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Love Bugs

23 February 2010

I got really into Valentine's Day this year.  I think it is such a fun holiday to celebrate with the kids because there are so many cute crafts and decorations.  We invited some of our friends over for a little Valentine's play date, and we had a blast.  It was a little chaotic, but in a really good way.  I think all of the kids had fun, and I know us moms did.  I think I may have to make this a tradition.

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White Christmas

9 January 2010

For the past couple of years, I really have been dreaming of a white Christmas, and I was so excited to be able to take my little family home!  I love all the little traditions we still have from when I was growing up.  We love going to Brian and Michelle's house on Christmas Eve with the Stringer family and all sitting around the tree and exchanging gifts.  I loved waking up to snow outside on Christmas morning and sharing Lucy and Scarlett's excitement with my family.  I loved having our extended family all together for Christmas dinner.  There really is no place like home, and I didn't even mind the frigid temperatures.  Of course, we missed our family that wasn't there, but we are sadl used to always missing someone.

The highlight of Christmas morning for Lucy was certainly Santa's delivery of her Barney doll.  She has never been very into stuffed creatures, but she loves him!  She talks to him and feeds him and puts him to sleep.  I love spying on her to listen to the funny things she tells him.  She was initially very excited by his teeth and the fact that she can kind of put things in his mouth.  The only thing she ever specifically asked for was blue bubble gum.  If Santa was smart, he would have spent $15 on Barney and the bubble gum and called it a day.  

Scarlett was adorable to watch.  Poor thing was sick the entire time we were gone, but she was still rather delightful.  She loved pretty much everything she got, and was also a big fan of Barney.  It really was amazing to just be a part of their Christmas day.

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AZ Christmas

7 January 2010

Since we were actually able to go to CO for Christmas this year, we celebrated at home before we left too.  We woke up and acted like it was Christmas morning and opened all the nice gifts our out-of-town family sent as well as our big gift to the girls, a little retro kitchen. Lucy was way into it and we really had a good time. Thanks everyone! 

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A Day at the Park

7 January 2010

I had a cute little birthday party planned for Scarlett at our house the evening after her birthday.  Of course, Lucy had to break out in a rash that looked like it might be the chicken pox or something contagious and the party had to be canceled.  Poor Scarlett.  Since it was the week before Christmas, Steve was still finishing finals and starting a new job, and we were getting ready to go to CO, I was having an impossible time trying to figure out when to reschedule her party.  So, I ended up just inviting the moms and babes to the park for cupcakes and juice boxes.  It was really fun!  It was low-key, low-maintenance, and the truth is that the kids probably had a better time playing on the playground and digging in the sand than they ever would have crammed into our house.  I may just have to make this a tradition.  Without Steve there, I didn't get as many pictures of all the kids as I would have liked, but here are a few of Scarlett inhaling a cupcake. 

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happy birthday, dear scarlett.

13 December 2009

it is hard to believe that it has been a year since the first sweater palooza, one of the most significant nights of 2008.  i remember clearly being dressed in my ugly Christmas sweater as my friends began timing my contractions and insisting that i leave the party.  after 20 hours of labor and inevitably a c-section, i met her.  scarlett was round and beautiful.  my first thought was, "is that BIG baby really mine?"  i am so indescribably happy that she is!

Scarlett has brought so much to our family.  she is simply joyful, effortlessly funny, and impossible to resist.  i love her more than i thought possible.  i had worried there wasn't enough love to go around, but somehow she has been the catalyst that has caused my capacity to love to expand.  i love her every bit as much as i love lucy, and i love lucy more because of her.  she is a special little spirit and i don't know how i could possibly be worthy to call her my own.  

some of my favorite scarlett-isms...

-her kisses.  she has been giving them to me as long as i can remember.  they are wet, and slobbery, and always a highlight of my day.

-her toddling.  she has been walking for a couple months now and it is stinking cute.  she gets a little tipsy when she is too excited and it is the best.

-her mischievous streak.  if she knows i have caught her doing something naughty, she doesn't show remorse; she runs.  the running is usually accompanied by shrieks and giggles and comes to a halt when she learns that hard way that she can't actually run through solid objects.

-her love of soft and cuddly things.  she practically dives into her bed to go to sleep because her blanky and kitty cat are there.  she also loves babies--real and dolls.  just today, i had to leave the sunday school room with her because she was making a high-pitched "I want that!" squeal at a baby in the row behind us (the same noise she makes when she sees Grandma's cat).

-the way she looks up to lucy.  i love it when they make each other laugh.  i don't always know who laughs first, but the other one thinks the giggling is funny and they often end up laughing hysterically right in each others faces.

-her impressive vocabulary.  i know you don't believe me, but i swear this baby talks.  some words and phrases she says for sure are: hi daddy/sissy, go down, all done, more please, no, oh, mommy/mama/mom, kitty cat, happy, baby, milk, ok, kisses, open...

happy birthday to my sweet little baby.  we are so happy you are ours.

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