Farmer Boys

Luke and Jonathan: A Day at the Farm...the Dialogue

Luke: Let's go look at Grandpa's cows.

Jonathan: Ok.

Luke: {doing cow call [aka mooing] to bring them to the fence}

Jonathan: ewwww! That one is peeing. I hope it doesn't pee on us!

Luke: That's a black one. It's a baby cow.

Jonathan: Is that one a baby cow?

Luke: No, that one is the black one. (clearly the expert on the situation)

Luke: They go in the barn when they hot. Grandpa feed them hay bales with the tractor. John Deere tractor.

Jonathan: ooooohhh.

[This is the conversation as I remember. It was very educational...and awfully cute that the cousins were having such a grown up conversation. I was too busy snapping pictures to think about getting video.] ages- Luke 2 1/2, Jonathan 3 1/2

Adam is 6 Months Old!

I don't know how it happened, but somehow our babe is already a half a year old. Actually, next week, he'll already be 7 months old! But I just managed to get him to the doctor this week for his well baby check. He weighed in at a solid 19 pounds 2 ounces! He continues to be as easy going as ever and smiles all.the.time. His bottom teeth (seen pictured below) came in without any sign of irritation from him. Let's just keep that up, ok Adam?

We started foods and his first bites were carrots which he was not too sure of at first. But he has quickly developed a love for all things edible."Here, let me help you Adam"

We love this smiley happy baby and are so blessed to be able to soak up all this chubby baby goodness every day!

Sunday Lunch

The other Sunday after church we headed over to my parents' house for lunch and the boys got in some good playing time as well! Grandma put Adam on Luke's shoulders and Adam seemed to know instinctively that this was a cool thing to do. Every time she did it he got so excited and beamed his big smile.

Cheesin' at Grandpa

I have pictures of me as a babe in this rocking chair, too!

This was the day that Adam {finally} discovered that he has a tongue and is sticking it out ever so slightly in this picture.

This looks so sweet with Big Brother holding Little Brother's hand. But really the Big was keeping the Little from touching his toys. Whatever, still cute.

Working on sharing!

Adam's Dedication

A couple of weeks ago, we had Adam's dedication at church. Grandpa has done this for all of his grandchildren so far, and on this occasion did 2 grandkids (Adam and Hannah) at once!

The babes who were dedicated

The verse selected for Adam's dedication: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise." Psalm 111:10 Basically, this verse is saying that the only way to become truly wise is to fear and revere God. Our prayer is that we will teach Adam to love, fear, and serve God!

This picture was the best (of many taken) of the whole crew of cousins.

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.