Lily Castle was very excited. Today was a "big day" and Daddy and Mommy told her she was a very important part of the big day. She and Daddy had been practicing her part all week. But even before that, today was a special day for a lot of reasons.

First was the dinner they were going to eat. They were having pash – no, spaghetti – and meatballs. (Now that she was a big girl, she always wanted to use the right words, and the right word was spaghetti, not pasghettis) It was her favorite dinner of all time. Daddy or Mommy would put a meatball on her plate and then she would smash it. Then she would take a spoon and the cheese and she would put a lot of cheese on her smashed up meatball! She loved cheese a lot, and Daddy always let her sprinkle as much cheese on her meatball as she wanted. He would start singing "Oh the weather outside is frightful….", because he said that the cheese looked like snow. Mommy would laugh a big laugh when Lily joined in the singing. After she covered her meatball in cheese, then she would get some spaghetti with a little bit of sauce because she didn't like too much sauce. Then she would get some more cheese and sprinkle it all over her spaghetti. She couldn't wait to eat!

And then there were the people who were coming to their big day dinner. Daddy called them her family, and they were special. The first one to come would be Grandpa, who was Mommy's Daddy. She always remembered that because he would tell her stories about Mommy when she was a little girl. Lily loved to sit on his lap when he told her stories or when he read books to her. She loved to hear stories about Grandma Jo in heaven too. And whenever he came to visit, he always had something for her – he always gave her an apple. Grandpa knew she loved apples and she really loved the apples he would give her. She called them "grandpa apples" and she loved how Daddy would cut them up and she would eat them with peanut butter.

Then her big sister Alexis would come with her husband Mike. (Lily liked remembering their wedding. She got to wear a sparkly dress and throw flowers on the ground. Everybody told her she was a great flower girl that day.) Alexis was the best sister in the world. Lily liked how her sister would come over and play with her. They would play Candy Land over and over and they would play dolls and they would color together too. When Mike came he would give Lily rides on his back and he even let Lily and Alexis "do" his hair when they played hair salon. (But he wouldn't let anyone take pictures when they did it. Alexis said he didn't want the other cops to see how cute he looked with bows in his hair). Sometimes Mike couldn't come to dinner, because he was a cop like Mommy and he would be busy. But he was coming today for the big day!

And then Gram would come, and that would make Lily laugh. Gram wore bright clothes and she loved to sing and dance and laugh. She was Daddy's Mommy and she'd tell Lily about the silly things Daddy did when he was a little boy. Lily loved those stories so much. She knew that Gram would play the piano and she would sing some of Lily's favorite songs. Sometimes Mommy would sing with Gram and Lily would dance. She loved that!

So Lily was very excited for today. Mommy let her wear a pretty dress and did her hair in two pigtails. Daddy said she was the prettiest little Lilypad he knew. He reminded her that he would point to her and then she would say her special thing for the big day. She kept saying the big thing in her head over and over so she wouldn't forget it.

Soon, there was a knock on the door, and Daddy opened it wide. Instead of just Grandpa, there was everybody – Grandpa, Gram, Mike and Alexis! Mommy went over to the door and was hugging and kissing everyone while Daddy was taking their coats. Lily ran over to Grandpa first and as soon as he hugged her, he pretended he didn't have anything for her. But she could see something in his pocket and she pointed that out to him. He laughed as he gave her the apple – a nice shiny red one! Alexis was laughing as she hugged and kissed Lily and Mike picked her up and almost threw her in the air. Gram tapped him on the shoulder and he handed Lily over to her so Gram could kiss her over and over.

When Gram put her down, everyone started to walk inside. Daddy pointed at her and she remembered she was supposed to say her big line, so she shouted it out so everyone could hear: "I'M GOING TO BE A BIG SISTER!" Then she remembered she was supposed to do this when they were eating dinner so she covered her mouth up and almost started to cry. But instead of telling her she made a mistake, everybody turned and looked at her. Daddy was smiling his big smile and Mommy was too. Lily was sad she made a mistake, but before she could say she was sorry, Daddy picked her up and said she was telling the truth.

And then an amazing thing happened: everybody got very happy. Gram hugged Mommy very tight and said, "This is wonderful news! I'm going to be a grandma again!" Alexis laughed and kissed Daddy on the cheek and said, "And I get to be a big sister again too!" as she kissed Lily on the cheek. Grandpa just had a happy smile on his face as he hugged Mommy. He whispered something in her ear, and Mommy hugged him and wiped her cheeks.

Everyone smiled a lot that day. So even if Lily made a mistake and said her big line a little too early, it didn't ruin the big day. She couldn't wait to be a big sister too.

A/N: My dad was the grandpa that brought the grandkids apples all the time. One of them called them "grandpa apples" and the name stuck. And my sister and her husband announced their second pregnancy by having their firstborn daughter tell people. She didn't do it too soon, but I thought that could be kind of cute, and something Lily might do.