Lucy and Jello

It has been over a month since our dear sweet Lucy left us and life still isn't the same!  We hired Lucy last fall when I was finally able to admit how much my back was hurting me and that I wasn't able to do everything (ie. lifting the children, putting them in their cribs, laundry, putting dishes in the dishwasher, or basically anything that required repetitive bending or lifting... which is a lot of life with two little people!).  I can be prideful and stubborn and admitting I needed help was difficult but I finally gave into George's pleading and I don't feel like I'm exaggerating at all when I say that Lucy was a blessing straight from God!  She came almost seamlessly into our family right before George's achilles surgery and was with us pretty much full time (sometimes more) every week for almost a year.  Everyone of us has grown to completely adore her and even though I understand and respect her decision to get a "real" job... I still wish she would stay with us forever instead. 

Ok, but enough of the sappy emotional stuff.  Shortly after Lucy started, she told me this story about how her mom filled a baby swimming pool up with jello for one of their birthday parties.  It sounded awesome so I added it to my list of fun kiddo activities.  Well, we never got around to doing it although we totally stocked up on jello at some point.  So on her last "official" day we went jello crazy... sort of.  We made approximately 15 boxes of jello which seemed like a ton but it didn't even begin to cover the bottom of the pool.  Lucy and I were a little underwhelmed by the experience but the Ainsley and Bailey were in heaven!!  They loved it!!

They slipped and slid and stomped and squished it in their fingers and of course ended up eating handfuls too!

 

And apparently unrefrigerated jello turns to liquid but still the munchkins had a blast dancing around and trying to slurp up the liquid.

But then, the activity took an uncomfortable/hilarious turn for the worse.  The jello liquid is obviously really sticky but we had no idea how sticky it actually was.  When it dried on the kids it was literally so sticky that Bailey was having a hard time pulling his fingers apart!  Ainsley was whining that she was sticky but poor Bailey was so confused by what was happening.  Lucy and I, on the other hand, were dying with laughter!  Even the little rolls on Bailey's neck were stuck together!  Taking advantage of the situation we had Ainsley stand next to and stick to Bailey and they looked like some version of conjoined twins because their skin stretched when they pulled apart!  I tried to get a picture but Bailey started getting upset so I figured I should probably start acting like a good mom and rinse him off.  Still, I wish I could explain better just how hilarious it was - they were just so, so, so sticky and had these sweet confused faces!  Ha!  Below is Bailey yelling about being sticky at the beginning.

The whole activity was in a way similar to the past year with Lucy... even though we always started out with the best of intentions, inevitably life happened and things ended up different than we anticipated - something that has been hard for this type A personality to cope with.  Even though this past year hasn't always been pretty, Lucy stuck with us through it all and I'm so grateful for her.  And thankfully she will still be around for datenights!  Love you Lucy!!