Lilla's birthday party!

Blowing out the candles with Nana.

Attempt #1

Attempt #2

Attempt #3

Balloons and treat bags.

Lilla's birthday cake!

Lilla's birthday sign made by auntie!

How many kids does it take to open a present?

Simon and Lilla.

Opening presents.

Kids get so excited about gifts....they were getting closer and closer....

Aubrey, Simon, Lilla, oh my!

We had a busy house.

Two!

Lilla turned two years old today. I don't know where the time went, but I know it's been fun!

I'll have pictures from her birthday party this weekend, I just thought I'd write about all the little things Lilla is doing now:

1) She knows her colors (most of them) and will now describe things by their color....which is cute. "Yellow slide, or green pants."

2) She can count to 10 in english and spanish (thanks Dora) and actually can count to about twelve in english but then skips to "eighteen, thirteen...."

3) Still a good sleeper, her bed time is getting to be 8pm and she wakes up at about 6:50, not so good on the weekends, but oh well. She is still in her crib, but has a big girl bed set up in her new room. I think the transition will start later this fall into winter.....should be fun.

4) Dora and Diego are by far her favorite cartoons. She also knows and likes Super Why, Mickey Mouse, Sesame Street, Authur, Martha Speaks, and many more that I'm not even aware of....it's kinda scary sometimes to find out what she knows.

5) She has about 20 "buddies", which are her stuffed toys that come out every evening for story time. All of them have a name (usually what they are, example "bear") and ALL of them have to come out every night. It takes about 4-5 trips for her because we keep them in her room. Good times. These buddies "sleep" in her book shelf next to her crib and she knows who sleeps where. Dolly, baby, Frankie are on top, Sesame Street animals and big bear on the second shelf, the rest in a basket on the bottom shelf. Last night moose tried to sleep up with Dolly and Frankie and Lilla corrected him and put Moose in the basket with the other various animals. Silly mommy, can't pull a fast one this toddler. These buddies are not be confused with her bath buddies that have a strict rule of staying in the bath tub, because, well, that's where they sleep.

6)She knows and can identify all of our family members and can now remember friends and will talk about them for days after we see whomever. "where did Liam go"? "Where did KT go?" "Where is Alli?"......we haven't seen Alli since August, but she pops up every once and a while.

7)Still can't get her to eat a vegi, however, she likes soups, so mom will be making vegetable filled soups to trick her....=)

8)Lilla likes to sing A LOT. The songs she sings the most are ABC, Ring around the Rosies, Twinkle Twinkle. ABC needs a lot of work, but Ring and Twinkle are pretty much complete, meaning all the words are there and in order. =) However, that being said, Lilla is pretty good at identifying letters. I'll be wearing a shirt that says something, and she'll start telling me the letters. Again, kinda scary what they pick up. I love watching her formulate an answer or ask a question.

9) She asks a lot a questions and talks ALL THE TIME. Which, for you that know me and John, is not surprising. We are chatters. When we're not in the room with her she'll start yelling Mommy, or Daddio until someone goes to see what's up....which is usually nothing, she's just testing us....and she's real good at it.

10)Yesterday, I think was our first, full on, can't really tell you why, temper tantrum. From Suzy's house (daycare) to our house....full on crying, screaming, and fingers in the mouth choking. Good times. Hopefully we don't have too many of those episodes in our future. =) Besides that episode, she has now started the game of "I don't like fill in blank", today was "I don't like milk" because she wanted some water....yeah right. So, that's super fun and I amazed at how young that game starts. She also, when mad, will fling whatever is in her hands down (usually a doll or her milk), go pick it up, fling it down....on and on. OR if you are holding her, she will hit you. That goes over REAL well with mom. We've had many crying episodes because I'll walk away or take whatever she is flinging. Negotiations with a two year old has become part of the daily grind.

11) She's just funny. I catch myself laughing at her all the time, usually just from the things that come out of her mouth. She's very good at saying "No NO Bailey" for no reason at all. She pretty much thinks Bailey is hers and Bailey should do everything she says. "Come on Bailey" is great because Bailey will just look at her and not move a muscle. =)

12)She's a pretty good helper and she likes to help. I can get her to do almost anything if she thinks it's a game. Putting away dishes is the most fun because I HATE that job, and she likes it. She also likes to move folded clothes, usually to the right spot, sometimes we end up with piles of now unfolded clothes....but that's what you get when working with a two year old, right?

13) One last and probably the best thing....Lilla knows and will say thank you at the appropriate moments. I wish I could take credit for it , however, as it turns out, neither can our daycare lady. I asked her if manners were something she was working on lately, and she said she was going to ask me the same thing. So, somewhere along the way, Lilla picked up how to say thank you. I know it will not last forever, so for now.....I'll enjoy the "thank you" I get for changing her diaper. Seriously, how cute is that?

So, as you can tell, I'm a proud mom of my growing lovely daughter. She is the absolute joy of our lives and I can't wait to see what will happen next with our Lilla.=)

MN State Fair

John helping Lilla drive her tractor.

Lilla as a farmer....we'll see. She was able to play farmer for a good hour at the State Fair....she had a blast.

Lilla was able to gather veggies and eggs (all fake) and was given feed to feed the chickens and cows (again fake) but very fun for her. She really got into it.

Farmer Lilla and her pail with Grandma.

This was our second shot....we forot these two are not happy or smiling in the picture. This, if you don't know, is my friend Alli, who, if you can believe it.....has NEVER been to the MN state fair. Hopefully she'll make it an annual affair, we'll see.

Take one....happy as clams.

Lilla had her first pronto pup experience....you would think by the looks of her she didn't like it....but she did. She was just crabby about having to sit in her stoller....poor Lilla.

Updates Summer 09

I thought since I've been very lazy about posting pics and what not about Lilla, that I'd give an update on some new-ish things she does, as of now.
Start of Day: loves to watch Authur while drinking her milk on mommy's lap in the morning. Then is a little helper when trying to get dressed. HAS TO put on her shoes and will throw a mini tantrum if she doesn't get to, then will throw a mini tantrum if she can't get the shoes on, then will throw another mini tantrum when you try to help. Yep....it's really fun. =) Whining and whimpering has become the new way to get attention. It's really like fingernails on the chalk board for me (at least the whining) so my new favorite thing to say to Lilla is "Please don't whine, or I can't understand you when you talk like that....which seems to be effective). Ok, enough with the "whining" about my daughter, she really is lovely.
So, next we get in the car to go to Suzy's (daycare) and a couple of things might happen. I usually ask her to start singing to which she immediately lets us know she'll be singing Twinkle Twinkle....which actually comes out as Winkle Winkle.....pretty darn cute. She doesn't have all of the words for the song, but we get the jist. Then she makes mommy sing it and so on and so forth. The list of songs in the rotation are Twinkle Twinkle, Itzy Bitzy Spider, Bingo, Old McDonald, ABC's and Ring Around the Rosies.
Some day's she doesn't feel like singing, so we count. She can pretty much count from 1-10 in both english and spanish, which I have to thank Dora the Explorer for that. She has a book which we've probably read (no lie) about 200 times to her, and now she kinda get's counting.
Speaking of Dora and Diego (cartoons if you don't know) she LOVES Go Diego Go...the cartoon. Mom on the other hand....not so much. So, now on our Netflix list you will find Diego, Dora, Seaseme Street, and all other sorts of kids videos. As soon as we pick her up from daycare, usually the first words out of her mouth are "more Diego" and just in case we didn't hear her, she'll repeat "more Diego" about 10 times. Although I try to limit her TV, it is kinda nice when I'm trying to cook dinner at night. (She's not quite ready to be my sous chef).
Potty Training: a work in progress. She kinda gets it, kinda doesn't. Yesterday she pooped on the Suzi's carpet at daycare. Our daycare lady is so nice that she gave her a sticker for trying. She still likes to talk about pee pee and poopies, but hasn't quite got the needs to tell us before she the act concept yet. We'll get there.
Colors: everytime we ask her what color something is, she says blue, when we say nope, she says green. So, I guess she get's that there are different colors in the world, she just can't identify them yet. However, that being said, she loves to color. If I need 15 mins. to do something around the house, I can usually get that time if I set out a coloring book and her crayons.
Bed time: Lilla is still in her crib, and to my knowledge, has never tried to climb out. We recently bought some bedroom furniture for her and her new room, so at sometime coming up, we'll transition to the big girl bed. She still goes to bed at 7:30 every night and we wake her up at 7 am. I really can't complain at all. We've always been able to just lay her down after a few kisses and hugs and let her fall asleep by herself. She's usually out in about a 1/2 hour.
Other then that....she's one busy toddler. She loves to be outside and if water is involved, AWESOME. She really likes her pool and the sprinkler. She is pretty curious about everything and doesn't have any fear, so we keep a close eye on her, but for the most part she's pretty laid back. She knows where Papa and Nana live (Herman, which comes out as Errrmin) and where Grandpa and Grandma live (Milwaukee, which comes out as Waukee). She tells us on a daily basis where they live. She's very interested in babies and will let us know if a baby is crying immediately, whether we know the child or not. If something happens around her that is loud (car honking, or any various loud things) she'll look at us and say "Noise"...pretty darn cute. She is very aware of the "Oowie" business, and knows if she says "oowie" either daddy or mommy will come over to find out what hurts and to give a kiss.
Drinking out of a cup has become super cool for her. A little messy and sometimes a coughing episode or two because she's gulped the entire liquid amount in one gulp, but over-all she is getting that concept. Brushing her teeth is a high light everyday, however, we can not get her to sit or stand still with tooth brush so hopefully there will be no falling down episodes and swallowing of the brush. She still will not eat a vegtable to save my life, and tries to remove them from her plate when given a scoop. At her two year check up, I'm going to see about vitamins.
Other then that.....well that's a lot. She's almost two (technically 22 months, but everytime I say that I get eye rolls from people). I can't believe it and she's gets to be more of a little girl every day. Sometimes I miss my baby, but other times I'm thankful she is more independent.

Summer Water Fun

Oh Lilla....enjoying a hot summer day in the front yard. Isn't she fast. =)

This was about a month ago....my mother would say, "like mother like daughter." Oh billy, we're in trouble. =)

Washing the car

One of Lilla's many talents is washing the car....ok,not really. She really just wants to do whatever John and I are doing and since our car was one step up from a garbage dump she helped us out.

I'm not sure what was washed more, Lilla or the car, either way, it's a win win situation.

Pumpkin face!

A little wipe here, and little wipe there....

What a helper....thanks Lilla. I hope you like to do this job because we'll be asking more of this in the future. =) Somehow I don't think she'll like it as much when she's 12 years old as she does now.

Mother's Day

My godmother and aunt Joan, Mom, Aunt Sherry, Lilla, Grandma Volker and me.

John and I went to Herman this weekend to celebrate Mother's day. We were also able to visit all of my grandparents and the following pictures are from my grandma and grandpa Volker's farm. These are the two trees that you have to drive between when you get to their house.

and again

transposed...

I love the farm.

The old shed that is barly standing.

The old gas pump.

Their dog Lucky lives here.

Grandpa Lubben at the nusing home.

Grandpa Lubben and Dad. Grandpa looks a little scared, I think it's because he doesn't always know where he is....you see, he's slowly losing his mind....dementia. I don't think he actually remembers my name anymore, which is ok, but he knows he should and I think he knows that I'm his daughters child. That has to be quite frustrating when someone calls you Grandpa, but you're not sure who that person is....poor guy. I still get to have some great conversations about the past with him because he remembers a lot of it still. So, for now, we'll live there...in the past.

Four generations: Grandma Lubben, mom, me and Lilla.

Lilla taking a bath.

Daddy and Lilla.

Doug, Colette, Daddy and Lilla.

Lilla and her piggy hat.

These are some great pictures of the great mothers I've had influence my life. I know I've learned a lot from them over the years and I'm still learning everyday. I feel as though I really earned Mother's day this year.....for some reason. Don't ask me why???? I don't know, but I had a great day.