One Siak, Two Siak, Three Siak, Four....

This weekend we had a whole bunch of Siaks over. LJ, Heather, Jack, Nick, John Sr. (papa), Joey, Rebecca, Benjamin, Jesse, and Lizzle (Jesse's girlfriend) came over and hung out. We ate some great food. We looked at old family pictures. Some of them went to the swim beach at Lake James. Everyone loved Kim's fantastic blueberry dessert I made (thanks for the recipe!). And of course there was a lot of laughter. It was a great time for everyone! It's so wonderful to have our family all near by and getting to spend quality time with them.

Charlotte!!

This week we went over to Charlotte to hang out with the kiddos while Ray and Buck went to a conference at Elevation church. (Sidenote - they have been dieting/working out and due to their amazing efforts they won a church staff contest - they are going to Aruba for FREE!!!).

The kids and I had a lot of fun. They played in the water, ate some snacks, watched Toy Story 3, and loved on each other. I can't wait to hang out with them all at the beach soon! One day they are going to be great friends. For now Beau thinks Luke is something to tackle.
Yes, he's only six months. He crawls, he pulls up, and he's gonna give Rachel and Buck a run for their money once he figures out how to walk!

Precious Hannah Beth

Chunky is a frame of mind.

Flirt. Starting early!

Picnic on the back porch!

Two monkeys chewing on their feet wearing matching monkey pajamas.

His smile is priceless!

I'm not gonna do it.

Luke didn't feel like smiling for a picture, or sharing Granny's lap.

Friends.

6 little monkeys, sitting on a couch...

"Look Mom, I made Luke a hat."

Luke, Ella, and I were prepping for dinner in the kitchen when I looked over to hear her giggling about how she made Luke a new hat. Yes, that is a coffee filter. Too cute not to share.

Ella and her best buddy

Noah had been attending the sports camp at GCC off and on this summer. On days that he goes, I try and arrange for Sylvie to come and play with Ella so she will have another playdate and get to do something just as fun as Noah. Today they played mommy and baby, dressed up as princesses (at least 3 seperate times), watched a Strawberry Shortcake movie, and ate some icecream. I love watching Ella and Sylvie enjoy each other!

Training him early

Matt and Noah love to watch Luke "fight." This video was from the other night after dinner. Enjoy!

A little laughter

A breeze-through visit

Aunt Bekah and Uncle Will came through quickly on their way back to their home on Monday. It was great to get to see them and hug their necks. And great to finally get to introduce Uncle Will to Luke. We will get to spend a whole week with them in August and we are all so excited!

The emergency bath

As a mom of three, we average a couple of emergency baths a week.

Definition: a bath that is not scheduled but needed immediately due to something really nasty.

Luke is so cute and loves his bath so much sometimes I think he poops up his back just to get to play in the tub.

3 Whole Months

Luke turned 3 months old officially on the 5th of July. This past month he has changed so much. First of all, he has so much personality. He uses his eyes and his eyebrows to "talk." At the same time, he has started cooing all the time. Granny Mary told us she's never seen a baby who talks so much. His smile will absolutely light up the room. He smiles so big it looks like his face is going to crack in two. He loves, loves, loves his mama and I am eating up every second of it. Noah and Ella spend so much time talking to him - he recognizes them and has conversations with them every day. He lights up for his daddy too and enjoys getting cuddles when daddy gets home. He weighed 13.6 pounds on the 3rd of July at his first "sickness" doctor appointment. Luke had his first cold and ended up getting a clogged tear duct. All was fine, no medicines were needed and I'm so happy he's completely better now. This month he has decided sleep is not important. He's gone back to eating two times at night (he gave me a few breaks for a couple of nights only waking up once). And he only sleeps for about 30 minutes four times a day.

We love every second of our boy. He makes us so happy and we can't remember life before he was here.

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

If you have kids, you need this!

I love the ladies I have in my life. At lunch today Lori brought to our attention this awesome chart she was looking in to purchasing from a christian website. I googled it when I got home to try to find a free version online and I came across the above lists. Double click on them to see the bigger pictures.

We all have those moments when we are searching for the right scripture to point our children in the right direction when they have misbehaved. I am printing this up as a reference for my fridge! I won't necessarily go by their punishment list (the "then" column), and will punish as I see fit. I'm also going to only use the verses that I see fit (the one about the vultures pecking out eyes freaks me out!!).

Our greatest responsibility as parents is to point our children to Jesus, to have a relationship with Him. This chart can be one of those stepping stones in your journey.

June-ish

The computer is still in the shop, so I hijacked Granny's computer to add a few pictures of what we've been up to. I'll be back to my normal posting in a few weeks!

Kid's fitness class they are taking now on Tuesdays... look at Ella jump!
My birthday pedicure

My birthday cookie cake!

Nana came up for a visit!

Going somewhere... and Ella zonked out. Couldn't help but take a picture!

The Uncle Joey Train

My 3 blessings

Granny came and visited with us

Picnic with our church buddies
Ella and her BFF Sylvie