Even some of the times she wasn't physically there with me she was still a part of it somehow. Our trip to China is a perfect example of that. She didn't go with us to get Lily, but she was my LIFELINE while I was there...I lived for our phone calls. That first night there we weren't able to get a call through and I just remember sobbing. I was scared and overwhelmed, and I needed my sister! She is the sane one, the calm one, the level-headed sweet voice of reason -- the kind of friend a person could spend their whole life searching for. (And she was GIVEN to me... Thanks God).
Now, of course, we didn't start off as best friends. I didn't originally see her for the special gift that she is. So, I may have treated her less than wonderfully in the beginning. But, she has forgiven me for the sins of my youth. Family is forever, right!?
We have shared all the BIG moments in life. We have cried on each other's shoulders when relationships ended (I did the majority of crying in that area). We mourned the death of our grandma together. I stood by her side the day she said "I do" to the love of her life, and three years later she did the same for me. I was in the delivery room when she gave birth to all three of her beautiful children. She kept me from drowning in the sea of infertility, and celebrated with us when we decided to expand our family through adoption. Then she was waiting at the airport with open arms to welcome us home with our new daughter (and her first niece).
Life is full surprises, good and bad. I am thankful that I have my sister to go through this life with...it makes the hard times a little easier to handle, and the good times even sweeter! (Thank you, Jody. I love you!!!)

Bad momma! (Good daddy!)

I have decided that I am not a good winter momma. Lily and I spend A LOT of time indoors during these ice cold months, and I am NOT one of those creative, artsy-fartsy types who has all sorts of fun activities lined up. (I truly wish I was!) We color, we play hide n seek, we read, and today we cleaned. Sounds like a blast, doesn't it? Lily kept looking out the window at all the snow and asking to go out and lay in it. (Yes, lay in it)

I kept nicely saying, "No sweetie, wait till your daddy gets home. Now, get the duster and help mommy. We have a lot of work to do here, and you missed a spot."

I did allow for a lunch break, and we also took time to make some Valentine's cards for daddy. Lily is a huge fan of "Beewentimes Day"...my mom gave her a bag full of goodies. Candy hearts, chocolates, red heart suckers, and Dora stickers. Everything that makes her heart skip a beat!

Anyway, daddy FINALLY returned home from a hard day's work and I said "Hi honey, put on your snow pants and take your daughter outside to play." To which he replied, "OK dear...let's go Lil!"I had to take some pictures of them outside playing in the dark.

They looked so hilarious! But, Lily had a blast and I had a warm bath ready for her when she came in. (It was the least I could do). See, Bad Momma! Good daddy!!!!

The Winds of Change

The winds of change are a blowin' over here. It all started the other morning when I was getting Lily dressed for the day. I had her purple jogging suit lying on the floor and she took one look at it and said "all done joggin suit" -- "Jeans. Wear jeans. Wear bwoo jeans."
WHAT?????? I am thinking, "Are you kidding me kid? You have been refusing to wear jeans for at least 6 months now!" But, I went back upstairs and rummaged through her drawers to FIND a pair of jeans (most of them are floods now!) And, she has been wearing jeans for the past 3 days.
Last week she said she wanted to take a bath. She splashed around in there until every last drop of water was gone. I guess she is no longer concerned with the hair that might be floating in there, or any little piece of soap or dirt. She, once again, is a fan of baths! (hmmm)
Oh, then there is her "art". Gone are the days where she would sit and peel the paper off of her crayons for HOURS. She has suddenly discovered the true purpose of these little colored sticks and she is coloring up a storm over here. "Mama, wook at me. Cullaween bwoo shirt/cullaween bween pants/cullaween red fishies"...
And, she is EATING! Saying "yes' to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches; inhaling pork roast like you wouldn't believe; trying new things and liking much of it. This is a wonderful change and I am thrilled about it.
So, this little one is keeping me on my toes. She is a smart cookie, uses her mind to form strong opinions...and occasionally she changes her mind. I am just trying to roll with it! We went to Target this morning to look for some jeans, and found some! (She said "no" to the first pair I showed her, but agreed to the second pair, because they have pretty flowers on the waistband).

We also looked at some tennis shoes. I showed her a blue and white pair that I thought were really cute, but she said "I no like the bwoo tennis shoes" and she proceeded to pick out a PINK pair and tell me, "this ones beautiful, momma!" The girl loves her some pink! (And, I'm hoping she doesn't change her mind on this one, cuz I love it too).

Some might call this "high maintenance" behavior, but I enjoy it-for the most part. It is just one (of the many) things that makes Lily...Lily.