Merry & Bright

school days

Lucy loves school.

She's a teacher all evening, and one of her beloved front office ladies on the weekends.  She is quick to make you clip down, so be forewarned to be on your best behavior.

Everything is "we".  "We had three absent today!"  "We were late to specials today."  "We had three kids spill their drinks at lunch.  And one of them was me!"

She is learning to read, and thinks about those letters all the time.  The other day just before she drifted off, she asked, "Why isn't T a vowel?"  I'm not sure, bu the vowels are... "a,e,i,o,and u.  What's so SPE-cial about being a VOW-el?"  She often sounds things out and chats about which things are spelled alike and which words rhyme.

I ate lunch with her and a little girl walked out and plopped her foot out in front of Lucy.  Lucy barely glanced at the untied laces and told her (no-nonsense) that she's not supposed to be up at lunch and that she'd tie it for her after lunch.  I asked her if she ties shoes often.  "Yes," she said, "And Mrs. King only ties shoes until Christmas, so I'll have even more work to do after that!"

Numbers are fun, too.  She was huddled under my coat in the back seat.  Usually this means she's got my phone and is sneaking extra time.  I asked what she was doing under there, and her face popped out and she cheerily cried out, "Math-ing!"  She said, "It's time for math!  Now, if I have 5 gingerbread cookies and two friends come over and eat one, how many do I have?"  She solves it in her little notebook.  Then she says, "Time for another equation!"

She told me about two kids who shared a long look on the playground.  And then they said, "Hiiii."  And then they ran (from each other) aaaaand...  "It was a love-match."

There are numerous hugs with her friends when I pick her up every day.  Life is good in Kindergarten.

thankful

selfies and an extra

Lucy, Desta, Duckie, and Kangy

Mama and Lucy

Bonus pic:  too much fun in one car!

the luckiest girl

We went to a park and took a break in the grass.  I started looking at the clovers and told her that some people think 4 leaf clovers are lucky, but I've never found one.

In about 2 minutes flat she'd found 3 of 'em!

the... election

Lucy heard quite a bit of election talk.
She showed me this.
(She's marked out d (Donald) and h (Hillary) and has voted for McMullin).
(And Donald Trump has a big head and a frowny face!)
I like how she thinks.

the loveliest princess

An improptu wedding, officiated by Nana

camp fire

Lucy has been so excited about her camp fire.  She packed a little knapsack a few days ago with "things we might need."  In it were:  a box of tissues, a box of princess band-aids, and 2 books.  She proudly whipped the books out, and told us that she'd chosen "nature books", one about fall and one about baby animals.  She's so fun!

first field trip

This girl was ready for the pumpkin patch!

And speaking of fun at school, she got to participate in a play!

Chip and Joanna (Kristy and Lucy)

Tonight instead of playing Dora in Dora's House, she said,  "Hey Mom, how bout we play Chip and Joanna and design Dora's house for her?"

I thought it sounded great, so we cleared out all the furniture and then she ran over for some paper.  She stood back and sketched out her ideas for a minute.

She came over, face serious, eyes on the house, "Chip, I think the kids rooms should be upstairs... and I'll just need you to take out this wall. And this one.  And this one."  [Gestures to 3 of 3 walls upstairs]

She'd tilt her head, scrunch her nose, waffle her hands like "so-so", very busy and creative, channeling her inner Joanna.

Then she had Dora's mom knock on the front door, come in, and exlcaim, "I loooove the desiiiiign!"

signs

I made Lucy a birthday sign on her easel.  

(She corrected my "a" in Tesfanish, above.  She thought that "a" didn't look very good.)

And I found this on the easel the next day. 

 It's the same message, but to me 

(including my age).

I love this sweet girl so much!

Happy 6th Birthday, Lucy!

 You started the fun at Aunt Ann and Uncle Ron's.

You had a great time swinging.

And a little swingin' with Pap.

And a big pile of presents to open.  AND a big
circle of people who love you all around you.

The three birthday buddies--Ron, Lucy, and Bonnie all share a birthday!

My birthday beauty

Feeling a bit sassy :)

Birthday pic with Mama.

I love her laughing smile in this one!  It is so very Lucy Joy.
(I love it enough to post with my face like this,)

Aunt Rachel made Lucy this beautiful princess cake.
It was almost too pretty to eat.  (Almost.)

The baker and the birthday girl :)

Birthday Cake Dance

Lucy Joy Tesfanish, 

You are such a precious child.

I love you with all my heart and I'm so proud of who you are!

I can't wait to see what new adventures being 6 brings!

pumpkin patch

(holding hands--so sweet!)

happy fall!

front page news!

Lucy lost a front tooth!  Number 3, and boy is her smile cute.

Please, no, Google!

You recall that Lucy was asking Google EVERYTHING?

Well, things almost went horrifically wrong last weekend.

She had rare use of the phone in the car on a long trip.  I heard her in the back seat, saying, "Okay, Google, show me Lucy Ricardo Balls."  No problem, funny slip on the name.

Then... "Okay, Google, show me Ricky Ricardo BALLS."  Yikes!  I grappled with her for the phone, horrified, but it just showed Ricky Ricardo.  (And not his balls, thank you Jesus.)

Swoon.

Lucy's Library

We love Kindergarten!

I took down a picture that I loved and put up some maps and spaces for Lucy's work and our calendar.  Now, I love this, too!  It's good to have a place to put her bag/coat when she comes home and it's made mornings easier.

We made an un-used play baby bed into Lucy's Library.  She LOVES this, and asked for a close-up of it :)

I like how she can flip through them and pick what she wants.

We have a spot to hang her good work.  I'm sure we'll see lots of that this year!