Happy 2011

Happy New Year to our LOLApalooza fans!
Lola, Aaron & I had family date night tonight. We went to Faketown where we enjoyed a fabulous dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. Prior to dinner Lola and I had fun getting ready. We put our hair in hot rollers and we both wore glitter on our eyes for some New Years Eve sparkle. It's now 10:54pm, the makeup has been washed off, Lola is fast asleep and I've flushed my sinuses. Twice.
We wish you all a wonderful 2011! Enjoy everything!



Mommy & Daddy, photo by Lola

Lola vs Gaga

I am a huge fan of both so this is going to be difficult.

LADY GAGA plays the piano
LOLA plays the ukulele

LADY GAGA met the queen
LOLA wishes she was a princess

LADY GAGA has a fabulous wardrobe
LOLA has an equally fabulous wardrobe

LADY GAGA sings about the telephone
LOLA loves to talk on the telephone

LADY GAGA has a bubble dress
LOLA likes to pop bubbles

LADY GAGA makes awesome videos
LOLA makes equally awesome videos only on a smaller budget...




LOLA WINS!

another quick trip to Illinois

It was another whirlwind weekend in Illinois the weekend before Christmas. Lola had so much playing with her cousins! We got to see so many people that weekend including Grumpa & Grandma Joni, Mimi, Julie, Ed, Celia & Ethan, Uncle Jim, Auntie Moe, Emma & Grace, Great Grandma & Grandpa, Ann & Morgan, Karen and even Cousin Lindsey & Cindy!!! All of the above mentioned had Christmas presents for the kids so they scored some serious loot. Unfortunately Lola missed seeing her Gigi & Grandpa Chuck this holiday season. We will see them pretty soon since our next stop is sunny Florida!

Merry Christmas!

2010

Santa prep

Lola is all ready for Santa's big arrival tonight. She put oats & glitter out in the front yard and put together a plate of cookies for the jolly fella. She has had a fantastic day today and is SO EXCITED for Christmas Day to get here!!! She is a little sad to say goodbye to Dopey-Dopey since he's making his final flight to the North Pole tonight where he will stay until next year. She told him that she was going to miss him. For a second I thought she was going to cry when she was saying goodbye. aw!

snow tea

I should have posted these photos when the snow day actually happened but I get busy... so here they are, a little late but still just as cute!





Posted by Emilee

the Elf on the Shelf

Lola and I stopped at the book store today to purchase the Elf on the Shelf and while she was taking her bath the elf managed to free himself from the package and park himself on a shelf in the family room. Before searching for the elf we decided to read the book to see what this crazy little elf is all about. Lola learned a few things. She can talk to the elf but he is under strict orders from Santa not to talk back. She is not allowed to touch the elf as this will take away his magic powers. His job is to keep an eye on Lola and each night while she is asleep he will fly to the North Pole to tell Santa if she was naughty or nice. He will be back home each morning before Lola wakes up only in a different spot in the house. Her job is to find him each morning. Her other job was to give her elf a name. She decided to name him Dopey-Dopey and so far she has had an lot of things to tell Dopey-Dopey. A new Christmas tradition begins.

posted by Emilee

Clifton Mill

We visited Clifton Mill for the first time on Thanksgiving weekend. Joni read about Clifton Mill in her Midwest Living magazine and I have heard of this place from a few people I work with. It's pretty crazy. Chances are you may never see this many Christmas lights all in the same place. And you will NEVER see a Santa collection like this Santa collection. The Christmas lights are beautiful! It is amazing and if you have a chance to see them you should. They also have a little city set up complete with trains and that is awesome. Every 20 minutes or so Santa pops up out of a chimney, waves and goes back down the chimney. This is cute however it would be better if they had a set up where the kids could get their photo with Santa. There is a gift shop and indoor seating where you can get hot chocolate and warm up. It was actually a lot smaller than I thought it would be. I kind of expected it to be a big park or something. Anyway, it was cool and definitely something to see at least once. The cost is 8 bucks a person which after leaving I thought was a little pricey considering how small it was but kids under 6 are free so that's good. I am positive that the older Lola gets she will ask to go back each year.

Lola entertains

We have had a handful of visitors these last couple of weeks and this is my attempt at making up for a week of lost blogging by posting most photos of our company on to one post.

Last weekend Lola got to meet baby Matt. She loves babies and everything about babies. She is very interested in how babies eat and she would love to change each and every diaper. She is definitely going to make a great babysitter someday!




Lola was so lucky to see her old friend Brody last weekend when they blew through town for the holiday. It doesn't matter how much time passes, these two besties pick things up right where they left off. I still hope the Vander Woude family moves back sooner than later.



This weekend was awesome because my friend Sam, his daughter Kaitlin and their dog Cindy (short for Cinderella) came to town. This is Sam's first time visiting since I moved to Dayton in 2002. However I do see him often when I go to Toldeo. Lola loved spending time with Kaitlin. She pretended like Kaitlin was her big sister and she would say "come on sister" and the two would walk off holding hands. Kaitlin was so good & patient with Lola. Ian also seemed to enjoy Kaitlin's company. He started off on the shy side but warmed up after he kicked her ass in guitar hero. After that they decided to build some Lincoln Log houses. And after that the three kids retreated upstairs to watch a movie where Lola & Kaitlin fell fast asleep almost immediately.
Aaron, Sam & I had a few beers, watched some Sunny and laughed. It was great fun!

SAINTS WIN!

posted by Emilee (1st post using my new HP mini, yeah!)