Kids exploring....

Well, as I type this post as I'm sure you can tell I am new to posting pics on here and I ended up posting them from newest to oldest in regards to how our week went.... oh well, I am too tired to fix it tonight.

The kids had a great week last week - Luke enjoyed being back at school with his friends and got to go on a few playdates. Caroline is getting more and more mobile she still inch worm crawls but she is FAST, she does get on all fours to sit up and to pull up on things to a standing position. She walks some now behind a walker and when we hold her hands but she isn't yet standing unassisted but will be any time now. Luke has done LOTS of projects/crafts this week but I didn't think to take any pictures - he played playdough, painted, built with moonsand, sprayed ants with his "water gums" (water guns), played games with his daddy etc... in the meantime Caroline has been getting better with her sippy cup (she likes the bigger ones), working on crawling through the tunnel and walking with the walker (again I didn't get a pic of that).


This is Luke trying to "play" with Caroline in the tunnel - ie, he wants to show that he can do it
just as well as she can!!


Caroline being so proud of herself making it through the tunnel.



Her big girl sippy cup AND one of the few pink things that she owns!! HA, and I had to sneak that in the house - I was getting their cups mixed up and when they were both sick I wanted no sharing of sippy cups!!


Luke enjoying the rain over the weekend - why I didn't think to put his rain coat on as well who knows but he had a blast puddle jumping in front of our house.

One of the few times we let him play in the street!

Caroline holding Bessie Mae's bottle (she is the 3 week old calf that James' parents are bottle feeding). Sometimes at night I wish we could feed Caroline a bottle this big to make sure she sleeps all night!!

Luke thought this was the coolest thing ever to feed the calf - he got to do it 3 times before we went home. The calf is really sweet and he got to pet her as well.

The kids love to go to the farm but they always love getting back home as well... like I said we have been busy busy with crafts and projects - Luke amazes me how good he is with his crafts and he focuses on what he is doing and is pretty neat with it and lets me know when he is finished - the only difference is now we have to put him at the kitchen table instead of the kids table in the playroom since Caroline wants to be up in his business now!! He better watch out she is on her way to take over his world!!! HA!!

AND the big highlight of today which I so should have taken a picture of but didn't really believe it would happen..... Luke at not one but TWO HOTDOGS for lunch (not with a bun)!! Why are you wondering is this so great - the child does not try new things and today he was all for it!! I've never been so excited for him to eat kid food as I was today! I had already cooked chicken nuggets and tator tots so James got to eat those for lunch.

I'm always open for good breakfast/lunch ideas from those of you with little ones .....

What is your kids favorite food??

Easter

Happy Belated Easter Everyone!!!! We had a wonderful Easter weekend at the farm and spent some really quality time with the kids and James family.

We left on Saturday morning trying to give Caroline another day to heal from her illness (herpangina - or sores in the back of the throat and top of the mouth). The kids did great in the car although I am so ready for Caroline to be in her big girl car seat so that she has more room. It should be here tomorrow so I am so excited to see that UPS truck show up at my house. The Easter bunny did visit the kids at the farm however we had to emphasize to Luke that he came and left presents and hid the eggs but was long gone and we would not see him - if you remember from the older post he is terrified to see the E. bunny but is obsessed with looking at him in pictures!!! The kids as usual got way too much but they loved every minute of it and they got some much needed spring/summer clothes from their aunts/uncles.

Luke loves his family so much he played so hard and neither one of the kids took a nap Easter Sunday. Caroline also did not sleep either night so I took the liberty of taking a nap in their place and let them have fun with the family. Thankfully however she has been sleeping since we got back home and back in her own bed.... don't you just love to get back in your own shower and bed after an extended trip?!?


This is Luke and his cousin Sydney they are checking out some of the goodies inside the eggs.



Caroline enjoying her plastic egg and watching the others run around.



Luke and Sydney taking a rest in the hammock - Luke thought this was so cool!
He now wants one in his yard and poor thing we have no trees in our yard (Ike took care
of the one big one we had).




Luke, Caroline and Sydney on their wagon ride.



Luke and Sydney after church at the egg hunt.




Sydney was trying to show him the ropes!!!

Luke was coming to show me what all he had found.

Luke is still singing Here Comes Peter Cotton Tail.....

Easter party

On Saturday I took the kids to an Easter party/egg hunt at their friends Awbrey and Claire's house and it was fantastic!!! Our friends live out in Hockley and live on a couple of acres so there was plenty of space for a huge egg hunt. Before the party got in full swing the easter bunny arrived and Luke was TERRIFIED to say the least and Caroline just stared at him. It took about 30+ minutes of hard crying for Luke to calm down and start enjoying the hunt - and although he was crying he really picked up the most eggs - go figure!!! He loved seeing all of his friends that we haven't seen in awhile and got to burn a lot of energy which is always good. Caroline is still under the weather but she tolerated the party well and did great when I decided to take some bluebonnet pics when we left the party on our way to the doctor. Both kids will hopefully get in to see their regular pedi on Monday to see if Luke has or had what Caroline has -- not fun.

9 month update and sick kiddos

Caroline had her 9 month well check yesterday - she turned 9 months on the 25th of March - and she weighed 21 lbs 10 oz (90%), is 29" long (95%), and her head measured 17 3/4" (75%). What can I say we have tall healthy babies!!!! She did extremely well at the doctor, never cried once and mostly laughed and "talked" to the nurse and doctor. Both Caroline and Luke have had colds and today I think they were competing to see who could have more dirty diapers!!! I think I changed 8 total dirty diapers (and a few others just wet), poor Luke has the runs - not fun for anyone but mostly him since it has left him with a terrible diaper rash and I am praying that Caroline is not getting the same thing since she went potty so much today as this is very unusual for her....

I am praying for a speedy recovery for Luke's tummy so that he doesn't have to miss any school - he loves his friends at school and his teachers.

My favorite picture....

This is about a month or so old but I had to share because it is a favorite of mine of my silly monkeys... hence my new layout!!!! This is still when Luke would ask to "hold Caroline" and now he just loves to be right up in her face.... oh happy days! :)

Time flies.....

Here are some recent pics over the past week and today on their "month day!" Enjoy...


Caroline is so wanting that soccer ball....



She is giddy with delight - she had just drank her first yogurt drink and was in heaven!!! Happy 9 months baby girl!!!



This is at Zube park after we rode the trains, she had to stay in her stroller since she has her mama's fair skin - but she still had fun and loved riding the train!


Just kickin' back enjoying the day....

I was trying to let Caroline be part of the "farming" experience while Luke was gardening with his cousins - he was having a blast.

Caroline was showing off her clapping skills at granny and popo's

This is Luke's first ride on the big tractor and HE LOVED IT!!!

Me and my friend Melissa in Austin right before we were headed out, we had a great time and are already planning for the next trip.

Melissa and Zachary after there craft - the place we went is so cool and has free crafts every Saturday - like 5 different kinds - I wish I could find something like that in Houston.

This is Luke being silly in Zachary's funny glasses.

Enjoying one of the beautiful days in Houston recently.

Well I can't believe it but Ms. Caroline is 9 months old today and Mr. Luke is 28 months old. It seems so surreal to me that my kids are getting so big so fast - especially Caroline, the second time around is truly a whirlwind. I don't have her "official" stats yet we go to the doctor next Tuesday but we weighed her and she is about 21 lbs, she has 8 teeth is very long and babbles like crazy - dada, gaga and to my delight her newest is mama!!! Caroline had a lot of first's over spring break - she started inchworm crawling (and she is getting really fast), pulls up to her knees and once has pulled herself to standing.... so I have a feeling this next month we are in for a fully mobile baby - and much to Luke's dismay she loves to crawl into his room and pull all the books off the shelf and play with his cars! Too funny, he so does not get how his life is about to change!! However he loves his "sweet caroline." Luke has been busy as well and seems to be getting taller. He had a fabulous spring break - we started off in Austin with some friends and he got to play with a lot of cool toys, make fun crafts and go on an adventure in the woods - THEN off to granny and popo's farm where he got to work in the garden, ride a BIG tractor and help move wood around and play with his cousins - he could not have been happier.

Since being home we are getting back into a routine and Luke was excited to get back to school yesterday and James and I are working on projects around the house with high hopes to actually get them completed before he starts working again - which will help our stress level a lot!!! I should mention that these "projects" have been on our list of things to do for over a year so now we have run out of excuses and need to get things organized.

Eating and our kids are still a challenge in our household... we are trying to get Luke to try new things daily and it seems like our friends can get him to try so much more and you know who you all are!!! He has done better in some areas and even ate some of the dinner I made for the family tonight (baked chicken with rice and gravy) and we put this same dinner in a grinder for Caroline and she gobbled it up as well as had some homemade fruit puree that I made for her. Yesterday she ate refried beans, rice and a small taste of taco meat and loved it... now baby food we have to almost make her eat it so I think she is read to make a almost full transition to regular food. She also now loves Luke's yogurt drinks. I am trying hard to not have a second picky eater.

We have had well kids for awhile now which has been a blessing but tonight Luke went to bed with a slight runny nose and I am hopeing it was due to his crying from being overtired (he wouldn't take a nap today) and not him getting sick.

There are lots of babies out there in nicu's around the US that I have been praying for so I ask all of you to please include all babies in the nicu's for peace and recovery - especially Jonah (who has a very rare skin disorder and has blisters all over his body), Stellan (who is 4 months old and who is in very serious condition with his heart in svt and has a severly high heart rate - in the 200's). And I've said it in the past but give your kids an extra hug and kiss and be blessed that your kids are home to annoy you when they are acting up because we are blessed!!

Life

Since my mom passed away (2 yrs this coming April) I miss her so much and not a day goes by that I don't think about her or wish that she were still here to witness me being a mother to my children and for her to love and play with them. I am always talking to the kids about her but James and I truly believe that she is their guardian angel - especially Luke - she adored him and he was only 5 months old when she passed away and up until the very end she would ask about him and want to see him and touch his face. During the next months after she was gone to heaven we would hear Luke call out "Mimi" over the monitor, which is what the grandkids called her and a couple of times James felt like he caught a glimpse of a figure sitting in the glidder in his room but it was gone fast and he would just dismiss it. Also, different family members have since told me how happy my mom was that I had a son and that she hoped we would hurry and get pregnant again and have the daughter I have always wanted and then came Caroline!!

So after talking to a dear friend yesterday she brought up my mom and the strength that I have had since my mom is gone and it has really made me think about angels amoung us.... ironically enough this morning when I went to get my watch out to put on I came across this saying in my drawer and wanted to share it:

----Angels----
I Believe in Angels
That they're Always
Hovering Near,
Whispering Encouragement
Whenever Clouds Appear,
Protecting us from Danger
and Showing us the Way,
Performing little Miracles
Within our Lives each Day.

I also found this one which I just really love as well....

---The Train
Our Faith is like a Train
That travels on a Heavenly track
And when you get on board
You never will look back.

Rest in the Holy Spirit,
There's nothing you should fear
For God's the Staion Master
And Christ the Engineer.
Cheryl White