Opening a Present...according to Lilian

Here's how Lilian opens a present. Notice that the present really doesn't matter, just the paper. :)

Baby's First Christmas

Here are some shots of Lilian enjoying her first Christmas. She really liked to grab and eat the paper.
She really looks excited to get these DVD's!
Best gift of all was Lilian herself!
I got these letters on a super sale. It was my best deal of the shopping season! :)

She's found her thumb

Lilian has found her thumb, and I finally got a picture of it!

Merry Christmas! (a little late)

Merry Christmas!

I hope you all had a great Christmas! We had a great time visiting family. More on that later. Here are some shots of Lilian in her Christmas dress. Thanks Travis for snapping these super cute shots!


You can't see her dress, but her face was too cute!

No Recession

I am so NOT convinced that we are having a recession. I'd rather call it an awakening. It just so happens that this "awakening" is bad for some businesses.

So last weekend, when I went shopping, the stores and streets were all PACKED! And people were carrying bags of stuff out of the stores. Kohl's in particular was so crowded that I decided what I was about to buy wasn't on sale good enough for me to brave the line. So I left it there. Maybe I'll wait 'til the after Christmas sales. :) The shopping trip was productive overall. Garden Ridge had really good stuff. And my best stop was Hobby Lobby. You'll have to see what I got there after Lilian opens her gifts...;) It was a long day, and I had intended on not going home until I was DONE. Well, I almost made it. I'm really, really close to being done.

Now, more about my "awakening" idea. For way too long, my generation has been living by a philosophy of, "I deserve everything without working for it. I should have everything I want right now. And I want the Biggest and Best of the best." This is not how our parents and certainly not our grandparents have lived. I don't know about most of you, but I love hearing my grandma Dorothy tell stories of her family and life. I've tried for years to get her to write some of this stuff down, because I'll never remember it all. Anyways, she was a child during the Great Depression. We've got it pretty darn good compared to those days. Maybe this little economic slow-down is working to make my generation less wasteful and more thoughtful with money. It's just not a bad thing to wait on things you want. To work for them. It makes you more appreciative. Hopefully we can teach our kids better...or maybe it's them, that will teach us.

5 Months

On Wednesday Dec. 3 Lilian turned 5 months old. Here's a few shots of our darling.
And thanks to a terrific update to Picasa, the last pic turned out really well.

Family Togetherness

Here is what I believe is the first time my mom's side of the family has all been in a picture together. It's certainly not professional. But this shot represents many things.

First, there are 3 more people in this picture than there would have been last year. Lilian was born first, 4 weeks later, Evan came along. Then just a few weeks ago, Landon made his grand arrival. It's been a busy year for many of us. My grandmother now has 10 Great Grandchildren! I think she's just as happy with each new baby. It just doesn't become "old hat".

Also, this weekend, Thanksgiving Dinner was at our house. I know this was kind of hard on Grandma not to be the "hostess". When all was said and done, I don't see how she did it all. It's a chore having all those people in your house and then cleaning up afterwards. I think all went well, however. Last year, besides being packed into her house like sardines, we ate in the dark. Of course, that wasn't her fault, but oh the memories!

I used to get so crazy hyper nuts when we got together with the "cousins". I can kind of see that in Josie and Nathaniel when they come running because "baby Lilian's here!" I hope they can have good memories like I have.

Here's the family.

First Feeding and DQ

We've officially been given the green light to start Lilian on solid foods. Here's her first feeding of rice cereal. She isn't the most experienced eater, and we are obviously not the most experienced feeders. Poor child. No wonder the 2nd child has it easier. The first child has to break in the parents. We have been giving Lilian tastes of various things, like banana, popcicles, mashed potatoes, cream cheese icing. But this was our first actual feeding. She's already getting better at it. :) And so are we!

And once you start eating, where else? Dairy Queen! I think she's eating some whip cream off daddy's sundae. But I think she likes it!

BOO!

Did we scare you? I didn't get elaborate or creative this halloween. Lilian can't even eat candy yet, but I did find this cute onesie for her to wear once. She needed long sleeve stuff, but it was so warm on Halloween that she probably roasted! Thanks Grandma Tish for taking the pics for us.

Rock-N-ROLLING!

Here she is! The Wonderful Amazing Lilian!

Although Nana said she rolled over last Thursday, she didn't document the occasion. So here it is documented. :) We are so proud of her and so much in awe at how far she's come already.

Box of Memories

Quite literally, most of my memories are in a box. Here’s the story. Last week, my mom was on vacation. She was cleaning out a closet and found numerous things with my name on them. So then the phone call…come get your stuff! Yeah, we’ve been married for 4 years and have a big house with plenty of storage. Really, I’m not a deadbeat kid who never moves out of mom’s. So Jeff and I went over and got the stuff. Which included a filing cabinet, 2 violins, old climbing gear, and several boxes of assorted stuff.

One such box is the point of my ramblings today. It was marked, “Tia’s Memories”. I’m sure the last time I went through this stuff was more than 4 years ago when I was packing before the wedding. And I doubt I’ll look at it again for at least that amount of time, probably longer.
My husband and I are both of the “throw away” persuasion. But some of these things I had a hard time tossing. Jeff would have probably chunked the whole box. But alas, he has put up with me on my road trip down memory lane for 3 days. Here are some lessons learned on my “road trip”:

1. It’s mighty hard to throw away memories, knowing full well, that what I was reminded of, I’ll never be reminded of again. It really is like erasing your memory.
2. Some things you don’t want to remember, so those items were easy to throw away.
3. It’s not just a letter or card, it was a relationship. One that once mattered.
4. Those relationships are over. And really don’t matter.
5. Some relationships are ripped from you before you are ready…tell your family you love them.
6. Some friendships last a lifetime and are worth treasuring.
7. Boy, was I dorky back in the day.
8. Life doesn’t ever turn out the way you expected…it’s better.
9. It’d take me a lifetime to scrapbook all that stuff!
10. I’ve been many places and had many “adventures”.
11. God has been very good to me…and I don’t deserve a bit of His gracious blessings.

3 Yr Old Princess (REDO)

For Whatever reason, these pics didn't come up the first time I posted. So here we go again!

Happy 3rd Birthday to beautiful Princess Josie!

Beware of the Sleepover!

While Jeff and I were camping...Lilian stayed one night with her Aunt Stacy and cousins Josie and Nathaniel. The kids had these glasses and it is rather hilarious..




Josie is enjoying time with baby Lilian.

New Friends

On the weekend of Columbus Day, Jeff and I, and some friends from church went camping. We did not see fit to take a 3 month old on a camping trip, so we left her with relatives. More on that later. But it just so happened that my longest standing and one of my very dearest friends was here from out of town. I really missed seeing Jill and her wonderful family. Especially her new baby, Kate, that was born 7 weeks after Lilian. Jill and I had, long ago, dreamed of growing up, getting married, and living next door to each other so that our kids could play together. And, as you may have figured, that's not how life has worked out. While we were camping, my mom took Lilian to church where she got to meet Kate. You can see them together in these pictures. Although Kate wasn't entirely in the mood for pictures. I'm glad I sent my camera so I could at least see the 2 girls together! I hope we can create some memories for these 2 kinda like we had great memories. Love ya!

Before the foundation of the world

Ephesians 1:4 says "...He chose us in Him (Christ) before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him..."

Now these thoughts are not absolutely correct with the context of this verse, but my mind has used it to go off in another direction....here goes.

It hit me in Sunday school this last week that God chose us before the foundation of the world. It certainly applies to say that God knew/knows who will accept Jesus and who won't. But I began thinking that it is simply amazing that God knew us before the foundation of the world! Before He spoke the universe as we know it into existence God knew us! Wrap your brain around that one for a minute!

When I look into Lilian's beautiful blue eyes, I realize that God knew her before the foundation of the world. And untimately knows everything her life will hold. Her personality, her friends, her bumps and bruises, her fears, her dreams, her first love, her husband, her own children and her own grandchildren. Whoa!!!! And He knew all this before the foundation of the world.

And if God knew all this before the foundation of the world then He certainly knew at Creation, what His own Son, Jesus, would have to endure to redeem this race. Again, all I can say is wow, what an awesome God, Lord, Savior!

Here's some great pictures of His creation...in the form of Lilian ;)

3 Months

It's really hard to believe that 3 months have already passed. It's a terrific experience watching Lilian grow. I've already got one plastic tub full of outgrown clothes. It brings a sheer delight unlike any other to see her smile and look into her beautiful blue eyes. She is almost laughing. She has yet to just all out laugh, but she does kind of giggle.

Right after she slept all night, she got a cold. this was her first illness. It wasn't too bad. We put her in her bouncy seat to sleep so that she wouldn't choke on sinus drainage. It worked, she still only got up once at night. She is better, now, and we are looking forward to her sleeping all night...hopefully developing a habit!

Here's some pics from Oct. 3 when Lilian turned 3 months old.

Is she going to be a ham? Or are we just lucky to get shots like this?

SHE SLEPT ALL NIGHT!!!!!!!!

Last night Lilian Rae Dunaway slept all night long! We woke up when the alarm went off and realized that we hadn't gotten up yet! Whatever you did, Linz, keep it up! :)
Lilian is just so much fun to be with! And boy, can daddy make her smile. Here are some pics. The first one is from a few days ago. I just loved the facial expression.




These pics are of Lilian in her Bumbo, thanks Ep and Stacy!