Sleepy boys

We've had some sick, sleepy days around here in the last month or so. That's all.

Do you want 'Smore?

We made a fire in our backyard a few weeks ago and Luke really enjoyed watching it from afar. He had no idea how yummy fires could be though... We took the opportunity to let him have his first 'smore, minus the chocolate for mess factor (and also cause Mommy didn't want to share the chocolate!).

You can see "nGogo's car" in the back ground in this one. It is no longer there (bye bye West Virginian label) and no one really knows how it came to be nGogo's car. And yet, nGogo's car it was.

I think the 'smores were a rousing success, at least with this little one!

It eventually rained on our parade and we had to take the party inside. But, a good time was had by all. :)

Canadian Boys

Here are my two boys proudly sporting their Canada sweatshirts. Uncle Luke and Aunt Helena bought Luke's for him around the time he was born, and I've been dying for him to fit into it! With any luck, it'll fit next year, too.

Loving Luke's smile. He makes me smile.

My two favourite boys in the whole wide world.

Poor Lukey still gets confused about West Virginia and Canada. Inevitably when asked what the WV is, he'll say "Candadada" and vice-versa. Poor kid.

Gramma and Granpa are here!

Well, Gramma and Granpa Mack arrived safely yesterday afternoon. Woo hoo! Luke is having a really good time playing with them and enjoying the blocks and lacing cards they gave him for his birthday. :) It is SO neat to watch him interact with his grandparents. I just love it. We are SO glad that they are here. Looking forward to a fabulous few days!

Here is Luke "cuddling" Granpa. He ran over, climbed up, and said "awwww!" while leaning his head on Granpa's arm. Too sweet!

Planting Seeds

We are pretty excited to have some seedlings peeking through to greet us! This is the start of our garden. :) Right now, it's just a few tomato seeds that are poking through, but hopefully soon their neighbors, the peppers, will join them in their quest for sunlight. We haven't yet grown our tomatoes and peppers from seeds, so it's been awfully fun to examine them each morning to see if there is any new growth. I can't wait to teach Luke more about God's world through our garden. I know he will have fun working with us in our garden this year, and I look forward to many years of gardening fun!

Some "Endless Summer" tomatoes showing their pretty green leaves.

I love seeing little green specks all through! Woo hoo! Luke is learning to pick out the new shoots, but he gets excited over little green specks in the potting soil as often as he does about the actual plants... Oh well. We're getting there!

Happy Birthday Lukey

Yesterday my son turned two. Wow. I am still kinda shocked by that. We had a good day, for the most part. We played with some new sidewalk chalk (which was a big hit), played with some lacing cards he received from Uncle Sam and Aunt Gina, made a big mess with the bowling game given by Uncle Mark and Aunt Jena, and played with a kazoo and car given by Uncle Josiah and Aunt Jessi until Mommy had a headache and the car smelled like burnt electrical something. :) We finished the day with a chat via Skype with Gramma and Granpa Mack and Uncle Jonny and Colin. It was a good day. I am proud of my two-year-old.

It couldn't have been a birthday without a birthday greeting written in sidewalk chalk, right?

Daddy came upstairs for a brief respite to draw a snowman with the birthday boy.

I would say he was having a really good time. I don't know that he'd ever seen chalk before, at least not to get his hands on it and touch it, so he was lots of fun to watch.

It's sad when you have to write your own birthday message...

Just Luke, being Luke. I love this kid!

An end of the day birthday gift from us. I think the lacing beads will provide lots of entertainment and one day, he will be able to play with them on his own. :)

We enjoyed our day with our little one. He is infinitely precious to us. Thank you God for this evidence of your grace in our life.

Luke's Birthday Party

Luke had a great day celebrating his 2nd birthday with some of his little friends. We had his party this past Saturday and it was a fun day. Very busy, but fun. :) We decided that while he wouldn't have missed having a party, he certainly enjoyed the one he had! I had fun, too, even if it was a little last minute. This is a crazy busy time of year with friends and family birthdays as well as Easter. Next year I shall plan better and in advance!

A Turtle Cupcake Pull Apart Cake. I had to use SO much frosting to get it to stay together... I don't think the kids minded. Not so sure about the moms. :)

Homemade play dough. I got a recipe from my cousin Jena that uses Kool Aid to colour the dough. It smelled SO good! Andrew arranged it so nicely on the table that it looked like fruity yumminess!

I love the look on Luke's face here. He had such a good time playing with the other kids.

Uncle Josiah and Uncle Mark played with the kiddos a bit and it was sweet to watch. I think it was a hit. (Luke is standing here as I type saying "Want play dough, few minutes" and it is too sweet.)

More play dough fun. Luke enjoyed playing with the cups almost as much as he did playing with the play dough!

Here comes the birthday cake! He really enjoyed everyone singing to him. He has been walking around singing Happy Birthday to himself ever since.

I was pretty impressed that he was able to blow out the candle himself with no help, problems, or slobber! I think he was pretty pleased with himself, too.

Just waiting for the cake to arrive!

I think he was enjoying it... We gave him the "head" of the turtle, so it had M&M's on it. He's never had M&M's... I forgot to sit and watch him, but he didn't seem to have any issues... :)

Enjoying the yummy cupcake!

Opening presents. His first gift, from John and Shelly, had a really cute fish watering can in it, among other things. I don't think he let that out of his sight for the rest of the day. At one point, Andrew found him in the bathroom with it half filled in the tub. He was pretty excited. He received many lovely things and I am excited to enjoy them with him!

All the present-y mess. He had such a good time. I'm so glad that we had a party for him. It was fun to get together with friends! I was exhausted, but already look forward to next year.

Happy birthday to our beautiful little TWO year old! I will refrain from reminiscing overly much... but we are so thankful for our son! He is a blessing.