Lucy's Birthday

On June 13 we headed, as a family, to Dallas for a few days of rest and rejuvenation. It just so happened that our daughter's birthday was going to happen during our stay so we had a good reason to do some things that she would enjoy.

 In the car, on the way down to Dallas - it's about a 5 hour drive. 

 Michael was playing with his bottle, not coordinated enough to feed himself from it, but he was having fun nonetheless. :)

 Our fearless driver (aka: Daddy)

 Our sweet sweet girl. 

We got to the hotel, ran into Brad's cousin randomly (he lives in Houston but was in Dallas for work) and were able to go to lunch with him! When we got back to the hotel, it was a bit late for naps - so we decided to go swimming as a family instead! :) 

 All ready to go up and do some splashing!

 They both really enjoyed the pool - Michael kicks like a little fish and Lucy is getting good at blowing bubbles in the water. 

Both the kids were pretty tuckered out after a long day of driving, visiting and swimming so we decided to stay in, feed the kids leftovers from lunch and order pizza for our dinner after the kids went down (we are big fans of date-night-in!). The hotel didn't have any Queen sized, regular rooms available so we were upgraded (for a very reasonable amount) to a suite! What a blessing when you have two kiddos to have two rooms! It was fabulous - a great help to our rest. 

 Her last night as a 1 year old! We had taught Lucy, when asked "How old are you?" to say, "Almost Two!" We may or may not have asked her that question over 10 times on the 13th - it was just too cute to not soak in as many times as we could. :)

 Being a goof ball while eating her dinner :)

Giving daddy kisses good night

 Right before Brad and I went to bed, I set out Lucy's gifts on the coffee table (well, most of them - she had a big gift waiting for her at home) so they would be there to greet her in the morning.

Lucy's Birthday, June 14th 2012

 She had been asking for the week prior, every morning, "Birthday now?" This was her face after I told her, "Yes Lucy! It is your birthday!"

 Daddy went down to the coffee shop in the lobby to get a birthday breakfast (and lattes for he and momma!). 

 She was so sweet, we had been practicing "blowing" and she did great making the flame waver - daddy secretly helped from above to extinguish the flames though. :)

 She really got into opening the presents - and loved. every. one. :) 

 Playing with her new toys while momma and daddy got ready for the day. 

Next up: The SeaLife Aquarium

All ready to go in - we ended up putting Michael in the stroller and letting Lucy walk.

 She l.o.v.e.d it! 

 "Another one! Another one fishy!"

 

 They had cool insets into the tanks that you could crawl into and feel like you were in with the fish. 

 This was a far as Lucy wanted to venture. :)

 An Octopus! It had the coolest texture! 

 This tank was raised off of the ground so kids could crawl under and stand up in a dome and see the fish - it was really neat.

 She kept pointing out colors of different fish - "red one! green one! yellow one fishy!"

 The jelly-fish was Brad and my favorite - it was so. cool! 

Lunch: Rainforest Cafe

 I think the previous day's no-nap had really caught up to Lucy at this point - she was pretty apathetic about lunch as a whole (we kinda felt like she would have enjoyed Chick-Fil-A better...) but it was a fun experience and she wasn't scared of the gorilla above our table! :)

 Every 20ish minutes the gorilla would dance and "whoo whoo hu hu" :) haha

(Phone picture) She was pointing out the "bugs" hanging from a neighboring tree.

We headed back to the hotel for much needed naps and enjoyed some laid back family time in the afternoon.

 Lucy loves her brother - a little too much sometimes. :) 

 Our hotel was right by the DFW and in the late afternoon we watched the planes fly over our building and head toward the airport for landing. 

 This picture doesn't do it justice, they were so close when they were just appearing! We would hear the sound of the plane and see their shadow pass over our building then would see them! Lucy really liked it.

 Hanging out with Daddy. 

 A rare moment of sharing Ellie - she is really good about sharing everything else, but has a difficult time letting others touch her special elephant. 

 Just me and my girl. 

June, 14 2011 and June 14, 2012

As you can see, Lucy's affection for Ellie has not changed (although Ellie has aged a bit!).

We went out for dinner at the Cheese Cake Factory, much better than lunch! :) But I forgot the camera... :-/ Thank goodness for modern phones with picture-taking abilites!

Practicing blowing out the candle: 

 

  We had asked her a lot how old she was during the day (because it is really cute to hear your daughter say, "I'm TWO!") so she wasn't enthusiastic about showing off for the video. :} Also - I ask her to do "bunny ears" in the video, I just wanted her to hold up two fingers - my trick didn't work. :)

  

A few observations from the above video:

• Sorry you have to hear me sing.... um, it's not so great. 
• I love how she calls her cake a brownie.
• I think it's funny that the last thing you hear in the video is me saying, "What?!" because Lucy has decided she doesn't want cake....thankfully, she changed her mind and enjoyed it a lot!

 

 Michael was a trooper at dinner and seemed to enjoy the festivities too!

 Such a good sharer - maybe a little too generous sometimes. :)

Our Lucy seemed to enjoy the day a lot - exactly what we hoped! What a fun day celebrating our TWO year old. 

*Update: I just showed Lucy this post and she said, "I need to go to the hotel and have a birthday! See fishies too!" Haha- love that girl. :)

Pinterest Challenge: Getting My Crayon On

Today I am participating in (cue sport's announcer voice):

 

 I'm so excited! :) I love reading both Young House Love and Bower Power - two of my favorite blogs - and it's been fun to think about actually DOING an art project I've pinned on Pinterest and not just thinking about it. :)

My idea originated with this pin, 

Source: helpinglittlehands.blogspot.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Michael's room is in need of some decorating and I thought I could use this idea/tutorial as a jumping off point for an "M" themed piece of art.

Project cost:

• Canvas: Already owned and re-used (it was a failed painting from awhile back) Free
• Crayons: Were in the throw-away pile in the church craft area Free
• Candles and Lighter: Already on hand Free
• TOTAL: FREE!! I love projects that are f.r.e.e!

So while this project was free for my wallet it was not free when it came to time! It took about 6 hours to complete it, but it was a mindless activity once I got the hang of it - I completed it during a baseball game, a chat with a friend during nap time and evening alone at home. :)

I'm really happy with how it turned out!  

 I really like polka dots and this texture brings them to mind.

Layered colors.... might be my new favorite thing. This project has me thinking about how I can incorporate more layers of color into my home.

 

Check out what the link-party hosts did in responce to this challenge!

• Katie @ Bower Power  (My kids need this)
• Sherry @ Young House Love (Loved her go-with the flow attitude when working on her projects!)
• Kate @ Centsational Girl (I've been thinking Brad and I need to tackle a carpentry project together... hm)
• Michelle @ Ten June (SUPER CUTE!!!)

Have you made any art pieces for your home lately? Anyone else addicted to Pinterest? 

To My 2 Year Old Daughter

 

 Her first single french braid,

 Her first pig tail french braids. 

 Play Dough has been a fun activity lately - you do really well making "pancakes."

 Love the look of consentration. 

 

Her prompted smile.

 My little ballerina.

 Dancing with Caroline

 I love the action in this picture. 

 

 Dancing must build quite an appetite - because you brought Caroline quite a treat after your routine. 

 Such a fashonista.

 My helper, washing potatoes

Dear Lucy,

You are TWO. Seriously - Momma can't believe you've been in our family for two whole years. In some ways it seems like you've been with us for f.o.r.e.v.e.r, it's hard to remember what life was like when you weren't in daddy's and my life. But in other ways, it seems like we just had your first ultrasound, picked your name and brought you home from the hospital.

Lu, you are such a wonderful mix of a little person. You can be moody, you can be sweet, you can be selfish, you can share, you can cuddle, you can need your space, you can be extremely intelligent and you can do silly things.

You are NOT a morning/after nap person. You sang me parts of "you are my sunshine" the other day and made me cry. You hit Michael with a toy today, when he went to play with it. You offered some of your cake pop, your most favorite treat, to your brother saying, "Try some Michael, real good!"  You counted to 14, when I thought you could only couint to 11. You threw down your food, in defiance, when i told you to take two more bites. The other day, I had a (HUGE) zit on my face, you said, "Bubble mamma. Hurt?" When Michael is sad, you let me know and provide a solution, "Michael crying! Jumpy Seat?" The other morning you went in, while he was still sleeping and told him, "Good morning Michael, mamma get you!" You spelled your name while we were coloring yesterday, I wrote and said "L" and you said "U. C. Y!" You think all letters are Q, R or O. You are independant and definitely an oldest child.

Sweet girl. You pray every night, thanking Jesus and telling Him you love him. You request "Jesus Loves Me" often. We have a kissing routine: Cheek 1, Cheek 2, Nosies (Eskimo Kisses), Regular kiss, Forehead Kiss (which you made up - we touch foreheads). You thank Jesus every night for our friends Josh, Laura and Kaelah, Mamma and Daddy, Michael and Ellie. Some nights you mention your bed, our house and food. :) When you are struggling to go to bed, we go in and pray with you that Jesus would help you obey, you seem to be very receptive to prayer.

It is our hope that you know how much Jesus does love you and our prayer that your love for Him continues to grow.

I love you my big girl,

Your Mamma

Relationships, Restored

Have you ever had a day or week that you just weren't "jiving" with your spouse? That's been us around here for the past few days, no details are needed - we just were having a difficult time getting along. Last night, after a most difficult trip to the grocery store, we got the kids fed and in bed and were able to sit down and talk. Apologies were made, forgiveness extended and eventually, we prayed together.

Earthly relationship - restored.

Today, in the quiet of the morning I knew I should have a repentant spirit and confess some of the heart-issues that were tied to Brad's and my week. But my journal entry this morning started like this: Jesus, My heart is so hard. I wanted to confess but didn't know where to start and honestly, part of me still didn't want to go there.

As I continued to journal my prayer or, more accurately, as I started defending my sinful actions a verse my dad had me memorize as a kid kept coming up in my mind, "Put away all bitterness..." I couldn't remember where it was located in scripture, so I looked up "bitterness" in the back of my bible and the concordance pointed me to Ephesians 4:31.

"Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." (Ephesians 4:31-32, underline mine)

Your Word is living and active, cutting to my very core.

My eyes skimmed the rest of chapter 4 and I knew the Holy Spirit had a renewing work to do in my heart.

Here are my observations from Ephesians 4, I pray they are an encouragement to you today.

I am called to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel (4:1), no longer am I to be content in my old way of life (4:17) - defined by selfishness and hardheartedness (4:19) - but taking Christ as my EXAMPLE (4:20) I am to renew my mind (4:23) and put on my new self which is created after the likeness of God (Gen 1:26), untainted with sin, in true righteousness and holiness (4:24). Because of the TRUTH that is in Jesus (4:21) - the fact that I was lost in my sin and he died to pay the penalty for all my wrongs and now, because I believe his sacrifice was enough and accept it on my behalf - I am sealed with the Holy Spirit (4:30) and am capable of putting away (4:22, 25, 31) my old self, complete with the old ways of communication (4:25, 29, 31) and capable of being kind and tenderhearted and quick to forgive (4:32). ALL BECAUSE GOD IN CHRIST FORGAVE ME (4:32). 

I set down my bible and journal this morning with a fresh appreciation for the gospel. God met me where I was at. He reminded me that he saved me, loved me and has not only called me, but equipped me to live to a better life.

He can do the same for you. 

Heavenly relationship - restored.

Plaid Short Day

Due to the fact that I have a son and a daughter - my kids can't match very often but I often have them coordinate. Why? No other reason than I think it is adorable. :)    

Example: Plaid Short Day

I didn't anticipate Lucy being such a camera-disliker.  We are working on it.  Michael, for now - will still look when I call his name but Lucy.... oh man.... she becomes very engrossed in her current activity and will not look my direction. I'm hoping it is just a stage.

Michael LOVES his sister - he loves watching her play, he loves it when she talks to him, he loves it when she sings to him. And for the most part, she does really well with him. :)

I did say for the most part.... we don't usually encourage the eating of feet. :)

I think plaid shorts are pretty cute... what about you?

Bucket Boy

You know the feeling. 

You are rolling around, minding your own buisness, having a great time and all of a sudden, you find yourself stuck inside a bucket!

Michael found himself in this exact situation the other day.

I actually saw the roll that landed him in the bucket - it was laying on it's side and he just pivoted himself right in. :) It was pretty cute, would you agree?

Five Months

 5 Month Accomplishments:

• Rice Cereal! See previous post for details. :) 
• Rolling like cRaZy. If rolling was a sport in the olympics, Michael could try out. He does not stay still - very different from his sister who never utalized her rolling skills to move very far - and often cries out for rescue when he gets stuck (ie. rolls into a wall or under a table). 
• Bumbo Boy. If Michael isn't rolling around on the ground, he is in the Bumbo seat - he LOVES to be with people (such a socialite) and really enjoys sitting with us at the table in his special seat. 
• Teeth! Michael got TWO teeth at 4 1/2 months old, two weeks sooner than his sister!
• Laughing a lot. It doesn't take much to get this little boy to grin, let alone giggle. There were two instances this last month that I merely smiled at Michael and he laughed uncontrollably! I guess I do look silly sometimes. :)

Remember you can always click on the image to see the captions on a larger scale. :) 

To see Lucy at 5 months, click here.