Lately

Here are a few pictures of some of the things we've been up to this week ...

October 21, 2012

 Okay, this isn't from this week, but I took a picture of it this week. Luke colored this picture in Nursery at church a couple of weeks ago and Jeff and I just thought it was kind of cute/funny that he decided to give everybody brown shoes. This boy is actually really good at coloring when he tries. He has been able to stay almost completely in the lines for a few months now. Obviously, this isn't an example of that, but he has to focus pretty hard to do it, so he doesn't always want to put in that much effort.

November 06, 2012

 On Tuesday, Luke and I participated in a "Busy Bag Swap" with some moms from a moms group we are a part of. Busy bags are just activities that can be completely contained in a ziploc bag and that keep kids busy! There were six moms participating, so each of us made 6 identical bags (one to keep, the rest to share). I made the colored pasta for stringing and sorting in the top right of this picture. Luke had already made 3 necklaces by the time I took this picture. He almost refused to let me take them off before his nap. I had to hang them right on the side of his crib for him to agree to take them off. The "I Spy" bottle did a spectacular job of keeping Luke busy while I voted on Tuesday.

November 07, 2012

My neighbors are super healthy and avoid several unhealthy foods in their diet. They use honey and date paste in place of sugar and eat mostly natural, unprocessed foods, and I'm pretty sure there are a couple of other restricitions, so it's really tricky to make them treats. But Valerie is a mom to three girls and is 38 weeks pregnant with her fourth. If anyone deserves a treat, it's her! So, when she posted a link to some healthy candy recipes, I was really excited to have something I could make for her, that I knew would fit into her family's diet! And it turns out making healthy candy is super easy. This is the recipe for the healthy Mounds bars I made her. And by the way, I tasted one and healthy candy is still delicious candy! I would have had no idea it was made with healthier ingredients!

That night, Luke had fun being one of the big boys, roasting s'mores in our backyard with Jeff's class from church while they had their planning meeting and afterwards, we discovered a hidden talent of Luke's ...

 It turns out Luke can do the splits! It kind of freaked Jeff and I out when he did it all of the sudden. This is the best picture I got of it, but he went all the way down a couple of times!

 By the time I got the camera out, he was going most of the way down and then falling back onto his bottom, laughing at himself. He thought it was hilarious!

November 08, 2012

Yesterday, Luke and I spent the morning coloring with sidewalk chalk in our backyard. When I was in the middle of drawing the polar bear he requested, he said, out of nowhere, "Hi Mommy! You're my best friend!" Melted my heart a little. I'm not sure where he heard the term "best friend" - I had no idea he knew it - but my guess is Boots and Dora. I have the sweetest boy.

 I know. I should illustrate children's books or something, right? Ha! At least Luke is impressed with my artistic "talent." I wonder how long that will last ...

We took a break to ride the bike over to the park for a play date with some of the moms and kids from our ward at church. We both had a fabulous time and Luke rode there and back in his new bike seat. I didn't take a picture, but it looks like this:

Now that Luke can talk, he gets really frustrated that I can't always hear or understand him when he is way back in the trailer. This way, we can easily chat the entire time we're riding. We both love it! We bought the seat at Walmart on Wednesday and I installed it all by myself outside of Walmart before we rode home! I used an Allen wrench and everything! Ha! I was pretty proud. And when Luke temporarily lost one of the bolts, a helpful Walmart worker, grabbed his tools and took one off of one of the grocery carts! Maybe that's why some of those carts are so rickety!

We came back that afternoon, had a nap, and got right back to chalking. Notice my little pink pug right next to Luke. My favorite. :)