Oh Happy Day! Lucas Turns 4!

I cannot believe this sweet little munchkin turned FOUR on Janurary 17, 2014!!!  He has a joyful spirit and is always smiling.  He is helpful, determined, and still wants to keep up with big brother in EVERYTHING!  Sometimes he gets a little too big for his britches!!!  He is very adventurous and aggressive and is not afraid to try new things.  His favorite activity is playing catch with a football or baseball.  He wants to be a race car driver when he grows up.  He is into all things electronic and is a total movie buff!  He loves to make people laugh--he's so quick-witted and comes up with funny sayings or expressions that have us cracking up all the time!  He is quick to forgive.  He has such compassion and a sensitivity toward the needs of others, and I can't wait to see how God uses that gift as he gets older!

Here's how he measured up at his check-up:

Weight:  30.4 pounds (10th percentile)

Height:  38 1/2 inches (10th percentile)

birthday doughnuts and a chubby-fingered "four"

We spent the day doing some of his favorite things...

first up--the pet store!

snoopy came along for the adventure--they enjoyed visiting with the cats

anthony liked the cats too

trying to get them both looking at the camera at the same time proved to be a little difficult ;)

snoopy was especially interested in watching the dogs get groomed

hoping some dogs would come over and say hello

we kept waiting for these two pups to slide down the slide, but they never did!

finally a chocolate brown dog came over to play

my little loves

lucas played hide and seek with a turtle before we left

after a quick stop for a haircut, we were off to get some lunch and have some more fun!

we headed to the mall to pop in lucas' favorite store--the disney store!

hmmm, i wonder why it's his favorite?

oh yeah--

a huge tv playing cartoons!!!

next up, a chickfila lunch right next to the carousel

what's up?

i gave lucas the option of a carousel ride or the mall play place, and surprisingly he chose the playground

later that evening, we treated lucas to a dinner out at the restaurant of his choice--

chili's it is! 

(or as he still calls it--the chicco pepper place)

he got to open a few of his gifts--

a new lego superhero sticker book!

(love his expression!)

daddy got him a special iron man sticker that lights up

his iron man pose

nonno and nonna gave him this cool cars bowling set!

and the next day we got to meet up with some very special friends of ours who gifted lucas with another birthday present...

the headley girls!!!

we adore our best girl buds!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MY SWEET LUCAS!

HOPE YOUR DAY WAS AS SPECIAL AS YOU ARE!

January Adventures

Some of our January fun...

the boys watch their daddy chop firewood

bike buddies

so, we went to tour a preschool for the fall for lucas, and he threw up all over himself, me, and one of the classrooms!!!  NOT fun, but we survived!  this was on the way home--as you can tell he was feeling a little better--with his "just in case" bucket on his head!

Anthony got to bring home "Casey the Caterpillar" from Mrs. Cleveland's class over one weekend.  His job was to bring Casey along to join in his adventures for a few days, then we had to document all the fun.

Anthony shows Casey his K-Club room at church

Here's a look at our time together...

still counting down our days until the Disney trip!!!

my handsome little lunch date

shopping with mama has its perks

fun with school buddies at celebration park

these two still love their animal friends and their trucks

hiking with daddy is one thing these two can't get enough of

all spiffy on a sunday morning

spending time with our best girls

silly kids!!!

Christmas 2013 at the Big H

(Yay!  Last post for 2013!!!  Slowly but surely, I'm playing catch-up on the blog!)

At the end of December, we made a trip to to Memphis to celebrate Christmas with my family.  Here are some quick highlights of our trip...

the moment we arrived, the boys (and cousin Reese) quickly found the chest with all the beanie babies in it!  they each picked out a new pup to bring home!

so, my boys are easy to please...

anthony stated "gatorade" as the gift he most wanted

lucas has been eyeing this football ever since we played with a friend's ball just like it

they were SO surprised santa knew EXACTLY what they wanted!!!  ;)

(as Anthony hugs his gatorade)

Lucas kept saying over and over, "I can't believe it!" "I can't believe it!"

"How did he know I wanted an orange football?"

They took a break from opening presents to play with these mini monster trucks with power key launchers that james, reese, and conner gave them!  They've had a blast with these!

After the Christmas morning commotion settled down, they took Lucas' new football outside to try it out.

These two big guys supervised.  ;)

sweet boy loved it so much he didn't want to set it down!

a little Christmas brunch in front of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"

this is how little conner spent most of his morning

cousins!!!

(left to right) Conner, James, Anthony, Lucas, Reese, and my 1st cousin Jeff's daughter Cara

grandad with all 6 of his great-grandkids

meme made a special candy cane shaped fruit treat

and of course, the boys got their usual tractor ride with papa!  they look forward to this one at every visit!

One of Anthony's favorite gifts was this razor scooter.  He tricked it out with the super hero duct tape he also received as a gift--he made it all his own, and he is SO proud of it!

this kid played with his scooter for a few short minutes, and then--you guessed it--went right back to playing with his new football

one evening, we all bundled up and took a horse-drawn carriage ride through Shelby Farms' Christmas light display Starry Nights

we had so much fun!  good thing we brought some blankets to stay snuggled and warm!

there was a sign inside the carriage the said "tip", and anthony asked if that was the horse's name!  sooo funny!  at least he is starting to read!  :)

but our most favorite memory was a couple days after Christmas when we heard a mysterious knock on the front door...

the boys opened it to find a large box surrounded by lights and pixie dust

the tag said, "to anthony and lucas, from mickey mouse," so lucas ran out into the yard to see if he could catch a glimpse of the sneaky rascal

once back inside, the boys were full of chatter as they discussed how mickey got there, where he went, and what the big box was all about

things got a little quiet as they ripped open the paper and got to the box

as soon as they opened it, a huge mickey balloon popped out!!!

the boys pulled out special notes written for each of them...

along with some stickers and t-shirts!

I sat down with them to read their special notes

It was a personal invitation from Mickey asking them to come to Disney World and meet him!!!

They immediately shrieked like girls and started jumping around--at one point Lucas even did a belly flop onto the hardwood floors!  They were SO excited!

And what a coincidence!  

Meme and Papa had one last present for the boys--brand new luggage for the trip!

Here they are practicing their roller coaster screams!!!

So, our big gift to the boys--Disney, March 2014--was a success!

before we left memphis, we met up with the cousins one last time to go see Frozen at the theater

and as soon as we got back home, we began our Disney countdown calendar!

the boys enjoy another Christmas gift from Aunt Michelle--Fruit Loops and Lucky Charms--WHAT a special treat!

and they loved "shaving" like daddy with the shaving cream and pretend razor that Santa gave them in their stockings!

Merry Christmas to my sweet boys!  

And (finally!) moving on to 2014!!!