Lucy Goosey Turns 7!

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our sweet little Lucy-Lou! She turned s-e-v-e-n on December 4th, which is so hard for mom and dad to believe!

 She is the absolute sweetest big sister, and we wanted to make her birthday extra special. I met her at school for lunch with a Happy Meal, and she was super excited to show off Leah-- who was more than glad to ham it up for all the kids and toddle around creating havoc. We also brought popsicles for Lucy to share with the class as her birthday treat.

 Once Dad got home from work, we headed out to Texas Roadhouse which is Lucy's favorite restaurant around town. She's totally a steak girl, and orders the steak bites and green beans every time-- so she already has a taste for the finer things at a young age.

 The waitresses all came by and sang her Happy Birthday and brought her a little scoop of ice cream before we left. She didn't seem too embarrassed, but Leah was totally freaked out!

Lucy's decadent dark chocolate "My Little Pony" birthday cake with purple polka dots.

After Texas Roadhouse we hurried home so we could have cake and ice cream and then open presents. It's hard to squeeze in a party on a school night! I love Zach's face in this picture-- he was DYING to eat her cake ("just a little piece? pleeeeease?") all day long while she was at school. His expression totally says, "Hurry it up already and blow out those candles!"

 Mmmm! Even Leah got a little piece.

 Finally, Lucy got to open her presents-- our tradition is we set them out on the kitchen table the night before, so she had to spend all day just looking at them! Her main thing was obviously the Build-A-Bear workshop we'd done the weekend before, but she is so good all year long that it's hard not to spoil her so she still got lots of fun stuff-- new pajamas, a grown-up girl purse, new jewelry, Jenga, and a coupon for a manicure at the salon. 

 Grandma and Grandpa Cardon got Lucy some super cute boots while they were here last week, and Grandma Joanie and Grandpa Tom Tom sent Lucy this beautiful French doll from the "It's A Small World" ride (which Leah promptly decided was hers).

 Lucy was sooooo excited for Saturday because I'd promised to take her to the salon to get her nails done that afternoon. Of course she'd never been, so it felt like a very grown-up and mature thing to do. In fact, she included in her prayer the night before, "Please help me do the right things at the salon tomorrow," because she was so nervous!  

Ta-da! She chose to get alternating blue and green with black hearts-- which kind of surprised me, because I thought she'd go pink or purple all the way, but she LOVES her new nails! She asked if she could get a manicure every year for her birthday. She is a girl through and through! We are so very, very thankful for our sweet Lucy who is helpful, smart, tender-hearted, fun, and the BEST older sister a parent could ask for (Zach and Leah both adore her). She has absolutely brought us so much joy over the last seven years-- I just can't believe how lucky I am to get to be her mom! To get to see how she's grown-- and how she is changing and blossoming into a young woman, is totally rewarding. I think one of my favorite things about Lucy is how pure-hearted she is. I can honestly say, she just doesn't have a mean bone in her body. She is so full of love-- and others really can see that in her, and she is just loved by people wherever we go. She has a heart of gold! 

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Aaaaand for the traditional walk down memory lane (I included where we lived because it's so crazy to me how many different places she's lived and traveled to already in her life):

 Lucy, 3 days old, Philadelphia, PA 

 Lucy, 1 year, Philadelphia, PA

Lucy, 2 years old, Philadelphia, PA

 Lucy, 3 years old, Philadelphia, PA

Lucy, 4 years old, Las Vegas, NV

Lucy, 5 years old, Pinehurst, NC

Lucy, 6 years old, Pinehurst, NC

We sure love our Lucy!

Thanksgiving 2013

Happy (late) Thanksgiving from good ol' North Carolina! We just celebrated the most fun, most blessed, most delicious Turkey Day ever, thanks to the fact that Jon's wonderful parents flew in from Washington for a week long visit to help us celebrate!

 They took a red-eye from Seattle on Thursday night the 21st, and arrived in Raleigh early Friday afternoon. After recuperating a bit on Saturday morning (well, actually, we made them stay home and babysit the kids while Jon and I did some power Christmas shopping all afternoon-- child-free!), we loaded up the car and headed to the Festival of Trees at the Pinehurst Resort.

 We immediately bee-lined it to Santa hoping to beat the rush, and we were able to walk right in. Oh. Man. My kids were SO excited to see Santa and tell him what they wanted! Zach insisted I write up his Christmas list so he could give it to him, so that's what Santa's holding.

 It was a very good thing I obliged Zach, because he totally clammed up and didn't make a peep the rest of the time. I think he was a little star struck! Lucy however, was more than happy to chat with the big guy and remembered to tell him everything she wants...at the moment...because the list keeps growing and changing every time we hear it... 

 Leah (and her awesome tutu, I might add) joined the party and she really liked Santa for the most part! Zach and Lucy were super excited for her to finally get to meet him.

Not so sure about sitting on his knee, but she didn't cry, so that's a success in my book!

 After Santa we walked around the trees at the festival which were BEAUTIFUL, and Zach found his favorite tree which was the super hero one, totally decked out with all things Avengers and Spiderman.

This was the Pinehurst Resort tree, which was auctioning off for $10,000 buckaroos-- so I'm thinking it must have included tickets to the US Open next summer.

 Lucy picked her favorite tree, which was a hot pink Barbie tree with toooooons of girly-girl things to play with! Surprise anyone?

 Leah didn't really care which tree was her favorite, she was just totally happy someone gave her a sucker for being so cute.

 All three kiddos decked out in their new Christmas shirts. Lucy kept getting upset that we were "skipping" Thanksgiving by doing Christmas stuff already-- and it was kind of hard to explain why. I guess she doesn't understand commercialism yet.

 All five of us outside the resort. Cheese! (We had a fiasco trying to get my new camera to work, so don't ask why it's so blurry! Aaaahh!)

 Grandma and Grandpa with the little guys.

 The famous Pinehurst Resort-- host of the US Open in 2014. It was very nice inside and all in all, it set us in the right mood to start celebrating the holiday season! We headed to dinner that night at Olive Garden and splurged on some really delicious desserts, thanks to Grandma and Grandpa.

 Zach and Lucy both went to school on Monday, but that afternoon Zach "helped" Grandma (I think he assembled 1 or 2 before he left to play) make some cute turkey cookies to share at his Thanksgiving Feast at preschool the next day.

 It was so fun to see Zach-O in his element at school! They painted Indian shirts and his Indian name was "Playing Duck," and he was very excited Lucy got to come with me (she played hooky from school) and share their Thanksgiving soup.

 Here is Zach and his buddy Hudson. I have a picture of Lucy and her friend Brooke Lynn (Hudson's sister) EXACTLY like this! Crazy how those 2 years have flown by. Anyway, the kids got to go bowling with Grandma and Grandpa that afternoon, and Wednesday was spent cooking up a storm in the kitchen, going to a matinee of the new Disney movie "Frozen," and celebrating Lucy's birthday a week early with dinner at Texas Roadhouse. That night mom and dad got their own movie night and went to see "Catching Fire," which was awesome!    

 Turkey Day dawned bright and beautiful and we celebrated with a delicious feast! Grandma and Grandpa made the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and rolls. Yum! I helped with the salads, yams, and pies-- and it was banana cream all the way, baby.

 Gathered round the table for a delicious meal! Even Leah got to do her part.

 That night we decorated gingerbread houses and watched "Despicable Me 2"-- which was the perfect cap to a great, relaxing Thanksgiving. We are awfully grateful for all of our many, many blessings! 

 Friday rolled around all too soon, so we headed up to Raleigh to take Grandma and Grandpa to the hotel, who were flying out early the next morning. We did some Black Friday shopping at Target (which wasn't too crazy, thankfully), and then headed to the Crabtree Valley mall in Durham (which WAS totally crazy)!

 We enjoyed one last supper together at the Cheesecake Factory, and shared an amazing brownie dessert, which Leah was totally into! She actually sat still for most of the meal, which was kind of a Christmas miracle. I guess she knew that dessert was on the line.

 Then we took Lucy down to the Build-A-Bear for her big 7th birthday surprise-- to get to pick a stuffed animal to make. We always let our kids pick one big special activity for their birthday (a party with friends, maybe a movie, or a trip to the zoo, etc.), and Lucy chose this. 

 She picked "Twilight Sparkle" and was all set to stuff her and pick a cute outfit. Lucy is quite the fashionista!

 Leah decided to stay busy by dragging this poor stuffed reindeer around the store on a leash. Thank heavens for Grandma and Grandpa who watched her so we could focus on Lucy! About 30 minutes later Mt. Leah erupted in the car, so we timed it just about right.

 Doing the "heart ceremony" where they make good wishes for their new little friend. It was really fun for Lucy to get to pick and make her own toy. She loved it! 

They printed off a birth certificate, boxed it up in a cute little house, and we were on our way! We had such a FABULOUS week with Grandma and Grandpa celebrating Thanksgiving it was very sad to see them go. The week flew by for everyone, and poor Zach (who was shown 7 fingers at the beginning of their stay) didn't realize each day knocked one of those fingers down, so he was very upset when their stay dwindled to just one day left-- and he kept holding up 7 fingers! They had a blast being spoiled rotten and given lots of love and attention and many, many besitos! 

November News!

Believe it or not, November is already halfway over. We have been totally excited about the month of November too-- when my friend was over on Halloween night, Lucy said, "Tomorrow is going to be the BEST DAY EVER!" Confused, my friend asked, "Don't you mean right now is going to be the best day ever because it's Halloween?!?" Lucy replied, "No, I mean November 1st, because it means I get to see my Grandma and Grandpa this month!" And that certainly is better than Halloween!

 The leaves turn SO beautiful right at the beginning of November, but don't last very long. The tree right in front of our house turns this amazing fiery red, but it's so hard to capture fall colors on camera. Oh well. The kids are still cute dressed up and ready for church!

 This past Saturday we took a picnic and walk along the reservoir trail in Southern Pines, while the kids rode their bikes. They had a great time and the weather was a balmy 70 degrees, so it was nice to enjoy some fresh air. I'd prefer it a little cooler this time of year, but I'm sure I'll be eating my words when we end up somewhere cold and snowy in another year or two.

 The trail is about 2 miles long with some elevation gain, and Lucy was a total stud and rode her bike the whole way around without complaining or getting tired. Zach on the other hand made it about halfway and then Jon and I had to take turns pushing Leah in the stroller and Zach on his bike.

 Ahhhhh, life in the swamp. Perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes, snakes, and spiders. And speaking of snakes, that very afternoon Jon had to remove a 2 ft. long corn snake (?We think?) from our very own backyard! At least there are no gators, right?

 Leah sat awesome in her stroller the entire time, mostly thanks to the chocolate chip cookie we sneaked her before we started.

 Ain't she purty?

 After our little outdoors excursion, we checked out the new Aldi grocery store just opened up in Aberdeen. Just goes to show you how starved people are for anything new to do around here-- but last Saturday at its grand opening the line to get in was out the door!! It's just an Aldi, people! Imagine what a Target or Toys R Us would do to the excitement level around here...

 We decided to cap the night off with a little bonfire and the quintessential roasting of the s'mores.

 Zach was more than happy to oblige by eating his weight in chocolate. I have to keep an eye on him whenever the good stuff is out in the open-- he'd mowed through about 1 1/2 Hershey's bars before I caught him red-handed!

 Leah also had no problem contributing to the depletion of our marshmallow and chocolate supplies.

 Jon the Mountain Man taming the fire! He is hands-down the world's BEST marshmallow roaster. I don't know how he does it, but he gets them perfectly golden on every surface, every time. They sploosh magnificently! 

 All dressed up for church in her new birthday dress!

She's still not walking, and surprisingly I'm really glad. I think if it were the other two I would be kind of annoyed-- like, "Come on and walk already!" since she's sooooo close. But since she's the baby, at least for awhile, I'm glad she's content to just crawl around the house following me wherever I go.:) Happy November!