2 big events

two big things have happened in the past 24 hours. first, sam gave laney her first bite of rice cereal last night. i think she enjoyed sam's company more than the cereal.

and luke, who will be 17 months old tomorrow, peed in the potty this morning for the first time! he's been grabbing his diaper for a few weeks saying "potty". so this morning i took him to the seat and let him give it a try. within no time at all he tinkled. of course he then had to stick his hand in the potty to check it out. boys... he sat back down for a quick picture after getting his diaper on.

backfire

although riding in the car with sam can sometimes be frustrating because he asks a million questions, it can lead to great conversations. for example, i told him on the way to church this past sunday that his friend pierson wouldn't be there because his great granddad was sick. that initial statement led to many questions which led to the discussion of the fall of man. heavy stuff for a 4 year old...

about a month ago we were in the car and i educated sam on driving. after saying he wanted me to go really fast so i could crash in to another car i figured it was a good time to tell him why that was a bad idea. i happened to include the 10 and 2 rule. i also happened to tell him that it would be funny for him to randomly yell "10 and 2" next time he was in the car with his daddy. (yes, ron and i use our son to play jokes on each other every now and then.) well, it backfired. sam tells me at least every other day "2 and 10 mommy!" how funny...

Luke's new look

Luke has decided that when someone walks up to say hey, he will just put his head down without any expression on his face. He won't say hey. He won't look up at them. I noticed it Sunday at church for the first time. He did it again today at MDO. His teachers kept trying to get him to talk and he just stared down, with his lips closed tightly, trying to keep from grinning. They finally got a grin out of him then he ran off to play. What a crazy boy... This picture doesn't give the full expression, but it gives you an idea.

my boys are getting good at talking on the phone. i assure you they didn't learn it from me... ☺

Before and After

Since Sam got Ron's rocking chair from when he was a little boy, it was only fitting that our second born would get mine. So after moving it from attic to attic over the last couple of years (and as y'all know, that's a lot of attics considering how much we've moved) I finally finished it for Luke to enjoy.

sleeping

We went to El Olmeca tonight so Luke could dance a little. They were supposed to have a DJ but he didn't show. Laney was beyond tired. She eventually fell asleep in Ron's arms. Check out the drool...

cute brothers

they like taking turns shooting water into their mouths from the bathtub water gun

After Pops bathed the boys they showed him some love. Actually, they beat on his belly so hard I was scared he was going to get a little sick.

Nice hair, Luke

Luke ate a hot dog at dinner tonight. Luke also played with his hair at dinner tonight. With that combination, his sticky fingers helped provide him with a new hairdo. If only y'all could have seen it in person... it was so much funnier than it looks in the picture. He had a patch of hair standing off the left side of his head.

Sam's new glasses

Sam got his new glasses today and boy does he look handsome! After 18 months of going to the eye doctor and hoping his left eye would correct itself on its own we ended up with glasses. He had his appointment Saturday morning and the doctor felt it was time to get them. (In case any of you in Huntsville are looking for an optometrist, Dr. Melanie Cox at Parkway Place Lenscrafters is amazing. She has a way with kids...)

Since his eyes were dilated Saturday, we waited until Sunday to pick out his glasses.

Then Ron and I took him back tonight to pick them up. Although it may take a while for him to get used to them, he's already mentioned that he can see better. That's encouraging.

Happy 4 months Laney!

Laney wasn't in the mood for pictures this weekend. I couldn't get a good one of her looking at the camera and smiling. So here we have her with her daddy watching some football. (Ron really is a nice guy despite the face he's making; he always does that when I'm trying to take a picture.)

Here's a repeat of her smiling at Sam...

Another one of Sam's birthday dinners...

As you can tell from my recent posts, we have eaten out a lot over the past week. We had to get in some birthday dinners though... I just now got these pictures off my camera. They're from our trip to Red Robin. (And don't worry, there aren't any more after this. Back to healthy eating...)

I just love Sam's reaction to his birthday sundae

so sweet!

Luke didn't want to be left out, so he leaned in for the picture.

Sam enjoys making Laney laugh. He did a good job of it yesterday.

Who knew a purple ball could be so much fun!? Sam and Luke passed the ball back and forth and laughed over and over again.

video of luke talking

Sam's Party

Sam had a small birthday party last weekend. He had a few friends attend the party along with cousins, an aunt and uncle, and grandparents. We played a few games outside and the kids racked up gold coins according to how they did. At the end of the party everyone was given a prize. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finishers got ribbons while the others got gold medals to wear around their necks. It was fun.

Here we have the hacky sack toss. Payne was helping Kole out a little.

The egg and spoon race

Here's Ron explaining the dizzy bat run

Ron and my brother Stannon helped the kids spin

We were going to have a game with these balloons. The kids played with them as if they were swords and accidentally popped them before the game began.

Sam received the Chick Hicks and King hauler. He was so excited.

Sam got so tickled playing with the Whoopee Cushions I bought

a few more pics from clinton

i know it's been quite a few weeks since we were in mississippi. but i got these pictures from my mom-in-law and thought i'd add them.

Rosie's Mexican Cantina

Since Rosie's is one of our favorite restaurants we had to take my brother and his family while they were here. Here are all the cousins (minus Laney of course) showing off their balloons.

Funny picture... I think Ron and Luke are both yawning.

The waiters surprised Sam with his own candle-lit dessert and a sombrero hat. I wish the straw in his drink wasn't covering his face; he was so happy.

June 17th birthdays

These two precious girls share the same birthday... only they're 7 years apart. Sweet Anne Madison and Laney.

my nieces' artwork

While Anne Madison and Avery were in town they said they wanted to learn to paint a picture like the ones I did over the fireplace. So I took them outside and showed them the simple technique of putting a little paint on a canvas (a piece of wood in this case) and spraying it with water for a nice drip-effect. They certainly enjoyed it.

I forgot to take a final picture of their paintings. (Jen, will you send me one if you get a chance?) Here are the paintings about half-way through.

B's Cruise

My mom and three of her close friends went on a cruise last weekend. Here they are all cleaned up and dignified...

And here they are showing off their tattoos... ☺

B surprised them with a limo shuttle from the airport to the dock. Here they are calling their families... something about this picture just makes me laugh.

School Pictures

Tate Farms

Our whole family went to Tate Farms to pick some pumpkins and have some good 'ole fun. The weather was gorgeous and we enjoyed being outside. Ron took the boys on a hay ride while I fed Laney. The boys also got to enjoy petting animals, sliding, playing in corn, and more...

Luke enjoyed going down the big slide all by himself.

Sam loved the bunny rabbits.

I wish we got a better picture of Luke while petting the baby goats. He had his eyes all squenched up and was giggling.

By the end, Luke was in a daze just staring ahead. He was pooped.