Our Family: Getting Ready for Lacey

Today Lacey celebrates her 8th birthday. Two years ago we were getting ready for Lacey, though now I have to stop and laugh that we ever thought we could "get ready" for Lacey. We are still getting ready - getting ready for the unexpected questions, behaviors and evolving personality that are all a part of Lacey. I thought a long time about what to do for Lacey's birthday blog. I finally decided that it should be a collage of our past year as a family.

There are so many ordinary conversations that make me laugh every day. Sometimes, things slip out of one of the kid's mouths and go unnoticed. Other times, I am lucky enough to be part of the communication. Often, there are bits of conversations that I laugh over and savor for days. Here are just a few:

"Are these cool or warm colors?" Lacey, while pointing to a pile of crayons. This is such clear evidence that she is Cassie's sister.

After getting caught for telling quiet a whopper, Lacey said, "Well, wasn't it close to the truth?"

After completing disregarding something I asked her to do, Lacey offered, "I don't think I understood your English."

According to Cassie, Lacey's fallback phrase is "I don't know."

At the movie theater

On a daily basis, Lacey asks, "Mommy, Cassie wants to know if we can _______________," You can fill in the blank with any of about 100 things to which Cassie knows the answer would be "NO!"

"Are we having spoletti for dinner tonight?"

"Mommy, can I have a 'loo loo woopsie' doll for my birthday? I want one that looks like Cassie."

"Cassie, do you want me to help you clean your room?"

The other day Lacey was singing, "Who let the dogs out? Woof woof. Who let the dogs out? Woof woof. Who let the cats out? Meow meow. Who let the cats out? Meow meow. Who let Cassie out? Help! Help!" Even Cassie had to laugh.

"Ballerina of the Day" at dance class.

A number of times this year Lacey brought notes from the teacher citing a misbehavior that had occurred in class. For example, some of these notes read, "I touched my friend today," and "I was playing in the bathroom today." I've never received notes like this for Cassie and didn't really know how to respond. We had to try to narrow down the behavior and then decide whether it was serious. "I touched my friend" translated into, "I didn't feel like using paper towels so I dried my hands on another child's shirt." And, "I was playing in the bathroom," really meant, "I thought it would be funny to hide from the teacher so I climbed on top of a toilet and hid in a stall while everyone else went back to class." We discovered that Lacey has an incredible capacity for blaming someone or something else when she's put on the spot. So, we work on being honest and accepting responsibility for one's own actions. And, later we laugh.

At the cabin - the girls are wearing orange hats because it was hunting season.

On the way to Uncle Bob's cabin - the girls surprised him with a wagon full of water balloons.

I struggle to determine what Lacey really likes and to find an area in which to direct her energy and talents. The reality is that she gives 200 percent to everything she does.

Lacey managed to sling water balloons farther than anyone else.

As I was selecting photos for this blog, I realized that almost all my photos now are of the girls together. That speaks volumes for their relationship. Take a look at some of these photos.