2 Years Old!!

Lily turned two years old yesterday! Oh. my. goodness.! As her parents, we are wondering how on earth the time went so quickly and how it came to be that our teeny, tiny baby girl has grown so big!

Today was her birthday party and, let me tell you, Lily has a LOT of fans. We had many guests at her party and Lily received SO many presents that she actually got bored opening them half way through! I had to beg her to come back and keep opening them...sheesh :)

We appreciate everyone who was able to come and celebrate her second year of life---it has been quite the journey!

Her cupcakes

The table settings

Blowing out her candles!

Eating her cupcake very delicately...she doesn't like to get messy!

Ethan and Marcus enjoying the goodies

My favorite picture! :)

Opening one of her many gifts

We are a happy family :)

Christmas: Part II

The second half of Christmas was just as terrific as the first. We met at my parents' house and had lunch as a big family--Lily especially loves playing with all of her cousins. Then, came the moment the children had been eagerly waiting for...PRESENTS!!

Unfortunately, I did not do the greatest job taking pictures this time--I was too busy watching everyone open their gifts! But here a few shots that I did manage to get:

Opening a present with Daddy

Helping cousin Kaitlynn play with her presents

Cousin Kinzee

This Christmas has shown us exactly how spoiled loved Miss Lily truly is... ♥

Christmas 2010: Part I

Christmas this year was incredibly fun. In the weeks preceding Christmas, Lily made frequent "phone" calls to Santa Claus and told  him that she wanted presents and toys. Despite the fact that she was actually terrified of any actual human Santa, she was pretty obsessed with talking about him (and still is, even though Christmas has passed).

This Christmas, Lily really "got it." She was extremely eager to get her hands on those presents--so eager that they didn't appear under the tree until Christmas morning, or they would have never lasted that long. We did a Christmas brunch with Brian's side of the family on Christmas morning (and yes, we made her eat breakfast first :) ), and then we all enjoyed watching Lily rip open her presents and exclaim "Clothes!" or "Book!" 

It was too sweet. 

Eager to get her hands on those gifts--plus, she has a thing for bows.

Her hammy smile

The magic of Christmas--and wrapping paper

She tried to preserve her paper pretty well :)

Yea! A flashlight!

Sliding down her new slide!

She made sure to offer her assistance to all other gift openers

Riding on her cool new Dora the Explorer big wheel. She can't quite reach the pedals yet. .

My mom has actually been very ill over the last few months. We had originally planned on having Christmas Eve with them, but she ended up being in the hospital until New Year's. So we will be having Christmas Part II this coming Saturday. I'm sure Lily will be spoiled even more and will have just as much fun! Stay tuned!

A Christmas Letter from Lily

Dearest Family and Friends,

Though I have trouble believing anyone does not know me at this point, I suppose I should begin by introducing myself. My name is Lily Clare Croft, adorable and mischievous daughter of Brian and Erica. Everywhere I go, people comment on my beautiful eyes and hair and, while my Mommy is just waiting for me to say, “I know! I’m so beautiful!” I currently just smile and wave hi to them.

I turned 22 months old on December 4, 2010. Can you believe how big I am getting? I heard Mommy saying something about me being two months away from being 2 years old—I thought I heard her whisper something about the world “terrible,” but surely she meant to say “terrific,” because I am getting terrifically independent by the day. I spend my days running around the house, taking all the pots and pans out of the cupboards, begging snacks (my Mommy seems to think I can only eat in my high-chair), reading books, and telling Mommy and Daddy interesting stories. What can I say? I guess I just like to stay busy...in fact, Mommy says that because I am so busy, I have “earned” my nap each day. Lucky for her, I like to sleep, otherwise I’d stay up all day playing.

Speaking of Daddy and Mommy, I guess I should tell you all a little bit about them. Daddy spends his days teaching other kids (though they aren’t nearly as cute as me) at Western Nebraska Community College and doing lots of grading—which makes him a little grumbly. I try to help him grade, but he says that my writing isn’t clear enough—which is funny, because his looks like chicken scratch. Daddy still takes time to read to me though, but only if I curl up next to him and Fufu, my best friend. Daddy sure loves lots of old stuff, but he always says that I’m the neatest new thing around. Mommy spends her days playing with me and working on that weird computer thing, though she says she’s doing homework. I heard her telling Daddy that she is tired of school, so I think she is going to take a break. I think that is a wonderful idea because now she can spend every minute of the day playing with me! She has been working on a second degree in English, so she can go and teach kids like Daddy does.

I also spend lots of time with my Grandma Barb, which I love! I go to her house a few afternoons a week to play with her. I also see my Yaya and Papa (Mommy’s parents) frequently and love to chase their puppy, Max, but sometimes I get in trouble for pulling his hair. I especially love when Aunt Mary and Uncle Ken bring my cousins over and I get to play with them—I can blame my naughtiness on someone else for a change! Uncle Colin and Yelena also come over to see me and I have fun showing them my latest toys and dance moves.

I did get to see this Santa guy everyone is talking about and, though he did make me cry (have you seen that beard?), Mommy and Daddy promised he’ll bring me lots of presents. I hope you get lots of presents too!




Merry Christmas,

Lily

Oh—and Mommy and Daddy, too.

Thanksgiving Wrap-Up

Well, they are a bit late, but I thought I'd post some pictures from our Thanksgiving festivites. Once again, we hosted Thanksgiving at our house this year, and had about 20 family members show up and leave nice and full. :) I consider it a success as long as no one leaves hungry!

Lily, helping Mama make the cornbread stuffing! She loves to help me cook :)

The "girl" cousins: Kinzee (2), Kaitlynn (5), Lily (1)

A group action shot :)

The next morning, we packed up in the car and headed down to the Denver area to watch the Nebraska vs. Colorado game with Brian's extended family. We must not have been giving Lily enough credit because we expected a little more fussing in the car, but she was an angel. She read books, snacked, and played with toys--and didn't cry once on the 3 1/2 hour drive! Plus, Nebraska beat Colorado, so we couldn't have asked for a better trip--oh, and did I mention that there was excellent food and conversation? :)

Reading in the car

Family picture

Lily with cousin Eric

Lily and her new best friend, Sarah

Lily and her other new best friend--Holden :)

Now we are busily getting read for Christmas. The tree is up, the presents are bought and {mostly} wrapped, and Lily is talking about Santa Claus non-stop. We can't wait 'til she gets the chance to tear open those presents!!

Sickness and Snow

Winter (well, the cold weather, anyway) has officially arrived and, with it, so have germs and sickness! Lily spent five days with a fever--and though we don't really know what exactly she had, we are glad to report that she is *finally* starting to feel better.

She spent about a week or so doing  a lot of laying around and sleeping (not that I'll necessarily complain about that), but it is always hard to see your little one not feeling well. Fufu and her thumb got quite a workout...

Her attempt at a smile...no way was that thumb coming out.

Taking a rest

After being cooped up for so long, I decided that, since she was feeling a bit better, we'd go and play in the snow this morning. Lily calls it "Noes" and she thinks that it is really interesting--to eat. She really doesn't understand why I keep putting mittens on her hands (after all, she has to use them), and repeatedly takes them off, then tells me her hands are cold. Oh well...she'll get it eventually!

She decided to just eat the mitten

Mmmm....snow!

I liked this one...baby footprints :)

She loves Mr. No-man



Trick or Treat 2010

We definitely had a Happy Halloween! And, if I do say so myself, I believe we had the cutest lady bug in Nebraska!

Cheesing it up for the camera.

 Miss Lily actually got a double dose of trick-or-treating, since The Village (where Grandma Barb lives) opens up for visitors on a separate night. We also went to Spooktacular at the zoo the same evening. All in all, she did a great job. We were afraid she wouldn't keep her costume on, but there were so many exciting things to look at that it was the least of her worries.

Getting ready to go!

Trick or treat!

Enjoying the fruits of her labor

At Spooktacular

Checking out the big pumpkins

Lily definitely enjoyed her self (and wore herself out)! Now we are just going to have to teach her that every day isn't Halloween!