Lucy's Party!

On Saturday, we had a party at our home to celebrate Lucy's Adoption Day! We had a wonderful time. What a beautiful thing to be surrounded by so many members of our family and friends as we celebrate such a momentous occasion.

As a side note, I think I've discovered a new calling in life: party planning!! It was SO much fun to plan the details of the day from the menu to the decorations to the invitations... I loved it all! While I've always enjoyed the creative side of party planning, I can't say I've always enjoyed the organizing side of party planning. But I'm happy to say that I think I'm turning over a new leaf! I think a few things have helped me to recently develop a somewhat more organized side. For starters, motherhood has sort of forced it upon me. In order to function with a baby in your life, thinking and planning ahead are often a "must". I also think that working as a secretary at my church for a year before Lucy was born helped me along in this area. I still have a long way to come in my organizing endeavors, but it feels good to realize that I am making strides!

Well, enough rambling! Let me share pictures of the party with you! Enjoy:

86 cupcakes-decorated and ready to go on display!!

The food table-set up and ready for the first guests to arrive!

Our little family:

My sister, Kelly, signing the mat of a special framed photo of Lucy! It meant so much that she and her hubby and beautiful daughters drove six hours to be there!

A special "thank you" goes to Grandma Judy for providing the majority of the hors d'oeurves! They were delicious!

The Name

I love the questions I get from time to time as to how we chose the name Lucy for our daughter. I never quite know how to interpret it when I'm asked, "Is Lucy a family name?" Does that perhaps mean that they're thinking that the only way we would have chosen that name was if there was a Lucy in our family we wanted to honor? I actually think it's best not to ponder this question too much.

Sometimes when I'm asked this question, I'm tempted to make up some outlandish answer like:

"No there isn't a Lucy in either of our families. However, many years ago, Darin dated a girl named Lucy who was suffering from a terminal illness. To honor her dying wish, he promised her that if he ever had a daughter he would name her Lucy as a tribute to her."

But alas, no such noble story accompanies our name choice.

Even though the name "Lucy" is making somewhat of a comeback these days, I have only run into a very few people in real life named Lucy.

There are, though, MANY oh-so-likeable fictional Lucy's in our world (a fact which I LOVE!). So today, in an effort to celebrate the name "Lucy" I thought it would be fun to highlight a few great Lucy's in our world who have been immortalized in literature, movies, television and comic strips! Enjoy!

1. Lucy Pevensie (The Chronicles of Narnia)

Okay, I dare you to find ANY "Narnia" Fan out there who doesn't absolutely LOVE Lucy Pevensie. (I actually get asked if our Lucy is named after Lucy Pevensie almost as much as I get asked if it is a family name!).

The girl is great. She has a steadfast faith that only becomes stronger when others mock her for it. She believes the impossible and finds ways to prove wrong the doubters in her life. Then, she forgives them for mistreating her. Plus her best friend is a faun named Mr. Tumnus. See! Even if you aren't a Narnia Fan, I bet you love her already.

2. Lucy Van Pelt (Peanuts)

So this girl has got guts. Even when 90% of the words coming out of her mouth are nonsensical, she NEVER lacks a captive audience. She's able to enter any scene and gain control of the situation and bring strong leadership skills to the table. Also a gifted multi-takser, she is able to run her own psychiatric practice, direct a Christmas pageant, AND organize a football team. Wow, ya gotta give this Lucy some credit.

Just beware of getting on her bad side.

3. Lucy Eleanor Moderatz (While You Were Sleeping)

Arguably Sandra Bullock's most endearing role in a major motion picture, Lucy Moderatz is the picture of a down-to-earth, easily-related-to kind of girl. Who among you, who has been alive for at least 20 years, has not fallen in love with a complete stranger? Exactly. You're feeling her pain already. Not only did she love a man she'd never actually met, but she managed to rescue him after he was mugged, and proceeded to comfort his family (who mistakenly believed her to be his fiance) while he was in a coma. It could happen to anyone. Her extraordinary story ends with her finding genuine love and becoming a legit member of the family she came to love so dearly. As to how love finds her, I'll let you discover by watching the movie if you haven't already done so. You won't be disappointed.

4. Lucy Ricardo (I Love Lucy)

Any discussion of the great Lucy's in fiction wouldn't be a discussion at all if Lucy Ricardo was left out. I don't even think I need to explain why she's fabulous, but I will do my best to sum up her greatness with a few short bullet points:

• Cuban husband.


• Red hair (that's a shout out to you, Kelly, in case you didn't pick up on it).


• Great wardrobe.


• Great house.


• Sticky situations you couldn't even dream up.


• Even crazier solutions to those situations.

Well, now my lovely non-fictional Lucy is needing my attention so I'll let you go. But before you do, would you kindly satisfy my curiosity and vote for your favorite fictional Lucy on my poll on the right? Thanks!

Honesty is STILL the Best Policy.

On Wednesday, Lucy's adoption into our family will be finalized in court. We're doing a lot to celebrate the fact that the three of us are a family! So we're doing... well, family-ish things together! For example, on Wednesday evening, we're going out for a nice dinner to celebrate. On Saturday we're having a big party at our house where we'll be serving about 100 cupcakes and some tastey appetizers made by my mother-in-law.

Another family-ish thing we recently did was to have some professional portraits taken of Lucy and of the three of us. It was a blast, and I've been picking some good ones out to frame and put on display for the party.

I had three tasteful black photo frames for three lovely 8x10 portraits. When I went to place them in those lovely black frames, they were not to be found. When I inquired of Darin as to where they might be, he said, "Oh the advertising department at work has them! I'm working on a surprise for you!"

He looked so pleased with himself. I didn't know whether or not to voice my concerns about the upcoming surprise. "What would be done to 8x10 photos by an advertising department to make them better than they already are?" I quietly thought. They were pretty great as they were in my opinion, but I decided to wait it out.

Last night, Darin closed himself up in our guestroom because he was "working on my surprise".

He came downstairs awhile later to reveal one of the formerly 8x10's-a whimsical face shot of Lucy-blown up into a 2 by 3 FOOT poster!

"Wow!" I thought, "that's a little bigger than I would originally planned on, but it sure is breathtaking and it actually would be a stunning piece to incorporate into my decorating for the party! "

Darin shared that I'd see the rest of the surprise soon!

I was looking forward to it, but my nervousness was growing a little bit! My intense desire not to react to Darin's surprise in any way that would hurt his feelings was also growing.

This morning, when I got Lucy out of her crib and brought her downstairs for breakfast, I saw that there was something different about the focal point of our fireplace mantle. This is what I saw:

"Oooohh dear," I thought, "That is definitely a life-size picture of us in a frame where there used to be a lovely still-life print. Umm, that looks kind of permanent."

I tried to keep an open mind about it all day. I tried to get used to sitting in our living room and staring at it, but I never could acclimate myself to it. I kept conjuring up images in my mind of movies in which the satirically wealthy, egocentric and pretentious antagonists have similarly large portraits of themselves on display in their homes. I just couldn't shake off my discomfort with the whole idea. I was really quite disturbed by the prospect of displaying this surprise (which Darin worked so hard on) in my home for the rest of my life. I always thought there was practically nothing I wouldn't do for love, but this was pushing the limits.

So I did what any woman in her right mind would do. I called my big sister for advice. I desperately wanted to her to tell me how to explain to Darin how much I appreciated all the effort he went to, but I really... umm... didn't like it. I wanted her to tell me how to do this without hurting his feelings.

She tried to help me, but mostly she just laughed. Plus she asked me if she could share the story with HER husband who could also use a good laugh. Thanks, Sis. Not quite the response I was looking for.

Then, I did the NEXT thing any woman in her right mind would do. I called one my my close girlfriends, Shannon and asked HER what to do.

Her advice was a LITTLE more comforting: "The good news," she said, "is that LOTS of people put large family portraits on their mantles! That's actually not that unusual. Plus, I think you just need to find out what Darin really wants to use it for. Maybe he just wants to use it for the party and then he'll put it away!"

She had an unusually optimistic ring in her voice. Still, she didn't not have full visual impact in her mind of just HOW large our "large family portrait" was.

We had guests coming to our house this evening. I desperately wanted Darin to arrive home so I could have a painfully honest chat with him BEFORE they arrived. I was frankly kind of embarrassed, and knew it would draw lots of attention when our guests arrived.

Darin did not, however, arrive until precisely the moment that our first few guests arrived. Oh well, I'll just try to play it off.

Ashley and Joe arrived and I heard Ashley's voice say, "Oh! You got your pictures back!! They turned out so nice!"

Enter Kayla and Jonny. Kayla comes to where I was and says, "I like your new picture!! It's really BIG, but I like it!"

"Yes!" I said in a shrill voice and with a forced smile, "Darin put that together to SURPRISE me!!!"

Later on in the evening, Joe who is a little more blunt, but still very kind says, "You know, with Lucy in that picture, it looks okay... if Lucy wasn't there, it would not be so okay. But she is-so it's cool!"

I graciously accepted the compliment but was melting inside.

After the last guests left, I finally found my moment for a heart to heart chat with Darin. Hoping beyond hope that I could avoid hurting his feelings, I fell back on the "best policy" and was very honest with him about how I felt about the picture. After I layed it all out there, he asked,"So do you even want to have it on display for the party?"

Shaking my head with an apprehensive expression on my face I said, "Actually... no."

Turns out, all my dramatic fears and concerns were unnecessary. Not a single feeling is hurt, he has assured me. We exchanged some hearty laughs and he admitted that even though the novelty of having such a picture was appealing to him at first, when he actually put it together, he wasn't so sure about it after all.

He agreed to let me take it down on the condition that I blog about it. He'd like YOUR input. So tell me: would YOU display a 2x3 foot portrait of your family above YOUR fireplace?

Please, be honest. Remember (as I was just relieved to be reminded) the old addage is SO true: Honesty IS the best policy.

To My Mother, Mother-in-Law and Sister...

... and to anyone else out there who cares about my nutrition:

I feel that there is something innately wrong about introducing fruits and vegetables (in the liquid form) to my 6-month-old daughter whilst I continue my personal eating habits which are shamefully void of fruits and vegetables in any form.

I'm trying to turn over a new leaf. It isn't easy. And I'll prepare you: progress may be slow.

To illustrate this announcement and share a small bit of progress, I'd like to share what I ate for dinner tonight:

Spaghetti Squash with Marinara Sauce

and an Apple

Darin was so proud of me that he sat down at the table across from me and served himself up a helping of the squash too. (Though I had no expectations for him to do so.) He took a few bites, and then salted it, and then took a few more bites, and then salted it some more. Then he paused before he said:

"Honey?"

"Yes?" I said.

"I don't think I like it."

Then I paused before saying, "That's okay, Honey, you don't have to eat it. There are other leftovers in the fridge that you'll like."

"But you're eating it, so I want to eat it too."

"Really, Honey, it's okay. It's just something I've been wanting to try... you really don't have to finish it."

He took a couple more soulful bites before putting the rest of his portion back in the serving dish. And even though I was able to finish my bowl with the help of plenty parmesan cheese and some salt of my own, I don't know that I can say that Spaghetti Squash Marinara will go down in my personal history as a favorite meal.

But my approach to eating more fruits and veggies is going to require some experimentation similar this evening's scenario. It will involve some trial and error, I suppose. In light of this, does anyone have any recipes they'd recommend I try? You know, some nice gentle ways that could soften the blow of the introduction of vegetables to my palate? Do you want to be my fruit and vegetable eating cheerleaders? I think I'm going to need all the help I can get.

The Lucy Dress

Lately I've been attempting to develop my sewing skills. I don't naturally come by the precision that is required of many sewing projects, but I am getting my feet wet with simple projects. I recently finished a project for my four-year-old (soon to be five-year-old) niece, Grace. I won't post a picture of it because my sister reads this blog and the present is almost as much for her as it is for her daughter!

I did finish a little dress for Lucy today, though. The great thing about it is that the adjustable nature of the neckline will ensure that Lucy can wear it for a few years... eventually it will become more of a tunic top that she can wear with pants or leggings. Here's a couple pics of her wearing it.

If she doesn't look like her normal happy self in the pictures, it because today she isn't. She got some of her immunizations today and hasn't been a happy camper since. I'm not sure who cried more over it: me or her. Hopefully the TLC (and baby tylenol!) I'm giving her today will make a difference. Anyways, here's the dress: