You CAN Find Good Help!

Aren't I precious?  I mean, really?  Look at this face!  If only you could hear my MOUTH!  There are lots of times since I was born Mommy really, really wishes she would have had the video camera on me and today was one of those times.  The whole day!  I wish you could have heard some of the things coming out of my mouth!
Today Mommy had a minor tizzy fit.  Sandy, our house cleaner, didn't come on Monday, or Tuesday, and she was scheduled to come today but when she didn't show up at 10, or 11, or Noon, Mommy FREAKED!  We were over at our friends house and every 10 minutes Mommy was checking her phone, sending texts, saying things like, "The house is trashed and I was really counting on her!"  Etc.  Well, I absorbed all this...when we got home at about 12:30 Miss Sandy pulled into the driveway and I jumped out of the wagon and said, "Sandy!  Where are you?  My room is a mess!  You need to clean it!"
Mommy told Daddy this and Daddy did not laugh.  Daddy said if I'm old enough to know that my room is a mess and that someone else should clean it I am old enough to clean it myself.  Mommy says chalk it up to being a working Mom and paying people to do things for you.  Daddy says I am not a working toddler and I better learn to clean my own room.  Mommy says when Daddy wants to take the time to teach me how to do it he's more than welcome.  In the meantime me and Mommy both breathed a great big sigh of relief when Sandy showed up today after all.
Love,
Princess Lilly

Two Firsts!

I had two big "firsts" yesterday!  My first two steps, and my first baby throw myself on the ground and scream my head off temper tantrum!  I had the temper tantrum first.  I am really into Daddy, you know, and I have to work really hard to get all of his attention because Lilly is so demanding.  We were playing on the floor with Daddy getting horsey rides and I did not want Lilly to ride horsey with me on Daddy.  But she's bigger than me and so she did.  And I screamed and arched my back and threw myself on the floor and screamed some more.  This did not elicit the response I was hoping for.  What I did get was this:
"Mommy!  Come look!  Anna is having her first temper tantrum!"
Mommy:  "Awwww!  Anna!!!  How CUTE!  You're so FUNNY little baby!"
This made me scream more, and roll over on to my belly and kick.  Then Mommy picked me up but I did not want Mommy, I wanted Daddy.  Amazingly, this little fit didn't even phase Lilly at all.  I swear, I work SO hard!
Then later, when we were outside, I was standing in the grass, and I took two baby steps!  First left, then right!  Now Mommy was real excited about this, too, but then she backed off because she thought, "Uh oh, now I have two babies to chase."  This is true.  I am much braver than my big sister was and more apt to get my little goozie in trouble.  Maybe then I will get more attention!
Ha ha!
Love,
Anna

Happy Birthday Uncle Matt!

Dear Uncle Matt, we have a CRITICAL shortage of Uncle Matt pictures!  We need to see you very soon to rectify the situation.  You are laughing aren't you, because I said "rectify" and that sounds like "rectal" to you which you think is funny.  Aren't you?
Well HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!  You better enjoy this year because when it's over what will be your excuse for being a 30 year old still living with your Mom?  I mean, 29, okay but, 30?  Ha ha.  We're just kidding you, Uncle Matt.
We love you.
Happy Birthday!!!
Love,
Lilly, Anna, Mommy and Daddy, too!

Always Something...

It's always something, isn't it?  Just when you think you're going to get ahead, the compressor on the air conditioner goes out.  This causes Mommy to cuss.
In other news, we had such a great weekend.  One of Mommy's besties came down from Columbus, Ohio with her little boy (pictures forthcoming) and Daddy left all weekend to spend some time with his besties from high school.  I think Daddy had more fun than we did, judging by his rough, scary looks when he got home, but even if he had more fun, we felt better than he did.
We are looking forward to this holiday weekend and spending more time with friends!  There is a Beatles Festival that Mommy is taking us to, our "Starter Festival" she calls it.  She says we can go to Beatles Festivals, but she will never let us go to Phish Festivals like she does.  This does not seem fair to us.  Beatles...Phish...hmmm...what about a Backyardigans Festival?  That's MY kind of festival!
Anna is still not walking, but she has perfected standing up to a new art form, and still loves to clap for herself when she gets upright.  It's so cute.  And I, Lilly, have taken to repeating things Mommy doesn't even realize she's saying.  Like last night, when we were getting ready to take a bath, Mommy said, "I'm a stupid idiot."  and I said, "Mommy, are you a stupid idiot?"  Mommy said, "Yes, I am." and I said, "Yes, you are Mommy.  You're a stupid idiot."  Mommy said I can't call anyone else a stupid idiot except gratuitously when it's funny.
Love,
Lilly and Anna

Twirly Girl

I'm really into dresses lately.  Twirly, girly dresses.  Mommy just thought these pictures are cute.  I really like TWIRLY dresses, you know, when I spin.  If they don't twirl when I spin, I get down right upset and say, "Mommy!!!  It's not TWIRLY!" and then we have to change.  By and large most play dresses don't twirl, but dressy dresses do, so I get dressy dressed up for Mary Lou's house and trash all my girly girl dresses.  I also help Mommy get dressed in the morning for work now.  We go in her closet and I'll pick out her skirts and say, "What's this?" and then thumb my nose up at Mommy's horrendous taste.  Mommy will put something on and say, "What do you think, Lilly?" and I'll say, "Hmmm, how about some purple?"  Mommy doesn't have much purple, and she certainly doesn't have polka dots, which is unfortunate for her.  When do you outgrow polka dots?  No time soon, if you're me.
Love,
Lilly (and Anna!)

Look at ME!  I can stand up all by my big baby self now!  Still not walking, or talking, and still only have two teeth.  Daddy is starting to get himself worked up into a little tizzy over this.  He's worried I  might have fluid in my ears which is preventing me from hearing and balancing properly and thus not speaking (by now, I "should" be speaking at least 3 words and really, all I can say is "Uh oh!" and "Mama"  What Daddy doesn't realize is that when he speaks to me and I don't "hear" him I'm actually just not listening to him and that I like to take things in my own time and eventually I'll start walking, then running and talking, then screaming, just like my Sissy!)  All in due time.  Meanwhile when I get myself up and standing I get REAL proud of myself and start clapping and laughing.  I also like to open my mouth REAL wide and put my head down.  Babi and Duda know what this is like.  Mommy used to do it!  And I do the SAME thing!  Once we get some pictures of that we will put them up here.
On another note, Mommy's hard drive crashed on Friday.  Thank goodness for the IT geeks she works with, they were able to miraculously retrieve EVERY file!  But the puter is DEAD!  So note to my grandparents out there, if you don't already, Mommy highly suggests you either go buy yourself a portable hard drive (about $75 bucks or so) and download all your personal files on a very regular basis or sign up for web backup services to do it for you (for a monthly fee).  Mommy has seen some of the dinosaurs you have for puters (no offense, we are still working on a 13 year old MAC at home!) and wants to be sure the same thing doesn't happen to you!  We could have lost ALL of our pictures!   ALL OF THEM!  But Mommy backs up files but hadn't in over 2 months!  Imagine what we could have lost.  Priceless memories!  So go get ya a hard drive, or Mommy will buy you one for Christmas!
Love,
Anna and Lilly

Look What Happens...

When you put bubbles in a jacuzzi tub!  AWESOME BUBBLENESS FUN!!!  We did this at the hotel.  We don't have a jacuzzi tub at home.  We aren't that fancy.  We prefer "soaking tubs."
We hope you all have a nice, relaxing weekend.  Daddy gets his first day off this weekend in 13 days.  That is 13 loooooong days when you are Mommy.  Me, Lilly, I have a 2 year molar coming in (almost in!) so that keeps me up at night.  That, and planning for my fun family get together with my cousins in a couple weeks!  What are we going to do?!?  I want to show them a good time in Louisville!!  So we talk about that, about what we can do with the cousins.
Anna, she still only has 2 teeth.  This is getting to the point Mommy is a little worried.  Two teeth at 13 months?!?  Is that normal?  Well, the rest of them are in there somewhere, we're pretty sure.  She can't go her whole life with only 2 teeth.  Or, can she?
Love,
Lilly and Anna

Demon Drop!

Since Duda posted a comment about flying babies, Mommy thought she would post a couple more pictures from the Baby Demon Drop at Dollywood!  Look how petrified I am in the second picture!  But I WANTED to ride!  And Dollywood classified it as a "Mild Thrill" (Mommy would disagree).  The Veggie Tales Coaster was more scary than this.  Daddy took me on the coaster and I cried, on the Drop I just look terrified.  Anyway there were NO height restrictions whatsoever, Anna could have rode it but Mommy thought that was a bit much!
Love,
Lilly

NEW FLIP!

Daddy did good this past Mother's Day (thank you, Daddy!  A Happy Mommy = A Very Happy Daddy, no?)  Mommy got a new Flip which she has been hoping she'd get for free from work (typical sales rep, always wanting junk for free!) but alas, no dice so Daddy surprised her for Mother's Day.  This Baby is SWEET!  It records in HD and you can hook it right up to your HDTV.  Awesome!  Here are a couple fun videos for your viewing pleasure. 




Love,
Lilly and Anna

Vacation Pics!

Happy belated Mother's Day to all the Mamas in our lives!  A special shout out to Aunt Tracey who got to enjoy her first Mother's Day yesterday!  We love you all and thank you so much for everything you do!!!  We spoiled Mommy a little yesterday, let her take a nap (with Anna) and took her to Jason's Deli (our favorite) and bought her the Flip camera she's been wanting!  So now Mommy will have to start posting more videos!!
We are way behind on our posting.  Mommy wants to let you know this is because she has been very, very busy at work (a good thing when you are in sales!) and also since Blogger changed the way you upload photos it takes FOREVER to get pictures up where it used to take a minute or so!
Since we haven't really given you a "good" update here's a play by play rundown:
- Anna can stand up on her own now.  It's so cute.  She stands up and then claps for herself.  Lilly will walk over to her and grab both of her hands and walk backwards to help Anna "learn" how to walk.  It is just adorable!  When Anna falls down Lilly gives her kisses.  Mommy couldn't have asked for more from Lilly, she is just such a wonderful big sister and very protective of her Baby Anna!
- Anna still only has 2 teeth!
- Anna has found her angry voice and isn't afraid to use it!  You can't give something to Lilly anymore and not to Anna, too!  Including suckers, juice boxes, etc.  What Lilly has, Anna HAS to have or you will HEAR about it!
- Lilly can count to 13 (20 if you ignore 16), say her ABC's and identify half of them if she sees them.  She can almost write her own name!  She can draw "L" and "i"!!!  Mommy has to admit, Mary Lou taught her how to do this.  Isn't she amazing?!?!  We love her so much!  When people say to Mommy "I stay(ed) home because I didn't want someone else raising my kids" Mommy laughs on the inside.  Mommy knows that it truly does take a village and the more people we have in our lives who love us, the better off we are!  Lucky us to have found someone as wonderful as Mary Lou!!!
- Lilly still prefers singing to talking.  This is hilarious.
- Lilly is quite the showgirl.  She takes after her Daddy in that she delights in making people laugh.  She is just hilarious!  Hopefully with Mommy's new Flip she can capture some of these scenes!
Enjoy the pics!  These were taken 2 weeks ago on our first ever family vacation!

Love, Lilly and Anna

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Dear Grandma, we are sorry that we are late in wishing you a happy birthday.  Mommy has been so busy with work this week she is only just now downloading the pictures from your visit!
Happy Late Birthday!  We love you bunches and bunches and bunches!
Love,
Lilly and Anna

Happy Birthday Duda!

Happy Birthday Duda!!!
Dear Duda, we have a critical shortage of Duda pictures!  I guess this means we should come visit you soon so we can stock up!
Sounds good to us!
Love,
Lilly and Anna (and Mommy and Daddy, too!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!  WE LOVE YOU BUNCHES!!!!)