Kraft Dinner

Its hard to find many people, regardless of age, that aren't interested in mac and cheese. It turns out that Lily is no different. Here are some pictures from a mac and cheese eating fiesta from last night....and yes, they are alphabet shaped noodles!

And of course we can't forget about our ever vigilant street sweepers!

This sequence of pictures highlights the activities around our house theses days. Lily has been in the "opening cabinets" stage for some time now.

My exciting revelation this past week was instead of just saying "no, no, no"...to which my 13 month old turns to me and waves her finger back and forth, as she's smiling... I actually tried asking her to infact "close the drawer please" and remarkably... it worked!

The second picture catches her in the act and the third (though it's hard to see) shows her satisfaction for a job well done - which she was rightly told and praised -- which of course led to her opening the drawer again, just so she could close it once we asked and get praise again-- which led to her opening the drawer ----okay you get the picture.

Oldie but goodie

This picture is from Lily's 1st birthday party and is definitely one of my favorites. Unfortunately, we only had a print of it, and Emily kept it in her car to look at driving back and forth to Bristol. Well, in the process of switching cars back and forth for various reasons....somehow, this picture ended up in my office. And it is actually a good thing that it did, because Rebecca (the MBA program coordinator at Milligan) was kind enough to scan it and send it to me. Being one of my absolute favorite Lily pictures I can't resist posting it now that I have it in electronic form.

The Lilynhammer Games

The summer heat has broken slightly during the past week, so we all took the opportunity to venture out for a little backyard Olympics of our own. According to Gator, those Olympians in Beijing play the game of tennis all wrong. True tennis players don't need a racket or a flashy doo-rag or a bottle of Evian....all they need is a tennis ball and a big, slobbery tongue! Since Lily and Gator are such good buddies (always exchanging licks), she decided to help throw the ball to him...and only once tried to take a bite out of one of the balls...if Gator does it, shouldn't everyone?

After the champion of backyard Olympic tennis was declared (can you guess who?), we decided to shift indoors for a little Olympic barking. I know what you're thinking...there is no way that barking is an Olympic sport. Well, it's certainly more strenuous than "shooting" which is an Olympic sport, and it can be pretty exciting too. Just in case, we decided to spice it up a little bit and created our own biathalon...concurrent barking and pooping. If you will notice what Lily is seated on in the picture below, I think you will agree that this kid has got talent!

(Emily's addendum: There's really no good explanation for this picture, but rest assured there certainly was no active pooping....by any member of the family)

And finally, what Olympic games would be complete without a lima bean eating contest!...you can score extra points by sliding beans down your bib to your four legged partners on the floor.

And So We Continue On.....

So, I know, you thought the whole 'block' thing was over.... we did too... but due to gentle prodding we've decided to continue on a monthly basis.....

Because my schedule currently allows it, after we take our daily runs at the VA, we let Lily have a turn and walk/try to run around herself. She loves it when we bring her soccer ball too and the video clip below is a taste of what that action is like.

At times, we let Gator off leash because he's the only one we're sure will return.... as long as we have a ball, that is. I don't know which one Lily loves more, running after the ball herself, or sharing it with G.

Last weekend we all took a trek to Knoxville, so Dave and I could celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary while getting excellent childcare. Though the days were oppressively hot, we stole a few morning hours away at "The Cove" and Lily had a blast discovering the playground and the locals.