President's Day

one of the joys of being a teacher (and being married to a teacher) is having the day off together (during the week) to enjoy time with lilian and to go places that are usually packed on the weekends. we decided to have a little field trip on president's day down to crown center to check out the new animal exhibit and to have our first fritz's experience. we had taken lilian to crown center over christmas break but of course every place was so packed so we were excited to go back again and try our luck. the animal exhibit was perfect for her age...lots of little slides, a few trampolines (these were her favorite) and beautiful, bright scenery of animals painted everywhere. it was a hit!

afterwards, we headed down to fritz's for lunch. lilian lovingly now calls it the "choo choo train restaurant." for anyone who hasn't experienced fritz's, that is exactly what it is. you walk in and they hand the kids a conductor hat, you order your food through the telephone that sits at each booth, and then your food is brought to you by a little train car that rides along the ceiling. it is such a neat, fun place for kids and i had been dying to take lilian there for the first time! brian had never been either, so they both were in for a treat! at first she was a little taken back by the sound of the train overhead and not sure what to think but she thoroughly enjoyed herself (as did we!). fritz's, we will back!

Baby Love

lilian is still quite obsessed with babies (both real and play!) here are some pictures to prove it! one of my dear friends growing up, mary, lives down the street and her little girl, chiari invited lilian and me over to play on saturday morning. lilian loved giving her hugs and kisses and checking out all of chiari's toys. we are excited for the warmer weather to get here so we can start up our walks with these two ladies soon!

lilian still loves her play babies as well. she still loves the baby alive doll she got for christmas that she can feed and it talks to her (more, mommy, please, thank you, etc.) lately, she has been in a real kick to change the babies diapers. it is pretty funny to watch her attempt this! we are still working on the potty training...she goes about once a week it seems like but tells us frequently "i have to go potty" but then sits and just wants her treat for trying (m&ms). so, we will keep trying on that front! for now, we are entertained by our little "mommy." i love it!



Kaiya Sleepover!

we were so excited to have kaiya sleepover (and during the week, even more fun!) mona was out of town for work and john had some work commitments so we were lucky enough to take kaiya for the night! we ran some errands and did some shopping at target. then we let the girls pick where we ate...culver's was decided! now every time we drive by culvers (weeks later) lilian says "culvers, ate there kaiya!" afterwards, we came back to our house and kaiya did her homework while lilian waited patiently to play with her! kaiya is such a great big sister to lilian. she reads her books, plays with all her toys, gives her lots of hugs, holds her hand in the car, and always makes sure she gets plenty of attention! it was such a treat to watch her!

"reading" her abc book to kaiya

love this one!

playing in her new dora house (thanks, tracy!)

hug time

this one is hilarious! we let them each get a special donut for breakfast...someone looks pretty happy about it! this sure beats cereal!

Family Movie Night

we had our first official "hartstack family movie night" on saturday! tracy got lilian the chipmunks movie (the second one) and we had been saving it for this occasion! we popped popcorn, got in our comfy jammies and cuddled downstairs together. lilian sat through about half the movie then wanted up to play and move about but we loved every second of it. another tradition started and i cannot wait for many more family movie nights with my two favorite people!

First Haircut

well after two years we figured we might as well get lilian's hair trimmed...though there is not much to speak of still! it is definitely growing a ton in the back but still not a whole lot up top. it was definitely in need of being shaped up so who better than to give miss lilian her first haircut than her old babysitter, laurie! i made the mistake of telling lilian the night before (thursday) that we were going to see laurie the next day and she would not let it go...the whole night she was saying, "i wanna go to laurie's house." so, needless to say, she is a fan! we went over on friday night and lilian loved seeing becca, hailey, and of course laurie! we went down to the basement where she has her little salon and lilian did wonderful! i was nervous she would cry and not want to sit still but she was perfect! she sat so still and just watched in the mirror as laurie trimmed her up! afterwards, the first thing she said was "i wanna see puppies." she definitely remembered the two new puppies and wanted to make sure she got to see them, ha! thanks so much, laurie!

JWE Playdate

the sunday after lilian's birthday party some of the jwe crew came over with their babies for a fun birthday play date! aunt cindy and aunt megan came too to love on everyone! i loved seeing and holding little paxton and cora...i had not seen them in forever and they have grown and changed so much. lilian of course LOVED having the babies over and couldn't take her hands off of them! she also loved tracy's daughter, mackensey and wanted her to read her books the whole morning! it was a wonderful morning with great friends and their little ones. such a sweet little group!

someone loved hugging baby cora!

let me get a little bit closer!

look how happy lilian looks to have all the kiddos around!

mommies and their babies! love these girls!

amelia loved playing dress up with lilian's pretend earrings, they look like two little old ladies, i love it!

although the day of her actual party she wanted nothing to do with the cupcakes, she sure loved digging into them today! her mouth was stained with pink icing the rest of the day!

Lilian's 2nd Bday Party

lilian had a minnie mouse themed birthday party this year! originally i was planning on doing a dr. seuss theme but lilian had other plans! after her obsession with mickey i knew we had to switch gears...it turned out very cute! we decorated with a minnie banner with her picture, hot pink and zebra plates and napkins, a big minnie balloon with hot pink and pale pink balloons on the side, a photo banner on the other side of the mantle, and of course minnie cupcakes and sugar cookies with pink icing and the number 2 in white! we ordered pizza and also had chicken nuggets in the shape of the mickey emblem for the little ones. i made another slide show of all her pictures from year one to two as well that we played during dessert. it was a wonderful party with our dearest family and friends! it's still hard to believe our little girl is TWO! here are some pics of the big day...

invitation

banner and slideshow

yummy dessert table (there was pink punch too! lauren requested it from last year's birthday!)

photo banner on other side of mantle

first guests, grandma and grandpa!

someone got VERY excited when these two arrived!

cousins helping open gifts

the personalized abc book i made for her, turned out so cute and she loves it! (A is for Aunt with pictures of Aunt Leanne, Aunt Alison and Aunt Andrea, etc.)

lots of fun minnie gifts of course!

make a wish

cute minnie cupcakes

the punch was her absolute favorite!

messy kisses for uncle bryan

all her favorite people in one place (amelia couldn't stay still for the pic!) kaiya was there too!

playing with her new toys

one of my favorite pics...love these two!