Lily-Go-Round and Round

Lily loves the merry-go-round at the mall. What kid doesn't? But she's been pretty skeptical of the horses...she's more of a chariot girl. However, this past weekend changed all that. She got up the courage and nerve, and rode the horse for the first time! and second, and third, and...well, you get the picture. The lady in the ticket booth loved our family for some odd reason (well, we do have super-cute kids...) and gave us a free ride for Luke. So Mommy, Daddy and Lukey went on the merry-go-round...Lily stayed behind with Grammy. However that set Lily into a frenzy because once you have two kids, you must do the same things for both. So then she needed to ride again, and breaking all the rules, the ticket lady actually passed her on to the merry-go-round, while moving, to Alfred's loving arms. Ah, peace again. On Monday, Alfred took Lily to another mall and they too had a merry-go-round. The ticket lady there fell in love with Lily too and Lily got a free ride and a pink punch-balloon! What I wouldn't give for my life to be that simple again...oh wait, I guess it is! :)

PreSchool Summer Camp ends

Lily was enrolled in a five week session of summer camp. It's the same school and teachers she will be involved with in the fall, so we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to ease her into the process of going to school. She LOVED it. We dropped her off at 9am on Tues and Wed, picked her back up after lunch at 1pm. She pretty much never ate her lunch there, too much to do, I'm sure. I wish I had that problem - I NEVER forget to eat :). So she would munch in the car on the way home, which was cool too. She always came home in a really good mood, so you could tell she enjoyed it. The teacher had nice things to say about her as well, although calling her "the calm in our sometimes stormy day" is probably exactly the opposite of how she is with us at home! Oh well, at least they like her! School starts up again on Sept 9th, when she'll be going Mon-Thurs from 9am-12pm (probably still eating lunch in the van!). That will be a much needed break for Dear Ol' Dad who has been doing great at keeping her busy and worn out this summer. Luke has enjoyed his quiet time as well...but then again, I suppose he's used to living with a noisy toddler! :) He loves Lily so much - you can see it in his eyes. When she runs and laughs, he gets so excited, you can tell he can't wait to join in!

Fourth of July

Our Fourth of July holiday weekend was more like a holiday WEEK. The entire Sanalila clan was at our house starting on Tuesday night, including baby Isabella! It was awesome to see everyone and especially have all the grandkids in the same room together. Lily was loving on Baby Bella - it was so cute! She kept tickling her toes and giving her kisses. What a sweet sight. Everyone had a good time - we kept Rey super-busy with household projects. The cooking was amazing and the fireworks were fun too! Our neighbors went to the Carolina's and purchased enough fireworks for the whole block. We watched a few hours worth, then around 10pm Lily had enough and was ready for bed. Typically her bedtime is 8pm, but she was having such a good time and being very good, we just let her stay up until she got tired. She did sparklers and those little pop-em's with her friend Val and the boys across the street. Lots of fun - can't wait for Luke to be this age! Next year is going to be a BLAST!