Memorial Day

And I'm proud to be an American,

where at least I know I'm free,

and I won't forget the men who died,

who gave that right to me

and I'll proudly stand next to him

to defend her still today,

'cuz there ain't no doubt I love this land,

God Bless the USA.

LEGO Party!

Yesterday, we had Lukas's birthday party. This year, he wanted to have a lego party. We did have a hard time finding a lego cake, but we were able to convince Giant Eagle to make me an edible photo cake with a picture Kelly took of some legos that Lukas built. It actually turned out better than we thought it would. All that really matters is that Lukas LOVED it!

We had our usual big birthday picnic bash and the weather was gorgeous and hot! Lukas couldn't wait to open his presents. He got SO MANY Legos! He's definitely in lego heaven. He also got many other great gifts. Lukas had a funny moment and we laughed about it all night. We kept telling him to read the cards and tell us who the gifts were from before he opened them. On the second or third gift, he was standing there staring at a card. His friend, Tyler, said "Lukas, can you read?" and after a 30 second pause, Lukas yelled "Well, I can't read cursive!" We also got this on video and will be sure never to forget it. LOL! And, thanks to Nanny for writing in cursive:)

We had a wonderful day. The boys had so much fun playing with the new legos, running through the sprinkler and playing with Lukas's new water gun. We sure did build new, wonderful, family memories! Thanks everyone so much for making his birthday party so special. We love you all!

Today he's SeVeN!

Hip-Hip-HOORAY...

You're seven TODAY!

We can't believe our little Lukas is 7 today!

He's not so little anymore...where has the time gone? It's funny how when their birthdays roll around you really notice how much they have grown from last year. Lukas has really amazed us this past year. He's doing really well in school. This year he's learned how to read with fluency, his printing (hand writing) is getting much better, can tie his shoes all by himself, has learned to add, subtract, tell time, and now learning fractions, and just three weeks ago, learned how to ride his bike! We couldn't be prouder of our baby boy...he's absolutely amazing. In our eyes, he'll always be our baby, but he's definitely transformed into a handsome, kind, gentle, sweet, caring boy.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU,

Happy Birthday To You,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR LUKAS...

HAPPY Birthday to YOU!

WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH, LUKAS! ~XOXO~Mommy & Daddy

Empty Nest

We checked on the birds tonight and our nest was empty. They all must have learned how to fly quickly because we didn't see any on the ground. The boys are a little sad that our birds left. :(

It was a lot of fun watching our birds grow and learning about them!

Camp Agawam

Friday, Kelly got off work early and we headed to Camp Agawam - Family Camp with the Cub Scouts. On the entire drive there, it was pouring and when we arrived, it was still raining. We left the kids in the truck while we set up the easy up and tent. When the boys got out of the truck, they didn't care about the rain at all. They took off and started playing with all the other kids. It finally did stop raining after we got everything set up...go figure, but everything was a soggy mess! We helped some of our friends set there stuff up and made s'mores and relaxed a little before "lights out". Believe it or not, we all slept in Lukas's 2-man tent. The boys went to sleep with no problem. It was definitely tight and cozy!

Saturday, we were up at 6am and the boys got up around 7am. When they were up and moving, we made some eggs on our new coleman propane skillet. They turned out pretty good. Around 8:45, was opening ceremony and they went over the schedule for the day. Of course, at this point it starts drizzling. We did a few activities right after that and at 9:45 our pack was scheduled to go do the bb-gun range, archery, and sling shot. At this point, the rain was really coming down. Landon was a little whiney and wanted to go home, but we think he was just tired. Lukas was loved the bb-gun range. He didn't hit the target, but he still had fun. Ben can't wait to take him this Summer to shoot his bb-gun. Lukas had a hard time with the archery shooting. He didn't really have enough strength and to the now back and Ben had to help him. After we finished those activities, it was time for lunch. We headed back to our camp site and had lunch. As soon as lunch was over, it started pouring. Landon was so tired that he crawled up on Kelly's lap and fell asleep. We manage to lay him down on the chair and he took a 3-4 hour nap. Around 2:00, the sun came out! We started drying everything out and the sun never felt so good. While I stayed at the site with Landon, Ben and Lukas went fishing with a bunch of boys. They were gone for 3 hours. Lukas loved it and caught 3 little fish. Around 6:00, we started our dinner. We had mountain pies, strawberries, and cucumbers. The mountain pies were delicious. After dinner, Lukas and a bunch of his buddies headed off to play in the forte, mine and castle. During our free time, Lukas was always off with this buddies running around. He didn't mind at all that his jeans were wet up past his knees and his shoes were completely soaked. He didn't complain once about being cold, wet or wanting to go home.

Needless to say, around 9-9:30pm, a big storm hit suddenly. It started to thunder/lightning, and with no warning, it started to pour cats and dogs. We all ran to our tents. The boys were so frightened. Lukas thought our tent was going to blow away. Ben peeked out at one point and stuck his hand out and said it was hailing. After the storm, we decided that we were going to pack up and leave. Our sleeping bags were soaked from us jumping in and the boys were too frightened. Sunday morning everyone was to pack up and leave, so we didn't miss anything. Besides, we had enough fun in the rain and wanted to go home and get clean and dry. Even though it rained most of the time, we all had a great time. They have a Fall family camp scheduled in October and we plan on going. We will definitely be getting a bigger tent and will be more prepared for the next one!

Look at him go...

Here's a clip, from last weekend, of Lukas riding his bike without training wheels!

Peek in our tree

It's been a few days and the boys have been bugging me to check our baby birds. The weather has been warm, so we peeked in on them today. They are getting so big! We were able to see all five today. The boys love the birds, but we try to leave the nest alone so momma bird doesn't abandoned them.

As you can see, it looks like they are out growing their nest.
We've been doing lots of bird watching the last couple weeks and thought it would be a great learning experience for the boys. Here are some interesting facts we've learned:

The House Finch is one of the most common birds in North America. They are among the most human-friendly birds. As such, you can see them often living in areas where humans also reside. Though this is the case today, the House Finch’s natural habitat has not always been where humans are located. Its natural habitat ranges from deserts which are uninhabited to the chaparral as well as coniferous forests. However, due to the ever changing landscape brought about by man’s expansion, the House Finch is commonly found in the cities as well.

The House Finch can be found both in the eastern and western part of North America. The western House Finches have expanded into British Columbia as well as parts of Montana. This was still due largely to the expansion of man’s habitat as well. The eastern House Finches, on the other hand, descend mainly from caged birds. This happened in 1940 when illegally caged birds were released by pet shop owners in Long Island, New York. The premise is that these birds were trapped all the way from Los Angeles. It is said that for a long time, the released birds barely survived in Long Island. It was only after a long period of adjustment that they were able to find their homes in the buildings of New York. In any case, these released birds are now the ancestors of the eastern House Finches as we know them today.

This little bird is about the size of a sparrow, with a length of anywhere from 5 inches to 6 inches (13 – 15 cm). The male and female have differences when it comes to appearance and coloring. The male’s crown and chest are both red and so is its rump. The female, on the other hand, is mostly grayish brown all over with some blurry streaks of red on the sides and the breast. Both male and female House Finches have stubby bills and square-tipped tails.

House Finches are not migratory birds. In fact, they are termed permanent resident birds. No matter where they may be located, House Finches have always been known to be gregarious birds. They form huge flocks during the breeding season and they roost closely to each other – sometimes they even settle as close as to touching each other. We can thus say that House Finches are sociable birds – both towards each other and humans as well.

House Finches are known to be monogamous birds. That is, they find a mate and stick with each other during the breeding seasons. A couple can have several broods each year. During the courtship period, House Finches exhibit an interesting display, much like other song birds. Their expected life span – barring any unfortunate accidents, that is – is about 9 to 10 years.

House Finches will nest in window ledges, holes in buildings, conifer trees, hanging planters and old nests. The female builds most of the nest, a shallow cup of grasses, twigs, leaves and lined with feathers and other fine fibers. The female lays 3 to 6 bluish or greenish white eggs with black spots near the large end. The female incubates the eggs for 13 to 14 days. Both parents feed the nestlings and remove fecal sacs by eating them. The nestlings leave the nest 12 to 15 days after hatching. The male continues to feed the young for about two more weeks while the female builds a new nest and lays the next brood of eggs.

Mother's Day!

The Poem ~ Happy Mother's Day!

I think of all the things you do,

And then I know why I love you.

You make me breakfast,

You wash my clothes,

You take me places I want to go.

You teach me things, you read to me,

You help me become what I want to be.

You sing me songs, you hold me tight,

You hold my hand, in the dark at night.

In all the world I know it's true,

There is no mommy just like you.

-Author Unknown

Happy Mother's Day!
What a beautiful weekend. Having wonderful weather really made Mother's day extra special. I am so blessed and thank God everyday for my two healthy, handsome boys.

Friday, after work, Lukas surprised me with marigolds that he planted in school and a home-made card. Inside the card was a poem and question sheet that he filled out. On the inside of the card, he also drew a picture of us playing Wii in our living room. It was great to come home from work to this wonderful surprise.

Ben and the boys treated me to dinner at Red Lobster Saturday evening. The boys love seafood. The funniest moment at dinner was when Lukas said "I'm a hungry sail-man". He didn't really have much to eat all day and was super hungry. He had Ben and I laughing so hard.

On Sunday, we hung out and relaxed all day. After Ben went to bed, the boys and went to my mom's and spent a few hours with her. It was a very relaxing day and enjoyed every minute:)

We also had two milestones occur over Mother's Day weekend:

1. Lukas is riding his bike without training wheels! Ben worked with on Saturday afternoon and in 20 minutes he was riding down the yard all by himself.

2. The other one is that he's tying his shoes again and very fast at it. We even taught him how to double knot/tie them. It's amazing how much more coordination he has this year. He even told us that he wants to play Fall soccer.We are so proud of our big boy:) He amazes us everyday! We love you so much Lukas:)

Lukas & Landon ~ I love you both with all my heart! Thank you so much for a wonderful Mother's Day ~ XOXO!

Baby Birds

After I got home from work, I checked the nest and we now have baby birds! They are only a day or two old. It's very hard to tell how many are in there, but it looks like all 5 have hatched. The boys were so excited and wanted to peek at them. I took one quick shot and we left them alone.

Gorgeous SPRING!

Saturday afternoon, Landon and I took a walk around the neighborhood and really focused on the season...SPRING! Everything is so colorful and we love it. It was nice to spend some quality one-on-one time with him. He's my little "mommies boy" and can't get enough of his "sweet/cute phase". I'm glad we got a chance to get out and enjoy the beauty. Spring seems to fade very quickly:(