The Memory Jar

Oh, bless you Pinterest. Not only do you make me want to use my crockpot for every single meal, but you also give me excellent ideas like The Memory Jar. For that, I am thankful. Here's the gist: write down your memorable moments throughout the year, toss your notes in a jar and read them on New Year's Eve. Best idea ever.

We only began recording our memories in September, but we still had a lot of fun notes to read. We spent a few minutes on New Year's Eve reflecting on the last few months of 2011. Lilly was in charge of passing out the memories.

I'm going to share them on here because I want to be able to look back on them years from now... plus, I think they're kinda cute. All right. Let's do this.

Sept. 5, 2011: While Mommy was putting Addie in her carseat, she looked up and started smiling and giggling like crazy. Lilly was standing in front of her, posing in over-sized cateye sunglasses.

Sept. 5: Lilly picked up a donut crumb off the floor, showed Daddy and then ate it.

Sept. 6: Lilly was such a mess after dinner, so Daddy took her in the shower with him. She asked him to pick her up and a few minutes later, she fell asleep in his arms in the shower.

Sept. 9: Mama made homemade cream cheese frosting today. Lilly licked the beaters. It was the first time she was allowed to do that. :)

Sept. 9: Mama blew bubbles into the bathroom while Lilly was taking a shower. She thought it was the coolest.

Sept. 9: Lilly and Mama sang "Itsy Bitsy Spider" to Addie today. Lilly insisted on doing the hand motions by herself while Mama did the singing. She was so proud of herself. She also played peek-a-boo with Ad.

Sept. 14: Today Mama told Lilly to let her fix her hair, specifically her bangs. She stomped off and yelled, "NO! NO BANGS!"

Sept. 15: Mama went to check on Lilly and found her playing in the bathroom. She had a towel on the floor and she was pretending to give her baby doll a bath in Addie's whale tub.

Sept. 17: Lilly went all day without a diaper while we visited Grandma Kay. No Accidents!

Sept. 23: Lilly was telling Addie what noises animals make. "What's a dog say?" Mama asked. She barked. "A cat?" She meowed. Then Lilly said, "Dada?" "What does Dada say?" Mama asked. Lilly pointed to her butt and made a fart sound.

Oct. 2: Addie went to Disneyland for the first time today. (Oh, and we ran into Sully again and he kissed Lilly twice.)

Oct. 16: Lilly and Addie took pictures together at Kiddie Kandids today. The photographer posed Lilly and then started posing Addie. Lilly immediately changed positions and started mimicking Addie's pose of laying on her tummy. She wanted to prove that she could do tummy time even better than her little sister.

Oct. 29: Addie rolled over for the first (official) time today.

Nov. 7: We asked Lilly how Dora dances and she yelled, "I did it!" and started doing the twist.

Nov. 7: Lilly fell asleep on the kitchen floor while Mama and Dada finished dinner.

Nov. 9: Lilly looked at Addie this morning and said, "Tute."

Nov. 9: Lilly fell asleep this afternoon clutching her black chucks like a teddy bear.

Nov. 11: Aaron got home from work and said, "I forgot to get us chocolate." Lilly yelled, "UGH! Chocolate?!" and she got very, very angry.

Nov. 12: Mama helped Lilly brush her teeth but almost accidentally forgot the toothpaste. Lilly scoffed and rolled her eyes at Mama.

Nov. 12: Lilly was carrying around a cardboard box. "Does trash go in there?" Mama asked. "No, me," Lilly replied.

Nov. 17: Lilly saw some glass goblets in the cupboard today and shouted, "Cheers!"

Nov. 30: Lilly called Mama into the bathroom today, pointed at a peanut-sized turd in her toilet and said, "Aww... baby. Poop baby. It's tute."

Dec. 15: Addie discovered her feet today.

Dec. 25: Mama and Daddy ate Big Macs in the car while the girls slept in the backseat. Date night.

Dec. 28: A Santa impersonator was on Wheel of Fortune tonight. Lilly kept cheering him on yelling, "Go, Hoho! Go!"

Dec. 31: Lilly had her first tea party. She also got everyone in the celebration spirit by yelling "Party Hats!" all night. And anytime she had a party hat on her head she would sing, "Happy... to you! Happy to yoooou!"

Oh, and it looks like we started our memory jar after this happened but I need to include it anyway. Hands down, the best part of 2011 was meeting our sweet little Adeline Rose.

On July 12, 2011, our family grew by one and we became more complete than ever. We have never been happier. 2011 was a great year. Here's to 2012. Happy New Year!