Christmas

Christmas was a success! I gave into commercialized gifts for Miss. Lucy. I think almost everything she received was Disney Princess or My Little Ponies. But what can you do, she was thrilled. 
Santa made a special quick appearance around bed time, I think it encouraged her to go to sleep.
Lucy got a Frozen princess dress up box and an Elsa night gown. Every I turned around it was time for a wardrobe change. She loved her ponies. I think she was pretty spoiled.
My favorite, was she ripped one corner of a present open and saw blue fabric and yells "It's an Elsa dress!"
So thankful for the Solomon's willingness to take us in and spoiling us. Merry Christmas and Thank you to everyone that thought of us!

December!

The end of the year is here! Lucy is very happy to have the Christmas tree up. This morning she asked me to plug it in and then says never mind mom, I can do it myself.
After Thanksgiving I brought in her little pumpkin from outside, I put it on the counter trying to decide what to do with it. And there was a tiny skinny worm that was maybe 3 inches long. When Lucy saw it she screams, "a snake!" and runs to her room. She poked her head out a few minutes later and says to me " that was scary". Not sure what she will do if she ever come into contact with an actual snake or heaven forbid a larger worm. 
Lucy continues to be the happiest content little girl around. She loves dress up, my little ponies and all things sparkly.
She will point at women with dresses on and ask me of they are princesses. I love working out with her, she mimicks everything I do and asks what we are doing. 
She knows how to spell her name and has been obsessed with last names. If she hears someones first name she asks what their last name is.
Lucy and Frank are truly buddies, wherever she goes he is there with her. 
We had a crazy big snow storm, When Lucy saw the snow she says "its Christmas!?" We had fun playing in it all day. She loved it.
Lucy has started telling me either, "we're not friends anymore", or "You're my best friend" depending on the situation. I enjoy the best friend, but not sure how to get her to lose the we're not friends anymore line.
Favorite movies are still Frozen and How to train your dragon.
She loves to sing. I think the most requested are Twinkle, Twinkle and You are my sunshine.
We stopped by the mall and visited Santa. She was pretty stoked about it. He asked her what she wanted, she told him presents. So he asked her what kind of presents she wants and she said "um the kind you can open". Too funny, he gave her a Christmas book and she was very happy about it. 
Grandma Kim gave her a advent calender, and she has caught on very quickly that she gets a chocolate every day. 
Its crazy how much she remembers, knows and learns from those around her. She is such a little sponge, I've learned it only takes once and she catches on, especially if its something I don't want her to learn! 

November!

I think I say this every month so to keep with tradition...HOLY COW how does the time pass by so fast? 
I look at Lucy and see a little girl- no more toddler, and no more baby. How did those days slip by so fast? I like to think that I enjoyed them to the fullest, cuddled her and played with her as much as I could. I look at pictures of her now and think how did she grow so fast? Her legs and arms are long and skinny. And even her sweet little face has matured just a little. Sigh...
Well 3 is here to stay, and its like most people say. Terrific two's, terrible three's.... Its almost like a switch! I know I can't complain, she is such an easy going, happy little girl. 
While doing Lucy's hair, I was happy to put in pig tails! I had missed those SO much! Well it took two seconds and she says "no! ONE! One band, or you wont be my friend!" In my head I was like what did you just say to me! and out Loud I said, "Say please, one band" How did she already learn the your not my friend line? sigh...
Listening to Lucy sing herself and Frank to sleep is one of my favorite things about bed time. She will sing for at least a good 15 minutes, anything from our regular bed time songs to all songs Disney and princess.
Lucy is always a princess, no matter the game we are playing. She was crawling around the floor with a blanket on her back and I asked "are you a turtle?" And she said "Yeah, A princess turtle" Well duh how could I have missed the crown and pink blanket-
This little girl seems to know what she wants. She clearly asks for specific foods toys and books. And heaven help me when I have no idea what she is asking for. While helping her look for bear I asked her if she looked in the toy box and she pointedly looked at me and said "yes, I already looked in there!" 
She has memorized movies and it's pretty funny to hear her quote movies as she plays with barbies and ponies.
There is currently a ad running about kids, and it shows s class room of kid shaped sponges- they nailed it! She is a sponge and picks up everything, its crazy how fast she learns a song or repeats my phrases. 
Taking her to the park is so fun now! For a long time it involved me climbing and going down all the slides with her and buffering her from the other kids...yeah I know I'm "that" mom. But recently she had become brave on her own and will run around and climb and yell "look at me mom!" I LOVE it! Every now and again she hangs and swings off things that make my heart stop for a minute but I think its great that she is adventurous and energetic.
Little miss was sick for a week or so. Poor kid was throwing up and just sad and restless. Hate seeing her miserable...also hate cleaning up puke...around 2am she came in and snuggled next to me and threw up, nothing makes you move faster than the thoughts of throw up soaking through everything on your bed. I jumped up turned on the lamp and Frank was eating it off of her...at that moment I was some what grateful he was helping clean it up...also very grossed out- I had to take her to work the next morning for a couple of clients and she was so good sitting and playing with her ponies when randomly she says "my mom screams at me". My client laughed and said "tell me all about it Lucy". So Lucy then tells her how I screamed at her because she puked on her dress and cried. Awesome...when am I getting my mother of the year award? I did some yelling mostly AHHH NO! stay right there! and Don't put your hands in it, yuck!
 The joys of mother hood hehehe wouldn't trade it for anything. 

Halloween

After a month of Lucy telling me she wanted to be a princess or pinkie pie...and for the last week of telling everyone she was going to be Elsa. We went to Trunk or Treat with Lily on Thursday night as a pink princess and then we cave-maned it up with the Solomon Family the next night. I would say Lucy had a good Halloween.
Lucy quote of the night- "That's scary, I tooted"

Lucy's Birthday PARTY

We had Lucy's Birthday Party a week late, all she really knows is there was more cake and presents.

So much fun. Thank you to everyone that came up early to play with us. Lucy had such a good time, She is so spoiled and Loves playing her cousins. 

THREE YEARS OLD!

THREE YEARS OLD...
THREE YEARS OLD...
THREE YEARS OLD...

How does this keep happening? 
Lucy is all princesses and my little ponies! Last month was a good month. We had lots of fun. We made one last trip up to Donnally to the lake for the day. It was a perfect day. The weather was great and the drive was nice. She is a trooper when it comes to traveling, I think I have it all down to a science, movie and snacks at the ready. Traveling coloring books and toys. 
Seems like she grew like a weed this month, some how she has just shot up in height. 
Her imagination is fun. I could watch and listen to her play all day. Her little head seems to always have a song in it. She is always singing. Twinkle, Twinkle is still her favorite. Though while grocery shopping she sang I am a child of God at the top of her lungs. I could have died of cuteness over load. 
Her current favorite movies are Rio and How to train your dragon. Her favorite colors are blue and green. She asked me if she could wear a green dress, so I hunted down one green dress. Which she loves. I tried to put her in pants one morning and she yelled at me "I'm a princess! Princesses wear dresses!" Well excuse me! I am now educated in princess attire! sheesh.... I need to get her some winter dresses and tights. I had kind of hoped that the dress obsession would be over after summer, since its hard to keep her properly warm in the winter with just tights. But that's what princesses wear...
She will no longer let me put her hair in pig tails. So sad, apparently princesses only wear one pony too. I miss the pig tails, and can't wait for their come back. She looks too much older with one.
Her favorite foods would be Mac n' Cheese and chicken nuggets. She also loves to snack on apples and string cheese. I guess on the bright side, main dishes might not be the healthiest but her snacks can make up for it.
I am constantly surprised by the sentences she puts together, and how clearly she speaks. I hear her everyday and then she'll be with her dad for a weekend and I'll talk to her on the phone and I think wow when did she start talking like that! 
She can count and sing her alphabet. She knows her all her my little pony names, even the fake ones we make up are now permanent. 
I love the mornings, she gets up and goes potty, throws away her pull up and puts on her big girl underwear all by herself. And no I can't help. Any time I try I normally pick out the wrong princess panties. I figure at least she knows what she wants.
She and Frank are best buddies. I love it. Some nights when we are running a little behind schedule Frank will go to bed without her in his spot on the end of her bed. She loves to walk, pet and play with him. He is almost her sibling, though I get the impression that he thinks he is protecting her. When in reality I think sometimes he needs protection from her. She sits and lays on him, pulls his ears and tries to poke him in the eye and he just sits and lets her.
She loves puzzles, painting, and playing with stickers. She is always so happy to just do anything. 
I love that I can get her to do small things like put her panties away or sometimes the kitchen towels. I gave her a few hand towels to put in the cupboard, she looked at me, got really wide eyes and said "mom, the baby blankets are all clean! Thank you" Yup... who needs kitchen towels... that's why they make paper towels right?
Her other favorite thing to do is tell me Frank pooped on something if its dirty. While driving home the other night, Frank was sitting on her lap and she says to me "Mom Frank pooping on me". I think I got whip lash from turning around so quickly to see what was really going on. No, Frank didn't poop on her, but she thought she was hilarious.
She has also started to burp and toot...fart and then laugh herself into hysteria... and here I thought it was a boy thing. Never a dull moment with this little girl around. 

Lucy,
On your third Birthday if there is one thing I could convey it would be this. You are loved. I pray that there is never a day in your life where you question it or don't feel it. You are a special little girl and you fill my life with light and joy. You are the strength that keeps me going. Your spirit fills this house. I love to hear you sing and talk. I love to hear the music of your laughter and see your glowing smile. I can not believe how quickly three years have gone and its even crazier to think of all the changes. I can't wait to watch you grow and see all the changes to come in the future. I love you and only want whats best for you.
                                - Mom

September

 Cooler evenings, sweater weather and hearty soups! Welcome Fall!
Lucy, Lucy, Lucy! Where to start with this little girl?!
We walked up to Delsa's ice cream parlor and I bought her and ice cream cone of her very own. She was so funny, her eyes got huge and she didn't even know where to start with it. She whispered "thank you so much!" and then dug in.
She is pretty much potty trained, I still keep an eye on her but for the most part she is there! YAY! She does better if I have a prize for pooping, but it is much better than is was.
She has figured out how to lock and unlock the door knob and the dead lock! and has locked me out of the house a couple of times...She does let me back in so no complaints. Well except for the morning she let mittens and herself out. I have since installed a chain lock up at the top. It scared me pretty bad, I jumped out of bed and threw on clothes running down the hall, hopping that she wouldn't go too far, and thank goodness she was just smelling the flowers in the front yard,
Her favorite movie is probably Rio, she loves the birds and the music. Though she loves to sing just in general and it is amazing how many songs she knows.
Lucy loves to paint and color! Not to mention loves stickers, I found all these cool little sticker background, make your own scene books at the dollar store and they have been a big hit.
We've been kayaking a couple times and She loves it. She asks me every now and then when we can go play in the boat again.
I think she went through another growth spurt, she suddenly seems so tall. and heavy, she loves ridding along in the stroller for runs, but I think I have topped out around 6 miles, anything longer than that and I'm going to have to start getting a sitter and leaving her at home.
Her recent obsession with My Little Pony's has grown quite a bit. She knows all of their names and has a bunch of them to play with. She has a couple that aren't on the show and have names I can't remember and she will ask me who they are. Funny kid, I normally make up a name, sometimes she'll correct me with a previous fake name I gave her.
This little girl is a smarty pants! I'm kind of scared and excited to see what is to come. A glance in to the future, even 3 years would be awesome to see where and what we're doing.

Redfish Life Lesson

While taking a detour looking for our camp. My sister said maybe we should say a prayer. Which I replied, no, we're not quite to that place yet. We knew where the lake was, we knew we had a couple more hours of day light and neither of us were too worried. It ended up taking us a little over an hour to find our camp. But we made it. We joked along the way that we could build a lean-too to sleep in or eat the dog if we were starving, talked about wearing "good" shoes (we were both I flip flops) All the time knowing that we were going to be fine. It took us a little over an hour to find a road that finally lead us back to camp. We laughed and joked the next few days at camp, but today I realized. We should always be at the point to pray. My whole life, not to be dramatic, but I always get past the point of when I should ask for divine help. My little life lesson was this, if we are always asking for help and constantly communicate with our Heavenly Father, we don't have to get lost. (though the views were pretty awesome)

Redfish

Annual Redfish trip was another success! Lucy had a blast. I was a little concerned about how the outhouses would go. Lucy as usual didn't let me down. The first few days they didn't smell so bad. Lucy would walk in, go over to the toilet, lift the lid and say "look Mom, poop!". On the last day she went in and gagged a bit and said it smelled  "gross". I didn't even see her half of the time. She was with cousins or her awesome Aunties. She loved the water, I took her on a little jet ski ride and she seemed ok with it. She loved the chipmunks. and wow they were friendly! Megan's puppy was quite the hit. She asked to hold the baby puppy constantly, but was thankfully ok with going home without it.
I enjoyed running every day without a stroller! I also loved watching my nieces and nephews. I still can't believe that they are all becoming teenagers. I love that they are becoming real people! hehehe It's hard to believe how fast it all happens. I love our camp outs, and I am thankful that we are able to set the time aside and make the effort to do it each year. I have to admit this is the first year I truly looked around and enjoyed the views. I am so grateful to live in such a beautiful country.