Fantastic fall day!

Mommy says, "Today was a great fall day. It started with a great morning at church and was followed by a fabulous fall lunch: chili, apple slices with caramel sauce, and homemade doughnuts! Yum! Later on we went for a walk on Hope College's campus."
"As those of you who attended Hope know, there are many squirrels on campus. While we were watching them play Lillian signed 'squirrel' for the first time! Thank you, Signing Time!"
"We had to stop for another photo op in Nykerk."
"Do you think Lillian has grown since our last visit?"
"Of course we had to stop by Lichty Hall for some more pictures."
"After our walk we went back home and had a delicious fall dinner: Caribbean-spiced roast chicken, mashed potatoes, and sauteed apples. What a fabulous day!"

Soccer game

This morning I went to my first soccer game! My cousin Clay played soccer while his dad, my Uncle Dave, coached.
I went to my first soccer game but didn't exactly watch my first soccer game...
Aunt Mindy took good care of me and let me snuggle on her shoulder.

Birthday surprise

Today we drove to Flushing to surprise my Aunt Mindy for her 30th birthday.
She was very surprised and we all had a great time together!
We had dinner at Chili's and even though it was way past my bedtime I was a good girl.
Happy, Happy Birthday Aunt Mindy!!!

Learning

Mommy says I am learning all sorts of new things. These are the words I say.
And these are the words I am working on.
I'm getting better at learning some of the parts of my body too!

A fun, busy day

This morning Mommy and I went to a mom's group at church. I had a lot of fun playing with the other kids and boy were there a lot of them! Afterward we didn't have time to go back home for lunch so we stopped at McDonalds.
Next we went to school to meet more of the Kids Hope kids. I am getting to know everyone there! After being such a good girl all morning I was pretty tired.
Mommy says I was asleep by the next light! After my nap Mommy and I had a fun afternoon at home. See what I've learned from older kids?
I really like to look at pictures in my photo album.
Once Daddy got home we took a trip to Barnes & Noble to check out the books there. Sometimes I can be messy!
Do I look ready for school?

17 months old!

I am 17 months old today! Mommy says that means I am almost a year and a half old! To celebrate we had french toast with cream cheese topping for dinner. YUM!!

Just in case you were wondering...

...Mommy says I'm still cute!

Fun with Bada

Bada and I had so much fun this weekend! We had a great day on Friday when it was just the two of us and had a lot of fun on Saturday and Sunday too. I love all of my grandparents!

Apples and pumpkins and corn, oh my!

Today we went back to Crane's Orchard with Bada to look at the pumpkins, get some more apples, and eat at the yummy restaurant. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time!

Daddy and his music

Mommy says, "I found this on-line while I was making the last entry. This video is from almost two years ago but it shows Dan and Sara singing "His Eye is on the Sparrow" together. Click here to watch!"

Wedding and visit from Bada

Mommy says, "This morning Dan's mom arrived at our house to spend the entire day with Lillian while Dan and I traveled to Alma for our friend Sara's wedding. The wedding was beautiful and very worshipful. The real excitement of the day, however, were the live butterflies that were released as Sara and Jarod left the church. Here are the butterflies after being taken out of the refrigerator (!) and placed carefully in the baskets."
"After taking the butterflies out of the refrigerator it was only a matter of minutes before we could hear them waking up! They were troopers, though, and almost all of them made it to the big release. Dan's butterfly tried to escape a little early."
"Once the butterflies were released some of them preferred to stay close at hand for a while."
"Dan was sure to bring his into the sunshine until it gathered it's strength to fly away."
"The reception was a lot of fun with great live music. Here are the happy bride and groom."
"Back at home Lillian and her Bada had a great day together!"

Chili

Mommy says, "Dan found this recipe on allrecipes.com and we made it tonight. It was great! Very fresh and just the right seasoning. We added one can garbanzo beans, one can black beans, and 1/4 cup brown sugar, per the suggestion of the top review. I don't usually get overly excited about chili but this was great!"

Ouch!!

This afternoon I was playing outside with my mommy and daddy and I found a cool looking bug. I reached out to touch it and it hurt me!! Mommy says it was a yellow jacket and it stung my hand!!
I cried an awful lot at first but Mommy and Daddy took good care of me and I calmed down. They said I was very brave and a tough little cookie.

Dressing

Mommy says, "Today while I was getting some cleaning done Lillian decided to try on my shirt. She is getting better and better at helping with the dressing and undressing process each day. As you can see she's not quite ready to do it completely on her own yet."

More yum...

Mommy says, "Tonight we redeemed the coupon for a free dinner at Thai Palace. The food was excellent, our waitress was friendly, and the ambience was nice. The only bummer was that when we went to pay and use our coupon the waitress pointed out that the coupon is only valid when used in a party of 3 or more. Argh. If only we had ordered a kids meal! Oh well. She put a note on it that we can use it anytime in the future, not just the week of my birthday. I'm sure we'll be back!"