Merry Christmas! Daddy was taking the pictures...obvy

OK, I will start out saying that we have stunk it up with updating the blog lately. Please accept my apologies peoples. That being said, we are just now updating Christmas photos. I now understand how people with more than one kid have trouble keeping in touch. Of course, we still have no excuse since we have only one but whatever. Keep in mind, we have been having so much fun that the time we have is with each other and not updating. ( :

Anyway, Christmas was in DC which means, all people come to us, mostly. First, Uncle Drake came over (in his PJS of course) on Xmas Eve along with Glam-ma Mary, Grandpa G, Molly and Dre. Here are a few photos...

We had a great time leaving out cookies to which Lily says.."Santa...he's not SCARY? He gives presents." Always saying it like...right? right? He is NOT scary, right?

This is Grandpa seeing what Grandma Judy and Papa gave her. It is the only fish that this family can handle, let's face it. Good gift!

And THIS was the big present. Since we have had so much time to blog.....this thing is a nightmare. Daddy put all 400 plus pieces together and, naturally, all Lily wants to do is take it apart. Awesome. She does love it but in retrospect, perhaps a wood non-piece castle may be have been the way to go. Either way, she loves it and anytime she "talks on the phone" she brings up her castle. That is a hit right? Right.

And Grandma who really pulls Christmas together! Translation: Does everything. ( :
Of course, Lily's visit to see Santa. This was MUCH more successful than any other years. (ok, so it was 2 so far..) Anyway, the part that is not as transparent is the steps:
1. Sit on Santa's lap: success.
2. Ask Santa for a castle and a dolly: success.
3. Leave Santa because he will maybe give us that stuff tomorrow: FAIL.

What is not on the video is her screaming....A CASTLE AND A DOLLY! NO COLORING BOOK! A CASTLE AND A DOLLY!? Perhaps that is why our lunch wasn't as awesome as we expected.

Snow Time Fun!

Ok, so the weather called for Thundersnow....which I cannot claim to have seen but we did see a lot of snow. Daddy was GREAT and went out quite a few times to shovel so today isn't so bad. He even helped to push a cop car up the street! Lily had a great time although said "I am cold, this is cold.." quite a few times. This makes us think she takes after her mother's sensitivity to the cold despite mommy's upbringing in upstate NY. Mommy has a anthropology theory as to why the cold affects her so much and will bore anyone with the theory if they care to listen. ANYWAY, here are some photos of how we spent the days in the snow...(above is a picture from the next day, much nicer.)





That night we didn't venture from our couch. A neighbor stopped by and we had some nice conversation. Very opposite of our planned night which was a Christmas party at our house with tons of friends. Oh well, we enjoyed it all the same. I seriously love snow and am disappointed that it will go away almost as soon as it came.

Bring it on down to Chateaugay-ville....

This was probably Mommy's favorite night. The Cooks went to Disney World and brought back these novelty goofy hands. Oh boy. The family, mostly Mommy, reenacted the "Bring it on down to Homelessville" skit on SNL and had so much fun with the family.





Another night, making dinner with the sistas!
Thanksgiving Dinner...




Ok, so we stop to go potty but there ARE no potties. So..we improvised and laughed and laughed and laughed.....




And all the pictures....

Chateaugay November 2009

Lily at Ian and Chaya's Wedding-in a Sari!

I actually apologize for not getting a good enough photo with Lily in her beautiful outfit. She loved it and danced so much through the night. She loved all the beautiful dances that everyone put on and really really enjoyed herself. Of course, putting her to bed at 10:15 PM with no nap and taking her away from the party was not the most fun walking through a hotel as she screamed.."I WANT TO DANCE, I WANT TO DANCE!!!" She went to bed shortly after that and as Daddy said..."we can't blame her, its our fault." Lily does like/need her sleep. Oh well, it was a good time anyway.

This is cousin Ian riding a white horse on the way to meet his bride's family in front of the hotel in DC.



It was actually quite funny since all the tourist's came to see us walking through the streets. Pretty funny actually.

Skip didn't seem to hold back and Lily taught Grandpa a few good moves. She is trained in India dance....screw in the light bulb and pet the dog. Lily asked to put the flower in her hair....this was while we were watching all the great dancing.


"Namaste..."

Mehndi and Sangeet

After Grandma got her henna, Lily cut ahead of all the other ladies and sat right down. The other ladies didn't seem to mind since it was pretty cute. Lily actually sat there very patiently and got it done. She was also pretty careful until that itch above her eye which got the henna ink all over her eyebrow. It still turned out great and she is loving it this morning.

These events are so much fun. The families sing traditional Indian songs and everyone dances and the kids put on these elaborate indian folk dances. Its really quite impressive how the young ones participate so wonderful. It is really a great family community and we were glad to be able to participate as well....especially Lily.

I don't get to see Lily around other kids that often and so it is fun to see how truly outgoing she is. We even had to pull her off of the dance floor when two of the kids were about to perform. Heartbreaking as it was, Lily did not know the dance moves and could have gotten hurt. Lily then sat and clapped and watched. Below is her trying to play patty-cake with some girls. Two of the girls are the children of a guy that Mike knows through work and they brought us a sari for Lily to wear to the wedding tonight. So exciting!

Ben's Chili Bowl!! (And H1N1 vaccination.)

We finally took Lily to Ben's Chili Bowl for the first time. This establishment, for those that live outside DC, is one of best chili dogs around and has quite the history since it has been in business since 1958. The best one was when the owner Ben (RIP) wrote in soap on the window during the 1968 riots "Soul Brother" and the place made it through without any destruction. Bill Cosby goes there a lot and apparantly has some pull since there is a sign in there that said "Bill Cosby and family eats free. President Obama does not because Bill said so." Hey, what's his beef with Obama?


Oh, and of course, here are some phone photos from the H1N1 shot clinic. You know, I think Lily actually had fun. We basically hung and played in an auditorium for 2 hours before we finally went to the "stage" to get our flu shots. Turns out, they gave some to Mommy and Daddy too! Flu shot score--Daddy:2, Lily:2, Mommy:1





A cute video of her fist hot dog at Bens!

Halloween 2009

Pebbles!


Mommy made the costumes this year and had so much fun. So much that she made the family dress up twice! They were great sports about it.



Matador!

As we were going to see Ferdinand the Bull we thought it would be a great idea to dress up in that theme. All the actors from the play came up to us after the show and were saying how great we looked. One even said "You guys were a bigger hit than we were!" Mommy was so proud and happy to be wearing the great dress from Glam-ma Mary. If you can't see it Daddy is in a bull nose which was actually a pig nose since we could not find a bull nose. A 4 year old in front of us (not Jake) asked him why he was wearing a pig nose and would not stop with the questions. Gesh--did you make YOUR costume this year kid?

We even met up with Lily's friends Jake and Sadie....


After a long day, we went home, had tacos and gave out candy (then the adults had game night!). Lily even answered the door with her pants down as she had just gone potty and wanted to see who was here. I hope we remember to tell her friends that when she is older. I think Mommy will remember. Hilarious.

Sitting with "Otto"......



More pictures from Halloween

2009 Halloween

And the sugar rush....

A weekend with the OTHER Bowersesses

Although they only live in VA, we do not get to see the Grampa "G", Glam-Ma-Mary and Uncle Drake as often as we would like. We had an impromptu day last Saturday and they took a few great pictures. Uncle Drake is the best uncle around and Lily loves him for it! Yeah Drake!

"No, I have no idea about golf...but we do look gorgeous."

As Glam-ma-Mary said...she looks like she listens to Roger as much as I do....ha ha!
Just plain cute with her new RedSox ducky....which Daddy obviously hates. Great day!

How often do you get to tell a kid to go play in the road?

For us, it is once a year. Our block actually closes off and we get to hang on the street. Lily is getting to like it more and more each year. There is a moon bounce which is so scary for Mommy to watch but Lily really enjoys it.


The next picture cracks me up. It really looks like she is going to bust into some serious hip hop moves....errr, I mean, she totally did and it was awesome. What? You weren't there, it could have happened. That is her friend Lauren in the neighborhood a few months older than her. We have had quite the influx of children moving into our neighborhood and a lot are around 2 years old...oh, and another Bowers with a two year old. Posers, I am sure. ( :

Daddy representing the PBR at the party.....

This is our neighbor/friend Michael who is the reason most of the cool things happen on our street. He is great and organizes the whole thing.

Moon bounce!

Again, walking down the middle of the street.....totally acceptable. Now, on to changing that short lived exception.