Our 8 month old

Our baby girl turned 8 months old a couple of weeks ago! Little Lucille is growing - she weighed in at 17lbs 8oz before our pictures this month. Her favorites include: emptying out drawers/containers, making loud noises (hitting the kitchen table with a wooden spoon is awesome!), touching/feeding the dogs (she does not put finger food in her mouth, she drops it on the ground for her puppies to eat), and jumping in her exersaucer (check out this youtube video of our bouncy baby: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjrpl0H8pA8 ). Lucy's latest new trick is making raspberry noises! I will try to get this on video sometime for you to see - it is super cute. As far as dislikes go - she suddenly hates taking baths (!?!?). She loves swim lessons but hates her little tub with a passion. Any tips on making your child love bathing would be appreciated!

We love you Lucy!

Chief is 5 years old!

Last week our dear Chief turned 5 years old!! Yay! Chief was so sick last winter that we did not think that he would see his 5th birthday but our boy made it! We are so thankful to have him in our lives. We continue to monitor his Addison's Disease closely. Chief is on a strict medication and monthly shot regimine but his temperament and weight are normal and his blood work is right on track. We love our sweet, energetic, friendly, and crazy dog!

Sewing Project

Well, folks - it has been awhile! My sewing machine has pretty much been collecting dust since Lucy was born. Yikes! I decided that I needed to get back to crafting. :) The perfect occasion to sew something new = our niece Anna's 2nd birthday on July 5th. Anna has a sweet play kitchen so I decided to create an apron for her to wear while she cooks.

Here I am in action! I didn't have a pattern so I just did my best with a yard of fabric and some ribbon.

And the finished result! Dan wasn't being a very enthusiastic model...

but I think that this little apron turned out to be a pretty cute little project! Hope you love it, Anna! :)

4 Year Anniversary in beautiful Dubuque

On July 5th, Daniel and I celebrated our 4th wedding Anniversary! Yay! I can't wait to be married to Dan for 100 more years. :)

Each year, we try to spend an anniversary weekend away. This year required some extra planning because we now have our sweet baby girl, Lucy! We decided to go to Dubuque, Iowa for the weekend. It is a quick drive from Madison, it has a great Museum/Aquarium of the Mississippi, it has a cute downtown, and some nice, scenic hiking trails and bluffs along the river.  We had a great time!

We spent most of Saturday at the Museum and Aquarium because it was a scorcher outside!! It was an excellent museum, if you are in the area we definitely recommend a visit. There were exhibits on Native Americans, early American explorers, fur trading, steamboats, Mark Twain, lots of fish/wildlife, and an awesome interactive area for kids. Lucy will love this place in a couple of years!

Lucy and Mama checking out a canoe

There was a cool catfish outside that you could walk inside and see its anatomy.

And now a real life catfish. This guy was a monster! He and Lucy were checking each other out. :)

Our little peanut hanging out at the hotel after our big day at the museum.

On Sunday, we spent some time walking around the beautiful bluffs! We had a wonderful time but it was pretty hot so our hike was cut a bit short. What a fun weekend! Love you Dan!

Concerts on the Square 2012

July marks the return of a summer favorite to the Storm household! The Concerts on the Square season started again. :) We love spending our Wednesday evenings sitting on the Capitol lawn, having picnics and listening to the Madison symphony orchestra. Last Wednesday Lucy attended her first Concerts on the Square. How fun! Lucy enjoyed the music and dinner with our friend Melissa. It was a beautiful evening outside.

Happy 4th of July!

We wanted to celebrate America's birthday with a picnic/barbecue, some time outdoors, and some fireworks but our plans were an epic fail due to the heat! As with most places in the Midwest, Madison has been hot, hot, hot this summer! It was a very balmy 4th this year so, sadly, we spent the day mostly indoors. We still had a great time with our little sparkler, Lucy. She wore her patriotic sundress all day. :) Here she is spending some time in her highchair after breakfast.

Speaking of breakfast, we enjoyed some donuts as a holiday treat. Giant donuts with patriotic red, white, and blue sprinkles. Can you get more American than that? I don't think so! :)

Even if we didn't get to have our family picnic, we still had an awesome day hanging out with our little girl. One of Lucy's favorite new things is emptying drawers and containers. Here are some photos of Lucy Bear taking all of her little blocks and toys out of her green drawer. 

We hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July with their family and friends!

Summertime fun with friends

We have been spending time with friends this summer!

Team Vardoulakis stopped by the Storm residence on their cross country journey from Boston to SanFrancisco! We had dinner together and caught up on the latest and greatest. It was great to see you Laura and Dimitris -- we are so happy that you visited us. We wish you the best as you start your new life in California!

Here is a picture of Lucy with her Aunt Laura and Uncle Dimitris. :) I love this photo.

A few weeks ago we had dinner with our friends the Carlson family! They have a new little addition - a sweet baby boy Jonas who was born at the end of March. Lucy loved meeting a new buddy.

We also visited the zoo with Lucy's friend Charlotte recently! The Storm family had a pre-zoo picnic. Lucy was sporting her elephant bib as she prepared for the big event. It was hot! But not ridiculously hot; we had our picnic in the shade. :)

This is a giraffe we saw at the zoo. He was trying so hard to eat the leaves off of the tree but his neck and tongue were not quite l-o-n-g enough and the plant was just out of reach.

After our visit we cooled off with Smoothies at the ZuZu Cafe. Here are Lucy and Charlotte hanging out with their mamas. :)

Andrea's Birthday Campout

Yours truly turned 32 at the end of June! The Storm family went camping at Willow River State Park to celebrate. This was Lucy's first time camping and she had a great time. We recently bought a family tent which is huge! (Thanks to Brad and Amelia for the Xmas gift!)  And awesome! It is a big upgrade from our small, 2 person backpacking tent. :) Daniel and I barely fit in our 2 person tent together, once we slept inside it with Chief and it was awful! A very restless night. Now we have a mansion!! Dan can even stand up in the new tent (I am pretty sure that Chief couldn't even stand up in our previous one). We are living in luxury with an air mattress, pack and play, dog beds, etc. 

Lucy played and watched her Mama and Dad set up the tent.

Proof that Dan can in fact stand up in our mansion tent!

We grilled over the campfire and, ironically, ate birthday dinner on left over plates from my 30th birthday! I pretended for a second that I was still only 30! sigh...

Birthday girl!

Lucy Goose getting ready for bed.

 We were able to do some hiking in the area. Lucy was back in her Baby Bjorn on Dan's front - just like old times! :)

Chief was excited for some new scenery. He loves jumping up on bridges to get a better view on what is going on below. :) I love it when he does that - so cute. 

Summertime = Pool Time

Happy July everyone! Lucy recently started swim lessons and she has been enjoying some pool time with her friends this summer. The first time I took her to lessons at our local YMCA, she wasn't crying or screaming but she wasn't too sure if she loved being in the water or not. :) She was holding onto her mama pretty tight! However, as soon as we went to the locker room after class, Lucy broke out into lots of smiles and laughter. She loves, loves, loves all of the mirrors in the locker room. haha! At least one of us likes seeing all of those reflections. We are now in week 5 of swim lessons and our little water baby is enjoying the class! She loves bobbing up and down in the water and retrieving rubber duckies from the pool.

Here are some pictures from some recent kiddie pool time that Lucy had with her friends Nolan and Mackenzie! They were so cute splashing around in the water. Thanks for the adorable froggy swim suit cousin Abby!

Storm Family Weekend & Father's Day!

Lucy and I had a wonderful week in South Dakota while Daniel worked in Madison! He flew to Sioux Falls on Friday to join us for the weekend. On Friday evening we went to cousin Ellyse and Garth's wedding. What a fun night! I am sorry to report that I don't have pictures of the beautiful couple or festivities! Lucy was kind of a wild woman at the reception so I didn't get photos. Here is the program  from the ceremony.

Since all of the Storms were in town for the wedding, we had a fantastic family weekend together. We spent lots of time on Saturday and Sunday at the park. Here is Lucy sitting with her Great Grandma Lorraine. So sweet!

We played some wiffle ball with the kids! Here is Amelia playing ball with Will and Elsa.

Aunt Jacque and Fred with LucyBear! Lucy loved Jacque's little dog Sophie! Probably because Sophie is just Lucy's size at 4 pounds! :)

Daniel showed off his incredible hula hooping skills!

We also celebrated Father's Day! What a special day for Daniel and for Lucy since she was able to spend time with her Daddy, Grandpa Glen, Grandpa Ken, and Great Grandpa Storm that Sunday. We love you Dan! You are such a wonderful Dad to our baby girl!

We made a great breakfast for Dan and Grandpa Glen.

Lucy loves her Papa!

More Cousin Time!

During our visit to SoDak, we were able to attend one of Paul's T-Ball games. It was awesome. So fun to see these kids play ball. Here is Paul's cheering section, his Aunt Andrea, sister Abigail, Grandma Sharon, cousin Lucy, Uncle Kevin, and cousin Anna - also Chief is lounging in the background behind me.

Here are some shots of Paul on the T-ball diamond. He was playing shortstop - he needed to ask directions on where shortstop was before running out to the field. :)

Going after the ball! I love this picture - Paul kicking up dust, wind blowing in his hair, getting the glove ready!

Our little ball player hanging out by the fence...

and getting ready to bat!

We had a photo shoot with all of the cousins at Grandpa Glen and Grandma Sharon's house! How cute is this!?! Thanks to Mallory and Katie for rounding up the striped overalls! :)

The girls on Paul's back!

And the kids with Grandpa and Grandma