lucy & daddy have been busy getting the house ready for autumn! first up, planting mums :)

yesterday was my mom's birthday- the first full day of fall. she stopped by after work, but we're celebrating with our family on friday. she, of course, had plans to celebrate with her girlfriends last night :) the girls sent her pictures to give her a smile on her special day. 

yesterday was baking day at our house! lucy & eloise helped me make pumpkin muffins [lucy would easily have eaten the entire batch if i'd allowed it!]

my precautionary toddler- blowing on her muffin before eating it :)

then lucy helped daddy make orange frosted sugar cookies yesterday afternoon, which eloise & i brought with us to my friend lindsey's last night. first time ever licking the spoon...

i think she liked it :)

my friend sara visited this morning with sweet baby bryant. i love seeing my close friends as moms!

lucy's napping on this rainy afternoon, which means i get my cherished one-on-one time with eloise [along with my second cup of pumpkin spice coffee... slowly working through my "mental nausea" of all things pumpkin that rudely remind me of how sick i was in the first trimester last fall ;)] i've said it before, and i'll say it 100 more times- a huge perk of having babies close in age is a consistent, dependable daily nap from big sister!

-ivy

jon's home! & we have one full week at home together before he travels internationally again. very exciting news for this mama!

fun week ahead. eloise & i are going to my small group of friends that i have been getting together with regularly since i was pregnant with lucy. so nice to have jon home, able to do bedtime with lu!

thursday, lucy lu turns TWO! we're spending the day at the kc zoo- fingers crossed for great weather! it'll be eloise's first trip, and lucy's first trip this year. going when the weather has cooled down a bit is a better option for our fam :)

we soaked up last friday- knowing it was lucy's last as a ONE year old. how is my baby going to be two years old?! she's getting so big so fast. everyday, her language increases & blows me away! her latest is telling me that she's crying. "mommy, i crying! wucy crying! waaaaah!" i think this stems from having baby sister around :)

saturday was dance day! this week, the teacher read a firefly book & the girls got to dress up as little fireflies. my friend leslee, who i worked with in chicago, now lives in kansas city with her family [2 kids, also 20 months apart!], and her youngest is one month younger than lucy. leslee saw that lucy was in ballet, and got kinlee enrolled too, so now we get to look forward to seeing the garcia girls each week! so fun!

waiting for meme to arrive saturday morning to join us on our dance-capade :)

afterwards we went to a new consignment shop that's just opened & found the girls some darling outfits. very into smocking these days, and we hit the smock jackpot! 

it's becoming tradition that we make lucy's birthday treats. last year, my mom & i baked strawberry soda pop cupcakes, and lucy's Godmother [lauren] frosted them. this year, we're stepping a bit more out of our comfort zone & giving cake pops a whirl! ...100 of them :) i'll post the final product in lucy's birthday post :) of course, for luau theme, we had to go with coconut cake!

spending the first half of the week around the house. we have a playdate wednesday. the weeks are just flying by. 

amy, brian & tasman get in town friday afternoon- hooray! & we get to celebrate my mom's birthday friday night. so excited to get the cousins together! amy hopes to be able to transplant her family here permanently in the next few years. until then, these weekends hold us over. 

lucy's luau is saturday! fingers crossed [even tighter!] for great weather for our park party.

and sunday is sweet eloise's baptism. 

eloise is my dream baby. she is so content to hang on me all day, every day. hence why there are SO many more pictures of her sister than her on the blog this week. eloise is literally "on me" in some form or another just about 24/7. when i do put her down, she proves that she's trying to beat her sister's crawling record [right at 6 months]. these girls are definite motor kids! [...but to be honest. totally ok if she wants to just stay a baby & immobile for the next couple years :)]

fall is in the air!

-ivy

we had our monthly princess playdate this week with the brewer girls :)

eloise & kelsey jo- same due date, 12 days apart!

sister-sets :)

lucy wore her elsa dress -surprise! 

aunt chalon & uncle dave sent lucy an early birthday present- a "GOLF CART!!!" SO thoughtful & so hilarious. lucy's played with it non-stop since she opened the package. she'll tell you all about skipper fastening her seat belt & driving down to the beach, although because lucy's k's come out as t's- "skipper" sounds an awful lot like "stripper". stripper's been having a ball driving to & from the ocean :)

happy for fall! 

meme made lucy chicken pot pie muffins for dinner last night- too cute to not photo document!

we got to meet my friend megan's sweet baby girl, peyton, this week, too. she just turned a month old, and it reminded me of how quickly time goes. eloise was a [wide awake] chunky monkey next to sweet little sleeping p! 

i can't believe my lu turns 2 & eloise turns 4 months new next week! lucy's birthday luau will be the saturday following her thursday birthday, and eloise's baptism is that sunday [on her 4mo bday!] SO READY for my sister & her family to arrive. amy is eloise amy's Godmother, and it means the world to jon & me that they're making the trip for both my girls' special days.

5 bedtimes down, 3 to go sans dad! my mom is the best- staying until 830/9 each night helping me bathe & put the girls down. thank you, meme, for helping me keep my sanity despite the fact that [i'm sure] there are a number of other ways you'd fancy spending your work evenings- although you'd never admit it :)

-ivy

today's lucyisms :)

we spent the morning on the deck, listening to the frozen soundtrack per lucy's request. she has every song memorized! [i need to take a picture of her in her new elsa tutu dress from meme that has a detachable cape :)] lucy loves looking for the moon in the mornings, and today she found it. the clouds were rolling by quickly, giving the appearance that the moon was moving quickly, too, so lucy informed me that "the moon is walking!"

this is following her morning diaper change where she told me that my hair is "TALL!" & "BIG!" and that "lucy's hair is little" :) you know what they say- the higher the hair, the closer to Jesus, so i'll take it!

always happy for quiet weekday mornings [quiet is relative, you know...]

the rest of our week is booked solid with playdates. such fun!

-ivy

grateful

tonight i blog with an especially full heart. just an overwhelming feeling of gratitude for my family. 

i am so proud & feel so fortunate to be married to a man who's steadfast in his devotion to me & the family that we've created. i got a good one :)

& i am so so SO thankful for our two daughters. my deepest desire was always to be a MOM when i grew up! it's the best thing ever- even in the midst of the chaos :) [note that i write this as my girls are peacefully sleeping...]

//

one year ago today [i know this because it's my grandmother's birthday], we got the best news! 

2 pink lines!! 

eloise amy was on her way :) she's changed just a bit since then...

& have to add a picture of big sister lucy from that wonderful day! AH!!! she's changed almost as much! baby lucy is just about the sweetest thing EVER :)

sisters are special :)

lucy had her first ballet class this past saturday! i was SO excited to get this going & i am thrilled that it went so great! what a sweet little class & lucy had FUN which is what it's all about. her teacher read little red riding hood, and the girls dressed up in red cloaks, white tutus, and learned "ballet" ;) it's a great introduction to dance & the routine of a class, and lucy's most favorite part is the "DOOR!" she would have gone in & out of that princess door leading to her classroom 100x if she could have :)

waiting for class to start- i die over the itty bitty ballet shoes. 

eloise wanted in on the dance action, too :)

my baby ballerinas!

a typical lucy-look as of late. she's working so hard to figure out this world that she's apart of! the connections she makes each day baffle me. she's a bright little girl and is teaching me so much about life. 

eloise is the most laid-back child. she is perfectly content to just hang with her people, and unless she's hungry or tired, is completely chill. she's rolling all over the place, initiates her own tummy-time, and has started to reach for her toys! TIME, you can halt now, ok?!?

dimple #2 is starting to form :) [right side is trying to catch up with the beauty of the left!]

we explored the "troll bridge" behind our house this afternoon- lucy requests this multiple times each day!

jon's in europe this week, and as always when he's out of town, meme to the rescue! my mom is completely selfless in all she does for me & my family. dinners, shopping, bedtime routine when jon's out of town. i want to be the mom to my girls that she is to me- always putting my wants before her own. 

happy new week!

-ivy