Let's start at the very beginning...

It'a a very good place to start.



When you read you begin with A-B-C,



When you sing, you begin with...

A message for Po Po and Gung Gung

Lily has something to say:

Goodnight Moon

Missed a bit, but all in all, pretty good!

Follow the leader

So this weekend, after we posted the Gettysburg address vids, we checked in with the grandmas to see if they'd seen it. One said yes, she'd seen it because she checked the blog every day (even though I haven't updated in nearly 2 months), and the other grandma said no, she didn't look because there hadn't been anything new in so long.



Both comments made me feel guilty, so I'm gonna try and post little fun bits more frequently rather than go months between high-content posts. So here's a bit of fun from Po Po and Gung Gung's visit last month (which I should post about in detail but there you go...): Lily taking Gung Gung for walkies.

The Gettysburg Address

Lily's in this big parroting phase lately, so last night, on a lark, we tried seeing if we could get her to repeat the Gettysburg Address. Much to our suprise, she made it as far as "conceived in liberty" before losing interest.

So today we gave it another shot. Let's see how she does:

Hm, that was not terribly successful. Let's try again:

So close! One more try...

Yay Lily!

Who's two? Lily, that's who! Part 2

Sigh. In part one, I bragged that I was doing such a good job being prompt at posting the birthday stuff, but here we are again in April. So I figure, I GOTTA get the rest up before May! No time to waste, on with the blog!

OK, where was I? Oh yeah, the slide! If you recall, when Lily first saw the slide from Po Po and Gung Gung, she wasn't quite sure what to make of it. But Molly and Andy-roo knew just what to do! Can they teach Lily? Let's see:

Yep, looks like she figured it out. Maybe a little too well! For the most part, she has not made a habit of that headfirst thing, much to dada's relief. But the slide continues to be a big hit, especially when we have other kiddies over for parties. They think it's a great novelty. Apparently, it's unusual to have a slide in your parents' bedroom? Go figure.

That video was actually filmed on her birthday and the day after, when we had her big party, so I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. For the party theme, we of course chose Wonder Pets. Dada was able to find a website with all sorts of Pets-themed stuff. Plates, tablecloths, napkins, favors, and, of course, balloons.

Here you see Toto Kevin helping with the balloons. I think we had enough. In fact, we still keep finding them around the house.

The party itself was just delightful. All of the Mojica clan came down, and most of them slept over! And of course, Lily's San Diego peeps were well represented.

This party was also notable in that this seemed to be the party where the kids all REALLY discovered the yard.

For example, here's Clara in the playhouse.

Mallory discovers the back alley.

Madi discovers her inner diva.

Andy and Molly discover the upper slope.

However, in the process, Andy appears to have lost his pants.

So it was great fun having all the kiddies run around! Unfortunately, like last year I didn't get to take a lot of pictures because of needing to wrangle food, drinks and kids. We did to make sure to break out the cameras for pinata time, though! Of course, it was a Pets pinata...semi-homemade because dada messed up the order from the party supply place. No pinata, but about a million extra pairs of yellow binoculars party favors. Oops! This year, we decided not to have the kids try and smash the pinata because a) only the really big kids are strong enough and coordinated enough to damage a pinata, but b) almost all the kids are strong enough to damage me. So we decided to pull the ribbons instead.

Birthday girl gets the first ribbon. No luck, though!

Clara gives it a try. Lucas grabs what looks like a fistful. Molly and Andy try, Andy still pantless. Max even has his daddy helping, to no avail.

Mitchell and Mallory both strike out. Erica helps Alex take her turn, while Lucas sneaks back in for another try, but nothing doing.

Finally big kid Natalia takes matters into her own hands. It's almost as if she knows what to look for...but in any case, the feeding frenzy commences.

After candy, what could be better than cake? Wonder Pets cake on a Wonder Pets tablecloth, of course. (Incidentally, we also kept the tablecloth on the kitchen island for like two months, just 'cause it was so darn Pets-y. Besides, it went with the Wonder Pets paper plates and cups we had left over)

Time to sing again! Will Lily still be intimidated by her candle like she was with the cupcake? Let's see...

Yep, still a bit intimidated. Good thing Madi and Lucas were there to help. And Lucas was so enthusiastic! "CUT THE CAKE!!"

Later, after the formal festivities ended, we settled down and hung out with just the family. As an added bonus, they stayed the night, so we got to spend time the next day too! We partly spent the time opening some presents, but mostly just enjoyed each others' company.

Ain't them girls cute?

Lily and Mal compare notes on how to sit on the floor, as Lily demonstrates a flawless reverse indian style. Little kids are bendy.

Whee, mama!

Such fun! But all good things must eventually come to an end. Besides, after so much activity Lily was plumb tuckered out! A little game for our readers: can you find Lily crashed out in the aftermath of her birthday weekend?

And that's it! Happy birthday to my big girl.

Ashiatsu

Ahh, massage...