Celebrating Lucy

In the midst of Christmas trees and cards, twinkling lights and holiday madness, Lucy turned 4. What a fun time of year to have a birthday!!

We spread the celebrations out over a few days.  On Saturday night our neighbors were over for our monthly get together and we had Birthday cake for dessert.  Mike and I tag teamed this cake with a little help from some edible images from a neat little etsy shop.  Lucy insisted on 4 princesses on her cake so this is the finished product.  Yes, we had some issues as you can see that had to be covered up with icing!  Lucy didn't seem to mind though, she thought it was the very best cake.

Have I mentioned before how much we love our neighbors?  You might notice, however, that all of the neighbor kids are.....

 

BOYS!!!!!!  Lots and lots of BOYS!!!  Let's just say Happy Birthday was a little bit....

 

LOUD!

The day before her birthday was slated to be a sunny, warm (for December, think 70 degrees) day.  We thought since the weather was going to be extra nice we should give Lucy her present from Mema.  A new bike!!  Lucy's requirements for this new, bigger bike were: pink and a place for her baby doll to ride.

 

 

Mema came through with a pink bike with a perfect front seat for her "Baby Jack".

Going from a 12 inch bike with no training wheels to a 16 inch bike with no training wheels didn't seem to phase her.  She was able to ride it from the start with no assistance.

 

Later that day we met Mike for an early Birthday lunch at The Naval Academy.  We did this when she turned 2 and 3 so we kept the tradition going for 4.

 

Oh I am so glad they have each other!!!!

 

The morning of her birthday (and all of our little ones birthday's) they get a special "Birthday Donut".  I added a few extra touches to make it a breakfast party.

 

Sid, our elf, even came through with a balloon.  That elf has got it together!

 

She opened a gift from Grandma and Grandpa, a new LeapPad 2!!

 

After we got Brady to school we went to Ultimate Playzone at her request.  She's sporting an adorable shirt that was a gift from our favorite Annapolis friends, The Farley's.

 

After lots of time outside (another warm, beautiful day).  We had make your own pizza night for her birthday dinner, her request, but always a family favorite.

 

 And to top of what was already a great day, we made our Graham Crackers Gingerbread houses! 

 

 I'd say this 4 year old was very happy with the birthday events.  Mike has promised her a trip to Great Wolf Lodge for her birthday but we have to wait 'til January.  There is just too much fun in the month of December!  We'll spread out the fun into the long winter months.

 

Happy Birthday to our Lulu Lemon. 

 

We will love you forever.

2:30pm

December 5th, 2008 at 2:30pm, 2:30 exactly,  Lucy May arrived in our arms. 
Four years later, a bit bigger, a bit more hair (not much more but a bit more) and loved to infinity and beyond, here she is at 2:30pm.  2:30 exactly.

 

Little sister sneaks in.....

 And then one with our favorite buddy and neighbor, Aidan, who she was playing with at 2:30p.

And then just like that, enough pictures Mama, we're off!

2:30pm.

The minute we met you.

The minute we had a daughter.

The minute that changed us for good.

Open House

Today we had the opportunity to go an Open House at Brady's school. I am lucky to volunteer in his class every Thursday so I already have a good idea of what goes on while he is at school but it was nice to have another chance to visit.

During Calendar time, they do this hilarious dance and sing the months of the year. I wasn't fast enough with my camera to capture the whole thing but this is the class singing the months of the year in their "British" voices while doing the moves to the macarena. They sing it 4 times, once in a normal voice, once in a country voice, once in the British voice and they other time I wasn't sure what voice they were using! Cute!!

They also did a Thanksgiving play for the parents that were able to come this morning.  Brady was an Indian Man.  It's a few minutes long and it's kind of hard to hear Mrs. Pinell narrate but you get the idea!!

 

 

Our good friend, Katie.

 

One of our best neighbor buddies, Aiden.

After the play they listened to a story and talked about the plot, the characters, the setting, the problem and the solution.  They also did some work with the smartboard and their whiteboards and listening to sounds with the short U sound.  I liked how Mrs. Pinell worked the whiteboard into the lesson.  They would write down the sound that they heard and then she would say "3-2-1- showdown" and they would all show their whiteboards with the answer on it. 

After that they broke into their small groups and did center work.  I was able to stay and sit with Brady at his listening center.  He was listening to a story called Pumpkin Town.  Great morning in his class.  I can see why he loves school so much. 

The Color Run

Many months ago I read somewhere online about a 5K called The Color Run. I knew instantly that we had to do this! So I waited patiently for them to announce one nearby and lo and behold, two dates in Washington DC showed up for the fall. Yesterday was the big day and wow, did we have a fantastic time!!!

This was Brady's first 5K experience and we couldn't have found a better first run for a kiddo! I mean, really, what 6 year old wouldn't want to run through colored cornstarch flying at you from all sides resulting in a crazy, colorful, mess!

If you are considering The Color Run, I would highly recommend it.  Mike, Brady and I had a fantastic time and would do it again in an instant.  We plan on signing up for the next Color Run that we can.

Everyone was given this little packet that was full of color for the "Color Explosion" at the end of the run

We received orange and green packets!

My shirt after the first color which was pink in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Brady and Mike after color #2, orange.

3 colors down and still running strong.

Almost to the finish line!

Brady at the finish line of his very first 5K!

Here's the color explosion!  Amazing!! 

One tired color runner.

 

Here is a video of Brady and Mike going through blue, the last color.  It was just as much fun as it looks!!