Luke

Today, I am thankful for this very handsome, oh-so- charismatic husband of mine.


I really lucked it when I found this guy.

Some of his favorite things include:
Watching football
Watching basketball
Watching baseball
NOT watching soccer
Playing with the kiddos
Taking me out on super fun and creative dates
Relaxing on the couch
Laughing
Taco Bell
Cuddling
Watching ANYmovie that has Chris Farley in it.

The best part about this list is that I, too, love all of these things ( minus 1).

Luke is such an amazing husband and father. He knows what needs to get done to take care of our family both now and in the future and although it seems like an uphill climb at this stage he is impressing me every day with his determination and ability to put his head down and get up that mountain. I'm so very thankful that I met him and feel so incredibly blessed that he chose me to spend eternity with!

Derek

 Today, we are thankful for this little man. Derek is now 16 months old going on about 7 years. He thinks he is bigger than his britches and without fail nearly gives me a heart attack each and every day. He's fearless when it comes to climbing and jumping. He absolutely adores Dallace, Daddy, and Mommy (in that order). He's too handsome and so sweet when he wants to be.

Some of Derek's favorite things:

playing Monster with Dallace (he's got pretty strong ROAR)

climbing on anything and everything

playing at the park

eating peaches & grapes

wrestling with dad

playing catch

giving Mommy kisses

his must-have giraffe toy at nap/bed time

 Avoiding car rides

Dancing

Running away with something he should not have in hand

He was the cutest little shark for Halloween this year 

I can not believe how fast he has gone from baby to toddler. He is such a blessing in our lives and I don't know what we did before him. I can't wait to see the man he grows up to be!

Dallace

How in the world is it already November?? 2012 has absolutely been flying by! Our little family has had such a busy and wonderful year, and we have so much to be thankful for.

Today, though, I am thankful for our sweet little angel, Dallace.

 Dallace has got so much personality packed into her pint-size little body. She's funny, compassionate, helpful (most of the time), and so quick to forgive a certain little brother that doesn't know how to ask first for anything, yet. 

Some of her FAVORITE things include:

Going to Target with Mommy (has to be mommy only. NO Derek or Daddy)

Helping make cookies

Riding her bike

Having her nails painted and painting Mommy's nails

Playing dress up

Coloring

Going to school

Going to the gym

Going to the park

Going pretty much anywhere

Telling anyone and everyone that her birthday is June twenty-fird (June 23rd) and that she will be 4

 She is my little buddy and will go do anything as long as it's with me. It breaks my heart to think that there will be a time in the not so distant future when she might to care to hang out with me as much.

 She's doing wonderfully at school. Her teacher tells me that she's so friendly and not at all shy around the other kids. They also tell me she becomes extremely concerned if someone else is out sick or gets hurt and tries to figure out what to do to help them. I hope that she never loses this trait.

I can not believe she's growing up so fast. She grows so much everyday and is learning how to be a little lady and now I just have to make sure that my example is the best for her. Fingers crossed!

Fun at CCF

Just in case you've ever wondered what the end of a 13 hour day at The Cheesecake Factory looks like. That's it.

Dallace's Hair

 Derek isn't the only kiddo in this house with post-worthy hair! After bath time the other night, Dallace informed me she would like me to blow dry her hair like mommy's. Without hesitation, I seized the opportunity and one-upped her by flat ironing it (after generously applying some heat protectant, of course!). I love her sweet curly hair, but she does look awfully cute (and much older) with the straight hair. She examined her new hairstyle in the mirror, running her fingers through her hair for a few seconds while saying, "ohhh, pretty!"

Derek's First Haircut

Derek, recently, had his hair cut for the first time. I went in expecting the worst. A little backstory for you:

My little brother is 13 years younger than me. This large age gap has allowed me several opportunities and experiences of young children and majorly traumatic events in their life. Connor's first haircut was definitely a day to remember. There was lots of screaming and crying-both from Connor and my mother.

So, with this event in my mind I took Derek in to the Hairy Elephant, a local kids only salon and decided to go ahead and admit defeat before we even began allowing for no disappointment. When we arrived we sat in the waiting area, which was filled with nearly every toy you can imagine, and watched as two brothers sat there screaming while their haircuts were completed. This only encouraged my emotional distancing from the upcoming situation. The boys ahead of us finished up and Derek and I walked back to the awesomely red racecar chair he would sit in. Tosha, the stylist fastened the smock around his neck and it was time to begin. A few light spritz' of cool water to prep the hair for trimming and we were off.

Snip.

.Snip.

.Buzzz.

DONE!

Tri 1

As I mentioned in the previous post, Luke is in the first trimester of ten in the D.C. program at Logan. Everyone we've encountered in the 8 months prior to him starting told us the same thing. They told us to prepare ourselves, it is a full time job, and we will NEVER see him again.

Well, maybe that last part was a bit dramatic, we do see him but it's just an hour or two here and there. Then, on the weekends,  when we would be able to spend the most amount of time together, I'm off to work. So, this has been quite the adjustment. Now, we've lived through a time with a very similar schedule to this, before. When he worked out at the area,  he would be up around 5:00 a.m, and arrive home a bit after 6:00 p.m. or sometimes as late as 1:00 a.m. There was a lot of texting, calling, and picture messages to stay connected. Now, we are getting back into the swing of that schedule, and learning to make the most out of a quick 10 minute drop by visit or lunchtime. Luckily, we live about 3 minutes away from Logan, making the quick hello super convenient.

After doing ALL of his undergrad online, due to working 60+ hours a week, this "real school" thing is both awesome and awesomely difficult. As anyone who's taken an online course can tell you-they can be so easy. Most of them, anyways. Now, Luke is back in a "real classroom." He says to some degree it makes it easier, actually having a teacher there to bounce questions off of or request feedback. And to some extent it's much more difficult. Either way, I couldn't be more proud of him. He set his mind on what he wanted to do and he worked harder than anyone else I've ever seen to get our family here. It makes me feel such an intense sense of pride to know that he is the example Derek will see growing up of how to work. He's such an amazing person, husband, and father. It's also been reassured to me, here, that he is my best friend in the world. No one can make me laugh the way he does! I definitely miss my favorite ladies up in Washington and I would do anything to convince their husbands to change their career paths and decide to become chiropractors and go to Logan..immeidately. However, no matter how compelling my arguments were, they said they would just hold my place in our little circle until we return one day. I guess I can settle for that. We are already a month into Tri 1 and I have a feeling the rest is going to fly by!