Random Picture Friday

Happy Friday everyone!  We are having some unexpected showers on the Trail, so it gave me a reason to stay inside to post some pictures.  The past few weeks have been a whirlwind, so please excuse my two weeks worth of pictures.  I'm planning on catching up on our Memorial Day pictures, as well as Tot School, sometime in the next few days.  Enjoy and have a blessed weekend!

Swimming Lessons at DiVentures in Omaha, Daddy came to watch (and take pictures)!

At his last swimming lesson, Luke went under for 5 whole seconds.  He is such a little fish!

The 21-gun salute at my Grandpa's funeral last week.

Luke has never had candy and I'm not sure if he even knows what it is, but he loves the sound of the packages and he makes piles with them in check-out lines.

Luke loves reading his Bible.

Pretty flowers Luke and Kevin picked me for Kevin and I's 7th anniversary on Monday.

Whenever it's quiet in the house, Luke is either getting into something he shouldn't be OR reading the Bible in his room.

Luke and his soon-to-be-babysitter, Joslyn.  I don't know if Joslyn knows what she's in for once she's old enough to be with Luke on his own.

Remembering Grandpa

Grandpa Hasley was a Jesus-loving, card game playing, sand castle building, generous and frugal guy.  He was many things to many people, but he was my Grandpa.  My Grandpa Hasley passed into heaven last Wednesday.  Although I'm going to miss him more than I can even imagine now, I know he is at peace with Jesus. 

I want to honor my Grandpa today as it is Memorial Day.  Not only was he my Grandpa, but he was a war veteran serving here and in France and South Korea in Military Intelligence.  He will forever be a hero to me and my family.

Who was my Grandpa?

My Grandpa Hasley always made time to play a game of Up and Down the River or Dominos with anyone (I mean anyone) who wanted to play.  He was a war veteran that served both overseas and at home for our great country.  He loved his wife, children, and grandchildren and taught us all how to be a family.  He enjoyed donating to various charities, receiving calendars from those charities, and then passing out those calendars to every one of his kids and grandkids at Christmas every. single. year.  (I'm going to miss that.)  He loved to save a dime anyway he could, but was generous to all who knew him.  Grandpa always asked about his grandkids' lives and what they were up to, he loved to hear about our grades and if we were receiving 'A's'.  Grandpa loved his little 'puppy dogs', even the mischievous ones.  But, to sum up my Grandpa in a few words, he was a man of God.  His best friend was Jesus and because he knew the incredible love of Jesus, he was able to love others like Jesus every single day.  His relationship with Jesus was a shining example to all who knew him and there is no doubt in my mind that he is with Jesus now, probably playing a game of Up and Down the River.

I love you, Grandpa, and I look forward to seeing you in heaven one day!

San Diego

Last week Kevin and I were Luke-less for a few days while we visited sunny San Diego.  Kevin had a conference and we decided it was the perfect opportunity to have a few date nights and spend some quality time together.  As much as we missed our little man, we enjoyed every single minute together.    Carving out some time to be 'just us' is exactly what we needed and I am so thankful for the opportunity to do so.  (Did I mention it is a breeze to travel without a toddler???  We didn't know how easy we had it before Luke!)  

Kevin's parents took care of Luke while we were gone and that made the trip that much more enjoyable....not having to worry about a thing and knowing he is in loving, capable hands.  We didn't Skype or talk to Luke while we were gone (which was super hard), but we knew it would be difficult for him to understand if we did.  So, we checked in with Diane daily and she was so sweet to update us on all the fun things Luke did that day.  

Since Kevin had a conference, we weren't able to do much together during the day, but we definitely had some great meals at night.  Since we didn't have Luke with us we pretty much just enjoyed ourselves and didn't get the camera out much, but here are a few we managed to get...

Modern Times Brewery.  Kevin has been dreaming of going to this place for awhile now (it's the #7 brewery in the world or something, Kevin knows everything about this place).  We rented a car for the half day we had before the conference started and Kevin was able to try some brew he has been dying to try, as well as check out the cool interior of the brewery and 'talk shop' with some of the staff.  I have to say, it was pretty darn cool and I'm pretty sure we weren't cool enough to be in there.

My 'office', while Kevin was at the conference.

Sunset in San Diego.

Our pedi-cab ride I begged Kevin for...a one-way trip cost almost as much as our rental car for a day.  Oops.

Chocolate cake from Extraordinary Desserts.  My pregnancy brain was definitely making the decisions this evening.

I walked 1.2 miles to get this donut and 1.2 miles back.  It was worth it.

A big ship going through the bay, this was part of my entertainment from my 'office'.

The day we rented the car we also checked out Coronado Beach.  It was beautiful!

Heading home from San Diego.  We were really excited to see our little man at this point.

Tot School {More Color Matching}

This month we have been working on colors, specifically the colors red, blue, green, and yellow.  There are an endless amount of things you can do to teach colors, but we kept it pretty simple for Luke and his 18 month big brain.  (Big head, big brain...right???)  These are activities that we have done for the past month.  We definitely haven't had a consistent schedule lately with traveling and outside gardening duties, but Luke and I try to slip in some Tot School when we can.  Here are some more color matching activities:

Scooping Poms

Rating: 5/5

Skills:
Colors: red, yellow, green, blue
Fine motor development
Counting
Sensory development

Activity:
Luke loves poms.  This was a simple activity to throw together when I was short on time.  I gave him a big bowl of pons along with a 1/4 measuring cup and another container.  We scooped pons from one bowl to another and talked about the colors he was scooping.

Color Basket

Rating: 3/5

Skills:
Colors: red, yellow, green, blue
Sensory development

Activity:
I put some items from previous color activities into a basket and let Luke explore.  We talked about the color of each object and he enjoyed sorting the pons into the cups, although not correctly.  We will get there.

Color Matching

Rating: 5/5

Skills:
Colors: red, yellow, green, blue
Sorting
Counting
Fine motor development
Sensory development

Activity:
This is an activity I have been using all month with different items.  I put four pieces of felt on the floor and we sort objects onto the felt.  We have used legos, magnetic letters, pipe cleaners, and puzzle pieces.  The options are endless.  Luke is really into cars right now, so we are going to sort his cars later this week. 

Linked up at:
http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.net
http://www.icanteachmychild.com

Luke is 18 months

Where does the time go?  Really.  Where in the world does it go?  

My sweet tiny-toed newborn baby has turned into a toddler overnight, or at least it seems that way.  Luke turned 18 months a few weeks back and he continues to amaze Kevin and I day after day with all the new things he is learning and able to do.  He has recently started to amaze us with his ability to act like a two-year old (in the terrible two kind of way).  Here is what Luke has been up to lately:

• Luke likes to jog around the house, especially when he is excited about something.  His walking turned into jogging/running pretty quickly.
• Luke's most favorite thing in the entire world: anything that has wheels.  He loves tractors.  He loves trucks.  He loves cars.  The bigger the better.  We have spent many hours making circles around various vehicles checking out their wheels.
• Peanut butter and jelly on wheat bread is his favorite meal.  He also enjoys pizza, guacamole, banana muffins, yogurt with Cheerios, applesauce, bananas, and broccoli muffins.  We have to sneak fruit and vegetables in whenever we can, as he isn't a fan of eating them on their own.
• Luke has started to help 'pick up' whenever we are done playing with something.  He likes to pick up his cars and books.
• His current favorite toy: his garage sale John Deere tractor.  He calls it his 'ga ga', even though we have been trying to get him to say 'tractor'.  He rides on that thing every waking minute he is inside.
• If all is quiet in the house, I usually find Luke with a stack of books in his playroom.  He loves sitting there and looking through every. single. book.  He will also get out the Bible and bedtime book from his room and turn every page.
• Luke can identify his tummy, nose, and head.  He uses the signs 'more', 'please', and 'all done' pretty consistently.
• Luke loves his Daddy.  When Kevin gets home at night, Luke is attached to his hip.  He loves to sit on the bed as Kevin changes and play with his credit cards.  This could potentially be a problem one day...
• Luke is an outdoorsman.  On nice days, Luke loves to wander around the farm checking out all the tractors, the truck, and the shed.  He loves to get on/in them and work the steering wheels.  He will sneak in a ride on the swing every now and then.
• Luke has absolutely no fear of animals, even animals he doesn't know.  He will stick his hand in any dog or cat's face trying to pet them or grab their tail.  This works out well for him most of the time, except when he gets batted in the face trying to grab at a cat's tail.  We are trying to work on 'nice touches'.
• At meal time, we have to watch Luke carefully.  He has been throwing food off of his tray lately, mainly when he doesn't like it.  (This is part of the terrible twos thing, hopefully.)
• Luke says the words 'Dada' and 'Men (Amen)' consistently with meaning.  He will say 'Mama' and 'Papa' at times, but not on a regular basis.  He also says 'gaga' for 'tractor', but I'm not sure that counts.
• Luke loves to make piles of things.  He will take canned food out of the pantry and make a pile.  He almost always puts the items back where he found them.  He will do this with items in the bathroom as well as his cars.  This kid is a sorter!
• Wednesday is one of Luke's favorite days of the week because it's swimming lesson day.  He is able to hold his breath under water for 2-3 seconds and swim to me.  He loves chasing balls in the water and getting water on his face.  He is pretty good at climbing out of the pool from the wall.  We are still working on getting him to use his 'kickers'!  It will be fun to see what he does at the Quarry this summer!
• Luke is down to one afternoon nap a day.  He sleeps for about 3-4 hours in the afternoon.  He likes his sleep.  He still sleeps from 7-7 at night, which Kevin and I are so very thankful for!
• Luke will be a big brother in November.  He has NO IDEA what is in store for him, and neither do Kevin or I.  We are so excited and know he will be an awesome big brother.

These pictures were taken by Kim Kalina Photography and were done in the Old Market in Omaha.  Kim did a wonderful job!  Prepare for picture overload.

If you want to take a trip down memory lane, check out these posts(Mom you will need a Kleenex):

Luke is 1!

1 month away from 1 year

Luke is 9 months

Eight is Great: Luke at 8 months

7 months=212 days of Luke

6 months of Luke

Luke is 5 months

4 months of Luke

3 months old

2 months...already?!

1 month

Luke Edwin

Happy Momma's Day!

As Mother's Day wraps up for another year I sit on the couch feeling extremely thankful for the blessing of today and the opportunity to be celebrated and, also, to celebrate the amazing moms that have touched and continue to touch my life.  It was a special day as we were able to celebrate with my mom, grandma, Kevin's mom, and our little family.  Kevin sure knows how to make a girl feel special and I was feeling the love today from him and my main little man.  Even though there is one day a year to celebrate all the women out there that get called Momma, I have the amazing blessing of feeling appreciated each and every day from my men.  Life is good.  Hope you all had a blessed Mother's Day weekend!  

Mom and I today after church and lunch.  Can you spot the baby bump?? (Baby #2 coming in November, more on that later.)  

Diane, Kevin, and Luke celebrating tonight with pisssssa.

Somehow Luke and I didn't get a picture together today.  This is one of my favorites.

Random Picture Friday

What a week it's been.  It has been absolutely beautiful outside and Luke and I have been soaking up the sun.  Hope you had a great week and were able to enjoy some beautiful weather wherever you are!  Have a blessed weekend!

Farmer's Market 

Kevin and I went ON A DATE!

We picked up this John Deere gem at a garage sale on our date.  Luke  is on that thing pretty much every hour he is inside and awake.

At the zoo with Daddy for Teammates.

Luke LOVES his new watering can Aunt Hillary gave him.  (We might have some dead, overwatered plants this summer.)  :)

Pretending to 'drive'.  This kid gets excited about steering wheels.