Celebrating Lucy

We celebrated sweet Lucy this weekend.  I must say I was beyond pleasantly surprised when my dear friends, Kristen and Cristina,  offered to host a sprinkle for not only my third child, but my second girl.  How blessed are Lucy and I?  Babies are such an incredible gift.  

My summer baby was sprinkled with the cutest whale decor.  All in pink and green...can't seem to escape that color combo, I just love it!  The celebration was so lovely.  I think I may have worn a permanent smile throughout the entire event.  I adored every minute with my family, friends and all the sweet pink you could find.  I can't wait to show Lucy these pictures one day and share the anticipation we had awaiting her arrival.  The thought of a baby girl sure makes me giddy all over again.

{we did however experience one minor disappointment...the venue, which was so quaint, was also so dark....ugh...and I didn't bring my external flash...so prepare yourself for some overflashed, shadowy, and sometimes blurry pictures}

Pretty in pink Gerber Daisies...my absolute favorite flower and my favorite color.  I brought some of these home and filled a vase for Maggie's room.  You would have thought I had brought the girl gold, she was so thrilled to have some of "baby Lucy's" flowers in her room.  It's the little things.

The precious whale cookie party favors were baked and packaged by Kristen.  Is she amazing or what?  I love having friends with talents.

Yum! The most delicious cupcakes ever...and I am not kidding.  It must have been the pink icing {wink, wink}.  And look at the cute cupcake toppers and the green "L" cookies...more precious details.

Can you believe the hostesses found whale plates and napkins too to go with the theme?  What a lucky "little squirt" Lucy is {and she isn't even here yet}.

And speaking of lucky, look at me.  I have the best friends/hostesses a Mommy to Be could ask for!  Thank you Kristen and Cristina!  XOXO!  Kristen your turn next...

The other amazing blessing Lucy and I received was that all 3 Grandma's were able to come!  That is the first time in 3 babies and 5 showers.  So amazing.  Thank you GG {great grandma}, Grandma, and Grammy for sharing in this special celebration for our new little bundle of pink.

As if the gift of family and friends weren't enough, Lucy girl was sprinkled with some seriously sweet pink!

Even with her corrected new monogram.  

From her head to her toes!

Thank you ladies for celebrating our anticipated addition to the Cibula family!  Lucy and I love you all!

{so sad that Leah missed the group shot and Erin, well, what can I say?, except for you were soooo missed!}

Thirty-Five and Thirty-A

And summer is officially here.

We spent our annual beach vacation down in Florida on 30A.  We missed our fellow family friends this year, but we were still able to thoroughly enjoy our time and one another's company.

There was so much to celebrate...my 35th birthday {gag, but the kids's loved it}, Father's Day {which they may have loved even more} and our last beach vacation as a family of four {so bittersweet}.

This year our roots were in Seagrove, but with rented bikes we were up and down the strip.  A definite must do for future trips.  The kids seemed to feel the most at home {and alive} in Seaside.  They ran the fields until their legs were jello and their hair was sticky wet.  Maggie specifically loved the stage which she titled the "princess stage".  She could often be found putting on a solo concert up there.  Belle song, dance moves and all.  What a lovely child.

We had great weather.  A little windy at times, but we survived.  Oddly the pool was more windy than the beach itself.  During our 5 day stay, we only got one afternoon shower.  We made the best of it and came inside to bake chocolate chip cookies.  Jack took it upon himself to venture into the world of multiplication while filling cooking sheets with the dough.  That's my boy.

Favorite memories included a trip to the Sugar Shack in Rosemary Beach, buying inner tubes at Snappy's and using them to jump in the pool,  bike races {somehow my pink bike never won}, and a visit from Grammy and Grampa.

As always, "so many great memories = a great slideshow"!  I think I've watched it nearly 10x myself.  Sure do love my little ones...and a nice vacation!  Enjoy the show...

Mark Your Calendar

Lucille Elizabeth "Lucy" has a birthdate.  My, my has any decision been easy with this sweet bundle of pink yet?  First her name, then her middle name, and now her birthdate.

But, I am happy to announce that we are finally ecstatic with Lucy's name and Dr Carroll and I have reached a consensus on the c-section date.  Dr Carroll pushed for August 20th, I wanted something closer to Lucy's due date of August 26th, and we had to work around Dr Carroll's pending vacation.

So with all of that being said, I got exactly the date I wished for.  Gotta love my Dr.  {now we just have to pray I don't go into labor early or Dr Carroll will be wagging her finger at me saying, "I told you so".}

Without further ado, we will welcome sweet Lucy girl into our family on...

August 23rd, 2012

And she will be a virgo...shew!...that was a close one {wink, wink}.  If you don't believe me read this vs this.

Update From The Homefront

Just a little update from casa Cibula.  Yes, we are still under construction.  And yes, there are days that I think this may never end.  {it has been 4 months now...}  But, yes, there is progress.

The exterior is nearly finished.  Minus a few details such as shutters, landscaping, construction debris removal.  Most specifically I am referring to that giant ugly dumpster in my driveway.

The backyard and patio areas are still pretty torn up, but right now I am just begging for the inside of my house back.

We are moved into our new master.  However, we are still short a bathroom.  I am happy to report that as lovely as my days of sharing a shower/tub with Maggie and her toys have been, they will be ending soon.  The marble finally arrived and work has begun in our master bath.  Hoping for a speedy completion. 

And in {my most exciting} news, our new family room furniture arrived and a few additions for the sunroom.  Now if I can just train the workers {whom I adore} to love it as much as I do.  What is it with men and dirt?  {ironically I thought I was plenty safe with a June delivery date, obviously not generous enough with construction time overflow}

A little view of the exterior.  As I mentioned, we are still short shutters and a bit of landscaping.  However, our light fixtures have been hung since this photo and I am so happy with the difference that minor detail made.  And note that poor tree we tried to transplant.  She didn't make the wrath of construction--since this photo she has sadly been removed.

Our new portico which now has a hanging lantern and is actually painted.  Love that my friends can visit me on rainy days now.

Our friends entrance and look some of the lights are up in this photo.  {we are very well lit at night.}  And I am so happy with the way the gray stain and the stone compliment one another.  You wouldn't know unless you were living through this with me, but picking out stone, stain color, trim color, and gutters were excruciatingly painful decisions.  Those would have been expensive mistakes.

And now a little peek inside.  Here are the sunroom floors that we were all looking forward to.  The sunroom furniture is finally out of the garage...and we added a table and chairs.  Love that the kids have a place to draw and play games now.

Our finished master ceiling.  Not much more to show you in this room.  Basically it's just a bed and four walls right now.  I am waiting for the bathroom to be complete before I can work on the details.  But, my how do I love our new closets?  After what I went from my closet feels like a palace.  And the timing couldn't be more perfect....I have a section for "I never want to see these again" maternity clothes and a section for "one day I'll be a normal size again {sigh}" clothes. 

Thanks for taking the mini tour with me.  Four months later and I just feel the need to vent/share.  Although it doesn't look like too much it has been exhausting.  

Shouldn't this be over by now?  Lucky Lucy got to hide in the womb for this adventure.  Hopefully we can welcome her into a hammer free home here in a couple months.

To The Farm Again...Jiggity Jig, Jiggity Jig

We went to the farm again this week...per Jack's request.  {Maggie chose the Aquarium} 

We did, however, try a different farm.

And on this visit, our friends joined us.  The animals were actual sized.  And all the brushes were blue to Maggie's dismay.

We did art in the barn...hence the venue name, "The Art Barn".  We were supposed to paint a pig.  Maggie tried and Jack independently declared that he, "wanted to paint something else".  {that is just a small sampling of his "independence" that I experienced on this farm visit}

This farm also offered a tractor ride {which I adored every minute of snuggling with my favorite 2 year old}.  

And instead of a pony being my fave at this farm, it was this guy....

Meet Thomas.  When you rubbed his forehead and told him how 'handsome he was', his head turned blue...so awesome.

Baby chicks had just hatched that morning.

Both kids got to hold one.  Can you tell how much they loved it?  A definite farm trip highlight.

And here are all of our farm friends {most of them anyway, we are missing at least 3 of them}.

I think we have had our fill of farms this summer and it's only the first week in June.  What will they pick next?