Family Field Day

Wade and Brent were manning one of the bounce houses so they made some special time for the little ones: (Luke, Alyssa, Drew)

Drew and Luke, BFFs!


Aunt Jamie made the day so fun!

Fun with friends:

Face Painting:

Luke found the bubble table and spent lots of time there :)

Hating the pony rides... maybe next year :)

Cows are funny!

Petting the "Quack Quacks" and working on being gentile-- he kept trying to squeeze their heads.

It was a great day! We are blessed by our church and hope it will bless others next week at the Easter services.

Egg Hunt- A Trial Run

Luke is having an Egg Hunt at school next week, so we thought we should go through a dry run so he knows what to do.

He figured it out pretty quickly-- kept calling the eggs "balls"...

I think he is good to go... as long as he keeps his basket upright!

Gig Em Horned Frogs!

Brent has accepted admission into TCU for his Professional MBA! He begins in August and we are excited about it, for sure! It is a two and a half year program that we think will open up great opportunity for his career and give us lots of options for the future. I am proud of you, Brent!

Obamacare

Luke, I pray you will know liberty like your Daddy and I have known. We will do all we can to make that possible.

An Ode to Granna!

This picture is going to get me in trouble! We have NEVER done this before, Mother... this was only to save some time-- Allie didn't like the added help Luke offered anyway! Brent and I were giggling that Granna (my mom) would not approve on ANY level of this poor decision :)

BUBBLES!

I Made Luke Cry

It is SO hard to change from loving a baby to disciplining a toddler...


I opened the door to Luke's classroom yesterday and saw him throw a puzzle on the floor in defiance. I asked what I just walked into and they told me he was climbing up on the table and they were placing him back in his seat repeatedly. I got in his face as he was crying and told him "NO FISH" (they have a fish pond in the front of day care that he likes to look at before we leave). The previous day, Luke walked up to our 2 year old neighbor and pushed him. I about came unglued. We are working on that one.


When we got home yesterday, I let Luke play in the front yard- he ran in the street so I popped his bottom, got in his face and sternly said 'DANGER'! He cried. We played a little longer in the front, he got a grin on his face and ran for the street-- again... pop bottom, 'DANGER', tears.


I wanted to cry right there with him.

Today was a better day- he went to crawl up on the table and Ms. Marga said "I'll tell your Mommy" and he immediately backed down! Yay, I didn't hurt his spirit (my biggest fear)! Allie came to meet him at day care (he giggled with excitement!) and he had a cookie waiting in the car for hopes of a better day... I was glad to reward his good behaivor and he was all smiles knowing he had been a good boy!


Luke, I hope you feel how much your Daddy and I love you. I hope you know we discipline you because we love you and we want you to learn to respect authority. We want you to explore your world and learn how to communicate in a healthy way. Right now, you are testing your boundaries and that is okay- we want you to see clearly defined lines. We want you to be strong and not cower when you need to stand up for what you believe. Most of all, we want you to trust that we know what is best for you and want, more than anything, for you to succeed- we are your #1 fans!
I love you, Baby.

St. Patricks Day Parade

We celebrated Irish style this weekend at the Stockyards! Luke *saw* miniature ponies, but he didn't want to pet them:

We went in the petting zoo... here is Luke getting brave:

Checking out the bunnies from outside the pen:

And after we hung around awhile, Luke fell in love with the goats.

We met up with some friends

When you get to two kids, posing gets much harder :)

Luke and Braelynn- school buddies... waiting for the parade to start:

Longhorn stampede- they were bigger than the cars on the street!

Poor mini pony... he certainly got gypped this parade pulling that large lepercon load!

Football!

Granna taught Luke how to say Football!

Granny Play Date

Luke's second cousin came over this week to play...

Baby Caleb-6 weeks old

The Grandmas:

Just twenty-something years later after being Moms!

(Holly, Karen)

(Melody, Abbey, Linsday)

We have Tubes

After a very prayerful week, here is our little guy on the day of his surgery:

But to get to there, we probably need to go back a little further, before the "Happy Juice" to when the nurse took off Luke's sock to monitor his blood pressure and we lost all control. I mean all control. Flailing out of my arms, inconsolable, screaming bloody murder-- bubbles and toys... um no thank you!

But ahhh... after an uncomfortable nose spray, Luke was pointing out stars- seriously.

Wheeling my big boy off to surgery-- Horsey got a bracelet too and went along for the ride

Recovering. Enjoying my hugs- even if my boy has to be heavily sedated to get them :)

Luke had a sleepy, teary day afterwards. He is slowly getting his appetite back. He had a burst of energy for about an hour when nursery rhymes were on TV-- he is still a little loopy :)

We will test out his words tonight to see if he is hearing us more clearly. Thank you for the prayers-- God heard every one.

Fischh

Luke's friend had a birthday party at Cabellas! They all had a great time! Luke's favorite part was feeding the "Fischh".

The aquarium was pretty neat too:

Drop It Like It's HOT

Where does he get THESE moves?

Cereal of Choice

Like his Daddy, Luke has a love of Captain Crunch Berries... wouldn't you know it that he picks out the "berries" before he eats the rest! What a ham!

Ladies Man

Luke has VERY good odds at day care for future girlfriends! He is one of two boys among a sea of girls... I went to pick him up early this week and the kids were all lined up sitting against the wall reading books... Luke was in the middle of the girls and the other boy was across the room chewing on his Elmo book by himself. Makes me think Luke has already figured out where the best seat is!!! As I got Luke's bag together, all of the girls swarmed Luke to give him hugs, saying in the sweetest, most sincere little one year old voices, "Byyyeee Luke-y"! "Lukey"... I cracked up!

Luke Getting Tubes- Take 2

Luke is having surgery next Tuesday, March 9. We won't know the exact time until Monday when we get the pre-op call.

Dr. Burkett said Luke's ear holes are closed nicely and he is ready for a second set of tubes. He found lots of fluid behind Luke's sinuses and will flush for that, and also remove the adenoid glands. His hearing test was less than perfect, but they expect that to resolve itself after the surgery and fluid is gone. Luke was a little trooper and laid so still for his x-ray-- he even smiled for the nurse when she had him in a headlock! We will start him on another antibiotic tonight to keep him from getting any bugs between now and surgery. They said he is a ticking time bomb for infection with all of that fluid. When Dr. Burkett removes fluid, he ranks it on a 6 point scale in his notes... every time he sees Luke, he reads his notes and tells us he marked Luke as having 7+ of fluid removed... he expects he will see this again.

My mom will come up and stay for the week so we don't have to rush him back to day care-- recovery will be a little slower with the addition of other stuff to the tube placement. We are supposed to prepare for temperature and bad breath. And then our baby will hear again! Remember us next week... even though it is a very routine procedure, his Momma still gets a little nervous.