Happy Birthday MawMaw!

We love you!

 



Daddy's First Day {Night} of School

Daddy finally decided to "take the plunge" and go back

to school. We are so proud of him...E even "gave him

the kissing hand" before he left in case he missed her! :)

Luke: 23 Months

Luke, you are twenty-three months old!

Here's what you're up to these days...

• You weigh 30lbs. 3oz. and are 35 inches long.
• You are wearing 24 month and 2T clothes and size 6 diaper.
• You are back into school mode where sleep is concerned...going to bed around 6:45PM and waking up around 6:45AM. On the weekends we keep you up later and you sleep later. :)
• You still aren't a picky eater, but your appetite has definitely decreased in the last few months.
• You are still a complete and total mama's boy, but you LOVE to go with your daddy. The other night you flat threw a fit until he let you go with him to "check cows".
• You went on another beach trip this month, and you adjusted perfectly once again. I hope you are always a great traveler!
• You're hanging in there with 16 teeth.
• You are really talking up a storm these days. Instead of mostly repeating, almost everything you say is from your own little mind!
• You tell us your name is Luke Duke.
• You can count to six without any prompting...then you usually skip a few and go straight to nine. :)
• You are nowhere near potty trained. Our new routine is: I take your diaper off in preparation for bathtime, you say "teetee, bush?", we go outside, you stand there, we come back in, I put you on the potty, you sit, I put you in the tub and you teetee in the drain...*shaking*my*head*!
• I can't believe my tiny baby boy will be 2 in one month.
• I'm so thankful God loaned you to me...happy 23 months!

Odds & Ends

Luke is ready for some football!! Go (Central) Vols!

Playing in Maz's jewelry:)

I got brave (or lost my mind, the jury's still out;) and

decided to pick up all five babies one afternoon to play.

And finally...E's second trip to the doctor in 7 days.

We are headed to see Dr. Ray tomorrow, so say a prayer

that he can figure out what's going on with our girl.

Uh-ma

Luke has always been my "easy baby", and bedtime has always been a cinch with him. I never have given him a bottle at bed (made that mistake with the girl:), and I have always laid him down wide awake (made that mistake too, ha!). But "our thing" has always been rocking. Every night I rock him and sing him a song, then I tell him I love him, lay him in his bed, and he says "night night". Every night. Always me. On Tuesday night he was restless when I sat down in the rocking chair, and I could not get him to settle down. Finally he started saying "Uh-ma" over and over. I called her into his room, and she rocked him...

He has asked for her every night since (bittersweet).

The First Day(s) of School

The last week has been a whirlwind with E starting preschool and me going back to work. Today was even more chaotic...the first day of school for my kids!! And let me just say this...my "lunch hour" (laugh) is from 10:30-11:00, and I sat down at 10:58. I honestly don't think I used the bathroom all day long. When I got to FACS to pick up E at 5 minutes after 5 she looked like a lost puppy:(. If I can make it to Labor Day I feel assured that I will be back into the swing of things and summer will be just a memory.

E's first day...

I got a text from Mrs. Lolli around 2PM saying E got bit by ants

 while they were on the playground. She put Benadryl cream on her

 and Emma was "very brave". When I got there to pick her up she

was fine, and she even shared a little information about her day:).

We went out for ice cream to celebrate

us both making it through the day:).

And since she only rested her body instead of taking a nap she

looked like this by the time we got to Mrs. Elizabeth's to get Luke...

Her classroom's theme is owls (so cute!), and when we got

home I found this attached to some candy in her backpack.

The next few days looked like this...

Don't all 4-year-olds read the CTJ on Wednesday afternoons?

On Thursdays a folder is sent home with her work from the week!

And this morning...on Cheyenne's first day of 2nd Grade!

The Night Before Preschool

We came home from the beach to find this in the mailbox...

So we headed to FACS's Open House tonight, where E was able

to meet her new teacher (Mrs. Lolli) and give her a little prize.

She looked so grown up sitting at that table. I just don't know when

 it happened. When did my sweet 8lb. 2oz., black haired baby girl

turn into a blonde haired, 3ft. 9in. preschooler? I guess I blinked:(

We read The Night Before Preschool (that Mrs. Elizabeth

gave her) and The Kissing Hand (which I barely choked

through). We also traced her hand, something I plan to do

every year on the night before school. I just can't believe it...

Prayer Rally

We got home from the beach this afternoon, unpacked, rested up, and headed to CHS for a county wide church service/prayer rally. It was absolutely amazing to see our county come together as one in support of our new school. Wouldn't it be great to start every school year on our knees? The government may think they have taken God and prayer out of schools, but with kids and parents like these He will always be present!!

And, of course, we had to get a pic

with our favorite cheerleader:)

Splash

We headed to PC Wednesday morning for one last summer rendezvous. E rode with MawMaw and Poppa Dale, so Luke was solo for the ride. He was pretty good the majority of the time:).

After five long hours we finally made it!!

Since Luke is early to bed, late to rise he and Daddy

stayed upstairs while E and I checked out Splash!

See my girl swimming like a fish? Let me tell you a story. We were headed to the hot tub (so I thought) when, y'all, the girl jumped right into the deep end of the pool! I was in a complete panic, when what did she do other than swim straight  to the side? I guess those swimming lessons paid off...although we do have to work on cautiousness:).

Day 2

Cheyenne and Luke playing after breakfast...

It was a rainy/stormy day so we started off at Margaritaville...

Finally, Luke is introduced to Splash:)

Wild Man thinks he's big...running with the big boys!!

Daddy and E floating in the lazy river...

Day 3

It was another rainy/stormy day, but we

did get to enjoy the beach after naptime:)

Most of our room time was spent here...

That night we got all dressed up...

and headed to Angelo's:)

We ended the night with a train ride...

and a snooze in the best bed ever (according to E:).

Day 4

Our last day was, you guessed it, rainy and stormy! We did manage

 to get back out onto the beach one last time in between storms.

I attempted a pic of all the kids. This was the best I could manage

if that tells you anything, ha! Maybe next year (or in 2023:).

That night we went to eat at Sharky's. We sat outside, and for once,

 we were thankful for the rain! It was breezy and very comfortable.

The kids enjoyed the live music...

We ended our last night with ice cream...

Bye-Bye Beach!!

We can't wait to see you again next year! :)