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!     

Calling All Avengers

Luke had a really hard time deciding what kind of a party he wanted.  He first thought he wanted a tractor party and the equestrian center, but it wasn't quite finished yet and the weather is always questionable with an April birthday.  Finally, he decided on an Avengers party.  Poor Lukers was devastated a few days later when he realized that he wasn't getting both tractor and Avengers parties.  Only Lukers would think he was getting both!

This party he was really into the planning.  He was involved in every detail and if I didn't do something just right he let me know!  We have a lot of kids in our neighborhood that are Luke's age...26 to be exact...and it was hard for Luke not to invite them all.  We tried to just invite the friends on our street, his primary class, and preschool class.  When we were passing out the invitations he realized that we hadn't invited one little boy and he said, "Mom, Spencer has to be there, he is the best fighter I know."  Luke is a very social kid and knows just about everyone in the ward and neighborhood so it was not easy narrowing it down to just thirteen friends.  Hopefully all of our planning paid off and we can have an awesome Avengers party...as Luke says!  

I like to document everything before the party.   While I was taking pictures of the party decorations I asked Luke to sit on the table by his cake.  He absolutely refused to smile and insisted on a Capt. pose.  Totally Luke so we went with it!  Love this kid and his big personality! 

Birthday Present

For Luke's birthday we had two showings at our house that night so we had to be gone anyways.  We let Luke decide where to go and he chose Five Guys and Boondocks.  If you ever give Luke the choice of where to eat he'll always pick Five Guys...and yes we ate there twice in two days for his birthday!  I think we let him party too much because by the time we got home he was exhausted and beyond difficult.  Instead of giving him his present and having it not be a fun experience we waited until the next morning.  

I had him get his helmet on and told him he would need it for his present.  Surprisingly, he still didn't guess what his present was going to be!  His face when Mark brought it up was priceless.  He was so excited and couldn't wait to give it a try!  Lukers kept saying how big it was and couldn't believe that he had a big boy bike now!  All he needs to do now and is learn to ride it!    

Birthday Breakfast

This year we woke Luke up with birthday pancakes and a present to start to his birthday day!  When we sang to him you could tell he soaked it all in and loved it!  I love the look on their sweet faces when they know they are the center of attention.  Luke loved that he got to eat coconut sprinkle pancakes with Hawaiian coconut syrup.  He requests them on a regular basis now!  It was also fun to start his day with a present.  There was not question that at least for this fifteen minute breakfast Luke felt very loved and special!      

Luke's Preschool Party

Luke was able to celebrate his birthday at preschool!  We planned a couple activities and he insisted on eating donuts as well!  Our first activity was playing pin the sticker on the birthday boy.  It took the kids a bit to figure it out, but once they got the hang of the game it was a blast!  One child was blindfolded and given a sticker.  Then they would call out "birthday" and Luke would shout back "boy."  They would walk towards Luke's voice and try to get the sticker on him.  We had lots of peekers so the kids did a pretty good job and Luke was covered in stickers by the time we were done!  

He also wanted to bring his favorite book...at the moment...which is Tickle Monster.  I read the story while Miss Darcy put on the tickled gloves and tickled all of the kids!  They thought it was hilarious and Miss Darcy got quite a workout.  

When our activities were done the kids sang Happy Birthday to Luke and then ate donuts.  Brody was very bugged that everyone was eating a donut and not him.  He kept trying to steal the kids donuts and ate just about every sprinkle that fell.  It was so much fun to visit Luke's class.  I love to see how they interact together and how much fun Luke has a with his friends.  I also got to see his cute handprint that he put on Miss Darcy's wall for his birthday.  I love that he chose yellow...his true favorite ever since he learned how to talk!  I love my little birthday boy! 

Baby Horse

It's always exciting when Spring comes and a baby horse is born!  Something about baby horses just makes me happy.  I love their long legs and how they try to walk just moments after birth.  The boys got to visit Grandpa Hansen's equestrian center when this little guy was a few days old.  Luke could hardly wait to get over there to see him.  He kept saying, "I am just so excited that Pops finally got me a horse that I can ride that's just my size."  Lukers was a little disappointed when he realized the horse wasn't ready for passengers.  

I love the first picture with Brody.  The little guy was in awe of the baby horse and wanted to get at him.  I fell in love with the first picture because Brody is actually standing on his tippy toes to try and get closer at the horse.  The funny thing about Brods is he wants so badly to get close to them, but once we finally give him the okay to pat their face he gets nervous.  After Brody realized he wasn't going to be getting close to that baby he gave up and played in the rocks.  

Luke, was happy just to sit and stare at the horse all day.  He of course had a million questions and couldn't believe that the baby didn't have a name yet.  Luke spent the next serval days coming up with names.  Not that his will get used, but he had fun all the same!