Family Bash for Lucy!

Nana and Aunt Marilyn hosted a fantastic party for Lucy's third birthday. There was pizza, cake and ice cream. Lucy was so excited and there were plenty of kids to run around and play with too. She got to open presents in front of everyone - and loved everything! After gift opening, she thanked all the guests for coming to her party, which was very brave to do.

Party guests included Nana, Aunt Marilyn, Poppa, Uncle Mark, Aunt Rachael, Collin, Lauren, Aunt Stacy, Aunt Julie, baby Nicolas, Uncle Scott, Aunt Judi, Kay, Jared and Jason, Cristie, Mark, Ben and Claire and Nana's friends Kathy and Maureen. We had all had a great time, especially the birthday girl!

Lucy was super excited because her Nana & Poppa gave her magna-tiles, one of her most desired wish list items. She also got a necklace and towel from Aunt Marilyn, fab rag doll and slippers from Aunt Stacy, Hello Kitty! games from Aunt Julie, a special clock and ball from Uncle Scott and Aunt Judi, a princess Color Wonder book and travel aquadoodle from Aunt Rachael and Uncle Mark and a really cool doggie pillow pal from Kay, Scott, Jared and Jason. She has already been enjoying her gifts and is one lucky little lady! Thanks to all who helped make her first party a blast, especially Nana and Aunt Marilyn for all of their hard work!

 

A Happy Thanksgiving!

We celebrated Thanksgiving in Erie this year. This was our first real visit to Nana's new place. It looks great and is very comfortable. We had a pretty good trip up, Lucy slept part of the way, which the rest of us enjoyed too. On Thursday morning we started the day off with some yummy pumpkin pancakes. Thanksgiving dinner was delicious! The turkey was moist and all the sides were tasty. The afternoon and dinner provided a nice time for the ten of us to hang out, chat and for the kids to play. In attendance were Nana, Poppa, Uncle Mark, Aunt Rachael, Collin, Lauren and the four of us. Following dinner, Aunt Marilyn, Stacy, Brandon, Julie and brand new baby Nicolas came on by for dessert. It was a perfect way to top a perfect day!

Early Visit with Santa Claus

We took Lucy to Everything But the Kitchen Sink because Santa made an early visit to Hockessin. We thought this would be a good opportunity without a big crowd for her to get used to the idea of the jolly guy with the sleigh, especially before we go to our breakfast with Santa next month. Lucy was a bit shy, but with some coaxing, and two packages of holiday silly bands, she finally ventured up to to the sleigh and held Santa's hand. Mind you, she wouldn't climb in, but I think this is pretty good for a brave little girl. She didn't tell Santa what she wanted for Christmas, but did find a classic horse on a stick in the toy area of the store that she has fallen in love with. She plans to tell her elf, Ellie, all about it when she returns to our house this year!

Trick-or-Treat!

Chef Lucy made out like a bandit this Halloween. She had a very heavy treat bag, which she asked me to carry for her. I told Lucy that if it was too heavy, that meant she had enough candy and it was time to come home. Well, suddenly it didn't weigh so much any more and our little culinary whiz rallied to carry the bag for 10 more houses! We had a great time stopping to see all the neighbors and walking around with Nicole, Sean, Louise and Bella. Lucy was a little shy at first, but she followed Sean's lead and got right up there, remembering to say "thank you" most of the time. When we got back to the house, Lucy asked to hang out on the porch with Daddy to hand out candy. Our neighbor Molly stopped by to say hello and posed for a quick picture with Lulu. I think Lucy had enough candy to last her until Valentine's Day!

Fall Picture Session

We got some great pictures of everyone when we had our Christmas Card Picture Day! There were many wonderful pictures to choose from. I won't share which we chose, but maybe I will scan in our Christmas card after we send them out to our family and friends. Here is a sampling of some of my favorites from the day.

A Day at the Museum

 Lucy and I spent a great morning together running some errands, getting a snack and heading over to the Delaware Museum of Natural History. We wanted to make sure to get there one last time before our membership ended. We will probably take a little break for a bit and check some other places out in the meantime. Lucy does love it there. She is still a little leery about the coral reef below the plexiglass in the floor, but she still loves the two bears. She put stools in front of both the polar bear and the black bear and stood on the stools to introduce herself to each. She wasn't intimidated by their size at all (they are stuffed, not alive). She was chatting away with both of them - it was very funny.