Easter 2020

We had a wonderful, yet a little untraditional, Easter this year! We had an egg hunt here at home, dyed Easter eggs, and had a yummy Easter feast. We watched the Easter service together on the couch and Cade and I went on a hunt for the giant neighborhood eggs. We didn’t find one, but we have a game plan for next year. :) The Easter bunny even made his way to our house. Guess he’s the only one not on lock down.

Snow Day!

Two years ago the boys got sleds from Santa. They've sat in the closet, collecting dust, since then...until THIS happened! We had our first snow day in what seems like FOREVER this January. I was teaching a Saturday class when it began to snow, so Todd was at home with the boys. The snow was more treacherous than expected and I ended up having a hard time getting home, so Todd was in

Thanks

charge of the Fun Bus! He took the boys sledding and they had hot chocolate. When I finally made it home, we made a snowman, had a snowball fight, and Cade and I went sledding on the golf course. It was so much fun and I'm so grateful we had at least one snow this year!

Bike Rider #2

Sweet Lukey Bear,
Today you learned how to ride your bike with no training wheels! You worked so hard and it only took you a couple of days. We were all so proud of you! The first time you rode for a pretty good distance, you jumped off and ran to me with arms wide open and a huge smile on your face. It was a moment I hope I never forget. We love you so much!

8 is GREAT!

C-Baby, you're 8 years old!
You've really grown a lot over the past few months. Watching you grow, change, and mature is such a blessing in our lives. I tell you all the time that God did his very best work on you! He gave you all of His greatest gifts and we are doing our very best to help you refine them. For your birthday this year you had your first sleepover with Lucas and Paxton (your other best buddy, Caden, was at Disney) and went to Andretti's. Your party was Harry Potter themed! Here's what your 8-year old self is all about!:

• You are about 4ft. 4in. tall. You wear size 2.5-3 in shoes and size 8 in clothes. 
• Your hair is getting a little darker. Sometimes when I glance at you I can see what you're going to look like as a teenager! You are incredibly handsome! You have beautiful brown eyes that are hazel in the sunlight and your smile is just so gorgeous!
• You like to wear athletic clothes and do not like to wear jeans or button down shirts.
• You eat like an adult...seriously. You don't eat much for breakfast - mostly fruit, yogurt, and cheese. Your favorite lunch foods are chicken noodle soup, egg noodles with butter and cheese, Ramen, and wings. You handle spicy foods way better than I do! For dinner you love pizza, sushi, and Daddy's dinners. :) 
• At school you seem to like all subjects and name different ones when we ask what your favorite is. You love to read (both at home and at school) and you've got a very quick math mind. You work REALLY hard at school and give 100% to your schoolwork and your homework. You willingly complete extra credit assignments for FOCUS and go above and beyond with your work. I could not be more proud of the student you are! 
• Right now you're in book 4 of the Harry Potter series. You still love to read and tend to work through series. Your favorite series this year have been DogMan, Dragon Masters, I Survived, Harry Potter, and Magic Tree House.
• You like to be right. :) You can be argumentative, at times, when you feel that someone is questioning your "right-ness". You expect others to PROVE it when they feel they are right. You could have a future in law. :)
• You very much like to be the leader of a group - to be in charge; however, you can work well in a group as well. At school, you are responsible and helpful to others. 
• You are loud. You talk loud and play loud. You like to be funny and make people laugh. 
• You have a rough and tumble exterior, but inside you have a very sweet, thoughtful, kind heart. 
• You are very helpful! You willingly help do anything we need help doing around the house. 
• You enjoy being around people and we're unlikely to find you playing alone at home.
• You are spirited, rambunctious, curious, argumentative, moody, kind, adventurous, thoughtful, and loving. You are affectionate, insanely smart, hardworking, competitive, and loyal. You are dedicated, helpful, creative, and silly. You are fun to be with and you have lots of friends. You are so very, very loved and admired.
• You're brave and enjoy high risk activities (flying down the hill on your easy roller, riding roller coasters, etc.)
• Your favorite things to do include read, watch TV (you like to watch sports with Daddy and How to Train Your Dragon), play sports, hold Teddy, hang out with us and build things (with Legos, crafty-type things). 
• You do not like being alone, when things don't seem fair, being left out...can't think of anything else right now. 

You are an amazing little boy with the whole world in your hands. We are blessed to be your family and can only hope that we are giving you everything you need to become the incredible person God created you to be. We love you with our whole hearts, forever and always, no matter what!

Luke - You're 6!

Lukey Bear,
You're 6 years old! Your birthday is one of your very favorite holidays, so we work really hard to make it extra special for you! We began a countdown about two weeks out and began our official celebration about a week before your birthday with a trip to the movies to see Angry Birds 2. On the day before your birthday you brought ice cream to share with your class and you opted for a family birthday party again this year so we had your party and opened presents at home. You had an Into the Spiderverse party. On your ACTUAL birthday, you had a pancake breakfast and got to check out of school early to go to Build-a-Bear and out to lunch. We planned to take you shopping with your grandparent money, but all you wanted to do was come home and build your new Harry Potter Lego sets, so that's what we did! I can't believe you're 6...it sounds so much older than 5. But you've grown and matured so much lately and you're wearin' 6 well!  Here's a little more about 6 year old you:

• Height/weight update coming after your check-up.
• You wear size 6/7 in clothes and 13.5 in shoes.
• You have the most magnificent imagination and creative mind I've ever known a kid to have. You still often retreat to "Lukey Land" where you happily play, alone, for very long stretches of time with anything at all (pipe cleaners, sticks, straws, etc.) You tell the most creative, outlandish stories and you seem to view the world through fascinating, rainbow colored glasses. 
• Your favorite foods include: pizza, breadsticks, egg noodles, waffles, pancakes, pita bread...yup, all the carbs. You also like black beans, corn bread, edamame, and kiwi. You're still very picky and getting you to eat an entire meal (other than breakfast) is an act of Congress. You don't like the food on your plate to touch. :)
• Your favorite TV shows are Odd Squad and Boss Baby.
• Your favorite toys are: anything random that you can make "your own" - pipe cleaners, random Lego pieces, etc., Legos, superhero figures, your Easy Roller.
• You're still quite attached to Giraffe Blankie and sleep with him every night.
• You are in karate and you're good at it, but you're interest in it is waning.
• You are super silly and love to laugh and make others laugh with your funny faces, silly dance moves, or shocking statements. :)
• You love to read. Your genre of choice is graphic novels. Your favorite series include: Eerie Elementary, Dog Man, Narwhal and Jelly, Dragon Masters, Notebook of Doom, and Ricky Ricotta. You read to yourself every night before you go to sleep. We read the first Harry Potter book together and you LOVED it! You LOVE to write your own books and your writing sounds and looks just like the books you love to read. Your imagination really shines in your books!
• You're very, very sensitive. You are highly perceptive and pick up on the slightest shift in tone of voice or energy around you. 
• Your favorite things include: Spider-Man, Giraffe blankie, snacks, books, your Fire, Teddy, Mommy, Treat Night, family pizza/movie night, the Boy Cave, playing games, playing in the play room.
• Your vocabulary is insane. You constantly shock me by the things that come out of your mouth, "I unknowingly...Perhaps we should...I am mindful of the fact that..." 

I've said it since you were an itty bitty baby, and it remains true 6 years later - I am utterly fascinated and mesmerized by you. My biggest hope for you (aside from the obvious hopes of being healthy, happy, kind and loving person forevermore) is that you stay on your unique path and that you find all the right opportunities to capitalize on your special gifts - you have so many. You are unique, creative, ridiculously smart, funny, sensitive, handsome...so, so handsome, and overwhelmingly loved. Happy Birthday to YOU!