happy birthday Luke!

Monday, April 27 was Luke's 3rd birthday. To celebrate, we had the Pulley clan over on Sunday for dinner and cake, and on Monday we went to the park with the Loveridge gang. We had a lot of fun getting together with family. Luke loves to play with his cousins, and he loves cake so he was thrilled.


So, here is a list of things about Luke at age 3:

1. Luke is very small for his age... he looks more like a 2 year old.

2. He may be small, but his personality is not. I challenge anyone to find a child as strong willed and intense as Luke is. He has to try to do EVERYTHING himself. There aren't as many battles between us now that I have figured this out and am willing to take the extra time to let him try. I know that he was sent here to teach me patience... and I am working on it.

3. He is EXTREMELY loving. This is one of my favorite things about Luke. He gives his hugs and kisses and cuddling out freely, making him one of the favorites with his grandma's. I'm sure part of it is to manipulate his way out of trouble, but mostly he just has a big heart.

4. He is very playful... another thing that I love about him. He loves to laugh, play, tease, and joke around with any willing person.

5. He has a deep, sort of raspy, little voice that melts my heart. My favorite is when he is telling me something serious - looking up at me through those big eyelashes with that look of concern on his face, while lengthening the last word in each sentence for greater affect... it's adorable.

6. He is very athletic. I know this because he can figure a way to climb up, pretty much anything. And he is incredibly fast. I've learned to never underestimate him.

7. Luke is very loud. Whether he's laughing, crying, or screaming, the volume is always on max.

8. He doesn't eat much (which drives his grandma's crazy). But, he does eat breakfast very well, so I take full advantage... the only time we eat cold cereal is if we are in a hurry, or as a snack.

9. Luke loves to spend time with his dad. Whether it's riding some ATV/snowmobile, or just running errands, he will never pass up an opportunity to tag along.

10. Finally, Luke loves spiderman. He ended up receiving quite a bit of spiderman loot (and other great non-spiderman gifts) at his parties, and was he ever excited! Every time he opened a new one he would squeal, "spoiermyan!"

I would like to thank Walmart for the plethara of spiderman toys they offered.


cake #1... the homemade icecream cake. I love the look on his face as he is waiting to blow out the candle.

cake #2... the magnificent volcano cake (per Luke's request)

gullible, part 2

Ah, Isaac... I love your imagination!

At dinner tonight, Isaac starts closing his eyes and waving his hands around, while chanting "I wish, I wish and with my imagination, I make my milk (or food, or brother) disappear." Then, he would open his eyes to see if anything happened. So, when I finally caught on to what he was doing, I grabbed his milk cup as he was closing his eyes. The look on his face was priceless as he opened his eyes to discover his milk was gone. He starts saying, "It worked! Where did it go?", as he is giggling, looking around for his milk.

Next, it was time to bring back his milk, so he chants for his milk to come back (while closing his eyes). I slipped it into place and, once again, amazement! We did this a dozen more times (the magic worked on all of our cups)... each time making me laugh more and more. And each time I was able to flawlessly move the cup in time while his eyes were closed. I was really expecting him to peak so that he could actually see the magic happen, but they stayed closed every time.

Well, the magic had to come to an end. He wasn't too disappointed to find out that it was me moving the cups and not his wizardry skills... it just created a fun game of making us all disappear (a.k.a, hide-and-go-seek).

Luke pays attention in nursery!

Ever since Easter Sunday, Luke has been talking about a few aspects of the atonement (at least his interpretation of it). Which leads me to conclude that he actually pays attention, somewhat, in nursery... since I am a slacker parent, and know that my kids didn't gain this knowledge from myself. I want to write down what he has been saying, because I am sure to forget (and I keep forgetting to video it, which would be even better).

So, it goes a little something like this (in his deep, serious voice):

"Jesus die. Jesus so sad. Jesus not die, got better. Jesus gets bad guys (I think he throws a little spiderman into the story at times, since he is a big fan). Jesus locked in tomb. Jesus push really hard (as he pushes against something with all his might). Jesus so strong (as he flexes his muscles). Luke not locked in tomb... be so sad."

Isaac, also paid attention, and was able to recite most of the story to me. His version goes a little something like this:

"Some bad people killed Jesus on the cross... why did they do that? How did they get him on the cross? His friend cried when they killed him... why did he cry? His friends put his body in a tomb... how did they move the big rock? Will I be in a tomb when I die? Jesus was in the tomb for 3 days and was resurrected. Mary cried because she thought someone took Jesus' body... why did she think they took his body? He talked to her, and she was happy."

Isaac loves to ask questions, even when the answer is obvious, or he already knows the answer since he has already asked the question a number of times. This makes the long drives to grandma's house go by very quickly. And it has made him quite knowledgeable in many, very exciting, subjects... like: what dams are for or how they work, how pipes and plumbing and sewers work, how electricity gets to the houses and buildings, what rumble strips (or whatever they are called) are for, how irrigation works, why we go on green, slow down (or speed up) on yellow, and stop on red... and so forth, and so forth.

It's so fun to see the different personalities that each of my boys have. I love them all in different (but equal) ways and I pray that, as a parent, I cultivate their individual talents, gifts, and interests... instead of being frustrated by them.

Easter morning

what excitement!

Boy, did we have fun today! First of all, Asa discovered that he could open the cupboard, pull out the tuperwear and climb into the cupboard. I'm not sure that I'm ready for this stage again.

Next, Isaac and Luke discovered that they could climb up walls.


And, lastly, I finally managed to give the boys some long overdue haircuts.

I love these guys!!!

gullible

Today, as we were driving home from the park, I found out just how gullible my sweet Isaac is. It all started with a fun game we were playing... I will call it 'there is a bug on your nose!'. Isaac was pretending to be asleep, so I decided to try and make him laugh by saying, "Isaac, there is a spider on your nose!" Of course, it worked and he started giggling, but as he is giggling there is a hint of concern in his eyes and he says, "you're just kidding, right?" So, the game continues...
"Mommy, there's a bug in your hair!", so I shake the bug out of my hair, catch the bug, then eat the bug.
"Luke, there's a worm in your ear!", so he pulls the worm out of his ear, catches it and eats it.
"Isaac, there's a bee in your mouth!", so he laughs, spits the bee out, but still with the hint of concern in the eyes, says "You're kidding, right?"
This game continued for a good 20 minutes (I had a headache from shaking all the bugs out of my hair). But, every time we threw the spider/bug/bee on Isaac, there was that hint of concern behind the laughter and the "you're kidding, right?" And I thought I was paranoid of bugs.

what's my hurry?

So, as I was looking for pictures of my boys to post, I started looking at their younger pictures. This made me mournful. I have forgotten so much, so fast! I started to cry as I was looking at my little babies, realizing that time really does fly by and at how much I have forgotten. People have always told me to enjoy these years because they go by so quickly, but still I have been so eager to get to the next stage... thinking that life will be much easier. Easier? I'm pretty sure I yell a lot more than I did a year or two ago. I'm pretty sure my kids are no less inquisitive, rowdy, or noisy than they were a year or two ago. Yes, my boys are still very young, and given a few more years it will be easier to do certain things (like going to restaurants, or other people's houses, or church... well, most public places). But, I am realizing that there will be a lot of things I will miss terribly once I reach that point... like their fascination with everything around them, the fact that they still think I'm funny, the fact that they don't get embarrassed when I dance, the endless possibilities of a cardboard box, all the hugs and kisses I could ever want/need, and all of those funny, innocent little things that they say that I end up forgetting, even when I think I won't. What is my hurry?