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.

Always Amazing

Lily amazes me everyday. I cannot believe how much her little mind is soaking up. A couple of days ago, she brought her "Words" book over to me. Typically when we go through books like this, she will point to a picture and say "that?" so I can tell her what something is. Every once in awhile I will ask her what something is if I think she knows it (typically an animal). Well, we started to look at this book and she pointed out and said the name of every single thing in there. Granted, some words were easier to understand than others, but she was totally saying them! I couldn't believe it! I was really shocked when we got to the food page and she said: Nana (for banana), apple, yog (for yogurt) and then...bocli (for broccoli). This floored me because Ryan and I really don't like broccoli and I know for a fact that I have never prepared it for her to eat! Now, she is doing this with so many of her books. She loves her lift-the-flap books. She has started telling us what is under the flap before she picks it up. I love "reading" like this with her which is a good thing because we probably spend an hour or more everyday with her books!

She has also started pointing out more things around the house and in the world and telling me what they are. We'll be in the car on the way to school, and from the back I hear "tree, lake, ney-ney, more?" (as we pass the horses and she wants to see more of them). The grocery store is pretty fun too as I hear "cheese, cracker, baby, milk, chick, berry, nana." Of course, "yum-yum!" is my favorite when we pick up Goldfish or Cheerios! Her favorite words at home right now seems to be "pate" (for plate because she loves the Zoo Animal plates she uses) or "crepes" (for grapes). She talks up a storm when we're at home (put her around others though and she clams right up); I wish I could remember everything she was saying but there are just too many. I now totally understand why people say that kids' minds are like little sponges!

Doctor's Appointment

I had my monthly doctor's appointment today, at 26 weeks and 4 days. I had another ultrasound done to get a better reading on Amelia's heart and legs. At the last ultrasound, the way she was laying prevented the ultrasound tech from getting a great reading which is why I got to have another one today. Thankfully, everything looks just right. All the measurements are right in line for this stage of pregnancy, and the midwife said things seemed to be moving along "like a textbook." Also, the ultrasound tech did a quick once over and confirmed "this is a girl; there are definitely no boy parts here." Always nice to get a little more assurance! Thank you all for your continued prayers for a healthy baby and pregnancy; Ryan and I greatly appreciate them.

Another Moment

I was having a rough afternoon today. At one point though, Lily was standing a few feet away from me playing, and I said "Lily, can I have a hug? Mommy really needs a hug." She immediately stopped what she was doing and gave me a big hug. It almost made me cry at how sweet she was. Little moments like this absolutely make the rest of the world disappear.

Sweet Moment

Ryan, Lily and I went to Chick-fil-a for breakfast this morning. Lily was enjoying her milk, chicken minis and hash browns and was quite happy (maybe because she slept in until 9:30).
About half-way through the meal, she reached over, took Ryan's finger and put it on the table; she sat there, holding his hand for about 20 minutes while we finished up breakfast. She wasn't paying attention to it or anything, but she would not let go! She just used her other hand to do everything. At one point, she let go to pick up a crumb, but then she immediately grabbed his finger again after she put the crumb on the table. It was so sweet to watch her so happy and just holding on to Daddy!

Cute Pictures

These are just a few recent pictures of Lily that I think are cute.

She loves to get in her toy basket and bring lots of toys in with her.

How cute is this? Discovering pockets! Still enjoying her inflatable bouncy. Just a cute close-up.

First Day of School

Yesterday was Lily's first day of "school." Okay, so it's the Parent Morning Out program at a local church but it is a little bit like school. Of course, Lily started to cry as I left; we knew she would as she gets very nervous around strangers. When I picked her up four hours later, she was sniffling as if she had been crying recently. I asked one of the teachers how she had been during the day, and she said that Lily had been cheerful and happy most of the day, but every so often, she would realize I wasn't there and start crying. When Lily and I left, I asked her if she had fun and if she wanted to go back and she nodded yes to both. Several times today, she would say "chool!" and get very excited when I said she would go tomorrow. I think it will take her a few tries to get completely comfortable and settled in, but I think this will be a good experience for her.

Unfortunately, there was a small incident with one of the teachers (not the nice teacher that we met last Thursday) at drop-off in the morning so I spent the whole morning worrying instead of assuming Lily was having fun. Thankfully Ryan spoke to one of the preschool ministers at the church about the issue, and we feel like things will be fine. Here's hoping everything is a little easier on all of us tomorrow!

Below are a couple of pictures of Lily just before we left for school.

Chool

Ryan and I decided a couple of months ago that we would enroll Lily in a "Parent Morning Out" program this fall. We thought it would be really good for her to be around other kids her own age a little more, and we wanted me to have a little bit of alone time with Amelia (when the time comes) like I did with Lily. We decided on Bethany United Methodist Church's program which is close to our home, and we know a couple of people who already have kids there and enjoy it. So on Monday morning, Lily will start going on Monday and Wednesdays from 9 to 1.

This morning was their open house where you go and meet the teacher and see their room, so when Lily woke up I told her we needed to eat and get dressed because we were going to see her new school (we have told her before she would get to go to school). She was so excited and kept saying "chool...chool" over and over again. We met her teacher, Crystal, who seems so sweet, and we saw her room; she had a great time playing with the kitchen, little house, and miscellaneous other toys...she didn't want to leave. It took promising that we would be back soon to get her to leave. I wouldn't be surprised if after naptime she asked me about "chool."

I can't believe my little angel is about to start a school-like program! I know that it is mostly playtime and it's shorter hours, but I still can't believe it. Where have the last 22 months gone? Amelia better not grow up this quickly!

Favorite new toy

We bought Lily a new inflatable bouncer for the house. She loves jumping in these things! We figured it would be nice to have in the colder months (and hotter months) because it will fit nicely in our basement; actually we learned today that it can be set up in our living room without problem which is kind of nice! Also, we thought with two kids and all their future playdates and birthday parties, it would be worthwhile to have one here at the house instead of renting one every so often. She seems to love it so right now, we think it will be great! Here are a few pictures of her playing with it this weekend.

The new bouncy!

Ready to start jumping!

Coming down the slide.
Having such a great time jumping, going down the slide and jumping again!
Look Bama, it goes in our living room too!

Miscellaneous Pictures from late July

Here are few pictures of Lily over the last couple of weeks that I thought you might like to see. She is so much fun to be around; what a sweetheart!

I see you over there Mommy!

Smiling for the camera!

She loves to climb inside baskets and boxes; usually she surrounds herself with her toys and books which is pretty cute to see.

She loves her new Minnie Mouse cup.

What a cutie! She has learned to say "cheese" when I turn the camera towards her. She loves her new puzzle. She has gotten pretty good at figuring out how to get them to fit in the right spots too. By the way, I love her little feet!

Lily loves Meme (and her food!)

We had KFC for dinner on Friday evening (I was craving fried chicken and it was close by). Our meals came with delicious biscuits, and I gave Lily some of mine. She took a bite and said "toast?" We have toast (thank you, Great Harvest Bread!) most mornings so I guess that was the closest thing she could think of to call it. Anyway, I said "no, it's a biscuit." She got a big smile on her face and said "Meme!" which made me laugh, and I replied "No, Meme didn't make these biscuits, but she makes good biscuits, doesn't she?" Lily's reply..."yum-yum!" It cracks me up that she often associates Meme with foods (see an earlier post her desire for Meme's cornbread).

Also, every time we drive by Meme's building (she lives in a retirement apartment home about 3 minutes from our house so we pass it often), she yells out "Meme!" Sometimes, she will get upset if we drive by without stopping (she will say "Meme?" probably 10 times in a row); I wonder if she's hungry on those times. When we do visit Meme (about once a week), she tells Meme "hi" and then immediately asks for a cracker because Meme always has graham crackers in stock. I guess the girl knows who to go to for food, and really, I can't say that I blame her!

Three Quick Stories

First...for the last few days when I tell Lily I need to go potty, she walks in front of me to our bathroom and picks the lid on the toilet seat up. Then she points inside and says "bubbles?" I think this is pretty funny so I say "yes, there will be bubbles" because after you flush, the water makes a few bubbles as it fills back up. FYI, she asks about the bubbles because she saw me clean the toilet the other day and there were lots of "foaming action bubbles" in there.

Second...we went to our Sunday school class pool party today, and we stayed past Lily's usual naptime because we were all having so much fun. I asked Ryan to make sure she stayed awake on the ride home because otherwise, she wouldn't take a nap at the house. She was fading after about 10 minutes, so we gave her a Kenny Chesney CD case to play with. She immediately perked up and started pointing to his picture, turning it over and saying "more!" and pointing out his hat to us. Ryan kept telling her that was "Kenny" and would ask where Kenny was; she would point him out on both side of the case (and inside the case a few times too). Well, after naptime we were playing in the den with the Country Music Choice station on the TV and a Kenny song came on. Ryan asked Lily who was singing and whose picture was on TV; she looked and said "Ken-ee!" I love it!

Third...we ran a couple of errands this evening and decided to go through Steak and Shake for milkshakes on the way home. Ryan promised Lily she could have a sip of his vanilla one when we got back to the house. He keeps his promise and gives her a sip which, not surprisingly, she loves. She starts running in place as fast as she can and saying "more! more!" because she wanted more of it. Ryan and I couldn't stop laughing at her little legs pumping as fast as she could make them go; I guess she was burning off some of that sugar!

These are a few of my favorite things...

1. The fact that Lily yells "ommmm!" (for "home!") each time we pull into our driveway.
2. That she waves and says "hi" or "hey" to almost anything...the person down the aisle in Publix, the bird flying by the window, the ant crawling down the street, the drop of yogurt that falls off her spoon...Of course, she rarely does this for people we are talking too!
3. The way Lily says "off" when she sees lights that are off or she wants to turn a light off. There's something about the way she says it that I think is so cute. It's almost more of a question than a statement; you'll just have to hear her for yourself to understand why I like this.
4. That she shares her cup and snack with her dolls and her Mickey Mouse balloon. That's right, a balloon. We have a balloon we bought at Disney that has Mickey's face on one side and Minnie's on the other. She will hand me the balloon, say "Mic?" so I show her his face. She then puts her cup or snack up to his mouth for a second and then says "Min?" so I will turn it around and she can do the same thing for the Minnie side. Will she share this graciously with Amelia?
5. We can ask "where is Amelia?" and she'll smile and point to my stomach. She's working on saying Amelia too, but that may take awhile.
6. That she loves to play in her toy kitchen. Maybe she has inherited my love of cooking. I really look forward to cooking and baking with her someday.
7. Her current obsession with climbing in boxes. I have no idea where this came from, but she loves to empty out a box or drawer; usually she carefully removes one object at a time to show me (though she has definitely been known to just dump things out too!). Then she climbs in, bounces around and shouts "box!" or she will pull toys back in with her. It's really funny to see her in a box with toys all around while she reads a book.
8. That she hates it if you cut her food up into small pieces for her. She wants to hold on and take bites of it instead. Don't even think about breaking off a banana; she will yell bloody-murder if you do anything more than peel it and hand it to her. She just wants to be a big girl!
9. She has gotten really good at using her spoon for cereal and yogurt; she gets most of it in her mouth. She is still working on a fork at dinner. In all honesty, I rarely give her one because I prefer she uses her hand and not make as big of a mess. We'll get around to a fork at some point.
10. When she gets food (such as yogurt) on her hand or a drop falls onto her tray, she says "Uh oh!" and wants to wipe it up immediately. That's my girl...doesn't want to get her hands dirty!

Take a hint, Mommy

I love to sing. However, I am a terrible singer. It's okay, I know that's true, but I still love to sing (though I don't really like others to hear me). Well, Lily always seems to enjoy it when I sing. I'll finish a song, and she'll ask "More?" I knew I liked this kid! Anyway, today we were watching a video where they sing Old McDonald so I was just singing along like I always do. Lily, who was sitting right next to me, puts her hand over my mouth and firmly says "NO." I guess I was disrupting her video, but how crazy is that! Even my 21-month-old doesn't like my singing now! Am I really that bad?

Florida Vacation, Part 2

We returned from New Smyrna Beach, FL yesterday evening. This is a vacation that my family takes every year; there are almost 60 of us that go together. On my dad's side of the family, it's my grandmother, one of her sisters and their kids, grandkids and great-grandkids. It's a wonderful tradition that we all love. I already told you in a previous post about the side trip Ryan, Lily and I took to Disney World, but this is to tell you about the rest of the trip. I've also posted some pictures from this part of the trip.

We spent a lot of time at the pool this year. Lily wasn't too excited about the beach. There were a lot of shells on it, and I think it hurt her feet. However, she LOVED the pool. She had such a great time when Ryan would throw her high in the air and catch her. She would say "more" and raise her arms up as high as she could to ask him to do it again. She also enjoyed playing with her little bucket and shovel in the water. While we were inside, she would often say "pool" because she wanted to go play in it again. Unfortunately, it rained almost every afternoon so we didn't get to stay outside as much as wanted, but we had a great time regardless.

On our last day, we gathered all the great-grandkids who were on the trip together and took a picture of them with Meme and Doris. It's so cool to see this picture change each year as new children arrive and the other children grow up.

Not too surprising, two of my favorite traditions of the week revolve around food. One morning, Meme and her three boys will make a delicious breakfast for her family...biscuits, gravy, fruit, eggs, grits, bacon, sausage...the works! On another afternoon, Meme (with a little help from her boys again) makes a huge hot dog lunch for all of us down there. I believe she said she made just over 100 hot dogs this year! She cooks them in the oven and then toasts the buns in a big skillet. I don't know why this makes them so good, but you cannot find a better hot dog anywhere. I mean that...anywhere. I honestly think hot dog day is my 4th favorite day of the year (following Thanksgiving, Christmas and my birthday). Delicious!

We were also able to visit with Grandpa Hooks and Lois over in Lakeland. It is always a treat to spend time with them. I think they loved seeing Lily and how much she has grown. Lois gave Lily a little mirrored jewelry box to play with and take home. The rest of the trip, when we would say "did you visit with Great-Grandpa and Lois?" she would reply "box!" because she loves it so much! What a great visit.

One of my favorite things about this week is that Lily started to call Ryan and me "Daddy" and "Mommy" instead of "Da Da" and "Ma Ma." She doesn't do it every time, but she has started saying that a lot more, and to be honest, it's absolutely adorable! I love to hear her sweet little voice say "Daddy" or "Mommy!" It's awesome!

This was another wonderful vacation, and I look forward to many more years of this great tradition!