Cookies & eggs

We were busy yesterday! In the morning Luke & I made bunny cookies which we frosted in the afternoon. Shortly after that, we dyed our Easter eggs. After seeing the pictures my mom noted that when it comes to frosting cookies, Luke goes with the "more is better" theory (does he ever!)

I found these neat egg holders that allowed Luke to put the eggs in the dye and get them out basically by himself.

Easter party

Can anyone believe Luke wore these bunny ears at his school party?

Conversations with Luke

Here are some snippits of conversations recently heard around our house . . .

LUKE: "When I close my eyes to sleep, sometimes the stories come."

LUKE: "When I grow up, I'm going to work in that building."
GARY: "You are? What are you going to do?"
LUKE: "Sell cups. But I'm going to sell bigger cups than you sell. Or maybe small ones, too. It depends on what they want."

LUKE: "Oh, man, I can't believe I have diarrhea!" (TMI, I know, but it's funny!!)

LUKE: "I'm my Daddy's boy."
ME: "You are?"
LUKE: "Yes, because I toot a lot."

Bragging rights

I know I've talked way too much about how smart Luke is, but it's true! He continues to amaze Gary and me. Here's the latest example.

Last week the children in Luke's class had to trace the hands of everyone in their family to put on a big paper cross because they were learning that Jesus died for everyone. We traced our hands and Luke wanted to write our names on them. He wrote "Mommy" on mine, and I said we should probably put my name on it since everyone's would say "Mommy"; he was clever enough to figure out that we could put "Luke's Mommy" and that would clear up the confusion. So he labeled the hands "Luke's Mommy", "Luke's Daddy", "Luke", and "Noah" (Noah's looked pretty funny, but we got it done.) Anyway, all this to say that tonight he was drawing a picture for Gary, and he wrote "Luke's Daddy" on it because the drawing was indeed for Luke's Daddy. He remembered how to write "Luke's" and how to spell Daddy. He also knows how to spell Mommy, Erin, Noah, Price, Ella, and Luke Chumley.

After I showed Gary the apostrophe "s" Luke had written, he labeled him a future English major; I reminded him, however, that this is the same child who still says things like "much more easier", "goodest", and, of all things, "correctest". Gary then said, "Well, he is half mine!"

Thanks for tolerating yet another report on my son's smarts!

Easter egg hunt

Yesterday we went to our church's Easter egg hunt. Luke has been practicing for the event by hiding eggs around the house and hunting for them. (We even had to put things in the eggs, so there's pennies in a few, some bouncy balls in others, and Diego Rescue Center animals in the bigger eggs.) It was a beautiful day, just perfect for an Easter egg hunt. There was candy involved, so needless to say, Luke had a great time (he is so my child!)

All aboard!

On Saturday we made our annual trek to go see Thomas the Tank Engine. For those of you who don't know about this event, there's a life-sized replica of Thomas that's attached to a vintage train, and you get to take a ride on the train. This year Bob the Builder was there, too. He did a show every couple of hours, and we caught part of it after our ride on Thomas. Luke enjoyed the train ride, although it wasn't as much of a "wow!!" experience for him this year because we did it last year. The novelty had worn off, but he still had fun.

We're ready to go!

Luke gives his ticket to the conductor.

Enjoying the view from the train.

Bob entertains the crowd.

Story time

As I was reading some books to Noah yesterday, I had the idea to let Luke read to him. He has memorized so many books that he has lots to choose from. So, we took several into the living room, and Luke read to his baby brother. It was a sweet moment.

Roly poly

Yesterday I put Noah on a pillow on the floor, and when I walked back into the room, he had scooted off the pillow and rolled onto his side. Now whenever I put him down, he quickly rolls onto his left side. I think he might roll all the way over soon.

My good baby

Noah is such a good baby! While I was getting ready last Friday, I laid him on my bed. He started getting a little fussy because he was tired, so I plugged him up. He got really quite, and when I checked on him a couple of minutes later, he was sound asleep. He slept like this for about an hour. Luke used to scream himself to sleep, but Noah usually just drifts peacefully off. The pacy certainly helps him fall asleep, but he's much more laid-back than Luke was (or is for that matter.)

Noah went with me to Shreveport last weekend, and he couldn't have been better. He slept the whole way there and back and slept through all the loud music Friday night. We played games in our hotel room Saturday night and were extremely loud. He just slept through that, too. He apparently was exhausted Sunday night. After falling asleep around 7:45 and eating at 5:30, he slept till 8:45. Luke has never slept till 8:45 his entire life!

All his 3-6 month clothes fit him like these overalls - huge in the body, but barely long enough. He's my little peanut stringbean!

How does your garden grow?

This is the second year we've had our little garden in the backyard. We're growing lettuce, spinach, carrots, and snap peas, and in a couple of weeks we'll plant tomatoes, a variety of peppers, and onions. Luke loves to check to see how tall the lettuce has grown, and watering it is one of his new favorite activities.

Refilled

This weekend I traveled to Shreveport with several other gals from my women's Bible study group to hear Beth Moore speak. She is an author and has written many Bible studies, several of which we've done in my group. Each study comes with a video of her speaking, and while she's dynamic on video, she's amazing in person. This is the second time I've seen her live, and I enjoyed her even more this year. One of the best things about the weekend is the music. Her praise & worship team led by Travis Cottrell is wonderful! I have the CD Alive and it's one of my favorite CD's to listen to in the car.

This weekend she focused on stones. She started by making the point that we're all living stones built on Jesus, the cornerstone. Then she expanded on the idea of stones with three places in the Bible where stones are held in the hand.
-I Samuel 7:2-12 - Samuel puts a stone between two cities and named it Ebenezer meaning, "Thus far my God has helped me." We might not ever know what tomorrow brings, but we can always say I am here and have gotten through this current tribulation because, "Thus far my God has helped me." Amen!
-I Samuel - David & Goliath is a familiar story to most people, but she put a completely different spin on it. We all have giants to face, and Jesus is our living stone that we can sling at our giants to defeat them. She told us we need to be dangerous in the kingdom of God so we can defeat the enemy.
-John 8 - The Pharisees brought a woman caught in the act of adultery to Jesus to see if he would condemn her. Instead of condemning her, he said if there was anyone without sin that he should be the first to cast a stone. This, too, is a familiar story, but leave it to Beth Moore to relate it in a completely new way. She said we all throw stones every day: we gossip, we give people the cold shoulder, we say hurtful things to those we love. She said throwing stones can feel good because people do wrong us, but it's not our place to punish them. We have to give our stones to God.

I feel really refreshed after this weekend. Being in a convention center with 14,000 women worshipping and praising God will do that to you! I recommend getting involved with one of her Bible studies if you never have - it will be a life-changing experience.

Bumbo

My friend Sandra let me borrow her Bumbo, and I think it has to be one of the greatest baby inventions ever! We tried it for the first time today, and Noah really seemed to enjoy sitting up in it. He did list to one side a bit, so it'll probably be a couple of weeks before he's steady in it, but he was still quite content.

Mimi

My mom was here this weekend for Noah's baptism, and we had a great visit. She loved being with Noah. She hasn't seen him since he was a week old, and she could hardly believe how he's changed. He smiled at her and talked to her, and I'm pretty sure she fell completely in love with him (which is very easy to do.) It was wonderful to have her here, and I miss her very much already. Here are a few pictures from our weekend together.

Baptism

We had Noah baptized yesterday. It was such a special day. My mom was able to come out for the baptism, and it was wonderful to have family there. He wore the same outfit Luke wore, which is also the outfit my nephew Ethan wore. We have a blanket that my mom, my sister, her children, Luke, & I all used when we were baptized, so it's quite sentimental.

Noah was so good; we didn't hear a peep out of him the whole time, even when Pastor John put the water on his head. (His brother screamed the whole time, so we were prepared for the worst and were pleasantly surprised.) We had a few friends over after church for lunch, and it was nice to visit with them for a while.
Pastor John introduces Noah to the congregation.

Getting sprinkled.

We told Pastor John that Noah would probably spit up on him, and after he gave Noah back to me he said, "See, he didn't throw up on me like you said he would." Then he looked at the congregation and said, "But you notice that I held him towards you all instead of towards me." He's such a comedian!

The yummy cake at the lunch (no, I didn't make it, so don't ask if I did!)

3 months

Noah turned 3 months on Sunday - how time flies! Here are a few new fun facts about him:

-He is a good baby. He fusses when most babies do, when he's hungry or tired, but other than that, he's pretty content.

-There is still hair on the back of his ears.

-The hair on the top of his head has stuck up since he was born. It's at least an inch long so it sticks up pretty high - it's very cute.

-He smiles and coos all the time; sometimes his talking is quite loud. He especially enjoys talking to the ceiling fan in the bedroom with our computer, and he often laughs in the middle of a "story" he's telling. He cracks himself up!

-He will still take a bottle and loves his pacifier. Luke had quite both of those things by this point, so it's quite nice having a baby I can plug up from time to time. Gary enjoys giving him a bottle every evening, and my mom loved feeding him this weekend.

I am so enjoying this baby! I love him bunches and bunches and look forward to him changing every day.

One more hour

Noah slept from 8:00-5:15 last night! He went right back to sleep after he ate, and he's actually still asleep right now at 8:50. My mom fed him a bottle at 7:00, and it apparently filled him up for 10 hours. I don't know what she did, but she's obviously never leaving my house.

Book review

Here are some good books I've read recently (and some not so recently) that I would recommend:

-The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
This is such an amazing book. It's about a wealthy boy growing up in Afghanistan and his friendship with the son of his father's servant. Parts of it are somewhat violent and a little difficult to get through, but it's so worth it when you finish.

-The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Wonderful! Although the concept, time travel, is science fiction, it's actually a love story at its core. A little confusing at first, but if you stick with it, it, like The Kite Runner is absolutely worth it!

-The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
I just finished this book last night, and it was great. It's about an Indian couple who move to America. They name their first son Gogol, and this name plagues him his entire life. It's well-written and is really touching. A very good read.

-The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult
I've read four of her books, and they're all great. They all center on parent-child relationships, but each one is quite unique. The Tenth Circle is about a father and daughter and the lengths to which the father is willing to go to keep his daughter safe. The others that I've read are My Sister's Keeper; Keeping Faith; and Plain Truth. I especially liked My Sister's Keeper.

-Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
A great book about an elderly Chinese woman and the story of her life. Much of the book is focused on a woman's place in late 19th century China and her relationships with everyone in her family. Because foot binding was popular at this time, there is a good bit of detail about this practice which I found quite interesting (although the practice is gruesome.) I really enjoyed this book.

Say what? Part 2

Luke has said several funny things the past couple of days. Here are a few . . .

-On Tuesday he told me when he got bigger he was going to go on American Idol and sing. He said he wasn't sure if he was going to sing the little songs he knows.

-We read a book the other night that had a boy in it with glasses on. He told me he didn't want that book in the bed because "children who wear glasses look at me." He also told me the "D" on our Dell computer looks at him. He has some serious issues.

-When I told him that American Idol didn't come on until after his bedtime last night, he asked why. I told him they changed it, and he said, "Who? The people who live in the TV?" Then he asked, "Can we go there and change it back?" He has talked about "they" before; he'll come running to me to tell me what show comes on next - "Mommy, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse comes on next. They told me so!"

-This morning in the car: "Mommy, when I'm 19, or maybe 14, I'll go in a rocket ship. Noah will be bigger then." I asked if Noah was going, too, and he said, "Yes. Me and Daddy and Noah will go." He told me I could go, too, but I would have to let him know what day I wanted to go (bless his heart, he's very structured! I wonder where he gets that from?)

-Again in the car today: "Mommy, do dinosaurs have hearts?" "Yes, they do." "Do they have the love of the Lord?" "Yes, son, I'm sure they do."

Out of the mouths of babes!

P-r-i-c-e

Price, a boy in Luke's class, is one of his many "best friends". Luke talks about Price all the time and loves to write his name. Because Luke's always spelling Price's name, I call him by the letters of his name, "P-r-i-c-e." Yesterday Price came over to play, and the boys had such a good time with each other. They're so silly together, and it's a hoot to listen to their conversations. One intense conversation was about what color Woody's skin is. Luke said it was yellow, but Price disagreed. Then Luke tried to prove his point by showing Price his own hand and saying, "See, I'm yellow." Then he pointed to one of his joints and stated that this particular part of his hand was khaki which, according to Luke, is a tricky color. I just listened and laughed at the whole thing. They spent about an hour outside pouring most of the sand from the sand table down the hole that holds the umbrella. They said it was an ice cream machine. What imaginations!

Price and Luke acting silly - of course - at snack time.

Say what?

Snippits of conversations with Luke recently heard around our house . . .

-When told to pull really hard to get a drawer open, Luke replied, "Don't worry. I'll use my strongness to get it open."

-"Does that sound like a plan, Stan?"

-"Is that the deal?"

-"Well, if you don't want that pacy, just spit it out."

(These last three are basically exact repetitions of things I say.)

-"Oh, I forgot to feed Switz her breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Here you go, here you go, here you go."

Noah's latest trick

Noah has figured out how to get his hands into his mouth, and it's his new favorite pasttime. He makes the loudest sucking noises when he gets one of them in his mouth. What a smarty!

Eight hours

That's right . . . Noah slept for over eight hours last night! He ate and fell asleep about 8:00 and didn't wake up at all until 4:15! I slept from about 9:45-4:15, so I got a good 6 1/2 hours in a row. Noah went right back to sleep after he ate and slept till about 7:45. So I got another 2 or so hours after I fed him. I feel like a new person today! I'm probably jinxing myself by talking about it, and he'll probably never do it again, but he did it last night. Hooray!!

Pop culture

Those who are closest to me know that I'm a reality TV junkie. If it's reality TV, I'm probably watching it. One of my favorite shows is American Idol, and I look forward to each new season. Last year, Luke happened to watch a few minutes of just a couple of episodes, so when I mentioned that it was coming back on, he was very excited. I didn't let him watch the audition episodes because the language can be kind of PG-13, but now that we're in the top 24, he's a regular watcher. He knows what days it comes on, and this morning he started jumping around saying, "It's American Idol day! It's American Idol day!" He does this every time we watch it, too. He understands the basic concept, that people sing and then some go home if everyone doesn't like their songs. He loves TV about as much as I do and has been known to watch cooking shows, even when I'm not in the room, just because they're on; so it's no wonder he likes American Idol. So, you know where my son and I will be at 8/7 central tonight, tomorrow night, and Thursday night. Here's hoping our favorites make the top 12!

Switz

Last week when Luke was sick, I wanted to get him a little treat when I was at the grocery store. I found this dog in the 75% off Valentine's bin and thought Luke would like it. Like is an understatement. He loves her and takes her everywhere we go (he said it's a girl because she has on a pink bow.) He named her Switz. I think he was originally going to name her Switzerland which is the name of the dog we brought him back from Switzerland last year. When he realized he already had a dog named Switzerland, he shortened it to just Switz. He talks to her and feeds her and rocks her to sleep. It's the bes $2 I've ever spent!

Noah

Our friend John Thomas took some black & white pictures of Noah last weekend. I mainly wanted to get some shots of his hands & feet, but John took a few candids, too and ended up getting some great ones. I especially love the one of Luke looking at Noah.