Splash Pad PlayDate and Lucy Updates

 

We went to a wonderful little splash pad in Richardson the other day. 



It was FREE, and such a nice reprieve from the usual hot outdoor activities here. 



There were 3 other babies and their mommies from our playgroup, and it was fun to photograph all of them. 



I've been trying to shoot in manual mode lately, but for these I just put my camera on the "sport" mode - which basically equates to a really fast shutter (1/1200), aperture of f/5.6, and fairly low ISO (400).  It was a nice, overcast day - so most of the lighting was indirect, but it was still nice and bright.



Lucy has begun signing in the last couple weeks!  She signs "milk" and "bath" and "diaper" and "more" with some consistency.  She's also added the words "uh-oh" and "up" to her vocabulary.  She still doesn't say "mama," but she says "dada" whenever Daniel comes home in the evenings. 



She's also begun making humming noises whenever she plays with a car or truck on the floor - it is super cute!  She also makes the humming noise when we go for a ride in the wagon (Vrum--mmm--mmm). 



One of my favorite things to see her do is to walk up close to the laptop and stand about a foot away from it - and then she starts shaking her head (she knows "no touch" for the computer).  She also shakes her head no when she is obviously considering throwing food from her seat.  Sometimes she throws the food anyways (and then vehemently shakes her head no when we say, "no throw"). 



I was so excited to buy her shoes for the first time the other day - but I'll post on that soon.

Adventures in Shed Finishing - part 2

We've made progress on the shed!  This baby's gonna get done, slowly but surely.

Last week we replaced the back wall. 



Parts of it were rotting and had also gotten eaten by some termites.



 So we took off two panels, cut the new panels down to size, and nailed them in to place.



We're trying to decide whether to pay for termite treatment for the shed.  It'd be about $300, which is a chunk.  But on the other hand, we don't want termites to undo all our work in the next 5-10 years.  Decisions, decisions.



Lucy chilled in her bath tub pint-sized, outdoor swimming pool.  She's a trooper.

We're having a shed day this Saturday, and I'm hoping that by the end of it, we'll have the electricity mostly done and have begun on the dry-walling!  Yesterday Mom and I dragged 10 bags of insulation and 8 sheets of sheet rock home from Lowe's.  Will update with progress as it happens...

4th of July

Lucy's first ever fourth of July - we spent it making pancakes, bacon, and coffee in the morning, napping, and then swimming and hanging out at my parents' house--and later at our friends' house for a second cook-out.



It was a fun, full day.



Lucy loves thrills - like being thrown through the air.  



This is her naptime face.



No fireworks for us this year.



Lucy's too little to be up that late, and even as much of an adrenaline/thrill junkie as she is - - I think the fireworks would still be too much for her.



Maybe next year.  Hmm... next year we'll have Lucy, plus a 7-month-old.  Maybe not.  



My sister has recently re-introduced me to jello molds.  They're yummy and fun!  This one had a coconut layer in the middle.

 

Happy Independence Day!

Nursery Mirror Before-and-After

I had been wanting to add a mirror under Lucy's chair rail since she started pulling up on things.




She--like most babies--loves her reflection.



And when she gets a little older and can play dress up, this mirror will have been a helpful addition.
 
 

I was going to get a custom-cut mirror for this space, but custom-cut mirrors are expensive!  And this one works just fine.  What do you think?

Baby in a Basket

If I tried to put Lucy in here, I think she would protest loudly.  But when her cousin Jack does it, she loves it.

He brings her different toys to play with and talks to her and gets her to laugh.



He built a special "nap time" fort for Lucy the other day, only to be disappointed when he realized she wouldn't actually be napping in said fort.



Still, he was thrilled for the time she spent in it.



He is still learning that he doesn't get to keep her in the fort if she doesn't want to be in there - but that's a hard lesson for any kid.

Here's a short video clip of baby-in-a-basket-in-a-naptime-fort.

Lucy's Ladybug Birthday Party

We hosted Lucy's first birthday party this last weekend, and it was so much fun!!  We had lots of friends and family in the house, and it was so nice to see everybody.  


Our friends Joe and Sarah came all the way from Beaumont and were huge last-minute helpers!   



Ladybug is a pretty popular theme these days, and that's what we went with.  

After perusing Pinterest, I had several ideas for decorations and food.  


I particularly liked this blogger's "Happy Birthday" banner (my version above).  


And some of her decorations (mine above).  
 

And I liked this blogger's cute little olive-tomato appetizers (my version above - with black bean hummus for the polka dots and a mixture of feta and cream cheese for the eyes).  

 

We had Fadia's cater the hot food: a variety of breads with stuffing of cheese, meat, or spinach, and some miniature pizzas.  We also had them cater the hummus and pita bread, and then we made some tabouli with quinoa.  


I used pieces of polka dot fabric as accents and kept the decorations to a minimum.  My living room is already mostly black, red, and white - so that sort of helped with the festive feel.  


I dressed Lucy in a Gymboree polka dot dress and a black headband and red flower (from Hobby Lobby), and she looked so cute!! 


The cake design was inspired by this blogger.  I baked the body of the ladybug in a pyrex glass dish and the head in a Fiestaware teacup.


The cake itself is my favorite, simple recipe (Duncan Hines cake mix--made with buttermilk instead of water-- with an extra packet of pudding mix + some chocolate chips), and the icing is just cream cheese, butter, and powdered sugar with a little almond extract for flavor.  



My friend April helped me decorate it.  
 

The grass is coconut, mixed with green food color gel (much more potent than liquid). 



These lovely chandelier decorations were compliments of my nephew Jack (age 5).  I think they add something special :).



Lucy's cupcake was special in that the icing was actually butternut squash, with butter, some salt, and food coloring to make it look like chocolate.

After the cake smash bedtime sadness, we decided not to repeat the sugar/caffeine rush that actual chocolate icing seems to deliver.  Since she's a big fan of savory flavors, she still gobbled up the squash adequately for photos. 

 
In fact, despite her expression in the above photo, she actually enjoyed it quite a bit.  I guess by next year, she'll probably know that icing is supposed to be sweet.



Pinterest also inspired the ladybug fruit tray, which is admittedly easier to see if you blur your eyes.  And use your imagination.



This blogger inspired the water bottles.  I bought Avery brand glossy stickers and printed them on my home printer--easy peasy--and then my MIL put the plain red paper around the bottles and used the labels to make them stay.

For party favors, we did ladybug sugar cookies, made by me and my sister Carrie.  Well, mostly Carrie, actually.  But I made the dough and supervised the baking :). 



There's a little more to them than I originally anticipated, and Carrie is quickly becoming a master cookie maker and decorator. 



I had thought we would open gifts during the party, but I was completely daunted by the prospect - so we only opened a few during the party and most of the others right afterward.  Lucy got such cute toys and clothes and will have so much fun discovering each one in the coming weeks.



I'm going to pack up her current ones and put them away so I can re-introduce them as "new" toys in a few months and keep them on a rotating schedule.

That's the plan, anyways.  Lucy's grandparents gave her this wagon - and it was a huge hit with the kids at the party.  I didn't know they made wagons with so many different features!!



When my MIL asked me what kind to get her, I just assumed "red and metal" described them all.  Not so!  This one has a cup holder, a door, a self-storing handle, and two little seats with storage space underneath.  So cool!


A HUGE thank-you to anyone I forgot to mention for helping us throw this party - we had such fun and really appreciated your help as well as your presence on such a special day.