Sam is walking

I love how cuddlely my little Sam is. He truly enjoys giving hugs and kisses. I say "besito" which means little kiss and he will smack his cheek against my lips. I've read there are all these different kinds of ways to show love (verbal, touch, actions). Sam is definitely the touch type and I love it. Luke on the other side loves being held, but if you rub him or something he will say: "I don't like that".

My kids are the best : )

Sam

Luke 3yr old video.

Dallas Traffic Laws

I love Dallas for many many reasons. It is beautiful and hip and busy. People are friendly and polite (in person). I feel pretty cool when I tell people that I live in Dallas. It's a cool place to live. There are a lot of activities and things to do.

One thing I don't love, however, is driving. I've never been one to enjoy driving. If someone else wants or is able to drive, I typically let them. I like to relax while in the car and I am unable to do that when I'm driving. Especially in Dallas.

I've put together a small list of rules that Dallas drivers seem to follow pretty religiously. These rules, while unspoken and unwritten until today, are quickly learned it seems by any regular driver on Dallas highways.

1. Go as fast as you possibly can while on the freeway. Most of the time, the fastest possible speed is less than 60mph (the current speed limit) because there are just too many cars on the road, so no one is really breaking the state laws. However, if there is ever a break in traffic, cars will speed around you at unsightly speeds. Literally as fast as they can go until they have to slow back down for the next traffic jam a few miles ahead. It's ridiculous.

2. If another car puts their blinker on to switch over into your lane, speed up and get ahead of them. Always. It doesn't matter how much room there is or was when they put their blinker on. You must speed up.

3. Because people speed up when you put your blinker on, don't use your blinker. This is the only way you can change lanes without getting people worked up about getting in front of you.

4. Don't stress about traffic laws because the cops are too busy dealing with accidents and don't have time to pull anyone over.

5. Use your phone, talk, text, whatever. Doesn't matter how much traffic you're navigating through; phone usage is perfectly acceptable.

6. Traffic lights. The colors mean different things here! Yellow means the same as green. A newly red light means you can still go through because you know there is that 2 second lag between your red light and the opposing street's green light.

7. Never let anyone in, ever. Merging is just ridiculous here.


Rush hour is ALL day and all night. Literally. There is never a time when the streets are even close to deserted. Real rush hour is probably between 7 and 10 am and 3 and 7 pm. During these times, you might as well not go to wherever you need to be because you won't get there.

I apologize for complaining. Like I said, Dallas is awesome, but along with every place there are some things are are left to be desired. My advice, just drive as little as possible. Do not follow these rules, listen to some happy uplifting music while in the car and pray that Heavenly Father will protect you while on the road.

Happy driving! (I thank God that people don't drive in the snow here! Oh it would be horrific!)

-Emily

October Sillys

Just wanted to post some fun pictures that you may or may not have seen yet! 

 Sam got away from us and we thought he was just so cute naked! 

 Love his crazy hair! We've already cut it a few times but I will be sad when he grows up and loses the baby fluff.

HALLOWEEN:

We did a fairy-tale theme and had a lot of fun with it!  

 Our best family shot. I guess the boys were a little distracted!

Luke even won "cutest costume" at our ward trunk or treat! I was very proud of him and I think he totally deserved it! I just wish he would have liked to hold his fire stick that I made for him. It  was pretty cool but he thought it got in the way. 

Our Halloween started on Friday the 26th with our ward trunk or treat. It was great. Lots of friends and food. Luke got a pretty good candy stash too. The next day we got to have a dental school activity at the park where we ate hot dogs and carved a pumpkin. It's funny because the only people who came were either dog owners or families with kids! There are a lot of dental students with dogs! I guess it's the cool thing. Saturday night we hosted a small costume poker night. Everyone brought a bag of candy which we used as bets. It was fun to play and goof-off. I (Em) totally won and had a HUGE bowl of candy at the end, so I generously shared my winnings with everyone. (I kept the good candies for myself though!!!) I made caramel apples for the party and they were so yummy! Halloween was on a Wednesday and I had a pretty  bad cold so we missed playgroup. Sam had a doctor's appointment in the afternoon. Then, we went to another ward's trunk or treat for a chili dinner. We didn't stay long, but it was good to go do something on Halloween.

Overall it has been a pretty great fall! I did most of the things on my bucket list. We were only missing the corn maze, pumpkin patch stuff because I couldn't find one close to us! They were all like an hour away! Oh well. Maybe we will find a good one next year.

1 Year of Joy

This month Sammy turned one! I simply cannot believe how fast this year has gone. He has grown up so much, yet I still definitely think of him as and treat him as my baby! He has had a quite a year with possible? health problems, lots of new friends, and a crazy brother to get used to.

Here are the boys in our playgroup who have birthday at the end of October! A 2 yr old and three 1 yr olds! The awesome cake was made by my friend Bronwyn!

Checking out his cupcake. He wasn't so sure about it.

He didn't even try the cake. Just licked some frosting and played with it.

On the morning of his 1st birthday!

Brother bear giving him a hug and his presents!

Got to do one of his favorite activities! Play on the piano! Every time we sit down to play, he has to come and play too!

So here is our update on our sweet silly Sam!

Wt: 17lbs (2%ile)

Ht: 28 1/2 in (10%ile)

Head: 50%ile

Sam has been to many many doctors and had many different tests and screens and evaluations done on him to see why he had the fast breathing and the retractions (pulling in while breathing) in his neck and between his ribs. He went to the pulmonologist first. Dr. Moorehead has taken a very active role in Sam's care. Since then, he has also seen a cardiologist, gi doctor, neurologist, a dietitian, physical therapist, and will start seeing an oral/feeding therapist. He has been tested for Cystic Fibrosis, anemia, genetic abnormalities, reflux, swallow test, x-rays and CT scan to look for damage on his lungs. 

He has been taking several medications including Prevacid for reflux, Bethanechol for faster stomach motility (to decrease amount he is able to reflux), Flovent HFA given with a spacer (a steroid to decrease inflammation in his lungs). He has also been prescribed Nasonex and Xopenex but has not had to use those on a regular basis.

He has been diagnosed with reflux, low weight gain or even failure to thrive, and missed gross motor milestones. 

He is or will be treated with physical therapy for gross motor, feeding/oral therapy for better muscle control in his mouth to get him to eat table foods and different textures better. We have increased his formula to 30kcals/oz instead of the regular 20kcals/oz that it typically provides and also started added formula to EVERYTHING else he eats. 

I feel that he is on the mend. He went to his wellness check-up with his regular pediatrician and he said that he seemed to be breathing a lot easier now and his weight is on an upward trend so so he looking good! :)

He has really given us a lot of grief over these health problems, but all I can say is that I am so thankful for modern medicine and the doctors that have worked so hard to try to help him get better. I am also eternally grateful for Medicaid that has allowed us to freely test and evaluate and see specialists with absolutely no thought of cost. It has been so helpful and I will forever be grateful for the help of the government in my life.

So while we aren't at the doctors, we are having a lot of fun playing!

Sam loves music. His favorite toys right now are a musical turtle that plays classical music and lights up and moves slowly. He also likes a light-up music playing cellphone, and a plastic tube thingy from the $ Store. (The one that you fling around and it whistles, but he like to put it to his mouth and talk into it because it kind of echos.) He LOVES books and reading. He also likes to play with his brother in all the pillows from the couch, although brother gets a little rough too often and squishes him with the giant cushions.

He started crawling on his hands and knees right before his birthday. I am so glad that he will no longer have gray shirts from sliding on the ground! He also climbs up on to everything and will cruise around furniture. He is not very close to walking at all, but I am okay with that for now.

His favorite foods are smoothies and yogurt. We have a chocolate or fruit smoothie for breakfast every day. He will also eat gold fish and other crackers pretty well. He likes the taste of meats and fruits and veggies, but is still struggling with swallowing these table foods. Most foods end up in his lap. He still eats baby foods about once a day, but he is getting bored of those and wants to feed himself, making it extra difficult and messy! He is just so messy at mealtimes!

He can say several words and has been saying them for a few months now. He says Mama!, Da! (which means toy or play) Ma! (means eat or food). He shakes his head no. and when he is done eating he waves his hands in front of him while shaking his head no. He also growls with us and crawls around pretending to be a lion. He makes cars fly and makes an engine-like noise while driving them. He has a definite "Cheese" smile for the camera and totally models for pictures. He loves it!

Happy with his new see and say!

We love Sam and we are so happy he is part of our family. 

-Emily

Vegetable Chili

I think this is the first recipe I have added to my blog! I had a few people asking me for my vegetable chili recipe so here it is! It is a Pendulum Court Cafe recipe (a small cafe run by dietetic students at Brigham Young University) So yummy and so good for you!

(Not my actual chili)

Ingredients:

1 medium zucchini, diced
1/2 green pepper, finely diced
1 small white onion, finely diced
3 or 4 white mushrooms sliced
1 T veg. oil
1/4 tsp garlic
1 can diced tomatoes, include liquids
2 small cans of tomato sauce (14-16oz)
1/2 tsp tobasco sauce
1 qt, 1 cup water
Chicken boullion about 2 cubes
1 Tbs light chili powder (more or less for spiciness)
1/2 t ground cumin
1/8 tsp oregano
2 cans kidney beans
About 1 c frozen corn
Cheddar cheese and chips for garnish!

Instructions:
1. Heat up the oil and cook the onions, gr. pepper, mushrooms and garlic 6-8 minutes until tender.
2. Add zucchini, tomatoes, tomato sauce, water, chicken boulion, and all seasoning.
3. Drain liquid from kidney beans and add to soup.
4. Add corn.
5. Simmer at least 20 minutes until heated through. (Can stay on the stove on low for a couple hours if needed)
6. Eat with chips and cheese! Yum!

You could probably do this in the crock pot too.

It is really good!

New Home Decor

Look at all my craftiness!

 Book pumpkins that I made last year; I updated them this year to have black faces and painted them yellow. I also put a black frame behind them just to set it apart from the wall. Elmer's glue and sparkle spider web that I love! It is so neat looking and pretty easy to make! The little box is a Kleenex box covered in construction paper and electrical tape. After the tissues were used up, I made it into a remote caddy. I also strung mello-cream pumpkin candies into a garland. I figured that would be really easy but it actually took a lot of muscle to string them together! Then I added our pumpkins to the fireplace. Its cute and well, I had no other good place to store them except our balcony where no one would see them!

Here, I have some mini gourds and pumpkins I picked up. I added some festive ribbon around my vase and hurricane. Changed up my beans to black, white, and yellow. (So I was looking for a small can of orange spray paint (for the book pumpkins and beans) and they didn't have the color I wanted, so I went with yellow. It turned out okay, but I would have preferred a pretty orange color.) Finally, I made a candy-corn wreath. I think it turned out pretty neat, even if it sagging a little. I also have my felt flowers around the base of the vase, but I just haven't found the perfect place for them yet.

I created a place to display some of Luke's best art. He created all this (except for the baby feet in the middle, although he helped ;) Luke is really talented and I am proud of everything that he creates.

Self-timer

 Luke loves to take pictures with the self-timer feature on the camera. He sets it all up with a stool and books to get it at the right level (with a little help from Mami). Then he pushes the button and leaps to get in front of the camera. Unfortunately, he is still learning the tricks of the trade. Often, the camera is not focused or he nudges it as he moves to his place so that the camera is not even on us at all or the flash is turned off so every single picture we take is black. We usually end up taking about 10-15 pictures and can capture 1 or 2 cute ones. and usually he wants to do in the morning when we are all in our pjs and I am nasty greasy, but that is okay. Here are some of the cute ones he took:

With his animals!

In our pjs.

Off center...

Okay, Papi helped a lot with this one, but it was still self timer!

-Emily

Fall Randoms

I don't have too much to report. I just wanted tot post some pictures for my Ma and let you know what we've been up to!

Luke on our balcony is his coat and boots! It's finally cooling down!
On this day, Luke wanted to go outside but it was too cold to let Sam crawl outside, so I told him he could go out, but he had to keep the door shut so Sammy couldn't go out. A few minutes later, I hear Luke saying in his high-pitched baby voice, "Come on Sammy! Yeah!" So, I go check it out and he is coaxing Sammy out on to the freezing cement! After several warnings and explanations, I bring Sammy back in for the 3rd or 4th time and took Luke's boots and coat away and said he could go back outside. I explained that Sammy wasn't wearing any boots or a coat and so this is how it feels for him to be outside! COLD! After that, he didn't coax Sam out anymore!

Watching Luke longingly from the window. Sorry baby! When you can walk, I'll let you go out on cold days by yourself!

A few more pictures of my cuties:

 A common look to our living room. This is "house". We have pretty strict rules with this game so that Sam doesn't get squished under all the cushions. The boys love it! They have also recently started creating forts behind the couch with the curtains as a roof. Francisco hates this game because it leaves the room in such a mess!

-Emily

From the mouth of a 2 year old

The other morning I woke up to the sounds of my sweet little two year old yelling from his room. This was unusual; he usually just gets out of bed and comes into my room; then pokes my eyes telling me to "Geck up! Stop sleeping! Sol up, luna down." (Translation: "Get up, Stop sleeping, Sun up, moon down!") But that's a totally different story.

So, you might ask, what was this cute little kid saying?

"Mami! Us stuck here! Help! Us stuck!"

Sure enough, I walk into Sam and Luke's room to find two cute little boys wide awake and "stuck" in the crib together.

-Emily

Random things that I talk to myself about.

1. Sam loves doors. Have I mentioned this before? Anytime a door is open, he promptly crawls over and plays with it. He shuts it, then gets stuck behind it. Constantly. The other day, Luke locked Sam in my bedroom. I couldn't get it open and had to call maintenance. It is days like that when I am SO thankful that I live in an apartment building with an on-site maintenance crew. A few days after that, Luke slammed the door on Sam's fingers. As soon as he calmed down, Sam went right back to playing with a door. Oh Sam!

"Door" was also one of Sam's first words! (He says "Mama". That was his first word) But the other day when he was playing, I was talking to him and saying "You like to play with that door!" and Sam promptly replied, "Door!" and I got really excited and I repeated it back, then he repeated it back. He said it at least 5 times in a row! He has said it a few times since then as well.

2. A friend of mine posted a picture of her friend nursing her minutes old newborn baby saying "I am proud of my friend, a proud mama with her baby... she worked so hard" or something like that. So a well meaning woman commented saying that the "proud mama probably wouldn't want that picture on facebook" because it was an intimate moment between her and her baby. My friend replied that she had asked the proud mama and  mama said she did want it on Facebook. So the comment argument continued a little more and a few more mothers commented and really attacked this first commenter. They said it was a beautiful picture and there was no reason for it to not be on Facebook and breastfeeding is natural and she had no right to "dig" on this new mom for breastfeeding... I felt really bad for this well-meaning commenter because I don't think she meant any offense and was really just concerned for the woman in the picture because this intimate moment was all over facebook on her friend's friend's news-feeds (like mine and well-meaning commenter). We don't know this woman and I doubt she would want us looking in on this moment. The commenter never said she was offended by the picture or that it was offensive in any way (which is what the others were accusing her of). Anyway, it was on my mind and it bothered me that people were so quick to judge and attack one well meaning opinion of breast feeding pictures on facebook. My opinion? BF pictures are not offensive and should be allowed on facebook if the mother wants, BUT I think it was inappropriate to have the picture posted on her friends wall therefore allowing all of her friends friends (strangers to the BFing woman) to see the picture. If you want friends and family to see it, great! but it is an intimate moment that strangers don't really need to see.

3. Luke has started doing "imaginary play" with his toys and animals. It is SO cute to watch him "talk" for his animals (his favorites are my old Ty beanie babies). They play together, eat fake food, fly, then convenienly "fall" because they have no wings!

4. Sam is teething and has been pretty grumpy because of it. He has a bit of a passionate personality and I thought that his happy happy days were over and he was already going into toddler-hood where emotions are so unstable. Then, I gave him some ibuprofen and put him down for a nap. He woke up so happy and it was SO good to see him in such a good mood. It makes me sad to see him in so much pain that it is affecting his mood. It really had been a long time since I had seen him so happy.

5. We read the parenting book, "How to talk so kids will listen and listen so kids will talk" by Adele Faber and Elaine Maz... something. It has been really good for us! It teaches you to give emotions a name and acknowledge your child's feelings. So, now Luke tells us what he is feeling and says, "Me happy Mom, me happy!" in a very sad way with a very sad face, often with tears. So I respond, "you're happy?" He replies, "No mom. Me sad!"

-Emily

The simple, routine things of life

One of the things I try to do with the kids is brushing their teeth. We started to brush Sam's teeth and so we made quick video. Hope you enjoy.

Feeling Refreshed for new goals

I am not a believer in New Years Resolutions. Not because I am not goal oriented, simply because I believe in year round goal setting and that you shouldn't wait for the new year to start improving yourself. If it's going to be something that sticks, you might as well start now. I am constantly making new resolutions for myself and I don't think that just because it is January 1st, you need to overwhelm yourself with a bunch of new goals.

That being said, the past few months/weeks/days (I'm not really sure when this started) I have been feeling a little renewed and refreshed. I have gotten over the new baby thing and I am starting to feel more like the me I used to know. It feels good. I feel like I am not just surviving anymore, I am thriving. This does not mean every minute or even every day is fantastic and filled and that my life is exactly where I want it to be. Not at all. However, I feel that now I am able to start climbing that mountain to be the woman that I want to be.

I have more energy, I have learned how to balance my needs along with the needs of my family. I am starting to think more about what I can do for others, rather than what I need them to do for me. Because I am feeling this way at the moment, I have concocted up a few goals for myself that I know will help me to be a better wife and mother, have more energy, and be happier.

I thought to myself, I want to have these goals on my blog so that I am a little more accountable. So here they are!

1. Find time to read the scriptures! (This is a hard one or me. It's 11pm and I still haven't read them! yikes)
2. Exercise every day. Go to the gym 3x/week.
3. Go to the temple on ward temple night each month (Francisco and I are going to try a system where we trade off each month and every 3rd month, we find a babysitter and go together)
4. Decrease the amount of sugar in our diets. We eat too much sugar. I used to not think this was a very big deal because we eat a lot of healthy things too, but I think it  is too much and we need to figure out some alternative snacks that aren't so sugar-packed.
5. Increase the amount of beans/legumes that we eat. I've been working on this for a while and haven't had a lot of success. Just need to do it.
6. Spend more quality time with my husband. Now that school is back in session for him, we need to make time for each other. I got really excited today about some of the silly dates I read about on thedatingdivas blog.
7. Make time for me. Whether it's to read a book, make some crafts, or try something new, I want to have hobbies that are for me, so that I don't lose myself in motherhood.
8. Open up and let people get to know me better. I want to share my thoughts and opinions, my likes and dislikes. I tend to put up a wall and don't get to close to people, but I think that the more I open up, the deeper and more meaningful my relationships with others will become.

I think that's it! I think these are all doable things and I am excited to do them.

-Emily

(and be sure to read the second post from today as well! Yes, I posted twice in one night and sorry gramma, no pictures of your grandkids :)

I'm dreaming of a cool autumn breeze and crisp red leaves.

With the end of this sweaty summer we have been (and still are) enduring, I have become unattainably excited about fall. Most of you already know that this is my absolute favorite season (I've posted about it on here in previous years) but I am just too excited to not write about it!

This year, I have already written my bucket list for the coming season. It is a little longer than normal; actually it is the first time I have made an official bucket list, but still it is more than what I normally think to do during the fall. I think this is for 2 reasons. One, last year I was pregnant and had a baby right before Halloween. That is a bit of a buzz-kill on the outings, recipes, decorations, pretty much everything... Not that having a baby was bad, just bad timing for me, because I wasn't able to do all the things that I wanted, so this year I feel the need to make up for last year. And secondly, this Texas summer has been SO dreadfully long and hot hot hot that I am dying for cooler weather to come! I have been planning my decorations and activities since the beginning of August and the anticipation of waiting has made everything become a little more extravagant in my head.

Here is my list (I had to go get it from my refrigerator):
- Make caramel apples
- Make apple crisp
- Make costumes (I am planning a fairy-tale theme. I will be a princess, Francisco my Knight in Shining Armor, Sam his handsome steed (horse), and Luke the scary dragon. I am pretty excited about it!)
- Make new decorations (I am planning a candy pumpkin garland, a candy corn wreath, adding pumpkins to my living room in my wood-burning fireplace, and some sort of burlap banner.
- Decorate!
- Go to a corn maze
- Pumpkin patch and tractor ride
- Have a Halloween party (I want to have a poker night and use candy as bets!)
- and of course carve pumpkins!

I am just giddy with excitement! Please fall come early this year! (It was 105 today so it's not really feeling like fall.) Oh fall. A girl can dream, right?

Happy dreaming until autumn really does come! What's on your bucket list this season?

-Emily

Skinny Sammy

Sam had a doctor's appointment yesterday. Just his normal 9 month (although he is now 10 months) check-up. Now, we already knew he is a light-weight skinny boy. You can tell just by looking at him and holding him. He is VERY skinny. His 6-9 month clothes are baggy. You can see his spine down his back. He doesn't have a single roll on him; especially around his middle. I was anxious to know how much he weighed.

Yesterday he weighed in at 15lbs 11oz. This is off the charts below the 5th%ile. His growth curve has really leveled off instead of curving up. He had gained about 1&1/4lbs since his last check-up. So, it was good that he had gained, but it was not as much as he should have. When I got home, I found a paper I got from his pulmonologist appointment 2 months ago. His weight at that appointment was 15lbs 4oz. I realize that this was a different scale, but it concerns me even a little more because that means in the last 2 months, he barely gained anything. He's going back to the pulmonologist in a couple weeks, so I will compare his weight there again.

His length measured in at 28 and something inches. He is following his 50%ile growth curve perfectly in length and head circumference is also growing as it should around the 50%ile.


We have pretty much exhausted all possibilities of chronic diseases that might cause this failure of growth. His heart is fine. His lungs are healthy. He eats and poops plenty. One thing it MIGHT be is his reflux. He still throws up occasionally. (Last night he threw up a TON). My instincts say that it's a combination of genetics and reflux. My family is genetically skinny. Both my dad and brother are extremely skinny.

The doctor suggests that we go talk to a dietitian. Ha. I say, 'I am a dietitian. BUT, I would be willing to go talk with another dietitian to see if we can come up with some more ideas concerning his diet and weight gain.' More to come on how this consultation goes. It's a little embarrassing that I have to go talk with a dietitian. I am supposed to be the expert in this area, but I realize that I don't know everything about baby weight gain and it might be beneficial to talk to another expert.

I am considering formula feeding. He has started taking a bottle this week, so this is now an option. I just get really sad to think that it might be my milk causing him to not gain enough weight. From the medical stand-point, all breast milk should have the same amount of calories as formula, so as long as I'm producing enough milk, he should be fine. However, I keep thinking in the back of my head, maybe my milk is different. Maybe my milk isn't giving him the nutrients that he needs.

I just hope we can figure this out. I love my Sam so much and I just want him to be happy and healthy. Maybe he already is.

-Emily

I'm proud to be an American

I became a citizen of this great country on August 22, 2012. Everything happened so fast that we didn't have time to plan a celebration or anything : ( , but it was all good.

My interview was schedule at 6:30 am. I got there at 6:00 am and they finally interviewed me at 7:00 am. Those 30 min of waiting really make you wonder what kind of questions are they going to ask you, but it was  super easy and stress free. At the end of the interview she offered me the opportunity to come back at 1:00 pm the same day to make the oath and become a citizen; I wasn't expecting it to be that quick. 

After the interview I rushed to school, changed into my scrubs and had 4 hours of operative dentistry, then I changed my clothes again and made it back to the building at 12:25 pm. The ceremony started around 1:30 pm and it was a bit weird saying the pledge and making the oath.... but I'm happy I made that decision. 

I was back at school at 3:00 pm in my scrubs ready for 2 more hours of fixed prosthodontics lab. 

This day was definitely an emotional one, but in a sense was kind of surreal because I didn't have time to let the feelings soak in (if that makes any sense).

-Francisco

Nothing beats free!!!

I just want to make a short entry to remember how blessed we are. We got a totally free piano from Sister Colson in our ward and it is just awesome. We moved it with tons of help and it really wasn't that bad moving it to the second floor with the help of 8 other people. I loved how friends from our ward came together and helped me out.

Here is a picture of our new piano!

-Francisco

Summer activities

We have had a great summer. It is quickly coming to a close so we thought we'd right a post of the things that we enjoyed doing this summer! It has been do great to have Francisco home most of the time with us and we are going to miss him next week when he starts school.

Here is what we've been up to:
Play-dough: We made some home-made play dough and Luke absolutely loves it! He will sit and play with it for a very long time for a 2 yr old! Maybe 30-60 minutes at a time! Of course, we had to make it a neon green color!

Washing storage closet door: Luke really likes to wash the door that goes to our storage closet on our balcony. He takes a large bucket of water and a wipe or a wash cloth and goes at it! Awesome.

Water colors: With Mami or Papi painting, Luke LOVES to paint as well. He is getting much better at not mixing the colors and a lot of this paintings are quite creative!

In order: Emily, Francisco, Luke

Game boards: Luke has gotten into the habit of taking the board games out and making a mess playing with them. Cranium was the worst. All the cards. Everywhere.

Luke is saying that he's two and pointing to the 16+ 

Blocks: Gramma K bought Luke blocks while she was here last October and he loves them. He builds "casas" and likes to make more messes with them. We are working really hard to teach him to pick them up after he's done playing with them.

Splash Pads: It is impossible to enjoy the outdoors without some source of water during the summer here. So, we checked out a Splash Pad. It was really cool and free!

"Pillow me": Luke loves to take all the pillows off the bed and couches and cover us with them. Then we must do the same to him. I (Emily) actually enjoy this game because I get to rest while he throws pillows on top of me. We are playing and I am sleeping at the same time! Win-win!

Train tracks: Today Luke brought out his train tracks and we put some batteries in his cars. He went wild watching the cars chase each other! We usually do not have batteries in the cars because they run out so fast!

Bath time: Luke loves playing in the water, but does not necessarily enjoy baths. The washing part takes place maybe with 1/2 of his baths. Usually it is just playing in the water with his bath toys. At least he gets rinsed off! We recently moved his toys to his bathroom rather than in our master bath. I am enjoying having my shower toy free, but I"m not looking forward to washing two showers! (Although Francisco usually does that lovely task anyway! Love you sweetie!)

Craft sticks/glue: Luke is our resident crafter. He recently discovered a box of craft sticks and has been addicted ever since! He made a house, a kitty, a grid. Then he colors them with either water colors or markers.

mirror smudges: Did we mention Luke is artistic? Even his messes end up being a work of art! Check out this mirror smudge. What do you see? Pretty good for a 2 yr old, huh?

swimming: With a pool literally outside our apartment, I thought we'd hit the pool a little more than we did, but we still made a few trips with the boys. Luke loves the water, Sam not as much. The Olympics have inspired us to take up swimming as a workout and both Francisco and I went this morning (at separate times) Both of us only lasted about 20 minutes. Swimming is hard work!

Oregon trip: This deserves a post on it's own. It was awesome! (Horse back riding, Wave pool, Yurts at Wallowa Lake, paddle boats, Family time, learning to play, "I'm trying to be like Jesus" on the piano, visiting friends, the Saturday market, Enchanted forest)

Work: Both Francisco and I picked up some summer jobs and made a little extra cash. I worked for Green Pest Guys Pest control doing some scheduling from home and Francisco worked for Baylor doing research and teaching a summer program.

It has been an awesome summer! I'm not loving the heat, but what can you do?

Francisco loves seeing his little Luke growing and trying different things. He loves when Luke hugs and kisses him and says that he loves him. Luke is a really good kid. We love him so much.

Now we are looking forward to a lovely fall and are excited for Halloween!

Because Francisco and I both post and both use the first person when writing, we are going to start signing our names at the end of our posts.

-Emily