What is Lily like these days...

My sweet Lily, my happy dancer...you are such a delight to watch. You make me smile so easily with your quick wit and ready smile.

You are prissy. On the soccer field, you prance down the field stopping to twirl or arabesque or wave to me in the stands (while Kate is completely focused on the task...get the ball in the goal). You still want to be a ballerina. Your regular walk is half walk-half dance.

You LOVE to pose for the camera. Here you are "posing" for me.

You can whistle, turn a cartwheel and snap your fingers...all of which you are VERY proud of and practice all day long.

Friends are very important to you. You talk about your friends all the time and draw pictures of you with them everyday. Below are some of your schoolmates.

You are very strong and can go across the monkey bars by yourself.

You tell me at least twice a week that I'm the best Mommy ever. You tell me everyday that you love me so much. This fills my love cup like nothing else. You are a big Mommy's girl.

Now, you are a bit bossy towards your sister. I think it is because you are so wordy. You have about 10 times the words as Kate. That said, you have struggled to talk in public for so long and now this is finally coming to an end. Yeah!

Discipline for you has been trial and error (mostly error on my part). You are determined to do things your way. But once I switched to the "4 minute timeout" consistently, we have been in a harmonious groove. When you are wrong, you are quick to say you are sorry. When I say I'm sorry, you forgive easily, too. You have heartfelt prayers.

I love the below picture. It is so YOU...you are always very happy and usually wearing pieces of clothing of a ballerina, princess, fairy or "big girl."

You are an "Old Soul." You seem to understand social nuances and I can't get anything past you....Not that I try! (wink-wink)

Lily, you continue to amaze your Daddy and me. We love watching your fun personality unfold and seeing you prance happily throughout our days.

Snow Day in March!

We woke up to a snow covered day! I don't know who was more excited, me or the kids. So fun, so fun! We had the best time as a family and playing with the neighbors. Here is Lily getting ready to blast her daddy with a snowball...


















Kate determined to make a snowman...














The neighbors sledding in the cul-de-sac...














Look how hard it is snowing!!!














Here she is! Felicia, the Snow Princess...














Lily gathering more snow...




















Then, a misguided penquin landed on Felicia!

Yes, a penquin!

So we invited him inside to get warm and to play...

We made him some snow shakes (snow, milk and vanilla flavoring).

and we built a fire for him.

It was a great and memorable family day with Waddles the Penquin!

Late entry post....I haven't yet posted birthday pictures...oops!

My sweet friend, Teresa Prince, took photos of the girls 4 year old birthday party when my camera battery died at the party. Here is a mixture of our photos. The girls had a blast. This was our second year to have it at the Pumpkin Patch. They love it there and it is so familiar that they can relax and have a good time with all of their friends! (You can click on the pictures and an adjustment of the speed of slide show will appear so you can speed it up.)

Christmas recap

The girls had such a great Christmas! Starting with not being afraid of the Big Guy.

They asked me every morning, "How many more sleeps, Mommy, until Christmas?" I kept reminding them that we didn't want Christmas to get here too soon because we had so many fun things to do before Christmas to celebrate Jesus' birthday. One of these highlights was decorating cookies. They were so into it and asked everyday to do it. Here they are at our neighbors' house. She generously hosted the girls in one of their cookie decorating endeavors.

Another big highlight was decorating the house. Kate is still asking to play "decorate the house." Here they are putting out their favorite snow globes that Grandaddy and Mammaw Mamie gave them last Christmas.

We spent Christmas at my parents' bed and breakfast, Century House, along with my sister and her family. Here is Mammaw Mamie reading The Story of Christmas to the grandchildren. I'd say her lap is full.

The morning of Christmas all the cousins came down to see what Santa brought. Here's everyone waiting to walk into the present room!

Their first look at their new Lightning McQueen (Kate) and 2 Cute (Lily) bikes.

Katie examines the contents of her stocking. Phil's admin assistant gave us these stockings. They are HUGE. So lots of fun goes into them!

Here is Lily with hers.

Here's the boys' side of the room.

Santa wrapped everything in snowman paper. Lily's favorite presents were her ballerina nightgown, ballerina jewelry box, ballerina necklace and Groovy Girl dolls. Katie loved her bike, skates, Hotwheels race track and Nerf ball shooter gun. The toy they have both played with the most, though, was this random $15 toy I threw in at the last minute, the Croc Dentist, from Back to Basics Toys online. It is so basic, but they LOVE it!

It is just as much fun to be the parent as being the kid!

Afterwards, we had a scavenger hunt on all three floors of the bed and breakfast to find the last present.

Phil, Grandaddy and Mammaw Mamie wrote rhyming, fill in the blank clues for them to follow.

...and wha-la!, the newly renovated doll house that Grandaddy made for Mommy and Aunt Julie to play with when they were little girls! Complete with motorcycle parked out front.

Now out to test the goods...

Acting crazy....

The Asian Anakin Skywalker...

The girls in their new outfits (Kate on left)...

More bike riding the next day...

Kate and Lily loved playing with their cousins!

After my brother-in-law landed in the ER from a skateboarding accident that day, my dad and his buddy, Steve decided to play it safe on the skateboard...

Then Grandaddy gave all the kids a ride in the parking lot on his motorcycle.

I probably shouldn't post this next one, being a pediatrician and all...but since I used to do the same stuff on the back of my dad's bike as a kid, it is part of the Nobles' tradition.

Kate says she want to drive a motorcycle when she is "eleven-teen."

Next, trying out the new skates...

All the cousins on the back porch before bedtime...

Happy as can be. Thank you Mammaw Mamie and Grandaddy for making so many awesome Christmas memories possible!! We love you!