Picnic & Swimming

Today we went to a friends Memorial Day picnic. Their pool is amazing. The kids have never been there before and were so excited to go swimming. After we had some lunch, we took them back to the pool. Lukas said "WHOA". It was so funny and amazing to hear that come out of a six year old mouth. We love their pool. It's like your on a vacation in the Caribbean. The neatest and greatest thing about the pool is that it's reverse osmosis. So we didn't mind if Landon got a few gulps of water. We were amazed how well Lukas did for the first time swimming this year. He remembered a lot from his classes last year. Landon is definitely our water baby. He wanted to jump in all by himself. He would get so mad if you'd stand in front of him to catch him and would run the other way and jump in. He's going to be a handful swimming this year. We had such a wonderful day. Thanks so much Tony and Jill for having us out! 

Lukas' birthday party

I don't know

but I've been told...

Lukas turned 6 years old!

Today we had Lukas' birthday party. His birthday is always the start of our Summer and is always so hot. We had a big picnic since it fell on the actual day and this day is so very special to us. He wanted to have an ARMY party theme. He picked out the the decorations and party bags for all his friends. And, of course wanted an army tank on his cake. He was so excited about his party this year. He had a few friends come over and they all had a blast running around the yard playing "Army".  It was hysterical to watch them play. Ben and I had to laugh because all the kids, but our two, cried because they didn't want to leave. We are so glad that everyone had so much fun. 

He got lots of great presents. All kinds of GI Joe stuff, army toys, lots of camo clothes and Toy Story and Toy Story 2 DVDs. We got him the big army tank with the action figures. As always, he made out like a bandit. We are so blessed to have a wonderful family and friends. Thanks everyone for spending and celebrating the day with us. We all had a blast. 

6 years ago...

Exactly 6 years ago, we'd be at Allegheny Valley Hospital waiting for our first child to be born. We remember that it was about 21 hours we were there before he was born. It was long, painful and intense, but well worth it! It was an experience of lifetime and one that we'll cherish the rest of our lives. It's amazing how someone so little can effect your entire life. This was the day that our lives had changed forever. We are so blessed to have a healthy, handsome, intelligent, loving boy. He's such a joy and we love watching him grow everyday. We wish these days would just slow down.

Bedtime story

Tonight Lukas wanted to read to Landon. I was actually surprised. Lukas has been doing great with his reading, but never volunteers to do it. He can read beginner books very well and pretty fluent. He'll stumbled over some words. Landon loved his big brother reading to him. After Lukas finished reading he said "Landon, do you like when I read you stories?" and Landon replied "yep". It was so darn cute. Lukas said he wants to read to his brother every night. We'll see how long this lasts:-) 

Landon loves to look through books every night. He thinks that reading is flipping through them page by page and closes the book and says "The End". I love to just watch him and can't wait to hear his tiny little voice. He has been saying many phrases lately:

"What's that" – this is every hour, every day

"Come on"

"help please"

"The End"

"This is serious" – from Ming Ming (on Wonder Pets)

"Watch this"

"More please"

Ben and I can't believe how big the boys are getting. We are both soaking this up as much as we can. I told him a couple weeks ago "these days aren't going to last much longer"... :-(

Hopscotch

Lukas loves hopscotch. We made a big colorful one on the front sidewalk and they played for hours. It was so cute to watch Landon try to play. He would imitate Lukas. He has the cutest little hop. It's not suppose to rain this week so we may get lots of use out of it this week. The last picture is of Lukas and Mommy messing around. We're so goofy:-)

Bugs

The boys found a slug in our yard and of course had to play with it. Lukas had to get out his little flashlight and magnify glass. They were so fascinated with this bug.

Shrek 4 in 3D

When Ben got home from work this morning, it was raining like cats and dogs. He said lets skip Lukas' soccer game and go to breakfast and see Shrek The Final Chapter. So that's what we did. We got ready and headed out. What a great day to go to the movies. This was Lukas' second time to go to the theatre. The first time he went, he saw Shrek 3. Our boys love all the Shrek movies. We actually own all three and thought this would be a great first movie for Landon to see in the theatre. We decided to watch it in 3D. It was so neat. I can't remember the last time I saw a movie in 3D. The glasses were way too big for Landon and he got mad and threw them on the floor twice. He has such a temper. He seemed to be ok with them off, but we still felt bad for him because the quality was terrible without the glasses. Lukas kept his glasses on the entire movie and loved it. It was a great experience for him. You'd think that they'd have 3D glasses for kids in this day in age. I don't know how hard it could be since they make sunglasses for kids. Ben and I were upset about that. Lukas can't wait to go see Toy Story 3 in June and we are definitely not going to watch that in 3D. We'll have to wait till the boys are a little older for them to really enjoy it. The movie was fantastic and kept the kids interest the whole time. We definitely recommend everyone to see it.

Kindergarten Program

Lukas had his kindergarten program at 2:00 in the school auditorium. The program theme was "Alpha-a-bob". It revolved around the alphabet and what they have learned in kindergarten. This is the first year for the school to hold a kindergarten program. There are four kindergarten classes at Vandergrift Elementary. Each class also did there own thing. For Lukas' class each student had to say a line in the microphone. Lukas' line was "O is for octagon like a stop sign." It was neat because they had three microphones on the stage with three lines of kids behind them and after one would read his line another would start. All the kids did wonderful. We sat in the back of the auditorium and could hear them very clearly. The music teacher and kindergarten teachers did a superb job with kids. We were all amazed how well they did for only being in kindergarten. We were extra proud of our Lukas. He sang and danced his little heart out today. Great job big guy! 

We didn't take any video, but got some pictures. They're not the greatest because the lighting was awful.  

Much needed quality time

Today we took the boys to the zoo. We finally activated our family membership! The boys are so excited to be members. We should get our permanent membership in about a month. Thanks Uncle Jeff and Aunt Lee Ann for a year full of FUN:-) We will get great use out of it! The zoo was extremely busy, but we didn't really mind since we knew that we can go back anytime. We actually skipped over a bunch of sections because it was packed and Ben had to go to work tonight. Landon really enjoyed himself. This wasn't his first trip, but it was his first trip that he could walk and see everything. The boys really loved the elephants and of course their favorite was the aquarium. They could have spent the entire time in that part of the zoo. Of course Kelly had to get pictures of the tiger! We can't wait to go back in couple weeks. On our way home, we stopped at Red Robin for dinner. Lukas picked this place just for his brother...because of the balloons:-) Landon is obsessed with balloons. We were way past due to have some great family quality time.

Voluntary help!

Saturday evening we decided to give our vehicles a good cleaning. Well, Kelly's car the most! To our surprise Lukas was willing helping out. He was hosing off her mats and helped rinse the car off. He even cleaned her wheels and tires! He has really changed the last three months. Our little boy is growing up. It's actually nice to have the extra help. If it's not really helping us, he helps us by watching over Landon if we are busy doing something in a different room or area. He's such a sweet, generous, loving boy. We love you SO MUCH Lukas!