Big Round of Applause for Nonne!

She was the first to respond with the correct answer to:

"Who was Jesus' grandmother?"

Here is her reply:

Jesus' grandmother was the mother of Mary - Ann was her name. Do I win? Being as how they were Jewish I guess she was the Bubbe.

50 points to Nonne and another 5 for being funny. She must get that from me.

Random Musings of A Two Year Old...

Thanks to Uncle B for the Obama-themed Luce picture. I think she looks quite presidential, don't you? Speaking of nonsensical things... We were just putting Luce down for bed and she turned to me and said, "I want to tell you a question" then proceed to construct an elaborate tale involving a boat, a fish and Dorothy (from the Wizard of Oz). There is so much stuff filling her little brain right now, it's just spilling over into cuteness right and left. What is not so cute are the 4:30 wake up calls, "MOMMMMYYYY I NEED MY BLANKKKKIEEE." Not cute at all. Don't worry, we're getting her back with pictures like this: In case you're wondering, Luce is sporting football covered pajamas that say "Daddy's Team" and an invention called the Turbi Twist (thanks Nonne) and yes, it is as awesome as the Sham-wow, or the Snuggie. We're hoping for those in our stocking next year. One last funny Luce story, then I'm off to the couch: so we have an ashtray with the picture of Jesus on it that says, "Jesus Hates It When You Smoke" (thanks Laura and Erin). Being the classy ladies that we are, it's sitting on our desk and Luce came across it the other day and pointed to Jesus and said, "He's crying. He's sad..." (he does look rather mournful) and she continued, "He's sad because he misses his grandmother." A bonus 50 points for you theologians out there who can name Jesus' grandmother. GO!

Look Kids, A Real President!

Ok so Lucia will most likely NOT remember this day, but her parents sure will. Against her protestations, we did dress her in red, white and blue (she wanted pink... of course). And I am happy to report that Lucia can identify our 44th President on the TV - "Look, it's Baaak Omama!" Besides spending time to savor this moment in history, we've been quite busy with some important events of our own, namely:

Anthony's 4th birthday party where Lucia literally jumped for joy. We had to drag her out of there. Perhaps we should invest some gymnastics equipment?

A fun visit from the Caseys and Rosellas. Lucia bonded with Luke, read with Paul and fell in love with Paige and all her girly accessories. I think the highlight of Luce's weekend was digging through Paige's purse and trying on her lip gloss. She really didn't want them to leave, and cried a bunch saying "it's hard to leave children." So true dear, so true.

Buying Lucia a big girl bed. In fact, she's sleeping in it for the first time tonight. Keep your fingers crossed! Update: she's already fallen out once, but don't worry, the mattress is on the floor so it didn't even wake her up!

Happy *hack* New *sneeze* Year *cough*

So the holidays absolutely knocked us on our collective butts. We all had the plague - - cough, fever, congestion, apathy (ok, maybe that last one was just me). Poor Luce, we spent all of Christmas day debating weather or not to take her to the emergency room. We didn't, but had to cut our trip short and bring her to the doctor just to be sure she didn't have TB (I mean her cough sounded like she had a 2-pack a day habit). Of course, despite her illness, Luce still managed to enjoy herself (adoring family, sugar and gifts will do that to a kid). Now that we're just about 100%, we have to adjust back to our work schedules and the daily grind. This break has been so nice and relaxing (Luce is even sleeping for us!), I'm not looking forward to Monday. Not one bit.

It's Beginning to Taste A Lot Like Christmas...

Old man winter socked us good this weekend, which was fine by me since I'm officially on vacation. Woo! Luckily we were able to venture out on Saturday morning with our pals Cathy, Kelby and Owen to see the Pops Holiday concert. It was a very merry affair and Luce was super excited to have another occasion to wear her fancy dress. The concert was just the thing to kick start our holiday vacation - with yuletide imagery, Christmas carol sing alongs and even an appearance by St. Nick himself. My cup of good cheer runneth over.
With more snow on the way, we decided to put Lucia's new snow suit to the test early this morning. Like a true intrepid New Englander, she took to the snow with gusto. I even showed her how to make a snow angel... but since I am neither two nor outfitted with giant snowsuit, I had to retreat to the study to warm up. Brrrrrr.

Deck the Halls With Eee-commerce...

Sorry for the lag in posts, but Mama Mer has been hogging the computer for the past few weeks furiously Christmas shopping the 21st century way. Amazon.com and our UPS guy must hate us. I think we place an order there at least once a day. Heaven forbid we get organized and place one big order... oh no, better to have multiple visits from UPS and fill up my garage with cardboard. Good news is I think we're almost done. I think.
And now, the current random acts of Luce cuteness:
- She pronounces the word remote (as in, the remote for her train) like "tr'mote." It is the oddest thing. "Where's my tr'mote? Have you seen my tr'mote?"
- She's going through a slight Nemo obsession phase. We watched part of it on our trip to Seattle and whip it out on very special occasions (like when Mama Fran had to pump water out of the basement last week and keep Luce distracted). It puts her in a trance. Now, she runs around the house saying that she's Dory, Mama Mer is Nemo and Mama Fran is the shark. Why does Mama Mer get top billing?!?
- She is more insistent on picking out her own outfits. This was the best one yet (with thanks to Aunties Laura and Erin for the rockin' dress).

Turkey for me. Turkey for you.

Let's eat turkey in a big brown shoe (first and last Sandler reference, I promise).
So here is the adorable baby Veronica - one of the four reasons for enduring two cross country red eye flights with Lucia. The other three reasons are adult related, but they're not nearly as noteworthy as baby V. Mothers Goose and Goose had a turkey terrific time out in Seattle. Lucia was spoiled rotten by her Auntie Alison and Uncle B and was even willing to share the attentions of Uncle Sean. Even though the visit was far too short, Lucia was able to squeeze in some cupcake decorating, a ride on a carousel and much coveted train ride. Sorry for the short post, but I have to go back to Lowes for more tree lights, Kleenex and chicken wire (that's for you PP).