Kate the Kindergartener

Our little cutie has officially started kindergarten.  Kate was so excited for her first day.  She was up very early in anticipation and we all walked the 4 blocks to school.  As I suspect will be a pattern with our little girl, Kate led the way. Charging ahead of us, I asked her if she knew how to get to school.  She plainly stated, " Of course!  I've been going to that park since I was 3 and I lead the family every time." How silly of me to ask!  She then let us know that tomorrow she could do the walk by herself. I think we'll hold off on that.
The first day was a huge success and a nice transition for us as it is only half days.  Kate has informed us that she just loves school and is so glad it is every day. I asked her what her favorite part was and she smiled and said, "Making new friends." She is just too sweet.   On the second night she told her Daddy, "I hope I don't have trouble falling asleep like last night. I was just so excited for Kindergarten.".  Kate has a wonderful teacher who seems to really like her, and I know she will do great.

 Through this milestone experience I can hear everyone telling me to enjoy the days of babies because they grow up so fast.  How true.  I feel like yesterday I was ineptly loading Kate into our brand new car seat and bringing her home from the hospital.  Today we stand outside the kindergarten doors waving as she excitedly walks into a building where she will be on her own to learn and grow and become that special person I can see in her already. I'm sure the rest will go equally as fast, but I can say I enjoyed her as my little bear and am treasuring all our wonderful moments with Kate the Kindergartener. I'm just not in a hurry for her to get any bigger.  Kate on the other hand is a different story. When people ask her if she is in Kindergarten now, she excitedly replies, "Yes, and next year I'll be in first grade!".   Slow down my little Kate. Each day is a gift to be treasured as we treasure you. 

Sisterly Love

I love these two girls so much and I am thrilled to say they love each other. They are always looking out for each other, share, and are really playing well together. The other day at preschool open house I could see Meggie whispering in Kate's ear, "I love you sissy." Kate was snuggling with Megan the other day and was explaining, "One day Mom and Dad will be in heaven and all will have is each other so we have to be best friends."  Love them so much. 

Our Big Boy Luke!

  Luke is officially 1, officially walking, and officially taking over our house.  He is an adorable little boy who makes our family complete.  He is very busy and needs very little sleep.  Luke doesn't give us much of a break, so its a great thing for him, he is so incredibly cute.

When Luke wakes up it is like he is on a mission to be mischievous.  His first order of business is to empty the book basket.  The second order of business is to throw all the balls and make sure they are out of their basket. The third order of business is to motor to the kids' cup cabinet and insure every piece is scattered over the kitchen.  Luke then moves on to stalking the bathroom waiting for Megan to leave the door open on one of her many and very urgent potty trips, so he can unroll all the toilet paper.  After that mission is complete he waits for the refrigerator to open and of course takes all the dressings out.  Then our little Luke makes his way into the pantry to wreck some havoc throwing into the garbage whatever he can get those adorable little hands on.  Usually his missions is complete well before 8am.  We lovingly call him Wreck it Luke and it is lovingly.  I know all to well our cute mischievous little baby boy won't be a baby much longer and this temporary "trouble"  will be behind us sadly as well as many of the other absolutely adorable things Luke does.

Raising Luke is very fun and very rewarding.  He truly is all boy and doesn't show much interest in toys other than balls and cars.  Luke pretty much thinks every toy is for throwing or climbing or any other gross motor activity he can use them for.  Luke throws everything including his food when he is finished eating and it throws it far!  He toddles around our house with his broad chest sticking out like he runs the place, and he kind of does. He has loved the stairs and is so good at climbing them.  Unfortunately his climbing has extended to items that can't be gated off like the couch, the kitchen chairs, the coffee tables, and dangerous things like the kitchen table and one attempt at the oven.    All of these factors make for a busy day and have lead to the institution of what Kate refers to as jail or the term I prefer, Luke's play yard.  It has given me a little sanity though the attempts to climb out of that are getting a little to close for comfort.  

He is high energy, sometimes very serious at the task at hand, and he can be bossy and persistent, but our Luke is so loving, so cuddly, so smiley, so sweet, and just down right adorable.  He adorably blows kisses with his little hands, wraps his little arms around your neck, and affectionately gives real kisses to almost everyone.  He really loves his Mommy and gets very jealous of any attention I give to the girls.  He lights up when his sisters wake up or come in.  He gives them great hugs and kisses and has been known to tackle on occasion.  He insists on eating with a spoon or fork and is very very good at it.  Everything Luke does is adorable even the mischievous things.  Sometimes we just can't keep ourselves from laughing at his escapades and boy does he enjoy making people laugh. He loves to be the center of attention.  If there is a group of people talking or joking he runs right in the center smiling from ear to ear and giving fake laughs like he is part of or the very reason for the fun. Luke's real laugh is just perfect.  It is deep, it is sweet, and it is contagious. Our favorite game is "There Is".  Luke likes to hide himself or others and then at the reveal shout, "Dere Is!" 

There are just so many things with my kids I never want to forget like the feel of Luke's hugs and kisses, or the sound of his laughter, or the sight of Luke strutting his stuff at the pool in his Blue Speedo.  

Early in the summer on one of our first of many trips to the town pool, I forgot Luke's swim trunks.  Frustrated that all the work it took to get the three kids and picnic together and out the door could be ruined by this one oversight, I was so happy to find that I could purchase a swim diaper cover for him at the pool.  As soon as I put it on I realized it was the best mistake I could have made. He looked adorable.  Luke struts around the pool in that little speedo flirting with any girl or woman he sees.  He especially loves the lifeguards and they refer to him as tan baby.   We get a lot of comments on his coloring and we get the Coppertone Baby reference a lot, we pretty much get stopped at least twice each time we go out.  He is an adorable, outgoing, adventurous, and sweet little man who we know are blessed to have as our son.

One thing I love about Luke is that he is such a Mama's Boy.  He doesn't like to be away from me and even pushes his sisters off my lap.  He thinks I belong to him which is cute most of the time.

As our son gets older he is proving to be very coordinated, loves reading books, and is becoming very talkative - trying to get the attention of his Mum-Mum, Da-De, or one of his Sis-ties.  I hope as he gets older he will always be as joyful, as kind, and as fun as he is a little one year old baby boy. 

Remembering our Pop Pop

 The last few months have been very tough for our family and these times of mourning are sad, but we are comforted that our Pop Pop is no longer in pain, look forward to seeing him one day again, and have wonderful memories of life with a special man.  Roy certainly knew how to live and seemed to enjoy every minute of life.  Brian, Cheryl, Linda, and Dan did an amazing job of remembering our Pops at the funeral and wake.  These pictures are just some memories of the wonderful man that we will never forget.  

We will forever be thankful that Brian and his Dad got to go on four mission trips together.  It was a great spiritual time and great father-son time.  I know Brian especially loves this picture because it is a metaphor to him of what his life has been like- Brian looking up to his Dad doing great things. 

 Brian and his Dad have gotten to do so much together in life.  Though our time together was certainly shorter than we would have liked (by about 20 years) we really did make the most of our time together.  Wherever we lived, Roy and Linda would always come out and we would enjoy the great spots of where we lived.  Whether it was Forest Park, architectural boat tours, Botanic Gardens, or many sporting events, Roy was up for fun and especially up for doing things with his boy, Brian.

Our Pops was always happy to help.  His first instinct was always what could he do for other.  He and Brian did countless projects around our house and no one was harder working or as handy as Pops.  When he wasn't the last one working on a project that was really our first clue he was sick.  Brian will always think of his Dad as an ox.  After weeks of Roy being very very sick he was still walking around.  He was walking the morning he passed away.  Spiritually and Physically our Pop Pop was tough!

I will always remember how proud Roy was of Brian not just for being a Pastor but for being a good person.  I think Roy enjoyed that Brian has such a deep spiritual life and that he is committed to helping others with compassion.  The neat thing to me is that these are qualities that Brian inherited from Roy.

This picture captures one of the many loving moments we have had the joy of watching Linda and Wa share.  It was like they had a secret that only the two of them knew.  Their connection was special and as their kids we were privileged to see it and feel it.  We will always remember what a special love Linda and Roy shared.  They really were best friends, and were such an amazing compliment to one another.

We are all so happy that we successfully surprised Roy at his 60th Birthday. Boy was he surprised!  It took awhile for it to sink in and I think he was very pleased with the party.  It was so nice to honor him while he was still alive.

Roy was always such a pleasure to be around and his enjoyment of life was contagious.  Whether we were on our big cruise or our regular family trips to Wisconsin and Lake Placid we were lucky to have Pop Pop with us.  He was up for anything and enjoyed everything.

We will always remember Pop Pop for the wonderful person he was.  He was so good to everyone, he was so good to us, and he was so good to our kids.  He loved us and them so much. Brian and I especially want his legacy to live on in our kids.  We so badly want them to remember what a special Pop Pop they had.

He was tremendously KIND!  

He was tremendously LOVING!  

He was tremendously JOYFUL!

He was our POPS!