5

I can't believe I'm titling a post about Lily turning 5.  I remember begging God for a baby just like it was yesterday and then in the same breath it feels like 100 years ago because we can't imagine life without her.  And then she came and our lives have never been the same since.

Our Little Miracle.....she had to overcome so many obstacles to be here and we remind her everyday what a special miracle she is and thank God everyday that she is here.

It is so beautiful to watch her blossom into this little girl who is so enjoyable to be around, incredibly funny, so kind, and oh so loving.


She loves princesses, Tinkerbell, baby dolls, coloring, and going to new playgrounds everyday.


and of course Dora is still a fan favorite.



4 has been such a wonderful year for the Lillers.  2 and 3 were a little rough around the edges, but things started to turn around at 4 and we can't wait to see what 5 will be like.  Some things to remember about our little (clearing throat) 5 year old....

~She insists on waking Grady in the mornings and after each nap. 100% of the time she is there.

~She likes to open the garage door every morning and is super bummed out if someone else does it instead.

~She's worried what will happen to her birthday parties after she turns 100.


~She is terrified of dogs.  All of them. For no apparent root cause.  Terrified they'll lick her.  Just the idea of a dog licking her sends her into a tailspin.

~She doesn't like any nicknames I give her.  Even if I say it jokingly she lets me know her name is Lily.


~If she opens a bag of crackers, she ALWAYS gives Grady and me the first one. She reprimands me if I don't do the same starting off with "mommy, you did something naughty..."

~She sleeps with her taggie blanket made my Grandma and Cotton Candy or Rainbow Bear from Build a Bear every night and nap.

~She still loves to sleep. I have visions of her asleep at the lunch table in kindergarten.

~She always asks me for stories about when I was naughty at age 4 or when I did something dangerous. She interrogates my dad and mom too about things I did wrong when I was little. INTERROGATES.


~She loves to help me pass out coupons as random acts of kindness when we're at stores.

~Grady only got one egg in his basket during a hunt and when she found out, she took out half of her eggs and put them in his without any prompting from anyone.



~We were watching an ant pile the other day and there mustve been 5,000 ants scurrying around while we watched wondering how they made the mound and she says "I think all those ants are how many people that love me."


~I was watching Housewives of Whatever County after she went to bed and she came out unexpectedly with a bad dream and saw the ladies doing pole dancing for exercise and she says "Mommy, that looks tricky. I dont think I could ever do that, but I bet they're getting good exercise." and sallied back to her room.

~She loves to have sleepovers or go to them.  Asks regularly to host and/or attend them.

~She was wondering the other day why the cookie monster sings "C is for cookie. That's good enough for me." and she thought Cookie Monster was lying because cookies are not healthy or "good enough for me."

~She likes to have her hair done in funky ways or like mine.  The other day she chose a style unlike mine and said "even though our hair is done differently today, our hearts are still the same".

~Lily and I were alone driving in David's car the other day and the song "Unwritten" by Natasha Bendingfield came on so I blared it and we had an impromptu dance party scream-singing smiling and giggling at each other.  It was a memory for sure...especially because that was the song that was playing just after our IVF procedure when we got pregnant with Lily and I thought it was a sign that we were pregnant after hearing that song.

~David was changing all the batteries in the smoke detectors and she came running out "Daddy is holding God. Daddy is holding God" and then she explained that the smoke detector is God watching over her while she sleeps.  It has a green light on that protects her at night because it's God looking down on her from heaven.  When it blinks red, then he is talking to her.

~ She insists on rocking with Grady before bed every. single. night.  Naps too.  She hasn't missed one in a year.


I wing it a lot with Lily and do a lot of on the spot parenting and think back later about things that went well and other situations I could've handled differently so I know there are hits and misses with her, but the resounding feeling I want her to grow up feeling is that she is loved....she is special...she is a miracle...she was wanted by so many people before she was even born...she is beautiful and she is celebrated....especially on her birthday.  When we do prayers at night she always gets to do the last prayer and 10 times out of 10 she says "Thank God for this beautiful life"  I couldn't agree more Lily.




We became a family because of you just 5 years ago and made all of our dreams come true.  I can't believe I'm saying it, but Happy FIFTH birthday Lily Grace!  You are loved beyond measure.



To see some other celebrations that lead her to this day...
Lily's First Birthday
Lily's Second Birthday
Lily's Third Birthday
Lily's Fourth Birthday

and a BIG thank you to Allison Laney Photography for this precious images we will have forever.

Photographing Toddlers

opposites attract

He's trying hard to ride the scooter, but still not as fluid as he'd like to be.

so he asks for some help from his favorite person on earth.

and away they go....

I think Grady wants to be like lily because he kept pulling up his socks.

but lily wanted her individuality and pushed hers down.

I love seeing these two together where my 2 hearts merge into one big pile of mush.  I can't tell how is a bigger fan of who.  Sometimes she follows him around the house and vice versa.  I try SO HARD to stay out of their conflicts telling them they need to work it out as a team and I'm not the referee hoping that'll bring them closer as they work to find the win win.

they are so opposite, but so the same.  Lily has a shy, soft side with a tender and loyal heart

Grady is the family comedian who loves people, loves to laugh and pretty much party around the clock.

the 2 of them complement each other where Lily helps to calm Grady down while Grady helps to loosen Lily up a little and let her hair down for the party.

I've always heard people tell me about how opposite their kids are, but I always thought it was a slight exaggeration.  Not anymore.

These 2 are like 2 peas in a pod.  He's the ying to her yang....the clouds to her rain and it's a so neat to watch develop right before my eyes.  They get along most of the time and i know that wont last forever so im holding onto it for dear life.

Life is good. (Hi Lurking Lynda Z...hope you liked the post. teehee :)

Prepping for Spring Break

Someone is getting ready for her 5th birthday party with a Tinkerbell theme. What? You've never seen Tinkerbell flying around Publix? Well this Publix has....
she was torn between Tinkerbell and Dora, but Dora won last year so now it was time for a fairy party.

This park will be open for Spring Break and I plan on being there every day.  Have I mentioned my obsession with water parks?  It's like the best mix between pool and beach w/o the sand and lots of slides.



train rides at the mall are the best.



and fun at Chili's never disappoints.



she loves to dribble around the house.  I mentioned to David I wanted to go for a run the other night, but it was raining and Lily piped in that I should run around the house like she does.  If only it was that easy sweet pea.

  Zoo fun with the waterfalls being our favorite part.  I think I'm biased to anything related to a water park.



and did I mention they play awesome music there with a DJ so not only is there water fun, but dancing fun too?  Hello utopia.



his hair is so white that he looks bald when it gets wet.

and they have a merry go round to at the zoo.  I dont know how that ties into animals other than the ones they ride, but i"ll take it.

life is good.

A little of this and little of that.

Not sure if i posted this pic around Halloween, but it was in my drafts so I wanna make sure it's posted for the blog book for the kids.  A little out of order, but they wont care in 10 years.


zoo dress up...

lil still loves wild hairstyles at school and I love her confidence in pulling it off.

I read this article from Jess and it rang true for me because I'm always the photographer, but never in the pictures.Trying to change that little by little so I hand lily the camera.



G loving his gift from his super pal Elliot.

hard at work.



Trying to get a picture of these 2 boys was next to impossible.  We were standing on our heads and this is what we got.


this is the best we could do. (caption is supposed to say "best buds")



before school fun.

there i am again.

Lily's dentist welcomed her with her name on the board as we arrived which calmed her nerves just how she needed.

i let her bring in her beloved blanket which seemed to help too.
life is good :)

support system

We sure miss our Naples peeps and love to have visitors from Naples....

We miss our Aunt Jeffer so much, but she makes up for it 10-fold when she's here by spending every spare moment with them.  She misses them so much and I love watching them together.  It's pure magic.

Nothing better than seeing our kids getting loved on...especially by their older cousins.  They seem worlds apart in age and it seemed like yesterday they were the little ones in the pictures.

and aunts are invited to the read a thon too.

"Shhhh, let's hide and pretend we're sleeping"...

all tuckered out from all that love..

Our kids are SO blessed to have such a strong support system wherever they turn.  Between family and friends I feel like they get the "you are loved" message from every angle.  The other day Lily and I were peering and studying a HUGE ant pile that had probably 5,000+ ants crawling wildly all over the place within their sand pile.  We were telling funny stories about what the ants were doing in there and pretending like they were talking to each other.  Then Lily said, Mommy see all those ants?  I think that's how many people love me."  I love that she feels that to be true in her life, helps fill in the gaps where David and I miss, and know it'll take them both far.  Happy sigh.