Favorite pictures from last week

Shots from swimming lessons, Round 2

No point in playing catch-up now

I bought a new camera last week and I've been playing with it a lot to figure out all its tricks. My kids are so annoyed with me and the constant picture-taking. I figure if I just keep it up long enough I'll eventually blend into their scenery. Here are some of my favorite shots from last week.

Making some big plans

Busting a move in his latest get-up, and ignore the laundry in the background. Our dryer was recently fixed and I had a ton of laundry to catch up on.

He was trying to explain evaporation to Will. He had to run inside to get a reference book. I love my little smarty pants.

Ahoy!

Polly Pocket was in distress. We were all a little worried.

Boys and cars.

serious art

So instead of junking up your facebook feed, I'm just going to brag about my kids here, where you can choose whether or not to stop by and see all the wonderful things my genius children are up to.

So the kids went back to school. . .

I just realized that while I was wiping up my own tears and snot over back to school, I never got around to sharing the boy's back to school fun. Here is a brief run-down:

 Luke started school a week before Will. He was really nervous to go to school with a dog bite on his nose (ouch!) because he didn't want anyone to ask about it. We practiced some responses and sent him on his way. We drove him there but he was going to ride the bus home.

 

When it was time for the bus to drop off, I dutifully went to the bus stop and waited, and waited, and waited. Finally, my cell phone rang and it was the principal of Luke's school. Apparently Luke was refusing to ride the bus because it did not have seat belts. He IS our HSO (House Safety Officer) so I would expect nothing less from the boy. I hop in the car to go pick him up and get the full story. I guess what happened is that he got on the bus and got in his seat and started looking for the seat belt. It seems that he started crying or stressing looking for it and the bus driver tried to explain to him that buses don't have seat belts. This surely sent him into tears at which point the bus driver alerted the school teacher monitoring the bus line. She couldn't convince him either so she got him off the bus and took him to the principal. The principal didn't have any luck convincing him either so that is when the phone call happened.  We talked about it and once he was reassured that it was safe and not against the rules to ride the bus without a seat belt he seemed okay with it. I'm not sure if he was more concerned for his safety or the fact that I would be upset if he was not wearing a seat belt. The next morning he climbed aboard the bus and hasn't looked back. I actually had to pick him up the other day because I was up at the school for a PTA meeting and he got mad that he didn't get to ride it home. So to that three year-old Luke who told me "When I am five I will go to Kindergarten and ride the bus without you," I say--"We did it kiddo!"

 

 

 

As for the youngster (sorry for the old fashioned word. Luke found it in a book and is a little fixated with it right now.) I never know what I am going to get with him. I mean, really, what two year-old is predictable? So I took his picture on meet the teacher day AND on the first day of school, hoping for a good one. He's fairly cooperative so I got cute ones both days.

 

Meet the teacher day, in an outfit he chose:

 

And on the first day:

 

Will with his best buddy.
These two are like peas in a pod and were so happy to see each other before class. They are just as excited to see each other every single day as they were on the first. It is really cute.

 

Flora & Frank

On Mother's Day my mom gave me a pretty hanging plant. Days after hanging it right outside my breakfast room window a mourning dove had made her nest smack in the middle of my plant. I didn't really notice at first until the plant started to die in the middle. I climbed up to see what the trouble was and found this:

Since then the plant has completely died leaving us an unobstructed view of her and her nest. We named her Flora. When daddy bird came to visit we named him Frank. Flora and I have bonded through all of this, she did kill my mother's day plant, after all. Early this week Flora was perched on the edge of the pot looking very panicked. I thought maybe they eggs were hatching so I climbed up to see, but instead there was a fresh THIRD egg!! I guess that one was a surprise to her too!

Yesterday evening, Frank came by to relieve Flora for a bit. They were both perched on the edge so I thought I'd check out the progress of the eggs and make sure there wasn't a fourth. This is what I found:



Do you see the two fuzzy baby bird heads in the nest? Look left-center. And the third egg in between momma and her babies.

I couldn't stop taking pictures while Flora showed off her babies. Frank is a scaredy cat and flew away when I approached with the camera.


Peeking out to say hello!

She is usually pretty shy about feeding her babies when I'm hanging around, but I got this one.

Two babies, one head up, the other head tucked under momma.

It has been so fun to watch this process of nature. I just wanted to share with you.

So, what should we name the babies???

Best of Fall

I think I crashed Blogger three times trying to upload all these pictures.

Since I was a big fat slacker and didn't post much this fall I thought I'd just lump 'em all together here in a greatest hits post. Otherwise, I'd never get around to posting about everything I want to share.

Fall school pictures:

 I love the hand-on-hand action in this one. They are going to love it when they are older. The photographer was probably just trying to pin Will down.

Peek-a-boo! The cutest bug I've ever found behind the blinds!

 Getting silly for Halloween

 Darth Vader had some work to catch up on before trick-or-treating.

My sweet little penguin and darth vader before the trick-or-treating begins. Will loved Halloween this year--except for wearing a piece of costume on his head--but loved everything else. The candy, the kids, going door-to-door. We weren't sure he would last long with the walking, but he proved us wrong (as always) and lasted as long as Luke.

 I guess he could have been a pirate but the costume looks a little painful. Gotta be tough to be a pirate.

 Will & I feeling green.

Cute little indian all ready for a Thanksgiving feast!

Thanksgiving we continued our annual tradition of doing the Fort Worth Turkey Trot. The weather was beautiful and all the hats and jackets had been shed by the end. Will was much happier this year--he cried the entire 5k last year. We declared this year the last for Luke to participate in the stroller. Against his will he will be walking it on his own two feet next year. When you add the boys weight and the weight of the stroller it is nearly 100 lbs. This summer we walked to the park a lot and I started having low back pain from it. Training starts Jan 1 for Luke. He's not pleased.

A big grin before he found out he is walking it next year.

We headed over to Grammy & Pops for Thanksgiving lunch. My cousin Sarah took some sweet pictures of the boys while we were there.

A moment of sweet brother-ness. Sitting close watching Toy Story. I assure you it was only a moment.

Luke striking a rock star pose before heading out to school one morning. Must have been a good day!



Here we go Lukee-loo!

An update on my Luke:

Age: 4 1/2 years

Also known as: Lukee-Luke, Lukee-loo, Lulu, Lu-bear

As reported by Luke:

What is your name?

Lucas ***** (he got it right, I'm just protecting his innocent identity)

How old are you?

4

What is your favorite color?

Pink

(Guess I'll have to start buying him some more pink things.)

What is your favorite food?

Mac & cheese, chicken noodle soup, cookies, cake, and crackers

What is your favorite game?

Hide-and-seek

 What is your favorite animal?

Bats

What is your favorite movie?

Dragon training. (also known as How to Train Your Dragon which I don't think he's actually watched more than 3 times. I didn't expect him to pick this one.)

What is your favorite show?

Curious George and Calliou

What is your favorite toy?

Playing cars with mommy and daddy.

What is your brother's name?

Will

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Race car driver

What is your Halloween costume this year?

Darth Vader

How high can you count?

60

What is Santa Claus bringing you this year?

Well, I have to go tell him.

What are you going to ask for?

The big car at Costco or a Cat in the Hat toy

Who is your best friend?

Ryan and Reagan

Where do you want to go today?

The park

Where do you want to go on vacation?

The beach

What is your favorite book?

Merry Christmas, Curious George

What is your favorite restaurant?

Fuzzy's tacos because they have sprite. Well, I think any restaurant with Sprite is my favorite.

What  is your favorite letter?

A

How old do you have to be to drive?

65

What is your favorite thing to do at school?

Play centers

(I HAVE to tell the back story on this one.  It's one of my favorite pieces of Luke's art this year.  It was lined up on the wall at school amongst all his classmates works. I saw lots of smiles and flowers and hearts.  I had to ask--"Luke, were you feeling sad today?" Luke--(sounding VERY distressed)"No, Mommy. I just drew it wrong and I couldn't have another paper." So we came home and Luke was practicing faces over and over. He kept drawing these frowns but he was drawing them above the eyeballs--as if he were drawing the entire face upside down. I asked "why is his mouth above his eyes? My mouth is not above my eyes. Your mouth is not above your eyes. Draw the mouth down here (pointing to the anatomically correct positioning)"  Wham-o, he can now draw a smile. And he did-over and over, on about a hundred sheets of paper. What a victory for Luke!) 

What is your favorite center?

Home center and block center

What are Mommies for?

Being with Daddies, staying with you when Daddy is away.

What are Daddy's for?

Being the husband. Staying with you when Mommy is away.