Luke is Turning 1 ♥

Luke's birthday is on Sunday, and we have been asked what he would like for his birthday. After observing his play habits, I have come up with a list. For his birthday, Luke would like:

-Remote Control
-Cell Phone
-Silverware basket from dishwasher, full of only knives
-Refrigerator
-Electric Shaver
-Rocks - any kind, they all taste about the same.
-Set of pots and pans - He prefers glass lids
-DVD player - It doesn't have to work so long as the DVD tray slides in and out.
-Doggie dish full of water (Lucy added that one)

Jane Bloomed!

Ever since Jane got the book Leo the Late Bloomer in December, she has perceived herself as a late bloomer because she hadn't lost any teeth yet. Well, she finally got a loose tooth last week and worked on it diligently for about 3 days. After school on Thursday, she told me she thought it was almost ready, but she wanted to have a snack - a popsicle - first. After a few minutes outside, she came running in and showed me the gap in her mouth and said, "Mom, it's gone!" I asked her if she pulled it out, and she said, "No, it's GONE!" We looked around the backyard, but I'm convinced it went down the hatch with her popsicle. She panicked when she thought of the tooth fairy, so I told her to write a note. I didn't get a chance to read it until the toothfairy retreived it from under her pillow later that night. It's definitely a keeper. Click it to get a better view.

Reflections of Christ

Nate and I had the opportunity to view the Reflections of Christ photography exhibit that was on display at the Mesa Temple visitors center recently. The very first photo I looked at took me by surprise. I guess I wasn't planning to feel the spirit as strongly. Each photo shows a moment in the life of Christ in such thoughtful detail, and the music that played in the background, which was produced by an old friend, Jason Barney, enhanced the experience. I'm grateful to the photographer, Mark Mabry and all others for their insightful and inspired work. It's not quite the same as being there, but you can view a slideshow of the photographs here. I hope that the music and images eventually become available for purchase in some form.

Jane is Terrific

Jane was chosen to be the Terrific Kid at school this week. That means she gets to bring Terrific Teddy home with her and write a page in Teddy's book about all the things they did together. Teddy has been to the homes of EVERY child in Jane's class, so we encouraged her to make Teddy his own bed, rather than sleep with her. Jane also got other perks this week like having a book made by the kids in her class about the things they like about Jane. She got to bring a Show and Tell item every day and she got to have photos of her family displayed on the bulletin board at school. Mom gets to bring a treat in for her class on Friday. Unfortunately, after Mom and Jane spent several hours cutting out heart shaped brownies and decorating them, Hailee remembered that the school doesn't allow homemade treats to be brought into the classroom. They have to come from the store. So now the brownies are in the freezer, waiting to be served some other time to people who don't mind the possibility of being poisoned because of our questionable kitchen practices. Now where's that dog? I need her to get in here and clean these dishes!

Chef Jane

Jane has a new cookbook that Hailee ordered for her. She likes to pick something that she wants to cook so Mom can get the ingredients for her when she goes to the store. Then she reads the recipe and follows the directions while Mom helps her with the cooking part. She hasn't always been willing to help with the cooking, so this is a good way for her to learn her way around the kitchen. Jane likes her cookbook and Mom likes Jane's new attitude about helping in the kitchen.

Monster Burgers

wii is back

Our wii console has been in the shop for the last couple weeks. After getting it back broken the first time, everyone has been anxious to have it back. Hailee thought it was fun to see these three playing together.

Growing Boy

Our little boy is growing much too fast. He turns 1 this month! Lukey-Boy - as he is often called - has been having fun trying new things like playing outside with his sisters and walking. What are we going to do when he's not a baby any more? We have had so much fun with this little boy in our family. Jane still thanks Heavenly Father for Luke (and nobody else) in her prayers. It's easy to see why.

From the Archives

I was looking through some of our old pictures and saw this one of Lucy. She's our mischievous child. I only have a few pictures of some of the terrible things she's done because most of them are too distressing to stop and take pictures. Two days ago, she opened a new jug of laundry detergent and spilled a BUNCH of it on the laundry room floor. Luke patted and splashed in it while Lucy wiped it all over the place in an attempt to clean it up. No pictures of that. It was "2x Concentrated." I found out that means "really hard to clean up." Anyway, this photo of my little white haired granny was taken after she had found a big jar of vaseline in her room (we used it for diaper rash). She went around her room and up and down the hall scooping blobs of it out and flinging them on the carpet. Her sun dress was so covered in vaseline that it looked wet. Her hair looked the same way, so I put her in the tub and shampooed like crazy. After drying her hair, it looked exactly the same as before! For future reference, the way to get vaseline out of hair is to rub cornstarch into it while it's dry. The cornstarch binds to the vaseline and can then be shampooed out. It works, but it takes a few tries. The sun dress hit the trash. The carpet still bears the scars.