A Funny Thing Happened One Evening...

A couple of nights ago we were experiencing our usual post-dinner craziness -- trying to get P settled down for the night and trying to wrangle Luke into the bath. I handed the boys off to John for a few minutes so I could clean up the kitchen. As he took the boys into Luke's room to play John took a phone call from a friend. You can just imagine the craziness that began! I could hear screeching and laughter coming from the bedroom with Daddy's voice trying to speak over it all. Less than a minute later John drags the boys out of the room pleading with me to take them (they apparently were cracking each other up, getting louder and louder, making it very hard for Daddy to be on the phone). Being the wonderful wife that I am, I told him to suck it up and get back in that room! Surprisingly it was rather quiet within a couple of minutes. I could hear John talking...but nothing from either of the boys. After a few more minutes I was rather curious to see what was going on -- mostly curious to see what happened to the boys. This is what I discovered...
Curious as to what it is? A+D Ointment! Yes, that's right, Luke was putting diaper rash cream all over Daddy's head! And John just thought it was regular lotion. Oy! That's what the man gets for talking on the phone rather than playing with his son! HA!!

He's Crawling!

One Last Thing...

6 years ago yesterday (Sat. the 28th) John asked me to marry him. It is so hard for us to fathom that we had just begun this journey only 6 years ago. But yes...6 years ago...

...I almost didn't let him come to Dallas for the weekend.
...I told my sister that if he asked me to marry him I'd say "no".
...I was late picking him up at the airport.
...we ran through Chick-fil-a, Bass Pro, and the Gap with a "strange tension" in the air.
...we were alone in my apartment as I was packing my bag to spend the weekend at my parents'.
...I walk into my bedroom and find John holding something in his hand.
...I looked closely and realized that it was a diamond ring he was holding as he took to his knee.
...I fell to my knees asking "Did you talk to my Dad?" "Are you serious?" "ARE YOU SERIOUS?!"
...I said "yes"!

John -- I still say "Yes"! Every day I say "Yes"! I love you. Thank you for asking me to marry you.

One Wacky Weekend

Our lives are not that quiet with these two boys and it's never boring around here. But this weekend was one crazy weekend! OY! We had some great plans to check out the children's museum in Pasadena on Saturday...enjoy dinner and games with some friends...do the church thing...and just enjoy another beautiful weekend. Most of that got scrapped when P began to "wake up" at 3:15 on Saturday morning...off and on the crying went until 6:00...and sleep was all but impossible for those 3 hours. I think our great "plans" went out the window before we even started the day!

Poor little guy was not himself this weekend. It probably had a lot to do with the fact that he had his vaccinations on Friday morning. Yippee. After our "rough wake up" I decided to ditch the road trip and museum and just spend the morning at home so P could take a good nap. It wasn't just a "hang out" morning -- by 7:00 we were all loaded up in the car on our way to the grocery store (forgot to buy syrup the day before -- hard to have pancakes without syrup), Starbucks and the youth garage sale at the church (they helped us unload of some unneeded baby items and such -- purging before the move). Thankfully he did take a good 2 hour nap after our "outing".

Luke and Daddy enjoying some play time during P's nap.

A happy baby even when he doesn't feel well.

Instead of finding some games to play outside, or head off to the park - we decided to have a family outing at the mall! What the heck were we thinking? (Oh wait, Mommy really needed to have her eyebrows threaded.) We opted to enjoy the food court for lunch and wrap up our time at the mall with a little "lookie-loo" at the Disney store. Luke must have been tired because he road the stroller throughout the store and didn't even seem to recognize any of the Disney characters that we watch constantly. Hopefully our trip to Disneyland will prove more exciting than that!

So...(my diatribe will continue)...naps came and went (thankfully they both took good naps so we could get our taxes done)...and the madness continued. Our friends David and Krista were joining us for fajitas and a game of Wizard -- usually a festive get together...but the craziness continued. Before dinner Jonny came over with Bailey and Laken so we had all the kids in the driveway. I prepped dinner, bathed the baby, put the meat on the grill and changed a big-girl diaper -- while the "boys" chatted in the driveway. (I believe my "Super Mom" cape is at the dry cleaners now after that one!) We convinced the Mills to join us for dinner -- and the rockin' fun-mad-house continued! David and Krista always joke that hanging out with our boys is good birth control (really it just fills his need to hold a baby and play with kids), but having two 2 year olds (who were running around, screaming, fighting like husband and wife, laughing, you name it...) and two babies came close to pushing their 5-year plan into a 10-year plan! (Here is my props to parents of twins!) We finally got the big kids bathed and the Mills sent home, frozen yogurt picked up, Luke in bed, and we were able to sit down to our game...only to have P wake up and need some loving. Did the day ever end?!!

Bailey and Luke having their fun in the bath -- this photo is going to haunt them one day!

So...here we are to Sunday (I'll keep today's diatribe shorter). P is tucked in bed, Luke is bathed and ready for books, all while Mommy and Daddy are somehow staying sane. Not a normal weekend needless to say. Crazy but fun. Luke pushing every button, but cracking us up at the same time. Paden feeling the effects of his shots, but happy just the same. Basketball brackets totally busted, but do we really care? And one tired, but happy set of parents!

Polliwog Park is one of our new favorite outings...

Luke is "selling" "donuts" to Daddy...thankfully we gave up baked goods for Lent!

This is what I did part of this Sunday afternoon while we watched our Elite 8 bracket get busted...

...and this is why I do "what I do".

A is for Azusa

On Mondays you can usually find the boys and I scampering around the house in our pj's taking it easy as we recover from the weekend. If we head out -- it's usually just to the park or in our driveway to burn off some left over energy. However this past Monday found us in Azusa instead! Grams lives in Azusa (my grandma) and it had been probably since early February when the boys and I made it out there last -- so it was about time for a little "road trip." Thankfully the "road trip" is only 45-minutes (on a good LA traffic day). The "kids" (my 4 cousins) were visiting during their spring break, so instead of Grams' and my usual trip to Flappy Jack's for brunch, we loaded up the kids with a picnic and headed off to the neighborhood park. It was so nice to have young blood chase my boys around while Grams and I chatted and got caught up. It was "one of those days" with Luke so I was more than ready to have someone else entertain him. We all certainly had a good time and of course it was a beautiful Southern California day!

The girls "introduced" Luke to those hot Cheeto-things...

...he turned out not to be a big fan of them!

Grams and Paden

Hannah & Tabitha taking turns with Paden

Can you believe her? She's 80 and nothing stops her from sliding with the grandkid (Rebekah) and great-grandkid

Uncle John loved how Luke and Peanuts were the same size! (I do believe the dog is heavier than Luke though!) (And how ironic is this? Luke is allergic to peanuts and dogs -- but he's okay hanging out with Peanuts!)

Guess who's taller?

This visit was certainly a "God-thing." I was about to back-out (it was one of those mornings with Luke) but Grams and the kids were really looking forward to us coming out. We did end up having lots of fun and the boys did great, even slept all the way home. But the most awesome part of the day was my opportunity to have a "sit down and come to Jesus" with my uncle John. God had been weighing my heart with a desire to just encourage him...and the time finally came. I think John cornered me and kept me talking for almost an hour after our park time. God does work in mysterious ways.

Seriously?!

Last night John and I spent a quiet evening reading after we put the boys to bed. As I was reading my Parents' magazine I realized how screwed Luke is! Sorry kiddo but from some of the articles I was reading between your genes and the moldy house we lived in the first year-and-a-half of your life you don't have much hope when it comes to allergies. It seems that children who are exposed to mold seem to have a higher allergy and asthma rate. That was proof last night when our poor little boy's face was red and his eyes were giving us that "allergy look." We have been working so hard to watch his food allergies and clearing up his eczema and after two days of playing outside it seems that the allergic reactions are coming back. Bummer!

And then I was reading an article about night terrors - and sure enough those can also have a genetic touch. Mommy is always having dream-filled nights, and now it seems little dude is starting to experience the same. The last three nights we have been abruptly shaken out of our dream world with a crying little boy. Poor baby! One night even found him in our bed after the 3rd "night terror."

So see, the kid has no chance! Night terrors and allergies...just a few of the "fun" things Luke gets to experience.

One fun note though...as I was putting Luke down for his afternoon nap he started to sing. The little dude was singing "Jesus Loves Me" while using hand signs! How cute was that?!! I wish I could have caught him on video -- but I will remember this one for a while! Thanks to the awesome ladies at church for teaching him this sweet song!

Let's Make A Fort!

Luke was so excited to see Daddy this morning when he woke up. It was almost like Christmas morning! Absence certainly makes the heart grow fonder!