A Delightful Dose of Daddy's Day

We recently got to enjoy the excitement of a day with Daddy at preschool. This is the day of the school year the kids probably look forward to the most. There is just something so sweet, so intriguing, exciting about having your Daddy visit you at school. Of course, I am there with them for pick up and drop off everyday that they are there (3 times a week) and also for every party, function or meeting available (I LOVE volunteering at their school) but, alas, "Your Mommy's here!" just doesn't quite seem to hold the same excitement for them. The other day when I picked half-asleep Jonah up he suddenly whined, loudly, "But I wanted somebody ELSE to pick me up!" Nice. Thanks buddy. I love you too. I know my kids love me. I really do . But I would just like to remind them that Mommy IS keeping notes. Here we are at the corn bin. My fellow Mommy helper, Kim, and I gloated a little at how it appeared we had been given the easiest volunteer gig.
They say appearances can be deceiving. They are right.
We left about an hour after all the other volunteers. After every toy was dug out of the corn, each stray kernel was swept and everything else bagged and stored. There was no further gloating.

But there was shaving! Only a few pints of blood were lost. Just kidding. Those are bladeless razors. Although Chris said it was mentally challenging to sit still and allow a 3 and 5 year old to "shave" your face.

Daddy Love.

The End.

Wedded Bliss

On August 30th our dear friends Samantha and Jamie were married. Maya was the flower girl and Jonah the ring bearer, although he preferred to be called the prince. I believe that means Maya's prince, since all they can talk about now is marrying each other. I keep having to remind them that we're not from Kentucky. (Just kidding. That's a little jab at some dear friends, just to see if they are reading this.) Maya was a gorgeous little flower girl/princess who took her responsibility very seriously. And Jonah was the cutest ring bearer/prince ever (no bias here.) He tried very hard to smile for all the pictures (you all know that is not something he enjoys) and did everything we asked of him even though our poor little man was in the midst of a stomach bug, unbeknownst to any of the wedding party. There were a few choice moments where we thought he might toss his cookies in the middle of the ceremony, but my tough little guy pulled through, even to the reception where he finally got to dance with Mommy (and Maya with Daddy.)

There is a cute sidenote on that: earlier we had shown them our wedding video and when it got to the part at the reception where Chris and I had our first dance Jonah started crying and said "I wanted to dance with Mommy at the Ball!" They're taking this prince and princess stuff seriously, I'm telling you.

Mommy with the Prince and Princess.

Omi joins in the fun. Would you believe she made that beautiful wreath for Maya's hair? Those are real hydrangea from her garden. Thanks Mom!

Typical response to the camera.

Mom, Dr. Bill and Sandy (lovely Mother of the Bride).

Getting ready to walk down the aisle. I think it was about 30 seconds after I snapped this shot that Jonah announced "I have to throw up!" I grabbed him and began to dash to the bathroom, but looked back and saw only two more bridesmaids before their turn to walk. I looked down and asked him again how he felt. Miraculously, he said he was ok. So, down the aisle they went.

I hung back in the lobby with Baby Lukie and when the ceremony was over I was so proud that they made it back up the aisle too. Only, a few minutes later Chris, with a sweat soaked brow and big eyes, informed me that he had just endured another "I'm gonna puke" moment, apparently just as the bride and groom were announced husband and wife. Chris shoved our sweet, sick prince's head into a bag right as the happy couple were begining to walk back up the aisle. Jonah held his cookies though (what a trooper) and Daddy sent our lovely flower princess and ring prince back up the aisle, along with the rest of the wedding party and no one was the wiser. Phew!

A post ceremony celebratory hug.

My beautiful Flower Princess.

My sweet Ring Prince.

This is a short clip of Daddy and Maya dancing at "the ball." And Jonah being infatuated with his true love - the guitar. (Remember to scroll down and pause the blog playlist if you want to hear the video clip.)

And where are the lovely bride and groom, you ask? I can't believe this is the only picture I have of them that night. If I get a better one I'll update this.

Digital Scrapbook

I am a proud, card holding member of the 'Scrapbooking Drop Out Club'. Although, I don't think I can even call myself a drop out since I never really got started. I scrapbooked one time and ended up with six pages after NINE HOURS of work. Clearly not my forte. I decided that the goal of one day completing our three little baby albums is probably about all I can manage. Hey, we all have our gifts and scrapbooking is obviously not mine. So, here's a quick 'digital scrapbooking' session fo ya. Enjoy! (And please use your imagination to add in all those cute little decorations.)

Maya loves to help with her baby brother. She is very careful with him and as you can tell from the next picture, did a much cleaner job feeding him the peas than I did with the carrots.

Before bath...

...and after bath.

Here is Jonah (how'd you guess?) after his first class at MyGym. He loves it!

If you like the shirt check out EmTanner's other designs (the lunch boxes and plates are adorable.) You can also read my review on Mommies with Style which includes a great coupon code.

Daddy and Lukie having fun at the birthday picnic for Uncle Brian at Arrington Vinyards. "The only thing that seperates us from the animals is our ability to accessorize!" - Clairee in 'Steel Magnolias'.

Sweet self portrait - I didn't know she had taken it until I uploaded my other pictures. When did she have my camera?

Oh, it must have been the same time Daddy was taking pictures of his new love - the AMG.

Lukers missing out on some sibling fun in the sun.

Maya's favorite pastime. (She will not have a computer in her room, she will not have a computer in her room, she will not... or a phone, or a boy... where is that child containment bubble when you need it.)She's even got Jonah in on it too.

And this is why, my friends, he gets ten million kisses a day. What a cutie patootie!!

Testing out that gift for music he gets from my side of the family... ha ha ha. Maybe one of them will be blessed with my singing voice. Ok, that wasn't even funny, just scary. If you ever 'see' me singing but no sound is coming out, don't make fun, just be thankful.

Do you like the fishing hat we made for my Dad? Well, you can't just give someone a gift card. You have to have a fun way to wrap it. Presentation is everything, you know? :) HAPPY BIRTHDAY OPA!! 68 years young. WE LOVE YOU! One of Dad's favorite sayings: "Do not resent to grow old. Many are denied the priviledge."

And in closing, I'll leave you with this little gem of a shot. Chris showing my Mom why she should really invest in a different style of reading glasses.

Lazy Summer Daze

We're just here trying to keep cool. How is your Summer so far? We'd love to hear from all of you!

This was Pookers first time in a big pool. He had a blast!