All Dressed up and No Place to Go

If you can believe, this little girl is one month old. I really can't. To celebrate, I got her all dressed up and ready for church in this darling little dress, but instead of wearing it to church, she only wore it to a much-needed four-hour nap at home (she'd had a really rough morning with NO naps, so when she finally crashed, I told myself I'd just bring her to church once she woke up. But she never woke up. And since Josh and Will were already at church, I had a glorious afternoon, far more restorative than church--shhh, don't tell my bishop I said that).

After church, Will, Lucy and I had a little photo shoot to commemorate her first month of life. Will took several of these photos and didn't do a bad job, I'd say. We love you, Lucy, even if you are a tad high maintenance at this early stage of your life. We can't imagine life without you!

Look at her cross-eyed look!

The Night I Cried Myself to Sleep. . .

. . .was the night my mom/Grammy left us. Really. I cried myself to sleep, for so many reasons. I cried because when Grammy was here:

• Will had a constant playmate, coloring (and coloring and coloring), playing with play-do, driving cars, reading books, etc., etc., etc. Will loves him his Grammy and could NOT understand why she had to go home.


• I got to sleep in until 8 every morning, knowing that Will was taken care of. I cried a lot for the loss of this one.


• We had a home cooked meal every night that I had nothing to do with. And I never even washed a dish.


• We ate lots of yummy homemade baked goods (Will told me after Grammy left that Grammy is the best cookie maker ever.)


• Will got to and from preschool without any assistance from me.


• She cleaned my house. Twice. And it needed it.


• I had a constant friend and companion. I cried the most at the loss of this one.

We love you, Grammy. We miss you. We really, really want you to come back. And soon. Thanks for making the long trek out to see us and help us.

Now, here is the only picture I took of Grammy and my kids, but it had to make it on the blog):

And Even More Lucy

Another friend took some pictures of our little Lucy. They turned out darling. My friend, April, has a photography business and she is very talented. If you live in the area and are looking for some fantastic pictures, look her up.

Here's the link to the photos of our Lucy Lu: http://www.aprilnewmanphoto.com/?p=370

Thanks, April!

Halloween 3-Year-Old Style

In order to truly appreciate Halloween, I think you must be three. In my opinion, this holiday was made for three-year-olds. So, without further ado, here's how to have the perfect Halloween, three-year-old style. (And yes, below you will find picture overload. I did pare it down. A little).

1. Have a lazy mother who once again failed to get you a Halloween costume (can we blame baby Lucy just a little??). Have a wonderfully talented friend and neighbor who once again let you raid her homemade Halloween costume collection and pick out your favorite one: a dinsadour costume, of course (that's how he says it: dinsadour).

2. Wear that dinsadour costume everywhere for two weeks straight: to bed, riding your bike, to music class, to Panera for dinner. If your mom or dad tells you that you cannot wear that dinsadour costume to church and/or school, break down in absolute hysteria.

3. Attend your preschool's Halloween party and parade with all your school friends (especially Olivia--the little Snow White to the right of Will. He loves Olivia and she loves him. Olivia told her mom that she wants to "bury" (aka marry) Will).

4. Insist you hold your baby sister in her Halloween outfit. (Or insist you hold your baby sister in any outfit. At any time).

5. Carve a "scary jack-o-lantern" with your headless horseman father and your grammy. Love every second of it, especially the lighting of the jack-o-lantern at night. (And, of course, it's all done while wearing your dinsadour costume).

6. Attend the ward party, where you participate with your whole heart and soul in every game, in order to win the coveted prize: candy, candy, candy. In fact, insist you play every game twice so that you can receive more candy. (Note: my favorite game is pictured directly below. Will had to crawl through the streamers without knocking them down to get to the pumpkin filled with candy. Never have I seen a child take on a task so seriously. He was not messing around).

7. Go trick-or-treating for the first time in your neighborhood. Run with gusto and much excitement to every door (really, I want that image to stay in my mind forever--Will running gleefully from door to door, dinosaur tail wagging, pumpking pail glowing in the dark night. It will make me smile for years to come). Once you've hit about 15 houses, tell your dada, "It's past my bedtime. Let's go home."

Trick-or-treating at our house with Grammy passing out candy.

After running so fast and furiously from house to house, Will would run up to the house, ring the doorbell, then sit down and wait, then say, "I just need to rest a minute." It was too cute.

Happy Halloween to all. May you ever experience and enjoy it through the eyes of a three-year-old.