Birthday Highlights

We spread the birthday celebration over a whole weekend. And enjoyed spending time with Puna, Papa, and Brady. On the morning of the party, Lily was so excited to start opening presents. Luckily, Puna provided enough presents for Lily to open throughout the day.

We missed having Grammy and Grampy with us. But they called us from Hawaii over Skype to watch Lily and Annie open the presents from them.

This is one of Lily's favorite gifts. She loves her big fluffy ladybug. Thank you Uncle Brady!

Annie opening her first birthday gift. It was a cute monkey with crazy eyes and orange hair. I didn't get a photo of it, but we will soon. It is funny looking.

Puna and Lily decorating Lily's birthday cake.

Annie eating birthday cake.

Look at the joy on that face. Lily was beaming while we sang to her. She's been waiting for this party for a long time.


Lily modeling her new rain boots and umbrella - which are of course, ladybugs.

And my favorite picture of all.....pokey kisses from Papa for one of the birthday girls.

Corn Maze

We went through a corn maze as part of Lily's birthday celebration. She had fun, but got tired very quickly and ended up riding Papa's shoulders for most of the time. The maze had a funny crime scene investigation game to play and we had to work our way through the maze to solve the crime. Turns out it was the Pig in the Tree with the Corn Cob Launcher.

The Cakes

I am NOT a cake decorator. But I really wanted to do the cakes for the girls this year. Lily asked for a ladybug cake. I jumped online and found a lot of cute inspiration. One problem....all the cakes I liked used fondant. I was determined to make fondant and make the cutest ladybug cakes anyone had ever seen.
It didn't exactly turn out that way. I had a lot of trouble working with the fondant and eventually gave up. My mom came to the rescue. She frosted the cakes and piped on some decorations. Then we decided to cut out little ladybugs to decorate the cakes. Lily's cake was my favorite. Annie's cake tasted the best. I will need to practice more before next year.
The girls really didn't care. They loved the party and the cakes. That is all that really matters in the end.

Sunday Shenanigans 10/23/11

The majority of this week was spent counting down the days until Puna, Papa, and Brady would arrive. I made a paper chain to help Lily visually see how many more days she had to wait. It helped a lot and she had fun tearing off a chain link every morning while saying "It's almost party day!"

I love the movie Polar Express. We have it in 3-D. I pulled it out this week and Lily and I played with the glasses. She thought they were so funny.


The girls both love jewelry. They did not inherit this trait from me. One afternoon they played so well together with their dress up necklaces. Even Annie had fun and wanted to wear her jewelry to the grocery store later in the day.

Annie loves sweet potatoes - especially when Mommy adds cinnamon and brown sugar. She gobbled down her dinner laughing and singing when I served this up.

How do you get two toddlers to take their bath at bedtime? Tell them they can wear sunglasses during the bath! Worked like a charm.


Here's the girls on one of the countdown days. I just love Lily's bed head.


Happy birthday Lily and Annie. We are so blessed to be your parents.

Lily's Third Birthday

Birth Day 10-21-08

1st Birthday 10-21-09

2nd Birthday 10-21-10

So Big! October 2011
Happy birthday to my sunshine. You changed my life in so many wonderful ways.
I believe in miracles because of you. Mommy and Daddy love our little Lily Bug!

Happy First Birthday Annie!

This is how we looked one year ago today. It was a bittersweet morning to celebrate Annie's birth after losing my Grandpa Gomes the night before. So much has happened in our family this past year and we are stronger and happier because of it. Thank you for being such a blessing in our lives Annie. We love you. Happy birthday little one!

Sunday Shenanigans 10/16/11

Lily was in desperate need of a trim. She is so happy to have her bangs out of her eyes.

I finally got our family picture wall done. We love it. We've wanted to do one like this for years.

Lily started gymnastics this week. She jumped through the whole class. She just couldn't contain her excitement. We're happy to have an activity she can do during the cold weather months.

We made it to the park nearly every day. The weather was cool but sunny. We know we need to soak up those rays before the eternal winter sets in.

Other news, Mommy is starting a play group with some moms in the neighborhood. Mommy and Daddy are taking a spinning class twice a week. Daddy has started Toastmasters again. Mommy is back on the weight loss road and down one pound in the first week. Annie and Lily are both excited about their birthdays next week - especially to see Puna, Papa, and Brady.

All Tucked In

Lily was worried that her stuffed animals would get cold while she was out playing in the snow so she tucked them in her bed. I remember doing this as a little girl before I went to school. I think it is so cute that she has started doing the same thing.

Sunday Shenanigans 10/09/11

We had a crazy weather week. On Monday it was 85 degrees and perfectly sunny. Tuesday was a little cooler, Wednesday was rainy, and by Thursday temps were in the 30s and we had snow! Mommy had to get creative this week to help entertain the girls since we had to spend so much time indoors. For lunch one day we met Daddy at work and walked the track. Lily ran almost three laps before she said she was tired and ready to go.

Annie entertained herself trying to drink out of an empty pitcher. She saw Mom sneak the last drink and wanted to try it too. She was upset that there was nothing to find.

Lily and Mommy made some festive paper chains and strung them over our windows. We also finally put up our autumn and Halloween decorations.

Mommy pulled out the easel and showed Lily how to paint. Lily was upset that I interrupted her painting to take this picture.

Lily helped Mommy make two new recipes for butternut squash bisque and carrot ginger soup. Her favorite part of helping was pushing the button on the food processor.

We had our friend Mia over for a play date. They wanted to do peanut butter play dough. Lily had a great time - I know she looks totally jazzed in the picture - NOT!

Lily Bug is still obsessed with Frosty. Here is our "Frosty". I think he looks more like Gonzo from the Muppets.

After being cooped up for two days due to rain and snow, we tried giving the park a go on Saturday. Annie had a great time until she got wet.

Lily was so excited to play outside. But she slipped and fell off the wet equipment and then whined until we decided to go home.

It felt good to get home, dry off, fill our tummies with warm soup and have a relaxing afternoon. We're so happy to be enjoying fall.