swimming like a rock

Let's just say that my son has never taken well to the water. For a little boy that was born on an island, when it comes to water, he has no self preservation skills. I have had to go in after him more than once to get him off the bottom of the pool. Scary I know. He loves to be in the water just the same. Last summer we were at Cari's, not planning to swim, I didn't have a suit with me. But Luke had a pair of short that looked like trunks, so went to their neighborhood pool. Luke walks down the stairs and is standing there with his head completely under water. Not waving his arms or anything. I had to walk into the water and pull him to safety. So we had decided that this summer was the summer, he is going to take lessons at the Y. But they don't start until July. We, all of us, went over to Nanny's yesterday to swim. Trav had Lilly and Luke and I thought that we would teach him how to at least hold his breath under water. Then how to move his arms to keep his head up and the next thing you know he was swimming under water. I was so proud of him. He still is going to lessons, but I even feel better about. Here is Lilly ready to go. I wanted to get a picture of her with her new suit and towel but she wasn't as willing as I was. Maybe next time.

party party party

This weekend was a very busy one. We had two birthday parties and I had a baby shower that was scheduled for the same day as Selah's party. So Fri night Christy Shannon Lynn and I went up to the church and decorated for the shower so the church was looking cute for Sat. It was a classic pooh themed nursery so we decorated that way. Shannon came up with the idea of having a pooh bear that was floating up to a beehive. So the idea blossomed from there. We got a pooh bear and 3 balloons, tied them to his wrist and hung bee down all around the balloons. Then we hung a pooh blanket from the ceiling over the gift table and hung bees all around the room. It was very cute. Lynn had to go as soon as we were done but Christy Shannon and I took advantage of the time that we had away from kids. We all had little ones home with daddies (except for Lynn). By the time we were finished decorating it was passed all their bedtimes. Maybe that was subconsciously maybe on purpose, I'll never tell. We tossed around the idea of finding something to do, we were 3 moms with no responsibilities, (for a brief moment) free to do whatever on a Friday night. Surely we could think of something. But there we all stood, knowing that if it wasn't for 6 years and under, we were clueless of it's existence. So we all went home to quiet houses, happy for that.

We had to get up early Sat morning and head west to Tulsa zoo. Selah's birthday was a pink flamingo party. So cute. The zoo was having an exotic bird exhibit. They give you a Popsicle stick dunked in honey and then in birdseed. You just stand there and the bird fly up and land on the stick and munch away. Sometimes you would have 2 birds at a time. It was so fascinating to look at the bird feathers up close. God is sooo creative. Millions and millions of insignificant feathers painted as if they were fine china. Amazing. Then we partied under a quaint pavilion at the back of the zoo. Neat party. We did have a stalker mom. She was always just a few steps away from us no matter where we were in the zoo. It was just a little weird. We went back to Cari's and we (the kids) swam. Then we went to dinner before coming home. It was a short but sweet visit.

Elizabeth birthday party was Sun evening. She had it at John and Dillie's house out in the country. They take care of horses on their property and so the kids all were treated to horseback rides. John and Dillie are into serious outdoor living and they have two floor decks on the back of their house that are the same length as the house. So it is a great place to entertain. Fun fun fun. We got home Sun at about 10:30, we were bushed!

tag!!??!!

I guess that I have been tagged and that means that I have to share 5 little known facts about myself. Thanks Cari.
1. I am a horrible typer. I applied for a secretary's job once and they required a typing test. After I was practically hired for my people skills they had to come back and tell that I didn't have the job. I typed a mere 18 words per minute which was passable but when they took off for my mistakes I only typed 9 words a minute. Blogging is great fun for me.
2. Sushi is one of my favorite foods. But I am intimidated to go to sushi bars. I don't know what to order, I don't know what half the stuff is, and I don't have "sushi friends " that know the ropes. So I make my own.
3. I am extremely weak-stomached. I could hurl with the snuffing of a snotty nose. Noises get me, smells get me, the very thought of something gross gets me. And what is worse, Travis is just like me. The first couple of months we had Luke, I didn't think that Travis and I were going to make it. I would actually tell Travis that I had changed the last one so he would do it. Don't tell. He doesn't know.
4. I love puzzles. Crossword, word search, sudoku, any kind of puzzle. I have never told anyone because I feel like it is a total waste of my time. I have better things to do and need to do. But sometimes I just get sucked into it. Travis is so sweet, he picked this up about me during our ice storm last winter. It was a complete stress reliever for me when we didn't have electricity for 9 days. I would light a candle and puzzle away the stress. So every once in a while he'll pick me up a puzzle book on his way home from work.:)
5. I have always wanted to work in a bakery, a florist, a restaurant (sushi bar, preferably) a photography studio, an interior decorator shop, all those places that have those talents that we can use in everyday life. Who wouldn't want to know how to decorate a cake or room, and to get paid to learn, that would be ideal. Who knows where I'll end up after Lilly Kate is in school.
Well there is my list, I know that it is pretty boring, but if I told you the really juicy stuff, I wouldn't be the exciting, mysterious untold story that I am. yeah right!!

How we must seem

Have you ever wondered how parents must seem to 5/6 year old's when it comes to having a life before kids? It must seem unfathomable to them.
Today we went to the post office, business as usual, nothing special. Luke likes to set the mail up on the dock, so he can skate down the handicap ramp. Well today, a postman met Luke at the car and took the tote for him. Luke gets in the car, and says, "Everyone in there is nice, huh mom?" And I kinda chuckled under my breath I said "no, not all of them." Luke says "what does that mean mom?", (like I wasnt being very nice.) I said Oh hun, I went on a date with guy that works there once. And Luke response was "you must have dated lots of guys, huh mom, and then you met dad with a mustache." LOL
Which reminds me of a time when we were shopping at Aldi. It was just Luke and I and he was probably 4. We had been there a while and I was in shopper mode, half listening to what Luke was saying in his non-stop stream of words that he is famous for. Then a very tall big black man walks by and says, "how you doing?" and I politely replay "fine, how are you?" While the man is still standing there Luke looks up at me and says, "Mom, you should date other men." Of course, my mouth drops and I tell him that his father would probably have a problem with that. And then I practically ran away. I was so embarrassed.
P.S. The postman was pentacostal and I wasn't. So I wasn't up to his standards!

VBS

Luke decided that he enjoyed Upwards Soccer so much that he wanted to participate in the First Baptist Church's VBS. So all week long we have been going back and forth. I think that he has a great love for "church". In fact the first night they asked all the kids what their favorite pastime was. Luke answered last and the boy that answered before him said something to the effect of playing "rated T" games on his game boy (Yikes). So I just knew that it would be something about the DS or a game like Star Wars. But to my surprise his answer was Church. The thought ran through my mind that it was a buttered-up response. But it was an honest answer. I could tell by the way he acted all week. I loved watching him, blending into the new environment like he was at home. All the girls were chasing him around the room, like all little girls do when there is a cute boy in their midst. He was showing off his break dance moves for everyone. One evening I slipped into the back of the room when he didn't know I was there and he had the whole class roaring with one of his answers. So then it was on, over and over he saying things to be a cut-up. As a mom, I wait for those moments when I can be a "fly on the wall" and observe unaware. I'm grateful when they are getting attention for good behavior. And so proud when people love and except your child the way you do. I love Luke he is awesome.
Lilly, bless her heart, was a trooper this week, being toted on my hip until way after bedtime. She is such a good girl she really took all of it in stride. She has developed her first two words this week. "Me-Me" and "Ma-Ma" Me-Me is milk and Ma-Ma is me. They have been interchangeable over the last couple of days, but I think she is getting it. Cutie-patootie.

Kung-fu Luke!

Luke and Trav had a daddy day yesterday. I watched Lilly as they played Army men, or it would have been "Attack of the 50 foot baby". Then they colored together, napped together and then they went to see Kung-fu Panda. Luke loves anything Chinese and so this was right up his alley. They came home saying it was super funny and they both want to see it again. So of course here is Luke showing me HIS kung-fu moves. And the last pic is just the kids being cute. As usual.

Lettie's Visit

We got a surprise visit from Lettie yesterday! Yea! She just called that morning and said Hey, this is Lettie and I'm in Joplin. It totally caught me off guard. But we are always super excited to see Lettie anytime. It took Lilly a few seconds to warm up to her. But look at her ham it up with her. She is showing Lettie her favorite game of peek-a-boo.

Ahhh, good times!

new blogs

Look world it's me blogging again. I have been out of practice typing so it is slow going. But hopefully I'll stay with it for a while.
Well Luke has been bugging me the last couple of days because I think that it has finally hit him that it is going to be a little different summer this year with Lilly. We just can't be as spontaneous as we were when it was just him and I. With diapers and bottles and shorter legs we just can't run to the park if we want. Or go swim at Nanny's. Or whatever. So he and I decided to go to Hobby Lobby and get some "projects". We brought the basic craft stuff, pipe cleaners, pompoms, felt, popcyle sticks, and so on. We had a pile of stuff and Luke had also picked out a science project to build several different airplanes. I had forgot to get the coupon off the internet, So you know how we mom's do, I told the cashier that I would go home and get a coupon and come back to get the kit tomorrow. It would have been worth the trip. But as I live and breathe the cashier (they NEVER do this at our store) said why don't I go ahead and give you the discount because I know how upsetting that would be for him, looking at Luke. I said oh okay that's awesome, thank you. But as I pulled off the parking lot I thought, wow she must see some awful displays of rotten behavior to give us that discount. I know that Luke is not that kid, and he would never have thrown a fit about and it because he knows that he would never get it if he did. So it kinda made me wish that it could have played out a little different just to see what would have happened. But for me it became a moment of being completely overwhelmed with graditude to God for his awesome gift of great kids. God is so good to us and I am bessed everyday. It has restored my desire to blog and brag a little. It made me happy today as I was folding 16 paper airplanes. Praise God!

Last Days of School

As you can see the last days of school were a whirlwind of fun. We had something going on every single day that week. Which is why I haven't blogged for a while. We started the week off with the Upwards Soccer coming to an end and they had a program for the kids. A basketball performer from Branson came and put on a show, Luke totally loved it. It was very entertaining. We had Cougar Olympics. Which Luke did fantastic in. He smoked the competition in the 25 mtr dash. 2nd in the sack race. I think it was because he had a hole in the bottom of his sack. He held it together until he crossed the finish line and then he lost it. He got 2nd in skipping and jumped 4' 5" in the long jump. Luke and his best buddies at school went to Chick-fil-A. One of the mom bought cones for everyone so Hayden, Luke, Tyler, and Blake (l to r) are showing their ice cream smiles. They had a blast.

They had a day at the park. Lilly and I got to go over for a little while, and shared in some of the fun. They went to the fire station the next day. Both Travis's grandfathers were retired firemen. So Luke was pretty excited about that. Then the unavoidable last day arrived and after a great last week of school Luke had to say goodbye to Mrs. Silvey :( and his buddies. (Hayden and Luke are pictured with Cale and Brodie and then Mrs. Silvey) But he has had three birthday parties and a sleepover since school has been out so he hasn't had time to even miss them. (Me either ha!) We a great year in kindergarten.

Birthday Celebration

May 10th, 2008 Lilly Kate's first birthday. We made it! The anticipation to the first birthday is so fun. Lilly's is oblivious to it all of course, but she won't be next year. It makes me sad that she is already a year old but happy at the same time. We got to have Sugar and Nanny there which was fabulous. They both helped a ton. Cari and Alan and the kids got to come too, which was fabulous, also. The theme was flowers. We had a lot of fun. First the girls tossed flower bean bags into a basket. Then Lilly had her first piece of cake. You should have seen her face when I handed it to her, she looked at me like I crazy for giving it to her. So I put some on my finger, put it in her mouth then she went to town. She was covered from top to bottom in cake. So cute. After opening gifts, as we were cleaning up I walked over to Lilly and gave her a kiss on the forehead and she was burning up. So we hurried home and got some Motrin for her and it went down. A little later it went back up and so on for two days. Then out popped 4 teeth. Poor thing she must have been miserable. She had been toddling around everything for a couple of weeks before that, holding on to everything. Man the second those teeth quit bothering her she was walking around everywhere. Luke says "Mom, we need to teach her to run now!" I'm thinking No Way, but as we all know they figure that one out all by themselves. So overall her first birthday was a huge success! She had fun, ate cake, got 4 front teeth and a new found independence. All in a weeks time! You go girl!