Peek-a-boo

Charlie started physical therapy and therapy with a special ed teacher last month, and they've been going well-- lots of good advice and ideas.  One of the things we did with his special ed teacher during her last visit was play peek-a-boo.  She brought these scarves for us to play it-- they are see through so Charlie doesn't think we're gone when we put our heads under it.  He can still see us, but there is still the incentive to pull it off.  After looking at us like we were crazy for a couple times, his hand starting reaching for the scarf.  Now, a couple days later, he is getting the hang of it more and more.

It's also good for munching on, especially when your bottom tooth just won't pop through (it's coming, I can feel the very very tip of it). 

Lucy likes to help too.  She likes to encourage excitement by laughing hysterically.  The special ed teacher even had the foresight to bring a scarf for her too. 

Lucy turns 3

 We celebrated Lucy's third birthday last week!  

Reading the card from Grandma and Grandpa. 

 Opening the big box!

A flashlight!  This is the very same flashlight that James played with as a boy.   

 Here he is showing her how you can turn the light green or red, and telling us he used to pretend it was a light saber.  

There was a lot of other great stuff in that box (puzzles, outfits, books, Candyland, COOKIES), but somehow that was the only picture I got of it.

Fake snow! 

 Arctic animals!

James built this with two of his buddies.  It's a sensory table (basically, a coffee table with a hole sawed in it.  A bucket goes in the hole, and voila: a less than $10 sensory table which cost about $100 if you buy them in a store).  You can put all kinds of fun stuff in there for kids to explore, pour and build with: water, dry noodles, dried beans, etc etc.   

 She's not sure what it is yet, but she's excited.

 This penguin is ready to play in the snow.

Charlie hangs out with me while we make some snow. 

 It was kind of creepy to mix this stuff.  It's just a dry powder, then you add water, it turns white and then expands and fluffs.  The container says it expands 100 times its original size.  It even feels a little cold.  It's also reusable-- the water evaporates and it turns back into a powder.  When you want to use it again, you just add more water.

 The Arctic animals in the snow.

 And an igloo ice cream cake to top it all off.  This is definitely not my best work, cake-wise, but everything did not really go according to plan.  The ice cream cake would not release from its mold (bowls), so I had to just ice the bowls with Cool Whip.  After we sang and blew out the candles, we just scraped off the Cool Whip and ate the ice cream out of the bowls.  But now I have learned several lessons about working with ice cream cakes.

 Here she is smiling, but at one point while we were singing Happy Birthday, she turned away and folded her hands very solemnly... it looked like maybe she thought it was a meal prayer?  

 Early the next morning while Lucy was still asleep, Charlie found her Happy Birthday balloon and had a grand old time pulling it closer and closer to himself and then letting go. 

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Aunt Brie comes to visit

 I know I'm always talking about Charlie's godparents on here, but the truth is, Lucy has some awesome godparents too.  They just live much farther away (New York and Wisconsin).  But this past weekend we had a last minute visit from Lucy's Aunt Brie and we were reminded all over again how much we love her (without ever really forgetting).  She came down from NY to spend a long weekend with us, and we had such a fun time with her, just catching up on life, chatting and playing.  I didn't take many pictures, but here are a few:

 Aunt Brie passed the ultimate test of patience by playing Lucy's first board game, Max, with her.  Lucy tends to get a little excited, distracted, etc. while playing the game, but loves it.

Remember Lucy's little ukelele?

Well, she's been practicing a lot.  She treated Aunt Brie to a little musical performance and I managed to get some of them on video.  

Here is a "Happy Birthday to You" medley: http://youtu.be/rVRDD1m8M4A

And this one is a song about Clifford, the big red dog: http://youtu.be/Tvhj57FibRU

And yes, her shirt is backwards.  All part of the rockstar persona.

All kinds of fun

Get ready for a lot of pictures!  

Our friend Becky got married in downtown DC.  It was great, except we arrived quite late due to horrible DC traffic on a Saturday afternoon.  Lucy, Charlie and I managed to bust through the church doors just in time to see the vows, but James was busy parking the car.

Here they are:

After the mass, Lucy ran around exploring the church and our friends were kind enough to follow her around.  Lucy kept stopping at all of the kneelers at all of the statues and praying.  Our friend Carly (who took all of the pictures that I'm posting from this day) got this great one.

 It looks as though Ben and Mike are Lucy's secret service men.  

Charlie fit into some of his 6mo clothes just in time for the ocassion. 

We all had a blast at the reception.  How would it feel to dance in the center of a circle of people who adore you?  Just ask Lucy.

 There were two other little girls who were also on the dance floor.  Lucy danced for a little while and kept slowly shyly making her way over to them.  Finally, she just reached out and took this little girls hand.  I'm proud to say that Lucy outlasted them all, literally dancing until she dropped despite a short and early nap that day.

 I am also proud to say that we managed to stay until the very end of the reception.  With two children.  It may not sound like much, but we were quite impressed with ourselves.

Now, here's a lot of the everyday:

 Mike and Lucy love.

Lucy likes being wrapped up and rocked like a baby lately.

Portrait of Lucy, 2012 

 I love this picture.  If you can't tell they are both asleep.  It was close to naptime and I was reading to them on the couch.  Then I realized they were both sacked out.  

Poor Charlie.  He has been teething like crazy.  Which for some reason seems to make him fall asleep randomly and spontaneously.  I think he had had two bites of food and then just passed out.

Apparently, one of James's favorite pastimes in taking pictures of me after I've just woken up, because that's all the pictures of myself I ever post on this blog.  Here is a morning snuggle-read-fest with Lucy and Charlie.

And here is another instance of spontaneous Charlie slumber.

Lucy likes helping me in the kitchen.  The stirred this no-bake cookie batter for a good half hour.