My Daughter, The Spider Conqueror

My daughter is 4 1/2 and I think she's pretty awesome. She's friendly, vivacious and outgoing. She's also a scaredy-cat. Bigtime. But every once in  awhile she surprises me. Take the other day for example.
Henry, Lil and I were in Henry's room. They were playing and I was puttering around, trying to decorate his room. (little by little)

Lily pipes up, "Mom, there's a spider crawling on Henry!"

"No there's not, sweetie."

Putter, putter, wait a sec.....ond........

There was a black spider crawling up the side of Henry's face while he happily sat on the floor playing.
I know. I just threw up too. Just thinking about the tiny glimpse I got of our unwanted visitor makes me cringe.

Shudder.

In quick mom-like action I brushed the spider off his face. (I happened to be holding some sort of rolled up something in my hand.) I snatched up my little Boo and held him close. Of course, he had no idea of what had just happened. I just watched, slightly shaken, as the despicable little creature begin to crawl under his crib.

That's when Super Lily took matters into her own hands. No one messes with her little brother! (We had just found her old bike helmet in the garage the day before and she happened to be holding it when the spider attack went down.) Lily took her Dora the Explorer helmet and smashed it down on Spiderus. (I thought the little guy needed a name.) A smile of satisfaction spread across her lips. Then, wham! She finished the job with another mighty blow. Spiderus had met his demise.

I turned to look at my brave girl. "You are awesome, Lily Grace!"

That's the only time I've been thankful for Dora the Explorer.

I don't have a picture of the event unfortunately  but it's one of those memories that will be etched forever in my mind. Lily.....the Spider Conqueror.

What I'm Loving Wednesday!.....Lakeside

My goal is to write a "What I'm Loving Wednesday" post every Wednesday. It hasn't happened yet but; I'm not giving up on the idea. If any of my other blogging friends want to hop on the bandwagon and do "What I'm Loving Wednesday" posts (Wendy, Steph, Jamie....), I think it would be fun.
Anyway, I'm still thinking of my fabulous family vacation to the lake and wanted to list some things I loved about our trip. I'm wanting to write an actual full length post but alas, kids.... time....energy....trying not to fall asleep before 10 p.m...... you know the drill. I will though, eventually.
Until then, I'm Loving .....
1) The beauty and calm of the lake. The rippling water was so beautiful. Walking down to the dock and taking just a minute to sit and watch the blinking lights of the houses and cabins dotted around the lake as the sun set is one of my favorite memories from the week.

2.) The weather for the most part was perfect. We did have some warm nights. It was shorts and no shoes all week.
3.) Jet skis. I was terrified at first but ended up driving one and LOVING IT!!!
4.) Seeing Henry and Lily (especially) spending quality time with their Aunts, Uncles and Cousins. Henry won't remember anything from this trip but Lily bonded with her family. It was so neat to watch.

 It was so fun to see these two play together.

Auntie Clue and Cousin Erin

 5.) Time with the whole family. Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins and Siblings. Eating meals, playing games, swimming and just talking.

6.) Revisiting childhood memories and visiting places Andy went to as a kid.

It was a special week and I'm looking forward to sharing some special times and pictures in posts to come.

Home, Sweet Home

Ahhh..... a week at the lake. What could be better? Not much, that's for sure.
Our fam just got back from a week at Lake Almanor where we vacationed with lots of family. It was an absolutely wonderful week. And while I'm missing the warm weather and jet skis, it sure was nice to come home. Here's a few of my favorite pictures from the week. A post (or two) is coming soon.