randon photos

happy birthday me!

Yesterday was my 34th birthday! Crazy...where did my twenty's go? The best surprise of the day was having Jake home all day. He was on reserve, but didn't get used...what a blessing! We started the day off painting Libby chair-rail for her room. We let Luke help paint...not a good idea. He had a blast, but he got paint all over himself! We had fun watching him though. We actually had to strip the paint off the wood that he had painted, and then repaint. It was worth it for the pictures! Later in the day, Jake and Luke went to Ace Hard ward and made a pit stop at Kroger Floral Department. They surprised me with balloons, flowers, and a cake! It was so sweet! Luke was all about the balloons and cake...especially the cake! You would have thought it was his birthday! He sang happy birthday to me and my heart melted. After a quick nap, we cleaned up and headed to Market Street. We parked at the mall, shopped a few stores, and then (Luke's favorite part, besides the cake!) rode Toby the Trolley over to Market Street. There, we saw Santa and got pictures with him or tried to anyways. Luke, was of course, shy and didn't want to sit on his lap. He was all about the fake gift boxes around the tree. I think he thought there were gifts in them! Ha! Ha! Meanwhile, Libby was sitting on Santa's lap the whole time with her serious look that she always has. At one moment she was pulling on Santa REAL beard!! I saw hairs come out! And Santa said, "Oh! Oh!" I'm sure he gets pulled on a lot during this time of year! Well, we bought a sheet of pictures, but they didn't make it home with us. Somewhere along our walk they must have fallen out of the stroller. Bummer :( After visiting Santa, we walked pasted the ice rink and all the Christmas light displayed. Then continued down to the canal and had supper at Gooses Arces. Jake and I had our favorite sandwich, and Luke ate a plate of fries....is that bad?!? LOL!! Then we walked the canal back to the mall and came home! What a great day it was. I'm so blessed to have Jake, Luke, and Libby in my life! Enjoy our pictures!



painting Libby chair-rail...notice his nice mustache!!


who's birthday is it??!!


devouring the cake...he wanted seconds!


my birthday gift!


watch this video...Luke singing happy b-day!

santa, where are you?

The other day, Luke and I went to Bed Bath and Beyond to buy a fall candle. Jake and Libby stayed in the car, and I thought it would be okay to take Luke in the store with me without any toy temptations. I was wrong! We made our selection on a candle and took the long way out of the store, you know because, I wanted to look! Well, as we turned the corner, there it was a gigantic pile of automatic train set to put under your Christmas tree! I think we saw them at the same time, but he's a littler faster then me. Plus I was standing there in awe....like oh crap, how am I going to get him out of here!! As Luke was trying to pull one of the huge box's off from the bottom and I'm watching all the ones on top start to wiggle, I quickly leaned down to him and said, "We better go find Santa, and then you can tell him that you want that train set for Christmas." And surprisingly, he said, "Okay!" And started walking down the isle looking for Santa. As we are walking down the isle to checkout he is screaming, "Santa, where are you!" It was sooo funning! Everyone was laughting! As we got to the front of the store, Luke cries out, "There he is!" and points up the the yard art Santa! What a cute and inacent mind! So now, whenever we are at a store and he sees something he wants, I tell him to ask Santa. And he starts calling for him!

a day at the zoo

Today we had a family fun, packed day at the Houston Zoo! We started the day off with a picnic at the park just outside the zoo. There is a small train that runs through the park and the outskirts of the zoo that you can ride on. Luke was so excited about taking a train ride that he couldn't eat his lunch. It was toot-toot, choo-choo, until we were all abord! The train ride was so much fun that we ended up taking another ride after leaving the zoo. Even Jake and I enjoyed it a lot! And of course, Libby LOVED it! She was so happy the whole ride, bouncing in our laps and laughing! Luke was a little nervous at first, but didn't take long to warm up. After the train ride, we headed into the zoo. The animals were very active and intertaining. November seems to be a great time to visit the zoo. The weather is just perfect, light breeze, autum blue skies, and bright beatuiful sunlight shinning through the trees....a touch of heaven. We spent over four hours seeing every animal we could. On the car ride home, we asked Luke what his favorite animal was that he saw. He said, "The cayote." We said, "But, we didn't even see the cayote!" Ha! Ha! Every day we get to send with Jake and be a family together is a blessing from the Lord!

a day at the park

This morning we took the kiddos to the park and had so much fun! Luke was full of energy and was exploring everything from the slides to the leaf cutting ants! Libby enjoyed daddy pushing her in the swing, we even got some giggles out of her! The weather was perferct...nice, cool, fall-like breeze. What a blessing it was for us to have the morning to spend together!

how sweet

luke is loving it...i can still hear him laughing

trying to get a picture

what a moment

enjoying the park

having fun