Gobble, Gobble

My Dad has two younger sisters. The older of the two (but not old) lives in a city next to ours. The other sister is married to a military guy and so they have lived all over the place and currently reside on the east coast.

When I was a kid the Aunt who lives close by and her family used to live down the street from us. I LOVED it. We were always walking to their house and they always came to ours. There was a period of time when she took me to school and that was always a fun adventure.

For a very long period of time, this Aunt owned a flower shop, which was always just referred to as The Shop. When I was in college she called me to ask if Josh wanted a part time job delivering flowers. My Dad thought this was a terrible idea. Josh took the job. Can I just say that I LOVE that Josh took that job. Just a few of the reasons why:

1. I received fresh flowers WEEKLY. Yep, I was spoiled. My sweet Aunt would make an arrangement every Friday of the left over flowers and Josh brought them to me. I was very sad when he stopped working for her.

2. Josh saved up his money from this extra job (he was already working full time and going to college full time) and bought me an engagement ring!

3. He got to know my Aunt AND my Nana REAL good. I have always loved that. My Aunt had a saying at her Shop, “What is said in the Shop, STAYS in the Shop.” There is absolutely no telling what good juicy little tid bits Josh knows from working there, but I love that he was in on it all with my Aunt and my Nana and the other ladies. My Aunt and Nana both got to know him so well and love him much. My Nana thought the world of him.

Then as an adult, my Aunt was really there for me during a couple of very difficult times. She was there with a listening ear and with words of wisdom and hope. She had walked my road and knew my feelings. I felt so blessed to have someone there who had walked my road and come out on the other side.

I just love her to pieces!

Anyway, I say all of this to say that earlier this week, my Aunt called me and let me know that she saw these turkeys in a magazine and thought of Luke. She was going to email them to me and I just HAD to make them with him. 

In her email to me:

PS I’m not prejudiced….but Luke is much cuter than all the kids on the recipe page!!!!!

If you make these, please send me a pic of Luke and the turkeys.

She makes me laugh, but she’s right…. Luke is way cuter than those kids.  Plus, the turkeys are too cute so we  just had to make them!

And so for my dear sweet Aunt, here are the pictures! Luke and I had a fun time making these. Thank you for thinking of us.

I love you!!

 

A Map

I found this map in Luke’s backpack. I have no idea if he did this on his own accord or if it was a class assignment. I did not ask. I have a feeling he did it on his own since it is not on school paper.

With a huge smile on my face, I looked at it for a good five minutes or so as many things went through my head:

• Just in case you are wondering….not drawn to scale. Close, but not.

• His room is properly placed.

• The TV room is also properly placed, however it is not really a TV room. Unless you want to call it that because it is a room that contains a TV among MANY other things.

• Our house does contain bathrooms. More than one in fact.

• We do have a kitchen, I mean kichin. (Luke is a fantastic speller, so I smile big when he gets one wrong….….that is the me in him. His Daddy is a bona fide spelling bee champ. Me, not so much.)

• We also have a dining area, and I think that is why on here the kitchen takes up one side of the house.  He has put them together.

• We do not have a room that’s only purpose in life is to house a Play Station. In fact, I was going to write that we do not even own a Play Station, but then I remembered we do. And it is attached to the TV in the TV room! Clearly, I do not go in that room often and I do not play Play Station.

• We have a living room and one might have placed it where the Play Station room is. The living room contains a Wii and I wonder if that is sort of what Luke was thinking when he drew this map.

• We also have one other room, the sitting room, which did not make the map. This is funny, as he often times plays in that room.

• What stumped me the most was the Pirate Kingdom. I had no clue. You see, for the most part, I can see where Luke came up with all his room placements, but that Pirate Kingdom is sitting where our garage is. Who wants to claim a messy garage as a kingdom??

Then it dawned on me!

My boy has claimed the ENTIRE backyard as his own! Gotta love a cute pirate that swooped in and claimed the entire back yard.

One of my favorite things about this boy is his imagination! So thankful I was able to see it in full force this week.

Surprise!

Two or three months ago when Joshua and I decided it would be great fun to throw Luke a surprise birthday party all we thought about were the good and fun things! And at first, all was fun and exciting as we planned the party.

Then came the stress.  It is stressful depending on your friends and family not to ruin the surprise and spill the beans. First up on the let-me-ruin-the-surprise list is our good friend and favorite police officer. He took the cake for sure by talking about Luke’s birthday party to his son right in front of Luke! Luckily for us all, Luke was off in another world and did not hear a thing and gave no response. The Sister, police officer’s wife, gave him a look that shot right through him! I wanted to kick him in the shins, but I held back and decided to just go with giving him dirty looks.

Next up to try and ruin things is my Dad! At first I gave my Dad props for not opening up the invite when he received it while Luke was at his house –thanks Daddy. But then, he eventually opened it and left it on his desk….right beside the tape. The tape that Luke would go to get the following week while visiting his Grandpa. Oh, and did Daddy move the invite after realizing Luke probably saw it, NOPE! I later saw it still sitting at the desk, still by the tape. I moved it.

These two things alone were enough to make me realize that the surprise party was maybe not the best idea. But, there is more! Back to the police officer…..he could not try to ruin things just once, oh no, he is an over achiever and when for it TWICE! Once he received the invite for Luke’s party….btw, the invite mentioned that it was a SURPRISE party….he put it up on the refrigerator. No big deal….except for the fact that we often visit their house and Luke can READ! Thankfully, on the day I was on my way to The Sister’s house to drop off Luke for a couple of hours, her Mom was there and had the foresight to take that invite down. Thank you much!

And I will just be honest; I had a slip up too! It pains me to say it. It pained me more for my husband to tell a large group of our friends….including the police officer. I slipped up and said something about a party, but then I quickly moved on to saying a party with Mom and Dad! I’m smooth. Real smooth.

So, what we have so far are a bunch of near misses on ruining this surprise. A big thank you to our other friends and family who in no way shape or form tried to ruin things!

Then came all the questions from Luke about having a party: am I having a party; when is my party; are you inviting my cousins to my party; are you inviting friends to my party; and about a million other questions about a party…..….ugh. Over and over again I told him we were just going to do something on his actual birthday (Sunday) with us, Mom and Dad. He did not seem to mind much at first. Then, exactly five days before his party things quickly fell apart. He told me that going to lunch with us was boring and THEN, He took it upon himself to plan his own party. He said if we were not going to do it, he would. He first invited my Dad (Luke said he needed some old people there). My Dad said he was busy Sunday afternoon and could not attend. Luke was deflated. He then went on to say that he HAD to invite his cousins to his birthday. I told him that it was really short notice and I bet Uncle Ed and Aunt Collette would not be able to make it on Sunday with his cousins. (Sorry to throw you guys under the bus like that, but I really had no choice.) He was deflated more.

I was feeling so bad for him.

Then came the ride home from my Dad’s house that day. He asked if I for real did not plan anything for his birthday. I did what any good Mother would do. I said, “No Luke, I really did not plan anything on Sunday for your birthday other than we are taking you to lunch after church.” Luke’s response, the worst part of it all) -- “This is the worst birthday. EVER!”

I almost started crying and wanted to blab all to him about his surprise party and make him promise to act surprised. But I didn’t.

On Saturday morning I was so happy the wait was just about over because I could not take it anymore!

Thank you to Joshua who was up and out of the house at 7:30 am so that I could get the house ready!

Thank you to Kayla who picked up the balloons and brought them to the house, brought us breakfast, and helped me get things ready at the house.

Thank you to The Sister who come to my house that morning after working a 12 hour shift and brought these awesome cookies that she made! You rock.

Thank you to our family and friends who come over and waited for the big surprise moment.

IT WAS ALL WORTH IT!!

Luke was beyond surprised and oh so happy that in fact, his Mother and Dad did NOT forget to plan him a birthday party.

We had a wonderful day having lunch together, celebrating Luke, and having cake and ice cream.

Oh, and who can forget the presents..….thank you all for Luke’s awesome presents.

(This one caused children AND adults to say, "He's not sharing!!)

Happy SURPRISE SEVENTH Birthday Luke!! Mommy and Daddy love you much!

(And so do all your family and friends who helped to keep this a huge secret from you)

Today, Seven years ago….

 

My boy was born at 10:33 am on a Saturday morning.

We named him Luke Michael.

At about 10:10, my doctor leaned over the “wall sheet” and said, “Don’t worry, I read about how to do this last night.” I loved it. I laughed.

Luke’s delivery was a scheduled C-section.

He weighed 8.13 pounds and was 21 inches long. He lost almost two pounds before we left the hospital.

Right before Luke was born, the nurse at my head told Josh to stand up to take a picture, he was about to be born. Josh took the picture and quickly sat back down.

When I heard Luke’s first cry, I began crying uncontrollably. I finally breathed a sigh of relief; he made it!

Joshua put on his first diaper and changed all his diapers for the next three days.

He was born one day late; something I remind him of every year.

He was tongue-tied, or if you want the medical word, Ankyloglossia. So, at two days old, he had his first surgery to fix it. It does not matter that they tell you it is minor and no big deal. I was worried sick the entire time he was gone.

Aside from Joshua and me, my Mother was the first to hold him. She did not want to share with anyone.

My Dad did finally get a turn.

Luke received a white stuffed puppy dog from my cousin and her son. Luke later named this dog Trophy Puppy and she still sleeps with him every single night. She is loved puppy.

We had a waiting room full of people waiting to meet Luke. I was so thankful for each and every one of them who got up early on that Saturday morning to come and wait for our Luke to be born and to meet him. For the next three days we had so many other family and friends come to see us and meet our Luke for the first time.

I remember the events of this day as if they were yesterday and I hope I always will.

Luke,

November 13, 2004 was one of the best days of my life. On this day, I fully realized how much I could love another person. You have made your Daddy and me so very happy and we are so proud of you and all you have accomplished in your first seven years! I am so thankful that God entrusted you to us; I could not have asked for a better son.

I love you more than there are stars in the sky!

Childlike Faith

Yesterday afternoon Luke and I were on the couch and he was doing his reading homework. I was sitting listening to him read.

All of the sudden, he put the book down and jumped off the couch.

Momma, I prayed on the playground today!

You did! What did you pray about?

With his eyes wide open and full of excitement, he began to explain to me about this thing on the playground and how much he wanted to jump off of it. He was a little scared, so he prayed three times (his emphasis was on the THREE) before jumping.

And you know what Momma? Jesus kept me safe ALL THE WAY DOWN!!

You know me, I started to think, well, He did but maybe we should not be jumping off stuff. All I know is that I have a cousin who landed herself in the hospital having a major surgery with a broken leg after jumping off something on the playground. But, I kept quiet and continued to listen to him, while praying myself. Praying….do I say something besides how proud I am that he prayed, or not.

He went on to say that there is this other thing that he REALLY wanted to jump off of as well and he planned on praying about that too before he jumped off. He said he just KNEW Jesus would keep him safe on it because he kept him safe that day. He was so full of joy and so happy I wanted to be sure not to kill it for him.

So the rest of the conversation went like this:

Luke, I am SO very proud of you for praying. I love how you pray to Jesus during the day. That is wonderful. You know what else?

What?

God is the one who gave you your super smart brain!

I know!

And you know what else?

What?

He gave you the ability to think things though and make wise choices.

I know; I am very wise. I’m a wise warrior.

Yep. And so besides praying that Jesus will keep you safe before you jump off of something, you also need to think it through and decide is it a WISE choice. You know, like it would not be real wise for mom to go on top of the roof, pray for safety, and then jump off.

He laughed.  I was thankful I did not kill his joy.

He went on to explain that he would be sure to think things through and pray before doing them. As he got back on the couch and continue to read his book I began to thank God for this boy.

This boy reminded me yesterday afternoon of childlike faith…..to pray and just know and believe that God will keep you safe.

Sweet Sunday with my Sweetie

Joshua went to the Cowboy game on Sunday with is friend and there was a bit of a breakdown in communication and Luke did not get to go. Luke was upset for a bit, but then was excited that it would be a Lukey/Mommy Sunday.

We went to church and then had a great lunch date eating pizza! After lunch we went over to Blockbuster to rent a movie. And I guess it has been ages since I went with Luke to rent a movie, because I was HIGHLY disappointed in the movie selection! The Stewarts will now be moving into the new age and will be getting Netflix – yay! We were finally able to find a movie and went on home.

We grabbed Hank and the three of us snuggled up on the couch and watch Marmaduke! And let me tell you, that movie is HI-larious! We laughed and laughed. About five minutes into the movie Luke looked over at me and said, “Mom, if you close your eyes, it almost sounds like Marmaduke is Lightening McQueen when talking.” This boy cracks me up. I knew Owen Wilson did the voice for both, but I had not really thought anything about it since my brain is not thinking CARS 20/7 like Luke’s!

After the movie we decided to make some treats. We both agreed that anything dipped in chocolate and then dunked into sprinkles would be great, and we choose marshmallows!

 

Dipping things in chocolate with Luke can be tricky, you have to constantly keep an eye on him or he will locate a straw and just start sucking down melted chocolate. I have never met anyone who loves chocolate as much as him!

 

In true Luke fashion, as soon as we were done, he located the first marshmallow that was done and said, “Surely this one is cooled off and I can eat it!!” No mother can say no to that, so he began to eat away.

And of course Luke had to do one just in chocolate.  And he swirled it real good.

These were a yummy treat and oh so easy to make!  And I think they turned out so cute.

 Luke and I loved our Sweet Sunday together!

Traditions and Memories

Do you have Halloween traditions?

Ever since Luke’s first Halloween, we have gone to my parents’ house and taken him around their neighborhood.

And ever since he was old enough, he has been helping my Dad with the carving of the pumpkin.

With each passing year, Luke has been more and more excited about taking out the pumpkin guts.

This year, I realized one day he will be old enough to get the knife and carve himself. I will probably sit down and cry.

But, for this year, he was on pumpkin gut removal duty only.

I love Halloween and the pumpkin carving.

But mostly, I love watching Luke have fun with his Grandpa.

Traditions and memories.....two great things!

And this year, my Luke went to the dark side and was Darth Vader. 

No, he was not named after Luke from STAR WARS.  However, I can now say that Luke and I have both seen STAR WARS.

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!!