Pumpkin Patch 2010

Keeping It Real

Having an almost 2 year old is wonderful, but trying at times... here is your proof!

A few weeks ago, Luke dumped blocks on the floor after clean up time and told his teacher "no" when she asked him to pick them up... Luke ended up in the Directors office. This was our peace offering the next morning :)

At Josiah's birthday party, Josiah opened up a package of cars and Luke TOOK them out of Josiah's hand and said "Mine". I took them away promptly and said "NO! Those are Josiah's" to which Luke proceeded to throw himself on the floor in a screaming protest... kind of like this:

During this picture, Luke looked at me like I was crazy for taking a picture during his fit... I think it just ticked him off even more. LOL!

Oh, did I mention Josiah's Dad got it all on video? Nice.

And our latest challenge is that Luke has started hitting Brent and I when we tell him to do something he doesn't like. We are still figuring out how to get through to him on this one. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Seems like ignoring him is working best so far. Time outs don't phase and spanking him for hitting just seems contradictory...


So there is your proof friends, we are not always all smiles at our house, but we will take the bad with the good!

Look Alike

Guess who???

This is Brent! Looks an awful lot like my cutie pie, huh?!

Sugar Rush!

Haircut (suckerS to sit still)

+ Donuts (reward for sitting still during haircut)

+ Cake (gotta celebrate Josiah's birthday party with cake AND ice cream)!

= one fun weekend! We need to get some vegetables down this child this week!

Our almost 2 year old

Brent and I had a lunch date today (just us!) and sort of agreed that we are going to miss Luke at this age TREMENDOUSLY... if we could freeze him here, we would! Some of our favorite things that melt us are:

- When Luke holds Brent's hand, he wraps his whole hand around one of Brent's fingers
- When I hiccup, Luke says "Stop Momma" in such a cute, playful way
- When he and Brent are playing, the way he says "DaDee" is just precious
- Bath time-- we won't always have bath time
- One day, he will be too big to pick up :(
- Learning new things- lighting up when he makes a connection
- Fake crying and smiling when we call him on it
- When asked what color something is, everything is Ellow. Then when asked again, he tells us the actual color
- Licking his pointer finger to turn the page of a book, just like Ms. Jett does :)
- When Luke is ready to get down from a meal, we tell him to eat his (whatever) and he stuffs it all in his mouth with barely enough room to chew

Man, we love this guy!

Fun Luke Moments

1. Luke now calls the frogs!

Translation: (finishing saying T...C... "U, Go Frogs Go!"

2. When we were in the parking lot walking up to HobLob, Luke said "Pumpkins"... um, have I been going so much that my child knows what decor they have out in the entry way ;)

3. Last week, I popped some cookies in the oven to pull out as Luke and I were finishing dinner... as we at warm cookies and milk, he was humming with contentment and at that same moment, I looked down and noticed I too was bouncing with cookie delight :)

4. As we walked away from church to go home, Brent asked "Luke, what did you talk about in Sunday School today?". Luke's churchy answer, "Jesus". I don't think we have EVER laughed that hard!

Horsey Love

I captured this video on the monitor after nap time... we all love Horsey ("Di Di") around our house!

TCU Football

We took Luke to his first football game this weekend and he LOVED it!

Luke got to throw a few footballs before game time:

He thought he was hot stuff running around at the student center:

We saw the band march in... this was pretty cool to Luke! He probably said "yay band" 543 times!

The football team warming up (I thought they looked like frogs here :) While I was watching the Frogs, Brent and Luke went to get drinks and a cheerleadeer stopped to talk to Luke... she thought he was SOOOO cute... Brent later admited he thought to himself "Thats MY boy!".

It was H.O.T! Humid and nasty! (Brent fanning Luke)

I don't think Luke even noticed after 3 juices! Dr. Terk would NOT approve :)

Brent called our friend, Ben, to see how they get their 3 year old to sit through games and the secret is.........

Popcorn! He said it buys you an HOUR and he was right! Again, Dr. Terk would NOT approve, but Dr. Terk wasn't the one trying to watch the game either! :)

The thing (I am sure there is a proper name for it) in the middle of the picture with TCU in lights has train horns, smoke and bell type paraphernalia all over it... every time they score (they scored 62 points!), all of these things go off with a boom... The first few times scared Luke but by the end of the night, they didn't even phase him! What a trooper!

We left excited to go back next week!

PS- I asked Brent, hypothetically speaking if TCU and A&M were to ever play each other, who would he root for? He said they would never play each other... and when I finally got an answer out of him, he said he would have to sit there quietly and not cheer at all! He cracks me up-- the guy bleeds maroon folks, TCU won't change that :).

At another game, we go up close and personal with the mascot... Luke was not liking it until the Horned Frog game him a high five!

Operation World

Something laid heavy on our hearts recently is to show Luke our hearts for the world around us. We came upon THIS website that gives stats and prayer needs for every country around the world. We hung a world map on the back of Luke's door and circle the countries as we pray for them.

In one year, we will have prayed for every people group in the world and hopefully impressed on Luke's heart the need to make disciples of all nations. Please join us!

Roman Shades 101

My friend, Tiffany, inspired me on her new website to get creative and MAKE curtains! I thought I would attempt a roman shade for our guest room. After MUCH Internet research about dowel pockets and pulleys, borrowing a sewing machine and many, many hours... here it is!

My handsome helper attaching it to the wall mount (with his new birthday hammer :):

I still need to put a "cord cleat" on the wall to keep the shade up, but I just tied it off on a side table to get the general idea... I feel sure Hob Lob will have a 40% off fun knob or something more spicy than a boring metal one.

The quilt on the bed was my inspiration for adding gold into the boring 2 toned room. I bought it at Belks the day I was done with Jury Duty last February... I needed some retail therapy after committing a 21 year old to life without parole. Every time I see it, I think of him and pray that he finds peace. I digress.

The curtain looks good, now we need some color on those walls! It's coming :)

Notes to self:

1. Striped fabric HELPS get strait lines to hang horizontally

2. lining curtains makes them look pretty, but is double the work!

3. Outside mounting allows for WAY more measuring imperfections :) I opted for an outside wall mount :)

Note to guests:

Remember when you used to wake up with the sun in your eyes? I think this will help, however some of those "measuring imperfections" noted above did affect the length of the finished curtain... it falls about 2 feet short of covering up the entire window :) I still classify this as a "working shade" because it does go up and down! LOL!

Thirty-Something

Brent's birthday was this past Sunday... He thought he was turning 33 and I had to clear that up... he is only 32! I joked with him that I gave him the best gift of all- a whole year back on his life!

We told Luke it is Daddy's birthday to which he replied, "Cake." Yes, Luke, there will be cake :) So, Luke helped me make cupcakes while Daddy mowed the yard:

I did a trial run on Elmo cupcakes for Brent's birthday and we met our buddies at Freebirds for a birthday burrito!

Caroline and Cupcakes!

I got to host a baby shower for my sweet friend, Holly, last weekend.

Leah, Sarah, Holly (baby Caroline in belly!), Me

Luke got to eat a cupcake that Miss Leah made for the shower:

While I was away for the morning, Luke and Daddy went to the park to play. I got home, so tired, that Brent took Luke to get ice cream and play at the town square. They had a ball and I appreciated it tremendously!

"Biteyear"

Luke loves Buzz Lightyear (aka. Biteyear) and kites!

Mirror Fun!

Cheese!

Fish Face:

WaDer:

Dinner Party

We had some sweet friends over for dinner this weekend. Luke and Alyssa were pretty fun to watch!

They would study each other and copy what the other was doing-- this is a FUN age!

Refinanced!

We decided to take advantage of low interest rates... In 20 years, we will have the house paid off just in time to send Luke to college!

How To Pray For Your Child- August

Growing up, I took comfort in knowing that my parents were praying to God on my behalf. They still do! My mom sent me an article (from BSF) that breaks apart 12 ways I can specifically pray for Luke this year.

Rely on God's direction regarding marriage, being kept from the wrong choice, and being saved for the right marriage partner (Psalm 37:4-5; 2 Cor. 6:14-17)Choose to remain pure until marriage and that the one he is to marry will also remain pure (1 Cor. 6:18-20)

Heavenly Father,

I pray you lead Luke to his wife at the proper time, that you would give him a very clear leading as to who that is. I pray that they build their marriage with you at their center to enjoy the sweet fellowship that you designed especially for them. Give them common goals so that they can feel unified in the decisions and choices they make for their family. I pray they never have to feel the sting of divorce and that they keep their eyes only for each other.

And until Luke meets the one you have carefully chosen for him, I pray that you keep him sexually pure. Guide his actions to always lay down rules for relationships that honor you and his future wife. Open Luke's eyes to the truth in your Word that sex outside of marriage will never lead to the committed, loving, unconditional love that he needs. Instead, let him avoid all of the emotional baggage and consequence that comes from choosing physical relationships prematurely. Remove from Luke's life any person with evil intentions and spare him from pornography or homosexuality by reminding him of your very clear instructions in Your Word. Lord, when Luke is tempted by Satan in all kinds of alluring forms, you have said you will give him a way out of that temptation. Please be that "Still Small Voice" of right direction cheering Luke on to the right relationship you have waiting for him. It will be worth the wait if you designed it!

In your holy and pure Name,
Amen.

Back to School!

Tomorrow is the first day of Brent's MBA program at TCU... in preparation for the big day, we went to campus to get his books and ate lunch at Fuzzys Taco Shack... a little known campus secret... Mehhh (that is the snooty noise that Brent makes when making fun of something :)! Since it was close to nap time, Luke kind of made the experience a rough one, and when I read that they served feta cheese on the tacos, I knew Brent would not be a fan :) Anyway, I also got to meet Brent's group at a dinner hosted by TCU on Friday night... it is a neat group and I expect they will come out of the program being great friends. The wives and girlfriends were so fun too! Two foreign exchange students (on government grants) from Russia sat with us- they had been in the country for 10 days and we asked them what they knew of Texas... they said cows, cowboy boots, and George Bush. This made for very interresting dinner discussion. We also showed them how to eat a fajita... that alone is worth their trip to Texas :) Good luck tomorrow, my little Horned Frog!