Wow! It's been a busy week, ya'll! A fun one - but busy one. Let me start with our Lazy 5 trip last Saturday.
Last Saturday morning, we headed out early to go on a 9:00am wagon ride at Lazy 5 ranch in Mooreseville, NC. We met our neighbors - Drew, Caren, and William - at the ranch so the boys could enjoy the animals together.
When we arrived, Luke liked looking at the horses that were getting ready to pull the wagon. When he realized that he was getting ready to ride on the wagon behind the horses, he was excited. After a short wait, we loaded the wagon. The first animals that we encountered were some very aggressive birds called emus. None of us liked them very much because they would attempt to take food right out of your bucket with no warning and with much aggression. One of them grabbed a lady's shirt. After getting past the emus, we were thankful to see that the llamas were much more gentle. They would take food right out of the palm of your hand. Luke helped feed them by holding his hand in my hand while the llamas at the food. Luke also enjoyed dropping food down onto the ground so the pigs and deer could eat some.
When we arrived at the larger animals, like the buffalo and oxen, Luke was a little nervous and wantd to sit on Daddy's lap. He didn't want to feed the bigger animals but enjoyed watching me do it.
The best part of the ride were the giraffes. They were awesome! There were several huge ones and a baby giraffe. Luke didn’t want to feed the giraffes but he loved looking at them.
Our next stop was Luther, the rhinoceros. Luther was HUGE! We were amazed at how big he was as we sat and watched him eat his hay.
Our next stop was Luther, the rhinoceros. Luther was HUGE! We were amazed at how big he was as we sat and watched him eat his hay.
During the whole ride, Luke was fascinated with the pigs. There were pigs everywhere - big and small. Luke was so fascinated with them that he started making
the sound just like them. The sound wasn't the regular "oink, oink" - it was the true snorting sound that sounded just like a real pig. Luke was so proud of his sound that he showed off and made the sound for a few
other people on the wagon. (There is some cute video of him making this pig sound at the bottom of the blog.) It's hilarious!
The entire ride Luke was relaxed and seemed to enjoy everything that he saw. At one point while sitting on Daddy’s lap, he started
singing, "Giddy up horsey, go to town, giddy up horsey, don’t fall down." It was sweet!
After the wagon ride, we all walked down the dirt paths to see the other animals at the ranch. We stopped and watched the lemurs jump and climb and to feed the huge goldfish. We also looked at the donkeys and the goats and saw several peacocks.
After the wagon ride, we all walked down the dirt paths to see the other animals at the ranch. We stopped and watched the lemurs jump and climb and to feed the huge goldfish. We also looked at the donkeys and the goats and saw several peacocks.
As soon as Luke saw the little, tiny baby goat, he became very
interested in feeding them. There were a ton of goats in the pen. Luke would start feeding a few goats (preferably the smaller ones) and then when too many goats got near his food, he would pick up his
bucket and say, "I'm going to go feed more animals.” Funny thing is - he would move down the fence and feed more goats (probably some of the same ones that he just fed.) :) After convincing him that the goats were full, we headed to the playground.
Luke and William climbed and slid down
the super fast slides. When I say Super Fast Slides that is not an exaggeration. The slides were so fast that someone had to be
at the bottom to catch the boys when they came down. If not, the boys would fly up about 2 feet in the air and then hardly on their bottomw. We know this because we watched it happen to several kids whose parents weren't at the bottom of the slides. :)
Around 11:00, everyone was hungry except for luke. We were ready to head to Patterson Farm but Luke didn’t want to go. After telling him that Patterson Farm had a playground and maybe some tractors to ride, he was ready to get in the car. (Daddy also did a little stern talking to him to help motivate him.) This was one of those cases where I should have been sterner with him. He pitched a fit when I mentioned leaving but when Daddy told him to go, he listened. That drives me bonkers because I shouldn’t put up with his fits. I will keep working on that. (Along with many other things in "Mommy Land.) :)
At Patterson Farm, we ate lunch at a picnic table with the
Hollady family. Luke ate at the table for about 10 minutes and then he didn’t
want to sit still. At first, I tried to fight that battle but I decided to
just let him roam. He would eat a bite
and walk around and then come back for more.
It was a gorgeous day for a picnic and a nice place for Luke to run so I
just let him be.
After lunch, Luke and Landis rode the cow train. Even though it hurt Daddy’s bottom riding in that tiny, very hard cow, they both came back grinning. I love to see Landis do things like this with Luke because he doesn’t get the chance as much as I do – I have the whole summer to ride fun things with Luke and spend special time with him. I enjoyed watching my two boys ride together!
Before leaving, we ate some ice cream (Daddy had a milkshake), bought some strawberries, and then headed home. Luke was asleep within 15 minutes.
It was a great trip! It was a beautiful day. We enjoyed the company of our neighbors. Fun, fun times!
Luke and I look forward to going back this summer to play
in the Patterson Farm barn (where the tractors are) and on the playground. That
will definitely be a s ummer field trip for us.
Enjoy the pictures....
Out like a light! :)
On Saturday night, my mom, Kim, and Lexi came over to grill hamburgers. Luke LOVES it when memaw, Lexi, and papaw Kim come over. He was full of himself the entire night! He did some silly things like pretend to fall off of his scooter and 4-wheeler and then lay there and say, “I’m okay.”
He let memaw and Lexi swing him around so that when they put
him down to walk he would be dizzy.
He ran around the living room table singing ring around the
rosy. He drove his lawn mower all over the backyard while Madi
chased him and Lexi. (To be almost 10 years old, Madi still has bursts of energy herself.) We went and played at papaw Dale's house and Luke pretended to open and close the gate at to get the lawn mower out. During dinner, Luke was quite testy. He didn't want to sit down in his seat so Landis had to spank him. To put it mildly, dinner was not the highlight of the evening. We made it through - but it was challenging!! Overall, the night was great! I enjoyed having everyone over and Luke had a blast!
On Sunday morning, Luke, Landis, and I had a nice time
doing some things around the house both inside and outside. We rearranged some toys, took a few toys to the building, and brought
in a house plant to make the living room look better. We also cleaned out my picture album chest and took some picture
albums to the building, we straightened up the back deck and Luke and I “raked” so
we could throw some piles of leaves away using the wheel barrel. It seems like we worked all morning, but it was actually quite a good stress reliever. I love getting things organized and Luke was such a good helper. I guess that was part of his Mother's Day present to me. :)
Later that morning, we went to church. We have gone to a new church now for about 3 weeks. We miss Pete's teachings (from the other church) but it was getting more and more difficult to keep Luke upstairs during a 2 hour service. The church we are going to now is a traditional church that teaches the Bible. The Holy Spirit is present there every Sunday and the people are kind and genuine. Luke sits in the sanctuary with us for the first 20 minutes (during the praise songs, offering, and prayer) and then goes to children's church for about 30 minutes during the preacher's message. It is a great mixture! Luke gets to sing and hear songs about Jesus (many of the songs he knows because we sing them at home - matter of fact, the last two Sundays, he has sung along with us), and then he gets to go spend time with other kids in the nursery. So far, he has enjoyed going to the nursery and I am thankful for that. Last week, the nursery ladies
said that Luke was ready to sing Jesus Loves Me for the whole congregation. They said that they gave him a microphone and that he knew exactly what to do
with it and sang the whole song in tune. (That doesn't surprise me! The child sings all the time!)
After church, we ate lunch at our favorite pizza place. Luke was wild again. The
entire dinner we had to remind him to lower his voice. He would sing the B-I-B-L-E
song and add random endings. He wasn’t being bad, just silly! All weekend he
seemed to be in this over energetic mood – maybe he, too, was excited about Mother's Day! :)
After lunch, we went to Hills Farm and Garden and Quality Hardware and got a shepherd’s
hook for the front flower bed. (We have been wanting one for awhile and that was
part of my Mother’s Day present.) (I also got an Iphone and Itunes card! Not too bad, huh?)
While Luke napped, I used some coupons at Peebles to buy some work clothes and went
back to Hills to get some flowers for the shepherd’s hook. I also made a stop at Wal-mart for a
few other flowers for the front porch. Our front porch area looks so good now. I really enjoyed working on making the house look better. Surprisingly, I had everything outside planted and watered
before Luke woke up.
When Luke woke up, we played and straightened up so we would be ready for dinner with Mammaw Carolyn. When mammaw came over, we grilled and ate homemade ice cream. Luke was very good – silly again but was a lot of fun.
Overall, it was a great Mother’s Day. More so than the last Mother's Day, I found myself questioning my mothering skills quite a bit. Luke is beginning to test
me so much that I’m going to have to change a few things. I’m going to have to
quit warning him so much before putting a consequence into place. As for consequences, spanking works for Landis but doesn't seem to work as well for me. I’m going
to try the timeout chair again and see how that goes. When rearranging the living room, we were able
to place an extra chair in a corner that I’ve already told Luke is the time out
chair.
Luke
is in the stage of his life where he needs clear, consistent guidance and I have to give this to him. I'm reading a book now that I'm hoping will help me. With some expert advice and with prayer on my side, hopefully, I will do alright with this child rearing stuff! Wow, being a
mommy is tough job – but, you know what?
I’ll keep it! J Here are some pictures from Mother's Day....
Luke and Lexi...
On a little side note - before I get to the Gold Medal show - for an unfortunate reason, Luke and I had some extra time together at home on Monday. After hoping to only take a 1/2 day sick day to get my permanent crown put on, I ended up taking a whole sick day because I was in the dentist chair for over 2 hours! AND - they never got the crown right - I have to go back again this Wednesday! So frustrating! :)
Anyway - Luke and I enjoyed our extra time together. We made up this new game where I spelled pathways of words and let Luke mow over the words with his push mower. As he mowed, we practiced reading the words. Luke loved this! After playing for about 10 minutes, he stopped and said, "Mommy, I’m having fun at my house.” It
was so sweet! He thinks that was fun! Just wait until summer! :)
On Monday, he also figured out how to open the
bedroom doors from the outside and inside. He was pretending to “lock” himself
in the rooms and in the meantime figured out how to open the doors on his own. I thought this was going to be another challenge - but he hasn't tried to open any of the doors since that day.
Now, finally,....let me tell you about, Luke's Gold Medal show at gymnastics on Tuesday night. It was awesome! Luke has been practicing his gymnastics skills at Central Carolina for a whole year and this was his time to shine! And, shine he did! We had a ball!
We arrived extra early and Luke seemed very nervous at first. He kept putting his fingers in his mouth as we watched the other groups in front of us. When he saw the group get their gold medals up on the big podium, he started getting excited and asked when it was going to be his turn.
Before we knew it, it was his turn. We headed to the center of the mat to do the opening dance. Luke refused to dance. He just stared at all of the people. At this point, I started worrying because I thought he would freeze up for the entire show, but I was wrong. As soon as we started the stations, Luke did great!
The 1st station included the big trampoline. Instead of jumping, he did a million seat drops and then took off running. He flipped with Ms. Jackie, stopped to do his donkey kick, climbed onto the horse and pretended to ride it. As he "rode" the horse, he looked over at everyone in our family and gave them the cutest wave. Next, he climbed the ladder with only stepping through the holes once, jumped into the hula hoop after reaching for my hand, and did his tabletop. He was so cute doing this because he did the tabletop with his bottom up only, never used his hands, while grinning the whole time! At the 2nd station, Luke climbed the big connecting ladders perfectly with no help at all, slid, jumped from the little trampoline to the big squishy mat, and then, before his roll, he took a sudden left turn and ran towards the trampoline away from ms. Amber. Ms. Amber was quick to retrieve him because he has done this several times before in gymnastics. During his 2nd time around on this station, Luke ran again but this time got away because Ms. Jackie was helping him. She wasn't quite so quick! After getting him back on track, Luke did his alligator roll, climbed over the steps, jumped on the little red trampoline, did his bear walk up the red mat, did a backward roll and then started over. He did great! At the 3rd station, Luke flipped on the bars, climbed over the vault, jumped in the hula hoop, did his bear walk fairly well. I did have to remind him of how to do it correctly because he was being silly. He climbed the big ladder (which is his favorite part), hung on the bars, and then flipped over the little bars again (he made sure to remind Ms. Amber that he wanted to roll over the squishy thing). He finished with an alligator roll and then started over. At the 4th station, Luke had his chance to go to the pit, which is always a highlight for him. He started with hanging on the bars and then ran straight to the pit. After we both giggled and played a little, I got him out. He walked on the balance beam, took another detour to the pit again, and then jumped on the little black trampoline, did his spider walk, bird stand, walked down the beam and finally, ran and jumped int the pit a third time. The pit is like a magnet for him. He just all of a sudden runs and jumps in it - no fear at all! This time, Ms. Amber had to throw him to the other side to get him out so he could walk down the big red balance beam and then roll on the ramp with Ms. Jackie. Soon after the beam, he was back in the pit having a blast trying to bury himself as deep as possible. He sure was enjoying himself just like he does every Tuesday night! It was like once he got past the dancing part, he didn't even care that a bunch of people were watching him! He had a blast!
Finally, the part we had all waited for - receiving the Gold Medal. Luke watched the other kids in his class go down the red carpet. He was very patient. And then....it was his turn....I didn't know what to expect....I was scared he would freeze up and make me walk with him but, oh no, not big boy Luke.....he did the cutest little tough man strut down the red carpet with a huge grin on his face! I just about cried it was so stinking adorable! When Ms. Amber gave him the medal, he leaned over and blew her a kiss. It was so adorable! Everyone in the audience sighed! When I went to help him down from the podium, he was grinning from ear to ear and told me that he wanted to do gymnastics again! He was so sweet and so proud of himself. Before leaving, we took a few more pictures with his hands up and under the big spotlight. We used the big camera for video so I don't have any video to post here. I wish I could post his adorable strut! You all would love it!
I was very proud of Luke Tuesday night! He had a great time and showed everyone what a fun personality he has! :) A personality that makes those tough times well worth it!
Enjoy the pictures....
Heading to the floor...
#1 - Luke telling us about the pig sounds and several other random things.
#2 - Luke showing off his sunglasses.
#3 - Luke telling us how mammaw says, "Poison Oak." :) (That one is hard to explain without hearing mammaw say the word "poison." But, trust us - it's still cute!)
Thanks for hanging in there, gang! That was a long one! A big prayer of thanks for the very successful EOG week at Fair Grove last week. Everything went extremely smooth our scores are up about 2% so far from last year! That's a celebration for the staff AND students! :) We have more testing this week and next week, but we expect that to go smoothly too. Only 3 more weeks of school for the kids and 4 more weeks of work for me and then over 2 months off!! So exciting!
Enjoy this gorgeous Sunday!
Toddy
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