Lucia's Birthday Party!

Well, my baby is now a toddler. We kept her alive for a full year. :) I can't believe that the time has flown by so quickly. It is amazing to look back at the early pictures and see how much she has changed in just one short year. I so look forward to the years to come with my girl. She brings me so much joy!

On her birthday, we had just the family over. Jai, Sten, Solveig, Allistaire, Terry and Kathy from the Murphy side and Mom, Kaitlyn, and Lindsey from the Summerill side. Lucia loved the balloons and the flags that I made. She wasn't so sure about the cake at first but then managed to smoosh it all over her face. True to Lucy and her eating habits, she managed to get the food all over the place while getting very little in her mouth. :)

It is strange to think that we celebrate a whole year of life in just one day. I can't really put my feelings into words but I'll say that she and Pat are the loves of my life and I can't imagine a moment without them. They are both sweet and hilarious. The best is watching the two of them together and knowing that the Lord has blessed me so fully. I am so thankful for them both. Lucia is doing a whole new set of things every few weeks it seems. She is a toddler for sure now. She has started to tip her head to one side when she knows she is being cute or is feeling shy. She also has started making a very surprised face that I'll try to catch on camera.

Nearly all of the Summerill ladies together. We were just missing Renee in the bunch.
Flying Lucy!
Birthday greetings for the lady from Nana and Papa
Cousin love...

Oooo...pretty flags. I had a lot of fun making these flags as part of the birthday decorations. I ended up making two sets of flags and a tablecloth. Thanks to Kaitlyn, the tablecloth is actually sewn straight. We did a lot of measuring to make sure that I didn't mess it up.
Birthday kisses for mom. Notice that I am trying to escape having my entire face eaten
Grandbaby and the Grandmas
A very happy baby with her Aunt Lindsey

Checking out the balloons with Dad
Meeting baby Allistaire for the first time. Cousin love!!!
Present time...
Awesome card from Aunt Jai

I love Plan Toys and I wanted Lucy to have a shape sorter for her birthday. Craig and Renee got her the perfect gift. It is a Plan Toy bus/shape sorter. She loves it and pulls it around with her all the time now.
Lucia's first bike! She's super fast! :)

More time on the bike

The glorious first cake experience

What is this wonderful chocolate thing?!?!
Blowing out the candle with Dada
Proud parents watching our little girl. We had so much fun watching Lucia destroy the cake. She was a cutie!
Careful first tastes. She had to make sure it wasn't veggie flavored.
Now we're getting into it!

Feeding the cake to Mama...so good at sharing.
Lick that plate!
Total cake destruction
The End...

For the Faithful Lucy Fans

Shout out to Lindsey! This is coming to you by special request. Lucy loves her Auntie!

My Funny Girl

Here are just a random assortment of funny and cute pictures of Lucia Kate. She is getting big so fast and will be 1 year old in less than 3 weeks!

Oh, look at this mom, a beautiful phone!
I shall now eat the phone... Also, the toy snail that she is holding goes with us everywhere. It is her blanky. She litterally does not let go of the thing unless she is eating and I make her set it down or she is sleeping and I make her set it down. Notice she has it in every picture except the food pictures
I like this one because it looks like she is keeping an eye on Pat just in case he tries to feed her peas or something like that.
Tiny scrunch face
Snuggling with Dad
There are two dogs behind our house and up on a hill. She loves them and will watch them out the window when they are barking.

Sunny February Days

It seems like Lucia is getting to be a toddler and it is happening so fast! She is now eating big kid foods, pulled herself up to a standing position a few weeks back and decided to take up climbing the stairs on Monday, Feb. 15th. I feel like she is going to be running around and talking to me in no time at all. It is so fun to watch her grow and learn. February has been full of many fun and new adventures for us. Here are a few random pictures and then a few from our outings.

Lucia and I took our first trip to the zoo with our friends Lindsay and Jackson. I wish that I had a picture of the four of us too but here is one of Lucy and I. Lucy definitely liked certain point during our visit but, for the most part, the animals were far enough away that I don't know that she got it. She did like the penguins because the came swimming right past the glass. We'll have to try again in the summer when she is a bit older. That said, it was still really fun to take her and I'm looking forward to more trips when the weather is a bit warmer. Lindsay and I were freezing by the time we finished at the zoo.

Our next animal adventure was visiting a petting farm with Aunt Kaitlyn. This past week has been beautifully sunny and "warm" (55ish degrees). I absolutely love the northwest when it is sunny. I just want to spend the entire day outside enjoying the mountain views and the fresh air. We live in such a beautiful place. Anyway, back to the animals. Lucy loves dogs and imitates them whenever she hears them, so I figured she might also like a petting zoo. It was more successful than the zoo because the animals were so close. She did get pretty excited in her little Lucy way which entails flapping her arms and legs and hard as possible and making a loud screeching sound while knocking her head back into my body. It is pretty funny. She like the goats and tried to reach out and touch one of them. She was a bit startled by the funny looking chickens with crazy feathers but warmed up to them. She loved the horses and laughed at one of them as he was sticking his head out of the fence.


This was definitely the week of sun. On Friday, Kaitlyn and I took Lucia down to the waterfront, walked on the beach, watched the ferries, played with dogs, and put Lucy in a swing for the first time. She loved it so much that Pat and I just went back today to repeat the fun.

Our two Northwest beach days

Girls Weekend Away!!!!

Pat is an awesome husband and dad! He took care of Lucy last Saturday and Sunday while Kaitlyn and I took a trip to Portland. It was great to be away for a bit, sleep in, and go out for breakfast/lunch/dinner and not worry about eating quickly so that Lucy wouldn't get bored. Pat did great with Lucia too!

We headed down to Portland on Saturday morning, found a cool cafe for lunch, cupcakes after that and then shopped around downtown for a bit. The next stop was Powell bookstore. We spent 3 hours there! We just parked it on the floor and looked through piles and piles of books. Thankfully I only came out of there with three books...it could have easily been fifty books. I love that place.

After Powell's, we were able to meet up with an old and good friend of mine, Chandra. It was so great to see her and to meet her husband. They drove over from Hood River and had a few beers with us at a brewery downtown. The next day we walked around Mississippi Ave., ate Ethiopian food and then headed home. It was a great trip!

Kaitlyn and I at the brewery on Saturday night.
Chandra and I after 10 years of not seeing each other!Kaitlyn and I walking around the city trying to get to Washington Park but we ended up at Powell's instead.
Post Ethiopian food and heading back to Seattle

Lucy Getting so Big

I can't believe that Lucy is getting so big. She can stand up while holding on to furniture and pulled herself up to her feet for the first time yesterday (Feb. 7th). We are coming up on her 11 month "birthday" and her first year birthday is right around the corner. She is still such a happy girl. She loves to roam the house getting into whatever she can get away with. It has been interesting to set boundaries for her. She has been pretty good about it. We'll see how things heat up when she starts walking! She is also teething. The first tooth her pushed through the gums and the second one is almost through the gums as well. Poor girl has had a bit of a rough time but not too bad.

Lucy absolutely loves to watch little kids. She will do anything to keep her eyes on them. She will stand at the front window, tap on it, and "talk" to the kids who are outside playing. It is quite cute.

Here are some recent pictures

Lucy playing with her bear "Max" that Lindsey gave to her right after she was born. She makes this face whenever she sees Max
Playing with Dad
Watching the big kids play outside

Hanging out with Aunt Kaitlyn