Surprise Shower

On Monday, Cliff's work threw me a surprise shower. It was so nice--such a generous gesture. Lacy was a little ornery, that is until she got a piece of cake. Just to show what a little diva she is, she was fussing and kept running over to the cake while we were opening presents. We had to stop opening presents and ask Angie to slice a piece of cake just for Lacy so we could continue to open presents without her interruptions! We got great gifts for the new baby and Lacy even got a cool Dora book.

My prenatal appts are on the first floor of Cliff's bldg. So I usually try to schedule them right before lunch time so Lacy and I can go upstairs to visit Cliff and his coworkers. Cliff had mentioned the night before for me to bring my new camera so he could take pictures of Lacy stealing stickers and I didn't even think twice about it. Before we left for my appt, I made sure Lacy was dressed cute and her hair was done...and ran out of time to make myself 'beautiful' But I didn't think it mattered since everyone always looks at Lacy and doesn't pay much attention to me. So that added to the surprise--walking in with no make-up and my hair still wet from my shower. C'est la vie! Still I am very grateful to everyone at Cliff's office who participated. Thanks!

Grandpa Clinton's - Teasing Al the Tortoise VIDEO

Grandpa Clinton's - Playing with Neighbor's Dogs VIDEO

Big Bear Zoo - Deer Kisses VIDEO

Big Bear Weekend

On Friday afternoon Cliff finished his 2-day USMLE exam and then we left for Big Bear to see Grandpa Clinton and recuperate after the stress of the test. Lacy was quick to warm up to Grandpa Clinton and after about 5 minutes walked around the house like she owned the place. Saturday morning, she played in the backyard with the neighbor's dogs. Watched the squirrels and the birds eat and run around the porch. She teased the tortoises--because she was scared of them. We headed into the village for lunch and fudge from the North Pole. We even made another attempt at the zoo (the Big Bear Zoo). Unfortunately, all that fresh mountain air and playing wiped her out by the time we got to the zoo. So the grown-ups walked around pushing the stroller and admiring the animals. As we were out the door, leaving the zoo, Lacy decided to wake up and so we turned around and had another go at the zoo. Lacy was very entertained and had lots of fun. The first animals we visited were the deer. They licked her hand through the fence. So afterwards, she kept trying to stick her hand through the fence to get the other animals to lick her hand. Fortunately, the grizzly bears, the mountain lions, and the snow leopards cages were built to keep out little hands. We came back to the house and watched movies while Lacy played with her dolls. Sunday we went to church with Grandpa and had an early dinner before we headed home. We had a great time with Grandpa Clinton and wish we saw him more often!

Halmony's Bday

Halmony (my mom) took the day off work for her birthday so she could hang out with Lacy--a very affordable and reasonable gift on our behalf I think. We decided to check out the local Santa Ana Zoo. During the 5 minute car ride to the zoo, Halmony got out the princess figurines which she keeps stashed in her purse to spoil our little lady with. Little did we know, that those princesses would upstage the zoo and all of its cool animals. This is Lacy looking at the Emus and Llamas. This one is in front of the Bald Eagle.
After the zoo, we went home to nap and then went to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner. We came back home for cake. It was a very fun day!

More Stickers

She decorated daddy the same way too.

New and Improved Prospector Pete

Friday night we went to the CSULB vs UCSB girls volleyball game. The big deal was that they were unveiling the new and improved mascot. The CSULB mascot is Prospector Pete who's just a guy with a dimpled chin and five o clock shadow with a pick axe for gold mining. The mascot costume for the last 10 years has been an inflatable costume--think moonbounce or the giant blow up gorillas at car dealerships. Consequently, it wasn't easy for the old pete to get around--you could hardly tell when he was moving his arms. So, after the second game/set they take a break to introduce the new pete. The cheerleaders come out and are rallying and form a entryline for the mascots. The announcer tells everyone to stand up its now time to say farewell to the OLD pete and introduce the NEW pete...so the old pete comes out and goes to center court. More applause. More loud music. And heeerreeee's the new Pete. NEW pete comes out riding a segway (like GOB from arrested) he goes like 3 feet and runs into two cheerleaders, falls off. All is not lost, he can still save face! He attempts again and quickly hops back on to the segway, goes another 2 feet and this time leans too far forward and completely falls off. It was hilarious. Then he makes a wise choice and ditches the segway and runs around the court rallying and cheering. It was quite the grand entrance. We watched him as he finished his thing and walked off the court and he threw down his pick axe like he was mad as heck that he blundered his big intro...i guess you had to be there. It was funny, I promise.

Now to the important stuff. Lacy did well at the game too. She cheered and shook her pom pom. We made sure she wore her LB tshirt. Cousin Kortney was good to me and took Lacy for walks when she got too restless.

Family Bonfire

We spent the evening with family at Bolsa Chica State Beach. We got there just before dark and it was already a bit cool and windy, but Lacy didn't seem to mind. She tugged on Cliff's hand to head towards the water. They found some cool shells and jumped over waves. The lighting provided some very romantic looking pictures. (Thanks to Tori for the pics...we came cameraless!)

While I dried off and tried to warm up Lacy, the Aunts got to work on our gourmet seven course meal of hot dogs, chips and smores. Lacy ate a well balanced meal of cheeto puffs, pringles, and apple juice. Weird kid wouldn't have any hot dog OR smores! Lacy did laps around our bonfire area all night long. Aunt LuAnn tried to teach her duck, duck, goose...but Lacy kept patting her own head and saying duck, duck...

A little later, we got a REAL treat. There was someone walking a polar bear on the beach. just kidding... it was a dog, but it was the most ginormous dog I had ever seen. It was an Irish wolf hound and it was a puppy and still had another foot to grow. Cliff and family ran over to question the owner and ooh and aah at the dog. It was pretty cool.

We topped off the night, by stopping at a little cafe Cliff used to go to so he could get some banana nut pancakes. Lacy licked the whip cream off of Kortney's hot chocolate and had some watermelon. Then we took our tired dirty girl home to go to bed. We had SO much fun!

Labor Day with Noah

We spent Labor Day weekend visiting Uncle Noah at the Academy. It was his first opportunity to leave the base for the weekend and I think we all enjoyed it. He looks so handsome in uniform! We're so very proud of him.

Breakfast Buddies

This is the array of stuffed animals that Lacy has in her bed with her, and consequently likes to carry around the house after she's woken up. On this day though, she insisted that they sit IN her chair with her while she eats her cheerios. But daddy had to feed her because she would risk dropping one of her friends if she tried to feed herself.

Disneyland Family

There were four generations of Cliff's maternal side at Disneyland on Friday. The 3rd generation aunt is taking the picture and Cliff's two cousins work there (that's why they're in costume). Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa rented wheelchairs while there and Lacy thought it was so cool because they were in 'strollers' just like her. While we were caravan-ing through the park she would cup her mouth and yell "gramma, gramma" which is Lacy speak for both grandma and grandpa, to make sure they didn't get too far ahead of her.

Earlier that day, before we met up with the fam, Lacy and I were practicing our skills...like nunchucks skills, hehe just kidding. We were practicing our buzz light year ride skills. Only the COOLEST RIDE EVER. Lacy's getting pretty good. She might break 100,000 the next time we go. Me on the other hand...I should get my vision checked maybe. But check out our looks of determination!

For Fun...watching Cinderella

"Arella"

Lacy has really taken to Cinderella. She watches it at least once a day (yes, I know, couch potato!) She sings and dances to the songs. Its actually amusing to me to see her be so girly. I mean you can't get much more girly than loving princesses. Last week, I took her to get some new shoes and was trying to get her excited about a pair of Dora sandals, but she had a far off look and mumbled "Arella." She spotted a pair of princess sandals behind me with Cinderella on them and would only have those!

We were at Target last night and she had to carry everything Cinderella through the store with her. She found a backpack in the back to school section that she put on and it went from her shoulders to her knees. And when she walked up to Cliff I told her to show daddy, she turned around and stuck her butt out, as to properly display the Cinderella backpack. She got a new Cinderella nightlight from the Target trip last night, and she was so excited to see it in her new room. She kept pulling it out of the wall and saying "Arella Light."

Sorry, no pictures. The move has delayed things for a bit.

Funny Lacy

Lacy put on Daddy's dress socks ("shoes") and pranced around on her tippy-toes. What a poser! She is ready for the Paris fashion runways.

On another note, the other night, I was in the kitchen making dinner. Lacy was running laps around me through the kitchen with one shoe and as a result kept tripping. I wasn't too worried...but what made me laugh was that everytime she fell down, she would say "Are you ok?"

And to complete the theme of this blog. Lacy and I stopped for some Panda Express the other day and her fortune said "YOU ARE A CHARMER!"