Green Chili Stew...

Last Friday, I was at the store picking up a few things for my in-law's visit. There were samples all over the store for their theme of the day, 'roasted green chili's'...even a green chili smore that was a little different. That's right, wrapped in a stinkin' marshmallow...
Anyway, one of the owners of Cookwell & Company was passing out samples of his Green Chili Stew. It was f-a-b-u-l-o-u-s! I.must.have.it! All he had in it was ground pork. It was ok, but a variation on the jar said chicken...sounds better! He told me that grabbing a rotisserie chicken would be good in it. I was off. Grabbed a jar or the mix, a bag of frozen corn, some new potatoes and a rotisserie chicken. The jar was a little expensive, but MAN was it a good EASY dinner for this under-the-weather family. Next time I may leave out the potatoes and serve it over rice. YUM-O!

(It made enough for about 6 large servings. I took some to my mom last night after her eye surgery and she loved it...she was glad to have enough for today!)

Enjoy my new find!!

Roid Rage

Luke is on a steroid for his croup. (I swear he picked it up at Wal-Mart---I HATE Wal-Mart, but that's another post or just read my friend Dana's post. She sums it up beautifully!) Anyway, he's on his last day of it and is a monster. I mean, the Incredible Hulk come to life! Those roids are nasty! In a 5 minute time period, he literally went from screaming his head off to hugging and kissing on me to a stomp-your-feet-roll-on-the-floor-full-on-fit back to hugging mommy! KILL ME NOW!

(For those of you with older kids reading this, I swear it's not just that he's turning into a toddler...it is seriously the roids (and lack of sleep)! He's usually super laid back!)

Halloween HA HA

Luke and I went to Old Navy today to take a look at their Halloween costumes. While looking, I picked up this skunk costume (which is so funny with that big bushy tail). I showed it to Luke and asked him, "Do you want to be a skunk for Halloween?" He said, "No. Tukum. Shooey." and pushed it away. I cracked up. For those of you that don't speak Luke, he said, 'No. Thank you. Skunks stink." He must really listen when I read him the Tails book! I won't be buying that one, I guess. I didn't really want it anyway...it's a little girly...cute, but girly!

A Three Hour Tour

Last Monday, we returned from a fabulo-so trip to our friend's boat house/condo. As you can tell from the picture, the house is still under construction so we stayed in the boat! Yes, 6 adults (half of which are over 6' tall) and 3 children in the 'ark' (as Luke called it all weekend) on the left.
We had a fabulous time with Jon, Amber, Dan, Lee and the kids! We went to the Aquarium to find Nemo and Dory for Morgan one day. Dan and Lee kept the kids for us that night so that Jon, Amber, David, and I could go to a wonderful place to eat...and, of course, get some DQ for DEEsert! Gotta go to DQ when it is right across the street!

The next day, we raced across the bay at 7 knots for 35 miles to Eat At Joe's for lunch. Ok, so we didn't really 'race' at 7 knots, but a brotha has to save some gas! (*fist pump*) One more knot would have doubled the gas consumption. The sucker holds 2850 gallons, so needless to say, Dan has stock in Valero. Joe's was great, but the 2 1/2 hour ride back with the engines humming, the boat-a-rockin, and Luke napping sent Momma to sleepy land. It was the quickest and best nap I.have.ever.had!

The next day, we planned to go to the beach, but God had something different in mind...rain! Hmph! Oh well, maybe next year. At least Luke was able to play in the sand at the park one day!

Overall, it was a great time with wonderful friends. Surprisingly, we never really got to the "these people are driving me crazy" point. You know what I'm talking about. We have all stayed with people or had them stay with us and you are just counting the minutes before you are gone. It was just the opposite, actually! We didn't want to say goodbye on Monday. They are such special friends. We are so thankful that the Lord brought us together 10 years ago! Thanks for a great time, guys! We love you and cannot wait to see the newly renovated boat house/condo (whatever it is).


Oh...one more picture. This is the engine room with two 1300 Hp Caterpillar Turbo diesel engines. David is dying for me to put this one in. Men and their testosterone!

Hair Dryer (Hay-ry-ry)

Ever since Luke conquered the fear of my hairdryer, it is one of his FAVORITE 'toys'. It's too heavy for him to carry around so he just sits and holds it (unplugged, of course). Because of his near equal love of his comb, David and I think that he may be a stylist to the stars one day!

Several months ago, he decided he wanted to put his favorite thing, the hair dryer, in his other favorite thing, the bath tub! Oh, YES! He threw a fit when I said, "No, that's a danger. The hair dryer does NOT go in the bath tub!" To calm him down, I had to show him the warning tag on the hair dryer. "NO! NO! See the red line on the tag, Luke? The tag says NO NO hair dryer in bath tub!" Can you believe that worked? And, funny enough, he doesn't mind anymore (plus, most days, it's put away to where he can't get to it...out of sight, out of mind, right?)

Keep in mind that scene was probably 3-4 months ago and it must of made an impact because of what happened last week. I was in the kitchen and I could hear him in our room saying, "Na! Na!" When I turned the corner to see what he was doing, he was in our bathroom with my hair dryer in his lap pointing at the tag, saying "Na! Na!" (No! No!). I cracked up! I got it on video a few days later. See for yourself...

Stolen post about blog books

I just read my friend, Paige's, blog about blog books! What a great idea and why didn't I know about this earlier?? I think I'll get one every year, too.

New Playroom

A few months ago we went over to my friend Dana's house for a BBQ. While we were there, they showcased Gabby's new playroom (their converted dining room). It was SO cute! Needless to say, the wheels began turning. Luke needs a playroom, too. I really didn't know how we were going to afford it and assumed that it would have to wait until fall or after Christmas and we would have to do it little by little. Well, thanks to AA.com, we have a playroom! That's right...American Airlines.
I'll explain, you see, in June we went on a family reunion and I signed up for text messaging alerts and was entered in a sweepstakes. (I enter AA sweepstakes all the time and NEVER win, so I didn't think anything about it.) WELL, I WON! SHUT UP, I know! I didn't think it was anything super huge...just a cell phone...until I looked this phone up online and it was retailing for $750! WOW! Ebay here I come! A few weeks later the phone came in and it was sold to a guy in CA by Thursday for $560. I was SO excited you don't even understand! The first thing out of my mouth when I saw the retail price of the phone was, "YEAH, Luke get's his playroom!" (You know you've transitioned to complete selfless motherhood when your first thought isn't, "YEAH, I get a new purse! or YEAH, a shopping spree!")
So, here we are...As soon as the money was in our account I ordered the cabinets above from JCPenny.com (cheaper and better made than PB). I also saved 20% and got free shipping using retailmenot.com! (I freakin' LOVE that site!) The center console will hold a TV one day for David's, I mean Luke's, playstation. Grampa Jim and Nana are giving us a TV for it (thanks, guys!) and Grandma is buying Luke a PB chair for Luke to sit in (Thanks, Grandma!) It's all coming together nicely! I know the pictures look familiar (see the banner above)! I saw these at Dana's house and fell.in.LOVE!
So, when you are in the neighborhood...come play! Luke loves his new room and goes straight to it as soon as he wakes up every morning! Thank you, Dana, for a great idea. Thank you, AA, for the moo-la. Thank you, IKEA, for some CHEAP stuff including the cute table and chair set (we'll go back for more chairs and an organizing bin later...they were out last week)! Thank you, Aunt Donna, Uncle Mark, and the kids for the majority of the toys in the playroom! Thank you, Lou Lou and Opa, for my favorite CD player that I go straight to and turn on by myself EVERY morning! And last, but not least, thank you, Grampa Jim, Nana, and Grandma for helping to make it an EVEN better room than expected!
YEAH! Luke has a playroom!

Whistle

We are in the process of creating a playroom for Luke (pictures to come) out of our guestroom. While we were going through his toys and organizing the room, I found his train whistle from Max's birthday party hidden away inside a random toy. Anyway, I stuck it in his bag which was the perfect thing to do, because the next day on our way home from meeting friends I handed him the whistle and showed him how to use it. Play the video to see what he did all the way home. Hilarious!

On a side note, we met our friends from our previous home state for lunch. Emily's new baby is beautiful! She looks just like her daddy! While we were there, Alison (Emily's cool-hip mom), taught Luke to roll his cup all over the table! He got a real kick out of it and loves roll it where ever we go now! (Thanks, Alison!) Funny, though, he rolled it straight into her water cup which went right in her lap! We all laughed! That's what you get, girl! HA! She's a fun grandma!

First Trip To Chuck E. Cheese

Last week, our niece and nephew stayed with us for a "4 night sleep over". We spent most of the time trying to figure out what to do with them while Luke napped. One morning, they played in the backyard baby pool and sandox making mud piles. The next was church (and we got everyone dressed and there ON TIME! Whew!). Then Monday, we played with Magic Nuudles. It's a great activity for 3-6 year olds. Thanks, Mom, for bringing them over for the kids to play with. It kept them busy so I could shower!

When Luke woke up, we went to Chuck E. Cheese. We all had a great time and were officially WORN OUT. Afternoon nap was good for all of us that day! Thanks for coming over, guys! We had a great time with you.

Spin Around and Around and Around...

David taught Luke to do this while I was running errands this week. He finally did it for the camera. Too funny...(It may not look like a big deal, but since he's only been walking for 3 weeks, it's nice to see all he can do in such a short amount of time!)

Enjoy!

Homemade Fingerpaint

Many afternoons we do a fun activity together. Last Thursday, I made green and blue homemade fingerpaint with flour, water, and food coloring. Luke had a great time creating an artistic expression for our fridge. :) I think I am getting the hang of this SAHM thing!

Pupik

'Pupik' pronounced poo-pek is Belly Button in Czech. Grandpa Jim teaches all the grandkids to show their pupik instead of saying belly button. Well, lately Luke has started lifting his shirt to put his finger in his pupik while he sucks on his finger. We don't know why it started, but it's become a comforting habit, I guess. Nice...one more habit to break (hopefully, before school starts). Now, he walks around sucking on his left finger with his right finger in his button. It was cute at first because you can't really tell that his hand is in his button and he looks like an old man toddling around with his hand tucked in his pants. BUT now, when he is tired at dinner, he takes his dirty little hand, lifts his bib, and sticks his finger in his pupik. This is really annoying if we just gave him a bath or if he already has his one piece pj's on. Food gets all over his belly or his pj's...another piece of laundry to clean!
Any ideas on the obsession with the pupik? We'd love to know why it started.

Grandmother's kisses...

Last weekend we went to visit both of my grandmother's. On Saturday, Donna, Haley, Will, Luke, Madison (my cousin's daughter), and I left my dad's mom to see my mom's mother. She's a sweet lady and Luke LOVED her! He just. had. to. give her kisses. He's such a lovey boy! I thought that this was a precious picture!

Luckily, we got a pretty good picture of the 3 great-grandkids with Grandmother. Will is a silly boy! He's always trying to get a laugh out of his audience...as you can see below! It was a fun weekend, but we are glad to be home.

Swimming Lessons

1, 2, 3...UP and UNDER! Luke is doing so well after swimming lessons. He has learned to hold his breath when we say the 'cue'...1, 2, 3...Up and Under! He (We) learned a lot last month. We practice the back float, kicking, and blowing bubbles when we go to the pool. We cannot wait to show Grampa Jim and Nana all that he's learned in swimming lessons! Thank you for the lessons, guys! What a great birthday present!





This is my swim coach. She thought I was handsome.

'E'

Most of you know that Luke had cleft lip surgery at 13 weeks. What you may not know is that we have to massage the scar tissue in his lip with vitamin E oil every night for at least 30 seconds. He loves the bottle of E and holds it most nights before bed. He usually cries when we have to say night, night to the E and put it away.

About 6 months ago, we started singing the ABC's during our little massage routine...30 seconds, right? Anyway, He's pretty good about letting us massage it even now. Sometimes we don't get to the part after Z, but that's OK. Not too long after we started singing the ABCs to him, Luke started calling all letters, 'E'...because of his vitamin E oil, we think. We don't know if the actual letter E or the ABC song is the reason that he equates the oil to letters,
but nonetheless...
it is pretty cute.
This weekend, however,
he started rubbing his baby's lip and saying, 'E, E, E'....
How stinkin' cute is that?

(See the picture above of him holding the bottle of E. Many days he carries it around like a toy.
I think that he tends to like orange because of it, but it might just be me...)

A Long Weekend in Nashville...

Last weekend, David kept Luke and I went to Nashville to visit my Aunt, Uncle, and Cousins. It was a wonderful visit and was great to 'get away' for awhile. It was odd, though, not having any responsibilities...I almost didn't know what to do with myself. Thanks, guys, for a fun visit and for just letting me 'hang' for awhile.

Some of you know that my cousin is a photographer (the picture to the right is one he took of us at Thanksgiving). While I was there last weekend, we took his daughter to the cutest park in Murfreesboro for a photo shoot. Madison did great and Matt taught me some things to get me started taking pictures of Luke. We'll see how well I do once I get a camera. Some of the shots I know for sure were taken by me...see below. (If you ask Matt, he'll claim the good ones because, honestly, we don't know what shots were taken by whom...well...most of them, anyway, some I know for sure that I took!) Thanks, Matt and Madison, for patience with me and for a great afternoon! Thanks, Michelle, for sharing your family with me for a few hours...I love ya'll...

(On a side note...my flight got in at 11 on Monday night because of weather and when I got home there were a dozen beautiful red roses on the kitchen island with a note from Luke and Daddy that said, 'We missed you'. I missed you guys, too...SO much!
I've got some sweet boys...I tell you what!)I was pretty excited about this one b/c Matt went to the car and I just picked up the camera and started shooting without any instruction. It is pretty amateur, but I thought it was OK for a first shot.

This is TOTALLY Madison...I loved her expression in this one.

This was taken by Matt...pretty cute, huh?
He's all about portraits...I'm all about candids!
We are a good pair! :)

Baby

Some kids have a blankie...some kids have a teddy bear...Our kid has a doll! 'Baby' is her name...

A few weeks ago, Luke found my old doll on our guest bed. It's a ratty, old Madame Alexander Baby Victoria from 1978 that I slept with starting at age 2 until...well, that doesn't matter...it's old...you get the point. He will not part with her. Most of the day he is fine without her, but at naps and bed time he inevitably says, 'Baby?'. Neither one of us liked the idea at first...David, because he's a boy and boys.don't.have.dolls...and I didn't like it because she's MY doll...she may be ratty and old, but she's mine. (He's holding her in the picture above.)

Not too long after I realized that he was forming a real attachment to her, I called my mom to tell her that I found a new 2008 Baby Victoria online. After all, she was the one that started the Baby Victoria fetish in the first place...with me! Right, mom? So, after a little discussing...Gramma bought him a new Baby Victoria! Thank you, Gramma...Luke will be proud to take his baby out into the world with him...as was I!
(See new Baby below...he's giving her kisses...mmmm-aa)

June 2008 - Month 16

This month, we went to Ohio for the Goldmeyer family reunion and to the zoo with my playgroup. It's hot, but summer is fun and Luke LOVES to swim!

May 2008 - Month 15

Hermie

I bought this spoon because it is supposed to keep food on it easier. I am not actually sure that it does, but a Lukey story came out of it.

We have a green and yellow one. It looks just like the picture to the left, but it is green where this one is blue. I am sure you can imagine it. Anyway, Luke picked it up this week and said, "Hermie?". David and I cracked up...Hermie is his new word this week. He LOVES Hermie the caterpillar from the book series by Max Lucado. I can completely see why he thinks it looks like Hermie...what do you think?