First Week of Summer Break or what katie and like to refer to as "Facil de Assemblar"

School is out and Lucy spent a day helping me organize my classroom...

We joke about how she will give her teachers a run for their money but she did great work while in the desk...

I will miss seeing her so excited at Tiny Tigers and then falling asleep the second I start the car to go home...

Then the fun started. I thought summer would include a lot of pajama wearing but Mike went out of town for work and I had the crazy idea of painting the house and finishing the yard and planting a garden while he was gone as a surprise. I recruited the generously eager Katie and we started taping to paint...

We did one window and broke down in laughter because it was very clear we had overestimated our capabilities. We couldn't even move the ladder to the full upright position. But as we were laughing on the front porch after spending a good hour taping one window, a friend of Mike's friend drove by and offered to paint for us at a very generous price. Done. Sold. We were so happy...

Then my wonderful mother-in-law flew in to help me plant a garden. It was a lot of fun dreaming of actually eating something I grow.

And we pruned and pulled roots (thanks Scott) and tilled and planted grass...

And where was Lucy during all the fun, you ask...

Naked in the water or the mud or the rocks...

Or getting over her mother-imposed fear of worms (I jumped while holding her when a friend pulled a worm from her garden and now lucy won't touch or even look at the things)

Katie bought her plastic bugs to cure her...

And relaxing with us when we finished all the work...

Mike came home last night and we celebrated his birthday outside in our new yard with wings and pizza. Mike works so hard all the time that it was fun to be able to lighten his load a little by taking care of the painting and yard. We love you mike.

Hyper-Focused

Lucy is frequently shifting from one thing to the next, but every once in a while she will get hyper-focused on one activity. Lately it has been the clips on carseats/strollers and chapstick/pen lids and my wedding ring.

The above scene occurs when you try to interrupt whatever she is trying to figure out.

17 Months

I have no words...both because I unable to express how much I adore this girl and because she is too busy chasing me around this little world of ours to think of what to write. So a few pictures to capture this age. Thanks to the Wecker women for the styling threads...

Happy Father's Day

It has been fun spending a morning trying to show Mike how much we love him.

We gave Mike a little free time, then when I told Lucy she could go see her dad, this was her reaction:

Lucy and Dad Mornings

At least once a week Mike and I will get settled in to bed and he will jump back up and declare that Lucy should come sleep with us. I'm pretty good at resisting his temptations to give up a night of restful sleep for a cute cuddle, but every once in a while I wake up to this...

I love how much Mike loves this little girl. He still can't get enough of spending time with her and they are so cute together. It is pretty clear she adores him too.

Wacky Wednesday

While it is true that you may not be able to tell a big difference between how we sometimes dress and today, it was indeed Wacky Wednesday at school. Lucy's teacher wore a princess dress and a hardhat with holiday jewelry. I think Lucy totally rocks the mismatched look!

First Dentist Visit

Lucy started getting teeth pretty early and, squirmy as she is, we wanted to be sure we were doing an okay job at brushing her teeth. Thus, the dentist. Lucy love the office and all the gadgets. She loved the dentist. But she did not love being forced to lie down. So, while somewhat traumatic, I would categorize it as an overall good experience.

Our Week

I have felt kind of bad that I don't have many videos of Lucy, so this week I took at least one a day. I think it captures pretty well what our lives look like these days. We have this precious amount of time between one and four everyday when we try to get out and do something fun. In the mornings Lucy and I go to high school, I'm teaching one class and she stays at their Tiny Tigers child care program. And the rest of the day is filled with naps and working out and chores, so we really love these three hours of fun every day.

Katie's Birthday

I neglected to show off the fun night we had for Katie's birthday last month. She made it difficult, finding a new boy and wanting to spend all her time with him, but we were able to steal her for dinner at Irving St. Kitchen (so good) and dessert at our traditional (4 years running) Urban Fondu.

Lucy's Lexicon

Lucy's language is taking off but I wanted to jot down a few of her favorite words before time slips away and she is quoting Shakespeare.

whatisthis: What is this?

baw: ball

ow ew: I love you

I do it.

no: No!

dow: Put that down so I can do it myself

baaaabyyyyy: baby

mow: more

p: please

daddy: dad come play with me

mom: mom I need something

bubbles

play

elp: help me by picking me up and toting me around

out: lets go outside

bath

daw

shoe

eyes, nose: I'm about to poke you really hard in your eyes and nose

by-by

uh oh: I just threw food on the floor and mom is not going to like it

and my all time favorite...Nigh nigh: Night night or I might look really innocent and sweet and tired right now but I am about to cry for 10 minutes

and I can't leave out hi and this which she has been saying since she came out of the womb

She can repeat a lot words as well. Most one syllable words she can say back. Counting sounds pretty good. She can say names and roles of some family members when prompted.

Animal sounds she is ready for the stage with: the roar of the big cats, smacking of lips for fish, sheep, cow, sticking out the tongue of the giraffe, duck, bird, snake, the elephant is hit or miss, anddespite a lot of good efforts the llama sounds is still weak.

Working Hard Part 2 x 5

When we mentioned to Mike's family that we were going to paint the house ourselves they didn't even hesitate before volunteering to come for the weekend to help. On their drive here from Utah, they probably thought the looming rain clouds meant the weekend would offer some leisure...but after taking down two cedars, uprooting seven smaller trees, weeding, planting, rock transporting, and watching Lucy, little leisure was to be had. That's not to say we didn't have some fun. We did, after all, make it downtown for fried pies.