Ice Carving Festival

We attended the ice carving festival at St. Joseph's this past weekend. It was a cold sunny day...

Barrel of Monkeys! Amazing craftsmanship!

We did get a chance to watch the carvers at work too. Both Corey and Lily were fascinated, as you can see below.
This looks like a much easier to get a new baby : )

[Feb 16, 2008]

Lily Shots

Here are some shots taken over the past couple of weeks by Lindsay of little Ms. Lily. She is growing up much too quickly!!! [Feb, 2008]





This is Lily at her gym, Monkey Business.

Tour of the South Bend Chocolate Factory

Lily's playgroup with Notre Dame/Saint Mary's took a tour of the South Bend Chocolate Factory. We all had to don hair nets as we were able to get very close to the chocolate makers! Seeing a bunch of little people wearing hair nets was very cute : )


Throughout the tour, Lily kept reaching out for chocolates saying "peas?" After watching the chocolates get made, all were given a free sample too, which Lily loved. She kept saying "mo, mo" while simultaneously using sign language to be sure I understood what she was after : )

This is Lily's little friend Olivia and her mommy Allison. Olivia is just one day older than Lily. Lily also plays w/ Olivia's brother Luca who is 3.

One of the other highlights of the tour was Lily getting to dip her very own chocolate spoon...

And then getting to eat it! [February 13, 2008]

21 Months!

21 Months!!! Where has the time gone! This count down to 2 is compounded by the fact that baby #2 will be here by then. Yikes!

Lily is growing up so quickly. She feeds herself well with utensils and can drink out of a glass. She is counting to 15 for each stair we climb upstairs to her room. She can even spell her name, thanks to the B-I-N-G-O song. For play she loves to be on the go. Regular outings include going to her gym Monkey Business, story time at the library, grocery shopping, and play groups. At home she loves her kitchen. She makes a lot of tea, which she carefully hands to patrons using a pot holder while cautioning them that it's hot. She enjoys play-doh and crafts at her little table. She enjoys pushing her doll in her stroller (while walking the dog and talking on the cell phone), playing with her stacking pegs, writing on her wipe board, and sliding down her toy slide. She LOVES music and dancing and sings along to a lot of songs whil shaking her 'bon-bon'.

She seems very excited about her new baby brother or sister. She insists the baby is a boy. Throughout the day she frequently lays her head on my tummy, tells the baby hi, kisses them, and snuggles for a bit. Very sweet. Let's hope it lasts once the baby is born!

Happy 21-month birthday peanut!!!
[February 5, 2008]

Movie Night

Lily is such an awesome little girl in so many ways...but one of her great qualities is her ability to sleep through anything and everything! This includes wine dinners, parties in Chicago, and movie night! Here she is cashed out on her daddy's lap while we watch a movie. [January 27, 2008] Don't you just love those eye lashes and those lips?!? : )

Kris and Graycie to visit

One of my college friends, Kris (Hoy) Swanson moved to Indiana about a year before us. We live less than an hour apart! Sadly, this is the first time we were actually able to get ourselves and our girls together since we moved in. Lily and Graycie had a great time playing together : ) [January 25, 2008]

Cooking Class

Lily joined a bunch of her play group friends from the Ladies of Notre Dame and St. Mary's for the Let's Go Bananas cooking class. She was able to decorate her own chefs hat and make fruit tostados. She loved them! [January 23, 2008]

The Reconstruction Begins!

Construction began on the "future" master bedroom and bathroom January 14, 2008 - the same day Corey taught his first class at Notre Dame! Perfect timing : ) We celebrated that evening by hanging out at Lowes picking out windows '_'

Our friends Greg Vincke, and Randy Ruddy's little brother Denny Ruddy (and friend Eric) helped kick off the reconstruction activities. Lily LOVED having all of the boys around to play with. Especially Uncle Greg. Uncly Randy is sooooo 2007.

It wasnt' all work for Lily. Despite her room undergoing a bit of reconstruction, she still managed to find some time to kick back and run up bills on Uncle Greg's cell phone. She actually does a lot of pretend talking to her cousin Julia.

We do feed the crew, so Lily helped make a lot of dinners. Here she dishes out ice cream for the peach cobbler. Already a great chef, she made sure to have frequent tastes to ensure the quality was up to par. [Lily, just for future reference, you demanded ot wear the water shoes]