Tuesday, February 24, 2009

holy guacamole...

Lily discovered her love for guacamole at her cousin Kale's birthday party!!



Saturday, February 21, 2009

11 months old!

Fun with the Ventura DuBranskys

Mike, Bev, Corryn, Jadon and Kiana came down for a visit on Valentine's Day. Mike, Bev, Steve and I all went out on a Valentine's date while grandma and pop pop watched all the kiddos for us. We made dinner at our house and then went to see "A MidSummer Night's Dream" at the Santa Maria PCPA. We had lots of fun hanging out with the kids...and it was nice to have some grown-up time too!









lovin' lily

We love our precious little girl...she is so much fun!



Friday, February 6, 2009

10 months old...past due

Lily is now 10 1/2 months old...where has the time gone? In a month and a half our little newborn baby is going to be 1 year old! I have decided that all parents must say statements like "they're growing up so fast!" about a thousand times over the course of their kids' lives...and I am no different. I find myself continually thinking, when did she get so big? Lily is growing into a little toddler right before our eyes. She continues to be hilarious with her loud voice and unique and bold hand gestures. Just a few days ago she really started crawling! She's been crawling since about six months or so, but she has always done a really fast "military" crawl, but just in the last few days, for whatever reason, she decided it was time to get up on her hands and knees and go for it! We had decided that she was probably content with the military crawl because she was so efficient at it, but she surprised us again. She loves to stand now and walk all around while holding onto the furniture...she's even been standing on her own for 20-30 seconds at a time! Lily has also decided that she loves to dance! Any time she hears music her little behind will start bouncing, it is so funny! She especially likes to dance to this music play table that her Auntie Barb & Uncle Tom got her for Christmas (thanks guys!).



Needless to say, we are so blessed to have this beautiful girl in our lives. Steve and I are continually amazed at the hand of God in our lives. We just started a Bible study and it goes along with the book, "Sheparding a Child's Heart" by Tedd Tripp. We have only read the first chapter, but in it he talks about a verse in Psalms that is the foundation for his book: "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." (Psalm 4:23) He reminds us that the heart is the well from which all issues of life gush forth. Through this study we pray that we can become parents to Lily that focus on sheparding her heart and becoming a disciple of Christ.
On a separate note, we would just like to ask for prayers for Steve's brother Tom, his wife Barb and their son Gabriel. Tom will, most likely, be undergoing a bone marrow transplant in the next couple of months (once they, hopefully, find a match from one of his brothers...good thing he has 6 to choose from!). Tom has been through quite the ordeal over the past 6 months or so and could definitely use our prayers. For an update on his health, you can check out the link to their blog, The Highland Park DuBranskys, on the right hand side of the page. Thanks for your prayers for Tom, Barb and Gabriel, and thanks for the love you bring to our lives!

Disneyland!!

Yes, Lily is only 10 months old and she has already been to Disneyland twice! She doesn't even know how spoiled she is =) Actually, we went to Disneyland a second time (we went back in September as well) because our brother, Dave, scored some reservations to the "exclusive" Club 33 inside of Disneyland. Club 33 is a fancy, membership-only, restaurant in New Orleans Square (you can look out from the restaurant and see Tom Sawyer Island) and Dave knows a lady...well, Dave knows everybody...and he was able to get us and our friends, the Elwells, reservations. So, Steve, Lily, me, Brian, Renee, Sydney, Rylee and Dave enjoyed a wonderful day at Disneyland just before the end of my Christmas vacation from work. Lily went on quite a few rides and loved all of them. All three of the girls were so good the whole day.


Lily on the Finding Nemo Submarine ride.




Steve and Sydney on Syd's favorite ride....Dumbo!


Me and Lily cruising on Dumbo


Brian, Renee, and Rylee - on her first Dumbo ride


The highlight of Sydney's day...meeting Cinderella!


Lily saying hi to Fro-Zone


Inside Club 33