Well, this year has kept us all busy and I have neglected the ol' blog for more than a few months at a time, several times. Here are some of the most current highlights of the year for Lucy, Harper and Graham:
Graham
Grammy is awesome! This is what he would say if you asked him how he was. For the most part, Graham is boisterous, loving, high-energy, loud, funny, sweet and tenacious. He loves his cars, trucks and helicopters. his favorite Christmas toys were Hulk Hands, Baseball glove and balls, Sock-n-bop Spider Man, his new books on cd (lion king, Polar Express), his cowboy figurines, his castle, his pirate costume and his matchbox car racetrack. He has spent the holiday break tackling everything and everyone in sight, making pretend cookies in the play kitchen, playing with his new Ken or Firemen dolls, bugging his sisters and wrestling Ian or "playing football" as he calls it.
He also misses school and talks about his teachers and his friends. He has also begun singing all the time. Right now it is Christmas songs, but his song selection also includes 1 Direction Songs, which he doesn't really know many of the words to, but he hums along when he doesn't or can't keep up with his sisters.
Graham still delights in seeing me or Ian when he hasn't for a full 5 minutes. I am almost always greeted with a hug when he has been off playing for a while and I come in to check on him. He is the roughest person in the house, and also the most sweet, cuddly boy around. He is known for "1 more hug or kiss" when I am trying to leave the house and he has gotten to be very helpful and eager to help clean up after himself. His favorite chore is using the dust buster to clean up his snack mess. Graham also makes his own bed, cleans up his own toys and helps me cook whenever I will let him.
Harper
The sweetest little devil around. Harper can be the most quiet or the noisiest person in the house. She can be the most shy or the most bold. She has a hard time making up her mind about anything. She is Little Miss Fickle. And she delights in exasperating all of us.
Harper will be playing nicely one minute and throwing a giant tantrum the next. She is all dresses and tights and glitter shoes or boots for a week and then will only wear sweat pants the next. Unpredictable!
Harper loves to play Barbies, look at books. color, "write letters", listen to books on cd, play with her stuffed animals, Littlest Pet Shop or with Graham and his trucks. Her favorite Christmas presents were her Mobigo, her Barbie Princess Pop Star castle, her new Barbie dolls (Belle and Ice Skating Barbie), her Etch a Sketch, and her Play mobile zoo, pegasus and horses. Oh, and her purple sparkly boots.
She loves to play with her friends, Anna, Rachel and Anna H. She hates to be cold. She hates to be told what to do. She loves staying in her pajamas for days on end. She loves playing with Lucy. She loves playing with Graham and she misses school.
Lucy
Lucy hasn't changed much except for getting more and more independent, smart and funny. She is gaining a more adult sense of humor and she and her friends love to giggle at things they hear on the radio, or joke books, or each other. And they giggle and giggle and giggle.
She loves her Brownie Troop and is working on selling cookies so they can do a sleepover at the Baltimore Aquarium in the Spring, next to the Dolphin tank- Lucy's dream come true!
Lucy loves to play outside but during the holiday break she has played inside with her toys more than she has in months. The down time has really given her a chance to be a bit of a little kid again, which is nice. Her favorite things to do right now include swinging in the back yard, climbing trees, being with friends including Elizabeth, Kes, Spencer, and Sydney. She loves to read, she loves to draw, she loves duct tape crafts! She loves to play chess! She also loves to play school.
Her favorite gifts from Christmas were her blue sparkly boots, her Wii, her "Beast" Ken Doll, her Easy Bake oven, her Pogo stick (although she has been too nervous to try it out!), her new Lacross stick, her Wii games, Magic Treehouse books. her Playmobile horse set, and the cotton candy machine.
Lucy will be wrapping up Chess club in a few weeks and will be starting Mad Science club to take its place. She is also hoping to begin Lacross in a few months and we will try to get her a few lessons before then. We also hope to take her skiing.
Another one of Lucy's loves is shopping and gift cards or money burn a whole in her pocket. She can't wait to spend them, even if it is Dec. 26 and she has just gotten a boatload of new things. The also loves to make people pictures, pockets and animals out of duct tape and paper, or write us letters or songs. Her latest song that she made up includes something like "I'm like a ball, you're like a bat" and a line that involves chasing Justin Bieber down. It is strange, but she thinks it to be a real masterpiece. Speaking of songs, Lucy loves One Direction. She is a bit boy crazy over this boy band and has ranked them all in her mind. She will tell me the one she likes the least (although she always adds that she likes him a whole lot still (poor Harry!) but won't tell me which one she likes the best. This is where Harper adds that she likes Harry the best and Graham tells me that he likes Niall the best.
I think that's it. Our holiday activities have included water-skiing Santa, church on Christmas Eve, Zoolights, Botanic Garden trains, Mt. Vernon to see the Christmas camel, Gaylord Hotel to see the glass Christmas Tree, Shrek the Halls at ICE!, parties, all of our traditions, and more. 2012 was a great year full of great accomplishments and so much growing. Graham and Harper have each grown several inches since Thanksgiving!
