Ten.

Ten years ago...

...and what an amazing ten years it's been.

So thankful...

PS.  We celebrated by heading downtown Indy to attend Westfield's state football game at Lucas Oil.  Afterwards we walked around downtown, saw the big Christmas Tree on the Circle all lit up, visited a few shops, and enjoyed Clam Chowder and warm drinks at McCormick and Schmick's...a delicious seafood place that we only visit on VERY special occasions like this.  

Carols and Laughs.

Sophie would like to share some Christmas Carols with you that she's made up:

And last but not least... lots of people think Brady's laugh actually sounds like he's crying.

I finally caught it on camera:

Suzie Homemaker.

That's not me.  But I would like to think, at times, I somewhat resemble her... 

 My cousin, Caitlyn, introduced me to this AMAZING contraption...called The Beaba. 

It steams...mashes...and defrosts food (for babies).  Brady is just about ready to start on orange veggies so I purchased some carrots (yum), sweet potatoes (yum), and squash (gross). 

I steamed them... (it takes about 10 minutes or so for a big batch!) then put them in the ice cube trays to freeze and use for later.  It's so fun!

Just Funnin' Around...

Our little Army Crawler...

It looks like Lucas now has some competition for his beloved football players.

Stormy Day

We had some pretty intense storms roll through the area today, but thankfully we are just fine.  

The tornado warning sirens went off with a tornado on the ground to the SW of us... so Eric set the kids up with a movie and snack in the bathroom tub.  :)

Meanwhile.  Eric headed outside to check things out.  (Zach!  This reminded me of you when we were little...I remember you always asking to go outside to check out the storm when we were in the basement....and I was huddled in the corner freaking out.)  

Strangely, it was actually sunny for awhile since we were right on the edge of the large wall cloud.

And Brady snoozed.

We never did end up getting really bad weather (just a lot of wind and rain) but north of us about 20 minutes got hit pretty bad.  And we let the kids stay in the tub to finish the movie.  They loved it. 

One of a Kind...

There is one and only one Lucas Bland....

Most recently:  His "Saturday chore" is to sweep and mop the kitchen and dining room. (He LOVES doing this...we'll see how long that lasts.)  The first time he did it I saw him writing this note below.

He proceeded to tape it to the back of a chair.  He said he didn't want anyone slipping on the wet floor, "Just like those yellow signs at school."  He made two signs- one for both ends of the wet floor.

Lucas lost his 4th tooth a week or so ago... my favorite part of this story is this.  (Let me set the scene for you.)  It's 5 AM on a Friday morning.  All of the sudden I hear a "WAHOO!" from the bathroom.  Eric and I JUMP up and run to the bathroom to find Lucas who just pulled his tooth out.  He was so proud!

 He put the tooth in his tooth fairy pocket-thingy, placed it under his pillow that night, and left this note for the tooth fairy:  (part of it ripped)

It says:  "I lost my 4th tooth!  I'm in 1st grade.  Love, Lucas     Sign here"

The tooth fairy didn't even see that the note was there apparently... but she eventually responded 3 days later.  Lucas didn't seem to mind. :)

Last but not least.  Check out this action shot.

This pic was taken at Lucas's first basketball game of the year, last Friday.  Lucas had a blast... he made 3 baskets and after each basket he made a massive fist pump in the air along with a very enthusiastic, "Woo HOO!"  We will get it on video one of these days and you can see it for yourself.... 

Peanut.

Brady has been affectionately named "Peanut" by his nursery workers at church on Sundays and Wednesdays... he may be small...but he sure is mighty! :)

 Watching big brother's first basketball game of the season...

 Watching 'toons with Big Sis...

 ...up on his knees, rockin' back and forth...

 ...man those cheeks just beg to be squeezed!!!

 ...sweet little profile...