Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to take a quick minute from our crazy Christmas preparations to say Merry Christmas! I hope you are all enjoying the week and able to spend time with your loved ones. We are in Layton celebrating with our families. It's been hectic and a little emotional at times (what Hickman family holiday isn't?), but we're having a great time. Lucy is loving every minute of the attention. We're excited for the "program" we'll have tonight after dinner. It's one of my favorite times of the whole year. My family acts out the Christmas story and then we sing songs. Blaine and Lindsay (amazing voices) do solos, my sisters and I sing. Lucy has been practicing "Picture a Christmas". What a happy time! I'm looking forward to seeing all of your holiday pictures and to posting a few of my own. Right now I'd better get going.....I have two pies to make for dessert tonight. Wish me luck!

Goodbye, Gilmore Girls

It's over. We finished the 7th and final season of Gilmore Girls on Saturday night. I'd had watched it a few times, but never for very long. But then we started with season 1 this summer and continued to Netflix them through season 6. Season 7 didn't come out on DVD until mid-november and then we had to be on a waiting list to get it. Finally, they arrived and we zoomed through them much too quickly. We should have savored each episode. When we realized we were on the last disc, Jason made some no-bake cookies in a feeble attempt to make it more of an event. I'll miss Lorelai, Rory, Suki, and Luke. There's something about the quick dialogue and witty conversations that I really enjoy. I wasn't completely satisfied with the way everything turned out, but for the most part, there was closure. I told Jason that if I could live anywhere in the world, I think it would be Stars Hollow, CT (even though it doesn't exist).

Any other Gilmore Girls fans out there? I'm curious to know who was your favorite of Rory's numerous boyfriends? I was a major Dean fan until the whole affair issue. Was anyone else disappointed about the ending with Lorelai and Luke.....not enough info?

We're trying to decide what to Netflix next. It's nice doing TV shows because then you can watch one show in 45 minutes. Any suggestions? What shows are you all into? What are you currently Netflix/Blockbustering?

Happy Birthday!

I just wanted to give a shout out to my best bud, Lichelley! Today is her 28th birthday and I want her to know how much I love and appreciate her. I look to her as an example in so many ways. She is a fabulous mother. Very creative, very patient. It seems she always has new ideas of things to do with her kids and ways to teach them.

Lichelley is a wonderful friend. She's always there when I need to be assured I'm not an idiot or if I'm in a bind and need a good idea for the kids, primary, presents, etc.

Thanks for being such an amazing friend, Lichelley! I'm so glad we met way back in junior high and our friendship survived high school and living together at USU. We have so many memories!!!

I hope you have a very happy birthday!

Soccer Queen/Supermodel

We got Lucy's soccer pictures back. I had to show you the group picture. She's on the front row, far right. Whenever we try to get Lucy to smile for pictures, she does this weird head turning thing. She took it to a whole new level with the side stance action. Jason and I were laughing pretty hard. Lucy couldn't have been more proud.

Crazy Town!

Crazy Town has been my saying for the last few days. Kids, kids, and more kids!

On Friday evening we had a little party for our neighbor friends and their kiddos. We had dinner and decorated sugar cookies. The kids drew names a couple weeks ago to exchange gifts. The big surprise was that Santa came! The kids reactions were hilarious! All of them were so excited. All of them got a turn on his lap. Lucy kept poking her head in when it was other kids turn and saying, "I know you have a sleigh!" or "You're funny!" It was pretty cute! She's been telling us for the last couple weeks that she wants "boots that light up and a music box". She's been wanting shoes that light up for years, but I'm not a fan, so it hasn't happened. She saw someone with boots on and decided she wanted those....... then remembered she wanted light up shoes and that is where we get the "boots that light up" situation. (Good luck with that Santa! Actually "Santa" found some seriously cute pink cowboy boots that have stars that light up when you walk...hilarious!). Santa was so sweet and personable to all the kids. A very kind man! You'll notice in the picture that Lucy is wearing a purple leotard. Much to my dismay, she slipped that little number on right before Santa came.

Graham wasn't too impressed with Santa. He jabbered to him a little bit after we gave up on putting him on his lap. But.....he jabbers to just about anyone or anything lately. On Saturday we had a primary activity to practice the Nativity Program we'll be doing for the ward party. There was some ornament making and sugar cookie decorating and then the practice. Lots of kids, lots of craziness......hence the Crazy Town expression.

Today I had sharing time. It didn't go as well as planned, but we got through it. I can't decide if the kids were extra crazy (there's that word again) or if my kid-o-meter was just full, but by the end of church I was ready to drop-kick any human under the age of 12 that crossed me. (The drop-kick line was for Jason. There's been a few times that I told Jason that I wanted to drop-kick Lucy and he thinks it's pretty funny. Slightly morbid, but still funny.)

Graham woke up earlier than expected from his nap today, so only one of us was going to get our Sunday nap. My sweet, kind, wonderful husband let me sleep while he played with the kids and made dinner. What a man! I think I can survive another trip to Crazy Town if he's along for the ride!

Santa is Watching!

We had a little package delivered to our house on Saturday night. Lucy and Graham got a gift from Santa and his elves! (We love Grandma and Grandpa!). The elves rang the doorbell and ran (Jason is quite the sprinter). Lucy was so excited to find the Polar Express DVD and the big bell. She was beaming from ear to ear when we read the note to her from Santa and the elves. She called and told her cousins, Abby and Oliver, about her surprise. She was so happy to find out that they had gotten a similar package.

The next day she told a few of her friends at church that "Santa is watching everyone!" On the way home from church she asked Jason, "Did the 'A''s give some to Abby and the 'O's to Oliver?" She's a little confused about the elves being elves and not 'L's (as in Lucy). So funny!

Whenever we're in the car we've been listening to Soft rock 98.9, because they're playing only Christmas music from here on out. Lucy came walking into my room singing the stations little jingle, "Sofrod....98.9!" I had to try not to laugh because I wanted her to keep doing it.

This is Graham in his brand new coat. I couldn't stop laughing as I watched him walk around. So flippin' cute! It's been a freezing 59 degrees here in Lemoore (that's cold for us....I know, we're wimps). We felt like the guy needed some gear. Especially because we're heading to Utah in 16 days! Whoopeee!

Traditions....

Only 22 sleeps until we get to go Bobby (that's what we call Grandma) and Grandpa's house for Christmas. Lucy asks every morning, "Do we have just 2 sleeps yet, Mom?" Oh how I wish! With Thanksgiving being so early this year, it seems like we have FOREVER until the big day. We got our tree and decorations up the day after Turkey Day. I feel like I spend a lot of my day saying, "Gra...ham! No no!" He wants to pull the ornaments off so bad! Now that a lot of us are starting little families of our own, I thought it would be fun to ask what traditions you've been carrying on or starting. My favorite that we've done is buy an ornament for the kids every Christmas that reflects their interests or personality for that year. We actually just started last year. We have them open them on Christmas Eve. Lucy got a Cinderella slipper (her favorite princess at the time). It was Graham's first year, so we bought him this cute little letter 'G'. Lucy was so excited when we pulled out her ornament and she talked about opening it last year. I think it'll be awesome when she has a bunch to look through and put on the tree. They'll be little representations of her during that year.

This year I'm hoping to start a new one. My friend gave me this binder that has a scripture, song, and story for the 24 days before Christmas. I still need to run off the copies and get a binder, but hey.....I have 2 more days, right?

Anyways....what are some that you have started? I really want to make the season magical and exciting for my kids. I'm hoping to make it a peaceful time to that we can talk about the Savior often and have the spirit in our home.

Happy, Happy Birthday, Bether Dear!

My sister, Beth, had her 22nd birthday yesterday. Happy Birthday, Betherboo! We love you so very much. Our lives would be oh so boring without you and your craziness. You are the life of the party and we're all so lucky to have you. Thanks for being such a wonderful sister and super fun aunt. Lucy talks about Beth all the time. Last week we had to make a family tree for preschool and we didn't have enough leaves for everybody. But you can bet there was a leaf with Beth's name on it!

Happy Birthday! You're always there when I need someone to vent to! We love you!

August Rush ****

Jason and I went to see August Rush at the theaters today. Great show!! I loved it! Freddie Highmore (I think that's right) stars in it. He was the little boy in Finding Neverland. I loved him in that and even more in this one. It's rated PG.....very clean and very good! Go see it! It made me wish I played an instrument of some kind.

Has anyone seen Enchanted yet? We're hoping to see that one soon

For these moments... I am thankful!

It's hard to believe Thanksgiving has come and gone already. We had a very nice day here at the Ray house. Flag football was first on our list. Every year some guys from the ward get together and play. The kids and I went along and I even got some game time at the end. We hurried home to get the turkey in the oven on time for our 3:00 feast.

We had over some friends for the big meal. It was different not spending the day with tons of family, but we had a fabulous time. There was tons of food, of course. This was our first time doing the turkey alone, so Jason and I had some differing opinions on how it should be done, but it turned out great. For dessert we had our choice from lemon meringue pie, pecan pie, apple pie, and Jason's favorite- Kentucky pie. Very good!! After dessert we played some Family Feud and Win, Lose, or Draw. Our friends saw a new side to Jason and I. I guess they didn't know how competitive we can be. Boys against girls isn't always good for us!

We have so many things to be grateful for. We are happy and healthy. Life is good! We're so grateful for wonderful friends that make life away from family bearable and take care of us. Friends and family far and near.....we love you all!

P.S. Lucy insisted on wearing her "crazy hat" throughout the evening. What a goof!

Calling all scrapbookers!

Okay......I'm having a little bit of a dilemma. It's been ongoing for a few months now. I'm trying to decide if I want to make the switch to digital scrapbooking. I see so many advantages......no mess, no picture printing, I can have the pics the size I want on the page without planning ahead (8x10 of a snapshot, etc...). I've invested quite a bit into stamps and stuff (I keep telling myself I would still use them for card making and little projects). What do you all do? I'm thinking of getting the Adobe Elements software for Christmas, but I'm nervous. It's the unknown. I have a tough time with change. Switching from 8 1/2 x 11 albums to 12 x 12 albums was a major event at our house. I couldn't decide for a long time and it was all I could think about. I'm currently having the same problem. Lichelle is probably laughing because she has answered my numerous questions on the topic.

If you are a scrapbooker....what do you do?

Great Family!

Lucy is such a funny girl. She loves to sing. Most of the time she sings songs she's made up, but every once in a while she'll sing an actual song. If she messes up on the words, she DOES NOT like to be corrected. For example: She likes to sing "Love is Spoken Here" occasionally. The first line goes, "I see my mother kneeling with our family each day". Lucy's version: "I see my mother kneeling with our great family each day". All you other families.....you're just okay. Apparently we're great!
Perhaps you noticed the band-aid on her forehead. Lucy fell off my bed when she was playing. There was no blood involved, but she insisted on the band-aid. She's had it on since Saturday. I asked her this morning if we could take it off. She said, "No, Mom! It'll come off when it's ready to come off!" When she got back from preschool she was in a very grumpy mood. She said, "Every one kept asking what happened to my head and it was making me sick telling everybody!" Yet.....she still didn't want it taken off. Go figure!

Me, Myself, and I

It's been a weird 24 hours for me here in Lemoore. Jason and the kids left yesterday afternoon to go to Monterrey for the night. Jason's brother, Marty, and his wife are vacationing there, so they went to go have dinner and see the aquarium there. I was helping host a baby shower this morning, so I stayed home by my lonesome.

It's so quiet! It was weird waking up this morning to silence. No alarm, no shower running, no Graham noises.....just me and the empty house. I got a little sad when I walked by Lucy and Graham's empty rooms.

The break has been nice, though. I had a great time last night. First, I went and got my eyebrows done (wow....it had been a while and boy did it hurt!). I then went with some of my friends to book club and then came home and tried to finish my pages for a scrapbook swap I'm in (they're due tonight....I need to focus, yet here I am). When my mom came last week she brought me the first book in the Twilight series, so I've been reading that. This morning was the baby shower for my friend, Jill. It was a lot of fun.

Jason and the kids will be back this evening. What a fantastic husband I have. He didn't even hesitate when thinking about taking the kids to Monterrey by himself. I kept asking, "Are you sure you don't want to leave Graham?" He'd reply with a questioning look, "Why would I leave him home?" He's such wonderful father and I feel so blessed to be able to share my life with him.

Pay it Forward...

A friend of mine is doing this and I thought that it sounded like fun.

I will send a handmade gift to the first three (3) people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. You may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog. (or just promise to do it somehow). I can't wait to see who I will be giving to. To join, just cut and paste this on your blog and comment away. So get posting!!

Maggie's side note: Just do it....It doesn't have to be anything major! (I'm saying this mostly to convince myself not to stress about something just fun....I have a tendency to do that.)

Happy Birthday, Blainer!

Today is my little bro's birthday. Blaine is 24 today! I am so grateful for him in my life. He is ridiculously talented and so dang funny. There are few people who match his wit. I love spending time with him. Blaine and I have always gotten along very well. Anyone who has spent any time with the Hickman fam will know that we have a tendency to bicker, fight, debate, argue (whatever you want to call it) a lot. Strangely, Blaine and I never really do and we didn't when we were young, either. Looking back to when we were growing I like to say that Blaine idolized me, so he did whatever I told him to. There was no reason to fight. We are a lot alike, so that may be part of it. There aren't many people who understand or "get" my craziness, but Blaine does and he has a wonderful way of helping me through my rough times. He gives solutions without judgement and knows the right things to say at the right time. I know it's a gift he's been given.

I love you, Blaine! I'm so glad you were born!

Triathletes are we!

We did it!! We completed the Treasure Island Triathlon! Although, it should now be called the Duathlon because the swimming portion was cancelled due to an enormous oil spill in the bay. We found out that we wouldn't be swimming the night before when we checked in. We were pretty bummed when we heard. We've been training for a while now, so it was disappointing. But that disappointment turned into relief the next morning when we were starting the race. It was SO COLD!! Blaine's age group started at 7:30 am and mine didn't start until 8:45. So I was standing around in the cold for over an hour trying to keep my feet from going numb. I got to see Blaine do a couple laps on the bike before my wave started. The course was crazy! I wasn't too impressed. For the bike we had to do 6 laps to do the 25 miles. There were so many turns! By the end of the race there were 3 or 4 crashes (none were near me, I was going to slow to get involved in any of that drama). There was one killer hill at the end of each lap. I thought that was kinda mean of the event planners. By the time the biking was done, I was beyond happy to be off of the bike and onto the running. For the run we had to run to do 3 laps to total the 6 miles. The run is by far the easiest part for me. It was tough, don't get me wrong, but I definitely need to work on my cycling time. The end of the race was cool. Jason and the kids, Mom and Dad, and Blaine were there cheering. The announcer says everybody's name and where you're from as you cross the finish line. I was so happy to be done!! The race was tough, but we left with such a great feeling of accomplishment. It couldn't have been too bad....when we got back home, we were already online trying to find the next race. Bring it on!!

The city of San Francisco is amazing! We went to Fisherman's Wharf and shopped around for a little while. Very cool! We got some chocolate from a cute little candy store there. Lucy had a monumental break down because she couldn't decide what treat she should get (I could relate. I've been there). The Bay Bridge and Golden Gate Bridge were awesome. Especially at night. They're all lit up and they stand out in the fog. I couldn't believe how steep some of the streets in the city were.

One of my favorite parts of the trip was the night before the race. Blaine and I left the hotel for a little while and went for a walk. As we reached the top of one of the many hills, I said, "Okay Frisco....where's your night life?" I was totally joking, but I guess this guy heard me and walked over a minute later and asked what we were looking for. I made a complete idiot of myself when I responded with, "Oh, maybe a Walgreens or Rite Aid." He looked very confused. Blaine had to explain to me that he had heard my night life comment. Oops.....

We went into this little cafe and shared pear bread pudding dessert (first time trying bread pudding...not too bad). It was nice hanging out with just him and talking. Blaine is an amazing person and a wonderful brother. It's been so cool sharing these race experiences with him. I can't wait to get started on our next one (slight exaggeration.....I can wait a little bit).

P.S. We're trying to figure out how to get our videos onto our computer. Hopefully I'll be able to post some of our footage of the race soon.

Here Comes Trouble!

Graham has been doing the cutest things the last couple days. Yesterday he started flipping his ears with his hands. He does both ears at the same time. He's usually stomping around (Graham doesn't walk, he stomps) when he does it.

Tonight when Lucy was getting ready to say her bedtime prayers, Graham put his little head down on her bed and started jabbering quietly like he was praying. Sooooooo cute!!!

He's also been doing some not so cute things. He can open my oven!! He does it with such ease! I need to get a snap lock thing ASAP. If I forget to lock the dishwasher, he pulls everything out of it. He is obsessed with hair, too. He keeps pulling Lucy's hair any chance he gets. She, of course, flips out every time--- which is awesome. What a little rascal!

Jason comes back tomorrow night and Mom, Dad and Blaine are flying in! So excited! I have to say that I've handled this time alone with the kids fairly well. They only got chicken nuggets 2 out of 4 dinners and Lucy has only cried for Daddy a couple times. (She usually cries for him when I've lost my cool and yelled at her). We love you, Daddy!

I've been TAGGED!!

My buddy, Lichelle, tagged me about a week ago. I'm supposed to tell 7 things about myself and then tag 7 people to do the same. I've taken a while doing this because I can't think of 7 interesting things. Oh well....here it goes:

Side note: the picture has nothing to do with my interesting things.....I just found it the other day and thought it was funny. It's me and my brother, Blaine. Check out the couch...YIKES!)

1. I love candy corn. Most people would say they "like" candy corn, but I love it. I used to like any brand, but I have decided that Brach's brand are the best. I also like conversation hearts, but only Brach's. I love candy! I could give up cake, cookies, ice cream, donuts, etc...., but I could not give up my candy!!!

2. I am extremely afraid of heights. This fear came after I had children. It's a pretty big phobia. When I rode the New York New York roller coaster in Vegas this summer.....I honestly felt like I might pass out as we climbed to the top. I'm turning into a boring mom!!

3. I hate talking about food storage. I know it's a necessary thing and I'm working on it, but it stresses me out...big time. My heart sinks when there is a lesson on it or an enrichment on it. Two things that give me stress....the idea of polygamy and food storage. Yep.....I put them on the same level.

4. I am not a night person. I can stay up till about 10:30 or 11:00, but then I fall asleep wherever I am. At Utah State I missed out on a lot of fun because of this. If there's something that needs to be done, I am much better off going to bed and waking up really early than staying up late. Along with that, I HATE getting ready for bed! The routine ticks me off and takes too long!

5. I have a degree in Physical Education and Health. After going through the secondary education program and student teaching, I have no desire to teach school. I coached soccer for a couple years and loved it, but teaching.....no thanks. Hopefully when and if I go back to work, I can find another way to use my degree.

6. I am a routine oriented person (to put it lightly). I get upset when anything throws off what I had thought my day would be like. Example: Jason tells me that he has to be to work at 7:00 am instead of 8:00. Which means I have to get up an hour earlier to work out or not go at all (which is what usually happens. Another example: Graham doesn't go down for a nap when I had planned or wakes up earlier than I had in mind. I'm working on being more flexible.

7. I'm an aspiring optimist. In the last year or so, I'm becoming more and more self-aware. In most situations I plan for the worst and then I'm not disappointed or surprised when something goes wrong. I don't want to be this way. Recognizing the problem is the first step, right?

TAG your it! I've tagged seven people: Lindsay, Emily, Collette, Tanna, Aimee, Kalleen, and Camille. Within 7 days, write 7 things about you or you'll be stuck with 7 curses upon your head (that's what I've heard, anyways!). Pass it on! It's fun to read new things about people!

Will I Survive It?

The count down has begun. Only 6 more sleeps (that's how we judge time with Lucy) until my big triathlon in San Francisco. 1 mile swim, 25 mile bike, and 6 mile run. Lots of anxiety going on about this race. First worry: the pool here on base has been broken down for over 2 weeks. The boilers actually broke a couple months ago, but they were still letting people swim as long as the temperature was over 65 degrees (for those of you wondering, yes....that is very, very cold to swim in). 2 weeks ago the temp. stayed below 65 and they haven't opened in up since then. They've been saying the boilers will be fixed any day now, but I call every morning and no progress. So, I haven't swam for a while. Yikes! Second worry: I have to find a wetsuit. When I tell people from California that we're swimming in the San Francisco Bay in November, they jump back in horror and exclaim that they would never, ever do that (making me feel very confident). The tough part is that I live 2 1/2 hours from the coast and I'm having a hard time finding places that rent wet suits and I don't have $200 bucks to pay for one. I called places in San Francisco and they all tell me that I really need to try one on before the race and they can't be sure they'll have one for me if I wait until I get there. My third worry also has to do with the swim in the ocean. I've had people ask me if I've practiced swimming in the waves (I'm tempted to reply, "Oh...I have my own personal wave pool in the backyard. I'm set!"). Hopefully it won't take me two years to do the swim.
Jason left this afternoon for a Jr. Officer conference in San Diego, so I'm on my own with the kids. I've got to try and find a sitter while I go to a place in town to swim a couple times to gain some confidence in that department. It should be interesting!
The best part of the week comes on Thursday. My brother, Blaine, is competing with me in the triathlon, so he and my mom and dad are flying in! We'll drive to San Francisco on Friday and compete on Saturday. We're so excited to have them here!
Even though I'm extremely nervous for the race, I'm really excited, too. There's going to be a lot of people competing to qualify for the Olympics, so it should be neat. Blaine and I will be a couple hours behind them, but oh well! Pray for us....we're going to need all the help we can get!

We love Shelby Bows!

My great friend, Lichelle Perry, started a little business a couple months ago making bows and hair accessories. A bunch of my ward and neighbor buddies put in an order and we received them a couple weeks ago. We love them! Lucy looks forward to choosing what bow she is going to wear everyday. These flowers are her favorite. They have a sparkly middle that she has to show everyone. I'm excited to buy some more to give her for Christmas. Great stocking stuffers. I have a link to her site on my side bar. Check it out!!

Happy Halloween!

"I don't want any more pictures, Mom!"

We had a very happy Halloween here at the Ray home. Lucy woke up in the morning asking if it was time to go trick or treating, so it was a long day! She got to dress up in her jammies for preschool. Very cool. We had pizza at our friends, the Knolls, home and then it was finally time to go trick or treating. Graham dressed up as a bumble bee and Lucy was a witch. Graham had fun yelling at people from the stroller. Lucy wanted to show me every piece of candy she got. When we got home we told her she could choose 3 pieces of candy and then it was time for bed. You know you're addicted to candy when you are disappointed that your daughter chose the swedish fish you had been eyeballing since the third house you went to. Surprisingly, Lucy hasn't asked for one piece all day today. Even more surprisingly, I haven't had a piece yet. Go Maggie!

Thompson Time!

We had a fabulous weekend here in Lemoore. My sister, Heidi Thompson, and her two kids, Abby and Oliver, came to visit us. They flew in on Thursday afternooon and we partied the whole weekend through.

On Friday we hung out here at the house and then went to our ward's Trunk or Treat activity. Abby was Hannah Montana, Ollie was a pirate and Lucy was a witch with purple hair (she was very specific in her descriptions). Jason, Heidi, and I dressed up as ceiling fans. Let me explain.....we wore shirts that had big letter 'C' 's on them and hats with things like "Go Ceilings" or "Ceilings are Tops". We were ceiling "fans". We thought it was pretty funny. If you don't get it, don't worry, lots of people at the party didn't get it either. It was fun to have Heidi meet my friends here in Lemoore and see what our town and ward are like.

Saturday morning we went to Lucy's first soccer game and then made our way to the coast. Morro Bay is about 2 1/2 hours away. It was a very cold when we got there (about 60 degrees), but that didn't stop the kids from going in the water. We couldn't keep Graham out! The waves kept knocking him down and he'd cry and then go back for more. Crazy kids! I was so cold!! We stayed for less than an hour and then made our way home.

Sunday morning you would have thought these kids lived together with all of their fighting! The newness had worn off by this point. We had a hard time getting them to go to sleep at night and they all woke up super early, so they were out of control cranky!

Monday we drove to Sequoia National Park to see the Giant Sequoia trees. They are crazy big. The drive was about twice as far as I thought, but the kids were troopers. We had some car sick issues on the way home, but it was good day.

Some of the highlights of the weekend for me were: listening to the kids sing along to the High School Musical Soundtrack that we played over and over again in the car (especially 'Fabulous'), watching TV with Jason and Heidi and laughing way too hard at our own jokes, Heidi and I playing some serious Ultimate Hopscotch (this is not your sissy-style, pick up the rock, hopscotch). We let Jason play with us on Sunday afternoon and he beat us...beginners luck!

I'm so glad that they came! We had such a great time. Lucy and I are trying to snap out of our state of depression. We miss them already!

The Good Example Jar

We're attempting a new strategy to try and encourage better behavior from little Lucy. Like I've explained before, we've been going through a bit of a rough patch as far as obedience and there's been a whole lot of whining going on here at the Ray household. Last night at FHE we presented our plan. Lucy has this little container that we lovingly call, "The Good Example Jar". She gets to fill it with one or two of the colored rocks when she has exhibited "Good Example" behavior (don't worry, we didn't use the word 'exibited' when explaining it to Lucy.) We have to take one out when she is maybe having not so good behavior. When it's filled to the top, we'll take her to Chuck E. Cheese (my favorite hang-out spot). Jason and I did a role-play where I was Lucy and he was Mom (or himself) asking her to do something. She thought it was hilarious when I threw myself on the ground screaming when he told me it was time to clean up and get ready for bed. I had the most fun acting out her usual reaction to having to come inside after playing. Classic. This is a picture of Lucy after she happily got her jammies on and brushed her teeth.....she got to put a rock in. So far...so good. We'll keep you posted. Get it? Posted! Ha!

"Lucy! Go kick the ball!"

Yesterday was Lucy's first soccer practice of the season. As I was helping her get her shoes on, she said, "I don't want to play soccer. It gets me all sweaty!" I went into a whole speech about how fun it's going to be and how much I love soccer, so she should love it, too. She was not at all interested. We signed her up last season, but as you can see from the picture, there wasn't a whole lot of soccer playing. There was, however, a whole lot of grass picking and prancing. All of which was nowhere near the soccer ball. Last year she spent almost an entire game standing in the middle of the field, yelling her friend's name. "HAYLEY......HAYLEY........HAYLEY...." Imagine her with her hands cupped around her mouth. Turning the direction that Hayley was in.

She had a great time at practice and even kicked the ball a few times. Maybe this year there will be a little less dancing and singing on the field and a little more kicking and goal-scoring.

Cute face...quick temper!

We've entered a new stage with our little Lucy-goose. Like most, if not all, of her other stages, we're not sure how to handle it. Whenever Lucy gets upset or disappointed (friend has to go home, we have to leave, etc, etc.)she proceeds to tell me that she does not like me and occasionally hits me. When she hits, we do the immediate time out and take away something she enjoys playing with for a day or two. But, the "I don't like you, Mom!" I'm not so sure. She has started saying the same things to her friends when they make her mad, too. She's even been known to hit a friend or two in the process. Lucy never went through the biting or hitting phase early on, so I'm not sure where it's coming from. I can tell she's testing me because the few times she has swung at me, she has this look in her eye that I'm sure many of you have seen before. It's like she's saying, "Yep, I did it....Now what are you going to do?" She's quite the character!

Pizza with a side of influenza...

Friday night we went to Chuckie Cheese (spelling?) with some friends. It was fun, but I always have a hard time getting over the germs that I am sure are covering everything. Lucy had a fabulous time. Graham loved climbing on the cars. When we got there Lucy said, "Mom, it's like Disneyland!" Good to know. Next time we're thinking about driving 3 hours and spending over $200 to go to Disneyland......we'll just head to Chuckie Cheese.....aka Germ Fest.