Bye-Bye Pacie, Hello Monkey!

You are now entering a pacie-free zone...that's the motto at our house now! We took Luke to Build-A-Bear just a few weeks before his second birthday to send the pacies away forever. We were planning on waiting until his birthday, but the pacie addiction had gotten severely out of hand, and he was actually developing a rash around his mouth. Unfortunately, it happened to be the week before he was to spend two weeks with Nana and Papa. They were not too thrilled about the timing of that!! But it worked out just fine. It has now been a month, and would you believe that he STILL asks for it?? Our other two never seemed to think about it after we took them away. Luke is persistent, that's for sure!

This was his first choice. Daddy quickly vetoed that decision & talked him into a monkey.


Luke & the unstuffed monkey...


Enjoying his last suck...


Watching the lady stuff the monkey...he wasn't too sure about this part.


This was the face he made right before he started screaming. Not because the pacies were gone, but because the stuffing machine scared him.


Watching from Daddy's lap...


Giving "Sassie Monkey" his first bath. (Named such because Luke called his pacie his "sassie".)


All smiles...


He brought the monkey straight to the kitchen table and started taking care of it. How sweet!!


The three monkeys sharing a bedtime story...


The big moment...

Easter in May?

So my Easter pictures are 2 months late, but who's counting? Easter came super early this year. I'm still confused about who gets to decide such things. If I could talk to them in person I would explain to them how difficult it is to find Easter outfits that work nicely with SWEATERS and JACKETS!! What do you want to bet that it's a bunch of men that decide?? (And for those of you who think I'm serious, I know it's got something to do with the phases of the moon, blah-blah-blah).


Okay, so here we are, pretending that it's warm outside for the sake of cute pictures. It was the year of green.

The girl...




The boys...




The baskets...




Hmmmm, should I pick my nose or open my basket?








Getting ready for the big hunt...



We went over to our friends, the Nystrom's, for Easter dinner. After we ate, the big kids hid eggs in the backyard for the little kids. They decided to send them out in age order. Luke went out first, and then 30 seconds later Kallie went out, and so on. We were afraid the kids older than Seth would get all the eggs before the little ones knew what to do. Boy, we were wrong! Kallie was as fast as lightening. Her basket was overflowing before the big kids got out there. In the end she had to give them some of her eggs!




This was Luke's kind of holiday. He didn't even know what to do with himself with such an abundance of candy. He wasn't interested at all in the hunting, just the eating. We tried to get him to fill up his basket, but he stopped to open every egg & eat what was inside.




The dog kept trying to get into his basket.



Here's Kallie counting her loot...




This baby's crazy for chocolate!




I absolutely love these pictures of Kallie. Nana sent matching dresses for Kallie & her baby. Aren't they sweet?






Thank you Jesus for Easter morning!!

It's the little things...

Q: What stops 5 kids from blazing through the neighborhood at full speed?


A: A baby bird falling out of its nest...they sat there forever just watching him.


Well, I'm a little behind on the blog. Okay, alot behind. After several trips, a computer crash, a broken arm, and other craziness, I think we're back to normal. Look for more posts soon!

Spring Break - Part 4 (a day at Disney)

Kallie, Luke, Mom, Dad & I went to the Magic Kingdom for a last hoorah before we headed home. We'd planned this trip a while ago, and the hotel was already booked and everything. The plan was to leave that morning at 6:00 to drive to Orlando. Dad woke me up at 5:30 and asked me to come upstairs so that we could talk. Not good. Mom had been running a high fever all night and was very sick. After much discussion, she INSISTED that we go on without her. As I was downstairs getting ready, Dad came down to tell me that Mom was up and getting dressed & had decided to try it. She took ibuprofen all day long, but in the end she was so glad she came with us! She was the ultimate trooper!!!! A little strep couldn't keep her down! Thanks, Mom!




Mickey definitely wasn't feelin' the love from Luke. Let's just say he wasn't opening his mouth in excitement, it was more like terror.


This was the only group picture we took, and it's not even that good. I think there's a conspiracy among the character photographers, and when you hand them your camera they take really lousy pictures so that you'll buy their overpriced ones. Look at poor Luke. He really wanted to get away from the giant mouse.


The carousel was by far Luke's FAVORITE thing to do all day! Luckily for us, there was no line. I mean, who would stand in line for a carousel at Disney when you can hop on one at the mall any old day? Except this time we didn't have to pay $2 per ride. Luke LOVED the "horsie" and would cry hysterically when it was time to get off. He'd get a death grip on that pole. When we weren't riding, he was screaming, "Ride it! Ride it!" over and over. For part of the day Papa just took him on it over & over again. (I think the carousel was Papa's favorite too.)




Luke on the train.


Kallie on Snow White's Scary Adventure...(scary being the key word)




I love her face in this picture. This was on It's a Small World. She loved all the dolls and the song.


At the end of the day they were SOOOOOO pooped. The park stayed open that day until 1:00 am! Can you believe that?? We didn't make it that long...



Oops...I think we forgot about sunscreen!

Spring Break - Part 3 (Princess Kallie)

I used to be one of those people who would look at the poor souls in the ridiculously long character lines and wonder what they were thinking. Now I know what they were thinking. Kallie was so excited to meet the princesses. It's all she had talked about for months. I gave her a cute little sticker book, and each time she met a princess she'd put their sticker on the page & have them sign it.

First up was Princess Aurora...aka Sleeping Beauty.
(I think Kallie could be Sleeping Beauty when she grows up, don't you?)


Next was Cinderella. This was the most anticipated meeting of all! In fact, this mommy really didn't have a plan B if Cinderella wasn't in the Judge's Tent on that day. We would have had one very upset little princess.


After Cinderella signed her book, I gave her a Cinderella doll that I'd been hiding all morning.


Kallie didn't put her down all day. In fact, she rode all of the rides with her...strapped in and all.


Belle was next. This Belle was alright, but our favorite Belle was yet to come...


Halfway through the day Kallie decided that Ariel was her favorite princess (poor Cinderella). It's only fitting since Ariel's line was the longest of the day at 45 minutes.


Okay, this next part was far and away the very best part of the day! We decided to go to Storytime with Belle, one of the few Magic Kingdom attractions that I'd never experienced. During the performance, Belle chooses five children from the audience to help her tell the story. Kallie didn't get picked, and as we were leaving she was just sobbing. So....of course we had to go again and try harder! We're not quitters! Luckily there was one more show, and this time we sat on the end of the row in the exact spot where the last girls got picked. When Belle's helpers walked out on stage they did a double take when they saw us. Whew! They recognized that Kallie had come back and knew why! This time Kallie got chosen to be Mrs. Potts. She sure makes a cute teapot!!

Spring Break - Part 2

Day two started at the park. Florida's got the beach, but you really just can't beat Texas parks. The kids didn't notice the difference though.




And then we headed over to Grandma & Grandpa's house for Grandpa's 80th birthday party!



Would you believe that my baby lost his very first tooth while his mommy was OUT OF TOWN?? Shane sent me this picture that he took with his camera phone. They were standing in line at Taco Bueno when Seth got a panicked look on his face and ran off to the bathroom. I think it's highly appropriate that Seth lost his tooth in Bueno, since that's pretty much the top of the food pyramid as far as he is concerned. I mean, chips & queso...that's like dairy, calcium, & grains all in one!! (I know, it's a bit of a stretch since they're flour tortilla chips, not corn. And I'm sure the cheese is more like processed-cheese-food-product. But hey, we'll ignore it.)

Spring Break - Part 1

Oh how we love Florida!!!!!

So this year for Spring Break we decided to head to Florida to be with our family. Shane had to stay in Texas to be the fabulous youth pastor that he is. We gave Seth the option to stay or go, and being the Daddy's boy that he is, he decided that Shane was the cooler option. We even told him that we were going to Disney World. Yep, he picked Dad over Disney. That is true devotion. And, of course, they had a total blast. Fishing...bowling...movies...it was all the father/son/youth group fun a six-year-old could ever want. If Shane had taken pictures I'd dedicate a post to it, but do you think he did that?

Luke & Kallie were thrilled to be back on the beach. They didn't mind at all that they had to be in long sleeves.





This picture is entitled, "watch how long it takes for us to attract 500 birds within 500 miles with just a few pieces of bread." Not long at all.

Update

I owe you LOTS of pictures...Spring Break, Easter, etc. I haven't even pulled them off my memory card yet, but I promise I'll get to it soon!

In the meantime, here's a cute Kallie story. We had just gotten back from Florida and Kallie was especially whiny at dinner one night. She was pouting about having to sit at the table, I think. Finally, Shane looked at her and said, "Little girl, you're not on vacation anymore. I suggest you wipe that frown off your face." Kallie then proceeded (with all the seriousness a four-year-old can possibly have) to take her napkin and wipe her mouth with it. The frown went away. Ah, sweet Kallie.

I guess I should give you updates on the boys too. Luke is pure joy these days. He is a little ball of energy. He is ridiculously happy. He doesn't walk...he doesn't run...he skips. Everywhere. It's so cute. His language is exploding. I don't think there's much he can't say. He communicates very well. His favorite things to do are read books (he is a bit obsessive with his books), eat chocolate (yep, obsessive with that too), empty drawers, color (obsessive with this too...LOVES to color...and loves to have us color things for him...these are his regular demands: sun, doggie, moon, flower, heart), and he really, really enjoys his class at preschool. He loves it when Daddy comes home & screams "Daddy! Hi Daddy!" everytime. He's been coloring on walls, doors and furniture lately too. He is very messy. He crushes food and somehow distributes it all over the house. He is a super-duper sleeper. I mean, the boy can sleep. (Thank you Lord!)

Seth is getting so big. He had his first oral report at school. He talked about the poison dart frog that lives in the rainforest. He is such a sweet kid. He is reading like a champ. It really is an amazing thing to watch a child learn to read. We are so proud of him.

Well, that's all for now. Check back soon for pictures!

Chocolate Monster

I found Luke up on the counter tonight eating all the Hershey Kisses out of the snack basket. This was after he found and finished a box of Junior Mints that were leftover from Amanda's baby shower. This was the cute part, by the way. The not-so-cute part was when I turned the camera off and made him get down. It wasn't pretty.