Posing for Daddy

"Carolina Girls"

Outdoor concert. Beach Music. Best friend.
And her favorite fancy dress!

Silly girls!

Happiness:
The cause:

Our new favorite game... Mommy or Daddy get Lily to laugh, which makes Rory giggle. We could do it for hours!

A week at the beach...

If pictures say a thousand words, then this post will say about a million! We had the most wonderful week at the beach. And while we all had fun, and all made wonderful memories, I think it's safe to say that Lily had the BEST. TIME. OF ANYONE. ANYWHERE. EVER.

When we first arrived, while we were waiting for the key to get into our house, she demonstrated her "Hooray! We're at the Beach" dance. This got repeated on a near daily basis while we were there!



And then she made a bee-line for the ocean:

Where she swam,

And posed,

And ran,

And played!

She found a little tide pool that first afternoon and immediately declared it "my little lily-sized ocean." At first she tried to empty all the water from it back into the big ocean...



But then she decided it was a good place to play.


We wore sunglasses:

The second day, Lily grabbed a boogie board and just ran into the ocean like she'd been doing it all her life. Those swim lessons paid off - there was NO fear, and unwavering enthusiasm.

Lily couldn't get enough of her Uncle Dave, or her big cousin Loren! Especially Loren.

The pathetic dogs, waiting for their turn to go play:


One night we went out for ice cream (Okay, we went out for ice cream almost every night... but the FIRST time) and while waiting in a crazy long line, Lily spied one of those rides that cost a quarter. Which led to the fastest horse ride in the west...



Just after I stopped recording, she decided she had had enough and almost burst into tears. Luckily, it was our turn to order. Lily chose strawberry ice cream that night.

She spent a lot of time collecting shells. And accumulated a whole bunch of the ugliest shells you've ever seen! She wanted nothing to do with little, pretty, intact shells. No... only the biggest, thickest, broken shells would do. Silly girl!

Snacks on the beach...

Swimming with Auntie:

After splashing in the surf a few times, we put on Lily's life jacket and took her out past where the waves were breaking. And there, she would paddle around in the ocean all by herself. After that, all she ever wanted to do was swim "in the deep!" Once, when the three of us were out there, Lily asked Daddy to go under the water, telling him, "Don't worry, Mommy will keep an eye on me!"

One night, we had a birthday party for Loren. Lily wanted all the girl cousins to sit together and hold hands...

Grammy, Mommy, Rory & Lily:

Then, of course, Lily wanted to help Loren open his presents:


And put the candles on his cake:


There's nothing better than breakfast on the deck, watchiung the waves break on the beach...


Lily loved showing Rory everything and telling her all about the beach...

Lunch at our favorite Topsail restaurant...

Despite Lily's expression in this picture, she was very excited to see the turtles.

She wore her turtle shirt, backwards so she could see the turtle, for the occasion:

The next time we went out for ice cream, Lily got chocolate!

Lily & Bumpa flew a kite:

And then Lily contemplated the waves:

I love this photo of Lily & Grammy on the beach, through the sea oats:

Lily & Auntie were "fancy girls" one night when we went out to dinner:


Here's everyone at dinner that night:

We spent one day down at "Loren's beach", in front of their house:


Lily loved playing with her buddies, Lucy & Holly, on the beach:




Even Scout got some beach time:


Lily & Scout playing in "my little ocean":


Want to know why she looks so happy in this one?

This was the day the "big girls" (Mommy, Grammy, Auntie & Lily) went out to lunch...


And we got CUPCAKES for dessert!


While we were eating cupcakes, it rained "weally, WEALLY hard!", so we had to walk through a few puddles to get home...




We took a walk down to the pier:

To take some family photos:



And then some of the girls:


This one is right after Lily "rescued" herself and Rory from a wave that almost got them:

Auntie made pancakes one morning, which Lily ate, alongside a plateful of syrup!

Which earned her lots of snuggles:

And giggles!

We spent one morning building the world's greatest sand castle:



Posing with our masterpiece:

Lily added all the seashells!

Lily, queen of the beach!

Matching bathing suits! (Lily was so not into posing for the camera at this point...)

She just wanted to go play.

We spent our last morning, a rainy one, on the beach.

Lily swam despite the weather, and then needed some cuddles to warm up:

Rainy days are good for snacking!

And puzzling:

The whole gang!

Lily & Rory with Grammy & Bumpa:

And with Auntie & Mommy:

Our family of four!

Lily, during the photo shoot... being chased by Uncle Dave:

And cousin Colleen:

And following cousin Loren, wherever he went!

Daddy had to convince Lily to hold Rory so we could get some shots of the two of them...

But then she was happy to cooperate:



After the best week ever, Lily couldn't believe it when we told her we had to go back home again...
'Til next time, beach!

Beach Preview

Real post coming soon... 300 plus photos to sort through. But here's a sneak peak at one of my favorites:

Sibling Rivalry

Hardly a day goes by without Lily asking to hold Rory, and there hasn't been a single day since Rory was born that Lily hasn't given her multiple hugs and kisses. Lily is helpful - running to get diapers, or burp cloths, or clothes when we need them. She loves to give Rory her pacifier, or a toy to hold. She will tell strangers "That's my baby sister. Her name is Rory Cullen!" And she frequently reminds us that "I am Rory's big sister." Actually, sometimes she informs me that she is Rory's mommy. Sometimes Lily will announce, unprompted "I love my baby sister!" or "I love you SO MUCH, Rory!" It's so sweet, and amazing to watch their relationship begin.

But, it's not all rainbows and butterflies... Lily had barely shown any sides of jealousy over Rory before Auntie's two-week visit. But seeing her most favorite person holding Rory and loving on Rory seemed to trigger something in her. Rory got bonked on the head, twice. Auntie got hit once and bit once.

Lily got put in time out for each of these offenses, and then we talked about how Rory is just a baby, and she's fragile and we need to be gentle with her. Or, that we love Auntie and we have to be nice to her so she'll keep coming to visit us. (As a hilarious aside, when I asked Lily why on earth she bit Auntie - something she's never done to anyone - she told me, "I just dreamed about biting Auntie.")

But most days, I still believe that they will someday be each others' very best friends...

How does she know this stuff?

It must be embedded in the DNA somehow...

First, we were at the mall a couple weeks ago, and Lily wanted to go in the D*sney store. Now, we don't have very much branded stuff in the house - characters, etc. So Lily doesn't have any idea who any of those creatures are, but it's bright and colorful and she wanted to look around. Who could blame her? So we went in and looked at all the stuffed animals and things. Big fun. On the way out, Lily spied a little Cinderella doll and proclaims "That's a princess!" Shocked, since we are so NOT a princess household, I asked Lily how she knew that was a princess. And ever-so-casually she replied, "I just know." Uh, okay...

Also, recently, Lily has started to cock her head to the side, ask for something and then announce, "You're the best Mommy in the whole wide world!" or "I love you very, very much!" It is awfully hard to say no to her then, but, seriously, how does she know this stuff??

Watching Daddy work...

Watching through the window as he works on the screened-in porch:


Enjoying lunch out there once it was done:

Can you guess what she got?

Her very own ip*d...



Okay, it's Daddy's old ip*d, but that doesn't seem to be dampening her excitement!

Terms of Endearment

Mommy, to Daddy at the dinner table: "Thank you sweetheart."
Lily: "Why did you call Daddy 'sweetheart'??!!"
Mommy: "Because he is my sweetheart."
Lily, aghast: "NO HE'S NOT!"
Mommy:"Yes he is."
Lily: "No, I and Rory are your sweethearts."
Mommy: "Well, then, what's Daddy?
Lily: "Just Daddy."

How can I argue with logic like that?