THE FAMILY. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together. ~Erma Bombeck

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Luke's Big Day


Luke

Today we celebrated Luke's 2nd birthday. After breakfast we took some pictures. Mia loves to use my camera. She took this great shot of me and Luke. Luke carefully opened his present from Grandma Clark.
He was so excited to see the dinosaur toy.
And Mom got him a new bike.
He played with his new toys all morning.
After school the real party began. We had cake and ice cream.
Luke had to wear the crown that Mia and I made for him.
Who needs a stinkin' fork?
My messy but beautiful big boy. We love you Luke.

Happy Birthday Luke!

Luke is 2 ! More pictures to come.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Carving Pumpkins

Last night we carved pumpkins. I helped them clean out the pulp and seeds (because Cole wouldn't touch the stuff) but they did ALL the carving, totally by themselves.







They're both really proud of their work. It was a lot of fun.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Saturday Night

Here are two more photos of last Saturday night. Mia and Luke stayed up late after the trunk-or-treat and had a great time.

Mia still in her Halloween make-up and looking beautiful.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Time to Dress Up

This year it was a struggle getting Luke to wear a costume. Every costume scared him, it didn't matter what it was. It reminded me of the year when Cole was his age and was terrified of all costumes, so I had to put him in a yellow shirt with a big zig zag on it and say he was Charlie Brown. I refused to give in this year. So this was our attempt at getting Luke to become Superman. I know someday he'll be excited to wear this for dress ups. He finally calmed down when he realized the costume was indeed harmless.
Of course, sucking his thumb helped a bit. It didn't last though. And that night at the Elementary School Fall Festival he ended up dressing as himself. He still had fun though.
Cole really wanted to look "tough" for his Indiana Jones debut.
Mia just wanted to look cool, I think.
The following night was the "Trunk-Or-Treat" at church. Luke was a little more used to the idea, but still didn't want to be superman. So I dressed him in a flight suit costume I made for Cole when he was THREE. Good heavens, Luke is growing fast. It fit him perfectly.

He kept playing with the dog tags and I should have known better. We ended up losing them that night, even though I searched everywhere. But we were lucky enough to have a friend find them in the parking lot and give them to us at church the next day. So the costume remains intact. Doesn't he look adorable?
Indiana Jones had way too much fun! He said he had to go potty when we came home, and after 20 minutes with no peep from him, I asked Mia to check and see if he was OK. This is what she found.
With whip in pocket and fedora on the floor, he crashed. The skill of falling asleep just about anywhere, is something he gets from his Daddy.
So far it's been a great Halloween.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Possible Baby Names

Mia and Cole thought it would be fun to help Mommy come up with some cute baby names. Here is a copy of their lists.

Mia's is first. As you can see, she doesn't really care to have another brother.
And here's Cole's list. I'm not sure what he was thinking with some of his names. I'm pretty sure he's never met a girl named "Disaku" in his life, but at least he's being creative. And I love his # 4 on the boy list. I guess you can't have too many Coles.

I think we'll keep brainstorming.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

W.O.W. Mia is Talented

Mia's drama academy performed "Cloudy With A Chance of Pumpkins" for her school last Wednesday, and for the community at the Springs Preserve on Friday. She played the part of the Mom and did an amazing job.
Mia with her drama teacher.
She did a great job in the show. And she was lucky enough to have Grandma there to watch.
After Friday's show we went to the Haunted Harvest festival where the kids trick or treated and had a ball playing games and looking at all the lights.
Here's a photo of the school production.
We're so lucky to have such an amazing daughter.

Friday, October 09, 2009

Fun at the Pumpkin Patch

Last Monday the kids had a day off of school, so we headed to the St. George pumpkin patch and corn maze. Perfect weather, perfect company... it doesn't get better than that.
Luke looking cute before getting all dusty and dirty.

They had a great rope swing and the kids just loved seeing how high they could fly. Here they are lining up for a turn.



Fun tire swings hooked to a horse walker.
And of course the cow train. Luke loved this little ride and boy... the guy drove it fast.

Aspen, Mia, and Katelyn having a ball.
Cole found a fun tower and of course had to pose for me.
It took me a good 10 minutes to get Luke down from the tower. He wanted to stay up there all day.

He got pretty mad at me, and that set the tone for the corn maze. Notice I didn't get any cute pictures of Cole and Mia. I was too busy taking care of my sad little Luke, who trailed behind with his bag of Sun Chips.
And last but not least, we got to pick out our pumpkins from the pumpkin patch. We ended up with 4 wonderful pumpkins that we can't wait to carve. Thanks Geneva for making all the arrangements for this really fun day. We missed you.