Fall pictures

Well here I go again. Making excuses as to why I haven't blogged in forever. Don't have any excuses this time! Just didn't have a lot of pictures to share, and who wants to read a blog without pictures?!

It is COLD here today and I am already sick of it. I'm moving to Miami!

Lucy went to another Auburn game this year. We went with my friend Brandy and enjoyed ourselves so much! We played on Samford Lawn and Lucy was able to run and play all she wanted!

Here she is at Tiger Walk. If you go to an Auburn game you can't miss Tiger Walk!

We also visited the Peanut Festival and Lucy had a ball. She still asks me if we are going to the Fair or parade every weekend!

For Halloween, Lucy was her favorite character, Jessie, from Toy Story. We watch that movie at least 8 times a week. She loves it. She still wears her Jessie costume and carries her hat everywhere.

So there is our fall in pictures. Lucy is growing so fast. She is talking in complete sentences and going potty. She still takes her paci, but I'm hoping we can give it to Santa this Christmas. Her favorite phrases are "What doin?" "I have it?" and she talks in third person constantly.

"Lucy have it?" "Lucy's doll?"

She is finally enjoying going to school. She has some good friends and we love her teachers. She is such a ham and such a silly girl. And she'll tell you that "Lucy silly, or Lucy funny!"

I can't believe Christmas is right around the corner. I am ready to see how she will act. She already loves her Christmas tree in her room. She will tell me how beautiful it is and tell me all about the ornaments and who gave them to her! She is so quick and picks up on everything. She plays a matching game and is so good at it.

I am so proud of her and love her dearly!

Disney Recap

We have been back from Disney for about 3 weeks now, and I finally feel like I am caught up on my sleep, my sanity, and my laundry! We had a magical time, as one does in Disney. We ate too much food, enjoyed wonderful company, gave too many thumbs up, and rode tons of rides. September in the middle of school was definitely a great time to go as there was a smaller crowd of people and we waited in line for rides for small amounts of time (as in like 5 minutes). Lucy enjoyed herself being the center of attention in so many peoples lives and mom and dad enjoyed having so many hands to help hold, feed, and love on our baby! We park hopped, ate with characters, walked till our feet hurt, and laughed over and over. That to me equals a super trip. I didn't quite know what I was getting into, even though I planned this trip down to every detail. From the outfits for each park, to our dining times and which park was what day, I was definitely the trip planner for our vacation. I had a great group to spend a truly amazing vacation with. Now that it's over, we all plan to go back in no less than 5 years! ha! We really wore ourselves out. Next time, we will plan for more days with a few days just for relaxing and hanging out at the pool with an adult beverage! :)

Family photo waiting in line! Beebs and I doing our "pose" for the week! Thumbs up!
Sissy and Lucy enjoying waiting for Dumbo!

Lucy still talks about her trip and how she hugged Pooh and Tigger. (Lie. The kid was a freak-a-zoid when they came near, unless they wanted to give her a high five!) She talks about the Dumbo ride all the time and when we watch the home-made DVD she giggles and talks through the whole thing reminding me of the people she got to spend all her time with!

Tots and Gigi with their girl. Tots bought Lucy anything she wanted! :)


This is Lucy's scared face. We were in the aquarium and all the big fish were swimming right behind her!

Back to reality brought more school for me, Scott's 20 year class reunion, my 32 birthday (whoa!) and lots and lots of laundry to finish. We've been enjoying the cooler weather, and sleeping in on the weekends. Just good family time. I can't believe that Lucy is now 26 months old. She is a huge mess! Her 2 year old attitude is out in full force. Daycare is slowly getting better, and not without many sleepless nights from her momma praying continually. I finally think things are going in the right direction and I am so thankful! She talks in complete sentences and they crack me up. Just tonight during our bedtime routine Scott was pretending to fall asleep on her floor. She jumped on his belly and said "Wake up now, Daddy!" I love the way she tells us that she "luffs us" at night when she's going to bed and how she prays for certain people if I forget them during prayer time. She has the most vivid imagination. I asked her the other day what her name was and she told me her name was "Lucy Pooh-Bear" each day since she's had a different name to go with Lucy (she doesn't quite have her /l/ sound yet so it sound more like U-cy, which cracks me up.)

I love that girl! I am so blessed to have such a funny girl. She loves music and Party Rock Anthem is her favorite song. We get in the car every morning and she says "Mom, Party Rock?" and so we jam to her song the whole way to school. I don't want to forget this fun and trying time with her!

Long Time Gone...

Hello friends... that is, if anyone out there is still there! I have taken a month off from blogging. I've taken some time to enjoy my summer break, to spend some time with my sweet 2 year old and fabulous husband, and to sleep! School starts back for me on Wednesday and it feels like I just left the land of first graders! So... what have we been up to this summer?



Lucy and I at downtown Disney with our birthday treat! yummo!

Well, this sweet little girl turned 2 this summer! Oh my, and is she a handful. She is so funny. I mean Fun-ny! She talks non-stop, does the silliest things and she keeps me on my toes! Her new favorite thing to do is watch music videos and dance. Her favorite music video is Justin Bieber's "Baby." Ya'll, I'm not even gonna tell you how much we laugh. She can follow what the people do in their dance routine and do it with them. Even tries to break dance. We follow ol' Beib with the "monkey song" (The Lazy Song by Bruno Mars) and then finish it up with my girl Britney's "Till the world ends." We have a whole dance routine for this one. She calls it her "jumpie song" because during the chorus we jump up and down with our hands in the air. It is so funny! I'll spare you the video because usually I'm already in my pj's and no one wants to see me jumping around and dancing! ha!

We also celebrated Lucy's birthday with a bang! My mom threw Lucy an "Olivia" party on Friday night and then we had a "Minnie Mouse" party at SEAGA gymnastics the next day. She loved it all and kept telling me that "I blow!" when she saw a cake! I was so blessed to have so many family and friends celebrate our wonderful gift!


Lucy's Olivia party. I made the Olivia cut out and her dress made from etsy.

The wonderful cake mom had made from Debra West. We were so impressed! and it tasted delicious!

Lucy with her daddy at her "jumpie party!"

Sweet girl eating her birthday snacks.


My mother in law, Connie,made these adorable cupcakes for her party. I loved them!

Our little family went to Orlando to see the shuttle take off. We also went to SeaWorld while we were there. Oh my, it was so hot, but so much fun. Lucy loved seeing all the "fish" and we enjoyed ourselves to the fullest. She was good in the car and was a great tourist. We have a big trip to Disney planned in September so I hope it goes as well as this trip did!
Waiting on the beach for the shuttle to take off! She loved the beach!

Lucy now weighs 30 pounds, is almost 3 feet tall and is smart as a whip. She copies everything we do and say. She puts together sentences, follows directions quickly, and is such a big helper now. I let her put all her juice boxes in the fridge the other day and she was so proud of herself! She also started daycare for the first time. She is a little timid (read-crying, mad!) when I drop her off, but she is learning so much and loves to tell me about "Eleanor and my my friends" when I pick her up. She could not stop talking about the "mag-nets" and the letter "B" today when I picked her up. She has the cutest southern accent. I love to here her say "help" because it is about 3 syllables long! She likes to go eat her "nack" in her "TB room" (t.v room!) when she gets home.

I know I say each age is my favorite so far, but this one has been great. Despite the few tantrums we have, she is sponging everything we do in her brain. She can read the book "Go,Dogs, Go" without any help. I love to hear her get to the end and say "A Dog Parttay!"


Happy girl on her 2nd birthday. She has such a wonderful time!

So that's what's been up in our household. I am gonna get back into blogging now that school is back in session and I won't have the video camera as much as I've had this summer! Gotta remember all she does for her baby book! ha!


I've missed ya'll!

letter #3

Dear 16 year old Lucy,

You scare the bejesus out of me and I have 14 years to go. I worry so much about this time with you. I can only hope that I will raise you in the right way. Let me tell you a few things though....
Be yourself. Walk to your own drumbeat. Fall in love. Laugh all the time. Be kind to all types of people. Make friends who you can trust and who will stand by you and hold your hand always. Find a passion and run with it. Daddy and I will support you. Know your roots and be respectful to your family. Try your best in school. Don't drive too fast. Don't chase the boys who can't be chased. They're not worth the heartache. Speaking of heartache, it will happen, and yes, you will get over it. You're life will not be over no matter how bad it hurts. God has made someone for you that will make your heart feel things you didn't feel possible (when you are way older!) Don't do things just because others are doing them. Drugs are really not cool, neither is underage drinking or sex. You'll have time for grown-up things when your are grown up. I don't want to be on 16 and Pregnant with you. Be kind to your teachers. There will be days when you think you hate your daddy and me, but you don't and we will know that. We will hurt you and it will feel awful, but in the end, we will usually be right and you'll see that one day when you're grown with your own kids.

I want you to be an independent, God loving girl. I want you to make good choices, and even though that won't always happen, I'll love you anyway and help you in whatever way I can. Stay true to your faith, stand up for others who have less than you, and love hard.

To picture you at 16 is exciting, scary, and funny. I look forward to seeing what you are like. I wonder if you'll have my personality and spunk. I hope you do! What a ride I'm in for!

Love,
Your momma
(and let's go ahead and get this out... If you're 16, I'm 45. Holy hockeysticks.)

Letter #2

Dear pain and suffering,

I hate you. You are rude and awful and unpredictable. I hate watching people lose their loved ones without warning. I am hurt over sick, cancer filled children. I am tired of hearing of the loss of a friend unexpectedly. I am tired of the heartache, the void, the hurt that you bring to all. Go away. I live with the hope that one day, I will be free from you and you will have no hold over us. I cling to the promise that God will give peace that surpasses all understanding. But even full faith in God does not make me like you at all.
Nikki

Praying desperately tonight for a friends who lost a brother and son, another friend who was killed this week in a car accident, and a sweet little girl fighting for her life from cancer. May our Lord and Savior hold them close and place a sweet veil of comfort over them all.

open letters

I would like to begin a series of "open letters" to things or people or organizations I would like to pick a bone with or tell them something funny. I'll try to post one every day until I get it all off my chest. These are things I might say if I didn't have a censor!


Dear Strawberry Newtons,
I love you. With a deep love. And I love you so much I sit down to just eat 3 of you and I look down and have eaten 8. You are that delicious. So delicious I try to hide them from my child so she will not love them. I finally checked the package yesterday to see how many calories I am shoveling down my throat and I was sad to see that for every 2 I gain 100 calories. Does this stop me? No. And when I pass by your lovely yellow packaging in the Publix I know I am in for such a tasty sensation I cannot say no. Do you have some kind of Newton's Anonymous? I would be the one waiting in the room with a cup of coffee trying not to think of how badly I would like a Strawberry Newton. This is all.
With love,
Nikki

23 months

Lucy Clare....You are 23 months old today. Where has time gone? This time 2 years ago I was horribly swollen, visibly pregnant and so miserable. Summer heat was awful and I couldn't even wear flip-flops (shout out to Beebs who pushed me in a wheelchair at the Kohls!) I was so excited to meet you and get to know you and I constantly wondered what kind of child you would grow to be. How amazed I am at you every day. You are funny and sweet and such a smart child (and I don't just say that because I am a teacher!) You make each day such a joy. You can count to 5, spell your name after I give you the "L" and you "think" you can read books. We love to watch you play with your toys and I love to watch how you copy things I do on a daily basis.

You are a great sleeper. We have an awesome bedtime routine that you know so well. You love to play in the tub, get your "oshen" (lotion) and your "pop" (powder) to brush your hair and then brush your teeth, to say good night to Elmo and "doors" (Dora), read your three books (usually Oliva, Goodnight Moon, and an Easter story) then crawl into bed with "monk" (monkey) and your "pas" (paci). You love to say your goodnight prayers, and we pray for everyone we know!

You really crack me up with all the thing you say "Awesome" "Good job" "High five" are things we hear constantly. You also talk about your "TaTa" (my dad) a lot. I swear I hear his name 50000000 times a day.

Your favorite foods are tomatoes and black olives. Strange, but I think you could eat your weight in them. You also love your fish, blueberries, bananas, and cheese (preferably swiss).

I have so enjoyed my summer time with you. We've been sleeping late, enjoying swimming lessons, and all our time with daddy. I love that when I play on my computer you find your laptop and sit with me. I love that you will play your music keyboard non-stop and sing into the microphone. I joke that when you are older we will be the next "Judds" and travel the world with our fabulous singing duo!

I can remember first bringing you home and being so nervous at what I was going to do with you. You are the light of my life and the joy in my heart. I am blessed, humbled, honored, and overjoyed to be your mother. I love how much you love Gigi (my mom) and Sissy (my sister) and want to call them and talk to them, and love when we go over to visit or eat supper with them.

In one more month I will have a 2 year old. 2 of the most amazing and powerful years of my life have gone by and I hope that I have cherished each day with you.

My prayer for you is that you will always live a happy and fulfilling life. That you will put God first and seek His wisdom and guidance. That you will seek His voice. My life's goal is that you will love the Lord with all your heart. You are precious child of God and I hope that I can always be an inspiration to that testimony. I love you, my sweet Lucy Clare. With a love that knows no bounds. Always. Forever. Since the moment I knew you were formed, since the moment I held you in my arms. You will always be my baby, my first born, the joy of my life. The song I had always prayed for, the musical masterpiece that played in my heart. Your daddy's princess and mommy's helper. I love you.