Santa Did Came!

Because she had been such a good girl this year, Liliana asked Santa to bring her a bunny for Christmas. This video shows her reaction when she realized, "He did came!"

Christmas 2010

Liliana's very own dollhouse!  Made with love by Daddy

So happy

Christmas chaos

All 3 kiddos, Merry Christmas to us! 

New comfy pajamas and brand new "lipstick"(chapstick).
What more could a girl ask for?

Man, oh man how I love my baby girl!

And this guy too! 

It's possible that Liliana wasn't the only one enjoying some of her toys. 
(When you shake the hat it makes funny noises, plays music, etc.) 

For the record, I chased him around the house trying to get a picture of him wearing the hat.  He finally gave in when I handed the camera to Lilie.  She took this picture, pretty good eh? 

Liliana got a lot of new friends for Chrismas; and insisted on sleeping with *all* of them that night.

Future scientist

Christmas Eve 2010

My best attempt at a family photo

Liliana's new favorite mode of transportation

Santa's coming, Woo Hoo! 

Pre-Christmas Pajama Jam/Birthday Party

We celebrated my birthday with a PJ party this year.  Aunt Marci, Uncle Brian, and Brianna came over to help us celebrate.  We were also lucky to have Aunt Bethany stop in and visit us on one leg of her long road trip home.

Cute couple

Liliana loved visiting with her Aunt "Befferny"
(It was a hot topic of conversation with her for several days)

Visit with Santa

Here are a few pictures from our visit with Santa earlier this month:

Liliana and her Brianna

Liliana and the Big Guy

Finding out if reindeer bite

Liliana is blessed to have been adopted into the Valenti clan

We tried to use candy to bribe her to sit for a picture but it backfired.  Oh well.

Proud Aunt Marci

Aunt Marci "hanging out" with the slightly creepy fake Christmas carolers

Cheesy grin!

Cheap Entertainment

Who needs to spend lots of money on a movie and dinner out? All we need is a laser pointer and two cute little girls!

Mexican food

We were fixing dinner in the kitchen when Lilie wandered in.

"Can I have a snack?"

"No, darling," I replied.  Seriously.  I use 'darling' a lot, and no it does not make me old-fashioned.  Anyway. "We're fixing supper and it's going to be ready in just a minute."

Katie chimed in, "That's right!  We're making quesadillas and we'll have chips and salsa..."

Lilie processed this information slowly.  Then she asked for a chip.  Then she started negotiating for TV time.

"Can I watch one Diego while you make our ha chias?"

And now we can't call our quesadillas by any other name....

Bedtime Stories

Liliana's usual bedtime routine goes something like this: read a book with Mommy or Daddy, lights out, snuggles in the rocking chair while we tell a story then sing her a song. Then we put her in her crib to fall asleep. Tonight, after her story, I asked Liliana what she wanted me to sing. She requested "Moonshadow" (by Cat Stevens). This is a song that her Daddy usually sings to her and I haven't been able to get it down just right yet. I've been trying really hard to learn the words and get the notes right but apparently my effort has yet to pay off. I got about two verses into the song before Liliana asked, "Can you turn that off?" (Owch!)

That only hurt my pride for a few minutes because she melted my heart a few minutes later. She had her head on my chest and we were rocking in the dark when she lifted up her head and turned to me. I could barely make out the sweet grin on her face but I could hear it in her voice when she happily declared, "I'm going to get married! With you and Daddy!" I thought it was really cute and didn't really want to get into all of the clarifying at the moment so I giggled a little and said, "Yep, sweetheart!" She put her head back down on me and then asked, "It's not going to hurt?" I giggled a lot. And assured it that no, it wasn't going to hurt.

Saving graces

One of my many character flaws is my inflexibility: When I have it in my head that the next fifteen minutes will go a certain way, and then they don't, I get totally bent out of shape and fairly grumpy.

Honestly, that's where I was Saturday afternoon with Lilie.  We'd spent the morning at our house in Wentzville while Katie was running Christmas errands.  Lilie and I had played with the dogs, read a couple of books, created some dry erase artwork, and in general lazed about.  Katie returned in time for a late lunch, and by the time we were finishing up, I was as ready for a nap as Lilie was. 

Of course, Lilie didn't know she was ready for a nap.  She used every trick in the book to dodge the bullet: Will you read to me?  Will you rock me?  Will you sing to me?  I'm thirsty.  I don't want a pillow.  Can I lay on that blanket instead of this one?  I don't want to lay at this end of the crib, I want the other end of the crib.  Can you cover me up?  I want a pillow.  I want to sleep on my tummy.  Can you cover me up?  Where's my chinchilla?  Can you cover him up?

Keep in mind, enough time passed between some of these requests to allow me to lay down on the floor next to her crib and get about two sentences into a good paragraph - or even enough time to rest my head in sweet anticipation of the promised nap.  So each time I had to get up and satisfy one of the demands.

I know, Mom - I know I'm the adult here, and I can leave the room and let her figure it out through primal scream therapy.  But this was atypical for Lilie; she usually drifts off in under ten minutes.  I was sure she'd do that after each time I helped her with a stuffed animal or a blanket.  It was a bit like sprinting over hot coals while you're lost in the smoke...  You're frantically confident that each step will be the last.

So when she finally asked me, "Will you pat my bum?", I told her to lay on her tummy and close her eyes, and I may have sounded a bit stern.  She flopped over and squinted like Clint Eastwood, then smiled while I patted away. 

That's when she opened her eyes and looked at me with a big smile, and laid me low with a very humbling remark delivered in a sweet near-whisper:

"I'm really having fun at your house, Daddy.  I'm really having fun."

She was asleep long before I got over the guilt from being such a grump.

The Mouse Story

One day last week, I was telling Jason about my day at work while Liliana listened in. That particular day had involved a near encounter with a mouse so I was telling him the story: My coworker, Mary, was standing at my desk and we were chatting (about something work-related, of course) when all of a sudden she screamed. Then she pointed. Then she was nearly speechless for a few seconds when all she could say was, "Ewww, Eww, Eww!" A mouse had run out from under her desk and ran into the computer room. She was startled and we were all a little skeeved out.

I guess the story was extra interesting to Liliana (or maybe it was just my dramatic retelling of the story that intrigued her) but she started asking-several times a day--"What happened to that mouse?" So I probably told her the story about three more times before she started telling it herself. Now she looooooves to hear and tell the story to anyone who will listen. This video did require a little coaching because she tends to freeze up any time I pull out the video camera, however, I think I caught the essence of it.

Dinner Prayer

Tonight Liliana sat down at the dinner table, clasped her hands together, bowed her head and said, "Heavenwy Fadder, pwease have Jesus bring Santa."

If only I could've caught that on camera!

The puppy must've looked pretty irresistible in that lighting. 
(She's trying to kiss, not bite, him).

Being silly with Mommy's hat

Sharing cake with Brayden at Aunt Tina's Birthday Party

Handsome fella! 

Both ready for trouble.  The cake ultimately ended up on the floor but not before...

We got some really cute pictures of them feeding each other.

Later, they worked off the sugar rush with some good ol' fashioned toddler wrestling.

This was right before she put him in the Scorpion Deathlock.  Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures of that.

No toddlers were harmed...

My favorite two-year-olds!

Two cuties:  Uncle Jason loving baby EmGo. 
(That flush in his cheeks is baby fever, she has that effect on people)

Sweet, beautiful blessing.

She gives awesome cuddles, I wanted to hold her all night.