I am in the throes of end-of-semester woes, but I absolutely cannot allow myself to forget these two things from today.
1. Lily and I have been telling stories every night before bed, in lieu of reading books. This is a fantastic exercise in imagination. I find it highly entertaining and a very special time for the two of us.
First, i have to make up my story. Lily requires that it be about animals and I require that it impart some sort of moral about obeying the Mama. ....I'm kidding. kind of. After my story, Lily tells hers. They are usually VERY similar to mine, but the species and names of the characters are changed :)
Anyways, tonight Lily's story was about a family of fish that were tragically eaten by hawks and alligators. (Luckily, the bride did not get them first.) The names of the children-fish are what I want to remember - "Sophie (she's a girl), Tomithy (he's a boy), Picnic (she's a girl), Sopa (he's a girl), and Starboy (she's a girl)."
Oh, Starboy - you are probably a very confused young fish.
2. She re-discovered her xylophone tonight - it's like the baby FisherPrice version. However, she was SO excited about it that she could not stop talking about playing music tomorrow. The plan is that I will play the mandolin, Dad will play the guitar, and she will play the xylophone. First thing in the morning. Problem is (aside from the fact that dad has school), she has preschool and we already NEVER make it on time. So...she wants to wake up early and skip "breakdas" so that we can play music instead....? That's her plan. Did I mention that she is so excited?!
We made lots of plans. The one that makes the most sense if for mama to not worry about getting to school on time and nurture this precious excitement over something important.
Well, it's all important, really.
This evening, we drove to Bristol to listen to the ETSU Bluegrass band play on State Street. It was a fun evening - Lily danced and people watched!
Here are some random shots from our weekend: Above, sleeping beauty, playing on the stairs!
eating a breakfast biscuit. love that curl!
my little musician! She is SO interested in instruments. When she is ready, we can't wait to get her lessons.
Playing in Elijah's backyard, at "baby" Molly's 1st birthday party! 
Elijah and Lily throwing leaves at each other.
Jeremy, enjoying "church" on the front porch on his birthday morning.
Hanging out with Uncle Toby - he and our friend Chesa came in for the weekend! Toby was kind enough to pass out candy to the trick or treaters so both Jeremy and I could walk around with Lily.
We got to see a few songs by Lily's favorite group, the Carolina Chocolate Drops. They were AMAZING. Check out their music if you haven't heard them before!
Lily admiring a girl's "funny hat" at the festival.
She was so attentive while we watched the shows and even danced around! She loved going up to the musicians after their sets and telling them "good job!"
Becky playing with Lily on the sidewalk.
Lily doing some work on a HUGE bowl of freshly made pico de gallo from Aaron and Becky's garden!
Silly girl
ghost
silly lily
playing with dada outside
the "ladder game"
Sadly, I didn't have my camera out much and missed a lot of fun moments and pictures with Baby Drew, Alison & Nate, Gina (Ga-Ga), Elijah, and Aaron, Becky, and Abby! Thanks guys for a fun weekend!
