Always Close to Our Hearts, Even If We're Far Apart

Lily has survived her first heartbreak, of I'm sure what will be many, due to our Army life. Lily's best friends, Paige & Lexi, are moving to Fort Campbell in Kentucky. We'll miss them terribly, but we've promised to keep in touch & maybe, with our crazy army life, we will get to see them again someday.

Here are some pics from their last day playing together:

Lexi, Paige, Lily & James

Besties for life

Stevie's Birthday Party & the Rest of Our Exciting Week

This week was Stevie & Noah's birthday party. Lily was, of course, right in the middle of all the festivities... Cake Time! Egg Race

Pinata

Lily & Madison causing a rukus during present time :o)

AHHH! It's Lily the Fly! :o)

Lily is still enjoying her school & can't wait to go there every day. She's making new friends & also playing with the friends she already had, so I am happy she is finding a balance between the two. She's been coming home with lots of drawings & paintings every day - probably more than anyone else in her class! - so it seems we have a little artist on our hands (just like her Daddy!). Brian & I are so glad she is enjoying going to school so much.

Some more pics from this week:
Lily's Potato Head family

Quite the characters...

Lily & Brian colored together this week & Brian drew Lily a crown that she could decorate & then cut out & wear. Here is the finished product:

Brian gave me a little scare this week when he came home in the middle of the day, with the help of one of his sergeants! They were doing combatives training on Thursday inside a building with no air conditioning & Brian got heat exhaustion! He was one of the demonstrators for the training & got overheated. Luckily he was not seriously injured & after getting hydrated & some rest, he was back to his usual self.

"Hi, my name is Zoey, and I am a "Dog Whisperer-aholic"

This dog is crazy...she will sit & watch the 'Dog Whisperer' for hours! She just stares intently at the tv & she will go right over to the tv & sniff the dogs on the screen. Sometimes when the dogs on tv bark or whine she will cock her head to one side, but other than that she doesn't look away from the tv while 'her show' is on.

First Day of School!

Today was Lily's first day of pre-school! What a big girl! She was so excited - she & Stevie could not wait to get to school.

Sooooo excited!

When I arrived to pick Lily up from school, she didn't even want to leave! She said she wanted to stay & play. I finally convinced her to leave & that she would be able to go back another day. When we got in the car, she told me she had the "BEST DAY EVER!!!". She said they colored, painted, sang songs, read books, had lunch, played outside, looked at her hand through a microscope & had a snack! What a busy day! She can't wait to return on Friday & have another fun-filled day.

When we got home from school, I tried to put Lily down for a nap - I knew she had to be tired from playing all day. She really did try to fall asleep, but couldn't. She finally told me that she wasn't tired & could she please get up from her nap. I told her she could, but not 30 minutes later this is how I found her:

...not tired - right?? :o)

Live at Five, Putt Putt & Some Pampered Pups

Miss Lily is finally over her mysterious illness! All of her bumps are gone & she is back to her usual self.

Posing with my hibiscus

Uncle Doug starts school in Florida soon & this week was the big move. Grammy, Uncle Doug & Doug's friend Mike (who is moving with him) all stopped at our house for a short visit on their long journey to FL in the UHaul.

Lily in a rare photo with Uncle Doug.

(He will only comply to pictures with Lily...)

Good Luck Uncle Doug!

This weekend there was a "Live at Five" celebration on post. They had live music, food, a Kid's Zone & a firework finale. We joined just in time for the end of the music performance & the fireworks.Lily, Madison & Madelyn dancing

Kylie, Lily & Madison getting ready to watch the fireworks.

Mom & Dad watching the fireworks

When we got home, I got Lily ready for bed & then she snuck downstairs to sit with Daddy. She told Brian she was hungry, so they enjoyed a late night snack of Cocoa Puffs together...

On Sunday we took Lily to the local sports park to play putt putt & ride the go karts. Lily wasn't sure about the go karts, so when we were riding them I kept glancing over at her to make sure she was okay. She was having fun, but every time I looked at her, she yelled "MOM! Watch where your going!!!!"

Putt Putt The next Tiger Woods - haha

riding her golf club like a horsey...

These two pups have a pretty pampered life...I found them like this the other day after one of their walks...

A Clean Bill of Health...Sort Of

Well, we took Lily to the doctor this morning for a follow up appointment for her bumps. We were cleared of any infectious diseases & viral infections...BUT the doctor has no idea what it is! She brought in another doctor for a 2nd opinion & neither of them could diagnose her. They pretty much told us that because they are not bothering Lily, not to worry about it unless it gets worse or doesn't go away. We were given some steroid creme to see if that will help & also some hydrocortisone. We were also told that if we see her itching to give her some Benadryl. However, both doctors agreed that they don't think she is contagious, so at least Lily can play with her friends again!

After her appt, I noticed some more spots on Lily & have come to the conclusion she must have a mysterious case of "princess pox":

Ha Ha...she got these stickers for being so brave!

Waiting for her friends to come out & play...

While we were waiting for her friends, we watched the hummingbirds chasing each other around our feeders. I was able to get a couple of pretty decent photos...

We've Been Quarantined!

Poor Miss Lily is having a rough week...to start off her week, she got her first black eye. She was trying to take her dress off over her head & it got stuck, so she started walking down the stairs to find some help. When I saw what she was doing I told her to stop because it was dangerous to walk down the stairs with her dress over her head (she couldn't see). When she turned around to go back up the stairs, she fell forward & bumped her eye on the stairs. She has quite the bruise right beside her eye & underneath her eye is swollen & a little blue.

Her shiner

Then on Monday afternoon, I was putting the princess down for some beauty rest & I noticed she had some red bumps on her legs that hadn't been there before. I checked her arms & tummy as well & found a few in those places too. Then I turned her around to look at her back & was stunned to find hundreds of these little red bumps all over her back! I immediately called the doctor & when we were finally seen by the triage nurse (all doctor appts were booked due to school physicals) we were told it was some sort of viral infection that has been spreading around post like wild fire! Since there is nothing much that can be done for viral infections, Lily was told she had to stay away from all of her friends for a few days & Mom & Dad were told to love Lily "from afar" for a while, since we can catch it as well. We have a doctor appt on Wednesday morning to get it checked out more thoroughly, so until then, Miss Lily is stuck inside by herself. We rented her a couple movies to try to occupy her, but she is not a happy camper. She feels absolutely fine & isn't having any side effects beside the bumps, so it makes it even harder for her to stay inside, since she doesn't feel sick. Hopefully we will get a clean bill of health on Wednesday & she will be able to return to her usual activities.

The spotted princess (couldn't get her to look at the camera!)

Another HOT Week...

I have a really cute story about Lily this week. Lily came home from Grammy & Papa's house with a little cough. On Monday morning Lily came to me & said "Mommy, I don't know what to do!" I asked her what she meant & she said "Well, Papa told me to cover my mouth when I cough, but Daddy told me to put my arms up when I cough & I don't know what to do!" :o) I told her that when she is coughing because she's sick she needs to cover her mouth, but if she's coughing because she's choking, she needs to put her arms up. Poor baby girl - she tries to do what she's told!
We had another extremely HOT week here, so for most of the week, Lily had to stay inside. This was fine with Lily since she discovered noggin.com & playhousedisney.com. Both websites have lots of fun games for Lily & she plays them every chance she gets. We also played some games & played with Play-Doh to keep ourselves busy.

Lily's new obsession: her computer games.

Lily & Daddy playing Hungry Hungry Hippos

Lily & her beautiful play-doh necklace.

We did get outside in the evenings once it cooled off & walked around the block with some neighborhood friends & then all the kids played at the park together almost every day.

This weekend Lily & I made a trip to Stoney Point where they have a water fountain for kids to play in. We brought Stevie & his mom - my friend, Jamie with us as well. The kids had a fantastic time & the mom's got to sit & enjoy the scene from our shaded bench.

Brian got to use his new fancy BBQ for the first time this weekend, since he received it on Father's Day. He's been dying to try it out, but from WLC to our weekend trips to work, he hasn't had a chance to fire it up. He made some delicious ribs & BBQ chicken for us, as well as corn on the cob on the grille.

What he loves about Sunday:

Brian, the ribs & the new BBQ

Lily, Stevie & Noah playing in the pool on one of our hot days.

A week with Grammy & Papa

Lily had a great week at Grammy & Papa's. Some of their week's activities included riding her bike in the driveway, playing outside, going to Skylar's house to play, finding a new friend named Catherine at an anniversary party for Grammy & Papa's friends, going to the mall with Grammy's friend Sheila & her grandkids, Kerry & Kyle, where they hit all of Lily's favorite stores (the pet store, the Disney store & the candy store) and going to a car show in Papa's car. Lily had a great time & still wasn't sure she wanted to come home at the end of the week. Thankfully, she decided she wanted to come home to us, because Mom didn't know what to do with herself while her Lily was gone! On Sunday we both drove half-way & met in New Jersey to return Lily. We met at a Chuck E. Cheese so Lily could play for a little while & break up the trip a little bit (and tire her out a little bit). She had so much fun, but was sad to see Grammy & Papa go. We reminded her it wouldn't be long before we saw them again. Lily slept most of the way home, but she woke up when we exited the freeway near home & was so excited when she got home. She couldn't stop hugging Vader & Zoey and she wanted to talk to me all about our fish & how they had been while she was gone. She wanted to play with all her toys that she had missed, but I told her she had to wait till morning, so she reluctantly went to bed. She sure seemed happy to be home!

Lily, Kerry & Kyle on one of the rides at the mall.

Lily modeling her new Ariel nightie.

Grammy is growing tomatoes on her back porch & every day, she & Grammy would go out & pick the ripe tomatoes. Here she is with the tomato plant, Rocky & Bucca. My, they've grown!!

On their way to the car show.

Spencer & Alyssa came & took Lily out for an afternoon together too. They went for ice cream, played mini golf & went to the park. Lily had such a great time, she still hasn't stopped talking about it.

Lily's friend Kylie also came to visit & the girls had a great time playing together.

Pretty girls