I blinked, and he's 6!

I cannot believe that Isaac is 6...how did that happen?  I promise he was just born, I only blinked, and now he's 6!  It's so hard to watch my kids grow...on one hand I love watching them grow, blossom, learn, and watching their personalities develop, but on the other hand I realize how fast this time goes and how short my time with them under my roof really is. It's so hard, but it's also so amazing, and I am so thankful to be his mama because he's pretty incredible!

 

 

Isaac loves to be outside riding his bike or anything he can drive.  This year he got a new bike (his old one broke), and he's upgraded to a bike with hand brakes!  He things he's big stuff with those brakes.

 

 

In case you had any doubt, the boy still loves the color orange!!!  If he can choose the color to write or color with at school, he chooses orange.  His clothes are mostly orange, he picks orange candy over any other color.  He is obsessed!

 

Isaac is my tender hearted, kind, caring boy.  He loves to take care of Hannah whenever given the chance, he loves on her constantly (and thankfully she eats it up), he is always willing to help me if it involves Hannah in any way.  The boy does not like to see others hurt or sad, he wants to make everything right.  I pray that we can foster this sweet part of him, and that he uses it in a mighty way as he grows.

 

He adores Hannah, and often fights with Luke, but it's all an act.  He loves his brother just as much!  At their well check appointment they both had to get their blood pressure checked.  Isaac had his done first and I don't think he liked it.  When it was Luke's turn he immediately put his arm around him and talked him through it.  My heart melted, and I had to snap a picture of this sweet moment.

 

As I mentioned he prefers to be riding or driving at all times.  The dirt bike is his new passion...he becomes this focused, fierce boy when on it...it's a determination I don't see often in him.  Even though dirt bikes scare me so badly, I cannot say no to him when it comes to riding...how do you stand in the way of something they love so much?

 

Of course I had to get my annual questions answered by Isaac...

Favorite toy:  new bike ramp

Favorite thing to learn:  how to work on cars with daddy

Favorite snack:  cake (a boy after my own heart)

Favorite TV show:  Henry Hugglemonster (this surprised me, I would have guessed Paw Patrol or Transformers Rescue Bots)

Food I dislike:  broccoli

Favorite Color:  orange!

I love to go outside and...play on the dirt road

Favorite Song:  Chopping Ice song from Frozen

Favorite thing to do with mama and daddy:  play, play, play

Something everyone should know:  Jesus loves you!

Best Friend:  Ella and Taylor

Favorite thing to do with Luke:  swim and race on our bikes

Favorite thing to do with Hannah:  play with her

Favorite animal:  cat

When I grow up I want to be:  police officer

Something I want to learn while I'm 6:  how to swim strokes

Favorite school subject:  writing

Isaac is so special to us, he is a constant joy in our lives, and a great example for his little siblings.  I pray that this year brings many new blessings to him.

Mother's Day 2014

Mother's Day 2014 was a day to reflect on how blessed I am.  I have three amazing children, who I love more than I can express in words.  Being a mom is the hardest job I've ever had, I am usually completely worn out by the end of the day, but it's the BEST job I could ever ask for!  This year I was pampered by Isaac at school during Moms and Muffins, followed by a Mommy Makeover.  It had been a very hard week, so this pampering and love from my oldest boy was good for my soul.  He painted my nails, put lotion on my arms and legs, brushed my hair, and even gave me a back rub.  I love that he is a boy who isn't afraid to show his mama love, and that he is so tender hearted.   I was not able to attend the Mother's Day Tea at Luke's school, but he did make me a beautiful painting of a flower, and foam flower with his picture in a little cup (that is sitting on the mantle).  Luke's love for me warms my heart, and I pray that he always knows how much I love him!

 

Only The Lord knows the plans for our family, He has blessed us with these 3 sweeties, and for that I am forever grateful!

 

Our Mighty 4 year old!

Luke is 4!

Stats:  Weight - 28.5 lbs

Height - 37.25 inches

 

 

Good morning Birthday Boy!!!  Our sweet Luke is 4!!!

 

A few months ago Luke learned to ride his bicycle without training wheels, and since then he has been wanting to ride the dirt bike.  I am not ready to put him on the dirt bike yet, but I think this dirt bike bicycle is perfect for him!  He loved it...his very own dirt bike!

 

We celebrated on his birthday with cupcakes at school.  Hannah and I brought in cupcakes for his class, they were decorated with Planes rings!  It was so special to spend that time celebrating him with his sweet school friends.

 

Later that day we went to dinner at Chick Fil A with some friends.  It was a small thing, but meant so much to our boys.  We celebrated both of them, they were loved on and given sweet gifts.  Nothing much better than friends, cupcakes, and play time.

 

The day after Luke's birthday we had a birthday party for a friend.  I captured this shot of my boys, and I just love it!  These brothers fight sometimes, but they also have the best times together!  I love the way they compliment and challenge each other.  What a sweet thing it is to have a brother to share life with!

 

Luke is an amazing 4 year old!  He has a heart of gold, he loves animals (he tells me all the time while out that he misses his dog Tex), and he has the determination of someone twice his age.  Luke gives the best hugs, if you ever need to feel loved ask him for a hug.  I love the way he shows his love with sweet hugs.  He is two years younger than his brother, but he wants to do everything he does, and he will not let his age or size stand in the way of that.  Life is a race for Luke, he makes everything a competition, and sadly he does not handle it well if he loses.  I am praying that we can teach him to use this drive and passion to help him succeed as he grows. 

He is so active and loves to be outside swinging, swimming, biking, and driving.  He also knows his boundaries and is very careful.  For example, he is not ready to swim yet this summer, he's afraid, so he just plays happily and carefully by the pool or on the shelf.  He is a cautious boy, and I am thankful for that!  Luke loves to learn, he wants to learn.  He is always asking me the most inquisitive questions.  He has learned all of his letters and sounds, and has even started reading small words.  He does this all on his own, with no push from me...he wants to learn everything he can about everything around him. 

Luke has many friends, he plays with everyone, he is not very shy when it comes to kids.  He will just jump right in and play whatever his friend wants to do.  He has made some great friends at school and gymnastics.  I am thankful that he will play hard with anyone that is willing and ready to have fun!

Luke's biggest struggle is his size.  He is small, and he has realized that, and he does not like it.  He gets very upset if anyone refers to him as little, he yells and sometimes cries, he is not little.  He doesn't always understand that sometimes when people call him little they are referring to his age, not his size.  Hopefully, this is something he will be okay with soon.  He is small, but he is mighty!

 

I'm so thankful the Lord has trusted us with the job of parenting this amazing boy!  He challenges us, makes us laugh, and fills our lives with joy and love!

 

Luke's 4 year old questions:

Favorite toy:  new bike ramp

Favorite thing to learn:  counting

Favorite snack:  nilla wafers

Favorite TV show:  Paw Patrol

Food I disklike:  peanuts

Favorite color:  Red

Favorite Song:  I've Been Working on the Railroad

Favorite thing to do outside:  Play on the dirt road outside

Favorite thing to do with mama and daddy:  play games

Best Friend:  Jason (from school)

Favorite thing to do with Isaac:   play a game

Favorite thing to do with Hannah:  splash in the mud

Favorite animal:  tiger

When I grow up, I want to be:  a boat driver (usually he says a race car driver)

Birthday Trip to San Antonio

 

Both of our big boys have birthdays coming up, and this year we decided to take a family trip instead of a party.  One of us has been wanting to go to Sea World since she was a little girl, okay, maybe that's me.  So I decided the kids were at a good age for it, so let's go check it out!  I'm so glad we did because it turned out to be a great weekend!!!  We headed up on Thursday night, so we could hit the park on Friday in hopes of missing the weekend crowds.  It worked out perfectly, the park was not too busy, the weather was absolutely beautiful, and we had a blast!

 

 

Everyone anxiously waiting for the gates to open!!!  (Yes, it was a nice cool morning, so we started the day in long sleeves...in May!!!  It was fabulous!)

 

Our first stop, the Dolphins!!!  This was a giant pool filled with beautiful bottle nosed dolphins, they were hungry and ready to perform!  It was a great way to start the day, the dolphins were so close we could almost touch them!  They did some fun tricks, Hannah loved seeing them "clap."

 

Next, we went to a sea lion show, which was a comedy show with sea lions as some of the characters.  It was so cute and so funny!  Isaac really enjoyed this, and thought it was so cool that the ladies could understand the sea lions when they talked.  He also loved this giant walrus that came out at the end of the show!  He randomly asked before this show if we'd see walruses there, and we had no idea.  So he was thrilled when this guy came out.  The walrus did sit ups because he had eaten too many fish and gotten too big...Isaac laughed so hard at that!

 

My almost 6 year old!!!

 

Photo op!  After taking this picture Isaac told me they weren't allowed to climb on them, so I looked over and saw the sign...oops!  How do they expect kids not to climb on these cute statues!?!

 

The whole family waiting for the One Ocean (Shamu) show to start.  Luke did not look on purpose, he was boycotting this picture for some reason....such a stinker.

 

The One Ocean show was really neat, the whales are huge!!!  They had quite a few big ones, and even a couple of smaller babies.  It's incredible to see these guys jump out of the water!

 

He cannot be almost 4!!!  He really enjoyed the killer whales, but his favorite show came at the end, the Azul show.

 

Big Bird!!!  Isaac asked him if he could fly, when he said no Isaac looked at me and said, "He can't fly, he's just a man dressed in a costume, isn't he?"

 

Isaac rode the Shamu roller coaster with daddy, and he loved it!  They sat in the first car, so Isaac thinks they drove it.  Carl said he was nervous at first, but really enjoyed the second lap around the track.  That rollercoaster was his favorite part of the whole day!  While they did that I took Luke and Hannah on the carousel.  Luke was pretty nervous at first, wouldn't let me let go of him, but after going a few minutes he was very relaxed and having a blast!  He yelled in excitement, "This is the best ride EVER!!!"  Thankfully it was so quiet that we got to stay on and ride again, so Isaac and daddy joined us for our second ride.

 

I think Hannah's favorite part of the day was the Splash Pad!  They have an amazing kid area, which includes this huge splash pad.  The boys were freezing, Luke lasted about a minute, and Isaac toughened through it, but was not loving it...we had to drag Hannah out of there, the girl loves water!

 

We finished our day with the Azul show, which was really neat!  It included dolphins, beluga whales, parrots, and acrobats.  The boys loved seeing the acrobats doing their flips and dives, and of course the dolphins and whales were great, too!  It truly was a very impressive show!

 

Saturday started early for us, as Isaac fell out of his bed at 5:30, thankfully he wasn't hurt, but he did wake up his sister with the loud thud.  She was happy and stayed in her bed until 6:30, but she was quite talkative.  By 6:30 everyone was awake and hungry!  So we had to find something to do before heading home.  We found a train ride at the zoo that opened at 9:00, so we headed that way after some breakfast.  As you can see the boys were very excited about a train ride!  When the train pulled up, Hannah said, "No mama, I not ride on that train."  She was sure of that, but thankfully we were able to convince her otherwise and she did great!

 

So happy once the train started to move!

 

It was our lucky day, the train we rode on was the LUKEY train!!!!  My train loving boy got to ride on a train with his name!  He loved that!  The ride was really fun, the landscape was beautiful, we crossed the river, through trees, and even went through a tunnel.  The kids really enjoyed this ride, it was a great way to end our time in San Antonio!

 

Daddy and Hannah!!!

 

Me and my boys...love them!

 

Elmo was at Sea World, too!  Hannah has gotten really into watching Elmo lately so she was very excited to see him, but she would not go near him.  Silly girl!

 

My boys with the Lukey engine...Luke could not be any happier!

 

I am so thankful for this great time away.  We have not taken many trips as a family, it's just a hard season in life for that, but I'm so grateful that we did this!  It was a truly special couple of days...the kids were so excited to stay in a hotel (well Hannah was very nervous about that at first, but she loved getting to sleep in the same room as her brothers), they loved every minute of Sea World and really took it all in, and they were flexible and so fun through the whole trip.  I will treasure these memories forever...memories full of joy and love!

 

(Isaac is so observant and always curious about the people around him...maybe even a bit nosey.  This morning during our train ride he randomly said, "Most of the people in San Antonio speak Spanish.  Why is that?"  I love that he's always watching, thinking, and learning; never a dull moment with him.  I definitely had to giggle a little at this comment, and it's something I want to remember.)