Lucy is Five!

Yesterday we were telling Lucy all about the circumstances of her birth- the ease of delivery, the visit from not-yet-two-year-old brother Rex (who was much more interested in his new toy train than he was in his new baby sister), the jaundice, the good behavior. (In light of the jaundice, the doctors said "lethargic." We said "well-behaved.")

Anyway, as we were sitting there telling her all those details, I realized: wow, this is boring. If you bundle up that whole story and tell her all about who she was as a baby and every bit of trivia about how she came and how she acted and how she was greeted, you will never in a thousand years put together anything as compelling as her five-year old smile in the above picture, or her five-year old laugh, or the way she sings, or how she talks through her hiccups. Babies are so great in their own way, but we had absolutely no idea on September 21, 2004 what we were really getting. She was sweet and docile and cuddly then. But now, her personality is big enough to fill rooms, trampolines, and distant swing sets. It's like her birth was the big bang, and she's just been expanding into the known universe ever since.



At Grandma Julie's last night, we were each saying what we love about Lucy, and Rex said "she likes to play different things and will try lots of toys." I think he said that because he doesn't know the word "game," as an adjective. That's what Lucy is. She's up for anything. Her favorite is goofy games on the tramp, but if that's not happening, she'll try soccer with the boys, or cooking with Mom, or scouting around with Molly, or playing with dolls in her room, or trains, or balls, air hockey, or pretty much anything that's available. She doesn't often say no. She has been a wonderful stand-in companion for Rex, who desperately needs a little brother, but got a really adaptable and loving little sister instead.

Lucy is still a joker. She's a face-maker and a dawdler. She would probably be able to clean her room in under two hours except that that's where her dolls are. Indoors, she has the loudest run you have ever heard, and when she runs she swings her arms out far in front of her and way behind her, like a speed skater, but on really bumpy ice. At the same time, she is very graceful, is a weirdly precocious dancer, and makes up songs all the time the she willingly sings to anyone around.



Where some kids are a gift to their parents, Lucy is a gift to the whole family. She is as central to our household as a kid can be, the source of most of the fun and laughter and innovation and excitement. We are so blessed to have her, and to watch her continue to expand.

Eight years ago this morning..................

I was sitting in my office in the Hart Senate Office building across the street from the U.S. Capitol, just getting started on my day chatting to the new guy doing a fellowship with the Energy Committee who was going to be sitting at the desk next to mine. People were still sort of trickling in, getting their coffee, etc. Then my boss ran out and said "hurry change the channel to the news." I quickly turned from CSpan to Katie and Matt on the Today Show, and they were talking about how a plane had just flown into one of the twin towers in NYC. The same towers I had just visited the weekend prior (labor day) with Ryan, Davis, Abby, Norm, Wade, Kerstin, Peter, Chris and Amy. I remember all of us sitting there watching and all of us thinking and commenting about what a fluky, weird thing to happen. How horrible!

We kept watching closely and then all of a sudden we watched a 2nd plane go into the 2nd tower right there on television. Okay, now we were all freaking out! This was serious, and we knew right away it probably wasn't a coincidence. We kept watching in complete awe and confusion when only minutes later we heard that a bomb had hit the Pentagon (at that time we didn't know it was also a plane). Then a short time after that, our human resource lady ran down to our offices bags in hand very worried and stressed, and said, "hurry, hurry evacuate now!" I gathered my stuff quickly and ran out of the building with thousands of other hill staffers running , some screaming, and crying (many from New York). I ran down the hill past the capitol , and then i remember feeling and hearing a huge boom! I didn't know what it was at first, but now know that I had felt the after shock of what we would later find out was the Plane hitting the Pentagon.

The whole city was completely shut down. You couldn't get any cell phone service anywhere. Ryan was down at Georgetown Law which is conveniently right off the bottom of Capitol Hill. I was running down toward there in hopes I could find him somewhere. As I ran down the hill, I heard someone yell, "Macy, Macy!" It was Ryan we had ran right into each other, and even though we had driven in to work and school together probably two hours prior I remember running into Ryan's arms so extremely excited and relieved to find him so quickly. We spent a great deal of the day down at the law campus watching the coverage, watching law students crying their eyes out (many also from NY).

Then we needed to get away from it for a minute, so we somehow met up with Peter and sat at Capitol Hill Cafe, and then at his Capitol Hill apartment, talking things over. We had to stay there until the city had calmed down just enough that we could get back to our place in Arlington where we were glued to the news until late into the night. It was such a dreary day, as I am sure it was for everyone...I remember the whole day feeling so surreal and weird. I can't believe it was really eight years ago...it seems like yesterday to me. I remember feeling such a sense of patriotism and feeling so blessed for all that I had, to be with Ryan and to feel safe.

The is the monument in memory of the Pentagon. I hope to take my children back there someday and show them this place and where we lived and tell them this story.

Sun Valley

So about midsummer we headed up to one of my all time favorite destinations with the Beans and the Masseys. The Beans found us this amazing home to stay in with more than enough space and so nice too. We had such an amazing trip. Some highlights were:

The outdoor ice skating rink is always so great (all my figure skating memories always come rolling back so fast).
Some log rolling action in the river in Ketchum
a great hike
great food
all the Bar convention festivities
and mostly great friends

Look how cool..............

Our friend Jared's amazing bikes are in the current issue of Martha Stewart Living. So exciting for them!

"You say its your birthday"

Molly's 2nd birthday was on Friday,and we celebrated at the Park with cake and ice cream.

(Erin acted as our quasi-professional photographer)

Molly June, Turning Two

Knowing a two-year old really well is like knowing a secret. Everyone sees a two year old and thinks "hmm, a little kid." They are opaque and one-dimensional to anyone that doesn't spend a lot of time with them. But if you do, then you see thousands of things that other people can't see. Some of them are kind of amazing, and some of them are really funny, and some of them are surprisingly weird.

Molly is the absolute favorite secret in our house. She has depths of personality that are hard to imagine in such a little girl. A guy in our ward, who watches her from a few pews back once said "I can't tell what she's about, but you can see from her face that she has loooads of personality." That's pretty much all Molly is-- personality. She (just like her mom) is like a really good root beer-- smooth and sweet, but with a strong head and even a little bit of a bite.





Macy and I have been talking over the summer about how big a part of our lives Molly has become, and how much fun it is to be around her. Molly loves to swing- it may be her absolute favorite activity in the world. She also loves to eat. She has figured out that there are popsicles in the freezer, and she can open the freezer and help herself, usually right after breakfast. She is the best singing child I've ever seen- knows loads of songs and is constantly singing them to herself. She's also a great communicator, a creative, though slightly robotic dancer, a belly laugher, and by far the most determined and hard-headed kid we've ever had. And whenever you're getting her prepared to do something, and you say "Ready?" She always says " . . . set, go!"



A few weeks ago Molly had a snack bag of crackers she was eating all by herself. I asked her for a few, and then asked for a few more. When I asked her a third time she looked at me very seriously and said "One moh, dass all. Kay!?"





She is also very rough and tumble. She can hang with the big kids on the tramp all day. Once in a while she starts to cry after a crazy bounce and will sit at the edge and wait for me or Macy to come out and get her off. But just as we've walked all the way out there, she makes herself stop crying and jumps up and races to the other side of the tramp so we can't reach her. She loves to be thrown into the air and onto couches and smashed under beanbags. And she loves the aggressive, attacking, clinging goodnight hugs she gets from Rex and Lucy.





The other night I was taking off her dress and it got stuck around her head, so she was buried in it. She called out to me in her game-playing voice and said "Daddy- where ARE me?"



Molly is also a very indulgent sleeper-inner. It's hard now that Rex is going to school, because with his 8:30 start time, he risks missing her in the morning, something that would really make him sad. The kids spend all morning listening to the monitor to see when they can race down and get her out of bed. They've even devised a very clever, but totally illicit, system to pull her out of her crib themselves, with Lucy standing in the crib and handing her out to Rex on the floor. I can't believe how much they love to take care of Molly.



It has been so much fun to watch Molly turning into this crazy, funny little person. We are so glad we have her.

Summer Ends and School Begins..........

Rex started 1st Grade today! Am I a little reluctant? you could say that. He is gone from me and his little sisters for 7 hours every day. Molly looked in his room a few different times during the day asking, "where is Rex?"...which is funny because he doesn't spend a great deal of time in his room when he is home, but I thought it was cute that she noticed so much. Anyway, 1st grade is a big transition, but he did great,and came home very happy!

So, what does a 1st grader wear to school? Here you go:


We also said a sad goodbye to these guys this last week...............




And some randoms: