Christmas Morning!

We had a great time and I'm enjoying a few minutes of quiet time before we have to get packed and ready to go to the airport. Lucy and I were up before dawn to make monkey bread and bacon for breakfast. We opened our gifts and everyone got lots of lovely things, thank you to all!! Jud got me a sexy bikini for the beach so I better not eat much more monkey bread :) Lucy LOVED the bread. She downed approximately 4 donuts of it. I'll try to post from Florida but if not see you all in the 09! We return on Jan. 6th.

Christmas Eve

We had all the Allen cousins together (minus Linus--we missed you guys!) for lasagna and snacks. Jud chased Lucy around at the kids' mass until she melted down and had to be ushered home for a nap. I have a feeling Jud was not sad he "had" to leave church early. And yes I am fresh from the salon and another girl was filling in for my colorist and I am UBER blond so I will fit right in down in Florida!!

Naptime

Lucy is still hanging on strongly to her morning nap. Every morning at about 8:59 am, she walks towards the gate and literally tugs on it and starts to cry. I say, "Lucy time for your nap!" and take the gate down, she crawls up the stairs into her room and stands at the crib longing to get in there and chat with her beloved pacis. And I'm guaranteed at least an hour (if not 2) of rest!

Sick

Jud and I have been sick w head colds, so inside most of the weekend. Luckily Lucy has been fine and taking great naps allowing us to do the same! Leaving for sunny Florida on Thursday, yeahh!! I guess I have a few more gifts to buy, but I could not face hitting the stores this weekend. We saw Les Miz on Friday and it was awesome. All of the singers were Broadway-quality. Definitely not the local theater I was used to in Erie!

Happy Birthday to Mommy

The girls threw me a brunch-time party-thanks all! What's better than a playgroup with champagne punch on a Wednesday? Lucy and I went to the architect's office to meet Jud and reviewed our 3-d house plans, it is going to be so cool! Jud and I had a low key takeout dinner and Maggie Moos to celebrate. We need to eat after she's gone to bed every night!! After being up in Erie and learning my friend's 2 and a half year old Montessori-educated son is able to wash his own dish, that was enough for me to investigate it! I guess the gist of it is treating little people with respect and putting them to work because they like it and makes them independent, confident little beings. I guess if you can pull that fast one on them at an early age before they discover how much fun it is to sit on the couch with a bag of Cheetos and have your mom pick up your junk, all the better! So here is Lucy sitting at her own little table, practicing the fork. And using her fine motor skills to put the mardi gras beads into the cup and take them out. This all lasts about 5 minutes until she is on to the next activity, like climbing on top of the table, pulling the cord out of the socket or scaling the baby gate. I'm going to give it a few years till we try the pouring your own water activity!

Brunch with Santa @ BHCC

Lucy's able to keep her girlish figure because she eats the equivalent of three strawberries for breakfast. Lucy's now keeping her distance from all Santas.....so no more pics. In the 2nd shot, she is performing one of her tricks, squinting. She squints when you ask her to. It's kind of a random thing for her to understand, but it's hilarious! And eating while standing is much preferred to sitting, ever. 

It's Me, Lucy!

Like most kids, Lucy is obsessed with cell phones. And climbling things. She gets up on top of the kitchen table all by herself......oh boy. 

Jud as Santa

Jud agreed to be Santa for our moms club party and of course sweated through the costume in the process. He did his duty of scaring the daylights out of most of the toddlers in attendance. Lucy had no clue it was him and was not into meeting him. 

Goodbye Jack

We said goodbye to Grandma Allen's husband Jack at his funeral this week. Grandma is hanging in there and we were glad to see everyone in spite of the sad circumstances. 

"Helping" Make Cookies

Lucy did her best to help me make sugar spritz cookies in the cookie press. I got this from Susan for a wedding gift (I think?) and we use it every year; I love it! She was way more interested in climbing up and down from the chair. I was trying to get a cute picture like the ones we had of me and cousins helping Grandma Sheriff make Christmas cookies. She was truly the queen of cutouts!

Matching Uggs Photo Shoot

Thanks Granny for letting me have the furry boots you don't need anymore because you will be in Florida! And thanks to Granny Lauren for Lucy's adorable pink booties!!

Dipping Fun

I presented Lucy with a bowl of ketchup (thanks for the tip Tara!) and she dipped and munched her mini tofu-corn dogs down happily. It was so fun to watch her eating them. 

Fun in the Frozen Tundra

Erie was beyond freezing this past weekend. We are excited to be going to Florida in a few weeks! Great fun seeing the cousins. I posted a bunch of pics on Facebook too. Busy week and weekend ahead as we press on toward Christmas...

MMM, Pretzels

Lucy loves these honey whole wheat pretzels from TJ's. She also frequently walks up to the gate and points at the tree, her new favorite thing in the house. She's trying to say "tree" but it's more like "eeehhhyy". I guess you need more teeth to make the "T" sound :) She also hangs out by the gate when it's time to take a nap or go to bed for the night. She sees her crib as the land of milk and honey AKA 6 pacis for the taking. She is so good about napping and night time--Jud and I often pinch ourselves that there's no drama. Hooray!

Trimming the Tree

Lucy "helped" decorate the Christmas tree. She is skilled at taking the ornaments off the tree. 

Christmas is Coming

I can already tell it's going to be a battle to keep any ornaments/lights/garland etc. on the tree or decorated anywhere around the house. Lucy found herself an ornament and it was love at first sight. Ditto with the nativity set. We just hope the 1960s retro set is not handpainted with lead paint since she was gnawing on Joseph's head at one point. She loves looking at babies, whether it's pictures of her as a baby or the baby Jesus, she says "BAYYYYY" when she sees them. It's like she hit 13 months and a few real words started coming out. Yay Lucy!

Linus

Lucy was very interested in meeting him and seeing how he liked her carseat!

New Words

"Peek" for peek-a-boo and "bye" have been added to the vocabulary. She sees people getting their coats/computers/keys and automatically starts saying bye, it's hilarious. 

Giblet Girl

Lucy overseeing the giblet gravy creation. Note the time of 7 am on the clock. We've been going since 5:30 today!

Tenzing Norgay

Like the sherpas who came before her summitting the highest points, Lucy likes to be up high whenever possible. She gets up onto the chair in seconds. Has sustained falls, but is undeterred in her quest to be taller. Must be an Allen trait!!

Hell Yeah I Can See

LASIK was a piece of cake! I am seeing 20/15 less than 24 hours post-op. It is awesome!! We took Lucy to see Santa today at the mall and she did pretty well. Will save the pics for our Christmas card I think. Have to get the turkey brined, etc. FUN!

Welcome Linus!

We are so happy another cousin has joined us! Linus Drennan was born on Friday night and everyone is doing great. We had Baba and Grandad here this weekend, Ollie's baptism and I worked at the Junior League of Washington's Capitol Collection on Sunday. Excited to get some rest and prepare for the exciting week of LASIK on Tuesday and Turkey Day Thursday. I am supposed to limit my time on the 'puter so don't expect a lot of posts this week. Happy T-giving everyone!!

"Hi"

Lucy's first word is "hi". She mostly says it when new people enter the room and gets stage fright so does not like to say it on cue or into the phone. She also knows when people are picking up their bags or putting their coats on it's time to wave bye bye, and she waves to everyone. She is just so cute I can't stand it. New thing is wanting to sit in the big people's chairs or couch all the time and having a fit when she is put back on to the floor. 

Life is Tough

There is Something Green in My Mouth

Hooray! She eats broccoli!!

Lucy, Britney is not a Role Model

When Lucy came at me with her play wooden spoon, I kept seeing images of Britney in her post-head shaving days.

Ernesto, mi amigo

Lucy and Ernesto our contractor made eyes at each other.
She was so funny with him!

Couch Climber

Lucy loves to climb on the couch now and of course has had one fall over the edge (so far). Thanks to Grandma Lauren for the cute new shirt! We had a fun weekend with Pap Sheriff and I don't know how I didn't get any pics of the two of them together. Next time!

More Teeth

Someone told me that you won't believe how different they look when the top teeth come in and holy moly she looks hilarious. Sorry for the out of focus; she was climbing on top of me as I tried to snap this one.

Munch Munch

Lucy has tasted the crack that is a Kit Kat. She LOVES them and tries to wrestle it out of my hands. Someone please come and take away my Halloween candy!

Sunday Funday