Pictures, Pictures, and More Pictures

Okay...okay...so, I had all intentions of doing a mid-week post but it just didn't happen. Work this week has been WILD! One of the realities of my job is that I never have any idea of what is coming towards me. My days can go as smooth as silk or all of a sudden be crazy in all directions. The craziness in all directions happened just about everyday this week. Because my days were full of handling all types of issues, I ended up catching up on my regular everyday work at night. Every night this week I was up to 11:00 or so playing catch up. By Friday, I was exhausted and ready for a rejuvenating weekend. So far, it has been just that! As I sit here on the front porch in this gorgeous weather, I am happy as a lark.

As far as Bumgarner family happenings, there has been no major events to tell you about....just some regular everyday fun. Luke continues to amaze us each day with his blooming personality. At times, he makes us laugh. At times, he makes us remember to use extreme patience. At times, he makes us wonder how old he really is - almost 2 or almost 4!!! At times, he makes us cry with pure joy! And, at times, he makes us wonder - what do we do about that?

I will give you just one quick example....this week at preschool, Luke was put in time-out several times for throwing toys. Each time, he seemed to think time-out was a game and repeated his wrong choices. So, his teacher decided to try a different consequence. When the rest of his classmates when outside in the "bye-bye buggy", Luke had to stay inside with Ms. Felicia and talk about his misbehaviors. Of course, he cried and didn't like this consequence. His teacher, Ms. Brenda, called me at work on Tuesday to let me know about their struggle that day. I couldn't believe that I, the one that is usually making discipline phone calls, was receiving discipline phone calls and my son is not even 2!!! Oh my goodness - what will the future hold? When talking with sweet, patient Ms. Brenda, I told her that I agreed completely with the steps they were taking at school and that I would follow up at home. So...that's exactly what I have done....I am trying new discipline measures around here. Yes, we will continue with spankings when needed, but, I decided to also create a time out area so that he can make the connection of consequences between home and school. There are not many bare corners in our house so I decided to use the rug in the kitchen as the "time out rug". Whenever Luke does something that is against the house boundaries or when he refuses to listen, we put him on the "time out rug", set the microwave timer for 2 minutes, walk away from him, and then when the timer goes off, remind him of his choice that he made that was not correct and how he should fix his behavior. So far this method is working. He hasn't thrown toys or repeated the behaviors that have got him to the time out rug here at home. The test of how he does at school is still to come. I will keep everyone posted on how this goes.

You know the educator in me tries to analyze this whole situation and I automatically look to myself to see what I've done wrong. I never would have expected having problems with Luke this early. But, after doing some reading and talking with his teacher some more, I realized that this is normal - Luke is very verbal, very energetic, and, at times, doesn't sleep well - you combine all of those and he is going to test, test, test the grown-ups around him. Well, my little man, Mommy and Ms. Brenda are going to overcome this test - hopefully. :) Please pray for my patience as I do everything I can do to mold my little fellow into a gentleman who knows how to listen.

And, now, on to the pictures....first of all, here are some of the pictures that Andrea took for us at the end of October. If you remember, I wrote about how much of a stinker Luke was on this day. He would barely smile, he wanted his milk, he wanted to climb the stumps, go play in the trees, pull up the grass - everything except pose and look at the camera. So, because of his not so wonderful cooperation, after 298 pictures, these were the only ones that ended up frame worthy. I did leave out a few that I used for Luke's birthday invitations and for our family Christmas card. Which, by the way, I ordered yesterday from Snapfish and got the best deal - I got each Christmas card for 50 cents by using a coupon that I found online. I was super excited! I saved $54.00!!! :)

So...enjoy the pictures....

Last Sunday was Lexi's birthday. She had her party at Pump It Up in Greensboro, which is a bounce house indoor playground. It's a very neat place and to make it more fun, they give everyone a glow necklace and turn out the lights and let us jump, climb, and slide in the dark. It was a blast! Of course, Luke had a great time because he could run and climb like crazy and because he was with memaw!! You can't beat that!

Here are some pictures...

They had several of these little red cars that you can ride in....Luke loved riding in them!

There's memaw after coming down a slide...
They also had a toddler corner with little cars to push and several other fun toys...Luke enjoyed spending some time in this corner...

Luke and Memaw sliding....
Luke with the girls....that's Lexi holding him...
There's all 3 of memaw's kiddos...Caleb, Luke, and Lexi....
When Luke first wakes up, I let him keep his pacis for about 10 minutes. On the day that I took the pictures below, as soon as he woke up, he went straight to his red car and took some of his stuffed animals from his bed with him. Check out this red car crew...
And, here are some of my favorites....with colder weather approaching, I decided to use an Osh Kosh B'Gosh coupon that I had to buy Luke some winter gear. I bought him some waterproof snow boots, a hat, some mittens, and some waterproof snow pants for only $45 total (including shipping). When they arrived in the mail, I let Luke try his boots, mittens, and hat on (not his pants). He loved wearing them and wanted to go outside....here he is showing off his winter gear...



Then, one evening last week, it truly was cold enough to use some of his winter gear outside so here he is playing in the cold...










And...yesterday...we went to the Thomasville Christmas parade. It was a lot of fun. We had planned on meeting memaw, Lexi, and papaw Kim at the parade but we ended up meeting up with Chris Butcher and Andrew Butcher and their kids. All the kids sat on the curb and had a blast watching the parade and chasing down the candy that was thrown. In order to get a good seat, we arrived about 45 minutes early so Luke had plenty of time to run and play with his friends....here he is chasing Ella around a tree...
This is Avery (Liz and Andrew's second little girl) - she is the happiest baby alive...it's amazing...she smiles ALL the time! She sat in this stroller the whole time and just watched everything around her. What a sweet girl!
This is Ella and Madi (Ella is Andrew and Liz's daughter and Madi is the daughter of Chris and Leslie Butcher) - both girls are sweet as pie and great with Luke.
Luke and memaw....
Luke with some cotton candy...
There's the gang with their cotton candy....
There is Lexi and Caleb with their cotton candy...
Luke with his sucker...


In his chair eating some chips...

Somehow, someway, we always find some type of entertainment each weekend - and, it sure is fun! We have another adventure planned for today as long as Luke wakes up in time. If we make it, I'll post pics...with the busy Thanksgiving week ahead of us, I'm not going to promise a mid-week post....I'll see you when I see you.....

Enjoy this gorgeous weather and have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Here in the Bumgarner family, we have so many blessings to be thankful for and know that you do too. :)

Toddy