Wedding Weekend




What a bunch of former Hicks!


















Beautiful Blues from Bella-boo! She did so great... all of the little ones made it through the weekend (Spring Forward and all) without a hitch!












Except for blurry Bella and Jeremy's cup, this is a great photo of the family (minus Max).










Rehearsal Dinner snap.

Bella's 2nd Birthday Party

Our little suga is 2!

Here are some of the highlights from her Circus Party on Feb. 14th.

Becky and I are so blessed--healthy little one, great family, and great friends. Children are a gift from the Lord!

PS-We've made the transition to the digital age around here. If you click "HD" on the video and then click the HD icon that comes up... you'll see a pretty sweet video in HD. We figured we'd do our part so that those dumb commercials would stop.


Bella's 2nd Birthday Party from jeremy lucarelli on Vimeo.

"All the Single Ladies!"

My mom came over last night to watch Bella while Jeremy and I went to our small group. Mom walked in the door while we were all dancing to "Single Ladies." Oh how glad I am that I'm not in that category any longer!

Christmas Greetings

Click on the page to read the letter. Merry Christmas!




"ABC"

We've really been working on the alphabet around here ('bella English and dad Greek). Here are some of the results:


Bella and the fishies




After talking with Ma Ma and Pa Pa on the webcam, Bella and I decided to play with Photobooth a little longer. While Mom was downtown with an inner-city Bible study, Dad and Bella ate dinner and spent about an hour laughing at ourselves on camera. She recently spent a day at the Tennessee Aquarium with Uncle J; I'll have to get those pictures up soon, but until then... here is some pretty sweet footage before bed time.


Back to the start again

Many inside jokes will forever be veiled in regards to the Lucarelli's recent evening with Chris Martin and friends in Atlanta! The few that are mentioned here are just the beginning:

1. The Scientist--
Back when Becky and I were "taking some time off" before we got married... I gave her one of those "Don't read too far into the lyrical contents of this cd, but in case you do I mean every word on it" mix cds. On it was the Cold Play song "The Scientist" among other assorted amazing songs. At a time when I wanted Becky and I to be able to go "...Back to the start again..." I thought I would communicate that in lyrical fashion. Thanks Chris Martin, it worked.

Nobody said it was easy,
It's such a shame for us to part.
Nobody said it was easy,
No one ever said it would be this hard.

Oh take me back to the start.

2. TicketMaster--
The tickets to this the 2nd of the ATL shows were highly coveted. I was sitting in the sound booth in the back of the auditorium at Precept, Kay was teaching and I was wondering how I was going to purchase tickets for Becky and I before they all sold old. Luckily, David and Brooke Ritterbush (who were also thinking the same thing and in the sound booth) started looking for good tickets when they went on sale. We both purchased tickets. Only thing, though David logged out... my 3 tickets for the concert (which were pretty pricey) went on David's card! Whoops.

3. Murphy's Law--
Everything that could have gone wrong the few days before the concert actually did go wrong. OK, not everything... but it was pretty close. Becky and I were sick. Bella had just gotten over croup. I had a million things to do. It wasn't the greatest time for J. to come work wise... but we endured.... even more than I'll go into... we endured. Bella hung out with "Aunt Biz and David" while Mommy, Daddy, and Uncle J. headed downtown. After figuring out what to do about the tickets, we sat and waited for the show. It seemed like we had been running all day long in a thousand different directions. When the bass was pumping, the lights shining, and the songs playing... everything melted away. What a great concert! It is a toss up between Dave and Cold Play... but I think Cold Play beat out Dave because of the recent loss of my fiddling friend.

Yet, still...
Becky made friends with the people next to us--a 3rd grade teacher whose last concert was Depeche Mode when she was on her first date with her now husband!

For those of you who don't own the Viva cd, you should obtain! For those that haven't experienced the old school (only a couple of years old) Cold Play, you should look into it.

Coming up on the 5th anniversary when Becky listened to the oh-so-not-subtle suggestions of my mix cd, I'm glad she listened to "The Scientist" and that we could listen to it together.

Croup

Pray for the little one!
We had a horrible night last night; Jeremy and I were awake all night long. Bella sounded like she had iron and steel in her throat. We just got back from the Dr. and she has croup. They gave her a shot right then and there--poor suga. She just wants to be held all of the time, crying with a pitiful smoker's voice whenever one of us lays her down.

Jeremy is trying to get caught up on some school work before he leaves for Mechanicsburg, PA tomorrow, which means I am going to be flying solo this weekend. I'm really disappointed because I wanted to go to a benefit at an urban ministry called The Oak Project on Thursday and continue my training at AAA Women's Services on Saturday. Your prayers are appreciated.

Bumble Bee

Jeremy kept telling everyone, "Happy Reformation Day!" Life is a little bit different now that we have a little one... no crazy costume parties, but we had a lot of fun anyway. Both Jeremy and I made some chili... he added a little bit too much spice, but it was really good. We suited up the little one in a cute little bee out fit. For those of you who haven't seen Bella in awhile, she has an animal book with every type of species imaginable. One of her favorite pages is the bug page, where she smacks the fly and mosquito (She also likes the donkey too). So, last night she went as a bee.

We headed over to our church for the big party. They had a lot of those jumping things. Bella went in with some of her friends... and cried when she had to get out. She didn't know how to take everyone being dressed up. She kept looking at people with her pensive, "What in the world?" face. Bella was done after it got dark, so we left a little bit early.

Here are some pictures of our little bumble bee:



Bella loves her "aaaa", puppy and books

Bella is singing her song "mmm-aaa went the lil green frog" hence her name for him - "aaa"
She LOVES her froggy - who is now another "must" in the bed with "Lamby", "Rosco", and "puppy".

Bella loves her rocker from MaMa and her sweet puppy her "aunt" Cindy gave her from London
Bella loves to sit in the big rocker with her books. This one, Pop and Grammy gave. The Blanky was Jeremy's from long ago, and the sweet "our little princess" tile was a gift from the Parkers, Thanks, guys!

'bella's laugh


'bella laughing it up at my weird faces.

Uploaded by http://www.cellspin.net/

Lucarelli's come for a visit

Charlotte/Cornelius is a stop through for many beach travelers, including Pop! Everybody hung out at J's house for the day, which was tons of fun. Of course, 'bella got some great goodies to play with while we enjoyed J's back porch! Thanks for making the stop guys.




Sorry Dad, I couldn't resist this one!

Lake Photoshoot

What an action shot-Becky preparing for some mad distance, 'bella holding on for life, Gatsby preparing to pounce. Thanks Nikon!All of the dogs--Max, Gatsby, Gracie and Dink.
Becky's new haircut--awesome!
Chillin with dad... going for a walk on the point. We didn't get any of the boats, but 'bella kept pointing to them saying "boa, boa!" She also liked to look over the edge at the waves on the rocks. Becky wasn't a fan of us being too close to the water.
Again, money shot... dig the hair dear.
Cool perspective, though the next is my favorite. It took some maneuvering on my part.

While the rest of the family was spending week 2 at the beach, Becky and I were able to relax by the lake. What a vacation--renewal, good food and peace and quiet!

A Night with the Parkers






I grew up in the Charlotte area, but Becky has relatives there too. We spent an evening with the Parkers, who had us over to their house for dinner and good conversation. We braved the wicked weather in the Charlotte area, though 'bella didn't seem to mind.

Lake Norman V a c a t i o n

While the rest of the family was enjoying their time at the beach house, we were able to relax at my parent's house on Lake Norman. 'bella had her very first jacuzzi bath after spending some time lounging by the pool (I still had me-bathing suit on). Becky dumped in a lot of bubbles before leaving the room, not realizing that when the jacuzzi was turned on that the bubbles multiplied to the n-th degree! When Becky came back, 'bella and I were being drowned by bubbles. 'bella didn't know what to think at first, looking at the bubbles like a bunch of bugs that were trying to get her. However, after I showed her that they could be worn... blown... and that when you clap they go flying... well, let's just say that our limbs were a little prune-like before she wanted to get out. Here is a picture when she was a little unsure.


We had spent the whole day riding in the car, so when we got to my parent's house we decided to stretch our legs in the town of Davidson (where Davidson College is). We ate at a 1950's-esque place called the Soda Shop, which had some amazing burgers and Lime-Aides! Afterward, we walked around the college, which is where I used to spend my summers at Soccer Camp. 'bella was memorized by the huge trees and large areas to run and play (perfect after the day in the car!).
In addition to hanging out by the pool almost every day, on Tuesday 'bella was able to go out for some time on Lake Norman! Though she doesn't really like to sport the life vest, she really likes when the wind is in her hair. The sailboats caught her attention on our short ride, but the waves on the choppy main channel was not something our young thrill-seeker appreciated. Though it was more of a hassle to get the boat in the water and suited up, the joy ride was much appreciated. I so enjoy my family.



Beach 2008 Video


Sunset-it is called Sunset.

Just a few miles north of the border between North and South Carolina sits Sunset Beach. Though closely located near Myrtle Beach, Sunset is a quiet oasis. Absent of a large bridge to get on the island, residents and vacationers must cross the one lane, swing bridge for access. At times it may be annoying, the bridge is just one sign of the difference of Sunset.

At the end of the Island is a small bird sanctuary called "Bird Island" where thousands of gulls and pelicans make their home during the Summer months and countless other birds during the fall migrating season. Sunset is also a nesting area for rare turtles, which their voyage from egg to see can be observed during the evening.
Becky and I tried to make going on a daily walk a priority while at the beach. On this particular evening, a large storm had pelted the coast throughout the day though, the clouds left afterwards were breathtaking (Not to mention the sun goddess).

Here is the view from the porch during the day time. Notice the absence of commercialism!
In the background are four shrimp boats. We thorougly enjoyed their spoils throughout the week. Calabash, NC is one of the S. East's largest fishing ports. Just up the Cape Fear River basin is the small town of South Port, which you may remember from Dawson's Creek, I Know What You Did Last Summer, or the movie Cape Fear.




Sunset Beach Bliss - 1

Every year Jeremy's family takes a trip to Sunset Beach, NC. The past two years have been extremely interesting. One I was pregnant, which made for an eventful trip through the middle of the SC marshes. After that, we had a 4 month old lounging in a tent by the water! Jeremy and I were both looking forward to a relaxing, though rabuncious trip with a year-and-a-half 'bella, who hasn't been sleeping very well.

After an uneventful trip down to the beach where we beat everyone else who was making the trek, the Lucarelli family went to the beach for a little look see. Immediately, 'bella was pointing out the birds saying "tweet-tweet." We didn't go in the water, but she did say "Whoa!" when the wave came up and touched her freshly painted, pink toes.

Night one was not a good night for our little one. I was up several times through out the night with her, so I was a bit delirious in the morning. While playing around on the floor 'bella discovered my lipstick. Apparently, I don't put it on very well, that is if she was mimicking my presentation!


We weren't quite sure how 'bella would respond to the sand. Last year, remember, all she did was sit there and sleep. We've also heard horror stories from friends about their children putting handfulls of sand into their mouths! 'bella did great, with shovel and little red bucket in hand. Jeremy took her for a nice dip in the ocean. All she could say the entire time was, "Whoa!"

In keeping with family tradition, everyone usually cooks a meal for the entire family during our stay. Tonight, however, we decided to risk the crowds and the lines in order to get a fresh taste of Calabash, NC seafood. I won't go into the mistake that was, but while we were waiting on everyone to get ready Jeremy decided to snap some shots. We aren't sure what Ma Ma is doing in the background, but thought that it was a great picture! Maybe she was acting out the birds.
Our little on is getting to be so big! She has so many new words and is constantly on the move. What a sweet shot this was, as she was looking out for more "tweet-tweets" and squirrels.
Great family photo on the balcony. We spent a lot of time in the evenings on this balcony, which is complete with several rockers. There is nothing like hearing the waves under the stars with both a good book and good company!
It is amazing how many facial expressions 'bella has inherited from her dad. This may be why we are dealing with her hitting Jeremy!
More pictures and commentary will follow!