Spiritual Giants

I never thought the day would come, but Jack is finally getting the whole reverence thing so much more. At church, he folds his arms and closes his eyes during prayers, gets out his hymn book and sings the songs, and always makes sure he takes the sacrament with his right hand. He just looks so adorable doing it. Before we know it, he'll be passing the sacrament.

On Monday night during FHE, Dallin gave a lesson on thinking about Jesus during the sacrament. And it sunk in because Jack told me he was going to think about Jesus during the sacrament today. Woo hoo - a successful FHE!

Now if we could just get Luke headed down that path. Although he loves to sing and dance along with the hymns.

Love You Forever

One of my all time favorite children's books is Love You Forever by Robert Munsch. It's about a mother and her love for her baby as he grows and sometimes does things that drive her crazy throughout the day.

At night she always says,
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living,
My baby you'll be.

The cover of the book shows the baby making a huge mess in the bathroom. It reminded me of my baby and the mess I found when I got out of the shower yesterday. Toilet paper everywhere. And a soaking wet baby who had spent half the time with his head poking in the shower before he moved onto mess making elsewhere. The similarities were striking.

I love my little mess maker.

Library Jams

Jack loves the computers at the library. While he was playing a game, Luke noticed there was another set of headphones. We put them on his little head and he loved it. He stood there and danced while he held them on. He didn't want me to take them off and just smiled and danced. He looked like such a big boy and the pictures we got were adorable. How can you resist a face like that?

11 Months

Yesterday Luke hit the 11 month mark! One more month until his birthday!

A little about Mr Lucas:

He loves to make messes. He can empty a cupboard, drawer, or basket in no time flat. And he's become an expert at unrolling the toilet paper. He makes his brother crazy by getting into Jack's toys.

He loves to make himself bounce on the bed and pretend he's jumping. He also likes to lay his head on the pillow and pretend to sleep.

He is still a momma's boy, but he loves his daddy. When Dallin gets home from work, he lights up and follows him around. He loves playing with Daddy. He has a complicated relationship with Jack. They both want to play together, but end up fighting over toys. One day Jack was napping and the only place Luke wanted to be was right outside his bedroom, waiting for him.

Luke out-eats his brother. He loves waffles, pears, chicken, yogurt melts, and baby cheese puffs the best.

He goes to bed around 7:30 and usually wakes up around 6:30. He naps around 9:30 and 2:30. Sometimes he sleeps great, then goes through rough patches of sleep.

He is all boy and loves to drive cars, throw balls, and chase after the dog. He loves to hit things with the toy hammer.

He is the cutest, sweetest, most loveable little man. We are so grateful he is our little man!

Book Club

Tonight I hosted my book club. We read Heaven is Here by Stephanie Nielson (if you haven't read it, you should. It's amazing!). She also writes a blog, the Nie Nie Dialogues. The link is on my sidebar. We usually have a dinner that goes along with the book. I was pretty proud of myself. I made Stephanie's pizza recipe, with the dough from scratch. I topped it with corn and avocado and zucchini and tomatoes. It was tasty. We had salad and va-nie-lla cupcakes (also made from scratch). I channelled my inner Nie Nie.

Meanwhile the boys had a night out. They had dinner, frozen yogurt, and a trip to Walmart. And Luke was happy the whole time away from Mommy! Yay!

The Games We Play

We play. A lot. It's just what we do around here. Jack had quite the imagination.

Here are a few if our favorites:

Peter Pan, Jake and the Neverland Pirates: Jack creates treasure maps, we ride on our pirate ship, and we fight off Captain Hook. Jack wears his green hat (he got it from Nana; it is a Robin Hood hat, another popular game. It serves multi purposes).

Road Rally: He also creates maps for our rallies. Sometimes we just use our legs around the house. Other times we get Charlie and Jack's bike and hit the actual road. A lot if times it turns into a Mickey Mouse road rally and we have to use our Mouseketools to solve problems.

Magician: This happens in the bath tub often, but can be played wherever there is a bucket to use as a magician's hat. He says, "Abra-ca-stop" and makes things disappear.

The Artist Show: Jack wears his "artist's hat" or a cowboy hat and puts on a show of coloring. He keeps crayons in his hat and when the show is done, much clapping is required.

Swimming: Jack has made huge strides in his swimming. He is so brave about going under the water and holding his breath. And he's been practicing his kicking "all day morning" (or all day long).

Throughout all the fun, Luke is there trying to join in and play along. The fun doesn't stop here.

On A Perfect Day

Last week was a teaser with some nice weather. Yesterday we got another taste of it - this time minus the love bugs.

We went to the park for a couple of hours. The boys had a blast playing on the boat. Captain Jack kept saying, "Aye, aye!" And Luke had fun climbing around.

Last night we grilled chicken and ate outside. Dallin set up speakers and we enjoyed music. The boys even played nicely together. They ended up covered in chalk, but had fun. Luke also kept busy crawling down the driveway to check on Charlie. He also managed to find every piece of chalk and throw it in a bucket of water.

It was a nice day! Hopefully we have more like it!

Not Much to Report

We've just been eating apples - Luke sucks on it. Then Jack eats out the inside. Then I am left with the skins. Yum!

And we got haircuts. It was traumatic.

Good times.

Our New Addition

No, we aren't having a baby. We got a dog.

Dallin has always wanted us to get a dog. He's begged and I've always said later. Yesterday he was at a job site in the middle of nowhere. He started texting me pictures of a puppy that was wandering around the site. I was having a bad day, dealing with a miserable whiny crying teething baby and told him that was the last thing I needed.

When he got home from work, he had a mischievous look on his face. Soon I heard barking in the backyard. And there was the puppy.

We took the boys out to see him. Luke absolutely loved the dog. LOVED IT. It made him forget all his teething woes. Jack was really excited. Before we knew it, he was named Charlie and supplies were purchased. He seems like he's here to stay.

He is a very sweet puppy and is good with the kids. He lets Luke bang on him and he wrestles with Jack. There wasn't too much barking in the night. And he was fun to take on a walk. I guess he's won me over too.

Welcome to the family, Charlie!

Tickling the Ivories

Every time I sit down at the piano, I am immediately joined by my two eager partners. I've been trying to learn a song since I'm accompanying someone in a few weeks. But it's slow work because it always ends up being a duet. Or triplet (is that what it's called?). But I have had a chance to teach Jack a little. He is learning Twinkle Twinkle. And he loves finding songs in the Primary songbook to play "together". So it is a great learning, bonding time.

Baby Steps

Luke took his first step this morning. He was holding the toy hammer and a ring, so his hands were full. But he wanted Mommy too, so he took a step towards me. No video yet - we will have to catch the next time. What a big boy!

A Patriotic Baby and a Friend to Squirrels

Today we put out our flag in honor of 9-11. Luke loved it. He could not stop staring at it. He was fascinated touching it. And diaper changes were so much easier because he could see if from the window by our changing table. He already loves the grand ol flag.

While Luke was staring at the flag, Jack spent a chunk of the day collecting acorns. He would step on them. He told me, "I'm breaking them into pieces so that it will be easier for the squirrels to eat them." He's such a helper!

A Cooling Trend

Summer has always been my favorite season. Probably because I never lived somewhere with humidity. After my first summer in Louisiana, I am very ready for fall and the cooler temps.

Sunday it cooled down substantially. Like highs in the 80s and lows in the 60s. We have tried to take advantage of the wonderful weather. Bike rides, trips to the park, swings, walks, picnics. It has been fantastic. Let's hope it lasts!

Now if we could just get rid of those darn love bugs!