Fort Lilly

Welcome to Fort Lilly!

Featuring a spacious cave (dome-shape courtesy of papasan chair) complete with recessed lighting (flashlight in cave ceiling) and a secret exit for fast get-aways. This structure was expertly designed using found objects such as chairs, pillows and a t.v. stand, and covered with hand-crocheted blankets that provide privacy while still allowing for lots of light and spying capabilities (you can see out, but they can't see in!). Place an offer today, because this hot piece of property will most likely be gone by tomorrow!

A full view of the exterior. . .

Lilly made good use of the padded deck while mom finished setting up the fort.

Lilly's first journey into the fort. . . She was hesitant at first, but became a lot braver once she had a flashlight in hand.

 

Wowee.
 


Check this out!

 


No fort is complete without a guard animal. . .

 


She also thought it was fun to sit in here and spin it from side to side. . .

 


And as an added bonus, here's some (shaky) live footage, because the pictures don't really capture her enthusiasm. . .
(In case anyone needs a translation, "nah" is Lilly-speak for "yeah," not sure why she started doing that.  I guess she just likes to be ambiguous? Mysterious? Confusing? On the other hand, her "NO" is still very clear.)

Now if anyone wants to come visit us in Austin (assuming only our family and friends actually read this), I promise to build you your own fort and read "Where the Wild Things Are," to you, too. What a deal, right!? Any takers? Come on, you know you want to!

Lilly in Action

Just another video post for the grandparents (and people who have about 3 minutes to kill):

19 Months

 


Okay, WHERE did the last month go? I swear I just wrote an 18 months post last week! But apparently, as of yesterday, I have a 19 month old.
Lilly is learning like crazy right now, picking up new words every day, and surprising us all the time with her memory and understanding. I can't number her vocabulary anymore, and she uses 2-3 word sentences sometimes. Usually "I want _____" or "More ___." She can say most of the colors, but she gets them all confused, she can say a lot of the numbers too, but not in order. And she loves learning ABCs, but the only one she really knows is "O" and sometimes "I." She has lots of little girl friends and she will name them for you if you ask, but she still refuses to say her own name. She loves dress-ups and stickers, painting and books, and music, lots of music. And she can jump off the ground and land on her feet! Lately I haven't turned on the t.v. much, but sometimes  she asks to watch "choochoo" (Thomas) or "Why?" (Super Why). Mostly we've been doing a lot of activities, walking/workout groups, and swimming. She's the best little buddy and loves to play copycat. And she still gives the best hugs and kisses.


Unfortunately she's had some trouble with drinking and driving lately, but don't worry, we're working hard to nip this delinquent behavior in the bud. . .

 

 

 

 

Happy Father's Day!

  

Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful men in our lives!


We all love Mom, but we know that Dad is the fun one. 
He let's you wear whatever you want even if it doesn't match, and he almost always serves mac n' cheese for lunch. He can be very silly, and when he reads a book he does all the sounds just right. He's the best at "This Little Piggy," tickle fights and jumping on the bed. When mom says, "Eat your vegetables!" you don't even hear because you're playing copycat with dad across the table. Look up, look down, look left, look right, hands up, clap, peekaboo!
We love you Dada/Drew!

The Green Balloon

Look mom, I've got a balloon! And it makes a great pillow!

And I can bounce on it!

Wait, where'd it go?

Uh oh.

So Sad.
(After I asked her to make a sad face.)

Then I blew up a big blue one and all was well again. The End.

Gourdough's

 

 This Saturday Drew had to go downtown to do some science stuff, so Lilly and I tagged along and did some exploring in Austin. We checked out the Farmer's Market, and explored the UT campus. Then we picked up Drew and headed to Gourdough's! These trailer donuts lived up to the hype. We shared a Little Miss Shortcake and it was awesome! (So awesome that we devoured it before we could take a picture.)
This is just one of many things you can look forward to if you come and visit us in Austin!

  

 

In other news. . .
Lilly loves watercolors. Best 99 cents I've ever spent.


Lilly also loves babies. We babysat this little guy for an hour and Lilly didn't want to leave his side. Also every time he started to fuss, she would say "sad! sad! he sad!" and then try to put his binky back in. She's a great babysitter.


 I did a mini dance lesson with her the other day, and now she loves to spin around and point her toes and sit with her feet together. So cute. She also loves to do stretches. My church has a workout group 3 times a week and we bring our kids and let them play on the side. This past week Lilly came over at the end and lay down on the mat and stretched with me.

And she just asked to have her toenails painted like mine for the first time ever, and she sat still the entire time! Yay for girl time!

Fort Worth Friends

We got to spend all of last weekend with our friends in Fort Worth! It is always fun to see how much our 3 kids change between visits, and now there is a new addition!
Lilly is in love with baby Tyler. She loved tickling his feet, gently touching his head and giving him his binky (whether or not he wanted it). I think she's going to make a great sister one day! (sorry, no announcement intended)







We visited the Stockyards Friday night, and had a lot of fun eating brisket and learning a little about Forth Worth's history. We even found a nice pen for the babies and dads to play in!

Saturday we played in the yard all day and got wet on the slip n' slide. I didn't get any pictures of that, but I assure you we looked awesome. :) The rest of the time we spent inside hanging out, cooking, and playing games.

The kids did a little cleaning. . .


I think these two are going to be good friends. Asa decided to climb up behind Lilly to share the chair and watch some Sesame Street . . .


And, Lilly pretty much wore this black top hat the entire time. . .