Michael & Jeannie Stone Family Blog

New kids chairs

2012-02-10T10:33:00.001-06:00

We got these new chairs for the kids from IKEA. Thought these were the cutest! It's very cute to hear Luke say "these are just my size!" as he's giving them a big hug! And by the looks of it- the kids aren't the only ones who like them!

Random things that make me happy/smile!

2012-02-02T10:12:00.000-06:00

•Playing at the park in beautiful 70* weather on the first of February!!
•Luke snuggling with Ender! And cute Cassie peeking out- even though she's in time out...
•Seeing how the kids play with their toys. As they were playing with the Little People Luke tells Cassie that the boys daddy has to work late. Cassie asks why, and Luke says that sometimes people work late and sometimes they don't. (the last couple of days Michael has worked late and missed bedtimes)
•And the randomness of where I find toys!

This weeks randomness!

2012-01-26T09:47:00.000-06:00

The kids love story time at night- looks like the dogs do too!

It was cold the other morning- rainy and dreary, so the kids wore hats. At one point while we were in the car, I looked back at Cassie and she had her hat backwards so you couldn't see as much of her face. She also had her sunglasses on, but I didn't get a picture of that.

On sunday I'll be 35 weeks pregnant- this is the part that seems to drag in and feels longer. Maybe I'll post a picture next week.... We'll see...

Random pictures

2012-01-20T11:17:00.000-06:00

So.....it's a start! The kids really like to play pretend, it warms my heart when I peek around the corner and see them playing together. Luke and Michael really enjoy playing Play-Doh together, they usually do it together and I keep Cassie entertained doing something else. Luke and Cassie love to snuggle with daddy any chance they get! Ender and Flynn on the bed.....my side of the bed! I had to kick them off! And lastly, Luke wasn't feeling well one morning, and this was the look he shot me when he didn't want his picture taken- but I took it anyway! Love this family that I've been blessed with!

Oh, and click on the link I've added on the right- our good friends are trying to adopt again! The link goes to their adoption profile they have open! Spread the word- you never know of someone, who knows someone, who might know someone- looking for an adoptive couple!

First of the puppy pictures!

2012-01-16T08:24:00.000-06:00

Here is the new puppy Flynn! He's very adorable! The kids absolutely love him! Ender was unsure of him the first couple of days, but he only displayed a lip curl/half snarl- saying back off! Now they play together really well and rest near each other. We love the little divot on the back of his back fur where his tail curls up and over, and he seems to be quite the snuggle pup.

Still alive!

2012-01-13T21:35:00.002-06:00

Wow! It certainly has been a very, very, very, long time since anyone in this family made a posting! And let me tell you A LOT has happened! If you... have seen us, talked to us, follow us on Facebook, or have seen anyone in our families, you probably know about some of the things that have been going on since, oh what, July? And I can't even begin to recount all of the things that have happened since then- BUT, the two biggest things that have happened to our family is/was- Flynn the puppy was born August 26th and joined our family the Wednesday after Thanksgiving. We got him from the same breeder that we got Ender from, yup, that's right another Eskie! And the other big thing we are looking forward to is the arrival of our third child (second GIRL!) at the end of February/beginning of March!

So that's probably just the tip of the ice burg of the things that are going on with us, I hope to post more, even if it is only a picture, or a little something of the cute things the kids say and do. And, I might put up some random pictures, but I'll try my best to remember when they were taken, but if not that at least a brief explanation!

So! Let the blogging resume!

Luke's broken bone

2011-07-14T14:08:00.000-05:00

Monday night Luke fell off the bench at dinner time. (Cassie was in his chair). We ended up taking him to the Dr. on Tuesday afternoon, after watching him all day. He wouldn't lift his shoulder or use his arm much, just kept it tucked in close to his body. And he was asking for help more often, getting up and down, going potty. He really seemed bothered by it if you touched him or moved his shoulder- not very cool when your kid starts crying and yells "don't hurt me mommy!". So we saw the Dr. and he sent us to get x-rays. The next day we found out that he had a broken collar bone. Poor guy. And right before vacation:(. That puts a damper on swimming and some of the other activities we were planning on doing. Oh well. There's nothing they really do for broken collar bones (unless they break through the skin) so he's in a sling for the next 4 weeks and then we'll go back to the Dr. to get more x-rays to make sure he's healed ok. Night time seems to bother him most now, so we give him Tylenol and hope he cab sleep a little better.

Ten years ago today!

2011-07-14T13:53:00.000-05:00

Happy anniversary to us! One of the happiest days of my life full of many memories. Ten down, an eternity to go!

How we beat the heat

2011-07-07T22:30:00.000-05:00

Well, besides staying indoors all the time!

We got a pool everyone can be in- boy is it nice! It takes a long time to fill, and after about an hour the water isn't cold anymore, but Luke warm still feels better than the 95*+ temps we've been having. Luke really enjoyed it, Cassie was ok until she swallowed a bunch of water- then she preferred the tiny baby pool. They like going down the slide while wet and pretending to have picnics at the table. I think next time we fill the pool we will do it on the patio, since it extends to the fence, so it will be in the shade most of the day!

Playing games and eating raspberries

2011-07-05T20:40:00.000-05:00

Michael and Luke playing Chutes and Ladders. I love how excited Luke gets.
Cassie eating raspberries, I love how she wears them on her finger like you would an olive!

Happy Birthday Cassie!

2011-06-27T14:34:00.000-05:00

This post is late... by almost a month...
Cassie turned 2! It was fun to celebrate and decorate. Luke helped Michael pick out decorations at The Dollar Tree and when they came home with butterflies and flowers I remembered that I had a cake pan shaped like a butterfly! She enjoy the gifts she got and it was fun to see her play with some of them all at the same time?

Recent pictures!

2011-05-22T22:58:00.001-05:00

Luke is learning how to make his own bed! He does better than me most days! Cassie loves to sit in boxes/tubs/bins, whatever she can find! I think these two cupcake faces are the sweetest (literally!) faces ever!

Poor Luke :(

2011-05-19T09:27:00.001-05:00

We noticed Saturday night Luke had a slight temp, so we gave him medicine and put him to bed a little early. Sunday he woke up normal, temp was fine, appetite fine etc., so we continued our day as normal. Sunday after church we napped both kids- 2:30 is really late for naps around here (normal naps are at 10:30am) but since we were having dinner at Michael's parents I needed them to nap since bedtime was going to be late. I wasn't surprised when Cassie fell asleep, but I was when Luke fell asleep. I noticed that after dinner Luke just wanted to sit and snuggle with me, or curl up on the couch. When we got home Luke's temp was 101.something, so I gave him medicine before bed. He instantly fell asleep. Monday he woke up with a normal temp, so we continued our day- speech, naps, lunch... But after nap Luke had a 102.something temp. We spent the afternoon watching shows and resting. By about 5pm his temp jumped to 105.something- so I took him to Care Now while Michael stayed with Cassie. Poor little guy was so lifeless and lethargic he couldn't even stay awake. The dr ran tests and did a chest X-ray. We left with a diagnosis of pneumonia and a prescription to fill the next day, and they wanted to see him the next day. By the time we went to the followup his temp tad down to 102.something and he was more lifelike! Luke has had a temp all week, but we were able to keep it under 102-101. Hopefully today we can have a normal temp all day! We will follow up with the pediatrician in a few weeks for another X-ray to make sure his lungs are good! He's still not eating much- but he's been drinking great!

Fort Worth Zoo Run

2011-04-30T09:43:00.000-05:00

Michael and I ran our first 5k together! We had set a goal last year to do it, and slowly worked toward that goal. I think we can both say that we did better than we hoped to- Michael finished in under 30 minutes, and I finished in under 40 minutes. Almost never in my life have I run and further than 2 miles at a time and I've only run 2 miles a handful of times. We liked it- at least I did! It felt really good to set a goal, work to achieve that goal, and even though we weren't as ready as we could have been (sickness and travel the couple of weeks before felt like it set us back) we did it anyhow! We want to do the zoo run next year too! I like to run, but I don't see myself going crazy on the running- I enjoy it- but I'm not sure I'd enjoy hours of it!

Pictures from our trip

2011-04-13T15:07:00.000-05:00

I couldn't take a lot of pictures because my camera broke- just died, but these are a couple I took with my phone. My feet in the Atlantic ocean! And Michael eating his Jim Dandy from Friendly's! It had been over 16 years since Michael went to a Friendly's so he was thrilled when he found one in Myrtle Beach SC.

It was a very quick trip- one we hadn't planned on making, and we wished we could have been there under a different set of circumstances, but we were glad we went and had a good time. We found out last Friday that my 90 year old grandpa was in the hospital and wasn't expected to make it through the night. We found out Saturday afternoon that he had passed on that afternoon. We were able to leave the kids with Michael's parents and attend the funeral and then head down to Myrtle Beach with my parents and all 6 of my dad's brothers and sisters. It had been about 22 years since they were all together- last time was at my grandmas funeral, so it was nice to have everyone there to get to know.

Myrtle Beach SC

2011-04-09T13:19:00.000-05:00

We've been having a great time in North and South Carolina. Sad we had to go and say good bye to Grandpa Stewart, but were blessed we got to go and spend time with aunts and uncles.

Tried a new park!

2011-03-17T19:12:00.001-05:00

The train park! We had never been to this one before, there were lots of toys, slides, scoop things, swing things, and that great train! There was even a play pair of binoculars- which Luke called Umi Goggles! (from the tv show Team Umi Zoomi) there was also a little pond and a bridge that had another playground across the way. Its a lot of fun to live near so many parks! But I should have dressed the kids cooler since it was 82*! And I'll be adding sunscreen to the grocery list!

Playing Outside!

2011-03-16T14:22:00.001-05:00

Yet again! I'll turn these kids into outdoor lovers, you just watch! Can't wait till the grass greens up though, it's awfully scratchy.

Weekend fun

2011-03-04T14:28:00.000-06:00

We went to some friends house this past weekend for their daughters baptism. The weather was great and so the kids spent the afternoon playing outside. Here are some pictures that my friend took and was kind enough to send me.

Messy eater!

2011-02-21T21:48:00.001-06:00

Cassie has always been a messy eater- but this is by far the worst it's ever been! And it didn't take her long to do this, I was just a few feet away cutting strawberries!! It's funny though, now every time we have something to eat that might even be a little messy Luke asks if it's bath time after meals, so Cassie being messy benefits him too! I'm glad I have a sprayer in my sink- hosed her down before the bath!

Snow last week

2011-02-09T09:05:00.001-06:00

These are the snow pictures from last week. Crazy huh?! Our friends measured in their yard and had about 6"- which since there was a couple inches of ice under the snow and the ruler was pretty flat, it was a pretty good measure. It was very slippery infer all that snow- because if all that ice. I slipped and fell, was sore for a few days but not hurt bad. And school ended up being closed for 4 days in a row!

Today school is closed again due to ice/snow/freezing rain/sleet.

I'm ready for spring!

Longest week ever....

2011-02-03T11:37:00.000-06:00

And it's not over yet! This is what it has looked like since Tuesday early in the midnight hours of the morning. Pure ice with a dusting of snow on top, and the ice is so thick a lot of places that I can't even crack/break it! It's some pretty thick layers of ice. School has been closed now for three days, and Michael has been flexing from home because his office has been closed for the first two days with a delayed opening today. The temps have been in the low to mid teens with windchill being in the negatives at times. Yesterday we had a day filled with rolling blackouts- the high was 18*! Crazy to think that last Saturday the temp was in the low 70's! I think the only one in the house that doesn't mind this insanely cold weather is Ender! Hopefully it warms up enough to start melting all this ice! And yes, I know it way worse in other parts of the country.....so I'll quit my complaining now!

Luke's room before

2011-01-31T22:23:00.001-06:00

Did I ever mention that Luke's room was super dark. Yup! All four walls, waaaay dark. Too dark for my taste. Maybe one wall would have been ok- but all of them made it feel cave like to me!

Luke's room is DONE!

2011-01-26T14:31:00.000-06:00

We moved Luke out of his toddler bed and into a twin bed about a month ago. He's been earning his "big boy bedding" and the paint for his walls with his sticker charts. I should have posted before pictures- maybe I'll remember to do that after this post another day. I'm really happy with how everything turned out! And it's been fun to hear him in his room saying "I love my new room!". Luke even helped Michael put up some of the sticker decals, but I couldn't help myself and need up moving some of them so the walks looked a bit more even! I know I should have left then- but I looked too crooked and off balance! Michael even replaced the fan in his room because while the light part worked- the fan part didn't, so now he'll have a breeze in the summertime!

Reading the mail

2011-01-19T21:45:00.001-06:00

I look out from the kitchen on Sunday and this is what I saw! I guess Luke decided he wanted to read the mail too! It was very cute! He would randomly list all the letters he was seeing, but since it was so random, it didn't make any sense, I guess it will be a while longer until he's reading to us!

Cassie's new bed

2011-01-15T15:26:00.000-06:00

Cassie climbed out if her crib At nap time today- we put her back in and watched her climb out again. So we moved the crib out and the toddler bed in! We also cleared out her room so she won't climb anything else! In hoping that she adjusts as easy as Luke did, but we shall see! And even though Luke has need in a twin bed for a few weeks now- he still remembers this toddler bed as his bed, so hopefully that won't be a problem!

Krispy Kreme!

2011-01-14T15:24:00.001-06:00

Halloween 2010

2010-11-02T15:23:00.001-05:00

This year for Halloween Luke was a train conductor and Cassie was a fairy. I didn't get pictures of Cassie on the actual day- but I had a blue shirt that matched pretty well and black tights that she wore. Luke got the hat, bandana and a train whistle for his birthday the week before so that's what he wore. We just happened to have a shirt that matched the hat! We went to the ward trunk or treat on Friday, but he really didn't understand sone of the games- he just wanted the cookies he saw at the cookie walk- it took us a while before we won! He did get the hang of saying trick or treat and thank you by the end if the night. On the actual day we went over to Michael's parents house and went trick or treating in their neighborhood, the weather was great and no coat was needed! Cassie stayed with me, she'll probably go next year- but Luke has fun! And it was fun for us to watch him get all excited!

Where are you?!

2010-10-26T15:31:00.001-05:00

Luke was playing hide and seek/peek a boo today under his blanket. When I was asking "where's Luke? I don't see him?", he answers from under the blanket "I'm right here mommy!".

Keeping busy

2010-10-15T09:57:00.000-05:00

This is how I kept the kids busy on our flight home from Seattle. I let them put post-it notes and dots everywhere- including on me! I got some strange looks from passengers as they all came to use the bathroom (I changed our seats from row 17 to row 32 right in front of the potty) but hey....my kids weren't the ones screaming!

Cassie and her hair

2010-09-16T09:08:00.001-05:00

I can't remember if I've posted pictures of Cassie and her curls; I think so... But now it's just barely long enough to put in some piggy tails! I did some in the back first; Michael was concerned that it would make her hair go flat and take away the curls- he really likes them!:). Then next I put some pig tails on the top of her head! Her hair seems like it's growing so slowly. It will be fun when I can put more hair up and put bows on her head!

Fort Worth Zoo

2010-09-07T08:20:00.001-05:00

We went to the Zoo on Saturday, it was a lot of fun! We always leave so we get there right when it opens to avoid the crowds. This trip we packed lunches and ate outside at the picnic tables- Luke has been wanting to eat outside all week (ever since we ate outside at Sonic on our family day a few weeks ago!). We didn't stay after lunch, we figured that 2 hours today was good. But we all had fun! And both kids fell asleep on the way home, so it was s nice drive home too!

Love it when they cuddle!

2010-09-01T21:15:00.001-05:00

Which isn't often enough! They each have their "lovies"- Luke has puppy tucked right beside him, and Cassie has bunny, well, in her mouth.... She sucks on the arms of her bunnies instead of a binki- we started giving her bunny at about 4 months old but instead of finding her binki when she needed it she found bunny; since then she never went back to the binki. Luke has had his puppy since he was about 6 months old- his binki habit had already been established. I gate to think about what we are going to do when we have to wean Cassie off from sucking on bunny- we still want her to have a favorite something to provide comfort.... Maybe I'll just have to cut off bunny's arms???

Teething???

2010-08-25T15:55:00.001-05:00

I think so!! And just like Luke, she does this to the crib- it looks like a beaver lives in her crib, I had to pick little pieces off the crib so she didn't get splinters! Notice that Cassie had to stand on one of her toys to get to the top of the bars! Hopefully these teeth come in quickly because she's a worse teether than Luke ever was!

Car jammies

2010-08-23T16:47:00.001-05:00

I'm sorting through clothes that are to small and clothes for the fall when Luke saw these Car pajamas and insisted on wearing them.... The fact that it's 105* out didn't matter! Good thing it's nice and cool in the house because I couldn't get these jammies off him that night!

This sound makes me happy!

2010-08-19T20:14:00.001-05:00

I love that my washer and dryer "sing" to me when the cycle is done! It makes doing the laundry a little bit nicer!

We've got a climber!

2010-08-14T15:04:00.001-05:00

Only problem is that she doesn't know how to get down yet!

Fake camping

2010-08-05T08:49:00.003-05:00

Here are some pictures from last weekend. Michael decided that it would be fun to go camping with Luke. We had an authentic camping experience- with all the comforts of home! The night started with foil dinners. S'mores for dessert, Luke made a double decker s'more.... I'm calling it "The McS'more"! Then stories in the tent we set up in the spare room. Luke was just so excited! He wouldn't settle down to sleep, so at 10:30 we called it quits and put him down in his own bed- didn't take long for him to fall asleep then! It was a really fun night, and I'm sure we'll be doing it again!

I found the missing toys....

2010-07-22T16:01:00.001-05:00

I was helping Luke in the downstairs bathroom this morning when I noticed these toys on the floor behind the toilet.

Me: "Luke? What is Noah doing here in the bathroom?"

Luke: "Noah go pee pee!".

So there you have it. I have no idea when Luke put Noah there, maybe last night when we were cleaning up.

Friends for breakfast

2010-07-16T07:53:00.000-05:00

Luke decided that Buzz needed to eat too!

A little backward

2010-07-14T13:41:00.001-05:00

If this seems a little backward; you're right! We had workers at the house all day on Tuesday and I had to keep the kids out of certain areas throughout the day. After naps I had to contain the kids in the living room, but promised Luke he could have ice cream after he woke up (to stay cool since out a/c is out too!). I didn't want Cassie getting Luke and his ice cream, and I didn't want Luke to spill- we don't eat in the living room, so I thought this was perfect!

Cassie's first birthday!

2010-07-10T19:12:00.000-05:00

I realized that I hadn't posted anything for Cassie's first birthday- over a month ago! So.... here are just a few pictures! We just had a simple celebration, cake, ice cream, and a few gifts. And we actually celebrated her birthday on a Saturday afternoon before lunch (every child's dream, right; dessert first!) but it worked better for us that way since both kids were happy right after naps!

TV time

2010-07-08T12:03:00.001-05:00

Luke really likes to watch The Backyardigans (ok, we do too!) We have a lot of them recorded on the DVR so they are easy to pick and watch. This is Luke watching Robot Rampage. It's hard to hear the tv on the video clip, but Luke will repeat when they say "all systems a okay!". It's really cute when I hear him repeat this through out the day randomly, like when he's suppose to be napping!!

Random cuteness!

2010-07-06T10:24:00.000-05:00

On somedays the kids look really big to me:(. I guess that's all apart of growing up! It's fun to see them playing together and to see the personality that each of them have!

Looking out the window

2010-06-30T18:52:00.002-05:00

Ender sleeps in our room at night, and often this is how you can find him. Apparently Luke also likes to look out of the window like Ender does! Must be a pretty good view! This picture of Luke was taken one morning when Luke snuck into our room, and I was awake enough to grab my phone that was under my pillow and snap a quick picture!

Pretty sky

2010-06-21T14:11:00.000-05:00

I went out the other night to do some shopping. This is what the sky
looked like when I came out of the store about 9pm. I had to stop in
my tracks and snap a few pictures! I have no idea what caused (if
anything) the sky to look like this, or why it looked like this. It
looked much better and more awesome in person, and at that moment I
wish I'd had a better camera!

Matching

2010-06-17T18:48:00.001-05:00

Today at lunch Luke decided to match the colors of his dishes
together. He had one too many blue pieces of silverware and one for
his glass of milk, but other than that he did great; no help from me!
And in this picture he is counting the jelly beans he got for going
pee pee in the potty!

Random Luke cuteness

2010-06-14T17:09:00.000-05:00

Just goofing around! He figured out how to do the spoon on his nose
all by himself after seeing it on Yo Gabba Gabba!

Cassie gets the crayons

2010-05-26T09:57:00.001-05:00

Luke was coloring and left the crayons where Cassie could get them.
She had to stand on her tippy toes, but she did get them! And I live
the look on her face! A look of accomplishment! She was rather mad
though, when I had to take them away because she wad eating them!

Copy cat

2010-05-24T09:22:00.000-05:00

You can often find Ender like this: on his back with his paws up and
bent. I was taking this picture of Ender one day, and I turned around
to find Luke on his back with his hands getting ready to look like
Ender. Luke really loves Ender! So much that on Saturday Luke came
with me to rake Ender to be groomed at Petsmart. Luke was sooo upset
when we had to leave without Ender, many tears were shed!

The slide

2010-05-22T21:11:00.001-05:00

Luke must have no fear when it comes to the park. We met up with
family at this fun park and let the kids play. Before I knew it, Luke
had climbed all the way up to the top and was at the bottom in no
time! It's quite a big slide, and from the looks of it you would
think that it would shoot kids right off and plop them on the ground,
but they just stop right at the bottom and them climb off! Luke also
loves the twisty slides. But I would have to say that my favorite part
when Luke goes down ant slide is the way his hair gets all static like
and sticks all out!

His pb&j got the better of him!

2010-05-16T09:54:00.001-05:00

I mean really, who gets jam to drip out of his nose while eating?!
And he does give the best sticky kisses ever!

Luke and his orange balloon!

2010-05-11T09:43:00.001-05:00

Michael took Luke to Home Depot on Saturday and while they were there
Luke got a balloon! I was upstairs when they came home and all I
could hear was Luke saying his version of balloon- over, and over, and
over again!! He was so excited! I think this is the very first
ballon that he has been given that has just been for him! I mean,
he's had ballon to play with- they just have never floated like this
one! Here in the picture he was trying to blow it up like the other
balloons that he's played with before! Luke was rather disappointed
when he woke up the next day and found the balloon on the floor, he
kept trying to put it back in the air.

Us

2010-05-03T11:48:00.000-05:00

We went to visit friends yesterday for a baby blessing. Someone took
these pictures of us and I was able to get them emailed to us (thanks
Erica!) so we can enjoy them! I think it's hilarious that Cassie
looks so huge! If she's anything like Luke she will start sliming out
when she starts walking! And lately Cassie has been looking long to
me- so it will be interesting to see her 1 year stats in a month.
I think these pictures turned out really well! And we had so much
fun, as always, when we get together with friends!

Luke reads...

2010-04-28T16:22:00.001-05:00

Ok, if we read something enough times, hes got it memorized! He likes a lot of books, but this one is Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

Cici's Pizza

2010-04-27T08:27:00.000-05:00

We like doing fun things as a family, and Saturdays have been the best
day to do things. We can work around naps so everyone is happy, and
that makes it more enjoyable- for everyone! We have been to the Zoo a
few times already, and that has been really fun. Sometimes we go to
Cici's Pizza. Cici's is an all you can eat pizza buffet. Not the
worlds best pizza, but for the price and to see Luke having fun, it's
been great. And we try and go at times that it's not busy.

Sleepy

2010-04-22T21:47:00.001-05:00

Over the past couple of days I have seen Cassie just lay down on the
floor. She will lay there for a few seconds and then get up, play and
then do it again. Maybe all this teething is making her extra tired!
The nice part is then I put het to nap and she goes right to sleep.
She heard me clicking pictures and got all cute on me!

And to think I encourage this...

2010-04-21T09:17:00.000-05:00

This is what happens when I let them play alone! I guess I forgot to
attach the lock so it's compleatly my fault! No harm done but they
sure didn't like putting things away! It's all good, they were
distracted long enough that I got a load of wash in the washer!

Afternoon at the park!

2010-04-12T22:25:00.000-05:00

This kid loves the slide at the park! We went to the park that is
near us and he had a great time!

Look at meeeee!

2010-04-06T13:38:00.001-05:00

Cassie's now 10 months old! Can't believe it! She's getting better
at keeping her balance while standing, she will walk behind something
or walk if holding on to fingers, and cruises around holding on to
furniture or walls. She is still very chubby, we have had to start
getting bigger clothes, mostly because they creep up at the belly or
the cuff or band on a sleeve doesn't have elastic, but because it's
summer just about we needed more clothes anyhow, I just hope what I'm
slowly starting to get, she won't grow out of to soon! And I suppose
once she starts walking, it will be time for sandles- cute girly
ones! She doesn't leave headbands in her hair anymore, but there's
not much hair for clips. There is more in the back then the front or
on top, but not enough to even do pigtails.

Playtime!

2010-04-02T10:12:00.000-05:00

I love it when they play nicely together! I also love it when
playtime brings lots of laughter from both of them!

I guess we are eating from pots this morning.

2010-03-29T07:28:00.001-05:00

This morning Luke ran right for where the pots are kept, (really I
don't know how he knew it was left unlocked) and insisted on eating
breakfast from that pot. So I let him! He got fruit loops from the
pantry himself and helped me pour them. And after I got him his milk,
he poured that into the cereal. I ended up giving him a straw to drink
his milk from the pot because he ended up wanting more milk but I
wanted him to drink what he had. Actually now that I let this happen,
I hope he doesn't want to do it all the time.

Luke & the Komodo Dragon

2010-03-27T11:26:00.001-05:00

Here's Luke telling the Komodo Dragon to be quiet. We're at the Museum
of Living Art at the Fort Worth Zoo.

Cassie walking!

2010-03-23T11:00:00.001-05:00

With a little help of course! She had started walking along furniture
a little bit ago and walking with the highchair when it would start to
roll away. The problem..... Luke trying to ride off into the sunset
while Cassie is still holding on! Cassie still has not stood on her
own without holding on to something, but she's close, so close!

And if you are wondering, it ended ok, Cassie let go just as I went to pry her off! No accidents!

Funny Luke

2010-03-22T12:25:00.000-05:00

Luke came into our room the other morning and found the diaper stack.
First he piled them on the bed and "counted" all of them. Then he
started to roll in them while doing this wired laugh! And he kept
rolling in them for a while! It was sooo funny! Lucky I Han my phone
right there to catch this in action!

Luke doesn't say Woof Woof anymore:(

2010-03-19T12:05:00.001-05:00

It's actually kind of sad. He use to call Ender woof woof- that was
Enders name when Luke used it, and we thought it was adorable! I'm
glad we have some video clips! Now Luke says his version of Ender,
which is also cute!

Our evening out

2010-03-13T20:05:00.001-06:00

We decided to be brave and take the kids out to eat tonight. We have
never done that! We started small and just went to Cici's. The kids
did really well. We went about 4 pm trying to beat the dinner crowd
and ate in the corner by the window. Luke liked the elephant statue
out side so we let him play on it before we left. Here he is doing his
"elephant sound like this" noise compleat with actions! We are going
to try and take the kids out in public more often, so they can learn
how we want them to act while we are out! Cassie did pretty well to,
we just kept her in her carseat and she ate her puffs and played with
a few toys! Good idea Michael! It was a fun family outing, and since
the kids were good, it makes us more excited to do it again!

Oh what a mess we made this day!

2010-03-11T22:46:00.001-06:00

Enough time has passed that I can blog about this now! Luke made this
mess all by himself! I was upstairs putting Cassie down for a nap, I
wad gone 10 minutes maybe- 15 at the most, and this is what I saw! A
2 lb canister of oatmeal all over the floor, and in the shelves, and
in his hair, clothes, and diaper! The oatmeal wad even in Ender, but
I didn't discover that til about 30 minutes after this all happened
and Ender did a full body shake and oatmeal went flying everywhere!
There is also a whole bag of mini rice cakes that he opened (had to go
for the unopened bag of course!) and dumped out all over the place!
The time out chair got lots of use. And the day before this happened,
both kids were playing in the sand and pebbles that were in the fire
place and their clothes and little hands were all grubby!

Luke is also now standing, climbing, and scooting things (boxes,
chairs, bins, etc...) to reach things he shouldn't! I knew this day
was coming, really I was surprised it took as long as it did!

Drinking from a straw!

2010-02-26T12:25:00.001-06:00

For the first time! We taught Luke how to drink from a straw at about
9 months, so I thought why not teach Cassie to do the same thing!
Sure enough she did it! Cassie will be 9 months on Wednesday.

Boing! Boing!

2010-02-17T12:51:00.001-06:00

Luke did this too! And come to think of it, so did Ender!

Play time

2010-02-16T15:37:00.000-06:00

So.... I encouraging our children to play by themselves or alone in
the other room. Don't get me wrong, I do play with them, but I think
they also need to know how to entertain themselves for the times I
can't be in the same room as them. Well, today I was in the living
room feeding Cassie and Luke was playing in the playroom and kitchen.
I noticed after I was done with Cassie that it wad strangely quiet....
I walk into the kitchen to find that Luke had disassembled the
dishwasher and was playing with the bottom rack! But he wad also
trying to be helpful by loading his own straw cups! He was having so
much fun!

Snow in TX!

2010-02-11T22:18:00.000-06:00

It snowed all day today! Michael was able to make it home from
Chicago before they cancelled flights, so when the kids got up from
naps daddy was home! We went over to Michael's parents this afternoon
to play in all of their nice snow. Our backyard hadn't been cleaned
since we moved in so we didn't want to chance stepping in all of
Enders messes! We could tell that Luke was cold but didn't want to
come in! I've got pictures with the real camera I can post later. We
even bundled Cassie up, it was hilarious because she was so bundled up
that she couldn't sit and she just kept falling backward and rolling
over!

Look who's standing!

2010-02-08T10:52:00.001-06:00

Cassie has learned how to pull herself up now, since Friday or
Saturday. She now also had two teeth and weighs 20 lbs. I can't
believe she's 8 months already!

Cassie gets her Wii Fit on!

2010-02-05T12:49:00.000-06:00

But this makes it hard to do my Wii Fit!

She's so close!

2010-02-02T21:45:00.001-06:00

One of these days I'll find her holding on to something and standing!

Hello?

2010-01-30T10:14:00.000-06:00

Hello? Is anybody there? My favorite part about this clip is when he
says "hello?" and puts his hand to his ear, but then realizes that he
doesn't have the phone so then he gets it! Luke will put different
things (a remote, a controller, etc..) to his ears and say "hello?!".

At our house

2010-01-29T15:24:00.001-06:00

This is what goes on sometimes :)

Muffin tin Monday

2010-01-22T11:18:00.001-06:00

It's not Monday, but I decided to try it out anyhow! When I saw this
idea in a blog a year or so ago I was so excited for Luke to be the
age that he could do this! I can't remember what blog I got the idea
from, I guess that's the downside of blog hoping! In this picture I
have cheese cubes, turkey, biscuit, apple chunks, carrot slices, and
raisins in a mini muffin tin! I think I'll get a regular 6 muffin
size muffin tin. All I had was a regular 12 or mini 12. As I type this
I am watching Luke eat from one space and then move something from a
full space to the empty space! It actually is a lot of food, so I
think even though this is the mini size, a regular 6 would be much
better!

Cassie in her blessing dress

2010-01-21T20:37:00.002-06:00

I'm really far behind in my blogging, so I'll just start with a picture here and there and fill in with random posts, so there may be a lot of going back and forth in no particular order. We decided to take a quick trip up to WA. We left TX Thanksgiving day and came back the next Wednesday. We decided while we were there to bless Cassie. We also had a family dinner with the extended family who could come. It was fun to catch up and to have the family who could make it meet the newest member of my family!

Settling in!

2010-01-18T08:28:00.001-06:00

Michael and the kids, even Ender in the background! We are really
enjoying our new house! I can't remember if I ever blogged about
that, I'm really far behind on pictures and info, hopefully soon I can
sit down and make a few posts to catch up!

Cute video of Luke

2010-01-10T20:12:00.000-06:00

Sorry the lighting is a bit dark....

Michael got a racing X-Box game for Christmas and it uses a wheel. The
wheel was on the very top shelf in the living room, and it didn't
occur to me that Luke would find it up there. I couldn't figure out
one day why he wads moving his arms in a flapping like motion.... then
I figured it out so I quickly took a video on my phone! So cute!

Splish splash they were taking a bath...

2009-12-22T09:27:00.000-06:00

Looks like both kids love the tub! The only problem I have when I do
baths with both kids at the same time is that since I take Cassie out
first, then I come back for Luke, I find he has gotten himself stuck
in Cassie's bath seat!

Moving right along!

2009-12-12T09:40:00.000-06:00

Cassie doesn't stay in one place anymore! Well she hasn't for over a
month now, but instead of rolling to get what she wanted or rolling to
get where she wanted, now she's pretty much doing the scoot/army crawl
thing!

In other news, the past month or two has been very busy for us. Trip
to WA. to see family and bless Cassie over thanksgiving, and when we
got back packing and preparing to move! WHAT?? Yes you heard/read
right, our 8th move. But I'll post about that later, too many details
for this post!

Enjoy the video!

Almost to big

2009-11-27T23:39:00.001-06:00

But is determined to fit anyway! Luke and Cassie (and us too!) are
having a good time in WA. It's been fun to see family!

He's just so cute!

2009-11-23T21:14:00.001-06:00

Crawling soon??

2009-11-17T09:10:00.000-06:00

Bounce, bounce, bounce...

2009-11-14T12:22:00.000-06:00

Cassie has really figured this out this week! She loves it!

Growling girl

2009-11-10T21:23:00.000-06:00

Cassie's a bit of a growler

Cupcakes

2009-11-09T07:01:00.000-06:00

I made cupcakes for Luke's birthday and decorated them with little
footballs! It was cute to see him eat the football first and then
lick the rest of the frosting off the top of the cupcake! The rest of
his birthday pictures are on my other camera so once I have those
downloaded I'll be posting more!

Can you see her?

2009-11-06T13:19:00.001-06:00

Cassie managed to roll all the way under the couch this time, and it
was a good thing our couch didn't clobber her with the pokie things!

Cassie

2009-11-05T12:48:00.000-06:00

Can't believe she's already 5 months!

Run, run, run...

2009-11-02T23:03:00.000-06:00

I noticed once that Luke was running around the couch like when Ender
runs around the couch so I quickly started filming! I missed about 5
times around the couch, but I'm glad I got the rest before Luke got to
dizzy!

Halloween 2009

2009-11-01T13:38:00.006-06:00

Our family 2009

Cassie dressed as a mouse.

Luke dressed as a lion.

So, we had a low key Halloween this year, dressed up but didn't trick or treat. We borrowed a costume from my sister in law for Luke to wear, and I got a costume the night before for Cassie to wear. Maybe next year Luke will go out.... It's just so hard when bed time is 6pm!

Dr. appointment day! 4 months and 2 years!

2009-10-28T13:10:00.003-05:00

Luke had his 2 year appointment and Cassie had her 4 month (3 weeks late) appointment yesterday. I decided to slide Cassie's appointment late in the month and do double appointments because I knew that there would be shots for both. You can't have shots early, but you can have them late. But here are the heights and weights for both.

Luke at 2 yrs old is 36" tall and 27 lbs.
Cassie at 4 month (and 3 weeks) is 25 1/2" long and 15lbs. 13oz.
(Luke at 4 months was 25" long and 15lbs. 3oz.)

So they both seem to be growing at the same rate, even though to us Cassie seems to be more chubby than Luke ever was!

We are a bit concerned with Luke and his speech, so we have a speech and language evaluation early December. We have noticed in the past little bit that he is trying to say more, and some of what he says is his own variation of words, but he has yet to put words together, and he is no where near the 300 words that the Dr. asked if he was at, my guess is he's at less than 100 words.

And I noticed a little bump on the right side of Cassie's chest in the last couple of weeks when I was holding her. The Dr. said that since she is still getting breast milk, that it could be a build up of estrogen, and that we'll see if it goes away when she is formula feed and we'll keep our eye on it. I've decided to switch to 100% formula now and not wait to see if it will go away before her 6 month appointment on December 3rd. It kinda creeps me out, you can never be to careful I guess.

Other than that, both kids are great!

Luke is now wearing mostly 24month or 2T clothes with the occasional 3T clothes, he's in size 4 diapers, and a size 6 shoe. Luke likes to play with balls- he's really good at kicking the soccer ball, he's got a good appetite- most of the time, likes to do somersaults, likes to dance, play piano, play with Ender, give things to Cassie, help do simple chores- laundry, put dishes away, vacuum etc..., likes to read and be read to, and hide from us- covering his eyes with his hands or hide behind us and then we ask "where's Luke has anybody seen Luke?", likes to brush his teeth, and he still likes to be rocked and sung to at night before bed. And he has recently started copying us when we do things! Oh, and he has started with the fits.... but he gets the concept of time out pretty good- he has even put himself in time out a couple of times! He still goes to bed about 6pm, sometimes he goes right to sleep and other times we hear him playing for an hour or two- but he still sleeps til about 7-7:30 in the morning. Sometimes napping doesn't happen, but he has a nice long quiet time on the days it doesn't.

Cassie is wearing clothes sized anywhere form 6 month to 6-9 month clothes (depending on the brand), 12 month onesies, and size 3 diapers. She now rolls both directions. Laughs, coos, growls- I'll have to post a video, it's pretty cute, and is starting to eat first foods, or stage one foods. She lifts herself up with her arms at times and other times she will lift her bum in the air with her legs, so maybe shell be crawling in the next couple of months. She is still NOT sleeping through the night...we're working on that! We're also working on setting night time and napping schedules. She is going to bed usually between 6-7:30, usually wants to eat once or twice at night (that's gonna stop soon!) and wakes up in the morning anytime between 6-9:30 it just depends. And she is pretty good at napping at least twice in the day, in her own crib, for an hour or two... if I'm lucky maybe three hours! And if I'm really lucky, they both nap at the same time!!

Well, this was longer than I planned it to be, but it's mostly for record since I'm terrible at keeping baby books! Pictures and a post about Luke's birthday another day!

Doing a puzzle

2009-10-25T17:57:00.000-05:00

Here is Luke working on a puzzle he got for his birthday.

Happy Birthday Luke!

2009-10-24T22:36:00.001-05:00

We love you and hope you had a great 2nd Birthday!

I'll try and post pictures and an entry later next week sometime!

All that space....

2009-10-23T06:29:00.001-05:00

....and he has to sleep at the top! And this is not the first time I
caught him sleeping at the very top of his bed on his pillow! I tried
to move hm so he wouldn't bump himself tring to strech or something ,
but he justclimbed back up on his pillow! And yes, his jammies are on
backwards, he likes to unzip his zipper and take off his jammies, and
then he is cold in the morning because it's like an icebox in his room!

Stuck

2009-10-21T10:28:00.001-05:00

Cassie is now rolling all over the family room! Depending on which
way she rolls she runs out of room quicker than if she rolled another
way. In this picture she rolled right into the fireplace but kept
trying to roll up onto it!

Our musician

2009-10-18T21:03:00.000-05:00

We decided to bring out the keyboard the other day to shake things
up. Luke's getting bored of the same old same old! Now, while this
may not be music to your ears, I could spend hours listening Luke play
the piano (with breaks of course!). And I love how he has two
different styles of dancing! Enjoy!

A little thirsty?!

2009-10-18T16:39:00.001-05:00

He can even drink it one handed!

Ignore the attire! We're lazy on the weekends!