t ball and jk wrap up

Not the most creative blog post title but I realized I hadn't closed out Luke's JK year yet and needed to do so! I've been turning my blog into blog books--can't remember who started me on this, but I now have 2 (1 from my first 3 years of blogging and 1 from my last year of blogging) and plan on making a blog book at the end of each year! It is so much fun already going back and reading stories and the boys LOVE looking at themselves in the books and asking me to tell them about the pictures! So, click here if you ever want to make some blog books for your family. It's a perfect way to journal the big and small events in our lives!

So, on to making sure I document Luke's end of the year in JK! Grandparents Night and Open House were conveniently combined into one night! Luke had been talking about showing us all of his creations for weeks, so he was thrilled when the day finally arrived! Hooray that Mimi and Grandpa were able to come!

 One of the last units in JK was studying the rain forests! He made a paper mache snake and was so proud! One of my favorite things they did in JK was his picture journal. They had journal titles at the top of each page of their journals and were to draw pictures of what the journal title described. For example, one was for the day the JK went to the pumpkin patch. Luke drew a picture and said he got stung by a bee and had fun kicking up dust. In fact, his bee sting was a HUGE deal for him and I remember being so thankful I was able to go on the field trip (less than 2 weeks after Miles was born) to comfort him! There were lots of other entries, but I know it will be something we pull out many times down the road---to remember the cute things he thought about when he was 5!

And what school year is complete without a Field Day? You know, one where the kids all run around on the lush green grass in May? Well, this year, we were inside the gym due to the torrential rain we had been having. It would have been a mud fest! But the gym was fine for the 3 legged race, which Luke and Sophie tore up! Good job team!! There was also good traction for the classic tug-o'-war! Great sportsmanship, Mrs. Patterson's class!

Luke also had an end of the year program, where he and the rest of JK sang songs about the seasons and different events that happened during their JK year. It was really sweet---or would have been--if Chad and I hadn't been so distracted by our little "shark!" See him in the middle?

 Luke was determined to be a shark the ENTIRE program, making these frightening adorable faces non-stop. Chad and I kept looking at each other throughout the program thinking, "What are ya suppposed to do?" I apologize to all of the other JK parents out there whose lovely pictures of their children included a fiesty shark in them! I mentioned our shark to Luke's teacher after the program and she laughed and said she would try to encourage him to smile during the program and every time his eyes caught hers he made a fiercer shark face, so she stopped trying! Ha! Yeah, us too! Aaaahhh, my dear Lukey, one of these days you will laugh reading this!

And finally, Luke was up to bat again this year! His second year of playing t-ball had a stormy start. We had practices and games cancelled, but just wrapped up this week. Luke wasn't a fan of the outfield, because the players were told if they caught the ball to throw it to first base. There were some positions that never touched the ball which led to a bored Lukey--he even sat down in the middle of the outfield during one game! However, the games where he played short stop he was thrilled to run and dive for balls and was so proud to tell us he "fielded lots of balls!"

He loved batting of course and was thrilled to get a triple one game. That same game, after his triple and his next at bat, he ran right by several other teammates on base and was told to go back to first. He didn't get it--he wanted to keep going to home! We may need to hit up some minor league games this summer!! Way to play, Slugger!

What a fun school year this has been, Luke! We love you and are so proud of you!

sap. (not the tree kind)

I'm a mess. Sappy and tired. I started out May up and running and it's nearing the end and I'm almost down for the count. We just had Luke's end of the year program and it took everything in me to hold back tears when I talked to his teacher as we left. She was amazing, truly loved our little boy this year, taught him well and gave him so much more confidence than he had at the beginning of the year. This JK year was so special, full of wonderful memories. And now, though summer is here (and we love it) I am already missing this sweet year and looking ahead to big-time Kindergarten with a little bit of dread. My first baby will be going to school ALL day next year. No more half-days where we can have Mommy/Lukey time or go on playdates with friends. I mean, I know there will be those days--holidays, etc., but this was it and I am a mess.

I really am considering moving to a farm and homeschooling my boys. They can rise at the crack of dawn and go feed the animals with Chad (who of course will have to become a farmer), come back in for breakfast and then get ready for studies while Chad works in the fields. I can keep them with me and teach them about what we want them to learn and Who we want them to learn about. We won't have to get in the car to go anywhere and the boys can play outside exploring every bug and insect they choose or pretend our fields are huge oceans they can sail in! Aaaahhhhhh!!! My dear friend, Rebecca, who is moving away from us this summer (and thus another reason I am so sappy) painted us this beautiful painting for our entryway, based on my ramblings to her of this new farmlife dream of mine. Tell me you don't want to move here and isn't she awesome?? When she opens her own business or sells more of her paintings, I'll be sure to let you know!

Anyway, when I get in my mushy moods, I tend to withdraw and want to hole up. I think this farm would be a good place to do so. I feel like if I lived on a farm I would have all the time in the world to dream and plan about raising our boys to know the Lord, which has just really been on my heart all the more lately. I know, in fact, that living on a farm would not be that way at all. It would be far tougher than anything I am used to! I am romanticizing that life for sure. I did read something today (which happen to be written by a farmers' wife raising 4 children) that really encouraged me. It's a beautiful viewpoint on being a Mommy, raising children and serving the Lord. It was just what I needed as I wanted to crawl into my cocoon and escape the end of the year, children growing older, and friends moving on mushy moments I am having.

Regroup. Reenergize. Refocus--on my purpose in life--to glorify the Lord in all that I do!

for me (and maybe their wives one day)

Right now I want to remember. . .
--how every night over the past week Charlie wants his chat time to be about "chefs" and what he is going to make for me at his restaurant. . .pepperoni pizza and of course, it will have green olives (Mommy and Charlie's favorite, but not Luke or Daddy or Miles and then he dissolves into giggles because of course Miles can't have olives yet). Every night--and it has gotten old to him, and I love it so much when he grabs my face and says green olives for us and lays his head beside mine on the pillow!
He is also completely obsessed with Star Wars. When this stage first came about I was devastated. He was too young, I thought. I still do think my newly turned 3 year old is too young and of course we haven't let him OR Luke watch it yet. However, if you could just spend 24 hours with Chuckles and see his passion for anything big boy like Luke--it's adorable. He carries Luke's light saber around ALL the time and talks to me incessantly about Luke Skywalker, R2-D2, Annakin, "Darfa Vader" and so on. He colors his Star Wars coloring book (a present from Mimi and Grandpa) every day and will find one more piece of white on a page he didn't color yet---and mainly uses blue--he must have his blue crayon. These things are precious to me!
--how Luke is even more (if that's possible) mesmerized by the ocean and all its sea life. I am loving his absolute joy of getting to read his newest research guide chapters on dolphins and sharks with us at night! I love how he lays his head on my shoulder curled next to me telling me when he already knew that piece of information or already asking what sea creature I want to be when we play tomorrow.
He is also really into bugs after studying the rain forest at school and even convinced me to carry a plastic cup with dirt, a spider egg and LIVE spiders in my car (though I didn't know this until half way down the street after leaving school--at which time I freaked out and wanted to toss them out the car window but had panic squealing from the backseat and couldn't break his heart so I quickly and fortunately found a plastic ziploc bag in my car in which to contain them until we were home). He wants to find bugs with his magnifying glass all over our yard and even in our house (sadly we have them to find). For some reason, I am finding this so endearing and just fully embracing being a Mommy to boys! ** Oh, and how tonight at dinner (after I already posted this, so I am adding this) Lukey said, "Mommy, even if you weren't my Mommy, I would love you more than my Mommy, because you are the BEST Mommy!" Melt my heart! He followed it with. . .and Daddy is the best Daddy, and Charlie and Miles are the best brothers and Mocha and Sparky and his new pet spiders (above) are the best pets. . .etc!
--how Miles kicks his legs up and down bouncing his whole body in our arms when we finally pick him up out of his carseat---a place he finds himself often. His beaming eyes and smiles and the way he is starting to chatter so much now light me up! He is really exploring now, even if by accident. When he's getting tummy time, he pushes himself backwards and ends up in new places--sometimes he's thrilled, other times not so much. Milesy is loving books and before bed is still my favorite--when he smiles with that wide open grin and looks from me to the book and back to me. That and when he nuzzles his face into my neck--wanting a cuddle and some sleep. Sweet angel baby!

Thank you Lord for our precious Treasures!

all smiles!

Hey Everyone! It's me, Milesy-Smilesy (except for when I have sinusitis induced bronchitis and an ear infection and wheezing, AND I'm on a steroid, breathing treatment and an antibiotic for 20 days, like I am now--then I don't smile as much)! Boo. But Mommy and Daddy still think I am a champ!


Anyway, I just thought I'd hijack my Mommy's blog and see if any of you know why I am smiling in these pictures. . .any guesses???

Okay, I'll tell you. It's because 2 of my biggest entertainers (minus Daddy) are busy entertaining me! Gosh, I love my big brothers and BIG bubbles!!

It's already HOT down here! Hooray for BUBBLE SEASON!!!

just a few of the numbers in my day

13 diapers changed

75oz. milk/formula poured or made

$71.20 spent at the gas pump

Over 140 minutes spent in the car driving to and from school, t-ball practice and swimming lessons

48, 30 and 20--the number of lbs. my babies weigh (I know this because of the 5 dr. visits we've been to in the past month for the varying sicknesses we've had in our house.) Can you guess who is who? Sure you can, but do you see anything interesting about them?

150 times I've heard booty or pee pee or poo poo head in my house today (all said in a high pitch silly squeal, but very softly with little hands covering their mouths--so I don't hear them because they know I'm not a fan)

And lastly, at tuck in time. . .
1--I love you Mommy
1--I wuv you Mama and another I wuufffff you too, Mama!
and
1--"Heh huh heh, goooo" with a smile (which obviously means I love you too!)

long awaited beach trip and post---but worth it!

You may be wondering if we've been swept away by floods, if you've seen the national weather lately. I assure you my lack of posting is not because we're sailing down any rivers, though when I lightly told the boys we might need to get a boat tonight because we might float away in all this rain, Luke genuinely asked me if I was teasing. Obviously, he's heard all the talk about the flooding in our area!

No, my lack of posting has just been our whirlwind life lately! I need to do some backtracking, so since we are I am talking about boats let me rewind to our latest beach trip to Destin!

We've been trying to get back to Destin for some time and our schedules just haven't allowed it. Ugggh. Schedules. I'm really not liking that word more and more. But finally, we found a long weekend that we could work a roadtrip there and headed out. That weekend was Charlie's birthday weekend. Yes, that morning, we woke Charlie, headed out to our favorite local donut shop for a celebratory breakfast, Luke went to school, Chad went to work, came home from work and we left late afternoon on Charlie's third birthday. He thought he was king because he also chose where we had dinner. Mickey D's. The big golden arches for his third birthday! Nice. Have I mentioned we took a long road trip on Charlie's birthday? Oh, and he was sick and Miles and Chad and me. Luke was the only healthy one. I was stressed at the time that Charlie was having a terrible birthday. It was all in my head, because he thought it was great! He and his big brother were thrilled to keep the party going when we finally arrived after 2:30am and didn't go to sleep until 4:30am. But hey, we were finally at the beach!!!!!

The first day there was pretty chilly, so I stayed inside with Miles and we lived it up in the condo and Miles found his feet!

The other boys played around and Charlie was reacquainted with the waves. It took a little bit, but then Daddy reminded him to try to jump over the waves and all was good after that! Luke wasn't hesitant at all, after all he's our future marine biologist and loves the ocean, no matter how cold the water is!! The next 2 days we all hung out on the beach (Miles slept in the pack n play one morning) in the morning or afternoon and enjoyed throwing the frisbee, making sand castles, looking for shells and taking walks. April is such a great month to be in Destin---but really, when isn't?

We also made a trip to Seaside. Such an adorable little town full of color and a variety of things to see and do. I think it will be so much fun to go when the boys are older and can ride bikes all through the area! We walked up and down some of the streets admiring the houses and exploring the town. And of course, we topped off the evening with some ice cream!

And speaking of food, one highlight of our trips to Destin is the yummy seafood! This time around, our boys were gobbling it down! A favorite is the Smoked tuna dip from our fave restaurant, The Back Porch. Charlie had chargrilled Amberjack while there and Luke is thrilled to tell you he tried Mahi-Mahi, Red Snapper and squid while on this trip! Soooo good! At another place we enjoy dining, the boys had a fun experience watching some fishermen bring in their catch. Luke's eyes were as wide as saucers when he saw the size of the Cobia these guys were bringing onto the dock. Big!! As soon as they knew the boat was docking beside us at the restaurant, they were waving like crazy trying to get a wave back---sure enough they did and a big story too!

Though the drive was long, the trip was well worth it! Charlie's third birthday, Miles' first trip to the beach, Luke ate squid and the Jackson 5 had some good, quality family time!

 More fun pics can be found on my photoblog!