How long will it stay straight?

Lilly makes Meow-Meow a house.

Get it while you can.

I learned a lesson on our trip and that is to go ahead a get your daughter a souvenir if all she is asking for is an $8.95 fox stuffed animal.

Upon our arrival at Niagara Falls we stopped at a visitor's centre to pick up a map of the attractions and as soon as we walked in the door Lilly spotted a fox stuffed animal and asked for it.  I quickly told her she should wait because she might find something else on our trip that she liked better.  I explained the whole weigh-your-options concept to her and she seemed to be okay with this.  Rourk backed me up and I promised her we'd get her a souvenir before leaving Canada.

She wasn't annoying, but she didn't relent about the fox.  She asked about it several times, several times a day that is, but Rourk and I agreed that we'd have many chances to get something in Toronto.  Somehow that didn't happen and just our luck when our days became numbered we couldn't find a fox. I started kicking myself because we had driven by that vister's centre three or four times before we left Niagara Falls.  It would have been so easy to run inside and purchase the fox, but I believed in our theory and stood firm.  In desperation we hit every toy store in Stratford the night before leaving the country and I even tried to persuade her to get a beaver and at one point a skunk, but she wouldn't hear of it.  Lilly wanted a fox.  She wanted a fox so much that she marched up to an employee in one store and asked for a fox herself. You know, I have to respect a girl that knows what she wants in life.

We never found a fox. 

And you know what happens whens you're me and you can't find a fox in Canada and you are getting closer and closer to the border and your daughter says, "You said we'd get a fox in Canada!"  You kick yourself a little more about not stopping in Niagara Falls, and then you explain the internet to her and you change your promise.  You promise that you'll order her one once you get home.  She didn't let me forget this either.  We weren't home an hour when she asked me about her fox and the internet.  In  her calm, mild-mannered way she demanded that I sit down and get her that fox.  She sat me down at the computer, pulled a chair up next to me and carfully decided after looking at a dozen or so foxes that she wanted Roxy Red Fox.

I guess I could have used this moment to explain to Lilly that I did my best to find her a fox and that we don't always get what we want in life, but that just didn't seem right.  It didn't seem right because my daughter was, well, humble in her desire to have a fox.  We walked all over Niagara Falls, we went into the gift shop at the Butterfly Conservatory, the Toronto Zoo, the African Lion Safari, several shops near Marjorie and Barry's house and numerous, cool toy stores in Stratford and she didn't once ask for anything else.  I guess it goes back to her being sure of herself and what she wanted and I am proud of her for that.  So in a few days Roxy Red Fox will arrive it our house in an Amazon box and I think it's fitting that Amazon boxes always have that happy face on them because it will be a happy day in our house indeed.

Just love this!

I guess decorating the Christmas tree and putting lights outside was too much for Lilly. I just love that she is wearing stockings on her feet.

Do you see a theme?

I Have Feelings

by Lilly Freeman

I feel happy when...I ride on ponies and horses.

 

I feel sad when...I see bad horses!

 

I feel mad when...horses break my table and break my glass.

 

I feel scared when...I see a puppy ghost, cat ghost and horse ghost.

Snack Time

Puppy Love.

Old MacDonald

 

 

 

 

Lilly had her first dance recital this past Saturday night. Her class did a tap routine to Old MacDonald. I am so proud of my little girl for going on stage and dancing before a packed house of nearly 1500 people at McAlister Auditorium at Furman. She may not have remembered every step, but it was apparent by the smile on her face that she was having a great time. I have a feeling there will be many more recitals in our future.

Dance Photos

 

 

 

 

Lilly will have her first dance photos taken on Thursday and I am so ill-equiped to help her with this. Her class will be performing a tap routine and she has this pink, frilly outfit and needs to wear make-up, too. Ugh! So we had a dress rehearsal of our own this afternoon. I guess I did alright because Lilly declared herself, "perfect."

Chef Lilly.

 

P.S. She never touched that knife you see.

All before ten.

About three times a year I get to sleep in when everyone else in this world has to go to work and this morning was one of those days. But guess what? My dear, sweet daughter woke up this morning at 5:45, just 15 minutes later than I normally get out of bed to tell me that she was scared of the monkeys in her room. I pulled her under the covers with me hoping that she'd drift off to sleep again, but after she tossed and turned, poked me in the face and talked about nothing in particular I gave up and came downstairs at 6:05 this morning.

After two cups of coffee in a span of thirty minutes I started feeling much better and decided to make the best of my time by cleaning up the kitchen, starting a load of laundry and starting a few Christmas sewing projects. Lilly joined me at the table with her markers, scissors and butterfly wings and we spent the next two hours continuing the nothing-in-particular conversation that we had started in my bedroom earlier that morning.

In between sewing and talking and thoroughly enjoying my time with Lilly I captured these pictures.

 
 
 

Halloween 2009

Despite the rain and the 100% humidity we had a great time Trick or Treating in our neighborhood.

Ryan and Lilly.

It started out with this shot. Rourk and I were sitting in the den when Rourk tapped me on the shoulder and told me to look out on the deck at Ryan and Lilly. There they were enjoying a few moments as friends and a Popsicle together.

Then Ryan saw me with the camera and started hugging Lilly and they were both getting into this impromptu photo session. I took about 50 shots and love this one minus the yellow garden hose.


So I made them move to the other side of the deck and Ryan insisted on taking one of Giraffe and Dolly hugging him. That's what he said, "Mommy, one of Dolly and Giraffe hugging Ryan."


Once I got away from the garden hose I managed to get this one and feel lucky because by this time they were over saying cheese and hugging each other.


If all I ever get in this world are these two children it will be enough.

Naked Barbie.

Lord help me because I think this is funny.

All the Barbies at my house are naked and strewn all over the house. When I ask Lilly to pick them up and dress them she replies, "I dough wanna." Yes, she pronounces don't as dough. And let me tell you, that girl "dough wanna" do anything that I ask of her these days.

And she'd rather cry, kick and scream than let me help her do anything. The other day she was having a tantrum because she couldn't get her pants up. I came up behind her and gave them a little tug and she fell to the floor screaming, "I do it. I do it." I said, "Alright, do it then." She stood up, took her pants completely off, and struggled to get them on for another five minutes. I learned my lesson though--I didn't help. I didn't even look at her.

My pick--brown mary janes. Her pick--

cowboy boots

Bathing Beauty.

 

 

 

 

There are monsters in the house.

This morning Ryan went upstairs to get Dolly and several other stuffed animals from his bed. Lilly followed him and it was no time before I could hear them jumping and playing in his bed. I went upstairs to check on them and as I was rounding the corner I heard Ryan say, "Shhhh, Lilly. Sleep." I then heard both of them giggle and try their best to make snoring sounds. When I got to Ryan's room they were both in his bed hiding under the covers snickering and snoring.

I then asked, "What are you two doing up here?" In response Ryan threw back the covers and screamed, "Ahhhh, help, it's a monster." "Lilly, it's a monster." They both scrambled from the bed screaming, "Ahhh, help. Ahhhhh, run, it's a monster." as they made their way back downstairs.

All I could do is stand there and laugh and think about the joy my kids bring to me. Moments like this one make up for finding socks everywhere and cleaning up the trillion messes they make each day.

I am strong.

I took Ryan and Lilly outside for a few minutes this afternoon. It was probably around 40 degrees but I decided a bit of fresh air would do us all good. So there we were in the backyard bundled from head-to-toe in gloves, scarves and coats with the hoods pulled snugly around our heads.

As we stepped out on to the deck I immediately regretted my idea because I could feel the cold penetrating my jeans and sending a chill through me. I wished that I had put a movie on instead and encouraged Ryan and Lilly to snuggle together under a blanket in the den, but it was too late to change plans because Ryan and Lilly were already racing across the backyard to investigate Rourk's newly planted trees.

I ventured into the yard and stationed myself so that my back was to the sun. I stood there soaking up the precious warmth provided by the late afternoon rays and listening to my children. They lost interest in the trees within a few minutes and moved on to play a game that I like to call, "I Am Strong." The rules are simple: find a stick, pry rocks or clods of dirt out of the ground and exclaim with arms raised in the air, "I am strong."

I enjoyed watching them play together, but listening to them talk with each other was by far better.

Ryan: "Lilly. Look. Rock." and as he successfully pried it out of the ground, "Lilly, Ryan strong."

Lilly: "Strong Ryan." She then shows him a clod of dirt. "Ryan. Look rock."

Ryan: "No Lilly. That's dirt."

Lilly: "Oh, dirt." As she tossed it over her shoulder and made her way after him.

They talk about big rocks and small rocks and throwing rocks and dinosaurs and there was even a "Whew! That was close.' from Ryan as he sailed a rock through the air and nearly hit Lilly in the head with it.

And they talked about music and I was most impressed...

Ryan: "Lilly. Stop it! Listen." He said this as he cupped his hand to his ear. What he heard was hammers from a nearby construction site. He continued by saying, "Listen. Lilly. It's music."

Lilly: "Music" she nodded in agreement. She then took her stick, held it to her lips and pretended to play a flute with it. She did her best to make a whistling sound while bobbing her head back and forth to the beat.

Ryan followed her lead and turned his stick into an imaginary trumpet and they marched in place while he sang Baa, Baa Black Sheep.

Now that Lilly is getting older I have been giving them more time to just be together without interruptions or interventions from me. I let them play together and fight together and just hash it out sometimes whether that be when they are working out the rules of a game, who's turn it is to play with a coveted toy, or where they will sit at the dinner table. It's my idea of bonding, of knitting themselves together during the good and bad. There will come a day when they will have to depend on each other. My goal is not for this dependence to be one sided. I don't want Lilly feeling as if she is giving and not receiving from Ryan. I want her to understand that her gifts will be different; she may be responsible for guiding Ryan through life and helping him to make decision that most sibling do not have to consider. I want her to understand that Ryan has gifts inside of him, too. He will present her with unconditional love and loyalty, laughter and joy.

He will give her challenges that will test her strength and quite possibly her courage. I hope it is at those times that she can reflect on her childhood and call upon the games they played together and remember "I am strong."

Just whipped this together.

I haven't sewn in about two weeks. There's been too many other things keeping me from the sewing machine (kids, work, obsessing about the poor economy) and too many nights where I find myself yearning to go to bed at 9 p.m.

But today while looking at Whip Up I found a tutorial to re-purpose a ribbed-knit sweater. I didn't think I was a re-purpose kinda gal, but as I am looking at the photos of the skirt I start thinking about a sweater that I know I haven't worn in years tucked away in the closet. The next thing I know Lilly and I are going up the steps and then down again with the sweater in hand. It only takes twenty minutes or so to cut a wedge-like pattern out of it and sew it all together. Just like that I got my sewing fix. My only regret--when the tutorial said to pull the hem taut as you zig-zag stitch across the bottom to create a ruffle they meant very taut. I didn't pull mine tight enough and I have more of a wave than a ruffle. Oh well, better luck next time.

I tried it on Lilly and she exclaimed, "Wow! Cool Mommy!" as she was galloping around in it. That's her new thing-everything is "cool" and she has this funny little gallop that she does all the time. Oh, and sorry I don't have pictures of Lilly in the skirt; her other thing is running around naked. I can't keep clothes on her and she doesn't seem to care that it is 20 degrees here. I guess that's why she gallops all the time.

R and L

The beach pictures were taken at Sullivans Island, South Carolina, just outside of Charleston.