"When we recall Christmas past, we usually find
that the simplest things - not the great occasions -
give off the greatest glow of happiness."

           I want each and every one of Lilys christmas to be filled with happy memories and long lasting traditions.

Bad Dreams

  This morning Lily woke up around 6:30am crying .. Lily never wakes up crying or cranky really.. So I walked into her room to see what was going on and found her sitting in the far corner of her crib just crying. When I picked her up she hugged my neck so tightly and just clung.

 I brought Lily into our room and laid her down on the bed. " Did you have a bad dream" I asked, not really thinking that she would tell me if she had or hadn't.

"Yes mama bad dream"she whimpered.... I asked her what her dream was about and do you know what she told me?

"Jellyfish and Jack"

I can only imagine how that one went!!!

All I have to say is Lily was very clingy to Jack all morning, until he stole her cheese, than it was on.

I really love Fall it is by far my favorite season, Although, I must admit it is mid-November and I am getting very anxious for some snow, I am so excited to take lily outside in the snow this year. I hope she likes it.

Finnegan- Lilys new best friend

 It is a pretty cool feeling when your child discovers a love for something that you yourself adored growing up. Something that you can remember bringing you the upmost joy, something that you dreamed of everynight.

Something like HORSES.......

 

And thanks to one of my very dear friends shannon, Lily was about to Ride, Brush, Feed and Pick the shoes of a very beautiful Arabian - Finnegan.

Thank you again Shannon !!!!!!!!

Twenty-Five

 I always assumed I would have a  problem with this birthday. Being young, doing youthful things has always been something I’ve really clung to. I’ve always looked back on my childhood and the passing of the carefree years of my life with great sentiment.

Some parts of my soul stopped growing at seven. and sixteen. and twenty. and there are days when I only want to see the world through the eyes of the girl I was at those ages.

But, here I am 25 years old. Half way to 50. A quarter of a century old. And you know what I am much more content with 25 than i thought i would be. 25 to me always seemed so final, even more so than 30. And I know everyone over 30 right now is telling me to shut it, but that is just how i felt.

Although when I look at what I have today and what I had ten years ago - I wouldn’t trade places for even a minute. I spent the last ten years finding out who I wanted to be, discovering who would be the love of my life, learning what it meant to be a self sufficient adult, and more recently, how to be a mother.

And i couldn't be happier, these past 25 years have been an amazing ride and I can not wait to see what the next 25 hold for me.

Love
 Jules

Halloween with a 2 year old ROCKS!!!!!!

  Halloween with a two year old is anything short of AWESOME!! It was so much fun, everything from apple picking, costume making, zoo boo'ing, hay riding, pumpkin carving, and trick o treating.Each event was another new adventure. Yes i know this is technically Lily's third Halloween ( hold the boat ..rewind.. did i just say THIRD??? ) BUT, it was her first real Halloween- the kind that she is old enough to actually participate in.

  We let Lily pick out her own costume...Batman... I did however try and persuade her towards a princess or a little ladybug but she was serious about wanting to be na-na-na-na batman. So I busted out the old sewing machine and made her a pink batman costume. It came out pretty good, and she LOVED it!!!!

   We participated in a few Halloween/Fall festivities ( but unfortunately did not have the camera with us everytime) First we kicked off our fall fun with a little apple picking at patterson's, which is also where we had our wedding reception, so it was pretty cool to go back there. Lily had a blast picking apples she loved every minuet of it and didn't mind at all that it was freezing cold and pouring down rain.Once we finished apple picking we ventured up to the pumpkin patch and let lilybear pick out her very own lily sized pumpkin. Which she later painted.

   The next weekend we all went to Boo at the Zoo, late of course..sigh... but none the less we were there. Lily was soooo excited to be going to the zoo at night.

Go to zoo at night mama, go to zoo at night dada, go see elephant at night?"

is all we heard the whole way there. Once there Lily wanted to immediately go see the elephants, which we did than we ventured out to see the "spooky" zoo. I don't think we really heard much more out of lily other than "oh look at dat" or "ooo munster" for the rest of night. Boo at the Zoo was so much fun for the whole family and I am so glad that we were able to bring her back this year.
  Just thinking back on when we took her in 2010 how little she was and how cold and rainy and dead it was compared to this year. How differently she reacted to everything, last year was all claps and smiles this year was pure childhood enchantment and fun.I can't wait to see what next years boo at the zoo holds for us, but i have a feeling this year will always be my favorite.

 The following Friday we all went to the lake farmparks haunted hayride. I had never been to it before but Jason had, and he assured me that it would not be inappropriate for our little munchkin. As soon as we stepped foot in the LONG line for the hayride, Lily spotted the pony rides and boy did she want to go over there. We reasoned with her (as well as you can reason with a 2 yr old with a pony 15 ft away) and told her we would let her ride the pony before we leave. So as you can imagine for the rest of the trip she constantly asked about the pony ride. Really the whole pony ride needs to be a seperate post on its own. but lets just say i have NEVER seen Lily as happy as when she was sitting on the saddle of that pony. ( to bad i didn't have my camera cough* cough* jason)

  And finally our long awaited pumpkin carving and trick o treating blow out at Gramies house. Lily caught on to the art of trick o treating so fast. We took lily down the street i grew up on with Maggie, her friend Katie, and Jason. Than once we finished the street Jason took Maggie and Katie down a for more streets while Lil and I went back to gramies to pass out candy.

All in all we had a very succesful Halloween, and one that I am sure we will never forget.


Love
 J