Anna Lucille - 4 years, 5 months and 27 days of Sweet Perfection.

You know when you've hit on a good thing, and Lucy never leaves me with any doubt. With Lucy, the sun is always shining. And I do mean always. Lucy might have a pout or a meltdown...once a week? She loves to help Mama around the house, hold her sister, play with Molly, cut things out of paper, sing songs, play pretend, make up stories...she's just the best kid in the world.

Lucy is going to be starting kindergarten after Christmas and we're all very excited about our foray into the world of homeschooling. She'll be four and a half, but I do think that she's really ready. I'm not a pusher when it comes to formal education, and trust me when I say I'd be all too happy to unschool them forever. Having a 7-month-old leaves me incredibly unmotivated. Lucy has been working in a few reading and writing workbooks, and I think she's probably really ready to start setting aside some time in a formal "school day." Molly is getting to the point where I can distract her, and Claire's nap routine is finally evening out, so I think it's time. Right now we're moving into Book B of the Explode the Code starter series, and Lucy is really itching to read by herself. I'm not looking forward to teaching reading, to be honest. I want to fill her with information, but mechanics are not my strong suit. Thankfully, we're a family of strong readers and that's the most important foundation for teaching reading, so I guess we'll just jump in.

Lucy is so excited about Christmas this year. She and I had our very first Mother/Daughter date to see The Nutcracker and we had such a good time! She loved the dancing and was dying to buy her own Nutcracker to dance with. Sadly, we were in line behind the recipient of the last Nutcracker, so Saint Nicholas was kind enough to bring her a nutcracker ornament - the look on her face was priceless. She's been dancing around with the Nutcracker Prince all day, just thrilled to pieces to have one of her own!

We're going to see Santa at the Golf Club this Saturday, and Lucy is going to ask him for a "Hello Dolly." This cracks me up because she saw a LaLaLoopsy Doll in the WalMart ad and decided she just had to have it, but watched Hello Dolly that afternoon and has been calling it that ever since. I have no idea what LaLaLoopsy is, so I suppose Santa needs to do a little investigating!

As of right now, the entire family has been incredibly sick for about a month. I mean, we're really doing it up good. Colds, sinusitis, bronchitis, voices gone, thrush, colitis flares, you name it. We're one sick family. Lucy has managed to stay well through all of it, and is the only one who hasn't been hacking and coughing and medicating like crazy. Her immune system is just wild. I was thinking back, and I'm pretty sure she's actually never been sick, which sort of wows me. I think she's had one ear infection since birth. I wish I knew her secret. So she's been taking good care of all of us. The girl was born to be a nurse. She runs for tissues, holds Claire, wipes noses, does whatever she needs to do to make sure things are running in tip-top shape!

At 4 and a half, Lucy weighs about 35 pounds and is wearing size 8.5 shoes. She's a 5T is most clothes and really has her Daddy's body. Sort of like a rectangle with legs. Her hair is still bright red and the topic of many grocery-store conversations. She's a very gregarious girl and will take a few minutes to talk to anyone who wants to chat. Lucy is incredibly polite and does so well remembering her manners! She loves to pray and really loves learning about the Lord. I know that her guardian angel must just treasure her so much! She has so many questions, mostly about the way things are made. Today she wanted to know if all trees have to start out as bushes. So. Cute.

Lucy, Lucy, Lucy. She's our charming, darling girl. Wouldn't trade her for the world!