I LOVE my sandbox!!

Thanks, daddy, (and grandpa, t00!) for building me a sandbox in my backyard! I love it! See??

Beauty & the Beast

Here's the Beauty part...



And then the beast!!

A Lucy Story

It was May 13th, about 5:30 pm, a sunny but cool evening... a Tuesday night. Dad is mowing the lawn, and Lucy and I head outside at Lucy's request. She always heads north, like a compass, directly to the dirt and gravel driveway that runs beside our property and eventually leads back to the wooded acres behind our lot. Her usual interest is the pile of rocks on the road. She just picks them up, moves them around, puts a few special ones in her hands, and moves on to the next pile.

This evening however, daddy, while riding on the tractor, points to the moon. Although it is still light and sunny, the white moon is beginning to rise and is very visible against the blue sky. Lucy knows the word moon from her book Goodnight Moon, so she catches on easily.

We walk away from the gravel path and the trees to the middle of our yard and I ask Lucy, "Where is the sky?"

She points up and replies "There?" Still at 16 months old, her statements always sound like soft questions.

I ask, "Do you see the moon? There's the moon, in the sky."

"Moon?"

"Yes. Where's the moon?"

"There? Moon?" Lucy says, as she points to the moon.

"Yea. That's the moon." A few seconds pass, and Lucy looks up at me.

"Climb?" she sings. She is looking at me , but still pointing up.

"Climb!? You want to climb to the moon?"

"O.K.," she replies breathlessly, quickly, and with determination. She is now looking down at her feet, trying to extend one foot high and far enough to start her ascent to the moon.

I hesitate to reply, "Baby, we can't climb to the moon. Im sorry." And I really am.

Her eyes seem to catalog each of my words, and I can tell my statement makes perfect sense to her. She replied in a louder, higher whine, "CLIMB???"

...Oh Lucy. If I could help you climb to the moon, I hope you know, I would certainly do it.

Springtime

Hello everyone! I know it's been awhile since I've posted anything. We've just felt pretty busy, I guess. I have a few pictures of things we do these days... mostly outside fun, now that the weather has turned beautiful. Lucy will run to the door and say "outside?" in her best Canadian accent until we finally put her shoes on and take her out. She also asks for her "boy" coat, since it's dark blue, before heading outdoors. "Boy?" she says. I guess only Eric and I know what that means.


We got her a Radio Flyer wagon..and she loves it! We just pull her around and pick "lions," dandelions, for her to sniff and collect in her wagon along with rocks, another outdoor favorite. Dirt is a valuable commodity as well... We play in the flower beds for now (Eric is making her a sandbox soon!) and she'll use her "scoop" (shovel) and put the dirt in her bucket, then dump the bucket all over her legs and shoes and lap. She's an absolute dirty mess, but she will do it for 40 minutes if you let her!! She will constantly say "dirty" and "messy," but she doesn't mind it at all.



We're able to watch the horses, and Lucy will say "neigh!" when she sees them. We watch the birds "birdies?" and talk with them "tweet tweet!" And Lucy is the first to hear a school bus "school bus?" coming down the road, and she'll break into song "round and round"- since the wheels on the bus go round and round. She'll also exclaim "cycle?" long before we actually spot the motorcycle...but she can hear them coming!




Recently, her new trick is jumping...looks more like a little hurdle jump. It makes her so happy to show this one off. And my new favorite is she will blow lots of kisses and give lots of hugs. Not always to mom and dad, but definitely to her favorite toys or her friends at Dorothy's. The other day I saw her pick up a picture of Eric, give it a kiss, and put it back. It was adorable!



Hope everyone is doing well!!

Happy Easter!

It's a huge understatement to say Lucy likes the Easter Bunny. Seeing the way she smiled
at the Easter Bunny and immediately snuggled up to her makes me want to borrow the costume every day!
















Lucy enjoyed her Easter Basket, singing in church, meeting the Easter Bunny, and her trip to Grandma and Grandpa Freunds.




I had such a difficult time choosing pictures... I had to post most of them! She was too cute!

Flying + Sledding + Drawing = Fun Weekend!

Hello everyone! Just thought Id share some fun, recent pictures of Lucy. It seems she had a fun weekend, so we wanted to share it with you. She is gaining so many new words and is getting much more active. My favorite word of hers is "octopus." She tends to say it as though it's a question, and pronounces it "apus?" It's soooo cute. Other new words are people, paper, flowers, Ernie (from Sesame Street) which is also extremely cute to hear- sounds more like "oynie." Let's see, there's also wheel, bear, hole, mermaid, sticker, Pooh ( as in Winnie the Pooh - and the other poo). She attemps her A,B,Cs, but it comes out "A, B, D" which Im actually impressed with! Im sure there's more. She tries to repeat what she hears, so it's just constant fun to listen to her.

Recently, she has learned the word "fly" from her da da. All SHE has to say, though, is "rye" and daddy jumps into action. Just look at the fun they have!! Yes, it's her old baby tub. Thank you to whoever purchased that off our registry. I never would have thought....




Lucy also knows the word apple very well. Here she is enjoying her lunch, catching up on the current costs of used cars....




The highlight of the weekend may have been her outdoor excursion with mom, dad, oma and opa. We all drove to Green Leaf Park for Lucy's first sled ride. Everyone wanted a turn!! Even Oma, whose hand was fresh out of surgery wanted to sled with Lucy, but Lucy advised her to sit this one out and promised her a next time!



Check out her smile with da da!










After mommy and daddy got tired of carrying Lucy up the hill, we headed over to the playground. Lucy had a great time!!










Then back at home for a little R & R. We can only hope she is having as much fun as we are.

Happy Valentines Day!

Lucy received many valentines this year! Lots of love for her!! She really liked her very own cookie.... yum yum! She calls cookies "di di," but enjoys them the same as everyone else.

Oma made Lucy some very special gifts which she loves! Her very own Snoopy, flower, soccer ball poncho! How in the world did Oma find such a thing?! No matter, Lucy loves it and wraps herself in it all day. In fact, when we take it away from her, she often sheds tears!! Oma also made Lucy a Valentines Day Queen Crown, which Lucy wears with pride.

Grandma Freund couldnt resist Valentines Day either, and gave Lucy a super cute girlie outfit for the summer!


This is Lucy waiting for dad to get out of his truck and back inside. She misses daddy every day!