Lilja's little x-mas tree

This video would not upload on the blog, so did it this way..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEpRJ9DZjcM

The Polar Express

The Dare family in jammies and all..

This year we joined Matt, jacci , Eleanor and Alice for the Polar Express . What an amazing experience and definitely a yearly event. First, Lilja met Santa for the first time outside the Polar Extress. She knew who he was and waved at him, but that is as far as she let him engage her.. OK with me ;)

Then we waited for the Polar Express to pick us up, and the connductor then gives you a golden ticket



The Dare family in jammies and all..


The carts are all decorated and two "chefs" make hot chocolate and sing songs



and then we go and have hot chocolat in the car while we ride to pick up Santa..

after singing songs, seeing all the beautiful lights outside at the 'Noth Pole" Santa comes through all the carts and gives every child a silver bell All the children are in pajamas as the story says, so Lilja got jammies from the Dares.. so cute!!

Thanks Dare family for coming down.. that was the best experience ever..

rain rain...

catching snowflakes

This morning the snowflakes were the biggest i have ever seen. Lilja and I ended up watching them on the balcony of the house we are staying at.

washing her face

turkey waddle

I have been teaching the Headstart classes "The Turkey Waddle" for the last couple of weeks. These children are between 4-6 years of ages. I had to stop by and peek to see how they did when they peformed it for their grandparents. So cute.. sorry it is short and probably a mess, but just wanted to pat the kids and myself on the back..

The kids are standing on the stage and on the bleachers. The grandparents are at the table.. The 'Turkey" is one of our boardmembers and surprised the kids by his dancing to the song.. hysterical..

house and doggy sitting

Lilja and I are staying at Caroline and Jeff's house to dog sit their four dogs for the next two weeks. It is a beautiful ranch and besides the house being kid-friendly (they have a 5 year old) the dogs are wonderful. Every day we take them for walks.. down the river, in a subdivision across the road, or I run one of the younger dogs for 4 miles every thursday.. Today we just walked in their fields.. it was not too muddy and the sun was out. Looking at the photos though it appears Lilja is cold.. but believe me this girl is NEVER cold.. but that little red nose is definitely cute

she is such a trooper walking the dogs.. Loves to "Go get" Amos..

Caught her eating ice.. where she found it... not sure:) notice the sideways look..

That is the smile after I asked her where she got the ice from.. she dropped the ice and gave THE smile.. Oh yes, she works it!!

Little red nose, Luckily her coat is so nice and warm. yes, still one of her coats from last year.. I guess she has not grown that much..

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2 years old..

OK, Lilja is two now and oh, how she is showing it.. She is turning into a sassy pants!! A funny one, but oh so sassy!!! here is the evidence!!

playdoh galore

jackel bean

Maggie and Lilja are great buddies.. lilja can sit on her and pet her and Maggie will give her big licks all day if she could.. Jack is taking his time however... but I think he is warming up to the idea that there is another playing buddy in the house.. Always supervised though.. they are starting to get a cute relationship.. thrower and fetcher ?.

Lilja's monkey themed birthday party!!

Today was Lilja's birthday party.. we rented out the Mason Center, a gymnastic center.. A lot of Lilja's friends are a little older than her, so I thought this would be a great place for all ages.. I actually think the parents had a blast too.
here are the amazing cupcakes Jacci made, vanilla with cream cheese frosting... sooo good!!



Eleanor set the table. She helped a lot with getting things ready..Monkeys galore!!


Even Lilja's shirt had a monkey on it!!

That is Eleanor on the rings.. I think that was her favorite of all activities.

Lilja running around.

Mommy and Lilja on the trampoline.. Lilja loved jumping on it and really was not afraid at all, even when the big kids would jump with her..

Always rooting her friends on.. good job, JT!!!

Jacci and her youngest daughter Alice. Lilja had two great friends playing with her this weekend.. She is still talking about them.. Thanks guys for coming. that was a really fun time!!

Lilja surprises us all the time. Today we were impressed about how she keeps her balance and really tried to walk on this beam..Again I think we have a little gymnist on our hands.

Choochoo train.. that is Avery sitting next to Lilja (her buddy at the home childcare Lilja goes to every thursday)and JT whose family I work for, walking dogs.

One of my favorite activities that I teach at Tumbling Tots.. the Parachute!! and Amber, the supervisor of the party did a great job as I may say. It was nice not having to be the instructor..

Lilja really liked shaking the parachute..however..

When we made a mushroom with the parachute, Lilja did not let go of the handle and she flew in the air with the parachute.. let's just say, she did not like that, but we had a laugh.. sorry for laughing, monkey!

Happy Birthday to youuuuuu!!

Yummy!!!

Thanks guys for coming, that was fun and I hope you enjoyed it too!!
Thank you for the wonderful presents. Lilja has been playing with them all night!

Dear Lilja, Daddy and I are so proud of you. It has been fun watching you become a true toddler. You can be such a funny little girl and you are talking so good already. We say it all the time, how lucky we are that you came into our world. You are so well adjusted and really has become your own little person. We can't wait to see your smiling face in the morning and get snuggles from you at night. here's to you, monkey.. Happy Birthday!!

update

sorry no photos this week. Lilja has not been feeling very well and a couple of days ago we found out it was an ear infection.. I guess children can throw up from ear infections too. The doctor says she has a very high tollerance of pain.. we'll have to keep an eye on her. She still today after medicine has a low grade fever, but the doctor is says that is normal. Hopefully she will be her old self for her party on Sunday.. I promise lots of photos will be made at her Monkey themed birthday party..