Celebrations

I can't believe we are less than a month from celebrating Lucy's 2nd birthday. I know, I know, it's such a cliche, but "where has the time gone?". I know it hasn't been spent sleeping!! I am still jealous of other mamas' stories of 12 hour nights with 2-3 hour naps. Even at THIS age. crazy. Anyway, I still wouldn't trade her, as I am so in love with this little girl (no longer a baby) who has such an amazing sense of humor. Yes she's cute and sweet, but the truth is she's also very funny. I love how she's learning vocabulary and faces, and mix and matching them to make us laugh.

This is a hat she picked out at the store, and a snowman apron I bought her after her disappointment after putting all the Christmas stuff away!

I've been thinking about how to celebrate with her. Not just her birthday, but Easter (do we do a big deal? is there some education in dying eggs and/or an easter egg hunt? definitely no $50 dress that you wear for an hour!!!), and every other event or time of celebration that comes around. I want to celebrate the miracle she is. But I also want to avoid "spoiling" her...which really means contaminating her pure heart, that is straight from heaven. I want our family to be about generousity, hope, faith, love, JOY. I want to be about those things myself, and let them flow out of me, just like my funny faces that Lucy picks up on and tries to mimic. Unlike when she copies me when I yell at other drivers!

Here we are celebrating...at a fundraiser at the space needle.

I've decided on a simple theme of hearts and stars for her birthday. These are two of her favorite words, and she has found little hearts hidden in her books. Amazing! Now I'm just trying to narrow it down: should we limit to just her little 2 years old friends, should we have another park extravaganza like last year? If we do something where we invite lots of friends I absolutely want to not have gifts, but re-visit the raffle/fundraiser idea. I'm trying to think of a good "themed" charity we could focus our efforts on. The only thing that comes to mind is a child that needs heart surgery (a common need in the orphanage we sponsored last year, New Day Foster Home in China). Any other ideas?