Whew, that was a long post.

Haven't posted lately cause I've been extra busy. Last weekend, we threw my folks a surprise party in honor of my Mom's 50th birthday and their 30th wedding anniversary. Lots of work to get it all pulled together without them finding out, but in the end, we did it. We had about 100 people show up to surprise them, and it definitely worked!

Anyways, the point is, I've been busy lately, but not busy blogging! So, this is going to be a very long run-on post. Sorry :)

Ok, where to start? How about here:

So, this is probably old news for many people, but I had to include anyways. This sonogram is very old - we are having another tomorrow, and maybe I'll update soon. Baby is due February 12 which makes me almost halfway there!

Here are some photos from our Labor Day getaway we took to Grand Lake. Went with some friends - Kelly, Sarah and Bo Kaiser.



A weenie-roast we had with my family a while back. The kids loved being outside by the fire and, more importantly, the swingset :)





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For the party, my sister-in-law, Jenny, and I made 's cupcake bites. So fun! I would recommend this project to anybody who loves chocolate, sprinkles and has a little patience :)




The party was a blast to plan and even more fun to enjoy. We had hor'doerves and drinks and a dance. I think everybody had a great time - I know my feet were sore the next day! I had just started to be able to feel the baby move - and the loud music and dancing got the little one going!

My parent's - 30 years ago!! Check out that suit on Rick!

Table decorations.

My brother gave a very emotional (ha) speech and we all toasted to 30 more years!

My parent's wedding party! How cute is that?!?

Me and my brother.

My nephew enjoying one of our cake bites.

I didn't have many great pics from that night because in typical Kylie-fashion, I took my camera, but no batteries!

I'll wrap this up with some pictures of Miss Lilah, who is doing all kinds of cute things these days like dancing to "Ring around the Rosie" and wearing her hair in a ponytail!!! She also did something really crazy this weekend - she slept until NOON yesterday! That made 16 hours of sleep in one night! We couldn't believe it and kept going in to check on her, but she was snoozing away.





Okay, I promise not to get so behind again! (Ya, right.)

Something to blog about.

ade another sale on Etsy. A baby book for a little girl named Sailor Mae. How sweet is that. Her nursery is decorated in black and white damask and pink - so I made the book to match. Fun to get back in the creating world.





And for those of you who just visit my blog to see pictures of Lilah, here ya go:

Getting my priorities straight.

Well, I'll start with my latest big news: I have cut back my hours at the agency to part time. I now only work 3 days each week - Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Why is this awesome? Lemme tell you: Four days each week to be a mommy. Less days to endure the job stress. AND, one little switcheroo of days in and out of the office, and I've got a four-day-weekend.

And I did just that this weekend. Went with the fam to Beaver Lake (in Arkansas) and stayed at some friends' lakehouse. It was FABULOUS. Just what we all needed. Only, we were so sad to leave and felt like there was not enough time there. Oh, well. Hopefully we'll do it again.

It was a great opportunity for us to put our new boat to use, and a great opportunity to spend some quality time together/with the kids, play some board games, get some sun, do a little shopping, eat some delicious food, etc. My nephew, Jak, loved the water. Lilah, on the other hand, prefered to stay ON the boat. Guess that's to be expected. Here's some of the highlights in photos:


Lilah in one of the rare photos where I caught her smile. Anyone have any tips on how to deal with the delay that digital cameras have? I ALWAYS miss the smile!!! (But not this time :)


Miss Eva Mae in her bikini (which was Lilah's last summer and it makes me a little sad to see her in it. Good thing she's so darn cute!)


Eva's contagious smile. She was such a champ on the boat.


Also a champ, Jak rode on the tube with his daddy. His curiosity and fearlessness kills me.


Lilah's two favorite places. With Daddy and in control.

Another couple of favorites - with Papa and ice cream :) This came right before the smile you saw earlier.


Trever and Brady had to show the boys how its done. The most entertaining part was watching them climb onto the tube...


And this is the whole crew before we loaded up to leave today. Sad but smiling. From left to right: me, my brother, Trever, his son Jak, Brady, Cole (my brother Garrett's friend), Garrett, my sister-in-law Jenny, her daughter Eva, and that's my parents sitting down.

And one other completely unrelated photo, but I love it so I had to share. I got to spend a day with all three kids last week and had a great time doing it. Oreos are always a good way to keep them sitting still!

Lessons learned.

Stumbled upon this great artist on Etsy that makes the most fun little series of prints that address all the things our parents told us a million times (and, now that I am a parent, I say myself!) I love these because it makes light of all the words we use as parents. Lately I have been feeling like my words mean nothing to Lilah. However, tonight we had a breakthru moment: we were playing on the floor and she somehow found the TV remote (for like the millionth time) and I immediately said, "No, no Lilah, give it to Mommy" and she toddled over to me and stuck out her pudgy little hand that clenched the remote! So there it was, she listened :)

Couple other things.
1. I'm a single mom this week, for eleven days to be exact. My husband went on a marathon fishing trip and won't be back until next sunday! (Hmmm. probably not the safest info to be put on the internet, huh?)
2. I am a pink, single mom this week. Went to the community pool yesterday with a friend and my brother and the kiddos and came back lobster-like. Makes me feel like I am young again! Why young? Cause I used to be able to fry my skin playing in the water at the lake/pool and never think twice about it. Now, we're always trying to prevent getting too much sun, which is healthy and makes sense, but just doesn't feel as good.
3. Brady took my camera to Canada on his fishing trip. Seriously, who in their right mind would want to miss eleven days of Lilah pictures just so they can take photo after photo of grown men holding up squirmy, slimy fish? Anyways, no new photos for a while - especially bummed that there are no photos from our day at the pool :(
4. Went to the Prairie Quilt Guild Quilt show this weekend and had a GREAT time. Incredibly inspiring and very beautiful artwork on display. Makes me wish I had more time to quilt...
5. Lilah has a new boyfriend. His name is Blankie. He is brown and she is in LOVE.
6. Some big changes coming my way soon with my career. Don't have all the details worked out yet, but should be all in good directions... very excited and ready for a change in our family lifestye.

Ok, I leave you with some summer photos of my girl. We're loving the sun and enjoying being one-year-old more and more every day!

Celebration.

Seems we've had so many reasons to celebrate lately. My folks' 30th wedding anniversary. Lilah's 1st birthday. Mother's Day. Celebration = lots of yummy desserts :)

We've been very busy with work lately, and all the other tasks of life. Preparing for our upcoming vacation to Boston, spring gardening, birthday prep and festivites, etc, etc. Anyways, those are some of my excuses for why I haven't posted in a while.

I had a tramatic experience while making/decorating Lilah's cake this weekend. It was late Friday night, after I had worked 12 hours, when I finally got around to it. I woke up the next morning and had to laugh at my efforts - and then start over. See for yourself:


(The first one is the cake in the back. Shameful, I know.)



Don't have much time to write, but here are some photos from the party, and the party preparation:




These are me working on the cupcake picks and the chocolate chips that were to decorate the cupcakes. To make the chips, I just dyed white chocolate and dropped out babyspoonfuls onto waxed paper. Tip: You cannot color white chocolate with your average liquid-style food coloring. You have to buy the professional, paste-type stuff.


This is Lilah on the morning of her birthday. Pancakes, syrup, balloons = happy one year old.


This is the table that was sitting on our deck when we woke up on Lilah's birthday. My (very talented) brother made it for her - isn't it great?!?! (He also sells them, if you're interested.)

The party:

What a difference a day makes.

I was beginning to worry that if Lilah didn't start walking soon, I would have to start patching holes in the knees of her jeans. Alas, I can sleep well at night know that won't be a problem.

Yesterday, she was doing things like this:



And today, this:




Funny how you can feel so many emotions at once. Proud that she has learned such a huge skill. So sad that she is growing up. Terrified that she'll fall and get hurt. Nervous that I won't be able to keep up with her. Excited to tell everyone I know.

Weekend craft.

Worked on another canvas I thought I might try to sell in my Etsy shop.

I listened to a very inspiring Podcast interview of Anna Maria Horner today - what an awesome story she has. Her fabrics are gorgeous and listening to what she had to say about breaking the craft/handmade industry was very interesting. Plus, she's adorable and is also busy raising FIVE kids! Holy cow, how does she do that, you ask? Guess you'd better listen to her interview. Below is a sample of her colors/style - this shot is her studio.


And, here's what Lilah's up to:


Being EXTREMELY curious.


Lovin' pancakes, syrup, her cousin Jak and when Jak feeds her pancakes and syrup.


Helping Momma in the kitchen.