Some of Lukes words and signs.

Luke shows off some of his signs and words, while trying to get a banana...he gets so annoyed with mommy's prying that he takes matters into his own hands, gets the step stool and gets his OWN banana!

Can you say Wii??

Babies, Babies EVERYWHERE!!

I've had the privilege of holding a few little babies lately...and OH are they SWEET!!
Last weekend we went to Roseville to meet TJ and Charissa's new baby boy, Ian (TJ and Charissa are Jeremy's cousin and husband). He is such a cute, sweet little guy. I have to admit, ever since I had Luke, I'm kinda into baby boys...they're pretty precious! We had a wonderful visit, even if I did "hog" Ian all day long. He liked me, what can I say?? :)

Today my neighbor brought her baby over and I got to hold him for a while (after I pried him out of Savannah and Abby's arms!) I held him for less than 5 minutes and had him asleep. Either it's been sheer coincidence, or I've got a touch with babies. It could be that after 3, I'm fairly confident in my abilities and they just pick up on that. Anyway...these little ones are SO sweet and really, really make me want another babe--especially another little boy for Luke. But alas, I will NOT let them convince me with their sweet baby wiles...I know how they work...they're much more work than their sweet little angelic faces let on. For now I'll just enjoy holding these wee ones as much as I can. And I promise to share too, when necessary.

Savannah holding our neighbors baby, Antonio.


He was actually falling asleep in her arms. Awwwhhh...look at the look on her face.


Ian loves his auntie, Alisa.


Ian and great-aunt, Karen.


Ian and the baby hog--me.

Our Brand New Playground

We are extremely blessed. We have a playground right in our backyard. We have the perfect location because I can let the children play while I fold laundry or do whatever I need to do and I can see them perfectly well from my dining room window.

The playground that WAS in there was very archaic though. It had these BIG, concrete "climbing" things...very dangerous. It also had a big climbing dome (I remember having to climb into there while I was HUGELY pregnant with Luke because Abby was hanging and was scared to let go...that was fun) and swings. The swings were nice, but the rest was old and not too safe. Not to mention that it was all sand, and every cat in the neighborhood used it as a big litter box--lots of fun when you think of all of the babies that sit there and eat sand. Yes, the sand was fun to play with, but it was also horrible for trying to keep my house clean, especially in the wet season.

So they finally yanked all of the old stuff out and just finished on Wednesday with all of the new stuff. The new swings leave a lot to be desired, but the play structure itself is awesome!! We're very blessed.

Waiting VERY patiently while they finish up with the wood chips:

My Son, the Ham.

Luke is a TOTAL ham. He loves the camera and the camera loves him.
He is also our first child who will very willingly go to Jeremy, even when he's just gotten up from a nap. It's very refreshing, and very sweet. Usually Jeremy gets home from work at 4, rests for a while and we get Luke up around 4:45. I'll get Luke up and put him on Jeremy's lap for a little father/son snuggle time.
The other day, Jeremy was lying on the sofa when I got Luke up and I put Luke with him. He got all snuggly with Jeremy and was rubbing his leg against Jeremy's skin and saying, "Dada". It was so sweet and precious. I went to get my camera because it was so sweet...and when I came back, he wasn't on Jeremy's lap anymore. I was a bit bummed, but as soon as he saw the camera, and realized I wanted to capture the moment, he jumped back up onto Jeremy's lap, got back into position and let me take a couple of photos...and a video. What a show off...but in times like these, I'm grateful!

Halloween

We had lots of fun last. We trick or treated right around our house and then headed to the church for the annual Fall Carnival. There were lots of games, lots of candy and lots of excitement. Everyone had a wonderful time and I'm very thankful we had our entire entourage (My parents and myself) because there was lots of stuff to carry.
Luke was happy with a lolly-pop in his mouth the entire time...and spent lots of time and energy running and spinning like a little munchkin hopped up on sugar should.
I was pretty excited because we got the girls costumes on clearance and Luke's came from an old neighbor. How nice that it fit perfectly this year! :)

Abby's Birthday.

We had Abby's birthday party last night (on Jeremy's actual birthday). We had a TON of people here. We gave invitations to all of the kids our children play with regularly...add in all of the parents and WOW! We had probably 50 people here! I bought hot dogs at Costco and we barely had enough (actually Jeremy and I didn't get to eat!). We did a pinata and yummy chocolate cake. It got dark way too early though and we ended up opening presents and eating cake in the dark, but I think everyone had fun anyway. Abby loved her gifts too.

On her actual birthday I took them for a "surprise". Next time I'll know not to do any "surprises" because it gets their imaginations going a bit too much, so when Savannah was expecting a trip to Discovery Kingdom, they were greatly disappointed when we got to the cupcake shop. I tell ya, they were totally unenthusiastic. Granted they hadn't been feeling their best, and the trip is about a half hour...but we got cupcakes, got a few cute photos and went on to the toy store where we really had fun. I bought two gifts, one for her birthday, one for Christmas. After they had been wrapped (without her knowing), I let her pick which one she wanted. She ended up choosing the Play Mobil farm and ever since that thing was opened and assembled, they haven't stopped playing with it. Play Mobil is quite pricey and I wasn't too sure about paying that much money for a gift, but now that I see how much they love it, I'm definitely getting more for Christmas!!

The night of her birthday she had AWANA and got to be the special helper who picked the ticket for the prize. She picked Savannah! :)
So all in all she had a great birthday...and she's thrilled to be 5!