Micah's 4th B-day (May 2012)

Micah wanted a race car party this year so Jill researched games, foods and decorations on the internet.

 Here is Micah with his birthday sign, he is so excited!

 Jill made a speedway sign which we hung near the table with the food/treats for the kids.

 Here are some of Micah's cousins and friends painting their cars.  We found these wooden car kits online that came with four colors of paint and a set of stickers.  After the kids finished painting the cars, we helped them dry faster with a blow dryer to attached the stickers.

 Micah working on his car.  Any color, any spot = fun for this guy.

 More cousins and friends working on their cars.

 Race time!  Adam made this race track for the cars.  Two kids would race at a time to see whose car was faster.  Sometime more than two cars would be going at once.

 Most races were "officiated" by us or one of the parents.  Lucy decided that she needed to help catch the cars.  This worked well, except for the "giving back" the car to its owner.

 Micah with his cake.  Jill made a race track using cupcakes and put a roadway across the top with some hotwheels on it.  Candles went on his "trophy" cake.

Jill also turned the food into a "pit stop". The kids had racing fuel (orange kool-aid) to drink along with stoplights (grapes, cherries & pineapple on toothpicks), spare tires (mini-donuts) and dipsticks (chocolate covered pretzels).

The kids loved it all and we enjoyed our time with all the parents/families and appreciated them helping make Micah's so special.

Easter

I know... you're thinking...Easter...that was ages ago.  Well, I'm going to catch our blog up hopefully to the current month.  Here's the  family pic.

 Lucy, the beauty, in her smallest flower that she has.

 Micah loved driving around in Grammie and Grandpa's peddle cars.

 We had a great time dyeing eggs.  Lucy was great at just watching.  Well, that might be a little bit of sarcasm.  Micah and Tanner always have fun together and look how patient they are.  Jett appears to be MIA for this family event.

 We managed to attend 4 egg hunts this Easter.  Micah was a pro by the time we made it to Grammie and Grandpa's yard.

 Lucy even had it down by the fourth time, but it was difficult for her to pass up those rocks.  She loves playing with and putting rocks in her mouth.

 Micah and Lucy at our church Easter Eggstraveganza.

 Here are all the day care friends before their egg hunt.

 Lucy is trying to figure out what this egg thing is all about.

 So fun!

Look Whooooo's One!

The day before Lucy's birthday she celebrated at her daycare. They had balloons and signs up for the day. She loved wearing her birthday hat and actually kept it on.

Lucy had her first sweets, a brownie. She loved it and ate most of it. After all the kids finished eating, the birthday girl got to sit in the rocking chair and open a gift.
Lucy's party at home fell on the actual day of her birthday. We had a pink and orange, owl themed party. It was a hoot!!! I sent out owl invitation and the kids made an owl for a craft. When they left they took a candy mouse for "owl food." We had pictures up of Lucy from birth to one year.
For lunch we had pulled pork sandwiches, chips, and pasta salad. This picture shows the cake at the perfect distance. It turned out a little crooked on the top layer, from here you can't tell.
Like most parents we love to see the baby smash their cake and get it everywhere. Lucy thought about it. At first she thought she should pick the whole thing up, but I put a stop to that.
She picked at it and ate little bits, but never smashed into the whole thing.
Grammie made Lucy's outfit. She sewed an owl onto the shirt and made a scrap skirt. A scrap skirt is like a tutu just made out of fabric and ribbon. I found it on Pinterest and knew Lucy needed it. My mom even wrapped the present to match her outfit.
We had fun at the party. I'm not sure Lucy had any clue, but whooooo knows.

Lucy walks!

Lucy is now a crawling graduate as of Saturday February 18th. She is now enrolled in her upper level course in walking (soon to be followed by a post-doctorate in running).

11 Months

This has been a big month for Lucy. She has gotten her top two teeth in, taking her up to 4. She was great during the process, not giving us any teething signs. Let's hope for this every time. She now knows 6 words. Mama, do for dog, ca for cat, bk for book, and ba for bye. She also finally learned dada. Adam was so proud. For the longest time we would say dada and she would say mamamamamama. It was actually pretty funny, for me. She also know 2 signs. We have not been as diligent with the signs as we were with Micah. She signs more and all done.
She still loves her books.

Lucy really wants to walk. We have walked around the house a million time holding her fingers. When we stop she will fall down on the ground and cry. She has a great start to tantrums. She loves going outside and using her "walker." It's so funny because she really does look like an old lady pushing her walker. Every once in awhile she gets distracted by what is on the ground. Lucy loves to stop and feel everything, or put it in her mouth.

Lucy is finally strong enough to turn her push train on carpet. This little stool has helped with this. She pushes this around in the kitchen where it slides really easily. From this she learned that she can turn it any way she wants to go. So smart of her to transfer that lesson to her train on the carpet. Though I am late, again, in posting her 11 month update I will give you a little preview. Friday night she took her first few steps by herself. We will post a video later.

Lucy - 10 months update

Another month with Lucy. Besides toys and clothes she also got her "two front teeth for Christmas". This is a good thing for Lucy, who appears to belive that if something is smaller than her face that she should try to eat/chew on it. Often times she can be observed with a toy in her mouth looking around or actively playing with other toys.

Lucy does really love to play with her brother and below can be seen playing with him in the super fort we built in the living room. She really likes to push things around, expecially a ride-on choo-choo train toy. She now understands when it will hit the wall or couch and gets upset that it is not still moving. One of us ends up following her around and keeping the train from getting stuck. She will do this for up to 15 minutes or so at a time.Her she is in the fort with Mommy and brother Micah. She really likes her books now and will sit and look at the "touch and feel" books with the fake animal fur. She also will kiss each animal in the book.
She is also aware of bows in her hair now, so it saddens Jill that it is not as easy to keep her bows in place like it was for this November picture. She is also learning to wave and ended up with saying "Momma" for her first word, just like her brother.Laughing-No explanation needed here.

9 Months

Well, I know you're probably not watching the calendar waiting for an update from us, but we completely skipped 9 months. SAD! It's just that December is so busy. Anyways, I'll do a little update just for my benefit. Really, from 8 months to 9 months Lucy did not have any major accomplishments. She was crawling faster, walking behind her push toy a little stronger, and being her normal, crazy, active self. She did figure out that every time she put something in her mouth I would come finger sweep it. As I came towards her she would turn and crawl the other direction. So smart! Who does like someone elses finger in their mouth?

She always looked cute!

Some Christmas Pictures (December catch-up)

Picture with Santa at the Ranchos Christmas Tree Farm. (This is Micah's third year getting his picture taken with the same Santa)

Decorating our "Lucy proof" Christmas tree. Putting it on a table saved alot of trouble with her getting ornaments or pulling it over.

More decorating. At other houses Lucy really enjoyed the floor height trees, lights and ornaments. She did pretty good and didn't pull any of them over.

Micah making some cookies with Tusci (Aunt Jenny) *Pronounced Two-shee. Jenny stayed with us for a week and helped us to do atleast one fun thing everyday. We still have cookies from the baking marathon completed at our house.

More cookies with mommy.

Christmas lights in Clovis.
Lucy chillin in her Christmas dress. Worn and washed several times as she didn't seem too concerned about keeping it clean.

Johnson family Christmas with the Christmas Story pageant. (Still really short, but we are using unpaid and unpaid actors so the expectations are not too high yet)

Lost sheep getting ready to eat the shepherds head band.

Micah opening his first present. He had been eyeing this Batman Bat Cave for several months now at the store.

Jill with her Christmas dinner on the 24th with the Johnson Family.

Micah leaving out cookies for Santa Christmas Eve.

Lucy holding some of Micah's Hotwheels track from Santa while Micah helps open her present.

Lucy and Micah getting ready to play with Lucy's present.