"LUCY"

Lucy has been working really hard at writing her name!  A few weeks ago we started "connecting the dots" to spell some of her favorite words - Winnie, Elsa, Lucy, Abigail - (Leigh and Caitlin sometimes made the cut but not every time), and then we moved onto Lucy writing below my letters without dots. This week Lucy started bringing home artwork signed by herself and has been signing off on all her coloring pages - a big step for a preschooler!

Christmas Part 4 (Finally!)

We had the most amazing week in AZ - but one of the highlight was getting some great pics with the family (a bday present for Chris!).  We now have some "official" pics of Leigh with her godparents, some framable grandparent pics and...finally a framable family pic!  10 month into being a family of 4 and we can never get a good pic! The background with the mountains was so beautiful!   A few of my favorites!

Outside of our photo shoot - the week was amazing.  With everyone in AZ for the holiday, every day there was something going on - bowling, dinner, our New Years Eve golf cart scavenger hunt (a must-do for next year), golfing, lots of running and visits to the hot tub with the girls.  The weather was perfect!  The girls actually spent much more time than I would have imagined just hanging around the house but both were sick and with naps and the distance to get to some of the places we wanted to take them, we didn't take them out a whole lot other than the zoo, some lunches and Aunt Pat's house.  Every morning Leigh, Bill and I would have an early, 5 am breakfast and coffee :)  We love AZ and love that it feels like home the moment we get there.  Sadly, our trip ended with a nice, long, 9 hour trek home - but it was worth it to be in the sun for a week!  Thanks to Bill and Chris for hosting the entire family for 7 days. I am sure they were happy when departure day arrived and the house was back to normal but we had a great time!

Golfing! I'm horrible but still love it. Next time I go, I am bringing golf apparel :)

Lucy and Jill spent a lot of time on her activity books

The babes

The Tucson Zoo

The cutest little guy

And girl

Lucy was a bit obsessed with Jake and Jill

We celebrated xmas again in AZ - Bill's canvas from Jill and Jake.  So sweet!!

Christmas Part 3

On to Christmas Day!

Having our first Christmas with the two girls together was a little surreal - only 5 years ago we were celebrating alone with just the two of us and this year we were a family of 4.  Lucy still has a hard time understanding the "let's take turns and do one gift at a time" and every gift that Leigh got turned into Lucy's right away.  But, it was a sweet morning.  Lucy is really into Sophia the First and Doc McStuffins so most of her gifts were one of the two - and lots of small things this year because they seem to be more entertaining the the big ones (like the untouched doll house from her bday). Leigh asked for a walk-on piano, bath bubble machine, a growth chart, some new toys - and Santa delivered!  Joe is going to be ripped from his new Insanity workout videos.  Joe knows me really well and went to Nordstrom to the active section and got me some workout clothes and I live in them/love them. After gifts and breakfast (homemade cinnamon rolls for those to question my cooking ambition), we went out for an early dinner with my parents and Kate to Ruth's Chris.  Love the tradition of a restaurant dinner on Christmas!  Couldn't have asked for a better day and the best part was that we left for a week in AZ the next morning!

The tree before the girls came down

Seriously - couldn't get one good pic of the girls together.  Too much excitement to get either sitting still.  

Brave!

My favorite - her growth chart :)

From Aunt Jill and Uncle Jake - best gift ever! It plays music and Lucy calls it her "tune car"

Lucy's microphone - Leigh likes to use it too!

Leigh's gifts from Santa

Proud owner of Pocahontas

Making ornaments for Nanas and Papas

And onto AZ next!!

Christmas Part 2

Part 2:  Christmas Eve! With every kid we add to the family, the family parties get even more "adventurous" which is what the holidays should be all about.  It is what makes our family parties so much fun - the girls running around together, their excitement when they open their gifts and the sweet memories like putting them in their Christmas pajamas.  I think us moms put so much pressure on ourselves to fit everything in over the month of December so that the kids don't miss out on any tradition, and once Christmas Eve rolls around and the girls get all dressed up, we are officially done and can just enjoy the next two days.

We had a fabulous (as always) dinner with my family and did something new this year - started opening gifts before dinner.  Mostly for the kids, but a few adult gifts, and spread out the gifting over the evening.  It was a nice way to let the kids enjoy their toys instead of opening all at once.  And, us adults had more fun with it it.  I think it is going to stick next year! The girls were so spoiled - new outfits, book sets, loads of new toys, puzzles and a few favorites: Talking Sophia for Lucy and My Pal Violet for Leigh!  Vern did some nice shopping for me (a new clutch and a shirt that only Vern - aka Kate - could pick out so perfectly for me) and Joe got a new Everton soccer jersey that he loves.  Overall it was an amazing Xmas Eve and Joe and I went home to put all the gifts out and set up for the next morning (cameras out, breakfast and coffee ready for making).  Which I am 100% sure is every parent's favorite part of Christmas!!!

Most pics don't need captions. But this one does.  Caitlin picked out these toe socks for my dad at her Santa Workshop at school.  They just happen to say "women's."  What a memory Caitlin made for us that night. 

About the best sister pic I could get.  Leigh is too mobile and Lucy too nutty with her cousins around. 

Rides in the box!

Thanks for the awesome gifts Nana!!!

Christmas 2013 - Part 1

The week of Christmas FLEW by - with the Lacny family party on Saturday, Christmas with Bill and Chris on Sunday (Part 1), Christmas Eve with my family on Tuesday, Christmas Day with the girls and dinner with my parents/Kate (Part 2), followed by a week in AZ with all of Joe's family - and a little Christmas there too! (Part 3).  Too much to write about so just sharing some pics that capture all the tradition, fun, and madness of the past two weeks. Like every year, we were so excited when December got here and we couldn't have had a better holiday, but we are happy January is here! I personally love setting goals for the year ahead (I have about 20 resolutions), getting back into routine and catching up with all the friends I haven't been able to see over the past month because we were too busy!

The next generation of cousins

Emma and mom

Cute DJ and dad

Our white elephant exchange never disappoints

Winnie is never very far..

Great Gra's new computer - already loaded with pics!

The biggest hit in Huntley- the Disney band

Christmas with Nana and Papa B

Leigh's cute pjs :)

 Leigh slept through most of gifts but joined us via high chair for a few!