I am truly in awe of his happy little life force, and so happy to be his momma.
Thus, we had a Luke-happy day! We had birthday cake pancakes for breakfast. Then we went to gymnastics class (which is Luke's happy place in life. Umm we need to have another post about "Jumping for Jesus" because Luke thinks it is the greatest thing in the world.) Then we came home to have MORE birthday cake pancakes and a nap. (at various points during our day Bradley declared the best day ever!)
During naptime I went to work on Luke's Dusty Crophopper cake! Four hours later I was finished!
Daddy came home and we had a good ole pippa party!!
And opened presents and ate cake. Luke was thoroughly full of happiness and sugar by the time he went to bed.
Bradley gave Luke a Master Windu light saber. And then promptly had a battle with Luke. (video to follow someday) Then Luke became bored and Brian finished off the light saber battle with Bradley. I'm quite sure they enjoyed the new saber as much as Luke did/will.
So I was inspired to make a Dusty cake a few days ago. It looks 75% like I wanted it to. So I'm going with, it is pretty good. And the kids loved it.
Today I declaired MUD DAY! Which was really mud morning. But we had fun none the less.
I woke up and thought, "maybe I should teach the boys about mud today." So naturally I dressed Luke in a white shirt. I'm quite sure the shirt is a gonner.
At first we just had a normal amount of mud and a hill and we buried cars and dinosaurs. Then Bradley brought the "wash off" bucket over and dumped it out. Earning him his first timeout.
Then we had lots of mud to work with.
Wait for iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit........
You know your heart just skipped a beat at that adorably mischievous face.
Summer ended. You would never know it based on weather changes though. It is still in the 90's, and thank goodness it isn't in the 100's any more!!
No, I know summer ended simply because Preschool started!! Bradley is still attending the Palmdale Parks and Rec preschool program as a Blazing Comet this year! (3-4 ages) He seems to love it and begs to bring his lunch every day.We still carpool with Sam and Seth (twins), which Bradley really enjoys. He is in the phase of life where he recognizes what friends are and he desperately wants to have them. But his communication skills are still pretty behind other kids in his class and this makes it hard for him. I think it is good for him to be around Sam and Seth and find friendship with them.
Every time I herd three preschoolers and Luke into the classroom I gain more and more respect for the Becks (whom have way more than just the twins!). I struggle with my two kids, and preschool mornings are always a good trial of patience and creativity. How can I get all three boys to listen? And not ignore, hurt feelings, or kill any of them in the process. It is a balance that is good for me to work on.
We also started a new basketball season! This is Bradley's second time in the 3-4 YMCA bball program. It is much more organized this season, and well Brad is a few inches taller which helps with the shooting. Man Bradley is still a little spaz. But he has a little more patience in waiting for his turn. But then when he doesn't get his way there is a huge pouting episode until someone ushers him down the court. Oh well. That's why we do it right! To learn to be on a team!
We've hit a major life time development. Bradley is 40 inches- with shoes on.
This makes him eligible to ride the first tier of "big kid" rides in Disneyland. We've been measuring Brad once a week for a month now, so he knew what was going on. And we knew he was looking forward to going on the big kid rides, but we didn't anticipate how thrilling it would be for Brian and I to accompany him on these rides!
In other equally exciting news, Luke is big enough to go on the more intense Disney rides like Dumbo, rockets, and Rodger Rabbit! AND I don't have to feed him every 2-3 hours so we BOTH were able to go on more than three rides this last trip!
Our Disney day began as usual - for those that weren't aware, our family has the Year-Round Disney Pass and we only live 1.5 hours away from Anaheim- Bradley was convinced we needed to go on Pirates first. However, we were in our Disney stride and had a very smooth departure from our house and got there right around opening. So lines were really really low! We decided it was time to take Luke on Dumbo!!! He seemed rather amused although not altogether sure it was as excited as the rest of the family.
Then we took a real departure from our Disney routine and went to Toon Town. Yea I know I'm really surprised too. Toon Town opens an hour after the rest of the park, so we waited a few minutes and then Bradley and I ran to Gadget's Go Coaster! Which is Brad's second fave ride. It was really fun to hang around and play with all the little kid stuff and not have a million little kids all over everything. Luke and I also took a trip to meet Minnie while Brad and Dad took another spin on the roller coaster. Minnie's house is so cute! Then we all went to Rodger Rabbit's ride. Luke was not very excited about the spinning because he had to sit on the seat not in my lap. But Bradley loved the crazy spinning cars.
THEN of course we went on Pirates, hung out in the Pirate Store and then on Haunted Manson. After that
Brian had the wild idea to go to Splash Mountain and measure Brad. We
got two thumbs up, and since it was still before 10 am, the line wasn't
even 10 min long. My fave ride=I get to take him on it.
We lifted Brad up to show him the big drop and see what his reaction was. Of course he was like, YEA let's go do that!! We got in line and Bradley started holding his nose. He was under the impression we would be going under the water. It took lots of convincing that he didn't need to hold his nose, and we settled on I would tell him when the big drop was coming. I'm not sure he trusts me very much... an issue for another day I guess. After we were in and going they pull you up a big slope and then go down just a little hill. Brad immediately began telling me NO he wanted to go on the BIG ONE. Then we rounded the bend and he saw it and started getting really excited- see pic above where he won't look at the camera. ;)
You can watch the movie for yourself.
Clearly we have an adrenaline junky on our hands. Because there was a second Splash Mountain ride, and much begging for a third. Then we told him about other rides he could go on like... Star Tours!
Of all things Bradley was unimpressed with the line but LOVED sitting in the space ship!
Next up we'll try Space Mountain and Radiator Racer Springs! Brian thinks Tower of Terror would be okay, but I think we should wait. We'll see how it all works out!
We
happen to know twin boys. These twin boys, Sam & Seth, live in
our neighborhood, go to our ward, and preschool, and happen to have
triplet baby brothers. So I offered to take the twins for a few days so
the family could prepare for the oncoming triplets (who are now here and
in very good health).
So we had a pool party of course! What else do you do with three boys in 90 plus degree weather??
Sam is in all blue, Bradley is in green shorts and a blue top, Seth is in Blue shorts and a Nemo top.
They were all pretty excited about the pool. And then we put the slides in the pool and we reached epic excitability factors.
Leaping for joy.
Of
course we had to pull out the other water toys. Everyone had a turn.
But Seth really loved just laying down and chillin in the water.
Sam loved to sneak up on his bro and play "balance beam."
Water fight.
Sam taking a pause from his detailed conversation to pose for a pic. He put the water toy inside as a rug for the house.
We
had lots of fun together and didn't even come out with any broken
bones, bruises or blood. Which really is an accomplishment with three
roudy boys!
Luke is not pictured because he slept the whole time!! It was great!
