Luke is Four!

Yesterday was the much anticipated fourth birthday of a little guy I know. He had been eager for his birthday ever since Ava had hers last month. The day finally arrived and it turned out to be a pretty good one.

Today was his well check at the doctor. We pulled up in the van,

Luke: "Is this the doctor?"

Me: "Yes."

Luke: "Okay. Let's go see if I'm big 'n tall 'n cute!"

Me: "Let's do it!"

44 lbs
43" tall
97% for both


He is my little bunny. I love that kid so much. As I mentioned before he has been coming up with some pretty entertaining stuff lately. Also, he has turned a corner with Max. He still gets bugged by him but he has been so much more kind, gentle, and generous with him this past little while.

He tells me that I am "his boy" all the time (which is what I tell him) and reminders that I am a girl go un-noted.

Last week, I had one of those moments I'd heard about since the ultrasound revealed I was having a boy. "They'll make a gun out of anything!" they told me. Luke ran to the toys, built himself a simple gun out of legos, and proceeded to shoot everything in sight.



I shouldn't be surprised, Star Wars has been known to inspire many a boy.

My parents came over last night for a little family celebration (his friend party is on Friday). He was so excited to eat cake and open presents. And the presents were a home run this year. Quite often we find that we never really know what to get the kids and what we end up with never really hits the spot.

But this years' supplemental train tracks, robots, truck, and alarm clock were dead on.




My Luke.




Big.




Tall.




And cute.

Quotes of the week

First off, our very kind neighbor spent about 4 hours, with 4 of his friends clearing out our yard Wednesday. Turns our there were actually 4 limbs in that pile. They're gone now, thank goodness, at least from the back yard. Currently they are chopped up and laying on our curb, waiting to be picked up by the city.




Now, some of my favorite things I heard around the house this week, mostly from Luke because with his latest spurt of new vocabulary, seems to be coming up with some funny ideas:

"I just love all the people."
-Luke

"I didn't wake up because I am such a good sleeper. I think it's because I'm a log or something."
-Ava in reference to why she didn't wake up during the storm.


"Max ATE my leg!!!!!!!!!!!!"
-Luke, through crying sobs, trying to explain that during their overzealous wrestling match, Max had bitten him.


"Mac"
-Max pointing his chubby finger at himself, saying his own name.


"They took the lid off and I can see my bones!"
-Luke at the orthopedist's office after hearing about his X-ray. (Also where his feet were pronounced fine)

"My body likes treats."
-Luke

Beach 2011

Galveston isn't known for being the most beautiful beach, but most of the "beautiful" beaches were out of our budget this summer. So, on a tip from some friends, we drove to the ocean, turned right, and kept going. And once we drove for about 25 minutes past Galveston, we came to Pointe West, where we were very pleasantly surprised with the beauty that awaited us.

We ended up with a three bedroom condo on the beach which was just perfect for housing us and my parents.

We arrived that first day at about 4:30pm. Of course the first thing we did after unloading the car was head to the water. That was the only time I brought my camera to the beach the whole trip, but don't get too excited because I still managed to take a boatload of pictures which I am going to force you to look at in just a minute.

It turned out that the evening hours between 5-8pm were our favorites to be on the beach. The sun was not nearly as harsh and it was so peaceful.

Some notable points from the weekend:

-Ava and Luke started out sharing a queen size bed. That idea was quickly rearranged when they had so much trouble falling asleep the first night and then at 1:15am I awoke to their two little faces looking into mine saying they were "ready to be up now" and could they "have breakfast and watch a show, please?"

-Our friends, the Princes, came down for an afternoon/evening and it was so great to relax and chat.

-A highlight of the trip for me, was a visit to Old Town Galveston to La King's, an old fashioned candy store. I believe it was built in the 1920's. Most of it was original. Along with more candy than I have seen in one place, it also had a real soda fountain.

-It was fun to have my parents along with us. Growing up, they took me on so many trips, showed me so many places and things growing up, we were happy to host them for a change.



Alright, here's the part where I overload you with photos once more. I really think I have a problem. Also it must be said that I didn't take so many more pictures of Max because I love him the most. He just didn't move around as much.

UUUNNNDDDEEERRRRRRRRR!

Before we talk about the beach, which was really great, I must first talk about the scary storm from last night.

There is an old Abbott Family story about me as a 3 or 4 year old. I hated storms (still do). They scared me silly. The second there was thunder or lightning in the night, I was at my parent's bedside. The story goes that during one of these storms, I stood by their bed and my mom asked me why I didn't like thunder. I told her, "Because it says UUUUUUNNNNNNNNNDDDDEEERRRRRR!"

Last night there was UUUUNNNDDDDEEERRRRR like I haven't heard in a long time. But it was actually the loudness of the wind that woke me right from REM at 2:39 am. I yelled Dan's name and we both bolted out of bed. I literally thought the roof was going to come off the house. We ran down stairs and looked out the back window. They wind chimes were flying off their hook. The grill was on it's side. The doors of the shed were swinging on their hinges. And there was a gigantic tree where our little play house used to be.




Earlier this spring we had a limb fall into our yard,





But last night's limb made it look like a twig.





We pulled up the doppler radar and could see our area was covered in bright red. I wondered about my parents but didn't call because of the ridiculous hour. Somehow the wind managed blow open the door to the garage even though the garage doors were closed. This morning it looks like our house was in a pocket of about 15 houses on three streets that really had major damage to their trees. Apparently we had some 90 mph hour winds last night.

My parent's front window was shattered by hail. The hail and glass reached all the way through their house to the kitchen. It bent the metal window panes and broke the wooden blinds.

We are feeling really lucky that the hail didn't get us this time. Already this year we have been racing around the garage, clearing space for Dan's little car, while the hail flew, in the middle of the night. We had it moved inside to within an inch of it's life. Yet, we still haven't properly made space for it in the garage.

This is actually our back neighbor's tree. We keep hoping they will knock on our door and tell us how they plan to take care of it, because we don't have the tools or the capacity to deal with it. And it's not our tree. They should clear it out, right? We don't know, we're new to this kind of thing.





I keep forgetting about it and then I walk back into the kitchen or the family room and am quickly reminded: that is a freaking big tree! We disbanded the use of the word "freaking" here at our house nearly a year ago when Ava keep getting mad and calling me "freaking mommy!" but that tree is so big and Ava can't read this so I feel okay using it just this once. :)








I went back and forth between the kids bedrooms (who surprisingly never woke up) and the computer where Dan was watching the radar, or so I thought. Once I came back to find him perusing the draft options for Jimmer Freddette at 3:15 am, I took that as my sign that it was safe to go back to bed.

20 Years

Today is June 15! June is halfway over! We are getting ready for our beach jaunt this weekend.

Today is also my father in law's birthday. (Happy Birthday, Don!)

Today is also my half birthday. (Happy Half Birthday, Me!)

Today is also the 20th anniversary of the day my brother, Aaron, passed away. (Miss you, Aaron!)

Today is the day, 20 years ago, when the floor fell out of my nine year old world. The day when my parents told me that my 14 year old brother would not be coming home. The day I wondered even in my young mind, how people could continue to walk around, go about their business, and live their lives, when to me it felt impossible. The day I would start living a life peppered with anxiety. The day that felt like there was no way that things would ever be okay again.

And here I am, 20 years later, and things are okay, more than okay actually. It's crazy to me how much time has passed! That day was the beginning of many lessons. Losing Aaron is the single event that has had the most impact on my life. So much in fact, that here, these 20 years later, I know that as weird as it sounds, I have gained so much more than I've lost. And that, I believe, is the way it is supposed to be.

The Atonement of Jesus Christ, the principle of eternal families, the power of the priesthood, the comfort of the Holy Ghost, the omniscience of God, the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, the love of people, the list goes on and on and on. These are things I know. And I know them better than I ever could have otherwise.

These things I know are the most important things in my life. The thought of not having them cemented into my heart by the experience of losing Aaron and the consequences that followed, is terrible, awful, totally not acceptable.

20 years ago, I felt that things would never be okay again. But 20 years later, I know that my life would not be okay now, if my experience had been any different then. I miss my brother. He would be 34 years old. He would be a friend I could call and talk to, hug and sit by. But as much as that day 20 years ago was an absolute nightmare, I wouldn't change it. I can look back and see that the hand of Heavenly Father has been in my life. I loved Aaron and I lost him and for the chance to do both, I consider myself lucky.

These are the things I want to remember the most

Monday night, 7:00 pm. We are sitting in a circle on the floor having just enjoyed a lesson, thoughtfully prepared and delivered by Ava. Or rather, Dan and I enjoyed the lesson, while Luke and Max were hooligans, but still.

We sing Families Can Be Together Forever to wind things down.

I have a family here on earth,




they are so good to me.





I want to share my life with them through all eternity.





Families can be together forever through Heavenly Father's plan.





I always want to be with my own family.




And the Lord has shown me how I can.





The Lord has shown me how I can.





Then Ava looks at me beaming and says,

"I feel so happy right now. When we sang that song I just felt so happy that my heart wanted to cry."

'Tis the Season

Whelp, it's that time of year again. The season where the first thing you do, no matter what, when getting in the car, is start the engine and blast the air conditioning. The season when you turn on your faucet hoping for cold water, and quickly remember that it's not gonna come, no matter how long you wait.

We've been in the high 90's this week. Ava has 2 more days of school.

About this time each year (earlier than this actually) I start to get really worried about summer and how it's going to go with the kids home all day everyday. And about this time I start concocting a plan.

This year is no different. I have been scheming, researching, bookmarking, writing, and scheduling. In the past I have worried, made a plan, used some of my ideas, and been pleasantly surprised that summer wasn't as awful as I dreaded.

This year I am definitely not as worried as I have been. It helps that the kids are a little older. I still expect there to be days I think about making a countdown chain til the start of school, but I think that's par for the course.

Actually I am even a little excited for the possibilities this summer. This is a new city, with new things to see and discover. I am taking page out of my friend, Tiffany's, book. I'm not sure I've ever told her this before, but her attitude about going out and doing things is something I have really admired. I tend to be someone that, in an effort to avoid a scene, or wasted energy (remind me to tell the butterfly museum story! It is a treat!), ends up staying home while everyone argues, rather than getting out and trying something new. Sure there still may be a scene, or a fit, or everyone whines the entire time, but sometimes the kids love it, sometimes we discover a new favorite place, or sometimes we just simply have a good time.

So this summer, I am going to pretend that I am Tiffany and I am just going to go out and do some things. I have a tenative activity written in for each day we are home this summer. Some of the activities are not big or exciting, but what I have learned from the past couple of years is that, while there are many days that I don't end up using my plan (and that's okay too), it feels good to have something waiting in the wings in case there is a need. I have different weeks designated as Science Week, Art Week, Cooking Week, Music Week, where the days' activities fit under the respective category.

I also have a list of things to do at home anytime and things to go out and do.

I am sharing some of my list in case someone else might find it helpful and then of course I would love to hear any of your ideas.

At home (these are on slips of paper to be drawn out of a jar as needed):
teach Ava and/or Luke to do some embroidery
handsewing (Ava has loved this in the past)
build a tent
write letters
rent a movie
scavenger hunt (I draw picture clues and they search for the "treasure")
"paint the fence" with paintbrushes and buckets of water
play a board game
read books
play hide and seek
play in the sprinkler
play hairdresser
sidewalk chalk
have a tea party with stuffed animals
make cookies
indoor hopscotch (tape the squares on the floor)


Things to go out and do (some are obviously applicable to this area and most are indoors since it's hotter than hades here in the summer):
go to ikea (they love the child watch place and also to eat a cheap lunch)
dollar store to pick out 1 thing
ride the train or carousel at the mall
go to "the tubes" (a free indoor play place here)
ice skating (not sure I can do this one by myself!)
bowling
Galleria
meet dad for lunch
arboretum/frog fountain
play in the stream at the park
library storytime
swim

Some of the places penciled onto our calendar are (mostly museums):
American Museum of Miniature Arts
Ft worth and Dallas Art museums (they have some kids programming scheduled and discounted days)
Dallas Museum of Nature and Science and the Children's Museum
Museum of Science and History
Old City Park
Mrs. Bairds Bread factory tour
Nash Farm
dollar movie

We have rented a condo in Galveston and are looking forward to some time at the beach. And we are taking a trip to Utah and Idaho in July. Ava will have tutoring for 45 minutes each day in June, so our calendar isn't looking all that bare and daunting. If all goes as planned, this summer shouldn't be half bad!

Six

Ava is six! Two days ago we finally did the deed. When Dan got home from work, Ava and I went to Supercuts. She wanted her hair to be "really short" and like Rapunzel's hair at the end of Tangled.

We compromised a bit, because I was a little worried she might regret taking off too much. I shouldn't have though. She loves it. I love it. It made me wonder what took us so long. And now I am ready to chop off my hair for a more summery do.

My phone died mid-cut, so all I had were some before pictures. No problem though, because today we did her six year pictures.

The past few days, she has been enamored with her own reflection and keeps saying, "I just can't take it, I am so cute!"

I know I'm her mom, but I couldn't agree more. This year has been a pretty darn good one for Ava. She has learned and progressed so much. Each day I see little glimpses of the girl she is becoming.

I know they say less is more, but today more is more because, let's face it, I don't have much of an editing eye. Get ready for picture overload.