A Perfect Seat!

Lately Brods love to get as close as he can to the TV.  I'll always start him out on the couch and within no time he'll be right up front!  Sometimes he'll even stand in front of the TV and is slapping the TV and yelling at the characters.  Brody isn't too picky when it comes to which cartoons to watch.  He'll watch anything on Disney or whatever Lukers is watching.  His favorite, however, is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  When Mickey comes on the screen he gets so excited and starts screaming!   

This little guy cracks us up lately and we can't get enough of him.  He is becoming such a little boy and I love to see his personality come out.  His new words are hilarious because they don't help us at all but he loves to say them.   They are...outside, all done, car (caw), and on guard (for sword fighting of course)!  Like Luke always says, "We just love our sweet baby!"  

Soccer Star

I thought Luke's soccer season could go one of two ways.  When we play in the backyard he gets easily frustrated and doesn't seem to happy but I thought maybe if he is wearing a uniform and out on the field with other kids he'll be inspired.  Luckily, he fell in love with soccer and decided to really play!  We were all amazed with how well he did and how much natural talent he had.  The first game of the season was a near downpour and Lukers still went out there and attacked it.  He scored three goals and did ask to come out of the game once.  

One thing that was very apparent from the first game was how aggressive Luke can be.  He is not afraid to get in there and do what it takes to get the ball.  One time he plowed over his own team mate, knocking the poor kid's cleats off, grabbed the ball and kept going.  When I told him he wasn't allowed to do that he said, "But why...I got the ball."  I love this picture of him and Iz trying to steal the ball from each other even though they are on the same team.  Luke loved having a good friend on the team and it was fun to watch him and Iz play together.

Luke's team had a lot of little girls that weren't that into the game and always asking to come out.  However, Luke was always begging to play and would play the entire game without stopping or slowing.  At one game a little boy decided to just lay down in the middle of the field and pick the grass.  While Luke was dribbling the ball down the field the boy was in the way.  This didn't stop Luke though, he jumped right over the kid and kept on running.  

Words cannot express my love for this little soccer player!  He loved every minute of his first soccer season.  Luke had quite the cheering section at each game.  When he would score a goal he would look over at us and throw his arms in the air with the biggest smile on his face.  Sometimes he would even run past us and take in all the cheers!  His coach Ashley and the other parents were always thoroughly entertained by Luke.  One dad even joked that he was going to bring his own yellow cards to handout to Luke at the next game.  We are so proud of our Lukers and love our soccer player!          

Dinosaur Museum

Luke has been wanting to go to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point but he had to earn it first. He had to fill his marble jar for being a good listener and not having freak-outs.  The day I told him his jar was full and we were going to go he was so excited.  Luke has been on a major dinosaur kick lately and it's all he really cares about.  I am amazed at how well he memorizes the names and facts of all the different dinosaurs.  

When we first go to the museum he was in heaven and would run from one dinosaur to the next begging me to take his picture by it.  Normally I can't get Luke to smile at the camera for more than two seconds and here he was posing like a pro.  His favorite dinosaur was the Utah Raptor and he took  a few pictures by him!  The only problem was Brody was on the move and didn't want to stop and read about each dinosaur.  Every now and then Brody would find something like the small dinosaur to distract him and give him something to do.    

Their favorite part of the museum was the river play area.  They loved playing with the dinosaurs in the water and sand.  I thought they would never want to leave.  Luke created his own Jurassic Park and was so proud of it.  Uncle Pat and Luke have been playing a Jurassic Park game on the iPad and Luke couldn't wait to show him the picture of his real park. 

Luke loved this museum and was in dinosaur heaven.  He kept repeating names of dinosaurs, talking about how he was going to be a paleontologist and asking me all sorts of questions that I didn't know the answers to.  We will definitely need to come back soon!       

Avengers Assemble

 

Luke's Avengers birthday was definitely a whirlwind.  We had the huge task of entertaining thirteen three and four year olds for an hour and a half.  I know what you're thinking...you asked for it.  But I couldn't say no to Luke and I was sure at least one friend wouldn't come.  Instead, all thirteen showed up ready to party.  We had a showing scheduled for right after the party so that didn't help much knowing we had to have our house spotless an hour after the party ended.  Luckily, we planned just enough activities to keep them entertained and in control the entire time!

Luke insisted that there had to be fighting at his Avengers party but I knew that was a not go so we agreed on making buildings out of cardboard and throwing Thor's hammer at them.  The kids thought this was awesome and all wanted a second picture.  I love the picture of Luke after he threw the hammer.  His face says it all...totally tough and nailed it!  The game that they struggled with the most was pin the shield on Captain America.  They couldn't understand why we were blindfolding them and all tried to cheat.  It's amazing how close they all got...little cheaters!  Sadly, the scavenger game would have been better outside but Thor's thunder and rain prevented us from going outside.  The kids were put with a partner and had to find the four Avenger symbols that were on their card.  It was funny to see the kids that took charge and those that were happy just to follow.  Since there were girls invited I decided we needed a little craft.  The kids got to make their own superhero masks.  They turned out pretty cute!

Present time was definitely everyone's favorite.  The kids loved seeing what Luke got while Mark and I got the biggest laugh from watching them.  Luke's one friend Nash was sure Luke had already opened his fair share of presents and it was time to give someone else a turn.  Mark finally told Nash to open a present and he chose to open his own present.  He stopped about halfway into opening it and said, "I think I know what it is!"  Mark and I thought we were going to die laughing while the other little kids were appalled that Nash was opening his own present.  However, he happily handed the gift over to Luke and everyone moved on!  We finished with cake and then it was time to go.  It was a fun party and everything went smoothly!  Sure hope Lukers liked his first friend birthday party!