Merry Christmas 2010

Hello there! It's been a while.:o) I think facebook has officially taken over as my "go-to" place for posting pictures and information. My poor, sad little blog has been very lonely.:o) Well, we are finally settling back in to our routine now that Robert's 3 week Christmas break is over. We had a wonderful Christmas and loved that he got to be home with us for so long. This was a sad week for us...we miss daddy! But, we have been keeping very busy with pre-school! I have begun the homeschooling journey with Lily and we are having so much fun! There was a point in time when I wanted to be a teacher...and now I am! And to my own daughter no less. What a blessing! Here are some of our Christmas pictures as well as Lily's first week of school. Maybe I'll be back sooner next time.:o)

Our tree on Christmas morning. Santa was good to us.;o)

Lily got an art desk. This is actually the desk I was able to get a deal on last Christmas. Now it is finally out from hiding in the garage and full of markers, paints, paper, coloring books and all sorts of things for Lily to unleash her creativity!

Lily LOVES princesses and Toy Story. She says when she turns 5 she wants to make her room a princess room. Now we have some great pictures for her walls.

Daddy and Lily on Christmas morning...so sweet! Look at the haul she took in...sheesh!

Have I mentioned that she loves M&M's too??

The day after Christmas we got a surprise visit from the Ferns! They are dear friends who moved to Texas at the same time we were in China getting Lily. We miss them very much and are so happy they were able to stop by for a visit!

Lily and Reagan. Reagan was Lily's age (4) the last time we saw her when we went to visit them in Texas. Now she is 7. What a beautiful young lady she is becoming...it happens so fast! Lily also got a Cinderella dress-up set for Christmas from our friends Martin, Valerie and Hannah. Did I mention she LOVES princesses???

The Ferns!!

New Years weekend was pretty wet here...actually the whole Christmas season was pretty wet! But New Years weekend was wet and cold. It didn't snow here, but there was snow on the hills around us. It made for a gorgeous view. We decided to take an adventure and find some snow to go play in. Lily and I loved it! Robert...well, he is more of a warm weather kind of guy.:o) But he was a good sport!

Daddy with his camera...and Lily loving the snow.

Brrrrr! The wind that whips on your face when you are swinging makes you REALLY cold!

Following daddy's footsteps.

We have officially begun the journey into homeschooling! Well, it won't be "official" until we start kindergarten in September, but I found this great pre-k curriculum so we decided to start that now to help us get into the routine of school. Lily loves it and is having so much fun! She loves to do the craft projects and is so excited when she is able to figure something out on her own. She loves learning and I hope she stays that way.

Week 1...letter A. We'll be focusing on one letter of the alphabet each week.
"A" is for angel.:o)

Trying really hard to figure out "astronaut".

Her first mini lapbook completed. She'll have one for each letter of the alphabet which will be such a great resource later...and such a special keepsake.

This was day 3. We got to combine a fun project with the book "Ten Apples Up On Top". We've read that book many times before so she had a lot of fun with it.

Gluing apples on her "head".

I love how she drew her head! Great job baby girl!!

Simi Valley Days

We took Lily to Simi Valley Days this weekend. We just went to check it out for a little while on Saturday and as it turns out, Lily loved it. This little girl is quite adventurous! The first thing she wanted to go on was the ferris wheel. She had no qualms about being up so high...she just enjoyed the ride...and the view. I of course was a nervous wreck and held on for dear life. Oh to be so young and innocent...to be able to just enjoy and not have everything that could go wrong continually flashing through my mind. Anyway, she had so much fun we ended up taking her back on Sunday evening for more. She went on the ferris wheel again...this time with daddy.;o)

The inflatable section was so much fun! She got to go down this big slide. She LOVES slides!

Ready...set...

...GO!!

Then she got to go through a really cool obstacle course...

Wheeeeeee!! She LOVES slides.;o)

She got to go on her first roller coaster ride.





Then she went on the ferris wheel with daddy. And it's a good thing too. I would have had a heart attack being stopped at the top like that. I just about had a stroke watching from below. Especially when I saw...

...this. Yikes!!!

I got to go in the spinning apple with Lily. That was fun! The little boy with us is Ryan. He went on the ferris wheel with Robert and Lily. They don't allow single riders and his mom didn't want to go...can't say I blame her.;o) He ended up going to this ride next also, where again they don't allow single riders. As we were spinning I asked him if he'd ever been to Disneyland (I had visions of spinning teacups running through my head.) He said, "Never in my life." He was so cute! Lily immediately told him, "I am going for my 5 birthday and you can come with us if you want!" Such a sweetie. He told her, "But I am 7 1/2...almost 8!"

Ryan went with Lily down the giant fun slide too.

I think they both loved it!

I think Lily is going to have an AMAZING time at Disneyland for her 5 birthday.:o)

Summer Fun

We've been enjoying our summer! Robert has been off from work and Lily and I have enjoyed having him home. We've been doing a lot if fun summer activities like:

BBQ'ing.....yummy!

It's not BBQ if you don't look like this afterwards!



She LOVES corn on the cob.

Lily and Larry

We went along with Lily's best friend Rachel and her family to see Sesame Street Live. Boy was Lily excited! She had no idea where we were going. When we walked into the Nokia theater she said, "Are we going to see a show?" I wish I could have captured the expression on her face when Big Bird came onto the stage. She started jumping, laughing and clapping. What a wonderful memory!

Lily and Rachel with their Elmo balloons. They had so much fun playing together with them after the show.

We went to have breakfast with Aunt Paula and Robert took this picture of Lily afterwards. She looks like such a big girl. My baby is growing up...

Father's Day! Lily and I bought Daddy a new grill for his special day. He was very surprised and excited. We needed it...our old one was just trashed! Lily was so excited for him to see it...probably even more than he was to get it!

Sweet moment. She is truly becomming her daddy's girl.

Lily is growing up so fast. We are already preparing for her 4th birthday...it seems like just yesterday we were celebrating her 1st. She is so independent and LOVES learning! I think homeschooling is going to be a perfect fit for us. She loves working on her pre-K worksheets and practicing writing her letters. She is trying so hard to read. When I'm reading to her she will stop me if there is a word she doesn't understand and ask me what that means. She just continues to amaze us every day. She is such a sweet, caring and giving spirit.

And just to keep you up to date on her Nephrotic Syndrome, she has been prednisone free for 3 months. Both of her relapses happened right at this time so we are praying now that her urine will continue to be free from protein and there will be no relapse. So far all is well. We are so, so blessed.