Special Visitors

 

We had some very special visitors last week.  Our dear friends, Mark and Erin Svare (who went to high school with Mark), flew from Albany to spend a few days with us.  Both Mark W. and Mark S. work for the same small group within GE, which requires frequent travel to Greenville for Mr. Mark (Luke's name for Daddy's friend).  This time, Ms. Erin and their 3-year old daughter, Nuala, tagged along, and the moms and kids had lots of fun during the day while the guys worked hard at GE.  On Thursday, we took them to our zoo, where Luke used this opportunity to impress Nuala with his knowledge of all the animals (although I'm not sure she loved the reptile house as much as he does):

 

 

 

The cute pair held hands and even posed together for a "prom picture":

 

 

On Friday morning, we took our visitors to our Children's Museum, where race car driver Luke showed off his driving skills:

 

 

In an continued effort to woo his new girlfriend, Luke also showed Nuala his manly side as he tinkered with construction equipment:

 

 

 

 I'm pretty sure those snazzy safety goggles are what won the girl in the end!

 

Not to be outdone by her brother, Leah also took a turn with the big crane, and was a pretty cute lil' construction worker!

 

 

 

Leah decided that she and Nuala needed some girl time at the museum, and the gals had a great time splashing around in the water table:

Our domestic little girl also made sure that we had plenty of snacks for our guests, and loaded up her cart with "fresh" produce in the grocery store section of the museum:

Leah's food planning was well worth the effort, as the girls enjoyed a tasty treat at home later in the afternoon:

 

 

All 3 children had a great time together, and we loved having our special visitors last week!

 

 

Popsicle Days

August seems like it's been full of playdates and lazy popsicle days... In fact, the children and I have a new tradition of making a different flavored popsicle every week.  We eat these on our back porch in our pjs, and love our homemade, healthy treats.  With my 99 cent 6-pack of popsicle molds, we create delicious, colorful concoctions.  Last week was "pink" week, so we made strawberry-banana smoothie pops:

  

This week is "green" week, so we'll be making my infamous spinach popsicles.  Before you crinkle up your nose at this, let's remember that they have been Luke's favorite for several years, and are actually very tasty! 

I guess when you are 4, every summer day may seem like a Popsicle Day, especially when you have friends come play all the time.  Here are Luke and Brooke getting cozy on the couch.  These 2 cuties have been such an adorable pair ever since Luke was 9 months old:  

Luke has also been begging me all summer to have Caleb (his best friend from preschool) come over for a play date.  Last Friday, the boys played here and had a blast.  This picture just cracks me up b/c it shows again how much bigger Luke is than his average-sized peers: 

We've had so many playdates this month that Mark commented to me last week, "I feel like there have been gaggles of children at our house lately." 

I responded, "That's how we roll in the summer."  You stay-at-home moms can relate to the need to stay busy and social or else the days/weeks until preschool begins (after Labor Day) seem endless!

Luke has also had some fun little adventures lately that I haven't had a chance to post on our blog.  A few weeks ago, a friend in PA invited us for a private tour of his work at a fire station/rescue squad.  Here's Luke trying on the fire helmet: 

On our VIP tour, we were able to drive and explore fire trucks, a police car, ambulance, and check out all of the equipment:

By far, Luke's favorite part was wearing the "telephone heads" that the firemen use to communicate while driving:

Even Leah had her favorite vehicle.  She camped out on the EMT's bench in the back of the ambulance, grinning from ear to ear at her important status of Little Rescuer:

One last fun recent adventure of Luke's was his day gem mining and visiting the petting zoo at Indian Echo Caverns.  Mimi took him last month, and Luke now has a bag of "special rocks" and a field guide that he uses to identify all of the gemstones from his mining adventure:

Here's my sweet little guy feeding some corn to the baby goat at the adjoining petting zoo:

What fun to have a summer full of smiles, adventures, and popsicle days!

Happy Cows

We took a family excursion to Happy Cow Creamery on Saturday morning.  Happy Cow is an organic dairy farm nearby, and the last time that we visited, Luke was 2, and Leah wasn't born yet.  We toured the farm, took a tractor ride through the pastures, and learned about the milking process.  Luke was interested in many technical aspects of the farm, ranging from the mechanics of the farm equipment to rationalizing why the cows don't go the the bathroom on the potty: "They are too big to fit, Mommy!"

Leah was delighted to be in such close proximity to the cows, and repeatedly pointed and told us, "Moo!".  We tasted the fresh milk, bottled on site (chocolate was Mommy and Daddy's favorite!), and the children even had a chance to practice their milking skills with "Maggie":

Love this one of sweet Nutty Potato...

One of the neatest parts of the tour was seeing the cows on parade.  Our timing was just right so that we were able to watch them march in from the pasture in single file and line up right next to us at the water troughs: 

We had a fun, educational morning with these Happy Cows, and are thankful to have such a great organic farm close to us!

Life...Unedited

I pride myself on our blog being a true representation of our life as a family, and my posts are true and (mostly) unembellished.  But I realized that although my narratives are factual, editing software gives me the ability to crop, edit, and display pictures to my liking.  The other night, I got out the camera at dinner time to capture how messy little Leah is... at every single meal.  Often we just put her straight into the bathtub because it's the easiest way to clean up after a toddler who insists on feeding herself.  The above picture is our cute, smiling, very messy daughter = Life Edited. 

But here's what was really going on in the background as I tried to take that "perfect picture" of messy mealtime. 

Someone's big brother was running laps around the entire first floor of our house, catapulting himself over the couch and screaming like a banshee:

Superhero Luke would also run at full speed toward his sister's high chair...

...giggling with glee and extremely pleased with himself for providing this mealtime entertainment:

Again, the above cropped picture doesn't quite capture the true nature of Captain Underpants:

Thinking that she was flying under the radar, Winnie used these chaotic moments as an opportunity to scarf down a few falling noodles and lick Leah's seat:

However, Nutty didn't seem to mind, and was quite delighted with all of the shenanigans:

There's certainly never a dull moment around here, especially with Life Unedited!!

Family Fun

We had a fun family weekend and attended a Greenville Drive baseball game yesterday. L & L wore their baseball hats and were very excited about the game: 

We tracked down Reedy Rip'It, and Luke (who is an old pro at mascot sightings by now) posed for a cute picture with the giant frog:

Leah also wanted to greet Reedy, and we briefly thought that she may be over her fear of giant stuffed creatures:

But Leah then let us know that she isn't quite ready for a family photo with Reedy:

The highlight of the game (according to Daddy and Luke) was a homerun by one of the Drive players, which was followed by fireworks.  Luke sat attentively through many innings and really seemed to take in much of the action:

What cute baseball fans!

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We also spent Saturday morning at the zoo, where our cuties snuggled on top of the bear statue:

What a great weekend of family fun! 

Pigtails, Parties, & Pals

It's official!  I have my first picture of Leah in pigtails!  The children were so cute yesterday as they looked out the window at the lawn being mowed, and it was the perfect opportunity to capture the back of that pigtailed head:

I also want to write about Leah turning 18 months old before her 19 month birthday tomorrow, so here are a few of Leah's 18 month stats:

Height: 32.75 inches (75th percentile)
Weight: 25.4 lb (63rd percentile)

Leah has some new favorite words:  "No!"  and "I do!".  Both are age appropriate and show our little girls' budding independence, but I think that our passive, laid back baby is developing quite a mind of her own!  Leah's been on a stroller boycott lately, and refuses to sit in shopping carts most of the time as well.  She prefers to be toted around in Mommy's arms, and is still just a delicious, lovable little peanut.  I can not believe that we are halfway through Leah's second year of life already.  My baby girl is becoming quite a talkative toddler, and she wants to be a big girl so badly!  Leah adores Luke immensely, and imitates his words and mannerisms frequently.  Here she is, snuggling with her beloved "Bubba":

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Luke has been entertaining us this week with several theological musings. Some of his recent thoughts/quotes include:

"Last night I dreamt about things that I'm not quite sure about, like how God puts all our parts together when we're in our Mommy's tummies."

-"God gives so much food to Publix (the grocery store) so that we can buy it there."

-"The Bible says that God has enough love for you AND me, Mommy!"

And my favorite, Luke's interpretation of this Bible story:

Luke: "Mommy, why is Joshua's city not sturdy?"

Mommy: "Joshua who?"

Luke (rolling eyes, exasperated): "Mommy, you KNOW this. Joshua in Jericho!"

Mommy: "WHAT?"

Luke: "Jericho was like the 3 Little Pigs' House that was built of sticks. It was not too sturdy and the walls came tumbling down..."

Oh, what thoughts go through that 4 year-old's brain!  I can almost see the wheels turning as Luke processes the new CD of Bible stories and sing-along songs that he has been listening to this month. 


Luke can also be such a silly little man.  Here he is, posing with his "octo-apple" breakfast last week. (He's showing you all of his octopus arms and legs!)

Other events in our house this week have included celebrating Mark's birthday on Monday.  Luke was very excited to help me put up decorations and make a special birthday dessert for Daddy.  Luke, Leah, and Winnie all "helped" Mark open presents, and I'm not sure who was the most excited about the festivities. 

After the birthday craziness died down, the children enjoyed some special reading and snuggle time with their Daddy:

We also had special guests at the beginning of the week.  My high school best friend visited with her two adorable children, which was a special treat for us.  Lisa and I hadn't seen each other for 6 years, since the B.C. days ("Before Children"), and it was lots of fun for our kids to meet:  

With 4 children ages 4, 3, 2, and 1, our time was spent exchanging quick snippets of adult conversation among the giggles, mayhem, and chaos.  Even bedtime turned out to be quite the exciting slumber party: 

Leah didn't get the memo to roll over for this picture!

This 4-way hug among new friends was a sweet way for our special visitors to conclude their time with us.  Hopefully we will see them again soon!