Birthday Pictures

We finally got around to doing the boys birthday pictures.  It was hard to find a time when the weather was good and Mark could help us.  I wanted to do them in an orchard and luckily I found a great orchard just a few minutes from our house.  Luke did a great job that night and Brody wanted nothing to do with pictures.  I am glad we got a good one of him with his birthday poster.  It was time consuming to make and I wanted a cute pic to make it worth it.  

Words cannot express how much I love these two little boys!  I am sad to see how much they grow and change but I also love to see their personalities change!  Love you boys!

Treehouse Museum

It had been way too long since our last visit to the Treehouse Museum so we asked cousin Liam to join us and we paid a visit.  Brody was hard this time since he could walk and was all over the place.  It was hard for me to keep track of both boys that wanted to see different exhibits.  Luke did a pretty good job sitting down and staying at an exhibit for a little bit.  Usually, he likes to run through the entire museum and then come back and go through it slowly.  I loved it when he was teaching Liam and Brody in the schoolhouse.  He was showing them how to write their letters.  Little did he know that his students were trying to eat their work!    

Jessica and I thought it was hilarious how determined Brody and Liam were to get the sword out of the stone.  Brody went nuts in the music room and loved making noise.  Luke's favorite lately is the knight room and can stay and play there for hours.  Luckily, Brody and Liam found plenty to do while Luke played!  I love that these three boys have fun together!  

Baby Animal Days

We have never been to the Kaysville Baby Animal days before.  It only takes place one weekend a year and always seem to miss it.  This year we made sure to not forget.  It's a good thing too because the boys loved it!  Brody couldn't control himself and wanted to hold every animal we saw.  He would grunt and point at them.  When Luke was able to hold the animals he took it very serious and tried to do his best.  

Our favorite part of the day was when Brods stuck his finger up the pigs nose.  He was reaching in their pen and trying so hard to get them.  Right as he stuck out his finger and reached in as far as he could the pig ran his nose straight into Brody's finger.  His little finger was completely black to say the least.  We definitely went through a lot of wipes and hand sanitizer.  

Luke and Kash thought they were pretty cool with their lizard face painting!  I love it when Luke does his tough guy look and talk.  The kids were sure they wanted to go on the little train ride even though the line was a mile long.  I bought a ticket for both boys and then found out I had to ride with Brody since he was so little.  Not the highlight of my day riding on the bouncy train.  The kids had fun though and we will have to come back next year for sure!

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!