Lilliana's 1 1/2 years old!

Halloween 2010... Checking out the pumpkins... Jumping in the leaves

Horsey rides... Loves playing her piano... Our jack- o- lanterns

Lilliana said she was "cooking"...Digging in the pumpkins...Checking out the inside:)

Pumpkin Pinata... Hanging out with the neighbor kids...Halloween party

Getting ready for the trick or treaters...1st painting 11/1/10...Singing and playing piano for all her friends at Packeys house:)

The babies doing the "freeze"from gybo class....Lilliana's friends... Pumpkin Painting

Having fun! ... Getting ready to paint... Lilliana's new ride:)

Pumpkin patches... Playing in her big girl bed... Lilliana stickerd Popy

Sitting by the fire & smores at Grammi and Popy's... Putting on a show... Having fun with Easton and Gavin

Lilliana's found her first pumpkin...Pics at the patch are the best


The best train ride! Wearing Daddy's shades... Our train ride

New members of our family... Lilliana's friends... Our little ducky

Drinking from a cup...Being silly

Dress up and sidewalk chalk....More dress up poor Gavin...Fun times in CA

At Zuma Beach in CA... Mommy hugs...Daddy and Lilliana watching the dolphins

Loves Running hills... Playing in the leaves and exploring with Popy and Grammi

"Look what I found!"...Popy swings are the coolest... More pumpkin patches!

Hugging the pumpkins:) Couldn't get you off the pumpkins...Horsey rides with Daddy

Chicago Marathon 2010... Sitting at the fountain in our town

Helping mow the leaves...Playing in the leaves... Loves for Guilliana

Playing at Ethans house... Lilliana adores Easton... Hugging on E

Easton picking Lilliana up for hugs... All smiles when Easton pushes Lilliana... Drive through at Aunt Sarah and Uncle Shawns fun basement

Happy Halloween 2010!

We feel like we were just sitting here writing about her 17 month birthday and now here we are again. Lilliana just had her 18 month check up and she is 20 lbs 31 inches long. She is wearing a size 4/5 shoe and she just loves trying on shoes...mostly mommy's heels. She is cutting her last 4 teeth as we speak. She always cuts 4 at a time, poor baby.

Time is flying by so fast and Lilliana is growing into a beautiful little girl. She loves to sing, run and look at books with animals in them. She in very interested in horses! She isn't scared of them at all, she loves to touch them, ride them and talk to them. She will yell "go horsey go, run run." She is saying more and more words and making them into sentences everyday. Tonight, at the dinner table, she told us Mommy sit and eat, Daddy sit and eat, Lilliana sit and eat and Appe sit and eat, we thought that was really cute. When we all get seated at dinner she will say Amen, for us to pray together. Nothing like your kiddo keeping you in check. She also likes to let us know that when she drops food on the ground that "ape get it." "ape crunch."

Lilliana is a such a sweet little girl. When we leave the house she never forgets to say bye to all her toys and Aspen and she blows kisses. When we return home she always runs up to Aspen and gives him a big hug and says " hi appy doobie." That is her new name for Aspen:)

We have had to really watch what we say. Even the smallest thing...the other day I tripped Lilliana and I told her I was sorry. Now Lilliana will run into something or tap Aspen too hard and she will say "sorry mommy." Maybe she liked the way it sounds not sure or maybe she is putting a connection to something that hurts to saying sorry...but anyway she will repeat and remember anything and everything. It is really something to see what she remembers.

Car rides aren't filled with crying anymore but with alittle yelling. Lilliana likes to yell in her cute voice "radio Mommy, radio Daddy...peeees" even if it is on...might not be loud enough for her or too loud. It is cute, but after awhile it gets very trying telling her over and over "Lilliana you need to use your nice voice (an we say in a whisper)," she will then whisper back to us" "Lilliana radio pees." You can't help but continue to give in:) If you put the window down she will say "up windy," even if it isn't windy...guess she knows her city well(the windy city).
Lilliana likes to talk about all her cousins and neighbor friends and say their name and sing happy birthday to them (sometimes we sing for 20 minutes straight:). She enjoys hugging (sometimes mistaken for a tackle)Daddy, Mommy and kids...adults not so much unless your Pape and Grammie. She is a very kind little girl, she understands sharing and will share everything she has with her cousins and friends.

Lilliana enjoys taking showers and letting the water fall on her face. We just gave her some shaving cream to play with and now the shower looks like a materpiece of white foam when we are done:) Good fun though and makes the bathroom smell fresh:)

We have had a pole vaulter on our hands lately. Lilliana has been jumping very nicely(feet first scaling down the other side) out of her crib. If it wasn't for safety of her poor head, we wouldn't mind because her room is very Lilliana friendly. After a few days of jumping we tried Lilliana's big girl bed for safety reasons. We let her play all day in it with us and got her all excited about it. She went to bed great but woke up in the middle of the night and noticed something was different. She cried and cried asking for her bed back...so we put back together and are going to leave the mattress on the floor and keep trying and when she is ready she will let us know.

Funny story: Weekend at Pape and Grammi's house you not only jumped out of the pack n play bed but, you came to sweetly wake us up in the morning....I think we both jumped out of the bed! No crying nothing when she jumps out either she thinks it is the coolest thing that she can do it and just come get us...

Lilliana is enjoying Fall! She loves playing in the leaves with all the neighbor kids, helping us rake the leaves, taking walks with us through the woods and to the duck pond. We have been to 3 pumpkins patches with Lilliana...she loves the petting zoos and the horsey rides, its just good family fun and they have everything Lilliana loves! This past weekend Lilliana got to pick out her own pumpkin from the pumpkin patch and it was so cute!

Lilliana enjoys painting (pumpkins lately), coloring (with stickers), collecting rocks, taking care of her babies and baking with us. She enjoying getting her hair done and brushing her teeth. If her bow falls out she will come up to us and say "bow out Mommy/Daddy,"and she wants us to put it back in. She loves her new pigtails too! When she colors she loves to lay on her belly like we do. She really likes when we play her different music for her while she is coloring. Daddy and Lilliana went out shopping and got Lilliana a special coloring and craft table. We can't wait for her to see it in the morning when she wakes up! Daddy also surprised Lilliana with a pink piano, after being at her friend Packeys house for 3 hours and she never left the piano.

Our Halloween weekend was so much fun! We got to dress up as a family on Saturday night for a Halloween party with all of our neighbors. Lilliana laughed when she saw Mommy and Daddy...Aspen barked at us all! We won the "coolest" costume at the party...all the kids loved our costume and thought we were really Daphne and Shaggy.

Halloween morning we did our normal tradition of carving pumpkins and then getting ready for our Chilli cookoff. We started this tradition when we wanted to meet our neighbors last year. We cook chili in a huge pot outside and have hot cider and goodies for all the kids and parents when they are trick or treating. They all love to stop and chat and grab some yummy food. The men love the big screen tv we bring out with all the footballs games on. Lilliana loved passing out candy to all the kids and saying "tick or teat" to all of them.
(Lilliana here is alittle story for you about your first costume experience: you had the best time picking your ducky costume out! We gave you the magazine filled with costumes and for 3 days you pointed to the ducky...so a ducky it was)

Lilliana's new thing...is screaching at the top of her lungs (usually when she doesn't get what she wants) and then when we tell her she needs to use her nice voice she tells us "Lellana singing." It is really something we are hoping passes soon, it is defening to the ears:)

xoxoxo