Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Halloween

My mom came for Halloween! It was wonderful to spend time with her. Sadly, Lucy got a horrible cough the second day she was here. She was pretty miserable, which limited our options for the rest of the weekend. But, we of course, still managed to have a good time. The day before Lucy got sick, we made a trip to IKEA. My mom, the HGTV queen, had never been. So we righted that great wrong. Lucy enjoyed the slide in the children's section, as well as all the Lucy-sized tables and chairs.
Lucy has been playing with this balloon for the past three weeks. We keep thinking she's going to pop it and traumatize herself, but so far, so good. Which reminds me of a funny Lucy story. Lucy is terrified of the vacuum. I almost always have to hold her while I vacuum, otherwise she will cry in fright. One day I was preparing to vacuum and talking to her about how it's not scary, it can't hurt us, etc etc. Lucy stood a couple feet away from the vacuum nervously as I went to plug it in. Sadly, the vacuum has somehow been turned on, so as soon as I plugged it in, it whirred to life and scared Lucy to death. I'm pretty sure I'll be pay for that therapy session! So much for the non-scary vacuum!

Have I mentioned how talented my mom is? Lucy loves cats, and is very good at meowing, so I decided a kitty would be a great Halloween costume for her this year. So, my mom came prepared with a plain grey sweat suit, felt for a tail, paint, and a little stocking cap. And then she went to town and made a little grey tabby cat costume, which Lucy was very excited about.


A quick peak in the mirror convinced her to keep her hat on and we were off to trick-or-treat.


II'd say Lucy's first trick-or-treating adventure was a big success. Although she cannot yet say "Trick or treat" she did tell every single person that gave her candy "bye" in a very cheerful and sweet voice. I think she had a great time watching all of the other kids, and the novelty of taking a walk in the dark.

Her favorite part was dumping out the loot at the end. The thing she was most excited about was a Clifford juice box. Fine with me! Grandma, Mommy and Daddy snacked on the rest. I love being a mom...
Lucy was also very interested in some playdough that someone gave out. So far, she does not yet know that it comes out of the little tub. I'd like to keep it that was for just a little bit longer!

In other news, Lucy has learned to say "thank you" and loves to say it. When we go to the grocery store, she tells the cashier "Hi! Hi! Hello!" until they acknowledge her. Then she says "Thank you" to both the cashier and the bagger until we start walking away, when she repeats "Bye! BYE!" until we are out the door. She is quite the social one sometimes.

One last Lucy story that I have to write down to make sure I remember it. When we pray before meals, she bows her head and puts her hands over her eyes (but peaks out at us between her fingers). She then attempts the Sign of the Cross, which is very similar to the sign language for please (a rubbing motion across the chest). And finally, she claps for herself and sometimes says "Amen!" It's all very sweet and makes us laugh every time.


Autumn

It's been a busy Autumn here, but that just seems to be our pace of life these days! Lucy and Jack (our little babysitting buddy) have passed about four illnesses back and forth. James has been sick twice himself. Thus far, I have luckily only gotten a few sniffles, nothing major. James has also completed his first midterm and done very well on it. It's a little unnerving when you just go through an entire semester of classes with no feedback until your final grade! That is how it is in most of his classes. But, this midterm at least was some nice positive feedback. Now, on to the pictures:


There is a fun little Chinese restaurant near us that has some great and very cheap lunch options. When we need a little pick-me-up after a hard week, we usually have a Saturday lunch here. Lucy always enjoys it too-- especially the chop sticks and the fortune cookies.





Near the end of October, we were invited to a Pumpkin Patch/Soup Party. Sounds wonderful, huh? It was a lovely day, even though it was oddly very warm. Slightly warm for soup, but it was still very fun. Lucy was very excited to see all the "puck-ahs" (pumpkins).



Lucy thought the bumpy albino pumpkins were funny, and started gravitating towards all of those.

Then she tried to push the wheel barrow, and actually succeeded in moving it a few inches...

b.... before deciding that riding in it was so much more fun.

It's always a fun day when Daddy takes a break from studying : )



Hopefully, I'll be back soon to post pictures from Halloween!