Old Pals

I guess now that I'm Thiry *sigh*, I can say things like...this is my "long-time" friend, my "old" pal from my "college days". Whatever. My always-has-been a wonderful friend from the moment I met her, Jane and her daughter Maddie squeezed in a quick visit to us before summer slipped away. It was wonderful to see her as always. She is one of the wisest, strongest, godliest woman I know.

Big Boy Bed

About a month ago, Luke surrendered his crib to his brother (i.e., he learned to climb out of his crib). We were ready to make the transition anyway, so it just sped us along in the process. Luke has always been a wonderful sleeper, so I was kind of concerned about the transition, hoping it wouldn't change his good sleeping habits. Much to my delight, it was smooth sailin'...for the first two weeks anyway. Then it suddenly dawned on him..."hey, I can get up. any.time.I.want!" So, {my first week back at work} we battled it out, night after night and took him back to his bed umteen million times, and I am happy to report that now once we put him in, he stays. He does, however, wake up roughly 2 hours earlier than he did pre-big boy bed. Whatever, I'll take it.

Waking up from his last nap in his crib

Luke's room before the transition...and below is after. Eventually, Chad plans on building bunk beds for the boys to share the room.

first time sleeping in his bed! (P.S. Mike & Jen - thank you for storing that bed for us all that time, now it's getting put to use! :)

Never A Dull Moment...

Life has been a bit hectic to say the least! In the last 2-ish weeks:

- I turned 30 *groan*

-Adam got his bottom two teeth

-Adam learned to sit independently

-Luke (my always-has-been-a-fantastic-sleeper) decided sleeping is overrated, henceforth, no one sleeps at our house anymore

-I started back to work (how could summer be over already!?)

-Adam got sick for the first time - fever, hives, rash...the works (my first week of work *groan again*)

-Adam's dedication was Sunday at church

-Chad got accepted to Seminary

-oh, and we went swimming at the Salt City Splash and the boys LOVED it! (just wanted to throw something fun and summer-y in there! :)

August has been a whirlwind so far! Fortunately, God did bless us with some rain and some cooler weather, so life has felt more bearable. 90 degrees never felt so good! Pictures to come at some point of some of the above listed activities...but not until I get a handle on this mound of laundry...

Dry and Weary Land

It's summer in Kansas. It's hot. Not just hot, but crazy hot. We've broken all kinds of records I'm sure for the most 100+ temperature days (I think we've had over 30 days now? I've lost count. And summer is far from over. Not only is it unbearably hot, (we barely get down to 80 at night!!) but it is dry. No.rain.all.year. Ok, so I heard someone say that we've had maybe 5 or so inches this year (including snowfall). When you are driving along, it is clearly a dry and thirsty land. Grass is dead. Trees are dying...with dead brittle leaves cluttering yards. Farmers have pretty much given up on all their wilted crops. Everything is brown and sad. I don't remember such a miserable summer as this. So what's the point of all this lamenting? Well, I was convicted today as I read scripture:

"O God, you are my God,

earnestly I seek you;

my soul thirsts for you,

my body longs for you,

as in a dry and weary land

where there is no water."

Psalm 63:1

I had to stop and think...do I "thirst" and "long" for God as much as our land thirsts and longs for relief? I along with many others have been praying for rain and a break from the heat for a while now...but perhaps what God wants for us to be praying for is a desire to desperately thirst and long to know Him more on a daily basis {and not just when we are dry and weary}.

Brotherly Love

Like any parent, I hope that our children will be lifelong best friends. I'd have to say that I think they are off to a good start. [Of course, Adam is not yet mobile and trying to play with Luke's toys, so sharing is not yet an issue. But I'll live in my happy bubble a little longer and pretend like that's not in our future.] Truly though, they {currently} are in love with each other. Every morning as soon as Luke is awake he asks where Adam is. And as for Adam...let's just say he would choose to watch/play with Luke any day over his parents. He gives Luke the best smiles, and fortunately is still very forgiving when Luke injures him in some way (yeah, happens all the time). Here are some pics of the boys showin' some love.

Luke 2 years, 4 months ~ Adam 5 months

This first one happened by accident and is probably the best picture I've ever taken of them! I was playing with the features on our camera and found the black and white option. They were already playing on the couch (dressed in similar outfits for church yesterday morning) and I just got their attention and snapped. I couldn't do it again if I tried. And trust me, I tried.

I Need More Frames

I managed to get Adam's 4 month pictures in just a few days before he turns 5 months. With Luke, we were moving across the country when he was 3 months, so didn't do any pictures for him until 4 (almost 5) months. So, I decided to do Adam's on the same months I did Luke's. This age is so fun to take pictures of anyway!

Just for fun...here's Luke at this age. Yes, I used the same hat for both boys. So sue me.

Summer Concert Series

What do you do when it's 100+ outside? Stay inside and sing, of course! The other day, Luke grabbed his microphone and spontaneously started singing every song he could think of for his captive audience (mommy and Adam), so I quickly grabbed the camera and went with it. Knowing the camera was watching him too gave him encouragment to keep singing. Luke, at just over 2 years old, you amaze us every day! [Sorry, viewers, if you get bored with these. I just couldn't bear to leave out any of his masterpieces!
Jesus Loves the Little Children


ABCs


My God is So Big


Twinkle Twinkle Little Star


Jesus Loves Me


Your Grace is Enough by Chris Tomlin (He picked this one up from church and randomly started singing it one day. Chad and I just looked at each other in awe...we did not think he was even paying attention at church! Little did we know... He actually can sing more of the song than this, but this is all he chose to sing this day.)

Independence Day

While Chad and I enjoyed a rare date/shopping day in Wichita on the 4th of July, the boys spent the day playing at Mimi and Papa's house. It turns out, Mimi and Papa had been doing a little shopping of their own, and bought this little motorized truck for the grandkids to play with when they came to visit. Luke was more than thrilled and rode it enough that the battery had to be recharged several times. Adam also had to try it out. He looks like such a big boy in these pictures and not just 4 months old!! That night we took the kiddos to the "big" fireworks (I say "big" because everyone and their dog were shooting decent sized fireworks in their front yards all around us) at the fairgrounds. Neither of them were scared of the noise and Luke was in awe the whole time and LOVED them. He is still talking about it! Gotta say, he takes after me as Independence Day and fireworks time is one of my favorite times of the year!

4 Months Old!

Our littlest man is now 4 months old and I can't believe it. He is a true joy and continues to be happy 99% of the time and is very easy going. He watches his brother constantly with great interest (oh, what could he be learning???), and when he does get mad, I am convinced it's because he wants to be big and not a baby. Well, little does he know, he is already big!!! Yesterday at his doctor appointment he weighed in at 16 lbs 4 oz and is 25 1/4 inches long. No wonder my back hurts! What a sweet little person this guy is:

And, being a 4 month old is exhausting, by the way. (Or maybe it's the watching of his brother run circles around him that wears him out.) I promise I did not position him like this...he naturally fell asleep this way. Oh, drama.

Hendricks Exotic Animal Farm

This evening we took a little family field trip to Hendricks Exotic Animal Farm. They have everything from ostriches to camels to giraffes and you can get up close and personal with them as well. Luke was very into feeding the animals. If you live in the area, I would strongly recommend taking your kiddos there...it's a neat experience.

Luke feeding a kangaroo...there were also little kangaroos hopping around on our side of the fence as well and would come right up to us!

Luke's view of a giraffe.

I think the giraffes were our favorite.We even snapped a rare family pic!