Luke's First Haircut

Little Lukas was looking rather scraggly with hair getting into his eyes and hanging over his ears and a tuft of curls on his neck, so when my sister-in-law, Karen, asked if I wanted her to cut his hair I said, "Yes!"

Luke did really well with his haircut and just sat on my lap quietly while his Aunt Karen trimmed away.

The first haircut is always so hard for a mother. My little baby suddenly vanishing before my eyes and leaving a little boy in his place.

Look at that adorable little neck, once hidden from site, but now available for mama to kiss whenever I need some little boy love.

Little Campers

Camping wouldn't be complete without pictures of little ones in their sleeping bags, and Ninja Turtle sleeping bags at that! This bag was from my quite lengthy Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle phase when I was 14. I had every piece of paraphanelia that I could get my hands on, though Nikolas will only be inheriting the sleeping bag.

I'm afraid, Nikolas, that you are NOT a morning person, much like your mother.

Our tent was next to our friends, the Landolts, so upon hearing some little voices through the tent walls Nik and Luke started hollering across. They thought it was a great adventure.

My little cookie monster

Daddy is getting a kiss from the little cookie monster, awwww, how sweet!

Little Mouseketeers In Training

Lukas and his two little buddies,Logan and Nathan, are going to be fun to watch grow up together. It will be interesting to see if they end up following around their big brothers or if they end up forging their own paths through childhood.

They do pretty well at entertaining themselves, so I think they just might end up doing their own thing instead of tagging along with the big boys.

Lukas, as we all know, loves to kiss and was trying to kiss Logan who then hugged him as tight as he could until they both tumbled to the ground.

One year olds are such fun:)

The Beach: Pure and Simple

While camping last weekend we managed to make it down to the beach a couple of times. Both boys had a blast chasing waves, playing in the sand and enjoying the wide open space to just run around and be free!

This was the first time that Lukas experienced the power of the ocean. I love being able to introduce my boys to God's awesome creation. I am looking forward to showing them the intricate design found in nature, which I believe can only point to an intelligent designer.

Pure Joy

Someone fell in the waves and therefore wanted to be free of the cumbersome, soggy clothes.

The simple pleasures of running through water. What could be better?

Sand.
Now in every nook and cranny of their bodies and brought back to the tent in their clothes, shoes and toys.

Our little ostrich.
He dug a hole and then tried to cram his chubby little body into it.

My little beach boys.

Where am I in these pictures?
Ahhh, the million dollar question asked by moms throughout the world.

The Three Mouseketeers

Tone' and I are blessed to have close friends who also have children the same ages as our own. We joke about having to stay friends forever as our boys will have so much fun growing up together. Nikolas and Willie are 2 months apart and Wyatt is one year older, though by their sizes one would think that Nik is the one who is one year younger.

These boys absolutely love hanging together and are hilarious to watch. Wyatt's mom, and my friend, Melinda, has named them "the three mouseketeers" as of this past weekend at the beach together.

Here are Mickey, aka: Nikolas, the outgoing, adventureous one

Goofy, aka: Willie, the....well.. goofy one, he really is funny with all his hilarious facial expressions and funny comments. Plus, he's not exactly what one would call; coordinated.

and Donald, aka: Wyatt, who earned this title from a rather bizaar episode on the beach, (apparently there were monsters attacking his feet, (it was really the sand whipping around his ankles from the wind)) but also like Donald, is liked by everyone and is a sweet, sensitive boy.

What do three boys do with one bowl of cheerios and one spoon?

Feed each other, of course!

If they keep this kind of teamwork up the rest of their lives, there won't be much that they can't accomplish together.

Kind of freaks a mother out, actually.

I Have Falling Wheels, Like Daddy!

Over the weekend Tone' and I and the boys went camping at Nehalem Bay State Park with our church. Nikolas and his buddies, Willie and Wyatt, spent most of the time riding their bikes and trikes up and down the road. They all especially favored Wyatt's cool bike and did a pretty good job, (for 3 & 4 year olds) taking turns. It soon became apparent that Nikolas was ready to try riding without training wheels as he was zipping around like a little speed racer. He had a lot of fun standing up while riding and skidding his back tires as well.

Our friend, Will, borrowed a bike from another boy and took Nik for his first two wheel ride. Then Daddy took over. They didn't practice long, but it was long enough to know that Nik, indeed, was ready to go without training wheels.

Once we made it back home we borrowed our neighbors little bike and within seconds of Tone' running along side him Nik was riding all by himself!

He did keep Daddy on his toes, however, as he was still a bit wobbly for a while.

3Years and 3 months and riding a bike without training wheels.

What's next?

The next day we swapped Nik's too big bike for his friend Wyatt's bike and we spent the evening practicing some more. It was getting tiresome as I had to run beside him constantly since he hadn't figured out how to start, turn or stop without falling down. I was beginning to wonder if this was such a great idea, picturing myself doing this the rest of the summer. Not to worry though, within 15 minutes he was able to ride down the street, turn around, ride up the driveway, turn around on a dime, ride down fast, stand up while riding, skid his back tires and stop without crashing.

The learning curve on this child is amazing!

When it was time to go inside I asked Nik if he had fun riding his bike without training wheels. His response was, "I like my falling wheels, like Daddy!"

After falling a few times he has given the name "falling wheels" to two wheeled bikes, including Daddy's. Makes sense; four wheels don't fall, two wheels do.

Children are brilliant.

I am thinking that I need to keep Nik away from bigger boys who are biking as he will try to mimic anything they do. I can just imagine Nik trying to haul a piece of wood from the garage to make a jump with. I know, it's inevitable, but can it at least wait until he's four?!

Daddy's Little Man

Lately our little Lukas has branched out from being a mamas boy to deciding that daddy is pretty fun to be with. This past week we were all up north visiting Tone' and Lukas was all about the daddy. He kept going up to him, grabbing his head with his chubby little hands, pulling him close and then smacking him on the lips, over and over again. Tone', not used to the newly aquired attention bestowed upon him, was soaking in the love. I, on the other hand, suddenly found myself in a position I am not used to when it comes to my little boys, the back seat.

"What???!!!" I'm not always going to be first in their lives????!!!!

I couldn't even beg Luke to kiss me, even when Tone' would say, "kiss mama", Luke would then turn and kiss Tone'. Truly, I'm not used to this rejection, though, I must admit, I find it.............

refreshing. Aaaahhhhh, freedom. You moms of young ones know what I mean. When your baby suddenly becomes a little boy/girl and can survive without mama for more than two hours.


Tone' has even found himself a new job. Putting Lukas to bed. He has developed a little routine by telling Luke it is time for bed, at which point Lukas immediately juts his lower lip out and starts to pout. Then the tears start coming and his pouting begins to turn to crying. This is where Tone' interjects with a "No Lukas, no crying......Lukas, NO crying." Magically, Lukas then sucks in his cry mid-stream and clamps his mouth shut and goes back to pouting again. Tone' then lays him down, sometimes repeating the scenario, and walks out the door.

That is alot better than my version which goes something like this:
nurse him until he falls asleep and then lay him down, unless, of course, I have fallen asleep myself, in which case I usually wake up around 1am with a bent neck and then have to repeat the process as moving at that point wakes Lukas up.

Hmmmm, I like Tone's version better.

I am learning, I'm pleased to announce. I have been copying Tone the last few nights and it amazingly works for me as well!

Nice work Daddy, now get home so you can take over the bedtime process.......................

and so I can go grocery shopping in peace.