Me & My Shadow

Lily and I found a few quiet moments this morning to take a walk -- we found some birds up in a tree and our SHADOWS down below!

Thankful for Lily's Teachers

Thank you Miss V and Miss S, and Mrs. SL and Ms. C for all of the love you have given our daughter in her first year of life! We are so blessed to have an extended family to care for our most precious gift. You have taught her so much and helped her to reach every milestone - from crawling to walking to learning her farm animals.

Lily has made so many wonderful friends and has so many memories already -- I know I could not have offered her this much on my own. So, during this season of gratitude, I thank the amazing staff at the CDC for all they do to not only care for our children, but teach them the most fundamental and important lessons of life!

And, thank you for today's Thanksgiving lunch!

Party Dress

Today Lily's class will host a Thanksgiving feast for classmates and family. For this formal affair, Lily chose a pretty pink and brown dress and accessorized with too-small tights and too-small shoes. And for her hair, she selected a fabulous animal-print bow. Snazzy! That was the easy part. Trying to get a photograph was a whole different story!

Book Club For Girls Only

I recently came across a list of "must read" books for girls. Here it is.....let me know your favorites, I will add it to the list!
1. The Secret Garden
2. Charlotte's Web
3. The Missing Piece
4. Madeline Says Merci
5. It's Okay to be Different
6. Sisters
7. Are You There God, It's Me Margaret
8. Fancy Nancy
9. Matilda
10. I Love You
MY FAVS: The Giving Tree, The Velveteen Rabbit

Photo: Aunt K reading to the kiddies.

Happy Anniversary Dad

One Year Cancer Free! We love you and celebrate your health everyday!
Bapa and Lily dancing - 5 mo.

Talents For Free

Wow! I am so amazed by the creativity out there....and even more impressed with how generous people are about sharing their talents. Enjoy these free downloads!

Holiday papers

Holiday tags

Teacher gift

Candy Bar wrappers

And some others I can't post because Santa Marcey might be working on home-made goodies for Christmas!

Second Generation

I count my childhood friends among my most cherished blessings. And, to see our girls playing together is a gift beyond words! I hope our daughters will grow to appreciate friendships as much as their mothers do....I hope they will turn to their friends for unconditional support.....I hope they will celebrate life's milestones with their best friends.....I hope they will jet off to Vegas for a "girls only" trip and get into a little bit of trouble.....and I hope the moms will do the same (sometime very soon!).

For now - these girls gave me a day of bliss and some very cute photos!

Glam Mom

My girlfriend K has agreed to share her latest fashion and beauty finds with us from time to time! How fun. She comes with great credentials -- she can find great fashion for a fraction of the cost, pick out the perfect shade of lip gloss in 10 seconds flat and she is the only person I know that can pull of rhinestone eyelashes! She is glam mom....and here to share some of her top pics with us:

Polish Perfect: This fall try some color on your nails - my favorite it Sally Hansen "blackout"....everyone can pull this off! And on tamer days, use Sally's instant dry clear polish. You'll be ready to go in 20 seconds!

Face it: For dry skin try one of my favorites - Oil of Olay clay mask. Clay draws out the excess oil and dirt on your skin. If your skin is normal or dry, always good to detox your face once a week...Feels Great!!!

To boot: I can justify my shoe habit since most of my beauty products are over-the-counter and cheap. These boots are so cute and perfect with a skirt or a pair of jeans...the best part is you can tuck any of your jeans in them...they don't have to be those 80's skinny jeans, which I am not a fan of! These were 30 bucks @Traffic.! Love it...and they just got a new shipment of different styles in...so check it out.

Post a comment and be entered to win a bottle of BLACKOUT! Compliments of Happy Stones!

Imagine That!

All of the cognitive development has been going well! Lily walked on time - early, in fact. She can put a puzzle together. She prefers organizing the crayon box over coloring. And, she has figured out every buckle in the house. So this momma (not so cognitively developed) was ECSTATIC when Lily's imagination came out this weekend!

At mommy-and-me ballet class, she separated from the kids to play her own games -- mostly hanging from the barre (a no-no). She twirled to the music and played chase with the kiddie broom! And during Saturday night's bath, she washed all of her duckies with "make believe" soap and a pretend washcloth! Sunday night she lined up her toys, climbed into her little rocking chair and read them a book!

Ahhhh.....I knew my lovie had a little of her momma in her! All that said, after story time, she put all the toys back in perfect order -- maybe even alphabetical order!!!!! Hmmmm - imagine that!

Starbucks Saves The Day: Win A Prize

I admit it, sometimes I think life would be a lot less chaotic without the responsibility of our dog, Izzy! You all told me, "once the baby comes, you will forget all about Izzy." And, I do sometimes.

But, today she ran away and without hesitation I whisked Lily into the car and drove around the city looking for her. Imagine this -- I am in PJ's, flip flops and hot rollers. Lily is in PJ's, no shoes and munching on a breakfast bar (doing her part to yell "Issie" out the window).

We did not find her. We were very sad. But returned home to finish getting dressed.

Exiting the house I saw a nice man walking his very big dog and asked "any chance you saw a golden retriever this morning". He says.......

I did not. But I was just in Starbucks and a man there said he found a dog this morning and took him to the local vet's office.

Whoo-hoo! We jump back into the car to fetch our Izzy! She was very happy to see us, and looked only a little sorry for her early-morning escape!

I guess all girls need to escape and find adventure from time to time!

Thank goodness for good people and Starbucks!

WIN A PRIZE: Write a comment here and you will be entered into a drawing for a $5 Starbucks gift card!

Trust Yourself

I really need to go register for classes! Maybe this poem will help motivate me...and you, if you need a little of that today:

Trust Yourself.

Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life.

Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility

into flames of achievement.

Mimi's Homecoming

Lily is practicing saying "Mimi" for a very important reason -- she is coming home from Wyoming today! We are looking forward to a fun Mimi night at our house!

This Morning

I had to drop the flat iron this morning and pick up a camera! This is pretty typical of our morning routine.....Lily decked out in my costume jewels, Izzy right by her side, Aurthur cartoon in the background and me running between child, make up, breakfast, dog, laundry.....then off to work and school.

Today, Lily experimented with ankle bangles -- why not wear them on your feet? Maybe this is a new trend! And, Izzy just stood by to adore her as I do!

Like a Gem You Are.....

I am so lucky that Lily still lets me rock her at night. It is my favorite time of the day. Twenty hushed minutes for the two of us to snuggle and reconnect.

The first night we had her home from the hospital I was rocking her to sleep and realized that I could not remember a single nursery rhyme. A clear oversight on my "to do" list in the final weeks of preparations. So, I sang what came to me first -- songs from my sorority days.

I was always a sucker for the ceremonies and ritual that accompanied my Greek days back at FSU. And, the beautiful songs that went along with ADPI traditions are still some of my favorites.

So here is what I sing to Lily every night -- I think they are a good fit (I have taken some liberty with the words):

Little Lily Pie

Little, little Lily Pie

Like A Gem You Are

I believe
You Must Have Been A Star

When Your Heart is Near

Sadness There Is None

Shinning Bright As Diamonds

ADPI, We're One

It Only Takes A Spark

It Only Takes A Spark

To Get A Friendship Going

And, Soon All Those Around

Will Warm Up To Its Glowing

That's How it is at "The Stone House"

Once You've Experienced It

You'll Want to Sing

The Love It Brings

You'll Want To Pass It On

My sorority, Alpha Delta Pi, will celebrate 100 years at Florida State in January of 2009. The chapter is hosting a weekend of events, and many of us are making the trip to be part of this special time in our sisterhood's history. I am proud to be part of this organization - like my mother before me. I hope Lily will also know the wonders of sisterhood and friendship...and maybe she will sing the same lullabies to her little cherub one day!

My Heart Was A-Buzz

Halloween did indeed bring many treats!

On Friday, Lily's school hosted a costume parade for the students (age 3 months to 5 years). This could possibly rank as the cutest thing I have EVER seen. Go figure, my camera battery had zero juice!

One by one princesses, lady bugs and super heroes walked by -- trick-or-treating and looking for their mommies in the crowd. And, then from around the corner came my Lily.....her eyes wide open taking it all in. Completely confident and unaware of her bumble bee tutu. Her curls dipped down into her eyes from beneath her antennae. Her tights drooped slightly around her ankles because they were a size too big. She held on tight to her bag of goodies. My heart sank. I love this child. I love this moment. I love being her mom.

From day one, Lily's fans have said "She is the bee's knees!" I never really knew what that meant, but I think I know now! And, I agree!