Birthdays

Lily's 2nd Birthday!

The theme of Lily's first birthday was Pink and the theme of Lily's second birthday was Purple - Yes, I know we are pretty creative at the Stacy house. We have already picked the theme for birthday number three- fuchsia - so be ready.

We had the party in Ohio at Nani and Papa's house. There was a little anxiety about the party because it was during the week long black out. Nani and Papa's house got their power that day of the party - we were still in the dark in Louisville.

Nani was very specific on how the bakery made the cake and it was absolutely perfect!

There was also a special surprise..... Wally the balloon man. Lily was so excited she watched his every move and he scored big when the first thing he made was a balloon of Elmo bigger than Lily.

Lily was the belle of the ball. She knew all eyes were on her and she put on quite a show. She made her rounds as if welcoming everyone to her party and making sure they all saw her new birthday balloons and her new pony backpack.

HAPPY 5th BIRTHDAY to EVAN!!!!

Evan wanted a Cars themed birthday and daddy made sure it was not NASCAR but Cars the movie and of course Ferrari and F1 are okay as well. Since Evan's birthday was July (yes I know it was months ago) and 98 degrees outside we added the Cyclone waterslide to our party and it was so much fun.

Evan and his cousin Ben are best buds and had a great time racing each other up and down the slide.

Remembering

Happy Birthday to our Nicholas. It seems like forever ago but just yesterday. We miss him.

Baseball, Baseball and Tball

Evan's first visit to Wrigley!! Good timing too - the cubs are doing well this year. Daddy was proud to show Evan his old stomping grounds but luckily Evan's fake Id wasn't too good so we couldn't show him all of daddy's old Chicago hangouts.

Evan fell in love with Chicago (and I think Lisa too) and is ready to pack up and move there - next door to Lisa of course.

Cincinnati Reds

We went from a winning Cubs game to unfortunately, a losing Reds team but we still had fun even though the Reds game we went to the Reds scored not one run :( but we did come back with Evan pretending to be Adam Dunn and Jay Bruce.

The whole crew at the Red's game for Father's day against the Red Sox.



Doesn't matter where we go or if the team wins or loses the cotton candy still tastes good!
Go Reds! Go Cubbies!


Our favorite baseball player is below scoring the winning run for his team - okay so they don't keep score....

It has been awhile

I know many of you have checked and nothing has appeared - well, I have an excuse, actually two.
1. Our computer has been malfunctioning and it has been away at the Louisville Geek twice now. All I wanted was my pictures - I didn't care if the computer when kaput but please save my kids childhood by retrieving my pictures - they did but I am now too behind to catch up. So you all have missed a month and half of our lives but I might still put a picture or two up for you.
2. Evan does not go to sleep when he knows someone is in the office working on the computer. Instead, I see a little boy slithering on the floor like a snake into the office to see the pictures. Therefore, I have to stop working and go back downstairs so he will sleep. It is 1:30am right now so there are no people sneaking in but now it is too late for pictures and postings.

Better luck next time :)

Florida with Mommy and the Kids....did we survive without daddy???

Well we knew it was crazy but we tried it anyway....mommy, evan and lily vacationing without daddy.

FRIDAY

5:00am Wake up sleepy heads -but don't totally wake up especially not Lily - just get in the car, then the stroller, then out of the stroller, then through security, then into the stroller, then out of stroller, then onto the plane and go back to sleep. What??? It could have happened that way. ....but then there was Lily.... Wake up, stay up, go into the stroller stay up, take off shoes, fold up stroller- can't fold stroller and hold Lily, Lily tries to run off through security, she wants in the stroller, high pitch scream, she wants out of the stroller, high pitch scream, line up to board, other passengers hoping they don't have to sit by me, squirmy Lily tries to get out of my arms, high pitch scream, passengers are asking others to sit next to them so that I wont, again can't fold up stroller (I know why Ryan hates that stroller), others are passing me in the southwest boarding - excuse me I was number 35, give up, grab my things, my stroller in a heap, grab my monkeys and... take a deep breath.

That was only the first hour and we haven't even left Louisville yet....what was I thinking....where is Ryan....oh no...what have I done...we need daddy!!!

I decided if we can survive the plane ride we just might have a good time and relax once we get there- okay forget the relaxing.

Once we arrived at our condo 8+ hours later - this is what we saw.... okay so maybe all this was worth the wait.



We spent pretty much every day doing the same thing ... I'll give you the highlights


SATURDAY-MONDAY


5:30am Why is Lily waking up at such a ridiculous hour?... can't wake up Jody and baby Charly in the next room, can't wake up Evan in bed with mommy, can't wake up Jenna asleep on the couch in the living room...mommy and Lily sneak outside, Lily still in her jammies with her paci (or pappy as she calls it), watch the sunrise, go for a walk on Gulf Shore blvd, look at the beautiful houses/mansions on the ocean front, get a little exercise, sneak back into the condo, everyone is still asleep, grab some breakfast and sit on the porch and listen to the ocean and enjoy the view.....not too shabby and almost relaxing until...high pitch scream, everyone is up and the day begins for the rest of the rest of the group and Lily and I are ready to go back to bed.


9:30am We were on the beach ready to take on the day - digging in the sand, splashing in the ocean or sleeping in the shade.

Evan loved the beach, Lily and Charly had some warming up to do to the idea. Lily would sit on a towel and play in the sand but her princess bottom was not too happy to sit on that scratchy sand. She did love the ocean - although I did say "Lily, look at the ocean" and she would rub her hands together - I finally realized she was thinking "lotion" not "ocean" - close enough.

Afternoon we would take on the pool. We had to stock up on the sunscreen for our little sensitive skinned munchkins.


7:30pm The little monkeys were worn out and would be asleep with little effort. Even Evan our night owl fell asleep as soon as he head hit the pillow (more like 9pm but that's good for Evan).



We made it through the 5 days. We had a great time and I think some relaxing moments. We then had to get back on the plane to go home...see notes from 7:30 am Friday and repeat... but this time add Lily screaming for the last 15 min of the flight until she passed out cold as soon as the wheels hit the runway in Louisville - oh well, Home Sweet Home.

Thank you for Supporting Team Stacy in the March for Babies

We cannot thank you enough for all of the support we had from our family and friends. You generous donations to the March of Dimes will help us one day reach the goal of all babies being born healthy. I want to give special thanks for those of you who came and walked with us having you walk by our side with your own families meant the world to us.

Team Stacy made a good showing 6th place for family teams- unfortunately, still in last years shirts -but they were cute shirts and I waited too long trying to come up with an idea to top it and missed my deadline. Anyway, the day started out a little chilly with the threat of rain but turned into a beautiful day and a great day to walk for all babies.

I am always amazed at the number of people impacted by prematuraty. Luckily, most stories have a happy ending and those amazing little people are much stronger than you can ever imagine. I still forget what a 3 lb baby looks and feels like. Evan asked me the other day about Nicholas (he asks often when I wear my charm bracelet) and then he said, "I don't remember him" and I think he was sad. I like that Evan asks about him because I don't want to forget about him either. If nothing else the walk is a good opportunity to remember Nicholas and how blessed we are with Evan being so healthly with no health impact due to prematurity and now Lily added to our family - we are truly grateful and blessed.

In Honor of all of our Babies......

Team Stacy raised just shy of $2500!!!! THANK YOU!!!!

Don't Give up on me yet...I will be back

Just to let you know that I have not given up. Just because it has been almost a month since my last post doesn't mean all hope is lost. For those of you taking bets on how long I would last - you have not won yet. I am armed and ready with new pictures and will post them soon so stand by and don't cash in your bets.

Children's Museum

We spent a weekend visiting my college roommates, Kathi and Lisa, at the Indianapolis children's museum - have our activities changed since college or what?

Everyone loved the dinosaurs both the big and the little people

Evan and Daddy peaking out from the dinosaur exhibit - I believe that is a small dinosaur attempting to nibble at them.

Lily, Daddy and Lisa are getting ready to dig for dinosaur bones.

Check out the monkeys and
Curious George too!

Snow and Spring

We have been having crazy weather this year between snow, flooding, and sunshine we have no idea what season it is but we seem to be enjoying every one (except maybe the rain).

This was Lily's first time in the snow and she wasn't exactly sure what to do with it, either that or she could not move because mommy put too many clothes on her for her five minutes outside. Evan on the other hand, did not hesitate to enjoy every minute of the snow (that is Evan if you cannot tell). Evan did more rolling around in the snow than anything else. He did go on his first sledding experience on a real hill and had a blast so did daddy.

Daddy and Evan finally took a break from playing to get some work done.

Well, someone was working. "Daddy, am I done shoveling yet?" "No, you missed a spot - right over there - I'll let you know when you got it all" :)

Enough about snow we are ready for spring....Please come soon!!!

We have taken advantage of every nice day as they come. I keep putting away the winter coats and getting them back out again. This time they are away for good - only spring from here on out (we hope!)

Bubbles, Bubbles & More Bubbles!!!

I have never met a kid that doesn't like bubbles and Evan and Lily are no exception. They both love to be outside - Lily stands at the back door everyday trying to go out and never wants to come back in.

Yes - I am attempting to Blog

I know this is quite outside of my norm but I was inspired by a friend's blog and I thought why not. I realize that I am slow to send out pictures of the fam and Evan and Lily are growing up so quickly. If this can expedite my communication than I think it is a great idea on the other hand if this keeps me up too late at night than I may revert back to my old ways (pictures once every two years - or at least at Christmas :)

Anyway, bear with me as I try to master the art of blogging and posting.

My most recent and totally precious pics are from Easter so I thought I'd share our Easter in my first blog posting .

Lily knew she was a princess the minute she put on that dress. She knew just how to twirl around and grab the fluff under her dress. She knew to till her head and smile and admire herself in the mirror. She also knew how to lift up the dress so you could see her belly. I tried to remind her that the last act is not proper princess behavior but it just encouraged it more as she'd rub her belly and laugh.



Evan was more concerned about finding eggs and candy. He found most of the eggs for Lily too. (but he did share).
As I continue to master the art of blogging, hopefully my pictures and layout will start to improve but until then hey, this is better than nothing (I hope) but I don't think I'll ever keep up with the Jones' (Kim- my blogging inspiration :). Let me leave my first blog with this....

THE CHICKEN DANCE