"I wonder..."

"...what's going on today?"

"It must be something special."

"Is it seriously this guy's birthday?"

"It doesn't look right over here mom, can we try it on the other side?"

"Happy Birthday Papa!"

"What mom?! Seriously? It's Grammy's birthday too?"

"Well, sure enough, there is the sign."

"Happy Birthday Grammy!"

Your family in Pampa loves you both! Wish we could celebrate with you in person! We will be together in exactly a month! :)

Success!!!

Yep, she ate 1 whole TBS of rice cereal! And then yesterday she ate 2 TBS! We have success! :) Yippee!!!

Four Months Old

Can you believe it?! Lucy is 4 months old!

This last month has held some great accomplishments for our Lucy Lu:

• Giggles Galore
• Turning onto Tummy
• The Vocalization of her Voice
• Attempted Absorption of food
• Found her Feet

Lucy continues to be a happy and content baby - I think she is going to cut teeth anyday now... she has been drooling since we arrived in Pampa, but she had a low grade fever last night and has been a bit more attached to mom for the past 24 hours. We will see. :)

(Click to see an larger image - so you can read the captions)

3 Little Girls In The House =

Lots of PINK!

Mom and the little girls came to visit last week for a few days!

We enjoyed visiting the library (a little late for story time - my fault... it starts at 10?! - but had fun anyway!), Braums for ice cream and the park.

I LOVE this picture! I think it captures each girl so well. Lucy playing with her (pink) stuffed animals, Anna smiling with glee and Laura being creative and coloring. ;)

Not as much pink in the above picture - but I had to include it anyway! :)

Sophie did so well with the kiddos running about - I think she enjoyed the attention! I didn't grow up with pets - and my parents still have a pet-free home, but Anna and Laura did really well learning about how to act around a dog. We talked about dog's tails and how they tell us what they are thinking - the girls were pros at the end of the visit. :)

Here is a video of Lucy and Grammy Jo - enjoy!

Golden Friendships

You know the saying/song, "Make new friends but keep the old - one is silver and the other gold?" Well, we have made some great new friends here in Pampa and have had the honor of seeing old friends too! Kim DiMartino and Colton Kilgore came to visit us a few weekends ago - two great friends from Moody. :)

Kimmy is one of my best friends from college - one of the Core4 (that's what I have decided we should be called ladies) - she was on my floor.

And this gent, Colton, was on Brad's floor! So many couples have formed between Houghton 4W and Culby 14! Me and Brad, Kim and Colton and Ashley and Jon (and that was just in a 2-6 yr span)!

They were only able to stay one night - but we were so thrilled they drove the few extra miles to swing down and see us. We are more than happy to provide a bed(s) for the night even if you are just driving through, so stop by and see us!

At least we gave it a try.....

Wow - two whole posts without pictures of Lucy! Rest assured, this post is all about Lucy, so you will get your fill. :) It has been my goal the last few weeks to take pictures of things we are doing and to update you on our lives. Now, I know that many of you use this blog to get your "Lucy fix," and granted, much of our lives includes her and all of her cuteness, but I realized that I hadn't posted anything about what we do in the Kidder house for awhile and I wanted to remedy that. This post combines the two. :)

Brad and I love to try new things - especially when it comes to food. This is something we really hope Lucy has inherited from us. We tested our hopes this last week.

While shopping at Wal-Mart, we stopped by the baby food isle to check out the rice cereal. All the boxes we saw said "for babies about 4 months."

"Well," we thought, "Lucy is 3.5 months... thats about 4 months, lets give it a try!"

So we bought some rice cereal and Lucy Lu got to have her first taste...

She was very excited about her bib! :)

"What is this mom?"

"I'm not so sure about this!"

"Interesting flavor and texture..."

(She hasn't swallowed at this point - she was rolling it around in her mouth)

I didn't know she hadn't swallowed, so I offered her more.

And it all came out....

Third times a charm?

Loving my pink spoon!

And it all comes out again....

We will try again in a week or so.... :)

Special thanks to: Aunt Amy and Kids for the bib (Hattie Rose Designs), (Aunt) Becca for the place-mat, and Grammy and Papa Addington for the hippo chair!

Before and After: Lucy's Dresser

Well, we have finally finished Lucy's dresser! :) We originally thought we would wait until we had a garage to finish it - but as I was thinking through this decision, the following thoughts came to mind:

1. It would be nice to have a garage (wind-free-zone) to finish refinishing the dresser.
2. But we don't have a garage right now.
3. The homes we have looked at here in Pampa will require TLC to make them "home" for us (We are not ready to purchase anything yet... but have looked at a few homes here to get a feeling for what is available). So when we move into our next home our To Do list will grow.
4. Why build on what is going to be a long list by waiting to complete a project?
5. Our apartment's roof deck is right off of Lucy's room - making for an easy move.
6. I had a week with a pretty clear schedule and a short to do list = free time.

All this to say, I finished the dresser in a little under a week, but it has taken us - what? - like 5 months to get from the original product to the finished masterpiece. Phew.... that's a long time.....

To help you remember what we started with:

We removed the hardware and began sanding:

(Naked) dresser - with some of the new hardware:

Not pictured: Brad drilled new holes in each of the lower 6 drawers, making space for new hardware, in the middle.

Also not pictured: Move to Pampa.

Dresser ready for it's new coats of primer, paint and poly, (after filling old holes from old hardware):


The finished product!:

And what little girl's dresser would be complete without cute drawer liner? Lucy needed some polka-dots. Wrapping paper from Wal-Mart and double sided tape gave the dresser that final touch that took it from "functional" to "fabulous."

I am so happy that the dresser is done! It was the first piece of furniture that Brad and I have refinished (I've done lamps, candlesticks and stools before - but nothing as big as a dresser!) and we are thrilled with the results! And it's one less thing that we are going to need to do eventually when we move into a home. :)

Next up.... I need to find a mirrored vanity for Lucy's room. With all that hair, we are going to need a space to get our style on..... :)

There is a new member in our family!

Meet Sophie:

We got her on Monday of this week from a shelter in Borger - a town 30 miles away from Pampa. She is a Maltese (probably) Poodle mix - a Maltipoo! :) We will know for sure when we take her to the vet.

She is 2 or 3 years old, kinda like Chloe, and is about the same size as her too! :)

So far, Chloe and Sophie have been a little unsure of each other - but they are getting used to each others company.

She is fully house trained and loves to go for walks - we live about 7 blocks from the park. And our park here in Pampa is awesome! There are paved paths throughout the park, for about 2 miles (...I think...), which is really nice for walking with a stroller.

We don't know how long she was in the pound - the found her "Wandering at Large" - but she was there long enough to get a hair cut. I can't wait until it grows out long enough for us to get her groomed - we will get her a puppy cut (1-2 inches all over):

Won't it be cute?

What do you think of our new family member? Are we crazy? Probably.... :) But we are having fun! :)

Lucy's First Birthday Party

Don't be confused now - Lucy isn't a year old yet. But she did attend a birthday party last Saturday, this little lady is now 2:

Meet Mya Love, isn't she a doll? That blond hair is too cute! Loooovvveee the tutu!

Mya's mom - Misty has become one of my good friends here in Pampa. We have decided that Lucy and Mya are going to be life-long buddies.

The theme of the event was Hello Kitty but "Hello beautiful cake" is what I'd say! Misty did an awesome job, it not only looked wonderful but tasted delish.

Our fellowship hall at church was transformed into a party-wonderland, complete with a kids table! I'm such a big fan, I will most likely steal the idea for one of Lucy's birthdays someday.

Balloons! (For those of you who are interested - that is the kitchen, through that window, at the end of the fellowship hall.)

Daddy and Luce (I hadn't figured out the best way to put the elastic around Lucy's head yet... thus the double chin.)

Momma and Lucy - "Let's get our party on!"

This is James Bradley - the other youngin' at church, he just turned 1 and is crawlin' all over the place!

Sneaking a finger-full of icing. :)

This was Mya's favorite gift - a bike from her Aunt, Uncle and Cousin. I'm not going to lie, I got a little jealous. Her bike has a baby carrier on the back. Awesome. (I love how everyone in the above picture is looking at the Birthday girl)

Happy Birthday Mya! What a fun afternoon!

Go Blue!!!

When we announced to family that we were expecting, we bought our parents Grandparent/Baby themed gifts - Brad's Dad received a University of Michigan baby t-shirt. (He re-gifted it back to us, since he had obviously outgrown it :) ) Last Saturday, our family got all dressed up in Michigan colors for the game. Here is our little Wolverine:

Michigan vs. Bowling Green

p.s. I really think Bowling Green should rethink their school colors - it looks strange to see the word "green" in orange....

We won! 65 to 21 (We whooped their bottoms!)


Out Takes:

Click on the above image to see the captions :)