Thursday... iPad... Hurray!!!!

I'm telling you Luke is a SMART cookie! He catches on quick and has a slyness that rivals Al Capone. I'm already nervous for the future!!!

The back story is that Luke is ADDICTED to the iPad! It all started a few months ago when we thought it would be fun to see how Luke reacted to some of the games on it.... Well he took to it like I take to a bag of Doritos! He was ALL over it and "devoured" it in seconds!  He loved it so much that every day, almost hourly, he would ask to play with it.  Then he would start throwing temper tantrums when we took it away.  Finally Bryan and I decided we needed to set some ground rules, otherwise we forsaw a future with an obese child sitting glued to the couch, eyes bugged out and fingerprints disintegrating from all of their swipes on the iPad.  The rules, we set, were he could only play with it on the weekends, Saturdays and Sundays.  Believe me, it didn't go over well.

Still, even after the rules were set, every day Luke would ask for it and we'd answer, "Sorry.... The iPad only plays on the weekend.  Today is (insert day here).  This has been going on for a month or so.  Same question from Luke, same answer from us.  But this morning,  I went in to get Luke and the first thing he says.... "iPad!!!" I said "No, today is Thursday... it's not the weekend." He says,  "Yay.... it's Thursday, the weekend. I get the iPad. Hurray!!" I'm not exaggerating. He said ALL of that.  Word for word.  Not to mention that I think he spoke the longest sentence I've ever heard him say, the little smarty pants thought he could convince me that Thursday are weekend days. Great scott!! I had better start attending some smart parenting trainings or I could have some serious trouble on my hands in a few years (make that a few months!).

I'm Gassy.... Again

Luke and I were playing today and suddenly Luke went over to the couch and leaned over it and said... "I'm Gassy."  I couldn't help but smile but quickly came over and said, "oh, I'm sorry.... You OK?"  Then I asked him if he wanted to unbutton his pants maybe that would make him feel better (come on, you know you all do that! :) ).   So he said, "yes."  I unbuttoned his pants and he seemed fine for a bit, but then a few minutes later he went back over to the couch and leaned over again and said with a sigh, "I'm gassy... Again..." and ended that statement with a cute toot that only a mommy of a 2 year old would think was cute.

Welllll.... Howdy Partner....

Today we went to Richard and Jenny Mareno's daughter's (Olivia) fifth birthday party.  They had the birthday party at a really fun park called, Farrel-McWhirter Farm Park in Redmond, WA.   At this park they have horses, pigs, goats, bunnies, cows and cats!  I wasn't quite sure how Luke would react because up to this point he really hasn't shown too much interest in animals.... But he LOVED it!!! He even went on a pony ride. He didn't ask for me at all!  I was actually the one who needed "help." It took me half of the pony ride to finally be comfortable enough to let go of Luke and let him hold onto the saddle himself.  It was like he was at home on the horse.

Me holding tightly:

When I was finally comfortable enough to let go:

After the pony ride he (OK I) did some arts and crafts:

Cute picture with Daddy:

Lastly Bryan saw a hay bale with a cowboy hat and started snapping some pictures.... Too CUTE:

John Wayne with his lil Lady (unfotunately I don't know who this little girl is):

Then Mommy got jealous and had to steal a kiss:

Pick My Nose.... Girls Like It

When I went into Luke's room to get him from his nap, I opened up his blinds and saw that he was sitting quietly picking his nose.  I gave him a "look" and he said defensively, "Picking my nose.... Girls Like it."  Ok, so I think mine and Bryan's message was a bit unclear and maybe got lost in his translation.  We've told him if he picks his nose... Girls won't like it.  Oh well....

No.. Hair BIG

Luke seems to be like every boy I've ever dated... The longer the hair the better.  Ever since Luke could talk if I had my hair down and then tried to put it up in a ponytail or my "signature" bun :) He would say, "No... Hair... Big!"  That still has not changed.  So today, I tried to put my hair in a ponytail while I was cooking and he stopped me and said with vehemence, "No... Hair... BIG!" But now he has gotten particular.  I wasn't able to just put my hair down out of the pony. He indicated that the hair should be on either side of my face too. So that I have hair laying over the left and right shoulders.

Good grief, maybe we have the next Ken Paves (hair stylist to the stars) on our hands!

Pretend Play

Ok... Another sign that Lukie is getting older.  He is doing pretend play now.  I'd been noticing things here and there, like he would feed Mickey lunch and try and put the whole can of tuna in his little puppet mouth.  But the first time I really noticed the extent of his pretend play was today.  He came up to me and said he had a package for me and told me to open my hands.  I opened his hands and he put in a "package" (which was a pretend package). He told me to open it and when I opened it he said, "AAAAahhhhh.... Cookies!!!  Eat it."  So I had to pretend to eat the cookies, as did he.  When I was done with my cookie, he brought me another package and asked me to open it.  This one ended up being peas!  I think I like the cookie package better... Shhhhh... Don't tell Luke :)

Fourth of July

We had a BBQ at our house to celebrate the 4th of July! The weather ended up being perfect! My family, Mom, Dad, Charity, Jeff, Jack and Amelia came over as well as some good friends:  Ali and Ashley Carter, Kristen Molten and her family (Braden, Drew, Reed and Blake), Deanna, Kevin and Tyler Carlisle.  We had great food, a little swimming in our "pool" and some little pop-it fireworks to end the night:

Luke loved the pool.  The water was freezing.  We didn't have a chance to warm it up first... So it was ice cold.  And Luke stayed in there the whole time.  Even when everyone was just jumping in and then jumping out.  He stayed in there. I had to convince him to get out when I noticed he was shivering.

Still in the pool, by himself... Everyone HAD been in there, but felt it was too cold and bailed... Not Luke:

The boys (Jack and Drew, KP's son) came back in to join him:

Now Tyler has joined in on the fun:

Pretty Amelia.... Crazy enough she was the ONLY little girl at the party... The rest were BOYS!

AliCa and me enjoying the sunshine:

It wouldn't be a holiday if the boys weren't fighting about gadgets :(   Good grief, is that already starting?!?

No surprise... My family enjoying the food :)

Independent Reader

Today we caught Lukie reading all by himself.  It was SOOOO cute.  Bryan and I were talking and then when we noticed we couldn't see or hear him our first thought was.. "Oh no... What has he gotten into." But today when we went to find him he was laying on the couch reading one of his books:

BUSTED!!! He caught us spying on him!!! :)

Day in the Office

Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, it's off to work I go:

Just another grueling day in the office:

Just joking... Work is good... Life is good:

I'm very focused at work here:

Did I hear lunchtime??

XBox- Enough!

Today was a lazy kind of day...  Which translates to, an excuse for the boys (Bryan) to play XBox with Luke.   So Luke and Bryan were into playing XBox (Guitar Hero) and had no interest in me:

Luke... Daddy??

Boys!

Hello!?!  Are you even listening to me??

I guess if you can't beat 'em... Join 'em :)  I couldn't even take my eyes off the screen long enough to look at Bryan while he took this picture. 

Party in My Mouth

Day by day Luke is using more words and he is really speaking in sentences now.  It's like I'm having a conversation with a little boy now.  Most of his words are clear and when he puts together sentences it's pretty easy for not just me to understand but anyone around us. I feel like he is definitely ahead of the curve when it comes to his talking abilities.  And I know Mom's brag... But I'm not the only one who has said that he is ahead of the curve with his talking.  Anyhow, I already know he talks clearly and speaks in pretty intelligible sentences, so I've been used to that for a while... But I did not expect him to already pick up on street speak :)  Which leads me to.....

...Today he had his some oatmeal for breakfast and he had a full adult serving of oatmeal, a cup of applesauce and 8 ounces of milk. My "little" eater was STILL hungry and wanted something else.  I offered him some yogurt.  He took one bite of the yogurt and said, "Party in my mouth" with a smile!   I thought, there is NO way I heard that right.... So I said, "What did you say, Luke?"  he repeated, "Party in my mouth."  Needless to say, it's pretty clear he loves his yogurt!

I'll DO IT!

Luke had a yummy lunch of ground beef, quinoa noodles and peas today.  At this stage he pretty much feeds himself and will every now and again ask me to "Scrape it" when he needs me to use the spoon to scrape the sides of the bowl to get ALL food remnants out.  Heaven forbid one piece of food is left on the bowl and doesn't make it to his mouth. 

I was doing the never ending stream of dishes that never seem to end when he asked me to sit down with him.  I sat down and he handed me his spoon and pointed to the ground beef.  I asked him, "Do you want me to help?" He answered, "Yes." I was somewhat surprised because there was a lot of beef in the bowl and he shouldn't have had any issue with geting a spoonful.  But I thought, well he knows what he wants and I proceeded to scoop up some ground beef and put it in his mouth. As soon as the empty spoon left his mouth he took a couple of soft chews and then he suddenly started spitting everything out, "PThhhhhtttawwwwaaa... Paaaa... pwwwwaaaa..." and then he started scraping the beef bits off his tongue with his Toy Story spoon.  I said, "What's wrong?? What happened??!"  He was still spitting out all of the beef bits as he answered/said, "I'll DO IT!"   Once he spit out all of the ground beef he then used the spoon to scrape all the lightly chewed beef bits from his tray onto his spoon and then put the spoon, with the lightly chewed beef bits, in his mouth...  To each their own, I guess :)

Father's Day - Car Show

Today to celebrate Father's Day we went to the car show they were holding down in Issaquah- Front Street.   Luke loved looking at all the cool old cars (as did my Dad).... Bryan, I'm not so sure. I think he was just counting down the minutes to get to his Lunchbox Labratory hamburger :)

The men in my life :)

Mowing... Just Like Daddy

Today the sun was out and what better way to spend a day in the sun than mowing the grass! Luke loves watching Daddy mow the lawn.  And today since Daddy had to work, Luke thought he'd help Daddy out and mow the lawn for him:

That's right... Watch those edges... Just like Daddy taught you:

Next up... Weed wacking!!!

I Like Pizza

Luke and I were perusing one of the many children's magazines that we have. Luke loves the toy magazines. I don't understand it... He likes looking through those more than any of his books.  I'm getting more than a little tired of our old toy magazines and strangely enough I'm kind of looking forward to Christmas so we can get our next round of new ones and hopefully get rid of these old ones.  Although I'm not sure he'll let me!

Anyhow, there was a picture of some fake pizza in one of the toy kitchens on one of pages.  Luke says, "Yummm... Pizza.  I like pizza!"  Surprised I said, "Have you had pizza?"  He answered, "Not yet, but I like it!"   Smart boy :)  Takes after his Mommy and Daddy!

Fifth Anniversary

Mainly this blog has been about our Luke adventures but I've decided I'm going to occasionally throw in some of our other "family" adventures. Just so I make sure I'm documenting some other parts of our life.  I think, in the long run, Luke might find that interesting as well (or at least I hope he will).  Which leads me to this entry...

Bryan and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary this year! I can't believe we've already been married five years.  Those years really do fly... And I think they fly even more once you have a child!  We do the same thing for each anniversary... Which makes it super special (as well as easy to remember :)).  To celebrate the day Bryan and I go up to the Newcastle Golf Course (which is where we got married) and have dinner.  Then after we take a picture in the same spot we took some of our favorite pictures on our wedding day.  One day when we are old and gray we can go through all of the pictures to see how we've aged through the years :) Here is our fifth wedding anniversary picture:

For gifts we exchange the traditional wedding gifts.  For 5 years of marriage it's wood.  So I gave Bryan a piece of wood with Kim + Bryan etched on it and our wedding date. The idea is that our names are carved in a tree.  Bryan outdid me (he always does) and got me a guitar that he is going to put together and build and then he promised me he'd learn how to play the guitar.  I absolutely LOVE the guitar and would love to hear Bryan play any song!  So I'm definitely looking forward to that!  All in all a great anniversary! I'm looking forward to many more years!

Where'd You Learn That?

Today Luke was jumping up and down... And he has been doing this for quite some time... But today he was really jumping high.  I mean like Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls high (you think I'm kidding). Anyhow I was impressed, as any Mommy would be... and at the same time I wondered how he learned  to jump so high or rather when did he start trying to jump SO high. So I asked him,  "Lukie, How did you learn how to jump SO high?"  His answer, "Daddy... XBox."  Ah hah!!! BUSTED, Daddy!!! So now I know what they do when I'm off running errands.

Carolina Beach - Here we COME!!!!! May 28, 2011- June 4, 2011

I can't believe we actually did it! We took Luke on his first vacation via airplane!!!  Now to set the stage... I'm not a very adventurous person.  I like to have control over things and don't like to worry about the unknowns.  I fully understand and have accepted the fact that it makes for a fairly boring person.  But I decided to "buck my system" this summer and go for the gusto!! I really wanted us to go on a trip to Carolina Beach,North Carolina (a 5 1/2 hour trip via plane on the way there and a 7 hour trip on the way back).  

When Bryan and I were dating he took me to meet his parents, who live in North Carolina.   We all went to the beach together and I have to say it was one of the most fun and relaxing trips I had ever been on.  The NC beaches are amazing!!! I haven't been to too many beaches, mind you, but I've been to the West Coast beaches (Oregon, California and Hawaii) and I've been to a Mediterranean beach (when I went to Spain) and by FAR the beaches in North Carolina were so much more relaxing.  Don't get me wrong the others were beautiful (especially Hawaii)... but  nothing was more enjoyable or relaxing than our trip to Carolina Beach in North Carolina.

I told Bryan that I wanted to go on this trip and I could see the surprise and delight in his eyes (because he isn't boring like me - and I know he'd like to go on all sorts of trips with Luke).  I knew that my suggestion would make him happy because it would give him a chance to see his family AND he also loves the beaches in NC.   I also invited my family to come along because my family hasn't been to North Carolina and I knew they'd love the beach. But with all of this, it makes for a LOT of unknowns and that is definitely outside of my comfort.   But I tried to organize the trip as best as I could. I created a 23 page itinerary (yes, you read that right - 23 pages!) and created a menu and shopping list, packing list, etc.  I organized the heck out of this thing.   But as you can imagine, we probably only used about 3 pages of our itinerary and our shopping list/packing lists went out the window :)  

All in all we had a great trip! And I'm already looking forward to our next one!  It was SOOO nice to be in North Carolina and share that with my family and to see all of Bryan's family.  In total here there were 18 people on this trip:

Bryan, me and Luke
My Family: Dad, Mom, Charity, Jeff, Jack and Amelia
Bryan's Family:  Dad, Mom, Christine, Jordan, Hailey, Reileigh, Granny, Uncle Tommy and Aunt Jeri

First airplane ride:

Ahhh... This is the life:

From left to right: Uncle Tommy, Granny, Aunt Jeri, Bryan's mom, Luke and me

Luke and Christine:

Luke and me.  Luke doesn't seem to be loving my kisses :) But for some reason I LOVE this picture!!

From left to right: Bryan's dad, mom, Bryan, Luke and me:

From Left to Right: Luke, Bryan, me, my mom, my dad

Getting ready for a night on the town (to see fireworks!)

Luke's absolute favorite things to do on the beach... Shovel sand into a bucket :)

Birthday for Mommy!

Today was my 35th birthday!  And to celebrate my 2 favorite boys took me to the zoo.  We took Luke to the zoo last year and while it was fun I don't think he really "understood" the zoo concept.  When we would say "Look" and point at an animal far off in the distant he had no clue where to look, so often he would just look at what was directly in front of our finger or closest to our finger.  So oftentimes the panther we were pointing out was further away than the fence or post in front of it (good thing too :) ).  So he thought we were just telling him to look at the fence.   This year he totally got it though and we had a great time!! It was the perfect way to spend my birthday and I lucked out doubly because we had some beautiful zoo weather:

Woodland Park Zoo:

Checking out the sites:

Smile for Daddy (Fuzzy Pickles!)

Small note: I did NOT pick this outfit out. This was ALL Luke.  So please try and disregard the belly shirt :) Although he can wear anything and look adorable!

Mommy trying to act like she knows something about Flamingos:

There are amazing animals everywhere and STILL Luke is most interested in anything that resembles a rock:

Luke met a friend in this cave.  Once you enter the cave a loud penguin sound (honking?) goes off and it actually startled all of us and then we started laughing:

This guy came up to the window to greet us and he stayed for a while. I was so surprised that Luke didn't get scared and back up.  Instead he went as close as he could get to the window and try to explain to the Orangutan that he really shouldn't be ingesting those dixie cups (white thing hanging out of mouth).  It could mess with his digestive system.

I had a wonderful birthday!! Thank YOU Daddy and Luke!! Daddy, sorry there are NO pictures of you :( I guess that's what happens when you are the photographer! :(