Part of Lucy's World

Lucy's latest talent is singing.  She sings in the car, while we walk, in the splish-splash bath, in her bed, while we rock her before bed--pretty much ALL THE TIME.  I love it!  She's getting pretty good at singing Teach Me to Walk in the Light, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, and Ariel's Part of Your World from "The Little Mermaid."  I was finally able to get a video of her singing last week.  I know you can't hear it very well, but she does get a little louder toward the end.  Look out, Taylor Swift!  You've got some competition!!

(NOTE:  Before you watch this video, you'll have to scroll down to the music player and pause it or stop it, otherwise you won't be able to hear Lucy singing.)

Make-uh-Bum Dance Party

Once upon a time, when Riley was a lot younger, I was changing his bum and he got away from me before I could put his new diaper on him.  I said something like, "Hey!  Naked-bum-boy, come back here!"  Lucy must have thought I said, "Make-uh-Bum" because ever since then, she's referred to wearing nothing but a diaper as a "Make-uh-Bum."  Lucy and Riley's absolute favorite activity now is to run around as "Make-uh-Bums"--wearing nothing but their diapers and sometimes their socks.  Sometimes they just run around like crazy; most of the time, they LOVE having make-uh-bum dance parties!  This particular video is of a make-uh-bum dance party they had just before Christmas 2012.

Much Ado About Much...

So much has happened since we posted last... The JDRF Walk, American Thanksgiving, Christmas, and now the Turner's visit.

One of Ryan's sisters has Type 1 Diabetes. There was a JDRF Walk (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) in Tempe at the beginning of November (2011). Ryan, Lucy, Riley (wrapped up in the Baby Bjorn--if you look closely, his toque is barely visible!), Ryan's folks, Ryan's sister with diabetes and her two kids (her husband was deployed in Afghanistan with the USAF), and I were all able to walk. It was only a couple of miles, but it was really neat to see SO MANY PEOPLE walking for a cause! There were probably several thousand (not even kidding!) people who signed up and joined. Ryan's sister raised well over $1000.00 for JDRF. What a great experience! The weather was beautiful! Lucy had a great time in the stroller and walked the last quarter km or so with Grandpa and her cousin. Ryan and Riley even met the Phoenix Suns' Gorilla!

Over General Conference weekend, Reed and Emma Turner (my friend's folks from our growing up years) came to visit. They are wonderful people and over the years have become like second parents to me. They very quickly became grandparents to the kids. You can clearly see they LOVED them and just had a blast playing with them! You can never have too many grandparents, eh?! We didn't really do much, just watched Conference, ate pizza, played games, and went to the park, but it was still so good to have them here, just visiting! Lucy and Riley had a ball flying a kite at the park!

Halloween!

We got to go pick out our pumpkin for Halloween while Grandma Atwood was here! There's a GREAT pumpkin patch on the other side of town--totally worth the drive. Lucy proudly drove the tractor. She even picked out her own pumpkin to paint. The family jack-o-lantern became Minnie Mouse. Ryan gets pretty buckwild when it comes to pumpkin carving!

For our church Trunk-or-Treat, Lucy went as Mickey Mouse, Riley went as a jack-o-lantern, and Daddy went as a hockey player (Shane Doan, of course!). Note the candy bag that Lucy used at the Trunk-or-Treat. My mum painted a few pillowcases when we were kids and she had the insight to save them! Cool, eh? When we went trick-or-treating, Lucy went as the cutest little purple and black witch I've ever seen (no bias here, folks!) and Riley again sported his jack-o-lantern costume. I know Lucy kind of seems like she didn't really like her costumes, but she really did. She especially liked her witch hat. We got to go trick-or-treating with Grandpa Miles, Auntie Lisa, and cousins Peyton (Dora) and Nash (Dora's monkey). Fun was had by all.

Lucy's New Bed Photos

Sorry I didn't attach these pictures the other day....Enjoy!

Riley and Lucy

Riley Walker Miles has arrived (almost two months ago...)! He was born on September 30, 2011 at 3:14 p.m. He was 20.5 inches in length and a whopping 8 pounds, 15 ounces! He's got dark blonde hair, dark blue eyes, and a dimple in his right cheek! He's growing like CrAzY! He's started sleeping through the night (six to eight hours), but has a hard time going more than two hours during the day without eating. Go figure, eh? Riley has also started smiling!

Lucy loves her little brother--mostly! She loves giving him kisses, helping Mommy burp him, and holding him. When Riley starts crying, Lucy is often the first one there. It's really sweet to see. She's 18 months old now! About a month ago, Lucy was switched from her crib to a toddler bed. As soon as Daddy set it up, she was excited! She jumped right up there, giggling, and practically posing while we took pictures. The novelty is wearing off now, but she's still doing pretty well with it. She occasionally gets out of bed when she's supposed to be going to sleep, but overall, she's really good about it. In the mornings, she's still very much in the habit of waking up and waiting for Mom or Dad to come get her out of bed. She's also getting better at feeding herself. She's been pretty good with a fork for several weeks now. "Poke it, dip it, eat it," is what we tell her as she's eating--usually dipping what she can in ketchup! She's recently been getting better with a spoon too. It's still pretty messy, but she's really learning quickly.

Since Riley was born, we've had Grandma (Elaine) Miles, Auntie Mandy, Grandma Atwood, and Auntie Susanne and Uncle Chris come visit. They were a HUGE help!!

The Mesa Temple Visitor's Center

At the beginning of September, we took Lucy to the Mesa Temple Visitor's Center. When you walk in, there's a huge Christus, much like the one in Salt Lake City. We walked in and Lucy saw Jesus, she completely stopped walking, grinned, pointed, and said, "Jesus!" (Lucy had just learned the week before how to say Jesus; we were very excited!). It's amazing to me how she just knew who this statue was. It seems like kids always know, eh? As we walked around, she did the same thing with painting after painting of the Savior. It was the sweetest ever! Upon seeing the temple, she squated right down and pointed. She just loved it all. It was really neat to see her reaction to everything.

Lucy and Daddy looking up toward the Christus.

Lucy also enjoyed reading about Nephi and his bow.