Our Budding Ballerina

Lucy started taking ballet/jazz lessons at the beginning of the year. She had lessons every Friday afternoon and she looked forward to them each week. We're taking a break now that summer is here. Check out that pose......yikes.
There's a few funny things I want to remember about Lucy taking lessons:

-She refuses to wear tights with her leotard. She's always the only bare-legged ballerina out there, but she doesn't care. For Lucy, it's all about comfort (she takes after her mom in that department). She no longer is interested in soccer (sob, sob) because we had the same issue with the shin guards. She fusses and frets over how tight her ballet shoes, but somehow manages to keep dancing (although, she reminds me at the end of every lesson that they are uncomfortable).

-She always hopes that we're late for lessons because she hates doing the stretches. I try to get her to explain why, but she just says they hurt.

-the jazz moves "make her ribs hurt", but she still likes them.

With all the aches and pains this girl has, you'd think she was 60, not 6!

"Cause When Your a Professional Pirate....."

The two of them were crackin' me up with their, "ARRRR Matey!" and their, "Yo ho, yo ho a pirate's life for me!" (Although Graham says, "a pirate's after me") Lucy got the eye patch from school and Graham was ticked off that he had to go without. So, Lucy constructed him one out of paper and yarn.

P.S. 20 bucks to the person that can tell me the ending of song quote I used for the title. (SIKE on the $20....but I'll think you're super cool.)

Our Beautiful Baby Boy, Ben-O

Benny is 7 months today! I can hardly believe it! It's crazy how much our lives have changed in that amount of time. This kid is hilarious! He's always smiling and laughing (unless he's teething) and his funny personality is already shining through. It seems like he steals the show whenever he's around. Even strangers have to stop and talk to him when they pass us in the store because he's giving them a big smile before they even look at him.

We always get comments about his beautiful blue eyes and his big smile....and big head, but once he gets some hair, it won't seem so large and in charge. Past experience with the other 2 kiddos has proven that to be true. We'll keep our fingers crossed. Funny side note story: At his 6 month check-up, the doctor ask if big heads run in the family. I laughed and said, "Yes, most definitely, they do." He then said, "Well, if that's the case, there's no need for concern." I was laughing about that all day.

We started him on solids at 5 months. We had a rough start, but he's doing much better. He just would not open his mouth! It seemed like we were always having to pry it open with the little spoon. Most kids take a day or two to figure it out, but with Benny it was over a month before he would keep it in and open up for us.


Look at that happy baby!


I got this picture at the beach. Isn't his outfit hilarious!


This is how he smiles a lot of the time. Big, wide, open mouth. I love it! I just want to squish him and hug him all day.


This guy is growing so fast! He's a little over 20 pounds and my back pain can attest to that. It's been good for my gun show, though. No weight training necessary when your carrying around this brick all day.


Here he is in the baby carrier on our walk a few weeks ago. He's getting WAY too heavy for me to wear this with him. Check out that grin!

He's been spending a lot of time in our old school walker we got as a hand-me-down when Lucy was born. He can sit up and play with toys for a while now, too. He's chewing on everything he can get his hands on. He's got two teeth that came in a few weeks ago. He always wears a bib because he is always slobbering or spitting. The spitting makes me laugh every time and he does it A LOT!

I wish this guy would stop growing so fast! His first few months were a little rough for me. I've had a rough start with all my kids, but I am enjoying him so much and wish he could stay this age for a long, long time. Love you, Ben-O!

Mother's Day

I have a whole lotta catching up to do, but I thought I'd start with the more recent stuff and get to the older posts when I get around to it. At least I have a plan, right?

My Mother's Day celebration started on Friday morning. All of the mothers of Lucy's class were invited to come to school for a little program. They sang a couple songs and gave us our little gifts. I loved hearing Lucy sing the songs. I was able to pick her sweet voice out of the crowd.


I had an absolutely fabulous Mother's Day! J Ray did a wonderful job making me feel special and loved. He got up with the kids while I slept in for a bit. I came downstairs to find an omelet, muffins, and waffles for me to feast upon. It got a little crazy trying to get ready for church at 9:00, (Mom shouldn't have enjoyed her sleep in quite as much), but we made it. I enjoyed some great talks and lessons on motherhood. I left motivated and not guilt-ridden (and that's a big deal in the life of Maggie Ray).

After church I took a very long nap. When I got up, I got to open my present. An ice-cream maker! Very exciting and very unexpected! Here's Graham and Lucy enjoying some of the good stuff.



This is me and the kiddos right before bedtime. Lucy and Graham were so sweet all day. Graham kept saying, "Happy Mother's Day, Mom" every few minutes. Lucy put on a few little dance and singing routines for me throughout the evening. There were even a few Lucy Ray originals that I got to enjoy.

I missed my Mom a lot on Sunday. I wanted to be at her house with the fam enjoying dinner. I have been blessed with an amazing woman for a mother. As we were walking home from church, I turned to Jason and said, "I miss my Mom today." Immediately I felt like a jerk. Jason's Mom passed away 7 years ago and even though my mom is a 10 hour drive away, we won't see Judy for a long time. My kids can't call her on the phone to chat. She was missed today, too. I always think of her and wish I could thank her for helping to teach Jason to be such a hard worker and a kind and thoughtful person.

I sure love being a Mom. I have been blessed with 3 special kids who keep me guessing and learning. Sometimes I feel so inadequate and I convince myself that I am doing this mothering thing all wrong. Hopefully, despite my lack of patience (AKA: yelling, criticizing, pinching.....yes, I said pinching....I'm working on it)they will turn out okay.

A Breakthrough!

It's a Ray family miracle! We can now add hamburgers to Lucy's very short list of foods she will eat!



Lucy has actually added a few things to her list in the last few months. She'll eat chicken now (not just chicken nuggets), although she doesn't like any type of seasoning or sauce on it. She eats meatballs, too!

On the Wings of Love: Jason's B-day

Jason turned 31 on the 1st of this month. He turned 30 in Afghanistan last year, so I wanted to make this year special. I totally down played it in the weeks leading up. By the time the day rolled around, he was pretty sure he was getting a whole lotta nothin' (he got an iPhone a couple months before, so we were going to call that his gift...I'm not heartless).

Jason has always talked about wanting to go skydiving. Whenever he heard about someone going, he would say, "I'd love to do that!" We never talked about specifics or anything, so I knew it would be a big surprise.

Well, the morning of his birthday, I left this poem out with some balloons on the kitchen counter so he would see it before he left for work. I tried to rotate the picture for you, but it wouldn't work for me...just turn your head and you'll be fine.


So, throughout the day I gave him little gifts that would be hints to help him guess what his big present would be. Jason is an extremely good guesser, so the gifts were ridiculously vague because I get so mad when he guesses right and ruins the surprise. I'm annoyed that I didn't take pictures of the process....oh well.

When he went out to his car to head to work, he found more balloons along with a pack of Bubble Yum bubble gum. There was also a CD I made with strict instructions to only listen to the first two songs. The songs were "Happy Birthday" by The New Kids on the Block and another b-day song by The Beatles. (The songs weren't hints, they were just fun. The gum is a clue. You know...bubble gum...bubbles....air. I told you they were vague!)

Graham, Benny, and I joined Jason for lunch at his favorite place to eat, Jersey Mike's Subs. I gave him his second hint then. It was a bag of Depends For Men. Yes...adult diapers in case he peed his pants as he jumped out of the plane. By this point he was extremely confused and had no idea what was coming.

When he went out to his car to come home for the day, he found more balloons with some deodorant and breath mints tied together nicely with a bow. (I knew he'd be flying tandem with a certified skydiver, so I wanted him to smell good and have fresh breath.) He was then able to listen to the last 3 songs: "On the Wings of Love", The Top Gun Theme Song, and "I Believe I Can Fly".

He arrived home, more confused then ever, and wanted to know what he was getting. At our house, we play the "You're Getting Warmer" game to find our hidden presents. So, I sent Jason on a search around the house. Finally he got to the bottom drawer in our bedroom and found a rolled up piece of paper. It was a gift certificate to go Skydiving! I had scheduled his time of flight for the next week.



After the gift, we had homemade pizza (one of Jason's faves)for dinner. Instead of a birthday cake we had waffle cones and ice cream.

Here's some pics of Jason's adventure.


They flew in this tiny, rickety, old plane. He was worried they weren't going to be able to take off.







He had a great time! Got a little nauseous, but loved it!

Lucy Jane

It's been a while since I did a post dedicated just to our little Lucy. She's growing up so fast and there are so many things I want to remember about her at this age. These "memories" will be in no particular order....I'm not sure how to put them in paragraph form, so I just won't.



Here she is St. Patrick's Day morning. The only thing I did to celebrate was put food coloring in her cereal. I know, I'm super creative. She thought it was pretty weird. She was having a hard time keeping her eyes open for the picture....hence the help from her hands.

-A few weeks ago, we were walking home from school and she asked me something. I didn't hear it all, so I asked her to repeat it. Then she said, "I think you're the master of not listening."

-Lucy has been so sweet with her prayers lately. We've talked a little about how Heavenly Father likes it when we try to not have our prayers all sound the same. We've discussed changing them up and keeping them from becoming routine. She does such a great job and I can tell that she's really trying.

-Lucy got up last month to bare her testimony in Sacrament meeting at church. She just beamed as she walked back to our bench when she was done. I love that she is so confident and doesn't shy away from being in front of people.

-She's also enjoying passing off the Articles of Faith during primary at church. I'm impressed at how well she does!



-Lucy loves to create things. She colors or draws a little bit almost every day. The last little while she has started to write stories. She draws pictures for friends and family all the time. Her walls are covered with many of her creations that she has taped up. She made collars last week for all of her stuffed animals.

-I love that Lucy is trying to figure things out. She always says things like, "I think I know how they make chapstick" then she'll proceed to tell me her theory. When I tell her the right way things are done, she almost always says, "But I think my way would work, too, right?"

-I love that she still says "wush" instead of "wish". (It rhymes with "push")


-Lucy still loves to sing and dance. I love hearing listening to her versions of songs. The best is when she hears me singing the same song later and she corrects me, even when I'm singing the right words and she is singing jibberish. Example: I sang, "Give me..a clue", her version is, "wipee...wahoo".

-She started ballet last month and really enjoys it, with the exception of the stretching at the beginning. She hated that when she took gymnastics last year, too. I'm not sure what it is, but it's "just too hard".

-She is doing so well at her reading! I love that she loves it! We've been reading Junie B. Jones books lately. We take turns reading them out loud and it's so fun watching her react to what goes on.

Some of Lucy's favorite things right now:
-She still loves the color red. It's been her favorite for a couple years now.

-Whenever she's asked what her favorite food is, she always says candy and treats. I wonder where she gets that??

-She LOVES jumping on the tramp when mom, or especially Dad, jump with her. "Will you jump with us?" is a common phrase heard at our house. It's almost always the first thing she says when Jason walks in the door.

-Lucy really tries to be patient with Graham, but usually her frustration gets the best of her. Recently, though, I've watched her efforts go up a notch. First, I'll hear her scream, "G-RA-HAM! STOP DOING THAT!" (Graham's name turns into a 3 syllable word when she's mad). Then, I'll listen for just a second and I then I'll hear, "Graham, will you please stop doing that?" More often than not, she feels forced to return to the first attempt because G-ra-ham doesn't care whether she screams or asks kindly.....he's not going to comply.



It seems like in the past year or so, the role that I have as Lucy's mother is slowly changing. She is getting so independent and can do a lot on her own now. But her questions are getting more and more complex and deep. There's more discussions about why behaviors are right and some are wrong. She sure keeps me on my toes.

I am so grateful for this sweet, beautiful girl in my life!