Maddie's new favorite pastime

As you guys know from a previous post, Luke isn't exactly gentle with Maddie. He tries to be gentle and we discourage rough play, but really Luke's interactions with Maddie seem more like man-handling. Well after putting up with it for 17 months, Maddie has decided that tackling her brother is one of her favorite things to do.

Luke will be sitting on the floor watching TV and she will get a little running start and run right into him and take him down to the ground.

Once she gets him to the ground, she sits on him, and then bounces up and down.

Payback for 17 months of unnecessary roughness!

In all honesty, she loves the Luke-man and she thinks this is hilarious. I think he too gets a kick out of it. Of course, I broke it up before anyone got hurt because the only logical conclusion for something like this (without mommy intervention) is tears.

Halloween 2009

Okay, so I'm a little late updating but better late than never :)

Halloween was super fun with Luke this year because this was his first year officially trick-or-treating. We were all set to go last year but he came down with a fever that afternoon and couldn't go. SO sad.

Anyway, we got together with some friends from our small group and started the evening with a Chili potluck dinner. It was so yummy and fun.

You would've never know there were 7 kids playing in the house. They were very well behaved and played extremely well together.

Aren't they cute?

The boys loved running from house to house. They soon got the code and you could hear them yelling to each other about porch lights being on or off.

Cutest little Tinkerbell!

The night was cold and wet, which reminded me of most my Halloweens growing up in Chicago. Of course, you don't mind this when you are a kid. Aaahh, nostalgia!

On a side note, I've decided that Halloween means way too many pictures of my backside. I think I'll wear a mask on my butt next year just to make the pictures more interesting!

Burt's Pumpkin Farm

For the last four years I've been looking forward to bringing Luke (and now Maddie) to Burt's Pumpkin Farm. For those of you outside of Georgia, I can't explain the compulsion to go. It just seems like your fall isn't complete unless you visit Burt's and take pictures of your kids standing next to a giant pumpkin. Of course, your children are to be dressed in fall gear to make the most out of these great Kodak moments. Yes, as I type this, I realize this must sound weird...

With all that said, we've lived in Atlanta for the last 11 years and we've never gone to Burt's because it's a HIKE from our house. It just seemed like the drive was too long to make with babies in tow...until this year. Luke and Dan have started a tradition of carving a pumpkin every week during the month of October and they will carve two the week of Halloween. Luke LOVES it and I knew he would now appreciate going to a pumpkin farm. It was so fun!! Here are the pics:

Don't we all look SO excited :)

She is SO serious and cautious when she gets into a new environment.

Luke is starting the hunt for the best pumpkins.

Is that a smile?

The hunt is on!

They have been victorious!

Without further ado, here are the giant pumpkin photos...

I've included the following picture just because I think it's cute :)

Yes, I realize we are not in "fall gear" and there is no orange, black, or brown clothing. We may follow the herds but we will march to our own drum :)

Friday Fun

Some silly peeps, Photo Booth, iMovie, and a little downtime produced the following:

We hope you have a fabulous weekend!

Favorite Things

I just wanted to share with my mommy friends one of my current favorite things. It is a CD by Plumb called "Blink". My father-in-law used one of the songs on the CD to create the video montage for my birthday. I'm usually not one to enjoy "sweet" music but this CD really touches my heart. The songs are about motherhood, God, and the sweet blessings that are our little people. If I have had a hard day at work and I'm finding it hard to transition to home, I just pop in this CD. It helps my heart and mind focus on the important things :)

Warning: This CD is not good for the post-postpartum period and may push you over the weepy edge. You will want to wait until your hormones have gone back to normal and you are somewhat sleeping through the night :)

Luke turns 4!

What a weekend! It has been so much fun celebrating Luke's birthday. I absolutely can't believe he is four years old. He is so much fun, has so much energy, and has mad verbal skills. Lets not forget the high emotion and drama he can display at a moments notice. He has a way of keeping me on my toes! Sound like anyone else you know?

The birthday celebration started on Thursday at school. He was so excited to have me come to school with cupcakes for his classmates. He said it was the best day of his ENTIRE life.

On Friday he got to open his cards and one gift. His favorite card was from GrandmaGrandpa (yes, that is one word). The card had Alvin and the Chipmunks singing "Funky Town." Nope, that didn't get old at all :)

Today was the day of his family party. Can you guess the theme?

I think he actually got some into his stomach :)

Daddy and Luke

Luke playing with his Leapster. I'm hoping he won't be permanently hunched over.

Of course, I had to try out the new toys. How else would I be able to explain how to use them to Luke? :)

Crazy August

Hey Friends!

The month of August is upon me and it is going to be a crazy ride. I have three GroupLink volunteer trainings the first week of August and GroupLinks at the end of the month. Of course, the most important event in August will be Luke's birthday on the 21st. He will be 4 years old and there are mucho birthday festivities to plan...woo-hoo! We have a lot of great things going on and I'm super excited about the month. However, I don't know how often I'll get to post this month. Sometimes you just have to live life and not document it.

Just for fun, I thought I would post of video of the princess having a meltdown. A little video proof that she isn't completely perfect.... Just mostly perfect :)