Will's First Haircut

Will got his first haircut this evening! Though his hair is still...uh...limited - it was at the same time long and wispy. So it had to go. =) I saved his baby curl, but the rest was buzzed off. Maybe this will jumpstart some sort of hair growth?

Will was FANTASTIC during the whole process! I was very proud of my little boy! I didn't think to get a "before" picture, so I found this one that kinda gives you an idea of his hair before. He had random wisps and curls here and there.

Cutting the baby curls!

Time for the clippers...

The finished product...short and sweet!

"Look mom, I'm still bald!!"

It was time for Luke to get his cut again - so of course I had to take a few pictures of him too!

Itchy back!!

Luke loves getting his hair cut this short - he thinks it looks just like daddy's haircut!

Happy Anniversary!

Today is our 7th Wedding Anniversary. Seven years ago, we were standing in the presence of God, family and friends vowing our love and devotion to one another. It was one of the happiest days of my life! I was just so elated to marry the love of my life! Seven years later I can tell you that my love has only grown stronger and deeper for my wonderful husband!

I decided to make a short video slideshow for Chris (as we are geographically separated once again on our anniversary) so that we could in some way relive this joyful day in our hearts. As I was making the video, I thought of the personal vows we shared with one another (we shared traditional vows as well, but decided we wanted to write something to each other as well.)

As we stand here today on our wedding day,
I vow to love you with my whole heart;
To stand beside you in good times and bad,
To cherish you even in times apart.
Our love for each other will only grow stronger from this day forward.
I thank God for bringing us together
and know He will bless our marriage as we are faithful to Him.

After seven years of marriage, we now look at these vows through the eyes of experience. I am amazed at how much more meaningful they are to me today (though don't get me wrong, they were extremely meaningful to me on our wedding day as well.)

So, I thought I would post the video (which includes the personal vows) since I'm feeling a bit sentimental this anniversary!

(the video may need a few minutes to buffer)

Happy Anniversary Chris! I love you more than words can express. You are a truly amazing man, husband and father. I feel incredibly blessed to be your wife!

Cuteness!

The boys think it's so fun to get in the same bed. I could never let them sleep together though - they would never fall asleep! Not to mention they would probably end up bickering and beating each other up. =) But they still like trying to convince me otherwise!



Food time fun!



Luke and Will enjoy playing kid friendly games on the computer. I'm amazed at how easily Luke can maneuver his way around the computer! Will is right behind him too. I'm not sure I had even seen a computer until I was like 6!

Luke the Photographer

Luke wanted to take pictures a few days ago. He has a play camera that he was playing with, but he really wanted to try out Mommy's camera. I decided to let him try it out. He was taking pictures of everything! He was so excited to see the pictures he was taking, that he often times brought the camera down before it flashed. Thus...a lot of floor or low pictures. It was fun to watch him! The really funny thing about how he was taking pictures, was that he was putting the camera right up to his eyes - so he could look through the viewfinder. Though this doesn't sound unusual, I had to wonder how he knew how to do that...because in this age of digital cameras, he generally sees us taking pictures by just looking at the screen. I wonder how he learned to look through the viewfinder? Anyway it was very cute...and I wish I could have got a picture of him taking pictures! Maybe next time. =)

In the mean time, here are some of Luke's photos!

Vacation Chronicles: Animal Kingdom

On our third day of travel, we finally made it to Disney World! We thought we'd stop at Animal Kingdom for the afternoon. The day was sweltering. The boys were exhausted. There were definitely perks to the day, but I think it was hard for any of us to enjoy it to its fullest. Chris and I were dealing with constant fits and bickering from the boys - and we were pretty tired ourselves. We enjoyed what we could, but decided to head to the condo after a few hours. We got the boys in the bath, let them run around the cool condo for awhile and then met up with Merritt and Joey for a very enjoyable dinner. Later that evening Steve, Judy and Randy, Jamie and Julianne got to the condo. By the end of the night, we all fell into bed. I think we may have even been asleep before our heads hit the pillow!

Disney World!!! I excitedly turned to tell Luke we were finally at Disney World...


and this is what I saw! I tried and tried to wake him up, but he was out!


Will was excited though!


Animal Kingdom!

Luke thought the Tram-Trolley things were lots of fun!

Will must have been having a "stomach ache" here...after we got through the gates of the park, we realized he "stomach ached" through his shorts. I, of course, hadn't thought to bring an extra outfit for him, so we had to feverishly clean his clothes so we could proceed (thankfully, it wasn't to terrible.)

Finally here!

The Tree of Life...

Will checking out a dinosaur...

This pretty much sums up how our time at the park went...=) Here the boys are waiting for lunch. Luke is crying and whining because his eyes hurt - Will is hot and hungry - and they were not happy. After lunch, they perked up a bit - but this was generally their mood.

The Lion King Show! This was awesome! It was inside, cool and very entertaining! The boys enjoyed it - as did Chris and I. They offered to take Luke up to dance at the end, but he refused. Oh well, it was still a very fun part of the day!

It was SO hot! The boys chugged water all day long.

Another high point was the Mickey Jungle Parade. Luke was finally able to see some of the characters, so that was very satisfying to him. He sat on my shoulders and Will sat on Chris'. I had been working out diligently for weeks, but his 30-40 some pounds on my shoulders for 15 minutes made me realize I need to work out harder! LOL!

Back on the Tram-Trolley thing to head out...

Will was so tired, he could barely hold his eyes open!

Family picture while we ate at Don Pablo's with Merritt and Joey.

Vacation Chronicles: The Drive

There were many reasons I thought driving to Orlando would be a fun adventure. I thought it would be cheaper than 4 airline tickets, baggage costs then renting a car at the other end. I thought it would give us a chance to catch up and spend time together as a family. I thought it would be fun to take our time and find fun things to do along the way. And while the boys were decently well behaved on the trip (considering their ages)...I'm not sure we'd ever make that drive again when we could fly! =) Long car trips are nothing new to Chris and I - and we made quite a few of them even after Luke was born...but it is definitely a different story traveling with a 3 year old and a 17 month old.


We had the portable DVD player with us - which is really what made the trip bearable. The kids were just enthralled with the ability to watch CARS, Dora, Diego, etc. in the car. I had purchased travel trays that strap over their laps in the car seat, which I thought would really be a big hit...but they ended up being a disaster. So much for coloring and a play surface for the car ride! I don't know what it was about that little soft table over their laps - but it only took 2 minutes for both of them to decide that they didn't want to use it. And within that two minutes they had both scattered crayons all over MeMe's new car (Steve and Judy offered to let us take their car instead of the van...that way we didn't have to worry about it breaking down in the middle of our trip!) It wasn't a big deal until we stopped in the stifling heat and realized that any unfound crayons would melt...NOT GOOD! It shouldn't be hard to find a few crayons right? Well the car was PACKED full to the brim...so yes, it was hard to find a few scattered crayons. During one of our stops, I was able to locate all the crayons but one. Needless to say I was a bit stressed about that one crayon forming a huge blob of wax in some hidden corner of the new car. Thankfully the next day I found the crayon still intact with no leftover stains or wax blobs. Phew! =)


Our first evening of travel we only got 4 hours under our belt. We traveled the entire next day and managed to get within 2 hours of Disney World. Our third day of travels brought us right to the gates of Animal Kingdom. Whew! We thought we'd never get there! Here are a few pictures from our road trip!




Will is ready to get on the road!

The start of our trip at 8pm on Father's Day. Calm-happy-and excited to be watching CARS in the car!

Chris had 14 months of driving to make up for...but I'm not sure he wanted to do it all in a few days! =) Don't worry, I helped drive.

Luke and Will captivated by their DVD player...

The first night (these pictures were taken the following morning) we stayed at this very nice Hampton Inn. We took the chance that we could afford a room there - and with the military discount, it ended up being very reasonable.

Luke and Will loved the room - and loved being able to stetch their legs when they woke up in the morning. Here Luke is having a pillow fight with Chris.

Will was already tired even before we left that morning!

Luke loved the breakfast there. He was very excited to bring back fruit to enjoy as well. Here he's devouring a whole orange - after eating a full breakfast I might add - before we left.

The elevators had mirrors in the ceilings - which the boys loved looking at. Take a close look at Will in this picture...he's pressing the emergency button while we're snapping the pic!

A stop at Cracker Barrel was a must!

This was far and few between...

This was more frequent!!

We finally made it to Flordia!

Luke was SO excited! It's a good thing he didn't know we still had a looong way yet to go!

Orlando!!

Our first stop (Animal Kingdom.) More to come in the next blog!

Father's Day Gifts

The boys and I decided to surprise Chris and Guka on Saturday (June 20) morning with their Father's Day gifts. We had very limited time at home, and I really wanted them to be able to get some use out of the gifts before we left for Orlando (which just so happened to be the very next day.) So Saturday morning, after breakfast, Luke helped me hand out the gifts...he even got one...even though he doesn't really meet the criteria of being a gift receiver on Father's Day. =)

First - two pictures from breakfast. This was the first morning Chris was home - and Luke was just beside himself to be right next to daddy...he just kept looking up at Chris and smiling! It was so cute and very touching.



Here are the boys checking out the Father's Day gift...


Fishing poles! One for Guka, Chris and Luke! Now it's off to the river...

Chris and Luke on their way to the bank of the river...

Guka makes the first cast of the day!

I did not participate in the fishing festivities...I just took pictures - but not this picture. Aunt Marge took this picture so I could actaully be in one of them! =)

Happy Fishers!

Will pondering the purpose of fishing...or just thinking about lunch maybe...

Chris helping Luke fish for the first time.

The river...

Even Will got to give it a shot!

Luke helping daddy...

Will getting a bit bored...

Chris and Luke...very focused...

Just fishing...

The view from Will's shoes...

Father and son!

The first catch of the day was on Luke's spiderman fishing pole! Chris had to reel it in...

Here he is! A big catfish!

The fish was able to wiggle out of the hook before Chris could reel him all the way up. But I thought it was a pretty good catch for Luke's first catch ever!

Later Chris caught a carp(?) - here he's showing it to Luke...Luke didn't want to touch it at all...

Will was a bit more interested...but didn't want to touch it either. After a quick glance, the fish went back in the water.

Guka fishing away!

Fun was had by all!

It started raining, so off we went to the house!

Uncle Randy and Julianne came for a visit right after that, so Chris was able to spend a little time with Julianne.

And this was all before lunchtime! =) More pictures to come!

Whirlwind and another Homecoming

Wow. What a whirlwind two weeks! Chris has come and gone and I haven't blogged once! Unfortunately, there has not been a single spare moment over the past two weeks to upload photos - until tonight! =) I promise I won't overload you on photos tonight, but I will get started and try to post somewhat regularly over the next few weeks to get caught back up again. So here's installment 1!

Chris had leave for 2 weeks - so minus travel time we had 12 jam-packed days together. I'll let the pictures tell the story from here:

Chris's flight didn't get in until early evening, so we had all day to wait...


Luke got all spruced up for the big event by getting a haircut...


After naps, Aunt Jamie and Julianne came over and helped the boys make signs:

On the way to the airport! YAY!

More waiting at the airport...

Here's the family waiting...

Julianne next to her sign!

The boys and I waiting...can you tell there is a lot of waiting on days like this!=) The funny thing about this picture is I didn't actually plan for us all to match...it just kinda happened. I had just planned for the boys to match. But I hurriedly got dressed before we left for the airport and didn't even notice until we got there!

Spotting the plane!

He's home!!!

This picture is a bit blurry, but I love it! Luke didn't even hesitate, he ran right into daddy's arms!

Reuniting...

Here I'm telling Will that this is "da-da." It took him awhile to come around, but he got used to Chris being around again eventually.

Greeting Mom:

Uncle Chris meeting Julianne for the first time:

Life is good!

Waiting for the luggage...

Daddy brought gifts!

On our way home...

We went home and enjoyed a relaxed supper with family - which I'm surprised I didn't take any pictures of. It was a nice time to catch up and enjoy being surrounded by family.

At the end of the night, the boys put on their "My daddy is my hero" PJ's, sat with daddy to read books and went to sleep happy to have daddy home for a short time.

More updates/pictures to come!