Happy Thanksgiving!

I just wanted to take a minute to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!  It is the time of year where we realize what's important to us and what we are thankful for.  So let's do that.....and eat turkey!

My 18 Month Old...

...will sing twinkle twinkle little star right along with you.  Even though she doesn't sing the real words her version is much more interesting and much cuter than the original.

...can say more real words than I could make a list of without forgetting a bunch.  She has exploded with new words and new things she can do in the last few months, it's been exciting and tiring for all of us!

...says 'Daddy?' when she is with me and 'Mommy?' when she is with daddy.  She always wants to know where we are.

...has taken her interest in Elmo Melmo to a whole new level.  We are now subjected to watching videos of him.

...has her 8 front teeth a right bottom molar and working on a top right molar too.

...loves her 'puppy' and he is certainly learning to love her too.  Especially since she will scratch his tummy for him.

...goes to sleep at 7:30pm and sleeps until about 6:15am.  And takes about a 1.5-2 hour nap in the afternoon.

...has had her nails painted a few times and she loves them

...loves to read her stories to you. Turning each page and reading them one at a time.

...can throw a mean tantrum and has spent some time in time out already. Usually just a warning is enough to get her to stop though.

...is loved by all.  We have been told so many times how good she is and how easy she is to take care of by many different people.  This fact makes me worry for her Teen years.  Surely she won't stay this way right?  It's ok, I know I'm doomed.

Love you my big girl Lily!

Philippi Family Picture.

Family photos.

A couple of family photos.

*I'm still getting the hang of the new editor.  Old habbits die hard and I can't figure out some stuff with regards to the photos.  So it goes.  Bear with me people.

Yes, I'm a CopyCat. Yes, I'm ok with that.

Inspired by a few blogs I read  here and here.  I thought, what a great thing to do right now.  Lately I've had a bad case of the I wants.  I thought it would be a great time to refocus and set some life goals.  A list of 100 to be exact.  Here goes.

1. Win an award
2. Take some photography classes
3. Be an amazing mom to my kid(s)
4. Be a great wife to my husband(s)  *kidding on the (s) part though*
5. Learn to keep my house clean
6. Go see a comedy act (we are going in April!)
7. Go to a fancy restaurant where you need reservations and have to dress up
8. Watch my babies grow into amazing people
9. Have the house of our dreams complete with lots of land
10. Learn to love myself more
11. Live a healthy lifestyle
12. And lose a few pounds as a result
13. Go on an amazing cruise
14. Wear a bikini with pride
15. Pay off all our debt
16. and Stay that way
17. Learn to quilt
18. Be a great friend
19. Have great friends
20. Visit Australia with Adam
21. Hire a maid (yes I realize that's counter-productive to learning to keep my house clean)
22. Join a gym and actually go
23. See a show on Broadway
24. Find my faith in God.
25. Teach my kid(s) to be charitable, if not with money, with time.
26. Celebrate our 50th Anniversary together
27. Have a gourmet kitchen
28. Teach my children to cook
29. Finish all the scrapbooks I've started throughout the years
30. Take a decorating class
31. Have a room dedicated to all my "projects"
32. Go on a family vacation to Disney-World.
33. Have a master suite, with a walk in closet and stand up 2 person shower
34. Have at least one more baby.
35. Learn to communitcate my anger without yelling
36. Have a job I love
37. Have another amazing family photo taken.
38. Be able to send my kid(s) to college
39. Be a grandmother
40. Volunteer at an animal shelter
41. Volunteer at a soup kitchen
42. Own a lakehome
43. Be recognized for doing something great
44. Have a corner office
45. Get a hairstyle I love
46. Drive an SUV
47. Have a blog that people love to read.
48. Give great advice
49. Start our own family traditions
50. Have a great camera with accessories.
*can I just break here a minute to say that this is WAY harder than expected.  Ok, Carry on.
51. Have a family
52. Own a house
53. Try new foods
54. Keep an open mind
55. Win a trophey
56. Wear a size 8 jean
57. Never burn bridges
58. Always strive to make sure my kid(s) get to know their granparents
59. Reconnect with my grandparents
60. Learn to hate junkfood
61. Take a cake decorating class
62. Stop regretting past choices
63. Be really good at something
64. Persue my photography business a little harder
65. Get over my fear of photographing weddings
66. Learn when to say no
67. See my kid(s) graduate
68. Grocery shop without having to use coupons (even though I probably still would)
69. Finish this list today
70. Tell my husband I love him today  (and everyday)
71. Sing a song in front of an audience
72. Learn to play the piano
73. Own a piano
74. Treat my dog more like a family member
75. Have my home organized and decorated by a professional
76. Save money for retirement
77. Take care of myself
78. Learn to ask for help
79. Dance in public without feeling like an idiot
80. Go bar hopping
81. Own an RV
82. Hike in the woods
83. Climb a mountain (ok, a small mountain but you get the point)
84. Tell my parents I love you to my parents more often
85. Have an organized closet
86. Create a cool art piece
87. Learn to be more selfless
88. Play with my little girl like it's the first time for both of us!
89. Think less
90. Swim more often
91. Appreciate what I have more often.
92. Help people without being asked.
93. Take tons of pictures
94. Win the lottery
95. Buy a lottery ticket
96. Invest wisely
97. Make good choices
98. Visit 10 states
99. Fly on an airplane (shudder)
100.  Say Thank you more often.


Man I struggles at the end there.  I mean really.  I didn't realize how hard this would be.  Give it a shot and see if you can do it!

It's a long one, so brace yourselves.

I really haven’t had much to talk about lately. I feel like there is a lot going on but when I sit down and try to put it into words it just doesn’t work. Not sure what is up with that. It never rarely happens that I am speechless. I mean I can always come up with something to babble on and on about.




The girl is good. She is learning more and more everyday. Sometimes I really can’t even believe she is the same little baby we brought home from the hospital. Though I am sure most parents feel that way. This is a fun time though. She learns so much everyday. Her latest favorite thing to do is “cooking” so we can “eat”. I actually usually let her sit up on the counter with me when I am preparing dinner. It’s really important to me to have her in the kitchen and learn her way around. It’s an important skill to have in life. Also helps with math and junk. But she’s a little young to be working on the fractions, so I measure, she pours. Then we stir together. In fact I usually give her, her own “bowl” and “poon” and she does her own thing. But she will never ever let the chance go to tell me she is “cooking”. Such a big girl. The other day I was brave and let her add the pepper to the bowl. She did well, I think she’s a natural.



In the adult world we are trucking along. I’m not a huge fan of my job and have pretty much ruled out the possibility of doing the daycare thing. I mean if I can’t rationalize the space for US to have one more baby then I certainly couldn’t expect 10 kids to have enough room to play and sleep. Plus that is a pretty huge chance that you really can’t go backwards on. I love kids and all but when my one kid is whining and fussy I get frustrated. Though for some reason it seems less annoying when it’s not your kid. Anyway, so that’s marked off the list. I think in the end I’d love a job I could do from home. But they are very few and far between around here. Heck I’ve just been looking for other jobs in general and they are few and far between. It’s a tough market out there. So I guess for now I am trying to focus on how lucky I am to even have a job right now. The pros completely outweigh the cons, which makes it that much harder to want to make a change. I mean my boss here is pretty flexible and when you have kids, you need that. Especially since Adam’s job just isn’t.



Hmm what else. Well, Adam and I decided to paint one of our living room walls. I STILL haven’t chose a color and I probably won’t until I’m standing in front of the paint chips at the store. It’ll look great I’m sure, our living rooms needs some color badly so I’m excited about it. Of course I’ll post some photos when it’s all done.



Guess I had more to babble about than I thought.

*words in quotes are Lily's exact words.

A rare glimpse at the Philippi family!

She really gets her fasion sense from me.

Lily and I took a walk to the park a while ago and she loved pushing the stroller.

She has no clue where she is going though.

See what I mean? Interesting fashion sense huh?

I think the boots top it off really.

Few and Far Between.

So I haven't had a photography session in a while. So I thought I'd post some pictures. Last night we had 2 year old Savannah. She was less than thrilled to have her photos taken by me, but her parents were troupers and easy to work with. We still got some great pictures even if she doesn't realize it.

Don't tell anyone that little miss Savannah was actually trying to reach the light in the ceiling. It made for a cute picture and she smiled! Which is the main point!

Such a great family! Of course I did all these photos in singles but only posted the collages to condense it a bit.

The Famous Apple Bucket!

She really just wanted nothing to do with taking photos. Little does she know her resistance made it all that much cuter!

While I took photos, Adam and the girl went out to eat together! They had a good time at Buffalo Wild Wings. Then a nice trip to Target to get Adam some much needed new shoes. They even brought me flowers. Roses. A whole dozen. And from what I hear Lily had to smell them a million times. That's my girl. They do smell lovely!

Confession: Mommy guilt edition

OK, I admit it. I don't feel the mommy guilt probably near as much as I should. For the most part I am perfectly fine with working (mostly) full time. Sometimes I even enjoy going to work for the mere fact that it's HARD being a mom. It's hard to take care of a family and try to keep the house in order. Sure I don't do it alone by any means but it's still hard, and these days work is a bit of a break for me.

But this morning....this morning was different. I was getting ready to leave as I normally do. The girl wanted a cuddle (normally can't even get a "uggie" out of her in the morning) and she held on. She held on tight, like I was about to leave her for good. SO I held on too. We cuddled as long as I possibly could. We cuddled while I put my shoes on even. Then I handed her to Adam so she could cuddle with daddy. And she screamed. "mommy....mommmmmyyyyyy....mommy" And my heart broke. Oh what I would have given to stay with her for 5 more minutes and cuddle.

This morning was hard. Of course as I suspected as soon as I was actually gone she was fine. Sat nice with Adam and watched AquaTeen Hunger Force.

Where did my baby go?

It's become painfully obvious lately that the girl is no longer a baby. But in fact a full fledged little girl. She talks. Real words even. The girl is very polite with "Peez" and "anks" when she wants something. She will ask for help if she needs it. "elp" She will tell you she wants to "eat" She will tell you when she goes potty "poo". When it's time to go somewhere this little girl brings you her shoes and is pointing and read for her "K" (that means coat for you who don't speak little monster girl language). She asks for more "Juice" and will tell you she wants "up" to drink it. For some reason when she is frustrated she will just repeat MOMMY MOMMY MOMMY over and over again like she is dying.

It may not seem like much but it seems everyday she picks up new words and new habits. Her latest new adorable habit is licking her finger when she's reading a story. Of course, that's how mommy turns the page so it only makes sense Ms. Lily would too. I mean I do most of the story reading around the Philippi house.

She barely wants cuddles before bed anymore, in fact she will just repeat "peez" over and over again while I try to cuddle her so she can just go into her crib. And it makes me sad that she doesn't want me to cuddle and sing to her. But I suppose it's only natural. As she gets older it's obvious she would notice how terrible my singing voice is...But I was still hoping for just a little more time.

And while I LOVE the girl in this stage, it too, is passing far too quickly. She is changing rapidly. Developing even more personality and spunk. It's fun when she does something and we say to each other, "She gets that from you!" I, of course, like to think that she really does have the best of both of us....but she has picked up a few things from us that are less than desirable too. She picked up my temper. The girl wants it and she wants it now, and she's a yeller too. Which she also got from me. But she is stubborn and I fully believe she gets that from her daddy. She has learned the limp noodle move now when she doesn't get what she wants. But she has also gotten some pretty cool stuff from us. She has my love of talking (all who know me can testify to that) and will babble nonstop whether you are listening to her or not. And she has our sense of humor. The girl thinks she's hilarious feeding the puppy her cheerios when she knows she's not suppose too and we let her cause she giggles her head off over it. (and yes, I tried to post video of that one, stupid blogger)

She's a pretty amazing little girl. And I know that we both love her so much and really couldn't imagine what life would be like with out her. I mean, we might actually have to spend time together....alone. Gulp. Kidding....Mostly.

Happy Halloween!

Lily with her Auntie Sarah. You gotta admit, the girl has pretty good form for being 17 months old don't ya think?

Playing the piano. As with everything, she was pretty danty with the keys. I hope she keeps this interest when she is old enough to actually learn to play. Fingers crossed for my future piano player!

Her costume from the back. I love the wings, this little sweater worked perfectly too for holding the halo on better!

Our Little Devil....err...I mean Angel. Yeah that's it.

She doesn't stray too far from her kitchen and shopping cart/baby stroller these days.