Catching you up! (aka- picture overload!)

Up until today we had several days of sun and 80's!! It's been tons of fun just being outside and enjoying the beautiful weather. Here are some shots from the past week that I haven't had a chance to post.

Learning the ropes from Daddy...

Getting ready for a bike ride...

Who needs a sandbox when you have a big garden to dig around in???

Nothing beats Saturday morning coffee and a few good books on the porch. Eric and I took turns hitting golf balls "into" the bucket in the garden. Most of the time we didn't even come close... so Lucas' job was to hop on the wagon and I wheeled him around as we collected the stray balls. He LOVED it... and I got some exercise.

Loading up the truck for our first garage saling adventure! We came away with a dump truck for Lucas to use in the garden and some baby girl clothes. Not too shabby!!

What? Doesn't everyone hang out on their windowsill from time to time??? I just had to post this. It was too cute to pass up.

Watch out, Tiger Woods!!!

Check out these moves!!!

daddy's turn

It has been a long while since I have posted anything. Mostly because Mindy does such a great job. But occasionally I'll get the urge to show you some of my favorite pictures that go unpublished.

enjoy


This one shows a couple things Lucas loves. The new Handy Manny tools are easy to spot, but there is more. Notice the backpack. He will put it on and go on about his business. My brother greg used to have a cowboy hat or boots that he'd wear all the time... Lucas has a backpack. Also take note of the basketball shirt. I made the mistake of dressing him in a normal red shirt but that was not good enough. Fortunately I made the world right when I pulled out the basketball tank top.
I love when Lucas wants to help me build or fix something. In this case, we are making a crate for all Lucas' outdoor toys and basketballs.

And last but not least. I had to ask permission for this one. Here is my beautiful, pregnant wife. Yes that is spaghetti for dinner, with some garlic bread. plus a little pickle. With Lucas, Mindy really didn't have any cravings. With Lucas' sister, no ice cream (and for a short time pickles) is safe around our house.

Morning Conversations with Lucas...

Yesterday's drive to school was a fun one for me. Here's the conversation that went on between Lucas and me... but as you'll soon see, it was mostly just Lucas.

Mind you, it's 6:30 AM.
As we're driving out of the garage:

Lucas: Oooo, wow! Rain! What's the rain doing?
Mindy: Falling from the sky.
Lucas: Oooo, Daddy's truck! What's Daddy doing?
Mindy: Getting ready to go to school.
Lucas: Oooo, shopping store! That's Daddy's shopping store! (Passing Kroger)
Mindy: Wait, Mommy does the shopping, too! It's Lucas, Mommy, and Daddy's shopping store!


Lucas proceeds to repeat pretty much every question he's asked so far. The rest of the drive consisted of him pointing out all 39 buses we passed, the stoplights, the slide (park), baseball field, mail trucks (thank you, Richard Scary!), and construction trucks.

Again, all this occurred at 6:30 AM, while it is STILL dark out. Lucas cracks us up. He's already been asking tons of questions about everything. One answer isn't usually sufficient either. :)

Anyway, last but not least, Lucas and I baked sugar cookies last night and he was a great big help, seriously! We had a lot of fun. Thanks, Aunt Sandy, for the yummy recipe in your cookbook. They turned out great (after burning the first batch!).

The tricky two's...

I spent about an hour last night, in the middle of the night, wide awake. I had just had this awful dream that Lucas and I were in a big parking lot and he pulled away from my grasp and darted in the opposite direction...towards the traffic. That's when I woke up. I was scared out of my mind!!!

You see, this scene was quite realistic to me. It seems that often lately, I'm holding on to Lucas' hand and he slips out of my grasp and he darts away. This happened at Barnes and Noble, in the church parking lot, and at the grocery store. (It's amazing how far he can go in 3 seconds!) Am I a terrible mother?? I always made fun of the "kid leashes" but honestly, if it protects him from getting lost or put in danger, maybe I should consider it! (Kinda joking...) I'm often asked if he's hit the "Terrible 2's" yet and my answer is always no. He's such a great kid, and yes, sometimes has his moments, but mostly, he's a happy-go-lucky guy. What's been super hard, though, is teaching him things, like... when his basketball rolls down the driveway across the road, under NO circumstances can he run after it. He must ask Mommy or Daddy to get it. A couple days ago I turned my head for just a second outside to grab something from the garage. When I looked back, the basketball was across the road and Lucas was just staring at it from the middle of our yard... thankfully NOT running after it. Maybe our lessons are working. But the times that he darts from me in Old Navy or in a parking lot... scares the BEJEEVEES out of me! Anyway, that's my post for the day.

Maybe I'll add random pictures later.

Gone Fishin', Daddy?

Well, Lucas and I are holding down the fort. Eric left Thursday to go down south for a big fishing trip with some buddies. Spring Break has officially started so Lucas and I are taking advantage of the extra time together. Thankfully the weather has been great yesterday and today, but starting tomorrow it's supposed to get ugly. So here are just a few things we've been up to. To the majority of you, this'll be boring... but the main purpose is to fill Eric in when he returns. So if you want- just skip on down to the pix. :)

Friday: It was rainy in the morning so we stayed cooped up inside playing with the train set, reading books, and coloring. After nap time (nice long one!!) we set up his camping tent and of course he had a blast with his backpack. He hasn't taken it off since! :) We left and grabbed dinner at panera and hung out at Barnes and Noble for quite awhile. He met a friend. Her name was Lily and they played with the trains for a long time. I was impressed how well they got along! Afterwards we stopped and picked up a movie at Blockbuster and headed home. Lucas went to bed, I stayed up and watched the movie.

Saturday: Beautiful day!! Woke up, ate breakfast, and packed up to go shopping at Hamilton Square. It was nice to be outside walking around. We bought Zara her birthday gift, played at the playset in the park, and walked around and window shopped. It was a bit chilly, but we had fun! I asked Lucas if he wanted to have lunch at Olive Garden. He said "Nope!" :( I was pretty bummed. We stopped at Meijer and picked up milk and ice cream (neccessities!). After naps (I worked in the garden and hung out laundry during nap time) we played outside the rest of the day (mostly basketball). Carol and Lisa invited us over for steaks for dinner. YUMMY! After baths we watched MSU beat Uconn. Lucas cuddled up with me under the blanket and watched a good half hour of it. Cute kid, hah. Bedtime. I stayed up and watched the 2nd BB game. Missed you. It was no fun eating popcorn all by myself. :(

Here are some pix from the past couple days. We miss you, Daddy! Can't wait to have you home. We're excited to hear about all the BIGGGG fish you've caught! (Take pictures, we need proof!)

See what I mean about not taking off his backpack?

Check out how green the grass is already!! Wowzers! Good work, Daddy!

Oh yeah...this is from earlier this week.