Luke's 6th Birthday

We hope you had a fun birthday Luke!  We can't believe you are 6 years old already. 

To sum it up, Luke is:

-our 'Curious George'- always getting into something just out of pure curiosity. 

-our 'Energizer Bunny'- he never takes naps, never slows down, always has to be doing something productive, and only watches maybe '30' minutes of  TV per day because there is just too much to explore and do each day.

-an inventor.  He lies in bed every night for hours dreaming about all the rockets and robots he is going to build some day. He especially wants to build a robot that cleans his room for him.

-our Garbage Man.  He digs through our garbage everyday looking for items to salvage and reuse.  He says there is no such thing as garbage...only things that haven't been used or created yet.

-our magical rock finder.  He finds new 'magical rocks' almost every day and stores them in his pocket until Mommy finds them in the wash machine every time she does the laundry.
 

-a great detail-oriented artist, a great reader, a great learner in the classroom and a great big brother to Tyler and sometimes to Ashlynn:)  He wears us out, keeps us laughing, inspires us with his deep thinking, tests our patience, and warms our hearts. 

Happy Birthday Luke

Are Your Toenails This Long?

Luke never ceases to amuse me.  This is just too dang funny NOT to share.  Yesterday while I was clipping Luke's nails, he said, "I want to grow out my toenails to be as tall as Daddy so that I can lay in my bed and shut the light off without getting up."  I laughed so hard I thought I was going to have to make a bathroom run.  The image of him doing that is so gross but so hilarious.  It reminded me of an SNL act. 

Oh, Luke.  You are too funny.  Your Mama loves you.

Quote of the Day

The other day Ben and I overheard Luke talking to Tyler:

Luke:  "Tyler, when you get to be a little bigger, we will go to the Disney Castle.  That is a place where all your dreams come true!" 

(Someone has been paying close attention to the Disneyland commercials!)

Homemade Valentines

I meant to post this in February...but I forgot amongst all the illnesses we have had to endure.  Luke has a mind that doesn't seem to shut off.  He doesn't like a lot of TV-maybe 30 minutes per day.  He would rather be 'creating' new things all day long.  So it didn't surprise me much when this 5 year old annouced he was going to create his own valentines for his entire class....all 22 of them.  He happened to watch 'Martha Speaks' (which he usually doesn't watch)  and saw the main character creating her own valentines.  The show hadn't even ended before Luke was up and out of his seat looking for paper and scissors.  I cut the cards for him and then he cut the hearts and glued them on in all sorts of designs.  After all this, he wrote the traditional TO, FROM and his own name and all the names of his classmates.  That was quite the task from someone who just learned how to spell the word 'from' a few weeks ago.  We decided to break up the task over a 3 day period and Luke happily assigned himself to work on it every day.  I was really proud of him.  Although he refused to write the girls names on the valentines.  He asked me to do that.  He was afraid the girls would recognize his handwriting and think HE was the one who had sent them a love note.  SO FUNNY.  He blushed everytime I teased him about it.

What does that mean?

Over the last few days, the kids have said some funny things that have left me wondering...what does that mean?  I would love to go into their brains to see how they think. 

Situation #1-Ashlynn and Luke were eating Mac N Cheese and Luke was complaining it was 'TOO cheesy!'...of all things.  Ashlynn was happily eating her food and said, "Mommy, I Love this Mac N Cheese.  It is soooo cheesy it makes my hair feel like there is watermelon in it!" 

Ben and I laughed and then said, "What the...?" 

Situation #2- Luke ate a huge cookie and a huge glass of chocolate milk and then said, "Man, I feel spicy now!" 

What does that mean?  So funny!  If anything, moments like this help me 'lighten up' and to remember to smile, laugh, and breathe.  I need to remember these guys will only be little for a little while.

7. Luke's 1st Day of School

I want to finish my Top 9 of 2009 by the end of January-so I better keep writing. 

Another wonderful thing to come out of 2009 was watching Luke go to kindergarten for the first time.  Luke was nervous-but I may have been more nervous.  When the time came to separate, I discovered I was more excited for him than anything and I didn't end up crying.  Luke started reading in preschool and he was more than ready to keep going with his new achievement.  It was making him mad that he couldn't read more than he could.  Every night he would thank Heavenly Father he was able to read and he prayed he could read even more the next day.  It was too cute. 

Here's a side effect of your children learning how to read:

After Luke ate all his Halloween candy in one night and became sick the next day, I wrote on the white board, "No more candy for the kids."  Luke decided he didn't like that message and he erased and rewrote the message to say, "No broccoli No carrots".  Since he didn't know how to spell broccoli or carrots, he drew pictures instead and added "I love Dad".  Later on when I asked him why he did it, he asked me, "How did you know it was me?"   Ummmmmm.....I am not sure....the next suspect would have been his Daddy! 

3. Deer Man!

This is something that cracks me up everytime I think of it...because it is 100%  L-U-K-E! After driving through the Smoky Mountains this summer and observing so many deer, Luke returned to Grandma's house and quickly invaded the girl cousin's stash of crafts and.........

....invented the one and only....DEER MAN!!! 

Notice that he even made attachable pipe cleaner claws on his feet.  We informed him that deer don't have claws...but he was quick to inform us that DEER MAN did!  He even acted out a few moves that only Deer Man can do.  I guess if there's a Batman, Spiderman, Aquaman, Hawkman & etc....then why not a Deer Man?  I LOVE this kid.  He was put on this earth to bring us so much silly, pure joy.  I love his mind and his boundless creativity.

Random Purchase

A few weeks ago, I purchased a face painting kit online and we have had so much fun with it! The paints are professional grade and come with an awesome book full of cheek art and face painting examples. My kids are THRILLED to say the least.

Face painting is harder than I thought it would be-especially on children. They are so dang wiggly!

Luke picked a baseball theme because he was learning about the letter B last week at preschool. These face paints are so fun and I would recommend them to anyone.

Hard Econo Times= More Creativity!!!

We, like many others, have been hard hit this past year and we haven't been able to do all the things we want to do. In some ways I don't think it is necessarily a bad thing. Christmas was WAY more simple and WAY more enjoyable this year. I have also noticed that our family time is more precious and planned out. We do a lot more activities at home and we have focused on our talents and other things that bring us joy.

Sooooo, if you're ever bored you could..... ...take apart all of your Buzz Lightyear toys and try to fix them again...

...although I think Buzz has no chance of repair from a 4 yr old.You could make & publish your own books and fill them with all the words you know how to spell, like 'pop', 'boo', 'dad', 'mom' and etc.

And you could illustrate your own books with your favorite characters in them.

Pablo Picasso once said, "Every child is an artist, the problem is how to remain one once he grows up!"

Quote of the Morning:

"If I didn't have 2 holes in my nose, then I wouldn't pick it!"- Luke, age 4

Deer in Headlights

Ok, I have one more Christmas thing to post. We have had major computer problems this past month, so I haven't been able to stay up to date as I would like to be. Here is my little deer in headlights at the Preschool Christmas Program. Luke started out with his hands covering his face and then he started to get all wild and crazy during Jingle Bells. You can check out the video below to see for yourself.

Ok...so maybe 'wild and crazy' wasn't the correct way to describe it, but atleast he was smiling this time.

Visits with Santa

Luke is all about the festivities of every holiday. He was elated to go see Santa! He even brought Santa a gift and made sure to wear his reindeer antlers to impress Santa. A few days later Ben was talking with his friend "Santa" and Santa told Ben that Luke was the only child that has ever brought him a gift. When we related this info to Luke, he became the happiest child I have ever seen. He went into another room and yelled out, "I WAS THE ONLY KID TO EVER GIVE SANTA A GIFT!!!" It was the cutest thing in the world!

Now...Ashlynn on the other hand...well, you can see how her visit with Santa went. She later said, "Hate, hate Santa!" (She loves to repeat things twice!)

Dooky Duty

Earlier this week I was having a really bad day. It seemed that everything that could go wrong-did! After putting the kids to bed I finally sat down for a few minutes. All of a sudden Luke came running down the stairs. He was frantic and crying very hard. At first I was mad but then I started to really listen to what he was saying. He told me he had swallowed a 'money' (a coin) by accident. Luke was so scared and immediately fell to his knees and said, "We need to say a prayer RIGHT NOW, Mommy!" He asked me to say it because he was too scared. I felt so happy that he recognized a good time to say a prayer!!! (Good boy, Luke!) After saying a prayer, I called the doctor and asked if it was a big deal to have swallowed a coin and they told me to bring him in immediately for an X-ray. We waited for Ben to come home from work and then headed to the Doctor at 10:30pm. From the X-ray we discovered it was probably a quarter or a Chuck E. Cheese token. It is HUGE! So, needless to say, I have 'Dooky Duty' until the coin shows up! I guess they take Xrays to make sure the coin is in the stomach and not somewhere else. Sometimes a coin can flip over after a few minutes or hours and then block the airway long after the initial swallowing of the coin. I just thought I would share this info because I didn't realize it could potentially be such a serious thing! I will gladly do 'Dooky Duty' until that coin comes. I am just happy that Luke is okay and didn't choke in his bed without me knowing about it :)

The Thanksgivingmobile

Has anyone ever seen a Thanksgivingmobile? Well, here it is. Created by the one and only...

...Luke. Can you see how proud he is of his creation?

Pumpkin...oh how I love thee!

I know I have mentioned several times that Luke LOVES pumpkins...well, this is proof. Does anyone else out there sleep with their pumpkin for the whole month of October? Luke has since replaced the pumpkin in the photo with one he found at a local pumpkin patch. The new one is square shaped and he swears he found 'Spookley'. If you don't know who 'Spookley' is, you have to check out the book at the library. It is a great story.

I also have to share a story about something that happened the other day. While standing in an aisle at Target, I noticed the woman next to me had purple, punk styled hair. She was also wearing chains and skulls everywhere and had piercings and etc. I don't think she was dressing up for Halloween due to the piercings and tattoes. I tried to block Luke from seeing her because I knew he would think she was dressed up for Halloween. Well, I could see the exact moment he noticed her because his whole face lit up and he ran to her side with a smile from ear to ear. He was only 1 foot away from her and yelled out (while pointing), "Mommy, look at her!!! SHE IS ALL READY FOR HALLOWEEN!!!" The woman did NOT think this was funny. I tried so hard not to burst out laughing. My face turned red and I tried to pull him away from her. He was so excited that he had found someone who loved Halloween as much as he does.

Encore Presentation: "Together Forever"

Ben sings this song to Luke every night. It originates from a Winnie the Pooh movie. It is so sweet to hear them sing it together. Luke LOVES this song. I filmed it from my camera the same day I filmed the Jingle Bells one. I have tried to film him singing with our video camera before, but he wouldn't do it. I think using a regular camera tricked him because he thought I was only taking photos!-hence the big 'CHEESE' at the end.

Jingle Bells Already?

Well, it snowed today...a lot! I can't believe we got soooo much snow for the first snow of the year. What happened to Halloween? What happened to my beautiful green grass that I just cut 2 days ago? I was NOT thrilled about this...but someone else I know loved every minute of it. Luke had a sudden case of ADHD and went outside 4 times throughout the day. He just could not get enough of it! Luke outgrew his boots from last year, so Daddy had to quickly improvise with these fashionable Target bags.

Ashlynn took one look out the window this morning and said,

"Oh No!... Nose SCARE Me!!!" We tried to get her to say 'SNOW' a few times but she insisted it was pronounced 'NOSE'. She had NO desire to go outside. Ben tried to get her to stand on the front porch and she did it. Within a few seconds of standing there, a clump of snow fell off the leaves and landed on her head. This was very traumatizing for her and she let the whole neighborhood hear about it. I didn't take any photos of her.

A few days ago, I was checking my camera to see what features still worked after Luke broke it. The video still works. So, here is Luke's version of Jingle Bells. Maybe he had a hunch that snow was on it's way! He has a strange look on his face because he is trying to smile and sing at the same time during the entire clip.

Stay Calm Mommy!

Yesterday Luke was trying to play a computer game and exploded when he hit the wrong key causing the game to shut down. He was so angry and looked around the room for everything and anything he could throw, smash or break. Well, our camera happened to be right in his path. He threw it across the room and smashed the LCD screen and some other things. Needless to say, I may not be able to post pics for a little while.

Can I just say how much self control it took to not injure this child? I broke down and cried instead. Luke immediately stopped his tirade and ran over to give me a hug. He said, "It's okay Mommy cuz Daddy is at work making money so we can buy a new one! You don't need to be sad!" These were my thoughts..."Stay calm...stay calm...say a prayer...stay calm...don't hurt him...stay calm...etc..." Since I already had these photos uploaded, I thought I would post them and remind myself how much I still love this little guy.

Luke LOVES pumpkins! That may be an understatement! He wants a pumpkin birthday party some day, a bed shaped like a pumpkin, he wants pumpkin decorations in his room, etc...pretty much anything pumpkin. He can't wait until Halloween. Everyday he asks if it is Halloween yet. The other day he decided to make pumpkins for Daddy and all of his friends at work. He couldn't imagine drawing pumpkins without actually being dressed like a pumpkin too.

Here is documentation of Luke's first written word without ANY help from me. He drew the Easter Bunny carrying a basket of eggs and candy. He then drew a big Easter egg for his 'DAd' and I think he attempted to write 'Mom' too. How fun to see your child spell a word with no help!!!
Just practicing their broom skills for Halloween. Doesn't every child do this?
Oh...and practicing his scarecrow skills too. He has got all his bases covered for Halloween.

BTW, his Aunties Beth and Kay (from Tennessee) gave Luke this orange shirt. He loves it to say the least.

First Dentist Visits

I finally brought Luke and Ashlynn in for their first visits to the dentist. Luke was such a good boy. He made me so happy! Ever since he was a baby, he has always been an angel at the doctor's office so I didn't really expect anything different from him at the dentist. I reminded him that his Uncle Craig is a dentist too and that made him happy and confident when visiting the dentist.
No cavities...just a mouthful of beautiful teeth and a cute little smile!
Oh man...if looks could kill, the Dentist, the Assistant and Mommy would be dead! I think she was bugged at me for attempting to take a photo at such a traumatic time! I actually expected Ashlynn to freak out and she did. 3 people had to hold her down while they did an exam.

He-He... and Ben thought they would be able to do a cleaning too! No such luck here.

Crack Me Up!

Luke fell asleep with a butterfly net on his head. I'm just glad he could breathe okay!
A homemade Buzz Lightyear helmet brought to you by the one and only... Luke. Can you tell how proud he is of his new creation?