An Early Birthday Present

Lily's second birthday is on Saturday; can you believe it?! We decided to get her a playground as a present. We wanted to have it delivered and installed before her party on Saturday morning, so the kids could enjoy it then. We had them bring it today just in case there were any complications. Thankfully, everything went perfectly, and the company did a great job putting it together quickly. This is one of the few times we couldn't wait for Lily to wake up from her nap so we could take her outside; of course, today she slept for almost 3 hours!

When she woke up, I told her she had a surprise while I was putting her shoes on. Her eyes lit up and she kept asking "prise?" Her last surprise was the fair last Saturday, so I don't know if she thought it would be something like that. We went outside where Ryan was waiting to take pictures. She was so excited when she saw the playground! She loves going to our local playground, so to have one in her backyard is just great! She hurried down the stairs and ran over to it. She looked at everything, went for a swing (in both the little and "big girl" swings), tried to figure out the trapeze and then headed up the stairs to the steering wheel and slide. She had a huge smile the whole time and was so excited. It makes us so happy to see her so happy! We think this will provide lots of fun for years to come!

A Day of Treats

Saturday was a day of treats for us. After Lily woke up, she just laid in bed with us as we watched cartoons (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse of course). It was such a treat for us as she just cuddled with us and watched a cartoon; what a great way to start the day!

After breakfast, we told Lily we had a surprise for her, but we had to get dressed and go in the car. On our way to the North Georgia State Fair, we told her we were going to the fair and there would be lots of animals. She loves animals, so she got very excited; she kept saying "animals" again and again! We had such a great time. There was a big barn with tons of animals...horses, ducks, sheep, goats, turkeys, rabbits, emus, chickens, etc. This was a petting zoo, but she wasn't interested in touching any of them which was fine with me. There was another tent just down from the barn with more animals. There was a zebra, camel, albino python and turtles...all animals we weren't expecting to see at a state fair. Lily had a great time watching them all. We also went into the ride area of the fair. There were way more than we expected to see, but all the kid rides were basically the same; some type of a bucket that went in a circle around a little track. Unfortunately, they didn't allow the parents to ride with the child, and we really didn't think Lily would handle that very well, so we didn't ride any of them. We did however ride the carousel which Lily enjoyed. She loves horses so to "ride" one is great for her; of course, I'm sure she would freak out if we tried to put her on a real horse.

After the ride and watching lots of other people, we decided it was time for lunch. Lily and I split some chicken fingers and fries, and I gave her some of my lemonade. She loved it! She would take a bite of food and then ask for more "tea." I think she thought it was tea because that's what I love to drink, and I don't let her have any. She thought she was getting a special treat because I was sharing my drink with her. We also decided it would only be right to have funnel cake at a fair; what fair is complete without one? No surprise here, but she also loved that!

Fun in September

"Mom, this cookie recipe looks awesome; let's try them!" Lily loves to sit nearby and watch us cook. I can't wait until she is old enough to enjoy cooking with me.








Lily loves to read her books. We sit and read for at least an hour everyday.

Having fun in the garden before it was all torn out for Lily's big birthday present. She doesn't know it, but a playground is being delivered tomorrow!

Showing off her red Mickey Mouse crocs that Bama bought for her. She loves these shoes!












Granna took Lily to school on Grandparent's Day. She got to stay and play for a little while, and they enjoyed some cookies and juice. Lily is lucky to have lots of wonderful grandparents who love her very much.

Reading at the table is fun too. I surprised Lily with this Mickey Mouse Clubhouse book that makes sounds when you push the buttons; she loves it. She will say "prise!" and go find this book to play and read. I love that she loves books!

School Update

Since it's been about a month now, I thought I would tell you about Lily's "chool" experience; it's been an interesting one for us all. Of course, when she started, Lily would cry and hold on to me. When I picked her up though, I would ask her if she had fun and wanted to go back, and she always responded yes. After a couple of weeks, she started going to the teachers without a problem; it just took her a little time to adjust to playing with new people and to trust them. Also, I have noticed when I pick her up that she is happily playing and having a good time. This is all such a relief to me because it is so difficult to leave her behind if I think she is unhappy or anxious the whole time!

My biggest concern though has been that she completely refused to eat while she was there. Lily loves to eat, so this just isn't right. She eats a pretty good breakfast about 8:30, but I knew she was starving when I picked her up at 1 as she would immediately say "eat, eat!" I couldn't figure out why she wouldn't eat at their snack time or lunchtime. Was she more interested in watching the bigger kids? Was she unsure of where her food was coming from? I had no idea what she was thinking because I was packing Goldfish and Fig Newtons (plus a sandwich) everyday, and these are two of her favorite things to eat. Of course, the teachers tried each time to get her to eat, but she would refuse and become upset, so they didn't want to press the issue (and I agreed with that). I still have no idea why she wouldn't eat, but thankfully, as of last week, she has been consistently eating at both snack and lunchtime. She loves to carry her little blue lunch bag, and I make sure to show her that I am making her sandwich and putting in her snacks each morning, so maybe that helps her connect that the food is from me. I don't know what the difference is, but I'm so glad she has come around on this!

The teachers send little notes home everyday telling how they ate, when they had diapers changed, etc. Today's note said "Lily is eating at both snack and lunch with no tears and having a great time. I'm so proud of her!" Every time I pick her up now, the teacher tells me how sweet she is and how much fun she is to play with and watch; this is a big improvement over the "well, she did alright, but she didn't want to eat again" statements I got at the beginning! I love knowing that she is now settling in and having a great time each visit, and that the teachers are now seeing the sweet, precious girl that I know and love!

Funny girl

Lily makes us laugh all the time. Two funny things happened near bedtime tonight that I thought might make you laugh too.

1. We had an NFL game on TV while we played with some animal shapes; Lily wasn't paying one bit of attention to the game (she had commented that "ball" was on earlier and had moved on). During a commercial break, a McDonald's commercial came on. You know how at the end of the commercial, the voice over says "Ba, ba, ba, ba, ba...I'm lovin' it." Well, Lily looks up at me and imitates the song part of that by saying "ba, ba, ba, ba;" she followed the movement of the voice and everything. Then she just went back to playing as if she sings along to commercials all the time!

2. Lily loves to read her Bible after bath time. Whenever you tell her it's time for a bath, she'll ask "Jeez?" because she wants to read about Jesus after the bath; we assure her that she will get read about Jesus as soon as the bath is over. As soon as she gets out of the bath, and we're putting on her pajamas, she asks for Jeez; she's been doing this for many weeks now. Well I was about to put her pajama shirt on when she started saying "hurry! hurry! hurry!" again and again. She wanted me to hurry and put the shirt on so she could hear about Jesus! As soon as she had both arms in her shirt, she sat down and looked over at her Bible. I don't even know where she learned the word "hurry" because I don't think I ever tell her to hurry; I always say "come on" or "let's go." It's great that she is so excited to read and learn about Jesus, but that absolutely cracked us up!

A Quick but Great Visit

Ryan, Lily and I were so excited to see Grandpops (aka, Ryan's dad) who was in town on business today. He had a couple hours between meetings so we met him at Doc Green's for a lunch date. I kept telling Lily we would see Grandpops who was here from Chicago; he and Jan had recently sent Lily a book about Chicago that she loves. She kept saying "Pops" and "Cago" and seemed so excited all the way over to lunch. Of course, she totally clammed up when she saw him. She did smile big at him though when he mentioned Grandma Jan! It took a few minutes, but she finally warmed up. Unfortunately, we had to leave before she was willing to give hugs or kisses (really, balancing on the curb was too much fun); she blew him a kiss though so that will have to hold him over until next time. It is always a treat when we get to visit. We don't get to see him or Jan nearly enough!

Ryan's 30th Birthday!

We had such a great time in Gulf Shores celebrating Ryan's 30th birthday! Ryan, Lily and I went down last Thursday (and hit the outlet malls on the way in), and the Lundquists' joined us late that evening. The Rohans and Barbatos came down on Friday (Ryan's actual birthday) so we were all there to have dinner together at a great restaurant called The Hangout. We loved it so much we went back on Saturday evening to watch some football games.

The weather was perfect so we were able to enjoy lots of time outside. Like in New Smyrna, Lily wasn't sure about the beach at first. She kept wanting to go to the pool so on Friday we spent most of our time there. On Saturday though, she watched Vivian play for probably an hour before finally venturing into the sand without her shoes and into the water; there was a great little pool of ocean water that was perfect for the kids. She absolutely loved it! She had a blast wading through the water, looking for shells and for little fish. She didn't want to leave "the big pool" until we told her we would go to "the little pool." I'm so glad she finally warmed up to the ocean and sand!

We were so lucky to have several good friends and family (my parents were down there too) at the beach with us for Ryan's big birthday. What a great way to celebrate!

Little Fan

Here's a picture of the littlest Gators fan in the Hooks' household. It was taken on my cell phone so the quality isn't great, but I thought it was a cute picture that I wanted others to see. Ryan loves it when she wears his hat! If she had a UT Volunteers hat, you can bet I would put that on her!

Ta Da!

Lily has been cracking me up for a couple of days now. She will do something, throw her arms in the air and say "Ta!" or "Ta Da!" For instance, today I was blowing bubbles in the air, and she was running through trying to pop them. I would say "go, go!" and "good job!" as she popped them. When she finished, she got a big smile on her face, threw her arms above her (like she had just finished a great gymnastics routine) and said "TA!!!" It's so cute because you can see how proud she is of herself for whatever it is she has done. I guess popping a lot of bubbles in a few seconds in a big deal to an almost 2-year-old!

Fun Around the House

We've been having some fun around the house...here are few pictures for you.

One of Lily's favorite things to do these days is ride on Ryan's shoulders. She likes to say she is "tall!" like a "raf!" (giraffe). She also loves to ride on his back like a horse (she LOVES "nay-nays" as she calls them), but I hold her hand as they walk so there's no picture of that.

She had a good time putting a whole bunch of stickers on Ryan's shorts. This might show you why she doesn't play with stickers very often.

Our friend, Robyn Herring, gave Lily an early birthday present to get her ready for football season. Check out this adorable UF Gator shirt! Pretty amazing given that Robyn and her family are big-time Auburn fans! Robyn makes all sorts of cute clothes for babies and kids, plus many items that make for great gifts for just about anyone. Check out her website (http://sewpersonalgifts.googlepages.com/) to see all the cool stuff she can do.

Lily, Meme, my mom and I went to visit Mama Lottie on Tuesday. Mama Lottie babysat me from the time I was six weeks old until I started school. She's almost like another grandmother for me. She recently broke her hip (not the same one she broke and had surgery on about 3 years ago) so her mobility is limited. It was nice to catch up and wish her a happy birthday in person. Lily had a great time pushing her walker around and watching her fish swim in his bowl!

Lily makes everyday a fun one but I have not been very good recently about keeping the camera on her to document just how much she is growing and changing.

Labor Day Weekend

I hope you all had a good Labor Day weekend. We had a great one here in the Hooks' household! Liz and David (Bama and Popi according to Lily), came to visit which is always a treat. David spent most of the weekend moving furniture with Ryan and painting Lily's new "big girl" room. Ryan and I had picked a bedding set for Lily, and David matched the paint to one of the shades of purple in the design. He then added a cool design on the ceiling that we like a lot. Now we just have to find time to get Lily's new furniture (thanks to Bama and Aunt Kendall for donating your former wicker bedroom set!) over here from Birmingham!

Lily loves the new room. She keeps saying "Popi. Paint. Paple." (trying to say purple) and then she'll point to herself and say "Lily!" I think that's her way of saying Popi painted a purple room for her! We'll be in the den reading a book, and we'll come across something purple. She'll say "Paple!" and then point (or run to) the purple room. We'll see how she does once it's time to actually move her over there, but hopefully this is a good sign!

While David did a lot of manual labor (thank you!), Liz did the role of grandmother and fantastic mother-in-law wonderfully! She would get Lily out of bed in the morning allowing Ryan and me to sleep in; I had forgotten how great it feels to wake up and realize I didn't have to get out of bed right that moment to get Lily. Quick side-note...Ryan got up before me on Saturday and brought me breakfast-in-bed; how wonderful is he! Back to the awesomeness of Liz...she kept Lily on Monday morning so I could go to my office and get some work done, and on Sunday morning so Ryan and I could go to church, lunch and do some shopping. She made us a delicious dinner one evening and treated us to dinner another night. She even picked up after Lily and insisted I take it easy (which in all honesty, I didn't mind at all). Personally, I most appreciate the time we spent together at Nail First as she treated me to a much-needed pedicure. Like I said...what a wonderful grandmother and mother-in-law!

It was so nice to have such a relaxing long weekend. A big thank-you to Liz and David for all their hard work this weekend!

Below are some pictures of the room before David started painting, one after the painting was finished, a close-up of the ceiling corner, and Lily and Bama playing together.