Cute?

 I've stated before that I think my kids are the cutest kids that have ever exisited.

I realize my opinion is biased.

Everyday these kids make me laugh in one way or another.

It's either something so incredibly cute they do or say,

or something silly.

 These kids are so cute,

I have a serious problem.

I spoil these kids WAY too much.

At first, I told myself it was for them.

Then I slowly faced reality.

It's really for ME!

I love seeing them smile,

and getting excited over little things.

Sometimes these kids make me laugh,

because they do ridiculous things like dump an entire box of cereal out,

just because they wanted a snack.

I decided a long time ago,

that it is easier to laugh at these situations,

rather than to get upset.

How can you get mad at this cute little face?

What good does it do to get mad?

Besides, the picture that I didn't capture,

was her licking each cheerio up off the floor like a little puppy,

and enjoying every minute of it!

Christmas Eve Bowling

 We have started a tradition of going bowling on Christmas Eve.

It's one of the one days a year that we actually go bowling.

My kids absolutely love it!

 I'm not sure if its the bowling balls,

or knocking down the pins,

but the kids get excited for anyone who bowls.

Luke was an excellent cheerleader for anyone bowling,

waiting impatiently for his next turn.

Luke clapped and cheered now matter how many pins you knocked down.

 We had the bumpers up,

but Luke still managed to gutter the ball a few times.

There was just enough room between the end of the bumper

and the pins for him to narrowly miss knocking anything down.

 Luke was able to pick up his bowling ball,

and hoist it down the lane all by himself.

It pinged off each bumper back and forth off the bumper a few times,

but Luke didn't know what scoring meant.

Luke was just out to have some good old fashioned fun.

Clara wasn't quite strong enough to bowl by herself,

but she also enjoyed cheering and watching.

A bowling alley is a great place to go for families.

Its so loud inside, kids cheering doesn't make a difference or bother anyone else.

It was a fun way to celebrate Christmas Eve!

A new hair cut

 Luke was entertaining himself, something he is usually pretty good at.

It was quiet time, because Clara was sleeping.

I was trying to get a few things done to accomplish my over whelming To-Do list.

I heard Luke talking to himself,

and heard him say

"Let's go show mommy- my new hair cut"

I have scissors in only 1 drawer of the house, 

and I was well aware of when Luke got into that drawer.

My hair shears are in an unreachable spot, 

 so I wasn't worried when he said this,

what scissors could he have gotten into?

I had forgotten about my sewing scissors.

I have been sewing lately,

and forgot to put away my sewing scissors back into their hiding spot.

So Luke was proudly boasting that his "new hair cut was done"

I spun Luke around to see where he had cut his hair.

I must be honest, at first I couldn't tell where he had cut.

I could see loose hairs all over,

so he must have cut somewhere.

Finally I noticed 2 little chop marks.

They are barely noticeable.

I guess every kids cuts their own hair sometime...

L L COOL L

 Quality entertainment includes watching out the window.

Luke waits for the school bus to let out all the kids,

and as they walk by our house Luke yells 

"Hi Guys!"

Luke is always so excited to see other kids.

 

 Luke is quite the "ladies man" or so we have heard.

We went to check in on him during nursery.

We asked the teacher how Luke was doing.

She responded:

"I think he's doing fine, the girls sure like him"

Luke is such a happy kid.

He is always laughing and smiling.

I guess the girls have figured that out.

 This isn't the first time I've heard that the girls like Luke.

On 3 separate occasions, I've heard from other moms of kids that go to preschool with Luke.

All of them said something like this:

"I asked "jane" what she did in Preschool today,

and she just always says:

I played with Luke mom"

If nothing else, Luke has a few girlfriends.

At first I thought it was cute that the girls like Luke.

Then after I thought about it for a while,

I figured that Luke is probably the class clown goofing off in the corner,

while all the other kids are trying to pay attention.

That's probably why they remember him so much.

Luke has always just had an exciting personality.

He is full of energy,

he laughs at everything,

and he has an adorable smile.

Ladies Love cool Luke

2 Crazy kids!

 I seriously have the 2 cutest kids in the world.

Most days, they still fight like cats and dogs,

but sometimes they are just cuter than cute together.

They love each other so much,

they always want to be around each other.

However, they always want what the other one has,

so its a constant battle.

Clara is constantly mimicking Luke.

Clara is learning new words, phrases, and sentences every day.

She's such an expressive little girl.

 These kids LOVE cookies.

What kids don't love cookies?

They both love chocolate,

so we make cookies a lot.

They are a regular part of our diet!

 Clara also LOVES raspberries.

She eats them by the handfuls.

She is such a silly, yet determined little girl.

She has learned to push chairs around to be able to reach things she wants.

She is very determined to climb up to everything.

Unlike Luke, Clara doesn't like to be rocked to sleep.

I genuinely enjoyed rocking Luke to sleep.

Clara just won't have it.

She likes to lay by herself in her crib.

There is however, one sweet little joy about it.

She doesn't like to be by herself to go to sleep.

So I lay on the floor next to her crib,

while she slowly drifts off to sleep.

I lay her down, give her a blanket,

and then wait for my favorite part of the day...

She will then stick her hand out of the rails,

looking for me to hold her hand.

When I see that little hand searching for mine,

I often think to myself...

this is what I live for.

Nothing makes me happier than to hold her hand

and enjoy that sweet quiet moment of the day.

This makes up for her not wanting to be rocked to sleep.

But it gets even better...

As she slowly falls asleep,

she will quietly whisper 

"mommy?"

and I respond

"yes"

she will do this a few times until she is sufficiently convinced

I am still there

(even though I am still holding her hand)

Luke is getting more and more hilarious every day.

The other day we were out Christmas shopping.

I was entertaining the kids in the toy department,

so Gilbert could have some distraction free perusing.

We went to see if Gilbert had made any progress.

As we got closer to Gilbert, Luke yells

"Oh look- I found him,

There he is, There's my daddy."

Then Luke yells,

"Hi daddy- It's me Luke!"

That is just too funny.

Obviously Gilbert needed to  be reminded 

who Luke was!

Go, Go, GO!!

 My kids never seem to run out of energy.

They are always go, go, go!

Plus there is always a lot of mischief involved.

Clara is especially full of attitude!

She was quite pleased with herself when I found this mess she made.

The kids were laughing-

they were actually getting along.

Because they were pouring out cereal and chips,

then stomping on them to hear the crunch.

I was enjoying not being bothered every 2 seconds,

this was the price I payed.

 Luke is the worst about fighting sleep.

He says he is NOT tired,

but refuses to take naps every day.

We are lucky to get 1 nap a week with this kiddo.

I just had to laugh when I found him like this the other night.

We let him play the IPad in the evenings,

after Clara has gone to bed,

so we can have some quiet time before Luke goes to bed too.

I guess his days are full of too much play,

he just couldn't keep his eyes open any longer.

Although my kids are absolutely crazy,

and there is NEVER a dull moment.

I sure appreciate that they make me laugh the other day.

When I found Luke like this at the end of a very busy day,

I found myself appreciating my crazy life.

It is moments like this that are priceless,

and make everything worth it!

Inside that crazy little boy,

lies a perfect little angel,

that comes out every now and again :)

say this

This kids says the funniest things.

Sometimes I don't know where he learns them.

I just need to record a few here:

The other day I picked up Luke from preschool.  I could tell he needed to go to the bathroom the minute I saw him.  Luke will absolutely tell you he does not need to go to the bathroom until about 3 seconds before its too late.  As we got in the car, he was starting to do what we call "the pee-pee dance" I didn't say anything, I was just trying to hurry home.  Then Luke says:

"Hurry mommy, go super fast!"

I started laughing to myself, because he sounded desperate.

When we got home, I hurried him into the bathroom.

As he was relieving himself, he said

"wow mommy- you're good at super fast!"

The other morning Luke came up to me with a sad look on his face.

He said to me:

"I'm sad mommy."

me: "why are you sad?"

Luke: "I can't find my brother."

me: "your brother?"

Luke: "yeah, I want a brother."

Isn't he too young to understand this, or know anything about this?

As I was getting ready for church, Luke was absently watching tv.  I got all dressed in my Sunday best, and walked past Luke.  He said:

"wow mommy, you're cute!"

He said it with such exuberation!

What a cute kid!

 

 

Happy Halloween

 Trick-or-Treating this year was a blast!

Clara figured out what was going on, very quickly!

She never got the hang of saying "trick-or-treat"

but she held up her pumpkin and yelled "CANDY!"

 

 The kids are on candy over load!

Halloween is definitely one of those holidays where kids get spoiled!

 We took the kids down Main street to trick-or-treat.

Little Clara was the cutest lady bug,

and so persistent to walk by herself.

She held up her pumpkin to anyone who would fill it with candy.

 

Luke was certainly a handsome cowboy,

who was in love with his cowboy hat!

Luke had as much fun passing out candy as the act of trick-or-treating.

After we finished trick-or-treating,

we went back to the house to pass out more candy.

Luke would pass out the candy, 

and then tell the trick-or-treaters "thank-you"

because he was grateful they stopped by!

What a cutie!

Busy Weekend!

 We had our ward Halloween party this past weekend.

I decided to make us a family of costumes.

Since I already had Wilma and Fred made for us from last year,

I decided to add on Pebbles and Bam-Bam.

 We just had the perfect combination of people to make our family a Flintstone family!

The kids were loving their costumes.

It isn't quite Halloween yet, 

but the kids know what they will be doing!

Luke has "trick-or-treat" down

but we are working with Clara on saying it.

She is such a little copy cat lately.

Clara will try and repeat anything anyone says.

 Luke doesn't know who the Flintstones are,

but it was so funny to him to have his parents dress up too!

The kids were on excitement over drive!

 On Saturday the day after our ward Halloween party

I ran the Halloween half marathon with one of my oldest girlfriends!

We had to get up very early to catch a bus that drove us to the start line.

We waited for over 2 hours in the freezing cold at the start line.

Finally our race began, and we ran down Provo canyon.

Running down hill was not something I was prepared for.

You would think it would make it easier,

it is much harder on your knees and ankles to run down hill 

with the extra force on impact.

We made it to the finish line,

right on our target time and pace.

It was such a fun race,

and although it was cold, it was sunny!

So it made for a busy weekend!

Halloween is still around the corner.

I'm not sure who is more excited:

me or my kids

I'm so excited for them to go trick-or-treating

and see the joy in their faces!

Pics to come!

Happy Birthday Luke!

 Happy Birthday to this sweet little boy- the big 3!

We celebrated in many ways, this kid is simply spoiled.

We took the kids to the zoo on Saturday,

Luke LOVED it, but he would quickly say

"lets see what's next"

Then he was on to the next exhibit.

He wasn't a fan of the polar bears or lions

I think they were a little too scary for him.

 We took the kids on the zoo carousel.

As we were sitting waiting our turn for the ride,

Clara was clapping her hands in excitement.

It was simply the cutest thing ever!

I never thought a 15 month old little girl would get so excited for something like that.

 

 The monkeys and gorillas were great to watch.

Luke wasn't scared of the monkeys,

so we were able to sit and enjoy them for a few minutes.

I guess monkeys aren't very scary.

Luke didn't really understand it was his birthday when we took him to the zoo.

It wasn't until there were presents, balloons, and birthday cake and candles

only then did Luke get excited that is was his birthday.

 

 Luke was a little scared about blowing out birthday candles at first,

then we sang to him, 

and told him to make a wish-

and THEN Luke was all about blowing out his birthday candles.

He clapped for himself, and then asked to do it again!

 Luke quickly opened all his presents,

and Clara was right there with him to play with the new toys.

He got a keyboard, drum, and a doctor set.

I haven't decided if these noisy toys will be a good thing or not.

Clara was super excited about the keyboard!

 

 We took the kids our to dinner for Luke's birthday.

Going out is always a disaster with our kids this age,

but we tried anyway.

 Then we took the kids bowling.

Luke and Clara are officially HUGE fans of bowling.

They couldn't wait for their turn,

Clara especially was so excited to push the ball down.

They both would wait patiently for the ball to make it down the lane,

then slowly knock over some pins.

Luke is blurry in this picture because he is jumping up and down so much.

The energy was so exciting for these kids.

 If you are thinking a 15 month old can't bowl,

you are thinking incorrectly.

Our 15 month old little girl has lots of spunk and personality.

She was not going to be left behind.

 Clara got her pink ball, 

and pushed it down the lane.

She waited and watched carefully

as the ball knocked down the pins.

The bowling alley also had an arcade inside.

I didn't get any pics,

but the kids had a lot of fun.

Kids in an arcade is always a fun combination.

Luke has grown into such a fun personality.  He is full of so much energy.  To this day, it never fails that strangers always comment on the amount of energy Luke exhibits.  Its noticeably more than other little boys or girls his age.  Something funny about Luke, he has a code word.  This word is code for, he's nervous, or simply doesn't know what to say.  If he's ever in a social situation, when maybe he has been asked something that he doesn't now the answer for, he will say this code word.  For some reason his code word is "dinosaurs"  I think its hilarious.  Its just a filler word, that we hear quite often.  It's usually a bunch of jibberish, and then at the end- dinosaurs.  Luke is very social, he always lights up around other kids.  They are instant play mates whether they want to be or not.  He always wants to run around and either chase other kids or have them chase him.  He is sometimes a leader, and sometimes just a follower.  

Sometimes Luke says the funniest things.  I wonder often where he gets certain sayings he says.  I guess he picks them up from other kids or tv shows.   Some of my favorites are "no thanks" or "not today" It's funny some of the things he says, because I know where he get them- from me. Today he said "oh drats" I'm not sure where he learned that one, but it sounds so funny coming from such a little mouth.  

Luke marches every where he goes.  He swings his arms as he marches, like he means business.  He is always testing his limits by doing something he knows he isn't supposed to be doing, but looking at me to see if I'm noticing what he's doing.  He has a smirk that he has on his face when he knows he shouldn't be doing something.  I love that Luke hasn't learned how to lie yet.  You can ask him a question, and he will give you an honest answer. example:

"Luke, did you hit Clara?"

"Yeah, I hit Clara."

He just says it matter-of-factly- like it ain't no thing.  I guess I'll be in trouble when he figures out how to lie, for now I'm grateful to get straight answers out of the kid.  There are many more things I am grateful for.  I'm grateful he still prefers his mommy over his daddy.  I'm grateful he wants me to "hold you" and still cuddle with him.  He likes to sit right next to me on the couch.  I often joke that we just moved into this house that is double the size of our old house, yet the kids have to be in the same two square feet as me.  It doesn't matter that they have so much more room to run around, they still want to be right where I am.  Many more things I am grateful for, but for now, I am just happy my little boy is turning out to be a wonderful little boy- maybe not so little any more.

Itty Bitty

Here are some videos of Itty Bitty Football, for your viewing pleasure.  Luke is the little one in the red shirt :)

woops

 Luke looks so innocent in this picture, right?

Am I a bad mom,  because these kinds of things happen,

while I am supposed to be "watching" my kids.

Luke thinks its hilarious to color Clara with his bath colors.

The problem with these,

they can be a bit staining for a day or two.

Poor Clara comes out of the bath looking like she's bruised.

One evening, Luke "colored" Clara blue

the night before a doctor's appointment.

WOOPS- the doctor had to ask me what was up with all of Clara's bruises!

On a lighter note,

these kids do and say the funniest things sometimes.

Last night, we were saying prayers with Luke,

like we always do.

We try to teach him what to say,

this time Luke added in something on his own accord.
Something we had never said before.

This statement came from his own thinking...

"thank-you for preschool"

How cute, right?

I guess he really likes preschool!

a minute...

This cartoon above depicts exactly how I feel, every day (lately)

Maybe my kids are just in a super busy stage...

but one of them always needs constant attention.

 I have felt like I am a horrible house keeper.

Just when I thought I had the house mostly put back together,

the kids are right there behind me doing what they do best.

They either do or undo whatever I just did or undid.

These pictures are a perfect example.

I had finally got the house vacuumed...

I'm embarrassed to say, it had been a couple days since I had vacuumed.

I guess the kids thought they would help themselves to their favorite snack.

Just as I was turning around,

I saw the entire bag of cheetos being dumped, 

on the freshly vacuumed carpet,

perfect for eating.

Clara squealed with excitement.

Luke exclaimed 

"Look Mommy- CHEETOS!!!"

It wasn't worth getting mad over,

at least the carpet was cleaned just prior

and they were happy.

Instead of getting mad,

just snapped some photos for your viewing pleasure.

Don't look at the carpet too closely next time you come over to my house.

There might be some scary things there!