good times...with good friends....

A week or so ago, we went to the Children's Museum with some of Luke's friends he has had since hew as 3 months old. Isaac and Ava. Emerson was there too...she is Ava's little sister. It's definetly harder now a days to get a picture of the 3 of them together with everyone happy and looking at the camera. Here is the best one I got that day of the 3 of them posing...both Luke and Isaac are looking at Ava like, "what IS your problem girl?!?"



Here is Isaac and Luke being buddies and holding hands to make sure no one got lost!


All three of them watching the trains...how cute do they look! 3 little 2 year olds! awww!


Luke and Ava playing with the train table.


and Luke wasn't too happy to be up in that digger truck. sorry buddy! (even though he asked to be put up there...silly kid)


It was a fun day. I'm glad we were able to get all the kids together to play again. Hope we can do it again really soon!!!

Here is an older post of them playing together too! click HERE. If you scroll down there are more you can click too!

GO USA!

Luke is sporting his RED, WHITE, and BLUE for the 2008 Olympic Games. Go USA!

and a sidenote....
I was thinking the other day, the next time the Olympics is on, in 2012, our son will be turning 6 and starting kindergarten that fall! what?!?! Is that possible?

The State Fair!

Luke had his first official trip to the State Fair last week. It was such a beautiful day to go. He loved it and really enjoyed everything we did.


we got to see the pigs, which we had to drag him away from....


and we ate lots of yummy fair food...like corn dogs...


and waved to the people on the tractors going by....


and even drank an Orange Shake-up. which literally tasted like you stuck a straw directly into an orange. it was so yummy!


But his most favorite thing was the rides. Oh yes, my boy wanted to ride every ride he could. So we started with a somewhat safe ride....the Carousel. (I will say though...that thing went fast!!! I had to really plant my feet as we went around in circles...it was crazy!)


Unfortantely, Luke wasn't quite tall enough to ride all the rides he wanted. He needed to be 36". Luke is 33". sorry buddy! next year okay??


So, we walked through the rides to watch them, just for fun. Then....we came across this....


Yes...oh yes...that is us. climbing up that huge scary slide. (we are almost to the top...I'm in black) We went by it and Luke was freaking out because he wanted to go down it...like freaking out. So, we got some tickets and away we went. and let me tell you. that is one of the scariest things I have ever done with him. It was so high and I was so paranoid we were going to fall....but we made it......

and after trying to grab ahold of my kid as we were trying to get on that stinkin potatoe sack (he tried to sit next to me and GO DOWN BY HIMSELF!)
we made it safely down. whew. He loved it. Every minute of it. He desperately tried to get us to go again...but we didn't. I told him had to wait until next year when Daddy could take him down it. :)

Thanks Grammy and Grandpa Jeff for taking us to the fair. We had so much fun.

his new favorite thing....

READING!!! yay! I am so excited. When he was really little, he LOVED to have us read to him. He would sit and just listen so intently and even at a young age (like 5 months..not kidding!) he knew how to turn the pages of his favorite book, Goodnight Moon.

But he went through a phase where it seemed that his books were not meant for reading. He would take them in and out, in and out, in and out of his book bin, or he would want to just pick them up and see how fast he could turn the pages. It was like we couldn't get him to sit and actually LET us read TO HIM.

Then...3 weeks ago. All of a sudden at bed time, he wanted us to read to him. As in...he sat in our laps and actually listened to a story...all the way through!

NOW, he wants to do it all by himself. and I mean all by himself. He doesn't really want us to help him read it anymore. He can now do it all alone! (of course, we don't know what he is really saying yet...)

This is a very common thing to catch him doing around the house these days. Sitting by himself in his room on the floor or sitting on the couch in the living room....

Silly Little Man

How CUTE is he?!?!

future generations

This is my sister, Emily. Luke's Auntie. When she was about 3-4 years old, she had this beautiful pink Barbi Car. She loved pink (still does) and barbi's so this car was right up her ally. She loved it so much that one time, her dance teacher included her Barbie Car in their dance routine. (now imagine 3 other little 3 year old girls driving around their Barbie Cars on stage! it was seriously...way too cute for words!)
Here is the picture I promised of her in her car when she was little! how CUTE is she?!?

Well here she is today, still with her pink Barbie Car. She is a little too big for it now, but she has passed it down to her nephew. It stay's at her house, and Brandon insists we call it the "Kid Car" not a Barbie Car. hahahaha....so we do. :)



Of course, I don't think Luke will be using it any of his future dance routines. But he does look awfully darn cute sitting in it too! oh the memories it brings back.

magic erasers. we. love. you.

This is what my son did this morning. (If you can't see it...he wrote in green crayon all over my green kitchen walls)

Isn't it beautiful! hahahaha. (what else can you do but laugh? right?)



And this is him sitting in time out afterwards. He was seriously cracking me up sitting there like he was all fake crying with a pouty lip and everything!


I always had kids at all the various daycares I worked at draw on the walls with all sorts of things. But I didn't really think my kid would do that to my house. Man, was I naive! hahaha.

Have any of you tried those magic erasers?? Those work fabulously! if that is a word. It removed every single crayon mark and line. Thanks Mr. Clean!

and thanks Luke for the great laugh this morning. We love you even if you write on our walls with crayons. Just don't do it again.

a rambling from the mom...

Tonight we went to church. I know...some of you that know us may be taken aback by that! just kidding. but seriously we did go. and I didn't get on here to tell all of you that we went. I say it because I experienced something tonight.

Worship was great. Sometimes I like to just stop singing myself and just......listen. You can hear lots of things that way. How much better everyone else around me sounds when I'm not singing or how one person sometimes gets really loud on the microphone and can over power the others. But sometimes if you listen really close...you can hear God in the place. Better yet. You can feel Him. and man I did tonight.

I was standing there (hoping our number wouldn't get put up on the screen...more on that later) sitting next to my husband and some friends. and all of a sudden, i just felt this overwhelming feeling of blessings. If that's how you describe it. These people we were sitting next too are more than friends to us now. They are like family. A big family that we will be able to rejoice with forever. Friends who really care about us...and us about them. I mean REALLY care. not just that "hey..how ya doing. oh good" care. The "share life with us" care. I love that. and I thank God for them. and all the other people we "do life" with too. Thank you God for reminding me of the blessings you have already given us.

He knew I had a rough day. But I am relying on Him. Because, well, His plan is going to be better than my plan. and quite honestly, I can't believe I thought I had that much control over something. Because I don't. He does. and He will. and I am okay with that. Disapointed for now. But okay with that. (you will all know what I mean someday...it's not bad I promise).

For now I am thankful for all the other many blessings he has given me in my life. My husband. My wonderful kid. My friends. My family. I just needed a gentle reminder of that tonight.

On to my wonderful kid. It's pretty great when your kid is asked by an adult while we are checking in "you are going to stay the whole time in nursery tonight right buddy??"(did you sense the sarcasm in my voice????) all while he already has tears streaming down his face. I was just thinking "yeah right." and "fabulous, my kid is now known as the one who screams the whole time" BUT....

Brandon and I sat there tonight at church...together. Luke stayed in the nursery the whole time. That in itself is a cause for dancing in the streets. :) He screamed and cried when I dropped him off. and I'm pretty sure he never let go of his "gankie" while he was there. But. He. Stayed. I wonder if God spoke to him tonight too?

When we picked him up he yelled "mommy mommy mommy mommy" over and over while tears were streaming down his face. Is it sick that I loved the fact he missed me sooooo much?!? I mean, I missed him too of course, but it was only an hour...and he needs to learn he can do things without us ya know? But it was great to know he wanted me. :)

well, thanks for reading my ramblings from this evening. I don't even know if they made sense. But I wanted to write out a little of what I was feeling from this evening. We sure are going to miss Michael leading worship.