Birthday Party

Following the race (pictures in the next post) we all headed to the park to celebrate Lily's 2nd birthday.  Annette and Lily had a blast running from the picnic table to the playground at their hearts little desire.  It was quite ironic though because it sprinkled Oregon rain on and off through the whole picnic (not big Michigan rain drops) and it was a beautiful weekend in Oregon that weekend.  Aunt Megan brought princess crowns for the girls.

Second outfit after the rain.  Thanks grandma Carol and grandpa Bill for the great sweater, if she had it her way she would wear it with every outfit.

Lunch!

First present.

She stopped after the first and wanted to just carry it around (thank you Aunt Susan) and immediately return to the park.  What 2 year old do you know that does not want to open any more presents?

Aunt Kalie made amazing birthday cup cakes.....pineapple, orange, pecan and banana.  They were amazing.

Chasing bubbles and each other.

Good friends!

One very tired girl following an awesome party and a big walk thanks to all of the guests.  We had a great time, thank you to everyone for chipping in and making us part of your day!  We all felt so special and loved, especially this big little girl.

The Race

A group of us ran/walked a 5k glioblastoma multiform (GBM) fundraiser race last weekend before Lily's birthday party.  The race raised money for GBM research.

Here is most of the group at the end of the race.  The runner's came back to walk the rest of it with the walkers.  Lily was a trouper and road in the backpack the entire way.  Colin was the muscle man that carried her.

Mimi and poppy drove down for the festivities.

We made Lily a group t-shirt too but she opted not to wear it.

We made t-shirt that said:
One Family Fighting Together
Strength
Wisdom
Faith
Laughter
We brought necklaces and of course mustaches for all to wear.
Left to right: Colin, Seth, Chuck (poppy), Sheila (mimi), Megan, Laura, Kayla, Kalie
Julie, Lily, Aunt Susan
Many received metals- Seth, Drew, Aunt Susan (Megan also ran) and they all had great times.
The rest of us walked it in sub-60 minutes - also a personal best -hahaha! 

Before the walk

The night of Lily's birthday we had hot air balloons come over the house.  They come over frequently in the summer but these were the first of the season.

Happy Birthday Lillian!

I am so fortunate to have the day off today with Lily.  It  is such a special day and brings back so many amazing memories and so to spend most of the day with her is a gift.  I tried to capture a few pictures of her but it was near impossible to get her to stay still long enough to take the shot.  She picked out this special dress today from Aunt Sandy and Uncle Dick (thank you!) and was so excited to wear it on her birthday.  She did have to go to daycare this morning but we will get to spend this afternoon together.

Thinking back over the last year and all of the changes truly blows my mind.  Just in the last month alone her sentences have become longer.  Just today she saw present on the table (thank you Carol and Bill she is still patiently waiting to open it until tonight) and said, "Mama, I want to open this and see in it."  "Open present please mama." 

What Lily is doing now:
1. Galloping and hopping every chance she can.
2.  Throwing her arms up in the air when she is excited and yelling, "yeeehooooo!"
3.  Giving lots of big hugs and kisses.
4. Dressing herself with lots of layers of clothes.
5.  Occasionally using the potty.
6.  Asking to be outside all of the time.
7.  Getting 4 of her 2 year molars - ouch.
8.  Still waking in the middle of the night  anywhere from 2-5 days per/week.
9. Tickling everybody and thing, including Chevy and Roxie.
10.  Recalling things that have happened.  On the way home from my parents the other day she told me, "grampie made me broccoli for dinner." "I don't want eggs, ate eggs at grampie and grammie house."
11. Singing always: Happy Birthday to Lily, Twinkle twinkle, rock-a-bye baby and many more, she just started saying, eni, meni, mini, mo catch a tiger by his toe in her own sort of way.  And when she falls down she says "pocket full of rosies, ashes we all fall down."
12. Counting to 10.
13.  Recalling stories.

This girl has been a trooper with so many changes this year.  She is full of it 90% of the time and always keeps us on our toes.  We can see much of both of us in her and we love her more and more everyday.  We feel so blessed to have such an amazing little girl.

1 year ago on her birthday party!

One year ago on her birthday.

Two years ago.....brings tears to my eyes.

Oregon

I am sorry I have not posted in so long.  We have had a busy three weeks filled with lots of fun.  I have posted some pictures from our trip but honestly I was a terrible picture taker so my apologies for all of the good moments not captured, they are burnt into our memories though; thank you to all for making this trip so great, for dropping your lives so we could hang out and for saving the birth of your little one until we got there so I could hold the baby!  Here we are on our way to Oregon.  On our way there we were really set up for toddler, flying disaster: we had to leave during nap time, first flight was 4 hours, the second flight was 2, and we got into Eugene at 12:30 am eastern time.  Through all of that Lily fell asleep 15 minutes before landing in Eugene.  That was the ONLY time she slept.  Mommy and Daddy were on constant Lily entertainment duty.  Here are our tricks that we could not have lived without:
1.  A new backpack that she did not see until we were on the trip filled with new toys that required constant interaction on her part.  (minnie mouse that she could dress and change her clothes, she rides a moped and has a kitty cat - Lily LOVED this- this is saying a lot because Lily does not play with toys much; a removable/usable sticker pad with many different scenes -farm animals, jungle animals, ocean etc; coloring book; Rosy the train from Thomas the train)
2.  A few cartoons on the iPod touch.
3. Books, books and more books
4.  The in-flight magazine.  It turns out not only does Colin love it, but Lily does too.

Lily then woke up at 4 am Eugene time after Colin and I went to bed around 11:15.  That was awesome.  Here Rosy and Lily are enjoying the first of MANY home made Adrienne waffles to come- you cannot beat them, she whips the egg white separately to make them fluffy.

At our favorite coffee shop enjoying our favorite scones.

Reading books with "Harpie."  We stayed a few nights with Mike and Adrienne and a few nights with Katie and Geoff.  We had a blast and cannot thank them enough for their hospitality, good conversation, open homes and flexibility.  It felt so nice to be in EUgene again.  It was green and beautiful.  We even had a few days without rain.

Katie taking Lily and Harper down the slide- turns out this is not as easy as it looks, rubber shoes got stuck and I was there to eject the kids quickly when we needed it.

Every night was a new night of activity.  Many folks came to visit or to have dinner.  On this particular night Celeste and Brandon and their kids Quinn and Beck came over.  Right before bed time it turned into a diaper party with pure craziness ensueing.  Left to right: Quinn, Rosy, Harper, Beck, Lily.

Lily was so excited she just turned around and jumped up and down on the couch yelling "yeehooo,"

Breakfast with Harper and Lily

We got to go to the market.  Lily and Rosy held hands for a lot of it.  

Our friends from Seattle and Tacoma came down.  Here I am holding Liz's son Dylan (3 months old and 1 of 2 ).  She got the prize for making it to Eugene for a couple hours with twins under three months old.  Lily and Harper LOVED the babies.

We cheered Mikey on for the marathon.  We just happened to pick the spot right next to the Bag Pipers- it was great.

Brian and Tiffany came from Tacoma.

Jessica came from Portland



Lily was cheering on the racers and yelling "Go Mikey!"  It was hard to get it on video, but here's a link to Lily cheering Mikey on:  http://youtu.be/O61X1NXhShM

Mikey finished the marathon and in killer time.  Here he is 3rd from the finish line as you can see he finished in under 3:52!  Amazing.

We went out to watch music with the kids.  It was outside and great for the kids to run around and play.

Here is Colin manning it all.  Lily on his lap coloring, Rosie pulling on his ears and Colin trying to eat dinner.  Good job Colin!