My Little Cheese Ball

For Valentine's Day, I didn't expect to get anything, since Andy just got out of the hospital on the 13th evening and wasn't allowed to go anywhere. However, on the morning of the 14th, he sent me to the store with a shopping list, and then proceeded to make the very best BBQ ribs I've ever had. While he was making them, these flowers were delivered to our home. Apparently, since he knew he wasn't going to be home for Valentine's Day, he had ordered them for me. We're not allowed to have plants in our house with him home, but we decided to make an exception. I put them on a table that is nowhere near anywhere he might sit and breathe, so we figured we'd be okay!

Okay, so these two pictures of Kylee are kind of scary. I was just trying to take a nice smiling photograph of her, but the silly little cheeseball always spots the camera and breaks into a HUGE (and may I say kind of creepy and scary) grin! She had just finished dinner, as you can tell. She really does think this is her prettiest smile for some reason, so don't be surprised if you see similar photos in the future. YIKES!

Preparing for Dad's Homecoming!

Now, before anyone calls child services on me...let me just say that Kylee volunteered for this job! When I found out Andy was getting released from the hospital, I went home and stayed up all night long deep-cleaning everything. I vacuumed, scrubbed, dusted, etc., making all kinds of noise, which thankfully Kylee slept through. When she finally decided to grace me with her presence the next morning around 8:30, she immediately saw that I was exhausted, and picked up the broom to help me finish. When she felt like she was done sweeping, she even found her favorite trash can (which I had washed), and brought it out. She's such a good little helper! And truly, none of these pictures are posed. She really did this all by herself!

Cooking Dinner

After we got everything cleaned up, Kylee wanted to cook dad a nice surprise dinner. I had to leave to go pick him up though, so I told her the dinner would have to wait until later. Seriously though, she does love the bowls. She'll take them all out, unstack them all, then stack them back up and put them all back...over and over again. Sometimes she puts her magnets in them. I don't know why she thinks they're so fun, but sometimes I wonder why we spent any money on toys?

Celebration!

When we found out Andy was getting out of the hospital two weeks early, I decided to celebrate, and actually let Kylee eat a sucker IN THE CAR. For those who know me...1) I don't like Kylee to have candy, ever and 2) Food in the car...YIKES. Sucker in the car? I can only claim temporary insanity. Luckily, she contained the mess to her face, and actually handed me the stick when she was done. Apparently she understands my need for moderate car-cleanliness.
For her birthday, Kylee got magnetic letters for the fridge. So she thought she'd try to spell out dad's diagnoses for him on the fridge. Unfortunately, several of the magnets have already disappeared off the face of the earth (maybe into Kylee's stomach??!?), and she had to use other similar letters to make it work. Isn't she smart? Of course she had to taste each letter before putting it on the fridge.

Feeding Herself

Kylee is convinced that the new-cool-thing is to feed herself, no matter what (meaning how messy) the food is. Unfortunately, she's no so great with the spoon yet, so instead she HOLDS the spoon, and eats with her other hand. I guess it works! It just makes a big mess!