Christmas Tree Tradition

SO we have a tradition every year when we go get our Christmas tree. Now...we are not the type of family that goes out to a Christmas tree farm with our ax in tow and cut down a tree. No, we support our local Home Depot or wherever we decide to buy our tree. This year we chose Menards because it had rained that day and Menards Christmas trees were enclosed, so that meant we were going to stay dry. So anyways.. it's a tradition to go enjoy the morning at Caribou and makes memories while sipping on some hot yummy coffee or hot chocolate. Then we go get our tree, go home and decorate it while listening to Christmas music. And we wrap the day up by ordering pizza and watching the movie Elf. This year Brett's brother Grant and his wife Caitlyn got to be a part of it. FUN TIMES!!

Everyone's excited to go get the Christmas tree!

Alexa is potty trained!

Another Lilly child is potty trained! WOOHOO!! So excited that Alexa is potty trainied. I thought it was going to be more of a challenge with her, but it actually wasn't. Only ONE in diapers now. Glad that chapter is over with.

Merry Christmas to you!

Wishing you and your family a MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!! LOVE, THE LILLYS

Grandpa & Grandma

I am so thankful for my mom and dad who have been so involved in my kids lives. I feel so blessed to be able to call my mom whenever and know that she will be available to come help me. I am so thankful that my parent's are still in good health and able to travel to see us.

American Girl's

Makenna wasn't supposed to get her American Girl Doll until she turned five, but when her cousin Mae turned six, my sister Brook from Peoria decided to plan a day trip to go downtown and do the whole American Girl experience. So of course Makenna and I could not miss out on this. So actually it didn't take much convincing Brett to let us get Makenna her doll 4 months before her 5th birthday. So my sister and I planned the trip. Made reservations at the cafe for lunch and just made it a special day with our girl's. Makenna already knew before we got to the store which doll she wanted. She wanted the doll that looked like her. It had brown hair, blue eyes, and freckles. Cruz of course came along for the ride. Good thing he was too young to realize where he was at. It's definitely not a store for boy's. :o)

Summertime

So as you can imagine after having a newborn, we didn't do much this summer. The kids and I were pretty much stuck at home. And I was stuck indoors a lot! But this was our first official summer in our new house, so the girl's did enjoy their backyard and new play set. We probably got to an actual swimming pool twice. The rest of the summer they swam in our little plastic pool in the backyard. We also bought a slip 'n' slide and the girl's really enjoyed that. I made my mom's family reunion. We took a week vacation to Iowa to spend with Brett's family(blog and pics to come). Brett and I celebrated our 8th wedding Anniversary. We pretty much spent this summer adjusting to a family of five. I had to really learn to adjust to having three kids. And the girl's had to learn to adjust to a new baby brother. A LOT of changes! But good changes! I can't say I am excited about being trapped indoors this winter with three young kids, but we'll make it work. I have a lot of homeschooling planned for Makenna. And I really look forward to next summer with Cruz being older and having a little more freedom to do fun things as a family.

Makenna likes to think she is Cruz's second mommy.

Four Generations

Rewind

REWIND FOUR MONTHS!!!!

Pictures from the Hospital

BIG MAMA!! Can't wait to get my BIG BOY out!

Cruz at 4 months

SO let's rewind time for a little bit. How about 4 months!! June 6th is when are son Cruz came into this world. His delivery was planned. My first induction. People were warning about how scary and painful induction could be, but nevertheless, I was so READY to get him out of me. For the last 9-10 weeks of my pregnancy I couldn't figure out why I felt like I was carrying a 50 pound weight on my front end that sat low on bladder, uterus, pelivic bone that made it difficult for me to even stand or walk. So when I could plan my induction, I was ALL FOR IT!! I kept telling the nurses and doctors on my visits about how I just thought he was going to be a BIG baby, but they didn't care. Well I actually had a very pleasant experience with being induced. My labor took a total of 4 hours from beginning to end. LOVELY!! Then came the pushing which seemed a lot longer than it did with Alexa who came out after 2 pushes. I became physically worn out from having to push with Cruz for a while. But.....he finally came and weighted 10 lbs. 7 oz. 21 1/2 inches long. He also came out with a broken collar bone which happened during the delivery process. But the healing has been wonderful and hasn't seemed to slow Cruz down in anyway. He came out BIG and continues to get BIGGER. We just had his 4 month check-up today. Weight: 17 lbs. 13 oz (94%), Height: 27 1/4 inches (99%). He started rolling over at 3 1/2 months, and got his first tooth already. I have a feeling once this kid starts crawling, he is going to take off and never stop.