Lucy is TWO!

The days are long, but the years are short!  In the blink of an eye, Lucy turned two on the 17th.  I've found that January birthdays are hard.  It is so close after Christmas that I feel it's a struggle to plan anything just as we are trying to calm down from the holidays.  As luck would have it though, we had beautiful weather again this year on her birthday, so we headed over to the zoo.  It kind of was perfect since Joey had just been asking to go.  I guess it'll be Lucy's birthday tradition!  We spent the day wandering the zoo, checking out all the animals, then made our way over to Cheesecake Factory for cake! (Yes, I was too lazy to make or even order her a birthday cake.)

I would say this is just bed head, but her hair looks like this about 90% of the time.  It is wild...just like her!

Birthday pancakes!

She was scared of the flame.  Jeremy had to jump in and hold her hand.

She didn't like this candle either!

Joey loved her chocolate cheesecake...and left some on her face for later.

Lucy is at such a fun age.  She loves to "shake her booty."  She talks very clearly, in 5-7 word sentences.  She is starting to sing songs, and loves "Popcorn Popping," "Once There Was a Snowman," and just recently "Old McDonald."  Lucy is pretty great at sleeping.  When it is time for nap/bed, we simply turn on her music, say prayers, and tell her to close her eyes.  In a couple of months we are probably going to switch the girls around and have Lucy and Joey share a room and have Shelby have her own room.  We'll see if she continues to go to sleep so well when she is with Joey (though Joey is pretty good too).  Lucy has started to love snuggling, and she will often want to lay on either Jeremy or me while watching "Mouse" or "Doo."  She really loves playing with her babies- wrapping them in blankets, giving them bottles, and putting them in their crib.  She also loves real babies- and if she hears a baby crying she will say, "Aww, baby's sad!"  Lucy does not like loud noises.  I mostly blame Joey for this.  When I would vacuum, Joey would goof off and scream and run away, making a game out of it.  Lucy saw that and now screams at the sight of the vacuum, blender, blow dryer, etc.  She loves playing with her sisters, but also loves getting her way, so sometimes playing with sisters doesn't end well.  She is probably ready to potty train, as she will come and tell us when she has gone potty, but we are trying to push that off until after Disneyland next month.  Lucy still loves Beezus (her/my tattered blanket), and has to have it when she goes to sleep or is sad.  That thing probably won't survive too many more washings, and I don't know what we'll do then!

Happy Birthday, Lucy!!  We sure do love you!

Christmas

I love being able to go to the girls' class parties.  It is so fun to see how they interact with their classmates.  It was a long morning, going to Joey's party, then helping with Shelby's, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. 

Shelby had her "Jingle Bell Run" before her party.  Joey was so excited to see her, she ran straight to her and basically jumped in her arms and hugged her. :)

Shelby and Jenna

Shelby, Ella, Jenna

Shelby and her best friend Landry

 That night we drove over to Monroe, LA to have Christmas with Jeremy's dad and grandmother.  This is the first Christmas since Jeremy's grandfather passed away, and we knew it would be pretty lonely for her in the nursing home, so we tried to make it special.  We stayed in a Residence Inn so we would have a kitchen, then Jeremy's dad brought Mamaw over from the nursing home on Saturday morning and I cooked a full Christmas dinner.  We ate, opened presents, and visited.  After Jeremy's dad and Mamaw left we packed up and headed home.  It was a quick trip, but so glad we got to celebrate Christmas with her.

The next day we went to a friend's house after church and we all made gingerbread houses.  We are lucky to have made some great friends in our new ward!

Matt's out house

Joey's

Shelby's

Sarah's

Jeremy's

Kaia's

Aidan's

Christmas Eve was here before we knew it!  The girls woke up to find that Buddy had left his annual Christmas Eve/goodbye present.  We normally have them wait to open it before bed, but we went ahead and let them open it then.  New Frozen pj's!  They changed from jammies to new jammies and pretty much spent the entire day in them.  That night we ate a quick dinner at Rosa's and went to see an awesome light display at a house here in Rockwall.  Then it was home to put out the Reindeer food and off to bed!

Lucy found Buddy in the tree.  To all the lame Elf on the Shelf naysayers: THIS is why we do it.  This girl got so excited to find him every morning, and still wakes up each day saying, "Buddy, where ARE YOOOOOOUUU?"

Random pic thrown in, but I love getting all the Christmas cards each year.

Can't remember what Shelby was pouting about.  She got over it quickly.

 Christmas morning was great!  The girls woke up so excited and loved and appreciated all of their gifts.  We had a great morning of opening presents, playing with toys, and eating.  Later, mom and dad came for dinner.  I don't think I took any pictures, but it was all good...minus the prime rib.  This is the second year in a row I have made it, and the second year in a row I have screwed it up.  We'll just stick to either turkey or ham for Christmas from now on.

Joey asked for a telescope so Santa brought her one for the swing set.

Favorite moment of the day: the girls loved the presents they picked out for each other.

Joey absolutely loves the Kinetic Sand she got. 

The family gift: ping pong!