Jack at 4 Years

Favorite Foods

watermelon, broccoli, oatmeal, black olives, penne pasta

w/ alfredo sauce, chicken w/ cream of chicken on white rice,

cheese, banana pudding, banana bread, bacon and coffee cake

(Despite his food allergies he eats and enjoys a lot of food. These are just the stand outs.)

Favorite Restaurants: Gratziano's, Chuy's, Chipotle,

chick-fil-a, and Starbucks

Favorite Show: Lazy Town

Favorite Activities: Geotrax, playing with his friends,

playing in the backyard with water, dirt and shovels,

playing with Luca, going to the park and the children's

museum, Mom or Dad reading him books

Favorite things to wear: His green beach hat, sunglasses

and his watch

Jack's General Dislikes

beans, potatoes (including fries!), hamburgers and corn

going to the bathroom...he avoids it until he can no longer

avoid it!

going to church :-(

getting a haircut

cleaning up after himself

Firsts for this year: class field trip, walking on the school's

"wibbly wobbly bridge," actually playing at the spray park and

a wasp sting

Jack really enjoys going to his preschool. We are proud of all

the progress that Jack has made this year. He knows his letter sounds and can write and sound out short vowel words.

We love his teacher and he has a good little group of friends at school. He has been much braver this year and has

attempted things that he would not of attempted in the past. He will start swimming lessons next week and we hope he continues to be brave. :-)

There are not enough words to express how much we love this guy. We learn daily from him and through him about our heavenly Father. Since having children we have had new revelations about how much God loves us and about His patience and unconditional love for us. There are times when Jack and I are dealing with some "growing pains"and I see a total reflection of my relationship with God. We thank God for him and we pray for continued guidance in raising him.

10 and some...

Busy. Busy. Busy. Luca is very busy. At 10 and a half months old he is mobile and keeping himself very active. :-)

Luca

1. crawls everywhere.

2. pulls up on furniture.

3. gets into a lot of things. (constantly wants whatever Jack has and desperately wants the remote controls, is VERY attracted to wires)

4. bounces balls.

5. waves bye, bye.

6. gets very upset when we take something away.

7. has started to object to solids. And totally refuses to eat any table food that has a soft or squishy texture. He does however love any snack that is hard or crunchy.

8. drinks from a sippy cup.

9. has recently experienced a little bit of separation and stranger anxiety.

10. went swimming for the first time at Mimi's house. Loved it.

11. has taken an interest in books (as in knocking down Mommy and Daddy books located on a shelf and attempting to eat them)

12. sleeps very well at night. Goes down around 7:30 or 8:00 and gets up around 6:00 am. (that is good for our sleep history)

13. babbles and mimics Jack.

14. tolerates the rest of us as best as he can! :-)

It has been so fun to watch Luca grow and develop but as we approach the one year mark...I am kind of sad to see my baby not be so much of a baby. And I am in total shock at how quickly the time is flying by! We love you Luca! You are so special and we cannot say enough wonderful things about you!

SOOOO

I thought once school was out for me that I would be able to keep up with the blog better. However, everything that our family put off during the school year is being dealt with now. Soooo, I haven't exactly kept up with the blog. I have about a million pictures and a new camera but I have not had time to do anything with them. And to be honest..sorting through pictures stresses me out. School is back in session for me next week. I hope to get a late blog entry on Luca at 10 months before he turns 11 months! That one year mark is approaching much too quickly!

Being Married to Todd

As most of you know, Todd is a musician. He tries very hard to keep us living a "normal" life. Aside from travel and odd work hours we live a relatively normal life. At times however, there are a few things that are not so normal. Like...we get packages in the mail ALL of the time. Delivery trucks drop things off pretty frequently. Packages like this...

Pretty normal looking...right.

But then we get packages that look like this..still not so questionable.

But occasionally we get strange deliveries like this! What the heck is in that bag? And what do the neighbors think?!?

When I drive my car...I hear and find things in the trunk that look like this.

And what is this you ask? Why it's my husband's carry on bag of course.

On this particular trip he traveled with a triangle and other strange paraphernalia. What is that back there? Fishing line?

And I am pretty sure these are bungee cords. (no really..Mr. Security Guy. I promise I am not a terrorist. I just have this gig I am playing...that requires me to use bungee cord!)

I should have started taking pictures of this stuff when we first got married. At one point we had a row of different sized wooden planks laying on our apartment floor. That's when I started to make some noise about not letting too much gear inside our living quarters. Don't get me wrong. I want to support my husband in his career. I just don't want to have to jump over planks of wood to get to my ironing board. :-)

Love you Todd and all of your weirdness!

Jack in the Country

9 Months

At 9 months Luca

1. is crawling

2. is feeding himself snacks

3. waves bye, bye

4. can sit himself up from lying down

4. laughs when a group of people laugh (cute b/c he has no idea why he is laughing just knows he should join in)

5. is not a fan of being strapped into his highchair

6. has become very squirmy on the changing table

7. constantly pulls off his socks

8. enjoys babytime at the library

9. likes it when I sing just about anything to him

10. has a personality much like his father's..very even keel

It has been a while...

I apologize for the lack of blogging. Life has been kicking us in the rear lately! Todd is in the middle of a hectic work season. School has kept me up at all hours of the night. (Just between us...I have actually been enjoying these strange late night hours of the night when my house is quiet and I have it all to myself. I have the freedom to do whatever I need without interruptions and at my own pace.) We have been living life and taking pictures, there just has not been much free time to upload and post. So for now let me update you on our lives. In the last couple of weeks...

1. We had a baby dedication for Luca.

2. Todd traveled to Arizona, North Carolina, and Florida.

3. Todd developed a sinus infection.

4. Jack got a stomach bug.

5. Jack and I went on a school field trip.

6. We traveled for Easter and saw Grandma and Grandpa.

7. I signed Luca up for MDO (Mother's Day Out) in the fall.

8. I read several books and have written several papers. (and probably gained 10 pounds in the process-late night snacking!)

9. We planted some herbs and a few fruiting plants. (when I say a few, I mean like 3)

10. And we managed to make vacation plans for the summer.

I am sure there are other things I am forgetting but those are the highlights. :-) Pictures and posts to come....I hope!