Family Trip to the Zoo

So we don't have as many opportunities to spend the day together as just a family of three as I would like. So you better believe I was over the moon when Adam suggested that the weekend after Lyla's birthday (and all the family had left) we enjoy Saturday at the Zoo together. Going to the Zoo is not his first choice, but let's all just admit it is one of Lyla's favorite.

It ended up being rather cold, which we did not do a very good job of preparing for, but our time together was SO incredibly fun. We packed our lunch and headed down to the zoo. The first time Adam went to the zoo with us after we got our membership, yes this was only the second time he has enjoyed our wonderful membership, it had rained ALL week and not a single animal was out. He might have questioned more than once why we loved coming to the zoo as much as we did...

But this time, all of the animals were out and about and he was able to catch a glimpse of why the zoo is so wonderful! Of course the real reason we go to the zoo is really to ride the carousel and the train, I mean come on! Lyla enjoyed the day having both mommy and daddy's undivided attention and I definitely enjoyed having my family together, relaxing and enjoying the day. 

Daddy and Lyla.

Flamingos! 

Watching the elephants.

Warthogs

"Mom, are you seeing this?"

Silly Lyla and Daddy!

Holding hands.

Momma and Lyla.

Randomly, Lyla wanted to stop in the middle of the zoo and do "Ring-around-the-rosey"

Too cute, and of course I had to oblige. 

Love those little hands.

My sweet girl.

I had wanted to see if I could get some cute Christmas pictures, but it was too cold, too sunny and the choo-choo was calling her name.

Daddy and his girl.

Having fun on the Carousel. The Tiger is currently her favorite.

Waiting for the train.

All Aboard!

Yes, we have a nose picker (she eats it too...and nothing I do makes her stop!!) So gross!

So thankful for our moments together as a family. I know Lyla is growing up so incredibly fast and I want her to have amazing memories of sweet times with her parents. 

Two!

My sweet baby is really TWO? Where has the time gone?? Never in my life have two years flown by faster than these two precious, most wonderful years.

My sweet Lyla Gray,

                 I love you more than words could ever express. You have brought more joy to my life and made my heart over flow with so much love I feel like it will explode each moment I look at you. You truly are my heart walking around outside of me.

                 I could literally eat you up. Your cheeks are so easily kissable. That delectably rich baby soft skin still remains and I could literally smother you with kisses all.day.long. 

                 Your giggles fill our house with contagious joy. Your squeals of laughter are almost more than my heart can handle!

                 Your eyes light up when you figure things out on your own. You are so smart, my sweet girl!

You get so fiery frustrated when you cannot do something right the first time or you do not think you are doing it well enough. 

                 You love to be independent, but you love to hold my hand and say "c'mon momma!"

                 You love peanut butter and jelly and ask for it for every meal. You love "nuts!". And you love saying "awww nuts!". You love eating a "teat" (treat) after lunch and dinner.

                 Your vocabulary is taking off by leaps and bounds. You crack me up with the things you say. You like to show me your "rash", you like to wear "tiiiights", and you love "iiiice" in your water. All three of these words are said with the most southern accent.

                 You love talking with your favorite people on the phone and facetime, especially aunt "da" Sarah in "Texus" Texas. And you love your friend Tripp "Dits".

                 You love helping with EVERYTHING. "help, momma, me". You especially love to help cook and bake. Mixing is your favorite. 

You are an amazing sleeper. You sleep 12-13 hours at night. And you take 2-3 hour nap each day. You love to snuggle at "nigh-nigh" time and give several kisses once you are in your bed. You still sleep with your must-haves: blankie, teddy, seahorse, "kee" (monkey), "bar-ee" (Barney) and "bop" (Baby Bop).

I am definitely a sucker for you at nigh-nigh time. You can procrastinate with the best of them, but I must admit I treasure all those sweet moments, extra kisses and especially extra snuggles in your rocking chair. I never know when my last night of doing that will be, so I relish in it. You really love to talk about things while we snuggle, who you love, what we did that day, what we will do tomorrow, when will I let you have holes in your ears like momma's?

You love your "prooh" playroom. You live in here.

You love to draw and do crafts.

Your heart is so incredibly sensitive. You love people, animals, and all things. 

You love going to "church"! You are so excited to go to your classroom. I cannot wait for you to start preschool next year! 

You say please and thank you. You say I love you. You say see you later.

You are so passionate and make everyone feel as they are the center of your attention and oh so special when you are focused on them.

You love "mi-ee" (Micky Mouse Clubhouse) and "tines" (Little Einstein's).

You only want Honey with Pawpaw or Mimi with Gramps (or vise-versa).

You love your babies, to feed them, burp them, walk them and put them nigh-nigh.

You absolutely LOVE playing hide and seek. Definitely a current favorite. 

You love going "pee-pee" on the potty like a big girl...I might need to consider trying the potty training again, sigh.

You love to stand on the lower shelf of the shopping cart at the front and hold on with those sweet little hands to the basket and peek over the top and say "heeeey!! momma!!". I mean come on, I remember doing that as a little girl!

I never knew I could love someone with such unconditional love or be gifted with so much patience. I love that we have been blessed to be at home with each other. I am forever grateful to your Da-ee (daddy) for working so hard that we are able to have this time together.  

You love to pick out your own outfits and dress yourself. You are quite opinionated and can make decisions really quickly (unlike your momma). When asked a question you always start off your response with "ummmm...." I can just see the little wheels turning trying to figure out how to say what you want to say.

You love to have your "cheese" picture taken and then "eee" see it.

We started taking mommy and me gymnastics after Thanksgiving. You love this activity! You are doing so well at it and love going to gymnastics.

You hardly walk anywhere, you either run with those oh so cute toddler legs, or want to be carried. People question why I still carry you. Why would I give up that special opportunity?! There is such a fleeting time that you will want me to carry you, so anytime you want up, you got it girl!!

Each day I realize how fast you will are grow up. What a heart-gripping thought! While I am so proud of you and love watching you turn into this beautiful young lady, no one can prepare a momma for how fast their baby will grow up!!

You are a brave, confident girl. You also have a shy, intimate side as well. I admire you so!

These truly are the best days of my life. I so wish I could freeze these moments in time. I love this age, my "pooh" two year old girl. And since no one has found that sought after pause button, I must just love the moment and look forward to the moments to come! Mommy and Daddy love you more than words can say sweet girl. 

Love, Your Momma

Sweet Prayers

Right before Lyla turned two, we started being more conscience of praying with her before meals and at bedtime. I have always prayed with her before bed, but I was feeling like she was getting old enough to participate, at least by closing her eyes and folding her hands. It has to be the cutest thing ever...watching your child fold their little hands and squeeze their eyes tightly shut to talk to their Maker. 

She wants to be just like her momma and daddy and I so badly want to be such a good example to her of Christ's love for her. 

At bedtime, after we pray, she loves to do the little rhyme, "Here is the Church"(here is the church, here is the steeple, open the doors and see all the people, close the doors, here them pray, open the doors and they all walk away), and the hand motions that go along with it. She wants her little hands to do it, then she wants momma's hands to do it and then she wants me to help her do it one last time before turning off the lights. She prays for each family member and all of her friends. I pray for her little heart to know the Lord. These days, I am finding myself more and more through out the day praying, pleading with the Lord to draw her little heart to Him. She is old enough now to understand things and communicate with us and I want her to know who created her, who she was created for and what she was created for. I want that more than anything else for her. To come to know and love Jesus as her Lord and Savior and to live her life for Him. I want her to be filled with JOY and to LOVE other people....better than I do. 

She absolutely loves going to church. She talks about church every single day and always wants to go there. Anytime we pass church or pull into the parking lot, she screams "church!!" with such excitement. I so desire for this passion to continue as she grows and the world becomes more apparent to her. I want her childlike faith to be so strong and her to be so convicted of her beliefs that she would draw others to know HIM. I am learning so much from her.

Thank you Lord for my amazing treasure!

Hands folded.

Eyes tightly shut.

Praying to Jesus.

2nd Birthday, Barney Style

Lyla's actual birthday fell on a Saturday this year, so she was able to enjoy her birthday party on the actual day! The day turned out to be unseasonably warm and we were able to use our new backyard as well. Too bad we did not check the weather a few days before, otherwise we would have turned the heat on in the pool and told everyone to bring their bathing suits!

I decided I wanted to keep her birthday party simple, I think I will go even simpler next year. Like where I feel like I get to ENJOY time with everyone and REALLY focus on Lyla. Lyla LOVES her some ice cream and her Barney, so I went with a Barney ice cream party. Easy! I got several kinds of ice cream and then tons of toppings and let everyone go to town! We still did a cake because after all, you have to have something the stick the candle in. I had my friend Kelly's sister make a Barney cake and it turned out so cute. I had to find the cake mold on you guessed it, ebay! She also is amazing at making cookies and she made Barney and Baby Bop cookies that I handed out as the take home. I know I took pictures of the cookies, they turned out SO cute, but I cannot find where they are, so once I find them I will post pictures. You can find Megan on etsy. She does cookies for all occasions and is amazing enough to pretty much do/try anything you ask! I am sure the moms just loved all the sugar I gave their kids :)

I found Barney napkins and plates online at PartyCity's website. And then pretty much everything else I just accented with purple and green. Again, so easy. I planned to have the party after naptime so that Lyla would be well rested....I don't think she actually slept though! One thing I will do differently next time is designate someone to take pictures the entire party and let them know of specific pictures I want taken. I feel like we hardly have any pictures of her party and it's because I had absolutely NO TIME to take pictures. Thankfully, someone, I believe my wonderful sister and Adam, both picked up the camera at certain points and took pictures. Otherwise we would have none. So thanks!

Adam's parents were able to come down and they were so helpful in getting ready for the party. It also worked out for Adam's grandmother who lives in Florida to make the trip up as well as Adam's aunt Linda and uncle Joe from Louisville, KY to come. They had decided to drive through Atlanta on their way to Florida to stop and visit their brother, and we insisted that they HAD to stay with us for the weekend. We had a house full, but it was so much fun! We loved having all of them here and having enough SPACE for everyone to have their own space! We are loving our house, if I haven't said that enough!! We cannot wait for them all to come visit again. Lyla loved having them all here (and so did Adam and I!). 

This is not from the party, but from the weekend, and it is too cute not to share. Lyla loves her Pawpaw (Adam's dad).

When I say that Lyla loves her Pawpaw, she LOVES her Pawpaw. Everytime she gets on the phone to facetime with Honey (Adam's mom) she asks for Pawpaw. She also still remembers that Pawpaw slept in the guest bedroom, so she will knock on the door and peek her head in and call "Pawpaw?!". And when asked whose bed is in the guest room she will say "Pawpaw".

The topping table.

All different kinds of cones.

Every topping you could imagine.

I also did other kid friendly snacks that are favorites of Lyla's, popcorn, pretzels and goldfish.

Her Barney party outfit.

So, I found THE CUTEST Barney outfit for Lyla to wear for her party on etsy. I mean SO cute. Barney was sparkly, and the tu-tu was super cute. We had worked it out for the lady to get it to us on time and then her sewing machine broke! Talk about BUMMER! So, of course I was running around trying to figure out what she would wear the week of. Finally, since again you can't find Barney anywhere, I decided to buy a sparkly iron-on that you could design on the computer and print out. Adam designed the shirt with Barney holding a 2 and Lyla's name on it. She still LOVES wearing this shirt, surprise surprise! Then I got online and followed a step by step blog on how to make a tu-tu. SO EASY! I even hot glued sparkles on it. So even though I did not end up with the original outfit I wanted her to wear, I ended up saving money by making my own. Maybe next year I will actually be able to make something even better with my new sewing machine....if I can learn how to use it!! It was my Christmas present from my wonderful in-laws and I cannot wait to start using it.

Honey, Lyla and Pawpaw

"Cheese!"

This girl LOVES chex-mix!

Daddy, Lyla and Mawmaw

Feeding Barney some chex.

And some chex for her other Barney.

Nonnie (Adam's Aunt Linda)

Relaxing, watching the game and having a beer...or two :)

Lyla and Mimi...ready for some ice cream.

Is my baby really TWO?!

Barney Cake!

Deciding what toppings she wants.

Good friends and our new neighbors came to help celebrate.

"I want some of everything, momma"

Lindsay, Oliver, and Karin.

Hannah and Lyla

Heather helping with the toppings.

Ms Courtney, Eva and baby Levi waiting to make his appearance.

Ready to eat come cake!

"Happy Birthday to you...my sweet girl!"

Blow that candle out!

Some help from momma and daddy.

The two great-grandmothers.

Lyla is SO lucky to have two wonderful GREAT grandmothers around who love her and are in good health. They are so involved in her life and I love it! My grandmother, Nana, lives here in Atlanta, and loves getting to spend time with Lyla. She even babysits some for us! And then Adam's grandmother, Mawmaw, lives in Florida, but we try to see her as often as we can as well. Lyla loves seeing Mawmaw! When Lyla was born, she actually had FOUR great grandparents alive and has met and spent time with all of them. Unfortunately we had to say good bye to her great granddaddy (my mom's dad) and her great grandmother (Adam's other grandmother). But I think that is still amazing that she got to meet FOUR great grandparents. It will be a special memory for Adam and I and she will be able to look back at the pictures of her with each of them.

Our sweet family!

FINALLY getting her ice cream!

Picking out her toppings. Yes, I let her have what ever she wanted, it was HER day!

Karin and sweet Katherine

Kelly and baby Caroline

Let me just tell you, Lyla LOVES Kelly! It is too cute. She talks about Kelly at LEAST once a day. She always wants to know where Kelly is and what she is doing. She always asks when we get in the car if we can go see Kelly. She LOVES Kelly. I am so thankful for our friendship and how much she loves Lyla. We love the Dean family! The Dean Christmas card was Lyla's favorite because she loved pointing out Kelly, John and baby Caroline. And Lyla is pretty much obsessed with baby Caroline. She loves taking care of Caroline. I think it will be so great when they can actually play together and be great friends!

Enjoying our backyard for the first time.

"Cheese"

Eva and Lyla enjoying their yummy ice cream!

Eva, Lyla, Tripp and Oliver

"yum-yum!"

Time to open presents!

So fun how she really got into it this year.

Our new neighbor, Rosie helping Lyla open gifts.

A tea set!

Water paints!

Reed helping out as well!

A babydoll!

Sweet Hannah.

Aunt Allison and Uncle Dan

It was such a fun day celebrating Lyla with such good friends and family. We are so thankful with the people God has blessed us with in our life and who love Lyla.