girls are fun!

totally out of focus... but LOVE this pic!  Lydie sat right on my lap & said "take picture mommy", sat for 2.5 seconds & was back up again!  As you can see, this little girl brings me so much joy to my life.  She is so different, yet so similar to her brothers.  I really can't explain, but having a girl is a whole new experience!  Yes, she goes a million miles an minute, can be VeRY demanding & vERy stubborn, but she is also so funny, cute, lovable, sweet & we can't imagine life without her!  Love You sweetie...

the next Top Chef

As I think I've mentioned before, Lydie has become interested in "cooking" recently.  I've been giving her misc. stuff to mix, measure & pour, like the last of the crackers or pasta in the box.  On Friday, she had a large mess on the floor of all her cooking goodness, but it kept her so busy!  As you see, she also likes trying her concoctions!  Her real cooking consists of adding the measuring cup full of milk to her pink oatmeal in the morning.  Funny how these little things give them so much happiness!  

late birthday wishes

Just giving a little late shout outs to some recent birthdays in our family:

Happy belated to our nephew Alec who recently turned {gulp} 15!  I still remember my sis Kathy big & prego at our wedding!  Although he's just 15 he's already way taller than me {I believe around 6 ft}.  It was great that we finally got to see you over the weekend!

Also, our niece & Dan's goddaughter Ashlyn who turned one last week.  We were lucky enough to get to celebrate with her over the weekend & I'll post some pictures of the little cutie later.

And, last, but not least is Dan's mom Bev, who had birthday yesterday.  Bev has been ill over the last several months & we're hoping that she can get to feeling much better soon!

We love you all... HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

the dress

At the beginning of October, my nephew Jon & his fiance Heather are getting married!  We're very excited for the wedding & we've been searching for a cute dress for the last few weeks.  I had a little bit of a tough time finding a dress to go along w/ the black & white color scheme, but finally found this one on Ebay that fit the bill.  It's very girly & very "bootifuwl" {as Lydie puts it}.  Black velvet on top & silk & tulle on the bottom with pretty flowers & beads {or butterflies, depending who you ask} sewn around the skirts layers.  LOVE IT.  At first I thought it might be too dressy, but figured, hey, it's not very often we get to dress up for such a special occasion.  It's not the best pic of it here, but had to capture her in the moment.  She had to run outside where Dan was working this night & show him how pretty she was. "Daddy, dad, dad... wook at wydia & her bootifuwl dwess!"  

Lydia's been very into her clothes lately {the boys too!}. She has been frequently going into her dresser & pulling out stuff to look at, sometimes putting various pieces on & off or just making a mess in general!  I took her to Target the other day to look at fall clothes & she kept grabbing things off the racks & saying "this is cute" & throwing it in the cart.  Then I'd say. "look at this Lyd, this is cute, do you think we should get it?"  to which her response was "yah, that's cute or ummmm, let's see... NO!"  Yep, that's my girl!  It is WAY too much fun buying girly clothes!

playtime

One of Lydie's favorite things to play with lately are her Little People houses.  It's quite interesting to watch & listen to her discussions with the people.  Lots of bossiness goin' on here!

"you go to bed"

"you go outside"

"you hear me?"

"go to sleep baby"

"you stay in bed, you hear me?"

Other favorite playtime fun: 

cooking: she drags many things from the kitchen & sits on the floor & "cooks" crackers, grapes, apples, etc.

putting her babies to bed or taking them for walks in the dolly stroller.

playing "baseball" {actually basketball} in the basement w/ the nerf basketball.