{Garden} Flowers

A couple of years ago my aunt gave us some peach irises. They are in full bloom now and are almost to the point of needing dividing. That's ok though, there's a plan of an all iris bed along the south side of our house (it's a small patch of grass between our house and our neighbor's driveway). Our purple irises are thriving there. 

Anyway, here are the peach ones after the rain on Sunday. 

And this little purple plant that isn't so little anymore... it was a $1 clearance by from Lowe's last year. I picked it because I love purple, it was a perennial, and because the plant was still in shape. It's obviously doing well! 

This one, below, is a new addition to our flower bed out front of our house. I had originally thought of doing all white flowers but found myself attracted to pinks and purples too. So, this one, and a few others, came home with me from Lowe's. I have this one in white too and they add some much needed height to the front bed. I'm hoping the butterflies will enjoy it too! I know the bees are super happy about all my flowers. 

{Lily} Family Party

On Memorial Day, we had Lily's family party. Doug's parents could come so we celebrated with them on Sunday. Most of the rest of the family came to celebrate with us yesterday though and we had a nice turn out. As a family, we used to celebrate Memorial Day with a BBQ and we've continued that with everyone bringing a side and we grill hot dogs, brats, and so on. Doug also smoked a set of ribs and a chicken, as he is now known as the king of smoking (meat, not the nasty cigs). 

We had LOTS of food and of course this little crazy girl was the life of the party... 

Why, yes, those are windows behind her. They are for her big girl remodel that will be starting soon (updates to come, of course!).

Below is one of the best pics of me and Miss Lily. My friend Margaret took one with her phone that's a little better (Lily is smiling and showing teeth in it) but I still love this one. They are both great and worth framing! 

Before dinner, Lily asked if she could open presents. I told her that after dinner, she could. Well, once the food was all ready, she was almost forcing people to eat. She's a smart one! She also dressed herself... pink strawberry dress and her pink (faux) fur. 

Getting help from Auntie Mary. 

Lily told me she wanted pink, strawberry cake so I made it. She didn't eat any of it. She's not huge into anything non-chocolate, even though she did request it. She's huge into Tinkerbell and Princesses (what four year old girl isn't!?) and so the flower matched one on the packaging. The other cake was a simple round strawberry cake. It's a good thing I made two batches because it was delicious and we sent some home to family who couldn't make it yesterday. 

We also ordered cupcakes but no one ate them. I thought Lily might but she just wanted the rings. 

She got a little shy when everyone was singing Happy Birthday.

Happy Birthday to my big girl! I can't believe she's 4. This time next year we will have a 5 year old and roughly 7 month old. Wowzers! 

Grandma and Grandpa Visit

On Sunday, Doug's parents, his sister and his sister's son came to visit Lily for her birthday. She received three new Princess dolls and she loved them all. One of them uses ice to change her hair from blonde to pink, one sings, and there's another one too. 

After the presents (and the rain stopped), Lily had to show off her mad bike skills to her grandparents and got to boss them around ("Grandma, watch me! Come here, Grandma!"). Luckily we also had her tricycle for Will to ride. Ignore the random girl on the big bike, she's our neighbor's daughter (granddaughter? I don't know). 

After the rain started back up (the story of our lives right now), we came back inside. Both kids hadn't had a nap and they were starting to zone out. Lily got her computer out and started watching a movie. Will wanted to see what it was all about and Lily was too zoned out to really do much. The following pics show Will's attempt to watch with Lily. No words were said during this interaction but both were starting to get super sleepy. 

And this is the best we have of the two together... they aren't easy to pair up for pics like when they were younger. 

Will and Lily are three months apart and their soon to be little siblings will also be about three months apart. Will is getting a little sister, Lily is getting a little brother. It'll be a fun time at Christmas!! 

{Family} IT'S A BOY!

We had an ultrasound on Thursday (Lily's birthday) and found out that our little bundle of joy is doing GREAT and is a BOY!!! Look at that perfect profile in the second picture. I can't wait to kiss him. Now it's on to figuring out a name... suggestions welcomed (keep it classic, nothing crazy).