Lilly Turns Two!

Hey gang!

Hellooooooo? *Knock, Knock* Anybody home?

*Crickets*

Does anyone even still read this thing?

Before I recap Little Lil's birthday with no less than one trillion pictures, let's take care of some biznazz first...

*****

I am back from my brief bloggy break and feeling better. I just needed to take a step back and evaluate some things. I'm sure some of you understand. Sometimes it just takes a couple nights of Law & Order-watching, doggie-and-husband-cuddling, and popcorn-and-M&M-eating to get a girl back on her feet.

Every now and then I just get a little overwhelmed with my job, schedule, workouts, housekeeping, friend-keeping, etc.

My job isn't as rewarding as I'd like, and I don't work out as much as I'd like, and my house STILL isn't as clean as I'd like, but no body's perfect. And sometimes it takes a 'brief break' to make you realize that no one expects you to be perfect.

My life is just fine the way it is. Tight pants, dog hair balls and all!

I have been thinking I'd like to take my blog in a different direction. It started out as a health/fitness/training/accountability blog. And I think that, a couple weeks ago, that's what got me stressed.

I felt like I had strayed so far from my original intent for this blog, I was disappointing yall or something...maybe I was just disappointing myself? I have nothing to train for, I'm falling through on fitness goals....who wants to read fitness blog written by a lackluster athlete?

I have a lot of athletic accomplishments to be proud of, but my weight and the distance I run, and how fast I run does not define me.

My life, including all the health and fitness stuff, and my family and my friends, and my home, and the way I treat people, my relationship with God...that is what defines me. So I have just decided to let this blog become more of a digital scrapbook for me. And focus on all areas of my life.

Of course it will still include my adventures in Running in the Delta, but there will be so many other things as well.

Thanks for letting me get that off my chest, and for sticking around while I took a little hiatus.

*****

After being in a 'whoa-is-me' slump for about a week, I was made fully aware of the blessings I have over the weekend.

On Saturday afternoon I spent the day at Sara Whit and Brian's house celebrating Lilly's Second Birthday.

Oh, what a wonderful day it was! My whole life, I have always loved my parents and been close to them. And I've had close friends, so there was never a big void or anything. But I have always, ever since I was a little girl, longed for siblings.

Now that I'm married to Tom, I have two sisters, and being with them on Saturday just made my heart swell. I loved being around our big, fun family and celebrating this tiny person that changed our lives two years ago.

She is hoot, and she knows she is the star of the show!

Sara Whit had the house decorated so cute...it was a candy theme.

This adorable cupcake cake was made by Lilly's favorite baby sitter, Sam.

Lilly's bestie, Anna Lauren

And here is the birthday girl herself!

Always the social butterfly, Lilly was scurrying around to greet friends as they arrived.

After a quick crash and burn on the sidewalk,

she needed a little boost from Uncle Tom

(One of) Lilly's boyfriend(s) Ward!

He was too much.

Here are some of the 'big girls' that attended the party.

They are all so sweet and good with Lilly.

Lilly with Betsy aka 'Sissy.'

Once all the guests had arrived and were adequately greeted,

Lilly and Anna Lauren settled down to do some seriously coloring.

Here they are at Lilly's FIRST Birthday Party.

What a difference a year makes!

See...she knows it's her party. She's eating it up!

Finally it was time to blow out the candles on the cupcake cake!Another flashback to her first birthday...

Sara Whit said they had been practicing blowing out candles,

and she got them on the first try!

Sweet family!

Tom: Lilly, can Uncle Tom have some cake?

Lilly: Well, since you asked so nicely, I guess so.

Lilly with the Proudest Grandparents on the block, 'Mamie' and 'Boo.'

After cake and ice cream, the party moved outside because the weather was so nice.

Here's SW and Brian with their good neighbor friends, Cliff and Robin.

Cliff and Robin have a trampoline

so a handful of the kids went over for some sugar-induced jumping.

Sidenote: How cute is Birthday Girl's outfit? It was a gift from Aunt My.

Sidenote: How much do I love my new camera's 'Sports' setting?!?!

After all the little ones had gone home, the family stuck around for BBQ dinner.

Tom, Lilly, and Boo enjoyed dinner while going over Lilly's

college fund and retirement plan.

It was a very serious business meeting.

Whew! What a day!

Mama, Aunt My, and Aunt La La needed a couple glasses of

'mommy juice' by the time it was all over!

A couple weeks ago I mentioned I was going to try out the online editing system, Picnik.

I have a couple pictures I used it on and I really like it!

Here's one SOOC (straight out of camera)

And here's the edited version:

I used crop, saturation, and temperature on it.

Cute, huh?

And here's another SOOC:

And after:

On this one, the color saturation is too dark.

Or the temperature is too 'hot'.

Or something. Live and learn!

And one more:

And after:

I used crop, saturdation, temperature, and fade focus.

I thought something like this might be cool if

you were going to make a slideshow to music or something.

Cool, huh?

So that was our celebration of our sweet angel baby face stinker princess Lilly!

Have a great Thursday everyone...the weekend's almost here!