Guitar hero

Alex is obsessed with 2 things in life...balls & guitars.

Here he is rocking out with his guitar.

Egg hunts

Lilia's friend Mary came over yesterday. I set up an egg hunt for the girls. They put socks on their hands as though they were princesses to gather the eggs.

And yes...Lilia is wearing her bathing suit with a beach coverup. She's been wearing them all week!

Too young indeed!

At Lilia's preschool there is a little boy, Michael. Michael considers himself to be Prince Eric (from the Little Mermaid) and often asks Lilia to change into Ariel. Then he follows with a marriage proposal.

This morning when I dropped Lilia off at school her teacher told me that the other day she was over in the kitchen area and very sad. She told Michael, sadly, "My mom says I'm too young to get married."

Alex and books

Alex reading in a "nest" Lilia made.

Forts!

Yesterday afternoon we built a fort in Lilia's room. Last night she asked if she could sleep there for the night. I said sure. She slept till 6:45, which is a normal wake up time.

Lilia is asleep in her fort.

Moccoli

Scene: Dinner time

"Lilia do you want some broccoli?" - The mom

"Yes." - The kid

The kid approaches the plate and sees the broccoli, "Ew yuck."

"You said you wanted broccoli." -The mom

"I thought you said moccoli." -The kid

"What's moccoli?" - The mom

"Moccoli is a spicy food for kids." - The kid

Doggie Style

Yesterday I had the fun idea to pack a lunch for me and the kids. Alex and I picked up Lilia from preschool then we headed to a near by park/playground for lunch and some running around time. Part way into our time there Lilia had to go to the bathroom. Not just pee, but poop too. Ok, let's head over to the bathroom...it's locked. Now what?

Alex is running around, and I'm worried he get to close to the street. Lilia has to go potty. We brought Alex near us, then I held her up near some bushes where she peed and pooped on the ground. Since we had eaten lunch there I had a plastic bag with me. Like you would your dog's poo, I picked up hers and put it in the trash. And just like that we were done. No big deal!

Now, all those out there reading this and saying "Eww, gross!" maybe it's because you don't have kids yet. Well just wait, cause you gotta do, what you gotta do.

Lilia's B-day dress

Aunt Julie and Uncle Pete (in CO) got Lilia this dress for her b-day. I asked Lilia if I could take a picture of her to send to Aunt Julie so she could see her in it. She reluctantly agreed. Knowing Lilia's occasional aversion to photo shoots I told her she didn't have to smile. She is purposely frowning.

By the way, she is carrying around some of the b-day presents she got and they don't leave her side for very long. The game she plays with the Barbies and tiny Disney princesses is called, Kingdom.

Safari Party; Lilia's 4th B-day party

The party was a success. Luckily we got a pretty good night's rest to recover from the whirlwind of the day.

Lilia got so many great gifts. In fact, every gift was really awesome. There isn't a single thing she isn't enjoying. Aunt Karen got her a kids mani/pedi set, which was opened right away and Aunt Karen painted Lilia's nails.

Lilia went to bed with some of her gifts and they have not left her side even this morning.

Thank you to everyone who came. Thank you for all your help to my moms. Thank you for your friendship to our family. Thank you for all the great gifts!

One funny thing was it was a total dad party. Most of the moms, except Hannah's mom Debbie, couldn't make it for various reasons. I think they had a good time despite being on full-time dad duty.

Animal kids

Our friend Drew Matter with his 2 daughters Mary dressed up as a monkey and Kathryn dressed up as a cheetah.

Susie, Drew's wife, couldn't be there. My mom, the giraffe was holding Kathryn.

Grandpop & Alex the Lion

My brother Matt with Alex & Lilia

Safari Party Banner

Aunt Karen & Lilia

Aunt Karen festively made her own zebra costume.

Hannah, Hamilton, Lilia & Ava.

Lilia had also invited her friend Mary, but she left before cake and she also didn't want to be in the picture on the giraffe pillow.

Sunglasses photo shoot

Lilia holding Alex; Alex holding his stinky bear

This is my 4 yr old

Thoughts

I can't imagine what summer will feel like. I can't picture what it will feel like to be hot again. I can't imagine wearing shorts...brrr!

This afternoon was relatively warm. We were out front playing. We were going to head to the park, but my neighbor Jenny was out front painting her door. They are getting ready to put their house on the market within the next week. Sad! They have been amazing as well as instrumental in us making the decision to buy our house. We will miss them so much. (If anyone is interested, their house looks just like ours...4 bedrooms instead of our 3 and more of the beautiful old character. It's in great shape and ready to move in.)

So Jenny painting her door spurred me on to paint ours. It was getting to late in the day to start, but we wanted to paint our door black to match the shutters last summer. I think we are going to attempt it soon. Maybe tomorrow, maybe next week. We'll see.

My Lilia is 4, yesterday was her birthday. She's so grown up. She says that she is a mom with 14 children. She has a husband. They have 2 minivans. One is purple, the girls ride in that one. The other is blue, the boys ride in that one. The boys chase her around with real, live spiders. At different times her pretend family mimics our family. It's so sweet and hilarious. We are having a Safari-themed party coming up for Lilia this Saturday. It should be a good time.

We just got a membership to the Academy of Natural Sciences, aka, The Dinosaur Museum. We have extra guest passes if anyone wants to come. Just email or facebook message me if you are interested. There is much more to see than dinosaurs. It's pretty cool there. Also, you can join us for the zoo where we also have a membership.

I think I'm done blabbing now.

Playing at Peace Valley Park

Serious Talent

If you want to see serious talent, check out my friends photography blog. She's originally from Hawaii, moved to PA at one point. We met her at Storehouse, our old church. She recently moved back to Maui. I love her blog. I wish I had an eye like she does.

http://www.ajja.nu/blog/