Keeping my world small...

Enjoy your birthday present, Lou-Lou!

Today is Lucy's 2nd birthday!!!! The house was filled with excitement this morning as the other kids waited for her to wake up (she sleeps the latest...which is just fine with me!).

Cecilia and Lucy enjoying Lucy's b-day presents!

I have to make this short and get baking lest not to disappoint everyone expecting pink sparkly cupcakes tonight, but I wanted to write on this special day. Lucy definitely does not grasp the birthday concept and she's unsure about the extra attention. If you ask her how old she is, she will either put her fingers in her ears as if she's not listening (much to my embarrassment, she did this to Cecilia's lovely preschool teacher today!) or answer with a huge grin, "Three!"

Not sure which I'm happier about...the fence or the flowers!

I am so very happy these days. After going over the pros and cons a hundred times, we fenced in our yard!!! It was a very expensive purchase (for us!), but it will help keep my small corner of the world safer. And, I need my world to be small these days so I can stay sane and keep all my babies safe! Now when the kids want to go out and play, I don't have to say no all the time (it wasn't always practical for me to stop everything...like making dinner...just to make sure no one took off one of several ways!). Now I say, "Have fun!!!" Ahh...fences and flowers...does it get better!?!

Justin is loving on his baby sis!

Birthdays cause me to reflect on how fast life is flying by. And, provide a special day to thank God for my tremendous gifts (not that I don't do this every day, because I do!). I gave Lucy an extra special birthday blessing with my Lourdes water (see old post!).

I am loving her emerging 2-year-old personality. But, there are things that I could live without. For example, she is a runner. After a shockingly pleasant trip to the grocery store yesterday with the three youngest, Lucy decided to sprint to the door after I told her that it was time to get back into the cart to go to the car.

While I sprinted after her (I just left the other two kids at the register!), I was filled with total panic. She did stop when I yelled, "Freeze!" But it was only to smile at me before turning to run even faster. I am eternally grateful to the stranger who picked her up right before she exited the building straight into the parking lot.

Lucy will not have freedom again for a very.long.time. She was not a fan of mine today in Target and Costco. But, she was safe. I pray daily that Guardian Angels and patron saints will always protect my children from harm. Thank you Lord for my precious daughter on her second birthday.

And for fences :).

Just FYI, we are about to lose our laptop (the one that I do all my blogging on!). Windows is no longer providing support for Windows XP, thus I have to surrender this lovely piece of technology! It's really okay as Holy Week approaches, but I wanted to let you know that I may not be able to blog for a bit until we purchase a new laptop (and it takes us a while to make decisions!).

Thanks for reading!! Have a most blessed Lent.