My Little Man

My little man is growing up, but he will always be my baby. Here he is all ready for church today.

We had family game night Friday night and the kids picked Apples to Apples, one of their favorite games.  Ian isn't old enough to play so we got out Battleship for him to amuse himself with.  He loves plugging the colored pegs into the holes.  After a while we gave him some cards and he started throwing his cards in the pile to see which one would get picked, even though he had no idea what the words meant.  In this picture we told him he had won!

Here he is after he stamped his entire body.  I cropped the picture for modesty's sake, but he was butt naked and had stamped everywhere!

The Fiddler

Gabe is becoming quite the fiddler.  He had his first big hoedown at the Nampa Civic Center and played to a full house at 2:00 and 7:30 on Saturday.  He was in the youngest group and played four songs that he has been working very hard on - Boil the Cabbage, Skip to my Lou, Crawdad Song, and the Chicken Dance.  He loved performing and did a great job.  When he gets more advanced he'll move from the Little Hoedowners group to the Junior Jammers.  The Junior Jammers were invited a few years ago to perform at President Bush's inauguration.

Luke Turns 10!

Well, it's official...Luke is in double digits! It's hard to believe he is getting so old - and tall.

 Here he is blowing out the candles on his Coca-Cola cake.  It was so rich and moist and chocolaty!

Here are some things I love about Luke:

 - He is such a good older brother.  Ian and Gabe love to wrestle, jump on the trampoline, build Legos, and play football with Luke.

 - He gives the best hugs!

 - He has the cutest smile and a cute laugh.  When he gets laughing he can't stop.

 - He is a hard worker.  He has probably bagged 20 big black garbage bags of leaves so far this fall.

 - I love to see him and Maryn spend time together.  They get along so well and truly are the best of friends.

 - I love that he is so persistent.  There is NOTHING Luke can't do once he sets his mind to it.

 - He is good about getting his school work done.  He takes the initiative to get his homework done and turned in, and made the homework club last quarter because he had no missed assignments.

 - He has a fun sense of humor and loves to joke around.

 - He and Daron have started mountain biking a lot together.  There is nothing Luke can't climb and he has the energy of the Energizer Bunny, often passing us when we go as a family and doubling back again and again.

 - He is very driven.  He wants to win and be the best at things.

 - He is still such a snuggler and a mommy's boy.