Alien invasion

When Lily got home from swimming this evening, she had a surprise visitor from the planet Melmac (by way of the Threes Room at her former preschool). ALF apparently heard that Lily was missing him at her new school, so he decided to spend the weekend at our house. (Of course, he didn't even call first--so like ALF!)


Lily was truly tickled to see her good friend. Many thanks to ALF's caretakers, Miss Michele and Miss Lindsey, for granting him permission to leave the premises.

First day photo shoot (plus bonus lunch update!)

Lily picked out her clothes for her first day at the "big kid" school. Naturally, she wanted to match Amalia.

There was a chance of rain today, so Lily donned her favorite raincoat before we walked to school. If her coat were a pair of pants, it would be called "floods."

***LUNCH UPDATE***
Everything was eaten except for the craisins and grapes -- the latter of which is being consumed as I write this. A pretty good day, all in all.

Other details about Lily's first day at Pre-K have not yet been made available, though apparently she played dinosaurs with the boy who was next to her during naptime.

The Safety Dance

Step 1: Annoy your wife by picking up a freecycled turntable on the sidewalk, making you both even later to a friend's dinner party.

Step 2: Dig out your old 45s from the basement.

Step 3: Party like it's 1982!

Don't cry, Mom. It's only cheese.

Lily will now be joining the world of brown baggers, getting cold, packed lunches instead of the hot meals she's heretofore enjoyed at daycare.

Because I am indeed a typical parent (more often than I like to admit), I took a picture of her first-ever packed lunch and have captured its contents below for posterity.

Lunch box: Bento box-style from the Container Store

Main compartment:

• Special K cereal bar
• Rolled-up turkey slices
  
• Vegetable sticks
• Pickles
• Apple
• Babybel cheese

Top compartment (three sections):

• Water
• Grapes
• Craisins and little marshmallows

Diluted apple juice in a sippy cup straw thing.

We'll see what she actually eats...

Amalia, R.N.

Tell me these don't look like nursing shoes.


To the play room. Stat!

In the break room.

4 going on 14

Lily starts Pre-K at her new school tomorrow, so we thought it would be fun to have a playdate with one of her friends from daycare (you may recognize her from the matching dress post).

Painting pottery: a slice of suburbia right here in DC.

Fashion statement

You decide: gangsta or engineering school grad student?




On an unrelated note (but wearing the same outfit, so I'm including it here), though it doesn't look like Amalia thinks much of the bear that sings "You're the One that I Want" from Grease, it actually is the most frequent cause of her "more" hand sign.

Whatcha wannabee?

Since we're not Korean in the slightest, we modified their culture's first birthday toljabee tradition to see what Amalia's future portends. We call it the wannabee ceremony.

Amalia selected the money, which apparently means she'll be rich or never wanting in life.

Hey! Is this only a $1 bill?!?

Ah, the smell of cold, hard cash.

In case you're wondering, Lily chose the pencil on her first birthday, which means she'll be an academic or scholar.

Apparently neither of the girls will be centenarians, since neither selected the string for long life.

Welcome to toddlerhood!

After a week-long celebration of Lily's birthday, Amalia's special day finally arrived.

Amalia knows it's polite to read the card first.

Lily "helped" open the gifts "for Amalia."

Open. Close. Open. Close. Ad nauseam...

More "help."

I love it!...What is it?

More bars in more places.

Let them wear cake

More photos of our combined birthday celebrations. I think I'll just let these pictures speak for themselves -- although a few of them might be caption-contest worthy.

The big 4.0

My mother sent the girls matching cupcake dresses for their birthdays, which they tried on Saturday night (the day before Lily's big day).

Here, Lily is waiting patiently as we *try* to get a picture of her and Amalia together.

Still waiting.

Good enough.

Sunday morning. Lily slept in her dress so she would be ready for her birthday as soon as she woke up. Definitely a planner, that girl.

Even her hair was ready to celebrate.

The much-anticipated silver shoes.

For those keeping score, Lily's immediate next question was, "Where's the turtle?" Delinquent on this item, Andy and I pointed out that turtles are very slow, so he might be late...