Here are some highlights from the last few days:
Wednesday, June 27th:
We started out early Wednesday morning with some reading on the front steps that was an early highlight for me. Then, I pushed Luke in the red car for quite awhile. It was a gorgeous morning. As we rode in the red car, Luke stopped to hug the "Taylor" statute in my dad's front yard about 50 times. Then, he told me that Taylor was cold so he wanted to go inside and get a blanket and cover her up. So, that's what we did. The Taylor statute in Dad's front yard stayed warm all morning long.
Around 10:00, we took off for our weekly field trip - on this day, our destination was Dan Nicholas Park.
We started off our trip by going in the petting barn. I have gone to Dan Nicholas a ton of times but have never visited the petting barn and now I know why - I sure wasn't missing anything. The barn was very disappointing and misleading
– you cannot feed the animals like it says. There are even signs that say the animals will bite (these signs are not posted until you get inside.) Luke was disappointed that he could not feed the animals but he still enjoyed looking at the baby goats and the donkey.
Next, we visited the animal area. This was a bummer too! The bear wasn’t there. We did see the bobcats up close and the fox up close. We also saw the rooster fairly
close. Other than that, Luke was more interested in running down into the cave
where the waterfall was and the bear should have been. He had more fun putting
pieces of bamboo into the sidewalk cracks than he did looking at the animals
(interestingly enough – when we were talking on the way home – he told me that
the animals were his favorite part. Silly boy?) While looking at the animals, I was able to get Luke to stay in his stroller for about 10
minutes and then after that, he pushed his own stroller for about 10 more
minutes and for the rest of the time, he did his tough man strut beside of me or
behind me or in front of me all day long – I love to watch him walk around like
a big boy and it wasn’t crowded at all so it was very safe to let him have a little bit of freedom.
Before leaving the animal area, we played at the small playground. Luke climbed onto a few plastic animals and slid one or two times but was mostly interested in playing in the
playhouse. He played peek a boo with me and made some mulch piles (that he pretended was
food for me) with another little girl and boy. After a little while, we sat down for a snack
together in the shade. I could tell Luke must have been hungry because he was starting to
shake. The child will play so hard that
he doesn’t tell me he needs to eat. He
ate a pack of goldfish and a whole banana while we were sitting there. On two different occasions on this
playground, I had to run Luke to the potty – once for pee pee and a second time
for stinky. Thank goodness, the bathroom
was fairly close.
Next, we rode the train. The whole ride, Luke’s eyes were huge. He doesn’t
realize that he has ridden this train a ton of times. He enjoyed like it was the first time. He
looked at the fake bears and deer – loved going over the bridge and loved both
of the tunnels, especially because they told a story while you were inside
them. When we were getting off, Luke
said, “Where’s daddy?” I reminded him
that Daddy was at work. He said, “Daddy needs to come ride the train with me.
He always rides the trains with me.” That was sweet, yet pitiful. Daddy just might have to go back with us one
day to ride the train with Luke.
After the train, we rode the carousel. Luke had a good time. He said that
Minnie would like the horse he picked because the horse had pink on it. :)
Next, we went to buy tickets for the gem mining and Luke found
a mini-tractor that cost $3. I bought it and he pushed it along the rails and
the fences all the way to the gem mining area.
The gem mining was my favorite part. We got a
HUGE bucket of dirt – you poured the dirt into a sifter and then ran water over
the sifter until the dirt was gone then you looked at the rocks that you had
left. At first, Luke helped me put the dirt
into the sifter but then he became more interested in throwing the rocks back
into the water. He would get really
excited when he saw a big one show up and he would put the big ones in his bag
then he would take all of the little rocks and throw them in the water. A few times, he threw the big ones back in
the water and wanted me to catch them before they ran down stream. He didn’t care too much about getting dirty –
I was the one that ended up dirty but he still had a good time. We brought home a whole bag of neat, colorful rocks.
When we went to turn in our bucket, Luke saw a mechanical
donkey – I let him ride it 3 times – he sang the “Giddy up, horsey” song over and over. At
this point, Luke was getting a little wild. I had to chase him up and down a ramp
and around the rocking chairs on the porch several times. He also climbed a
rock nearby several times.
I was finally able to convince him to go back and ride
the train with me one more time (because we still had one ticket). He told me
that we would ride the train one more time and then go to the car and check on
Minnie and Daisy. Luke said, “Does that sound like a good idea?” I said,
“Yes!”
We rode the train.
He smiled the whole time again.
In
the car, we talked about our favorite part and as I said, “He said his favorite
part was the anmials.” I told him that my favorite part was the mining for
rocks. And, then, he said,"That was my favorite part too.”
-It was a great time, as usual! Luke was
asleep in about 15 minutes – he fell asleep pushing his mini-tractor on the
side of his car seat with Minnie and Daisy sitting beside of him. I should have
taken a picture. J
-I
was exhausted and should have taken a nap with the Lukester but instead I wrote
this summary and worked on my blog! I
hope to take it easy the next few days – we have had a busy week!
Here are the pictures from the park...
And a video of Luke riding the mechanical horsey...
Thursday, June 28th:
Many of my highlights seem to be comments that Luke makes but
that is because Luke talks ALL THE TIME. On the way to mammaw’s house on Thursday, Luke said,
“Those are called spiney trees.” I said, “Close, buddy, but those are called
pine trees.” “Yes, mommy, but they look
spiney.” I respond, “Yes, they do.” “Well, they can hurt your finger just like
papaw hurt his finger on the wood.”
“That is right, buddy.” (Papaw
scraped his finger on the wood in front of his house.) That little conversation was the highlight of our day on Thursday.
The rest of the day looked like this. Luke and I read
several Eric Carle books that we haven’t read in awhile while Luke ate his own
oatmeal for breakfast.
We
had a picnic together with Minnie and Daisy.
We
made White Mud – you use toilet paper, shredded soap, and water to make this
very cool and good smelling mud like stuff that you can mold with. Luke hated
the texture and the fact that it leaves your hands moist so he wanted me to
make everything that he told me – we made snakes and balls – after making one
of the balls, I had the idea – let’s make a snowman and then let him dry and we
can decorate him later – what a great way to cool off on a 100 degree day –
make something that reminds us of the
colder weather (not that we are wishing that kind of weather would get here
anytime soon).
Luke
watched Super Why (his new favorite show) while I cleaned and got ready. I always pay attention to what the shows are
about so that I can follow up with what Luke is learning and hearing through
conversation and activities. The show
was about a little girl named Jill not being nice and friendly so after the
show, I got out one of Luke’s Bible study lessons and we read about how Jesus
expects us to be kind to others and then we colored a picture of a boy and a girl
playing nicely together. Luke wanted to
name the boy, Wyatt, like the Super Why character and the girl Jill, another
Super Why character. The characters
ended up playing the game “tag” at the end of the show so Luke and I played our
own game of tag running around the house.
This is so much fun for both of us.
Luke will end up sweating and I end up getting a great mini-workout
because we run so much. Luke wanted to
do the Baby Genius line dance song that we have sang and practiced a 100
times. It was neat that he requested to
do it – so we did it together. He was super silly and seemed to be getting even
sillier as the minutes passed.
Before
we knew it, it was time for me to take him to mammaw Carolyn’s so that I could
go workout and make my weekly Wal-Mart run. While working out, I saw the very
disappointing news that the Obama health care plan was ruled constitutional and
I just about went into depression for the rest of the day. It was very hard to stay focused on anything
for the rest of the day after hearing that terrible news. After working out, I grocery shopped as fast
as lightning and then met my mother in law, Luke, and Landis for lunch at
Elizabeth’s. Luke was so tired that he
was out of control silly and the rest of us were so depressed that it was a
stressful meal. Landis is absolutely
devastated and is convinced, as I, that this is the beginning of the end of the
world – the beginning of a one world government. He made the comment that the
next 50 years were going to be really rough for “good people.” To see my ever
so confident, pretty happy go lucky, husband get so down and depressed, I had a
hard time getting back in the groove so I wrote the blog that you, hopefully, read about
the Obama Care plan and I made a promise to myself to read and study the Bible
more so that I have a peace within my heart and I can stay focused on Jesus and
His business and not the ways of the world. I had to quickly realize that I
have the hope of heaven, no matter what happens in this world.
The
hardest part of the whole day was looking at Luke as we lay down for his nap. He is so sweet, so innocent, and so naïve to
what the world is really like. My job is
to protect him and I can’t do that. As I
lay beside of him rubbing his sweet little face, I just prayed that God would
give me a peace and hope so that I could go on living without a feeling of
dread over me. While at the same time, I asked the Lord to extend grace and
give me time to learn more and to teach Luke more so that when all of this
dreadful stuff starts happening to this country – Luke will be so grounded in
Christ that he can withstand anything with hope and peace. That’s my prayer and with that prayer – I
feel better and can’t wait to get my nose in the Bible and my knees on the
floor.
Speaking of Luke's nap - A
highlight of the day was Luke falling asleep for his nap with his tiny hand
touching my face. He is the most
precious thing on this Earth and I PRAY that he has the opportunity to enjoy as
much life as the Lord will allow.
After Luke's nap, we ate with the WHOLE family for mammaw’s
birthday at Longhorn. There was a huge crowd of us. Luke sat between memaw and Lexi in a
booster seat – he was really wiggly at first so mom took him outside after we
ordered and were waiting on our food. He’s wasn’t the only wiggly on – Logan
and Lexi needed to move around too.
After walking around for a little while – he sat down and colored with
Lexi. My mom was trying to help him
color and he looked at her and said, “You are so dramatic.” (I’m sure he got that comment from me.) J When the food arrived, he ate great. He ate a ton of his chicken tenders. But,
soon after he was finished, he was ready to move around again. I took him outside with the girls – Logan,
Sydney, Lexi and aunt Sonya brought baby Haley with us. Luke tried to hold baby Haley but Haley
wasn’t feeling good because she had her shots earlier that day – so Luke
couldn’t hold her. She cried each time
we tried to put her in his lap. Luke did
say the cutest thing – he said, “When she smiles, I can hold her.” J And, she smiled a few times while watching
all of those kids and we tried to let him hold her again but she was still
fussy.
Finally,
dinner was over and we headed to memaw’s house to play. My mom pushed Luke on
the four wheeler while he steered and chased the girls on the scooters and the
bicycles. While riding, he picked up the
radio attached to the four wheeler and said he was calling the Super
Readers! He loves this! Then, Luke rode the scooter for a little
while before we went inside. Inside, Luke played with the girls in the playroom
upstairs. He did everything they told
him to do. He let them put hairbows in
his hair, “dry his hair,” they all three took care of a few baby dolls
together. Luke did manage to find this workout bar that looked like a weedeater
and used it to weed eat for a minute. I told him that he had entered back into
boyland and he repeated me. J
We came downstairs and memaw chased him around the kitchen and the
living room until we were all so exhausted that we had to get ready to go home.
It was like 9:45! I put Luke’s shirt on
and a diaper and memaw kissed him 100 times on the way to the car, loaded him
in his car seat, and away we went. Luke was out like a light in the car on the way home! What a fun night with family. Luke finally had his chance to see Lexi and
Memaw! J
Here are some pictures of our White Mud snowman...
And, a video of Luke riding the 4 - wheeler at Memaw's house...
Friday, June 29th:
Friday looked like this....
We played
outside early – watered plants – decorated our snow man - this was the White Mud snow man that we made the day before. We used puffs, chocolate sprinkles, twigs, and mulch to decorate him. It was fun pretending that it was winter time on such a HOT day!
I pushed
Luke in the red car – then he rode his lawn mower while I pushed the red car
behind him – we raked in papaw’s yard.
Luke watched
Super Why? on TV while I got ready.
We took Luke to the doctor and got the dreaded news that I already blogged about - the Walnut allergy! Luke was very sweet at the doctor's office. On the way home, Luke was so exhausted from staying up late and then getting up early, that he fell asleep on the way to pick up the
epi-pen prescription. He was so tired that he stayed asleep in my arms in the drug store.
After returning home from the doctor's appointment and getting Luke in bed, I mowed the front yard (with the baby monitor on my side). I
was angry, frustrated, and reaching out to God and mowing is a stress reliever to me! By the time Luke woke up, I had the front yard mowed and had almost finished the backyard. Since Luke was awake, I shut the back gate
and Luke mowed with me as I finished – he also ate him some melons on the porch
and waved at me and watched me as I mowed.
For the rest of the afternoon, we went
to memaw’s pool. We ended up being there for over 3 hours. When we first got there, memaw had to leave for a little while to go to a closing on a house so Luke and I played for about an hour – he jumped to me, rowed
like a boat on the big float with me – sat on my belly while I swam - swam
around in circles with the girls (Lexi, Logan, & Sidnee) He loves the girls and they love him – ate
his PEANUT BUTTER sandwich while he filled his bowls and cups – threw every toy
he had in the pool and made the girls go get them – he rode in his race car
float until it broke – OH MY! (I already ordered a new one.)
Memaw came
back and he swam with her. He is very comfortable in the water – he will just
hang onto my arm or mom’s arm and float and kick and play – he would hang onto
mom while she walked around the pool and he would just sing and sing and sing –
often times making up words – his favorite part was using the big water
squirters to squirt the sidewalk, the girls, and ME – he did this for over 30
minutes at one point – he played in the girls’ fort (a.k.a-chairs covered with towels) for a little while – I
pushed him on the scooter in the parking lot and then he played with the kick
stand on the scooter for quite awhile. Then, finally, after he asked about 100 times, we went back to memaw’s and rode the 4
wheeler for a few minutes – that was a work out for me and mom in 100 degree
weather!
The highlight of the whole day for me was hearing his out loud laugh when
me, mom, or one of the girls would tickle him in the water and listening to him sing while playing in the water - it’s such a blessing to have such a happy
child!
We ended
our night with dinner and bedtime. Ready
for a fun day the next day...
Here are some pictures of our completed snowman....
Here is a video of Luke talking about the snowman...
Saturday, June 30th:
The highlight of Saturday morning came whenever Landis helped Luke put his lawnmower in high gear. We only let him do this in the wide open backyard where it is safe! While riding in 2nd gear, he would
grin so big. He would slow down around the corners and
then take off. He almost cried when the battery ran down and we had to charge
it! :( Bummer!
With the lawn mower dead, I enjoyed pushing Luke in the red car and singing songs. He has gotten to
where he really likes doing this – he will hold his portable CD player while we
sing the songs. There is one song about a bear that he makes me play and sing
over and over. I love this time
together!
A
funny moment on Saturday – I went to workout at 8:00 on Saturday before Landis went to play
golf and when I got back home, Luke runs around the corner of the gate, still
in his pj shirt, underwear and no shoes and here comes Landis with pipe cleaner
glasses on. It was hilarious! Luke told
Daddy that he wanted to make a craft and this was the idea that Landis came up
with – I thought it was great – evidently, Luke wasn’t too interested. J
After
Luke’s nap – Luke and I did a craft – we decorated two paper plates using glue
and tissue paper – Luke loved squeezing the glue while I covered it up with
tissue paper – he covered a few areas himself – we put the pasta in the
middle and then Luke helped me tape the plates together – we added streamers to
the bottom – I explained to Luke that because Jesus Loves Us – we can be
content and happy and that makes us want to sing and make music! I didn't take any pictures of this craft - sorry! :)
At one point on Saturday, I
heard Luke get really quiet and when I went to see what he was doing – he was
trying to work one of his puzzles from his magazine basket. Following his lead,
we spent some time going through Luke’s magazine basket – we read some
highlights magazines together – I was very proud of Luke when he saw
the two pictures that you have to say what is the same and different and Luke
said, “That hippo has sunglasses and that hippo does not. That is
different.” WOW! We read a few of the stories in the
Highlights book several times. We
matched animal mothers to animal babies.
Later Saturday evening, Mark
and Melissa visited. Luke showed them how fast he could ride his lawn mower.
Melissa chased him around the yard on the lawn mower a few times. Luke will now start in 1st gear
and then while still in motion, change to 2nd gear, which spins his
wheels – the grin on his face when this happens is priceless!
Luke
played hide and seek with us while we ate by hiding in the kitchen
cabinet. Then, he asked Melissa to smell
his stinky feet. She would tickle him on
his feet and his under arms – he laughed and laughed. He was so tired that he went
to bed fairly easy.
It was another
fabulous day….
Here is a video of Luke going in fast gear on his lawn mower - this video doesn't do the quickness justice...but it's still great!
Sunday, July 1st: (I don't have any pictures from Sunday, but it was a good enough day to blog about.)
Luke woke up
at 5:15! He was riding his lawn mower outside in the back yard by 6:15! Because of this early wake up time, we were all exhausted most of the day!
Luke and I built a huge road with his letters around the house.
We went to church. Luke did
pretty good at church. We went to Uncle Pete's church so he had to sit still for almost an hour and a half - I was proud of him.
After church, we
were all exhausted – just drained from the heat and the early riser named Luke. So, a highlight of the day for me was
snuggling with Luke and napping with him. I needed some rest!
That
afternoon, Luke mowed some more in the backyard but it was too hot! After awhile, I convinced Luke to go
to Barnes and Noble. We even convinced Daddy to go with us. At Barnes and Noble, we played with trains and read some books. After leaving Barnes and Noble, we ate at
McDonald’s. Luke ate chicken nuggets, apples, and an ice cream cone – we love to watch
him eat his ice cream cone!
When we came
home, Luke played with Taylor and Blaine. He laughed out loud when Taylor chased him around on the lawn mower in the backyard.
Fun, fun day!
Before I go, here's one more video of Luke screaming in the tunnel at Dan Nicholas...
I'm doing great at keeping up with this blog but not so great at getting my Summer To Do List accomplished SO, with that being said, you may see some posts about my Bible studying that I have been doing coming soon but I may take a break from my Luke updates for about a week so that I can catch up on that TO DO list. Please check back soon though - you don't want to miss what the Lord is teaching me! :)
Have a great afternoon!
Toddy
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