Lucy's Birthday

Lucy's Birthday was filled with fun, presents, cake and more cake!

We woke up to a full house. Auntie Sandy, Auntie Kelly, Mindi and Gram had come the day before. Lucy opened a present from Mommy and Daddy right away so the girls could play in it in the morning.

Then we went to have portraits taken. It was a little rough with 2 tired girls, but we managed to get a few good shots, see the post below for one of them. We will also have a special Valentines day edition with some of both of the girls.

After this, we went to the Rainforest Cafe for lunch. Lucy was visited by the Froggy mascot.We also got her (and us) a special birthday volcano cake, complete with a sparkling candle.We managed to squeak in a nap for the girls in the car as we zipped around town picking up various things for the evening. We had more family members coming to celebrate with Lucy.
Once we were home, the festivities began again with some supper and, of course, another birthday cake.
Blowing out the candle.Yum!Opening a new baby stroller from Grandma & Papa.Here is Daddy putting it together.

For baby dolls? Or for Lucy?

Here are Gram and Lucy taking a breather and getting ready for more wrapping ripping!

Lucy with her new stir fry set from Gram.

Here are Mindi and Lucy checking out a croquet set from Auntie Katie and Uncle Tom.

Lucy with Uncle Sam, Tia Paola and David.

Here are Lucy and Auntie Kelly checking out more of Lucy's birthday gifts.

And, Mandi and the girls winding down for the night.

Thanks so much to all of you for making Lucy's Birthday a special one.

Happy 2nd Birthday Lucy!

As a mommy, having an uninterrupted shower is a rare occurrence. Today, I had one of those wonderful showers. A warm shower on a cold winter morning, good smelling shampoo, what a great way to start the day. Usually I hear little feet running back and forth from the living room to the bathroom, the shower curtain is pulled back many times, getting the floor and the child wet. There are lots of crouched over conversations to hear what Lucy is doing or what is happening on Sesame Street. Then there is the game of grab mommy's legs through the shower curtain that all ends with rinsing my hair with luke-warm water. Today, I did not hear the feet running to the bathroom until the water was turned off. Then, I saw Lucy's face look up at me and she said so proudly 'Mommy, I'm beautiful with color on my legs and feet!'.
'What Honey?'
'I colored with PEN!'

Then she pulled up her jammie pants and I saw the damage. After telling her that pens were 'no-no's and that she was not allowed to use pen anymore (where did she find one in the first place?) I did what any normal mother would do. I took Pictures!

First Movie at the Theater

Last night we took Lucy to see her first movie at the movie theater. We went to see Madagascar 2. We know Lucy loves the first one and we thought she would be happy to see Alex, Gloria, Melman and Marty again. She was!

In the picture below she is checking out the big screen.

Our friends, Jordan and Katie, also brought their daughter Natalie (who is one of Lucy's favorite playmates) to the movie. Here are the daddies showing the girls the screen up close.

It's hard to get good pictures without a flash in a dark theater, but I managed to snap 2 that actually had the girl's faces. I think Lucy just spotted her favorite Lion in the picture below and is shouting "ALEX!!". It was good that there were lots of kids and lots of talking, shouting and laughing in the theater last night.

In the next one you can see Natalie munching on some popcorn, the girls each got their own little bag. Lucy told me this morning that the popcorn was one of her favorite parts of the night.

Muffin Tin Meals

One of my friends, Jess, also has a blog for her family (www.justablink.com). Along with family updates, she puts out some very crafty ideas. One of her more recent posts was about 'muffin tin meals'. She gives her kids some special meals all separated in muffin tins. I was reminded of this today while shopping and saw this heart shaped muffin tin on sale for $2.50. Lucy wanted to hold it in the cart and was so excited to get her lunch in it when we got home.
I put it on the table and couldn't snap the picture before her little hands were pulling it towards her.

Thanks for the idea Jess! This made for an extra fun lunch on an ordinary day.

Ice Skating

On New Years Day our big activity was to take Lucy Ice Skating. We went with some of Jer's cousins and their kids. It was a blast. Lucy LOVED it. She did not want to stop.

OK - The skates are on!

Mary is ready to go.

Lucy really liked to use the 'walker' to help her stay up.Here is Jer telling Lucy to keep her feet together and glide. . .

Jer, Lucy, Kathy and Mary going for a lap.

Here is Jer getting a little practice time on his skates and maybe getting a few pointers from his cousin Dave.

Here is Kathy with her boys, Ivan and Grant. Brother Dave is helping Ivan stay upright.

Little Buddies: Mary and Lucy.