Pinterest FAIL.

Alright - so I always pin things on pinterest, but rarely go back and re-read or use any of the ideas.  I saw this really cute idea for a Valentines day card.  Our babysitter Akiko has made us some really cute projects with Lucy's hand/feet prints.  Grandma Tory has also been successful with such art projects.  I'm a teacher - this can't be THAT hard, right???  So I get red paint, pink paper, and decide to take advantage of a happy baby in her high chair.  Ben was my right hand man with towels, paper, etc.  After about 3 seconds I knew it was disaster.  Lucy immediately put her paint soaked hand right into her mouth.  Then there was red paint everywhere.  We quickly stamped her hand prints a few times and threw her in the bath.  Our bathtub is now pink, but luckily it washed off all of us very quickly.

Here is what the internet told me it would look like.

Here's what it really looks like!!!  Fail.

Lucy Goes to the Zoo

For her birthday this year, Grandma Tory and Grandpa Dan bought us a membership to the Oregon Zoo.  Ben and I both love the zoo, and with a membership we can go when we are in Portland, and stay as long or as little as we'd like.  We went yesterday, as it was supposed to be dry and sunny.  It was cold, and almost snowing!  But we bundled Lucy up, as I was determined to get in to see Lily, the new baby elephant.  We got in just in time - we were the last group to see Lily yesterday!  I was giddy with excitement.  She is soooo cute!  Almost a month old and 375 pounds.  It was fun to see her running around and playing with all the stuff in her pen.

Lucy did great, even though it was pretty dang cold.  She could clearly see all the animals, and she was getting excited and waving and "talking" to them.  We saw the elephants, monkeys, polar bears, and penguins.  Next time we will spend some more time seeing more animals.  The penguins were very cute and Lucy had a blast standing up next  to the glass.  It was feeding time, so they were eating, playing, and swimming right where we were.

Here are some pictures from our day!

Baby Lily, hanging out with her mom Rose Tu

Family Picture - Lucy could barely sit still long enough to take it!

JOY

 

Merry Christmas!

We survived our 2nd Christmas!  Quite different this year than last.  Last year we were home with a 3 day old baby, trying to figure everything out.  This year, we have a 1 year old who is so interested in everything!

We stayed Christmas Eve at my moms with plans to go to church Christmas morning.  We got out of Church because mom ended up with an ear infection and needed to go into the ER for antibiotics.  Luckily we were in and out in a flash and she was feeling better by Christmas morning!

Lucy had fun going through her stockings (one from us and one from Grammie), and opening up a few gifts.  Her attention span is that of a goldfish, so just a few gifts was a good idea!

We came back home Christmas afternoon for dinner and family time with Ben's parents, Aunt Hanna and Uncle Brandon.

Now all of the decorations are packed up and put away until next year!

A Birthday Poem

For Lucy's first birthday celebration, Grandma Tory wrote Lucy (and Ben and I) the sweetest poem.  She read it at her party which was very, very special.  It is going straight into her baby book.  Here it is!

For Lucy's First Birthday

Blessed be the mind, that dreamed the day,
The blueprint of your life
Would begin to glow on earth,
Illuminating all the faces and voices
That would arrive to invite
Your soul to growth.

Praised be your father and mother,
Who loved you before you were,
And trusted to call you here
With no idea of who you would be
Sure in the unseen providence
That has chosen you three, to be a family.

Blessed be the grow in your parents relationship
As they stand united in their love for you
Encouraging your exploration,
Growth and delight in this world, new to you.

Blessed be those who are not with us
to witness the fledgling of Lucy
From beyond the skies and the stars
For all the days and years to come
Distance will never be able to cut them off
They are with you Lucy
By your side, whispering words of encouragement
hand on your shoulder -
Guiding your emerging spirit
With the wisdom only they know.
Your joyful guardians from the other side.

Today on this echoing day of your birth
We celebrate you Lucy
For all you have brought to us in this first year
And all your will bring to the world in years to come.

We are blessed by you little one.

Love, Grandma Tory

Happy Birthday Lucy!

Well, we survived Lucy's 1st birthday.  By the end of the day mom, dad, and Lucy were all asleep by 7:30pm.  We had a great morning at home, and in the afternoon had family over to Grammie Connie's for soup, cake, ice cream, and PRESENTS!  And oh my did Lucy get some great gifts.  From Auntie Nora she got a great little purple arm chair with her name embroidered on it.  It made a great backdrop for our pictures.  Grammie got her some new clothes and a stroller that she can walk and push along.  Uncle Jim and Aunt Sue got her the Tickle Monster book which we love!  Aunt Kay and Uncle Jack got her some new books, and brought some toys handed down from the Peterson Family.  Right now she is digging into a huge container of Duplo blocks that were cousin Brian's (who is now 18!), then Noah and Ethan's.  She also got this very cool chair/activity center that she loves talking to and sitting on.  Grandpa Dan and Grandma Tory got her some new toys and our family a membership to the Oregon Zoo!  Aunt Hanna and Uncle Brandon got her a Rody bouncy horse.  She has had fun trying to climb and bounce all over it the past couple of days!

For her birthday cake we made a small cake with applesauce instead of sugar.  And instead of frosting I frosted it with plain yogurt - which is one of her favorite foods.  It was funny to watch her eat it. She went straight for the yogurt, tried the cake, and then threw it on the ground!  My mother was a little bit annoyed with my choice in cake and frosting, but come on, do babies NEED that much sugar?  Lord knows I could use a little less sugar in my diet! :)

Here are some pics from the day.  We are so very lucky to have this happy girl in our lives.

Hanging out in her new chair in her special birthday shirt!

Yummy cake!

So tired.

Back home, taking a ride on Rody!

Just hanging out with one of her new toys!

Kindermusik = FUN!!!

This weekend Tory and I took a little road trip up to Monroe, WA just outside of Seattle to stay with cousin Beth, celebrate the holidays, do some crafting, and most of all HAVE FUN!  I was just starting to feel better from my bout with strep throat and wasn't sure if we'd still be going.  I am so glad we did.  The weekend was fast and fun and we are all exhausted but it was totally worth it.

Beth is a Kindermusik teacher.  She, along with her business partners-in-crime, own and operate many Kindermusik studios throughout the Seattle area.  See her website here:  www.studio3music.com  She also has a really cool blog: www.studio3music.com/blog

Saturday morning we got the chance to attend a Kindermusik class in Redmond, WA.  Beth wasn't teaching, but Miss Anna was and we had a blast!  Miss Beth was like a celebrity.  She knew all the kids and parents and they all loved her.  Lucy loves music, so doing this class with her and Beth and Tory was so much fun.  She loved all of the songs, and laughed and giggled the entire time.  Some of the highlights for Lucy were the songs with the scarves.  She loved the feeling of the scarf moving across her face.  During one of the songs we made a line and all got the chance to run through the scarves.  Lucy had this look of pure joy on the face when we ran through, which Tory captured on camera.  Her face also lit up when Miss Anna dumped out a bag of 20 soft bouncy balls.  She was going for them all!  And at the end we sang Jingle Bells and took a sleigh ride!  These "sleighs" were simply laundry baskets with a rope, that provide endless options for singing and having fun.  Lucy actually cried when we put the "sleigh" away.  I have a great video of the sleigh ride, but after 30 minutes I gave up on trying to download it.

Thank you Beth, for letting us coming experience Kindermusik with you.  It was incredible.  We can't wait to come up again.

Shake Your Scarf!

Lucy, listening to Miss Anna.

The sleigh.  Probably the coolest thing ever in Lucy's opinion!

Thanksgiving

As an adult, Thanksgiving has quickly become my most favorite holiday of the year.  I am so happy that I am now a part of the "Brownsmead Thanksgiving" tradition.  Eating together as a community at the grange is the best way to do Thanksgiving.  We only prepare one or two dishes, and get to choose from about 30 different dishes with 50 of our closest family and friends!  

This year was very special because it was Lucy's first Thanksgiving.  We started the day at Grammie Connie's for brunch.  I unfortunately, had a migraine, so I was not much fun and not too thankful.  As usual, my mom stuffed us full of food and sent us home with more food to enjoy all weekend.  

Aunt Hanna and Uncle Brandon were in town and they came to the rescue and helped watch Lucy so Ben could cook up our mashed potatoes and I could lay down and keep the migraine at bay.  After laying in bed for over 3 hours, I finally got up just in time to head out for dinner.

Dinner at the grange was fabulous.  There were some new dishes this year that were so yummy.  My favorites were Jan Johnson's pumpkin casserole, and the sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top.  So bad for you, but sooooo good!  We ended up with lots of leftover mashed potatoes and not much else, but we do have a turkey in the freezer that we'll cook for ourselves sometime this month.