Our First Graduation

Luke graduated from Pre-School tonight. 

So proud of his diploma!

Best buds: Caelan and Luke.

Viva Las Vegas!

My favorite type of picture and it turned out really good!

On the Cathlemet from Whidbey Island to the main land.

The view from our hotel room. Beautiful sand bottom pool surrounded by palm trees and a vineyard.  Peaceful and fun all at the same time!

Our gorgeous bathroom!

Robes included, nice!

Yummy dinner at Lucille's Smokehouse BBQ!

Twins!

Triplets!

M&M World



Sight seeing from the double decker DUECE bus...can you see us?





There's no crying in tee-ball...well, maybe just the first day...

Luke has waited in anticipation for this day for over a month: Tee ball started today!  Luke had fun practicing throwing, catching and hitting! He only cried 4, maybe 5 times.  He's sensitive when he's not perfect; boy do I know that feeling!

Listening intently to Coach.  He was telling the team to practice throwing at home with a partner, or throw at a tree in the back yard.  Luke speaks up so innocently, "I don't have a tree in my backyard...but I do have one in my front yard."

Ready to catch!

Pretending to have a mit.

Fielding stance.

Crying.

Luke catching a ball personally tossed by Dad! I love this picture.

Thumbs up = All is good in the end!
Fun was had by all!!!

Who's there?

Luke has taken to telling knock, knock jokes lately.  His favorites:

"Knock, knock." "Who's there?" "Canoe." "Canoe who?" "Canoe get a plug and stop this leak!"

"Knock, knock." "Who's there?" "Banana" "Banana who?" "Knock, knock." "Who's there?" "Banana" "Banana who?" "Knock, knock." "Who's there?" "Banana" "Banana who?" "Knock, knock." "Who's there?" "Orange" "Orange who?" "Orange ya glad I didn't say banana again?" 

I'm guessing that you're not nearly as tired of reading the last one as I am of hearing it over and over...and over again! I love 5 years old that are learning new things and repeating them over and over again...

We do exist!

Photos by Luke:

16 and Counting

Luke informed our family today that he doesn't believe in the Easter bunny or Santa Clause; they are just a "BIG FAT FUN GAME!" he shouted at the top of his inside voice.  "Oh, and you know what else is a game? My sisters and brothers."  Yes, Luke has invisible siblings: 3 big sisters, 9 little sisters including baby girl twins, and 2 brothers.  "Their names are Millie, Tinkerbell, Claire, Jessie, and Jess.  My brothers are Bot and Geo.  Well, Jonah, too.  And the twins are Jessica and, um...(eyes rolling up and looking around the room) um...I don't remember the other one. Well, we can name her Mia since you like that name, Mom," he says in the most serious 5-year old voice.   

I'm sitting in my living room, looking around the house thinking, "No wonder my house is always a mess! Not only do I have 2 very active, rambunctious little boys, I have 14 children that I can't even see!  Huh, it's all making sense now."

What an imagination! 

It's Spring, or is it?

"Spring" break started 6 days ago and yet it snowed today!  We've had lots of fun with the boys, even though we haven't left town.

Monday.
Morning with Mom ::: met Grammy for coffee and cake (blueberry muffins) at Starbucks,went to the Super Store for kid supplies at work, lunch.  
Afternoon with Dad ::: napped until 4! Lucky him.

Tuesday.
Morning with Mom ::: colored pictures, played Super Why on the computer, visited Grammy's house, lunch.
Afternoon with Dad ::: nap, helped Dad make soup for dinner.  It was wonderful, as always.

Wednesday.
All day with Dad ::: went to Don Morse park to slide, climb and swing, lunch & nap, cleaned the carport and front porch, played ball in the back yard.

Thursday.
GRAMMY!!!  The boys were so excited to spend the day with Grammy ::: throwing dirt clods and a walk in the meadow at Bent Tree, a long nap, then an afternoon at the ball park watching baseball practice and sliding on the round slide.  They were so sad to see her go at the end of the day, but I'm sure she was looking forward to a quiet night to herself.  Oh, did I mention that she cleaned the boys' room and did their laundry? Amazing!

Friday.
GRAMMY'S BACK!!!  Bring on day two with Grammy ::: first a trip to the Super Store to get egg dying supplies, watched it snow all morning, lunch & nap, watched it snow more while coloring Easter eggs for the hunt on Sunday.

All in all, a great week.  Looking forward to a wonderful weekend of more fun and relaxation.

Lucky & Charming

The St. Patrick's Day Kid Parade was a big hit with the boys! Luke was chosen by his teacher to carry the banner for Precious Promise Preschool and he was soooooo excited.  He did an impeccable job wearing his homemade hat and following the center line; when he marched passed us on the parade route, I could hardly get him to look up to smile for the camera.  Since they were the first in the parade, we were able to run back up the street and be with the family to watch the rest of the parade. 

Jonah was happy hanging out in the wagon with his grammy.

We came home with a proud little boy, a sleeping munchkin, and a handful of candy.

Brilliant!

Luke thought it would be 'cool' to put Jonah in his PJs.  So, with a little help from me, we made a two-headed, two-legged, four-armed giggle monster!

Turns out, it was brilliantly funny!

Reading Corner

We rearranged the boys' room a few days ago.  We now have a reading corner with my rocking chair, the little rocking chair and our small bookshelf in between.  Jonah thinks it's wonderful to have his own chair to read in.  Every night since the move, he sits in his chair for bedtime story.  I'm missing my baby on my lap!

Stomp, stomp, clap, clap HOWL!

Our Great Wolf Lodge surprise birthday celebration was a big hit!

Mom, Jonah and Luke bear huggin'!

Jonah pullin' his very own suitcase. Such a big "little" brother.

The boys in the waterpark!

The birthday kids: Luke (5), Jack (4), and Emma (7). They got to sleep in the kid cabin in honor of their special days.

Luke with cousin Jack in front of the storytime tower.

The talk

Steve had the "Santa is pretend, we play along because it's fun" talk with Luke yesterday. They talked about God's love for us, His amazing gift to us and St. Nicholas' generosity in Jesus' name.
It's probably pretty confusing for a 5 year old since everything in the Big Box stores and on TV is about Santa and presents, presents and more presents! We've talked a lot over the last week about Jesus' birthday and that's reason we celebrate Christmas and that we give presents because we love others and want to show them that, like God showed his love for us by sending Jesus to earth.

Fastforward to today. My uncle stopped by and was talking to Luke about Santa coming tonight. Luke looked at him for a minute, then said point-blank "Santa isn't real ya know." My uncle seemed shocked that a 5 year old would say such a thing. I'm sure he was surprised that we had told him the truth, ultimately "ruining" Christmas for Luke. He looked at Luke and while pointing to his heart said, "Well, but he's in here and in here" motioning to Luke's heart. Luke paused for just a moment then said, "And so is God!" I was so proud of him!

All dressed up with places to go

I think I can

Believe it or not, this went on for over 5 minutes! It was so hilarious; we were laughing hysterically!!!

Halloween

Luke is going to be the red Ninja Turtle, Raphael. We've had this costume for almost a month and 2 days ago Luke says to me, "but mommy, I wanted to be the blue ninja." Who knew?!?

My little green monster, rrr, I mean dinosaur.

Jonah thought the insides were gross to look at and yucky to touch, yet fun to fling around the table with the carving spoon.

Smile!

Ooooooo.......

The end result:

Happy boys and awesome jack-o-lanterns!