Best Friend Sleepover

Well, it's now Summer Break and I'm home for 2 wonderful months! Last week we watched Luke's best friend Lizzie for a few days while her parents went away to celebrate their 10th anniversary. They had a wonderful time playing together and cried on the 3rd day when she had to go back home!

Here are some fun shots of their summertime fun together:

Spring Break

The best thing about Tom working part-time is that when I'm on vacation, we're both on vacation! For Spring Break, Tom worked Mon and Tues and we spent the rest of the week relaxing- as much as you can with a crazy 2 year old! These pics are of Tom and I with Luke on our day trips- we went to the zoo, took a train ride, and found some new parks. Our idea of a relaxing Spring Break has definitely changed as we've gotten older! I think one of the best parts was coffee and a book during naptime! :)

Easter with Luke

This was the first year Luke got excited about Easter... since the whole idea of Christ dying on the cross is a little much for a 2 year old, we told him that on Easter we celebrate how God loves us.
Before church, we gave him a small Easter basket. Since he doesn't eat candy, we filled the eggs with some of his favorite things... raisins, cheerios, cracklin oat bran and the all-time favorite-- frozen peas. It was quite hilarious to watch his joy on opening plastic eggs to discover these tasty treats. He found an egg at church and handed me the candy inside, saying "I want cheerios". Aaahh, 2-year-olds!!

Easter at CityLights

Easter is usually a crazy day for us. At Citylights, we plan a community outreach event to celebrate Easter... what a better way to celebrate Christ redeeming us- the glory of Easter- than by serving the community alongside our church family! Since we don't have use of the community center on Easter, we planned a family outdoor service in the park and a huge BBQ and Easter egg hunt afterwards. It was an amazing time this year. We had lots of families together for the church service outdoors- probably 200 people- and another 200 joined us for the celebration afterwords. It was a crazy, crazy day but full of joy.
Here's a few shots of our outdoor service:

Grandpa's Little Boy

Luke loves his Grandpa. It helps that they are two peas in a pod. Since the time Luke was a newborn baby, Grandpa has been there full of energy and activity and cool toys attached to his belt. Luke is how I picture my dad as a little boy... nonstop motion!! It's no wonder they get along so well. Luke has a very special place in his heart for his grandpa.

Luke the Model

The other day Luke decided that he wanted to pose for some pictures (normally taking pictures interrupts his busy day of play). But this day he suddenly decided that he wanted me to take pictures of him on different pieces of furniture and in different poses. These are the result:

A Day in the Life

As you can see, I am not very good at updating this website. I have discovered that we don't take very many pictures. And when we do, I feel that many of them are not noteworthy. Or if they are, I then have to find the time and the motivation to write a new entry. But my family has reminded me that relatives and friends often like to see the non-noteworthy day-to-day pictures that comprise our busy life.

So here is a look into a day in the life of Luke:

Helping dad to wash the car (Luke's job is to wash the tires)

Luke hard at work doing "art"- this comprises of drawing ovals and coloring them in (every time we call them a circle, our very rational son corrects us by saying it's an oval- and let's be honest, his circles do look more like ovals! Also note that he is definitely a lefty!!)

Playing Luke the Fireman (this can go on for hours until mom and dad regret buying the fire engine with the real-sounding siren!)

Master Lego Tower Architect (He was keeping his lego creations in his room until we heard him banging around the other night. When asked, he told us that he was playing with the lego house in the night. So now, the legos live in the living room!)

Showing off his new backpack and insisting he's old enough to go to school: