After Liliana and Joe's last art lesson in September, we decided to take pictures and archive all of Liliana's self-created art. This means we are excluding anything she's made in art class or with the help of an adult. So, this art will have only her brushstrokes and her plans.

We put Liliana's art on a different website...

www.lilytheartist.com

A few people have asked for prints of her art already. Mostly the Galaxy painting. She may be in the art selling business soon :) 

Enjoy!

I am almost caught up! Whoo. 

August was another big month. Liliana and I headed up to Boston to meet a friend and watch the meteor shower. Liliana had a BLAST. We even brought the pup with us and he had fun in wide open spaces. We visited the MoMA (per usual) and The Guggenheim. Liliana loved The Guggenheim. We took a ferry up the East River to another part of Brooklyn for the best pierogis. Liliana took her summer gardening class at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens and had a blast. Joe and I celebrated 7 years of marriage by going to the beach for dinner and then going mini-golfing. Michelle visited us and we managed to go on a nighttime boat cruise to Lady Liberty, head into China town, and get over to the Hudson River. A good August! 

In other news, I write this snippet mainly for my own remembrance of it later. After dropping Noodles, the puppy, off at doggy school, Liliana took to exploring the world. We wandered up the street to a outdoor food market and had a nice lunch of tacos and lemon-thyme popsicles. Liliana chose (and loved) the popsicle flavor. I was planning on wandering with her down into Soho when we came upon this relief outside of a firehouse. 

First, Liliana noticed the Statue of Liberty on it. And then she noticed that there are two buildings..."But, Mom...there is only one." So, we had a nice long talk about September 11. She asked very pointed questions and honest questions. She went inside to talk to the firemen about the day and asked if anyone was there who saw it happen. Liliana is very interested in seeing the actual footage, which I told her she'd have to wait on. She wanted to know what Daddy and I were doing that day. A photographer came by and snapped a few photos of us looking at this relief and talking about the day in history. And of course, Liliana wanted her own picture. 

She wanted to see the Memorial - so she's now been there three times. She totally recognizes that it is a sad and scary thing to have happen. Every once in awhile, she'll ask about the plane that knocked over the two buildings and why that would happen. She's clearly processing. 

And, that's a wrap on August. Next up, September!

Joe had long ago expressed an interest in painting the sunset with Liliana. For Father's Day this year, I got him and Liliana a private art lesson. This picture is the sunset they got to paint for their lesson. It was one of the most brilliant sunsets I've ever seen!

Joe and I also went on a sunset cruise through New York harbor. I contend that we should do another one, because we went on a cloudy day and so we didn't really see a sunset. The boat ride was so nice though! 

I introduced Liliana to the world of Punjabi sweets and am happy to report that she loves gulab jamuns and barfi. We went on multiple trips to the MoMA, which she loves. The MoMA is easily Liliana's most favorite place to be in the city.

But, we also visited the Central Park Zoo, wherein Liliana exclaimed, "Mom! I see a bear butt!" Read that one out loud and see how it sounds to you. At first I panicked when I heard her say it, and then I realized she meant the brown bears. Ohhhhhhh.

In June, big things happened! We went on vacation in Minnesota with my parents and Joe's parents to a cabin up north. Lots of time spent outside and Joe got to go fishing - the important thing.

We had a foam paint party on the deck of our cabin. Liliana had a blast. She stripped down and had a bucket bath afterward - equally as fun!

And the other big event in June was getting a dog! Liliana and I drove up to Rochester to pick up our Mini-Schnauzer puppy. Liliana named him Noodles. 

So, you can guess how we spent our summer...

Let's see...May brought us a wacky art project, a hair cut (first ever!), lots of reading, pickles, and the start of a vacation in Minnesota. I'll let the pictures do the talking here.

And in case you're curious about a couple of the pictures, Liliana insisted that I make an art gallery for ourselves. For this particular project, we made www.strollerart.com. Enjoy!

Phew! This has been a lot of quick writing! It has been fun to look at older photos though. I think Liliana has grown up so much in this last year!

April was marked with a visit from Joe's parents, lunches with friends, gardening and...a concert with Peter Yarrow (the Peter in Peter, Paul and Mary!). Liliana is still obsessed with Puff the Magic Dragon so that was a BIG night for her!

Liliana seems to be averaging one big experience per month, so far. Well, March was no different. 

Well, maybe a bit. She turned 3 in March! So, she had multiple birthday "celebrations". We went to Dallas for a cousin's pre-wedding celebration. Liliana and Gary both celebrated their birthdays with a trip to see a play. And, she had her own birthday part at our local carousel. Busy month!

And! She fed a giraffe and saw a skateboarding bulldog. Pretty cool. 

In Dallas, we visited the Dallas Museum of Art and had a dinner date with my Dad. All three of us have March birthdays - so that was our little birthday celebration. The art museum had a Pollock exhibit going on and Liliana thoroughly enjoyed seeing his work. She wanted to know what he named them, how he executed the paintings and find all of the colors he used. It's fun going to art museums with her!

The big event in February was all Joe's idea. We headed over to the AKC "Meet the Dogs" event. Almost every breed of dog you could imagine, was present. So, we walked around for an entire day petting dogs. We watched some agility competitions too, but mostly we pet dogs.

January started off with a bang! Liliana was excited to see her best buddy, Gary, at the train show. This time, we included the Thomas the Train kids' show. The kids had so much fun together...the adults too!

In the middle of January, we took a family vacation with Joe's family down to Captiva, Florida. It was a bit chilly, but at least it wasn't Midwest or East Coast weather! Liliana had a blast searching for shells and she had tons of fun with Sydney. Lily went in the pool lots with Grandpa Timmy and walked the beach with Daddy. We took Liliana through the Ding Darling Wildlife Refuse on Sanibel Island. After seeing all the awesome birds (including a Spoonbill!) we also spotted an alligator! It was a little cold, so we weren't sure we'd see one. But we did!

And then, not a week later, we woke up to this (and obviously had to play in it!).

We ended January with a Chinese New Year's celebration with Liliana's school. The kids had prepared little songs for everyone, so each class performed. Liliana was very excited to perform, but when it actually came time to do it...well, you can see me holding her hand on the side of the stage. We went down the street for cupcakes afterward!