Thanksgiving Weekend 2011

We had a great time over Thanksgiving weekend.  We celebrated in Illinois with Matt's parents & siblings.  Matt's two brothers live in AZ and CA, so it was great to all be together.  Matt's older brother, Jason, and wife Millie had their first child in October.  This was our first chance to see Charlotte (aka "Baby CeeCee") in person!!  She is VERY cute and she did great on her first plane ride.

Lily was excited to see her Uncles, Aunt, and new cousin.  She could all them all by name because we practiced for several weeks.  "Millie" is tough to say, so Lily called her "Auntie Meme".  I think her favorite phrase over the weekend was "Auntie Meme, where Baby CeeCee be?"  It was so cute!

All of a sudden, Lily has started putting words together to form sentences!  I'm getting good at understanding her and her pronunciation is improving too.  To my astonishment, she's also using "please" and "thank you" without being prompted.  She is such a sweetie!!

Lily meeting CeeCee for the first time!

Thanksgiving Day... being silly with Daddy

Family photo of Aunt Millie, Uncle Jason, and CeeCee.  This 6 week old baby had a very cute dress for her first Thanksgiving.

Lily, watching CeeCee sleep

On the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, the ladies (including Lily) attended a bridal shower for one of Matt's cousins.  It was nice to see family that we normally don't get to see.  Lily made an instant friend with her cousin Carlie.  Lily dragged her around the room and told her stories, which of course Carlie couldn't understand.  She was nice about it and I'm sure she was glad to not be the youngest at the shower.

After the shower we went back to Nana and Grandpa's house.  They had their Christmas tree up and showed Lily the ornaments that play music.  I think Lily stood their for a solid 20 minutes playing the songs over and over!

Nana and Lily

Lily and CeeCee again.

Lily kept wanting to touch the baby, but we only let her pat her head.  Lily was nice and gentle.  I think she'll be even better in May when she becomes a big sister.

Close up of CeeCee.  She has so much hair!!

Uncle Mike's Birthday was Sunday and Daddy's Birthday is 12/1, so we had dinner, cannoli's, and presents to celebrate.  Lily was good at opening presents.  She's going to have LOTS of fun this Christmas :)

An extra pumpkin in our patch

To reward those who still read our blog, here's some news that hasn't hit facebook yet....

One pumpkin for each of us: Dad, Mom, Lily, and BABY!!

We are expecting our second bundle of joy on May 29, 2012.

This past weekend we went for my first prenatal doctor's visit and got to see "Pumpkin" for the first time.  The doctor heard the heartbeat and said everything looks good.  Although, he/she was hard to measure because he/she was flipping the whole time.  This is such an amazing process and we are so happy to be experiencing it again.

Friend's Christmas 2009

We were going through old photos today and stumbled upon these pics and videos from our 2009 Friend's Christmas Pajama Party.  2010 was too busy for a party, so this year a party is definitely needed.  The bag game seems so simple, but can keep us entertained for hours!

 The Bag Game Champions!

Nick again

and again

and again

AGAIN

Justin's turn

Lily's fashion accessories

Frog rain boots for splashing in the puddles

Princess slippers for the cold winter days

Fireman's hat for when you see a fire truck

(the truck came to the library, thankfully not my house for a fire)

Color!

Lily LOVES to color!  Any crayon, pen, or pencil she can get her hands on, she wants to use and scribble all over.  Fortunately, all scribbles have been on paper (and a little on the table) but no walls!

This is the first time Lily said "cheese" while taking a picture :)

Brunch with the Gustins

While in West Lafayette for the weekend, we got to meet up with my friend LeAnn, David and their cute boy, William.  He's 10 months and almost the same height as Lily!  He's going to be tall like his daddy.  It was great to spend time with friends and see how much William has changed.  When we saw him in July he was barely crawling.  Now he is pulling up and cruising.

 

Lily showed William how to open and use his new toy.  They were good at sharing. :)

Lily's first PU tailgate

 Lily, Matt, and I went to West Lafayette for the Purdue-Notre Dame game.  We just went to see friends and tailgate instead of going to the game.  As it was, there wasn't much of a game to watch. :(  Lily was super cute in her Purdue cheerleader outfit, but didn't bring the Boilers much luck.  She had tons of fun at her first tailgate.

 The Boilermaker Special stopped by!

 Lily's first pretzel rod.  She was very excited.

She desperately wanted to play with Parker (the only other kid there) but he wasn't interested.  Maybe he already believes in cooties.

Switching to Daddy's PU hat

May catch up

Since I just posted old photos from July, I figured I should go ahead and post these from May.  I uploaded them long ago, but never got to comment or post.  

The trip to the zoo was for Grandma's Birthday.

Being silly.... wearing all her jewelry and "talking on the phone" 

Celebrating Mother's Day with Nana and Grandpa

Lily's 18 Month Portraits

Lily is 20 Months now, so this is a very delayed post.... but these were too cute not to share!  Lily turned 18 months in July, hence the patriotic theme. :)

Lily does the Hokey Pokey!

Talking on the phone

One of Lily's favorite things!

Apple Picking!!

We took Lily back to our favorite orchard for another year of apple picking.  It's hard to believe that last year Matt wore her in the infant carrier and she was just learning to crawl.  This year she was walking/running around and picking/eating her own apples!