A moment with Lily...

This is the conversation I had with Lily last weekend when I took her out shopping:

As we are getting ready to cross the street:

Me: "We need to watch for cars because we don't want to get hit by them, right?"

Lily: "Yea.  If you get hit by a car, you will go see Jesus."

I died when she said this, it was the cutest thing!

Birthdays and Baby Showers.

This weekend was so busy...but tons of fun.  On Saturday, I went to my niece Lily's birthday party (after all year of hearing that I wasn't "invited to her birthday part" I am surprised that I got to go!  She always tells me that I am not invited to her birthday party when she is being mean to me at least!)  I can't believe she is 3 already!  It was a cute little party at the park, themed Ariel...her favorite Disney Princess- though I wish she would like Belle because she reads!

Right after her party I headed over to my friend Kristin's baby shower...it was the cutest thing I have ever seen!  You can find the pictures here (and she will learn some "big words" from that book Kristin!).  Kristin is such a cute little pregnant woman...you can only tell she is pregnant from the front!  I can't wait to meet her little baby.  It is a very exciting time in their life and I am glad that I got to share it with her!

Breakfast.

Olallieberry preserves and Peanut Butter on toast for breakfast...as evident on Lily's face...

A Moment With Lily...

The conversation I had while babysitting Lily yesterday...

Lily: Aunt Katie, May I have a popsicle?

Me: Please?

Lily: Please Aunt Katie, may I have a popsicle?

(I let her choose her color...she picked orange)

Lily: What flavor is this?

Me: Orange.

Lily: No... What flavor?!

Me: Orange.

Lily: No...What FLA-VOR?!?!

Me: Orange!

Needless to say I did not win this debate.

Oh the joys of 2 year old nieces!

Day 27: Beautiful Things

Playing bubbles with nieces...

Day 9: A Typical Sunday As A Child

Wake Up! When I was younger, a typical Sunday started off with my parents insisting that we go to the early service of church.  My sister and I would always be so tired, and we never understood why we had to for to first service.  But...we did know that if we didn't get up and get ready that they would take us in our jammies.  I'm not sure now that my mom would really do that...but if I remember right I think my sister didn't get ready for school one day, and my mom took her to school in her pj's! After church we would have a donut, then head home and read the color Sunday comics.  Then depending on weather, we would either spend the rest of the day swimming, coloring, playing Barbies, or making forts. 

Now today's Sunday, I woke up late.... then hung out with Lily and Emma.  Emma is rolling around the floor talking to herself, and Lily is asking 139247 questions.  I do love them a lot!

Day 8: Playing Favorites.

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens...

Favorite Things Song

(All their songs could quite possibly be my favorite)

Holding my nieces

(I like to give them big hugs!)

These Books

(I can't get over how awesome these books look!)

Finishing a book

(Even though I've read a lot of books, I still love the accomplishment I feel when I finish them!)

Real Simple

(Everything about this website is my favorite)

A clean car with a full tank of gas.

(Who wouldn't have this as a favorite?)

Charade

(A very uplifting blog!)

Finding new blogs

HeartHandmade

(This blog inspires me to be more creative, and being creative is another favorite thing!)

I simply remember my favorite things...and then I don't feel so bad.

Day 2: A photo of something I do in the Summer to keep cool.

When I was little, my sister and I would spend ALL day swimming during the Summer...the ends of our brunette hair turned green.  We would make up games, but my sister always made sure that I was the inferior...for example: we would play mermaid, and I couldn't be Ariel because "I didn't sing good enough."  This coming from the judge who wanted to be Ariel herself.  But that's OK because my cousin and I would make her be Norma while I was April.  Not that these past few days have been especially hot...considering June Gloom and all, but I think that it would be a good idea to start thinking of some things to keep cool in hotter summer days. 

Strawberries (ZTA favorites!) are perfect for those hot days (did you know that it is strawberry season? my favorite time of the year!)  And perhaps making your own Popsicles to keep cool? I like watching Lily eat Popsicles, she always has a huge red/ purple/ green (whatever color the Popsicle is) stain on her clothes...so precious.  I remember being a kid drinking red juice all day with the result of two side mustaches.  This summer i think that my nieces will be over a lot more for swimming...Lily is getting really good at it!

I decided to do a little creating this morning, and this is what I came up with.  Happy Sunday everyone!

Watercolor paper, charcoal, acrylic paint, stamps, puffy paint.

My Weekendings...

Don't let these precious, adorable, angelic, faces fool you...

This weekend I had the task of watching my nieces.  Lily being 2 and 1/2, and Emma being 6 months you would think that this feat would be easy.  Not the case.  All Lily wanted to do was watch Dancing With The Stars (I normally don't like this show- save that Erin Andrews (a ZTA) is on it- and watching the same episode for 5 hours EVERYDAY does not make me like it more than I already had not).  Emma would wake at the late hour of 4:30 a.m.  Good thing my dad would get up to make her a bottle, then I would wake around 8 when she would start to cry again.  My dad would also take Lily to do some fun things like feeding Gusss, feeding the fish, and cleaning out the pool.  Where was she when my parents were gone for that week?

 I learned this week that I a sort of fun police.  I would make Lily put one color of play dough away before she got another out so that the colors wouldn't mix.  Why does that matter?  I have NO idea!  Kids are kids, and they should have fun and mix their play dough colors!  The good thing that happened over the weekend is that I think Lily started to like me more.  She used to say that I was not her friend, and the number of times she said that I couldn't come to her house has minimalized.  Yes, I think our relationship has taken on a new dimension. 

As for Emma, whatever I would do she thought it was hilarious...a great self-esteem booster I must say.  I would play with her legs moving them in a bicycle type fashion while singing this song.  More for my entertainment then hers, but like I said she thinks I'm hilarious. Not that I was ever in a huge hurry for kids (if you know me you know I am not a huge fan of kids) but now I am in even less of a hurry!

Up for this week:
I am fairly busy with schoolwork: Translating 75 more lines of Old English Beowulf into modern English, a mid-term for that same class, and a paper for my English Enlightenment class on the 18th Century Ode.  At least I like these classes or else I would have a hard time getting started on these projects!

Easter Day--Check #22

This Easter was a little different than most that I've had because my parents were out of town, and my brother and his wife had to work.  Jamie and Brady, and I watched Lily and Emma.  Luckily, this provided me with an opportunity to check off #22 on my list.  Since I didn't really have any ideas for other photoshoots, I thought that Easter would provided a good one.  Here are a few pictures that I took of the girls:

It was a mini-photo shoot, but I think the few that I did take turned out nicely.  I hope you all had a wonderful Easter as well!

P.S. I have a trip to the Grand Canyon in the planning stages.  Just a few weeks until I get to go!

Jamie and Lily.

Lily did not feel like taking pictures...but I was able to snag this super cute one anyways!

Celebrating Easter Early

Is it too early to be decorating Easter cookies (is that a traditional Easter food?)?  Brady and Jamie made some dough (his grandma's recipe!), then they brought it over for us to cut and decorate with Lily.  Decorating cookies with a 2 year old goes a little something like this:

Me- "Lily, can I borrow the sprinkles?"
Lily- "In one minute"
Jamie- "Lily, stop eating the frosting"
Brady- "Let's have a cookie decorating contest"
Me- "Lily, stop eating the frosting"
Lily- "I need more sprinkles!"
Jamie- "Lily, stop eating the frosting!"

That Bunny is Brady's handy work!

We may or may not have run out of frosting for all of the cookies.  (Hint: we may have) Anywho, we had a lot of fun...and tons of cookies left over!

P.S The Bachelor finale is on tonight! I am really torn for who I think he picks (I would rather it be Tenley, or neither!)  We will just have to wait!

Sunday Afternoon Nap

SSsHHhhh...

Cooking with Lily.

Today, it's raining! No work for me, and I got to hang out with Lily! We baked some cookies, I think she will make a great new employee for our Cookie Factory. A perfect rainy day activity.She thinks the mixer is, "Too loud!"She's telling Grandma exactly how to make these cookies.

Successful cookie factory! Now, she's napping. All this cookie making wore her out!

What does the moose say?

I was babysitting my niece yesterday, and I decided to teach her something new. If you ask her what the tiger says she will say, "Rawr!" or if you ask her what the bee says she will say, "BzzBzzBzz..." She is very smart and can also do the animals sounds of a monkey, puppy, kitty cat. She has also learned how to count to ten and she is only 17 months! So I had this idea to teach her what the moose says. It is the funniest thing ever. What does the moose say? "Waaahhh" She is just too cute! Here's where I got the idea of what a moose should say:
I wonder what else I should teach her...

Lily's Birthday

Pink, Princess Crowns and play jewelery, all part of my neice's 1st birthday! Watching her grow her first year of life has been awesome and completely different than I thought it would be. I could not have imagined loving her as much as I do. She has completely changed my view on children (though, I'm still not sure I want my own!). She is so fun and happy. Also, have I mentioned that she thinks I'm hilarious? No matter what I do, she laughs at me! My favorite things that I like to do with her is put on some dance music (she particularly likes the Spice Girls!) and throw a dance party! She is also so adorable and knows how to give kisses. I love her so much and can't wait for this next year, who knows what it holds!?