Poop and Circumstance

I don't think much of anything looks good at 3 AM, especially diarrhea smeared and caked all over your two year old's sheets, bedding, and body.



We leave tomorrow for our family reunions, so we are leaving in a few hours for a trip to the doctor.

Hopefully, she'll have something to help us!


And a fair warning to all my relatives, be weary of Luke's kisses and bring some hand sanitizer!

I took some pictures...

... of a beautiful new baby last week. They were just for fun but I think they turned out so cute and I told, Leah (the proud momma) that if I wasn't already pregnant, her little darling would have made me want to be.

Here are some of my favorites:











Isn't she a doll?!

We've been through this before

Some happy news got Ava and I talking about marriage today. She has made it clear in the past that she plans to marry Dan. But this afternoon as we chatted over marshmallows and chocolate chips, our conversation went like this:

Ava: Mom, someday when I'm big like you, can I get married?

Me: Of course!

Ava: But I can't marry dad?

Me: Well, no because he's already married to me


She paused for a moment to think and then came back with this compromise,


"Well, how bout Grandpa?"

Summer Strawberries and Grass Soup

I came upon Luke the other day, sitting at the table, helping himself to some red, ripe strawberries.



He seemed to be enjoying every




single



bite.


Or at least he seemed to be enjoying one single bite of each strawberry.





Last week was crazy fun. The quantity (or lack thereof) of pictures is proof of that.

My Val came back for a visit! She and the kids stayed here with us, while Jordan was at a conference. He joined the party a few days later.

Lots of kids and toys and noise and lots of fun!

I had to keep reminding myself that this was just a visit, because really it felt a lot like old days.

We hung out in our jammies a lot and the kids watched movies and played.

The gang, minus Clara

The sleeping arrangements were haphazard, but we all did pretty good. But I was sleeping in my own bed so I might not have an accurate opinion.

Luke and Lainey, destined for each other

And when the weekend came, we went out for a double date!

We snuck (sneaked?) out the back door, as not to disturb the cutie sleeping in the office, and as we did, we discovered some leftovers of that mornings activities--Grass Soup.



Delicious! I am ready for another serving of that soup any time, so I hope another visit is just around the corner!

Luke's 2nd Birthday Photo Shoot

I took advantage of having enough helpers to stay home with Ava and accompany me and Luke on our picture taking extravaganza while we were in Dallas.

As a fledgling 2 year old, Luke is extremely hard to get pictures of. I got alot of him running and spinning and climbing. He could hardly stay still. But I guess then, these pictures are truly indicative of his nature at this age.

In the past few months he has become a slave to his fear of separation. He never seemed to mind much before, but more and more lately, and now to the extreme, he clings and cries in new situations or places where there are alot of people.


He screams for the babysitter and insists on being held the whole time we are gone. I am positive that he weighs 40 lbs. He's asleep right now or I would go weigh him. When he wakes up, I will, and if 40 lbs. is a lie, I'll edit this. Anyway, he must be held by the babysitter and cannot even bear to look at her face. He just keeps his head on her shoulder the whole time. It makes for tired arms.

And sadly, he has started to do this in nursery too. A place he formerly looked forward to is now his nightmare.

I just hope this phase passes quickly. He is too heavy to hold and too cute to see sad.












I wasn't optomistic about these pictures as I was taking them. But they didn't turn out as poorly as I thought.

And once I've gotten home and seen them big on the computer, I realized that my most favorite picture of Luke to date was a simple snapshot I took after he munched on the cake decorations.


I think it's nearly the cutest thing I've ever seen.



Are you ready for this?




Really, if you don't think this face is the essence of cute, then you have no heart.


Are you really ready? Brace yourself.


You should probably click on this to make it big.



Happy Birthday, Big Boy!

Luke's party and the fourth

In a mad dash before we ran out the door for our trek to Dallas, I remembered a fabric remnant I had been holding onto since last year sometime. I never got around to using it last fourth of July and I was determined to use it this year.

I started with Ava's skirt first and barely had enough time to throw Luke's shorts together. And yes, I am very aware that I didn't match the plaids on his shorts. I was just lucky to get them done!


Ava loved her skirt and I am sure it was mostly due to the ruffles.




And Luke's shorts were too big (better than too small I guess!) mostly due to the lack of sufficient elastic (I pinned them!). We'll probably be seeing them again next year.



We celebrated Luke's birthday as well. I stole my sister, Leah's idea for the cake. It was really fun to make and turned out pretty cute too.



Luke had fun snacking on all the decorations as we were putting it together.

He loved being sung to,


and he loved eating cake and ice cream!




He played with each gift as it was presented to him.



He can now add a toy garage, ginormous legos, some new trucks, a new puzzle, and soon some new trains, to his toy collection. Thanks, all you present senders!


We decided to lay low that night and watch the fireworks from a distance on Mom and Dad's balcony. But once they started up, Ava kept saying, "let's go ober der!"

So in a split second decision, Mom, Ava and I hopped in the car and made it just in time to see some a little closer.



I had fun playing with my camera. Next year I might make it a priority to have a tripod...




All in all we had a lot to celebrate and a lot of fun doing it!

Happy Birthday Luke and America!

We're in Dallas this weekend and today we are celebrating two birthdays!

My Mom put an interesting post on her blog which includes some thoughts and words of our country's founding fathers.  

Some are comforting, some are almost prohpetic, and all of them gave me some new insights.  

One she didn't use, but stuck out to me was this, said by Abraham Lincoln:

"America will never be destroyed from the outside.  If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."

And another favorite from George Washington:

"Although guided by our excellent Constitution in the discharge of official duties, and actuated, through the whole course of my public life, solely by a wish to promote the best interests of our country; yet without the beneficial interposition of the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, we could not have reached the distinguished situation which we have attained with such unprecedented rapidity.  To Him, therefore, should we bow with gratitude and reverence, and endeavor to merit a continuance of His special favors."

I know that this land is a promised land, brought to order by God.  And I believe that His hand continues to be upon it.  I sincerely hope that we can continue to merit His special favors. 

God Bless America!

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