Luke's 3rd and another milestone...

Luke finally turned 3 last Sunday. I say "finally" because it seems like he's been three forever. Maybe it's because he's been insisting that he's 3 for the last six months. He's a funny little boy.



MY main mission for the big event was to make Luke think he was having a party, without actually giving him a party. I'm still not sure if that is possible, but we settled on cake and ice cream with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Coco and his buddy Truman. Luke was in heaven.

Moving onto another milestone...I said my first official swear word in front of my children today. I made it 5 years, and thinking back, it's pretty impressive that I made it that far. (For example, I once found Luke with a handful of Sam's poop which he had fished out of the toilet...I had enough restraint at that time to only scream at the top of my lungs.) But today, while I was at the gas station filling up my van, gas started spewing from my fuel tank in every direction. I was sitting in the drivers seat and I happened to look outside to see gas projecting 10 feet into the air. I was caught completely off guard and yelled the first word that came to my mind, "S@#*"! In my attempt to get the nozzle out of my tank (while still shooting gas) I got gas all over myself. I'm not sure, but I think I let out a few more expletives- safely out of the range of my children that time. At this point I'm still trying to get the gas smell out of my clothes and holding my breath to see if Sam or Luke repeat what I said.

*For those wondering, air in the gas tank was the culprit of this fiasco.

Afton's Blessing Weekend

By reading this blog it may appear that Afton gets all of the attention, but I promise that it's not like that at home! (OR is it???) At any rate she'll have to move on out of the spotlight for Luke's 3rd birthday which is in a couple of weeks.

However, this past weekend it WAS all about Afton as the family gathered for her baby blessing. I admit that I have been looking forward to this weekend for the past month and it did not disappoint! Family, friends and good food....what could be better? We were able to take my parents and sister to the Dullas Air and Space Museum, and if you ever come for a visit its likely we'll take you there are well. I'm really not even interested in planes or any other flying contraption, but I can't get enough of that place. Its pretty cool. We were also able to see our friends Mary and Chris (I grew up with Mary), who were in the area looking for housing....yeah! They have a little girl who was born 2 days before Afton, so it was fun to see the two babies together.





These are some pictures from the lunch following the blessing. My favorite line of the weekend came from my mother who said (while looking at Afton), "I know this baby. Why does she look so familiar?" No, she was not having a "Saturday's Warrior" moment. It's just proof that ALL of my babies have looked just like my brothers, sisters, and I did as babies! (I would add some pictures if I weren't too lazy to scan them in.)

The two Grandmas

Mary, Chris and baby Lizzie

Let the torture begin!

Some of my fondest memories are of my mother making matching dresses for me and my sisters and then having a nice little photo session with us. If you can't sense the sarcasm here (which is likely) then let me be more clear- it was torture! I am 11 years older than my youngest sister, so by the time she was born I felt a little too old to be playing dress up. Of course my complaining did not deter my mother, who in hindsight made some pretty impressive dresses complete with puffed sleeves and smocking! (I'm sorry for being so difficult Mom!)
While I do not see myself making dresses (I'm NOT that talented), I do see myself getting out of control with the girly photo sessions. I know that as Afton gets older she will hate them, so I'll do myself a favor and apologize in advance!