{Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real}

A crown, platter, glasses, and lantern are all ready to celebrate the feast of St. Lucy.  We had Lussekatter and hot chocolate.  Neither of my children ate the Lussekatter, but at least Linus enjoyed the chocolate milk.

Lucy and Linus with their Grandma in the tent she made for them.  It fits over a card table.  When we set it up, Linus was fussing a little bit and wanted to be held.  Grandma went in to demonstrate, and Lucy quickly followed.  Linus saw this, stopped fussing, said, "Uh-huh!" and wiggled to be put down.  It remains one of his favorite places to play.

While Grandma and Grandpa were here, we visited the local zoo.  While the monkeys were not out, the cats were unusually active, which was fun to see.

One day while playing with blocks, Lucy quite spontaneously picked up these two blocks and said, "Look Mama, got my camera.  Take a picture."

At the Park {PHFR}

{Pretty} and {Funny}

We went to a local park the other day, and my pretty little girl was making quite the fashion statement.  She looked a bit more put together at the beginning of the day, but she knows how to take off her skirt and put on another one, and that is just what she did.  And she added the big, pink, floppy hat just for good measure.

{Happy}

We saw ducks.  Lucy is really interested in ducks.  We play with ducks in the bath.  We read stories about ducks.  We even sleep with a stuffed duck some nights.  She was happy.

There a quite a number of birds that look like this at our park (it is a bird sanctuary).  They are they ugliest ducks I have ever seen.  I might have been known to refer to them as "Franken-ducks."  Maybe.

The most exciting part?  There are black swans, and they have a nest right next to the board walk over the lake/swamp area, so we have a great view of everything happening.

The two swans were working on the nest when we passed by.

I was fascinated.  Lucy was convinced that the mama swan was going to eat those eggs (that's what you do with eggs, right?).

{Real}

All snuggled up on top of the eggs.  Alas, the litter spoils this view.

And on a happier note, we saw a pelican!  I don't think we've seen a pelican there before.

Happy Thursday, everyone!

{Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real}

A quick look at some of the fun we've had lately:

Lucy's first french braid.

Lucy had a sandwich for lunch, and so did her baby.

Linus will walk soon.  He's practicing.

Mama and Lucy had a tea party with apple slices and raspberry tea.  We even
managed to keep Linus from pulling the tablecloth off the table.

{Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real}

{Pretty}

A pretty birthday cake, to celebrate with extended family, which delighted Lucy, who calls M&M's "num-nums."

{Happy} and {Funny}

This birthday present made Lucy very happy.  She calls it her "bass."

 {Real}

It even hangs on a guitar hanger, just like Daddy's.

{Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real}

Capturing contentment:

Somehow this felt like the beginning of home-school:  two years old, playing under forts made of sheets and blankets, and stacks of library books.

{Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real}

{Pretty}

Flowers for the dinner table.

{Happy}

A very happy bride.

{Funny}

I thought this was an appropriate cup to store all the medicine
apparatus needed to take care of two babies who came home sick
from the trip.

{Real}

"Cake.  Candle.  Ha--Bir--choo--hooo!"
Lucy built a birthday cake to sing Happy Birthday.

{Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real} ...

but mostly CUTE, because with a little girl who's almost two and just beginning to be able to speak her mind, and a little boy who's nine months old and beginning to express his likes and dislikes, we have a whole lot of CUTE around here!

"Bee-bee  mess-ee."
Lucy has been sick, and in order to get her to take her medicine without a fight, we let her give her baby medicine with a spare syringe.

Linus likes to pull books off the shelf ...

just like his sister did at the same age.

Lucy is still finding new uses for blocks.

Baby balance beam.

Her skill at balancing them impresses me.

These are some very happy, dirty, little-boy toes.  I should make sure they get that way more often.

{Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real}

What we've been up to:

Here's my pretty girl standing next to the pile of laundry that she moved from my bedroom.  It's now ready to go into the washing machine.

She also helped me put those clothes into the washing machine; she can just barely reach if she stands on tiptoe.

 Here she is happily coloring at her little table.

 The day I washed the sheets we built a fort with them before they went into the wash.

 Those are some happy little boy toes you see under there.  They both thought this was pretty fun.

Lucy was convinced her baby wanted to be on top of the fort.  Funny girl!

And the real ...
It's raining.  And the new roof leaks.  Fortunately the drip falls on the floor and only when it rains really hard.