Easter

We had a wonderful Easter weekend full of fun and family. We were able to spend time with both sides of the family, as well as have some nice quality time with just the three of us. So crazy that it will be the "four of us" pretty soon. As Luke is getting older I am trying to find fun traditions that we can do together. I saw this recipe on the Pioneer Women website and had to try it. Hot Cross Buns! I always knew the song as a child, but didn't realize there really was such a thing. Soooo... on Friday morning Luke and I got to working and whipped up a batch. They were super yummy, and best eaten when hot (duh!). =) Here is the little guy working on the dough. At one point I looked over and he had an entire spoonful of the cinnamon sugar mixture in his mouth. I guess he takes after his mamma! Here he is sneaking one of MANY icing licks!

The finished product. They will now be our Easter morning tradition.

On Saturday we got to dye eggs with Luke for the first time. He loved it, but we had to keep an eye on him, as he was pretty rough with the eggs.

Sunday morning we woke up, ate our hot cross buns, and then had Luke's first egg hunt in the backyard. The "Easter Bunny" sure did hide the eggs well! I think he forgot this hunt was for a 1 year old. =)

Love this action shot!

Ummm... hey you two, the hunt is not over!

Luke sure did have fun, and enjoyed opening all his eggs and eating the goldfish, animal crackers and raisins inside. =)

After the egg hunt we headed to church with my family, and had a wonderful time worshipping the Lord on the day He is Risen!

The boys on the way. Pop thinks Luke's hair looks like a toupee in this picture. Haha =)

After church we headed to La Hacienda for some yummy food. Luke loved waiting for our table on the horse.

In the middle of the meal, Luke asked if he could move seats and sit next to Ben. So sweet! Love these two!

Overall, we had an amazing weekend and feel overwhelming blessed for everything that God has placed in our lives, and for the sacrifice that He made so that we can live!

Pure Joy!

This says it all. =) I love this little guy so much, and love watching little things bring so much joy to his face. Nothing better than an ice cream cone. This weekend while Brian went with my dad, brothers and Will to Top Golf, the girls took Luke to a splash park in Fairview. Luke had the best time ever! At first he wasn't too sure what to think...

And kept getting confused when the water went away saying, "Where water go?"...

But after Tula showed him the ropes...

He figured out that this was FUN stuff!

And again pure joy!

At the beginning, Luke stayed on the outskirts with the little kids, but if you have ever seen him in action before, you know this kid is fearless. Well, he ended up right in the middle of all the "big kids" holding his own with the super big water fountain in the middle. He was pretty much half the size of most of the kids and right in the thick of it. Love it!

The big fountain in action. Hard to tell, but Luke is right in there. =)

And finally, Luke is at the age where he really enjoys sitting on the cars at stores. He usually just sits on them without me having to put money in, but when we went to Babies-R-Us with Tula, she hooked him up by forking up a quarter. =) He has been talking about the "Mickey Car" every day since. Again, pure joy!

I just can't get enough of this face! We had a wonderful Easter weekend as well, with tons of pics, so stay tuned!

Half Way There!

Last week I hit the half way mark in this pregnancy. I can hardly believe it! The time has just flown by, and I am still in shock that it is a girl. We have been talking to Luke about his sister more and more and I think he may understand a little bit. Whenever we talk about the baby in Mommy's tummy, he always lifts his shirt and points to his belly saying, "Luke Baby". So cute! We still don't have a name yet, but are working on it. She has been moving up a storm and her daddy can feel her on a daily basis. Overall, I am feeling more energized, but the whole big boy bed thing hasn't really helped with that! Here are some cupcakes that Luke's buds Kate and Ellie made for us after we found out he was going to have a sister. Thanks so much Lockwoods! Here is the belly shot. Here I am at 20 weeks with baby girl, and below is 20 weeks with Luke. I am definitely bigger this time around, but the difference isn't as much as my 14 week pictures.

We are so excited to meet this sweet baby girl in less than 20 weeks!

Dang You Big Boy Bed!!!

Well...I mentioned about 6 weeks ago that we had transitioned Luke into the toddler version of the crib. At first I was bragging on my little man, telling everyone what a smooth transition it was, and it was...for about 2 weeks. After 2 weeks I think Luke realized, "Hey I really have a lot of freedom here!". So for about the past month we have been having big time battles. At first he was just not staying in bed at all. The second we left the room he would open his door and go into the loft. We have since gotten that better under control, although he still tries to escape his room pretty frequently. He is doing well at going to bed for the night, but randomly wakes up in the middle of the night crying and immediately leaving his room to stand at the gate at the top of the stairs. He also used to sleep in until 7:30 and then would play in his crib until I got him at 8, but now he is up as soon as the sun is up between 6-6:30!! This makes for one tired mamma! Now the biggest struggle has been naps. Oh how I hate them!! I started off not allowing him to get out of bed at all. Well that only resulting in me having to go in his room just about every minute. So instead we started letting him play for a little while, and then I would go in and make him get back in bed. This seems to work better, but he rarely goes to sleep on his own. I usually have to lay on his floor and make him lay there until he falls asleep. He used to take about an hour and a half nap, and now it has consistently been less than 45 min. Discipline is so hard at this age! We are a little at a loss on what to do when he comes out of his room, plays with the lamp, etc. After saying no so many times...we have tried taking away his bunny bear and even spanking. He doesn't really seem to care about either, so I am not really sure what to do. Any advice would be much appreciated for this very tired, pregnant mamma! The one good thing about his new bed, is that he is super proud of it. Whenever anyone comes to our house he very quickly says "Show big bed". Here are some pics of him giving the grand tour. With Isabelle. She has had the tour many times! =) With Kaylee...showing her how to jump on the bed. He even wanted his cousin Ben to check out his digs.

Ahhh, so sweet!

He loves his cousin so much, he wanted to give him Bunny Bear so he could take a nap. =)

Hopefully we will get this under control before baby girl makes her arrival!

New Addition at the Lake

Two weekends ago, we headed out to the lake for some R&R, to celebrate Aunt Ali's 26th birthday, and to get some construction done. The weather was gorgeous, and the men were able to accomplish quite a bit on the new play set. Here were are, starting the weekend off right with some early Easter goodies from Tula and Pop. These cool frog glasses are a huge hit, and Luke loves wearing them in the car.

Love this sweet boy! He was such a joy this weekend, and I loved having some snuggle time.

The men hard at work.

While the men did all the work, the women enjoyed sitting while watching the kiddos. There was windmill fun...

....bubble blowing... (oh and check out Luke's sweet boots that he got for Easter)

.... pool splashing...

...and lots of relaxing.

This was Luke's favorite spot while the construction was going on. =)

Enjoying some morning coffee with Uncle Rett in "his spot".

Love this!

While they didn't finish the project, they did get most of it completed. Here is Luke and I enjoying the view from the top. I see many hours spent playing in here. Hopefully Luke and Ben will let their little sister/cousin join in on the fun. I better not see any signs that say "No girls allowed!". =)

When Mom Is Away The Boys Will Play

And play they did! I went on the Women's Retreat this weekend with our church and left Luke with his daddy. I had such a wonderful time and returned to find out that Luke had an action packed weekend with some buddies. He had friends come over both Friday and Saturday night, went to On the Border, Costco, Walmart, Best Buy, 2 parks, grilled out with the guys, flew a kite, the list goes on and on. I don't think those two sat still for a moment. Brian did a great job with Luke, and I never had to worry for one second. The house was sooo clean when I got home, and I didn't even have to make dinner tonight. I am one spoiled girl! Here are the pictures from their weekend. On Friday night Luke hung out with Miss Kaylee. First, they went to a park and to play for awhile. They get along so well and I think this picture proves it! =) Then they went to On The Border. Brian informed me that both dads forgot bibs, milk, and other snacks, so the kids went a little crazy. Luke dumped out all the chips and wore the bowl as a hat. And is that a knife in his hand...Ohh Daddy!

Then they came home for some play time at our house, and were pretty stinky, so got to enjoy a fun bath. Love it!

After an action packed day on Saturday, Luke had some more friends over that night. Grace, Hannah and Joseph came to play and grill out. Here is Grace and Luke welcoming little Joseph to the party.

Hannah, Grace, and Luke watching planes.

These girls can't get enough of those adorable cheeks! =)

The whole gang, including little Joseph, who just learned to sit up!

Grace and Luke sure have fun together.

The ladies can't get enough of him!

Even with all the lady attention this weekend, Luke showed me who his #1 girl is when I got home. I just love this little guy so much!

Thanks to Brian for being such an amazing father, husband, and picture taker!