Days Thirty-One and Thirty-Two

The past 2 days, you and Daddy got home before Nora and I did, so you took advantage of the clear early-evening, and spent some time outside.

Yesterday, you went for a walk to the end of the cul-de-sac.

Looking not-so-happy about the walk

You've discovered *something*

Cheering up- this is fun!

Hanging on to your Daddy's hand. He's your favorite guy.

Today, you stayed closer to home, spending time in both the front and back yard, where big sister happily joined you when we got home  just a few minutes later.

Daddy let you hold the mail

Checking out the mail

Happy about the mail

Done with the mail- time to play!

Day Thirty

As soon as you got out of the car this afternoon, you could hear the dogs barking, so you ran over to the fence to greet them.

You wanted Daddy to lift you over the fence, but he wouldn't, so as soon as you got inside, you headed straight to the sliding doors to let them in. 

Day Twenty-Nine

After a long and busy day yesterday, today was a stay at home day. You and I both actually stayed in our PJs all day long, and we both took long afternoon naps-- close to 3 hours each!

A long day at home means that sometimes you girls get bored and have to get creative to keep yourselves entertained.

Today, you were entertained by your birthday balloons.

Building a castle out of cups.

And playing Row, Row, Row your Boat in a diaper box. At first, you were telling me to stop, but by the end, you were yelling at me to sing it again.

Day Twenty-Eight

Today was birthday party day!!!!!

The lady who hosted the party commented that it's been a long time since she's seen a Barney party, which made me laugh because it was nearly impossible to find anything Barney at all. While playing in the gym, Barney music was blasting through the speakers, and every time one song would end, you would yell, "BARNEY!" to show that you disapproved of the music pausing. Your love of Barney runs deep, so I made it happen, just for you.

Jessica came through with another beautiful birthday cake!

We had your party at Gym Bugs, a little gymnastics place inside a dance studio called Revolution Dance. I came upon it when searching for good birthday party locations, and this place was a big win! You slid and rolled and bounced and frolicked the afternoon away.

And you looked really cute while doing it.

Of course, some friends came to play, too. Crescendo from Ms. Tracy's came. There were a few others from day care who were going to come but didn't or couldn't for one reason or another. Kaitlyn and Amelia were there, and even though they're Nora's friends, they had a lot of fun playing with you, too.  Your cousin, Naomi, missed out because she was sick. Auntie Elisabeth came anyway, though! Some newer friends who are the children of some teachers at my school came to play, too-- Mallory, Madison, and Mia. You've played with these girls before, around Halloween, and I hope there will be many more playdates with them in your future.  Here you are playing with (or at least near) some of these sweet friends.

After the gym part of the party, we headed into the dance studio for snacks and cake. All I had to say was, "Eat snacks?" and you lead the charge to the picnic tables. You and your friends had some chips, pretzels, fruit, and juice.

Snacks were followed up with Jessica's beautiful tiered Barney cake that she made special, just for you.

When we left your party, we had another birthday dinner to attend, and that was Grandpa's! We headed to his and Dede's house for dinner with family and a 2nd round of cake, though much to big sister's dismay, the 2 of you didn't get a second serving of cake. You did, however, get to help Grandpa blow out his candles.

Sorry your face got cut out of the picture, but there's the top of your head!

And you and your sister even brought a near-smile to his face before the night was over.

Did Grandpa just stick his tongue out at me?

What do you mean "smile"? I *am* smiling. 

There were some very sad and upsetting things reported in the news today,  and it made my heart feel weary. But you, sweet Tilly, bring our family nothing but JOY, and I'm so thankful for you.

Day Twenty-Seven

Barney told you to "clean up, clean up".

I guess you took his words to heart.

Day Twenty-Six

Um, Tilly?

I think you have something on your face.

Is that... lip gloss?

They start so early these days.

Day Twenty-Five

This evening, we went to Party City to order balloons and pick up some other odds and ends for your birthday party on Saturday.

Your party is going to be Barney-themed, which I'm sure would have been really fun and easy to plan in 1997 as opposed to 2017. Thanks to the magic of Netflix and Amazon Prime, even though the purple dinosaur went out of style a long time ago, YOU think he's the best thing since sliced bread. I'm thankful that there are a very few people on Etsy who still make Barney merchandise. I was able to get you a cute Barney birthday shirt, as well as invitations and some stickers for the treat bags. Beyond that, the best I could do was buy decorations and balloons in purple and green-- Barney's colors. Hopefully it doesn't look too much like Mardi Gras!

Anyway, you LOVED Party City, and you've recently become interested in Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Every time you saw a Mickey or Minnie decoration of some kind in the store, you'd yell MOUSE!  Oh how I wish you'd been this excited about MOUSE a month or so ago when I started planning your party.

When we left Party City, we went to Gondolier for dinner. We told you and Nora that we were going out for dinner, and in typical Nora style, she requested pizza. But not just any pizza. She wanted pizza with big pointy pieces (as opposed to the smaller kid-size slices, I guess?) and she wanted to be able to save some to take to school for lunch tomorrow. Thankfully, you haven't yet started stating restaurant preferences, so it was easy to say yes.

I wish you admired me the way you admire pizza!