Luca at 3 Years

Luca's first family portrait.. There is an extra Luca to the right of Jack. 

Luca is into anything big brother is into...Here he is testing out his new remote control car. 

Our little Luca turned 3 today. I ask him pretty frequently to stop growing up and to stay my baby forever.. He always says that he will grow up and become a big boy. He's right and he is well on his way. Luca is really into "knightly things" right now. He will have a Mike the Knight birthday party and has been looking forward to it for months. He says that when he has his "knightly things" (sword, shield, armor) that he will save my plants and scare the animals away from eating them. In the first picture you can see that he is practicing his archery. Little does he know that my father really did practice archery and can show him a lot about bows and arrows. We are at the end of potty training. He has done so well with it. He has almost mastered the process. We are crossing our fingers he gets it before school starts up again. He needs to be able to be independent in this area in order to go into the early childhood classroom at his school. Not quite in line with Maria Montessori's self-pace and "when the child is ready" philosophy but that's okay.  

Luca at 3 years:

1. Favorite color is red

2. Can be heard beginning a sentence with the words "eventually" or "actually"

3. Says his J sound like a Z so Jack sounds like Zack

4. Says his TH sound like an S so "thank you" sounds like "sank you" and "think so" sounds like "sink so" 

5. Loves to dress up like super heroes, cowboys, and knights

6. Will eat turkey (sometimes) 

7. Never eats chicken or meat

8. Lives off of carrots, fruit, cheese, bread and waffles (current favorite breakfast treats are cinnamon rolls) 

9. Prefers crocs to tennis shoes

10. Likes to play with trains

11. Enjoys going to the country

12. Loves playing with his older brother but gets very frustrated with being younger and less capable 

13. And desperately wants to be on a soccer team 

Luca's personality is more rambunctious than Jack's. He is not afraid to let people know when he is not happy. He will yell, cry and yes even hit. He takes a swing at Jack at least once a week. We are working on using our words. God gave Luca such a fun personality. We love you Lucaboo! 

Jack at 6 Years

Jack had a Harry Potter birthday party this year. 

Opening Hogwarts Lego present from Uncle Sean and Aunt Karen. 

Slip n' sliding after the party

Testing out Platform 9 3//4...

Jack graduated from Kinder in June. For the last 3 years he has had a wonderful teacher and class. He will continue to attend Montessori school but will be moving up to the lower elementary side of the school. It will be a whole new experience for all of us. We attempted to get Jack into a local magnet school that seems great and promising but it didn't work out. I am unsure how long we will continue to do the whole private school scene. We never really intended to do elementary school in any private school but it just kind of happened. Jack loves his school and we all have been very happy there so for now it is the perfect place for us. (Luca included who will be moving up to the Early Childhood program in the fall.) 

So Jack at 6 years old: 

1. Is a really good reader and his favorite book is Harry Potter 

2. Likes to eat at Rudy's, Fazoli's, and Cracker Barrel

3. Loves his school and has a great group of friends there

4. Likes to wear Sketchers and Crocs

5. Likes exploring outside and playing with water and dirt

6. Loves going to the country house and hanging out with cousin Penny

7. Has about a zillion legos

8. Gets car sick

9. Enjoys trips to the beach

10. Has a cool connection to my Dad and likes to sit outside and talk to grandpa about plants, cars or anything else that comes to mind

11. Just discovered video games and has been playing Super Mario Brothers on the wii 

12. And is saving his money and seeking out chores for payment to buy either a Nook or the Hogwarts Express Lego set (I am pushing for the nook...) 

Jack's character continues to be one of someone that tries to respect others. (as much as a 6 year old boy can..) He is ultra aware of fairness or the lack there of.. He tends to get his feelings hurt easily and is timid about trying new things. He excels when he is in a comfortable and familiar environment. We thank God for Jack and love everything about him. We look forward to this next year of his life. :) 

Resurrected...

It has been um.. a while. I stopped blogging some time ago. This summer Jack turned 6 and in a few weeks Luca will turn 3. It has come to my attention that because I stopped blogging I stopped capturing many of the day to day things that eventually fade our memory. So I hope to post occasionally for the purpose of documenting the lives of my babies and to update on our family happenings in general.

Bad Blog

For anyone that still checks in...So sorry to disappoint. I am a total blog failure. Ha! There is just no way that I can keep up with everything these days. School is really taking up most of my time. I love my family and I love my kids so any free time I do have....I try to spend it with them.

Luca is 19 months old and he is a hoot! He deserves a post of his own detailing all that he is doing.

Jack is 4 and a half and at times acts like a old man with all of his idiosyncrasies. Other times he acts younger than Luca!

Todd is working hard at the tenure process.

And I am simply trying to survive my last full semester of classes.

Well... let's see how long it is before the next brief update!

Pots and Pans

An activity intended for Luca, but enjoyed by both boys. :-)

Halloween

Our little family had a nice fall weekend. We enjoyed some much needed family time. We had a little BBQ, ate outdoors, carved a pumpkin, roasted some pumpkin seeds and watched a good football game. Here we have Sporticus and a Skunk completing the weekend with a little trick or treating.

Luca-15 Months

At 15 months Luca:

1. is little. At his 15 month appointment he weighed 19 lbs. He is the smallest in his Mother's Day Out class but totally the cutest! ;-)

2. is developing language daily. Words: Mama, Dada, cracker, up, get down, shoes, and choo choo..Baby talk: Bubu for bubbles, baba, for ball, da for dog, wawa for water, ticka, ticka for tickle, tickle and occasionally mimics things like thank you and go go. :-)

3. likes to eat waffles, pancakes, oatmeal, bacon, quesadillas, grilled cheese sandwiches, sometimes turkey, fishsticks, fruit, yogurt and raisins. (He is not a big meat or vegetable eater.) However, he is starting to try new things. His most recent items are broccoli, strawberries, oranges and couscous.

4. likes to read books, play with balls and cars, blow bubbles, play outside, sing songs, dance to fun music, and play with his big brother. (Their most recent fun time has been playing under the dining room table with an empty car seat box.. they play, giggle and scribble on the inside of the box. It is super cute.)

5. likes watching Baby Einstein's Baby Beethoven and requires us to watch it with him.

6. makes animal sounds for the cow, dog, lion, duck, rooster, and monkey

7. got bitten on the head by a girl at Mother's Day Out.

8. is totally a Momma's boy right now. Although this does not allow for me to eat, go to the bathroom or even walk in or of a room without him wanting me to carry him.... I know in the blink of an eye this phase will be gone so I am trying to embrace and love him as much as possible. He is quite the sweetie pie. :-)