Monday, May 24, 2010

Luca's Birthday

My Luca will be 5 on wednesday. Here's his birthday cake (which he wanted to be red, but turned out pink). My Luca-duke is a pretty cool guy. At five years old he can whistle, hulla-hoop for 30 seconds, ride a two wheel bike without training wheels, play the piano, and draw really cool pirate ships!





Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Mud Pies

After a couple days of rain we needed to have some fun outside. Messy fun.
Luca likes to play with the image adjustments in photoshop and he asked me to put this one on the blog.
James thought this activity was really funny.

I think little guys with messy feet are really cute, as long as they're outside.


Saturday, May 8, 2010

A sentimental moment

I wanted to take a moment to write something about two mothers who are special to me.

This is my favorite picture of me and my mom. She knows this, but I never really tried to explain why before now. I love how happy she looks. I've always known that I am wanted and loved by my mom, but this picture captures it for me. I love how content we are just snuggling together on our boatride. After struggling to have kids for a number of years, I was born. I know how desperately she wanted to be a mom. I always knew that being our mother made my mom happy. I knew this as a kid. I remember thinking one time that I got really lucky, I got a good one. My mom was always prepared. She always had that bag of sweatshirts in the car. She'd wrap up my allergy medicine in a baggie so I had it just in case wherever I was going. She is so smart. She is a brilliant problem solver. She is resourceful. My mom could probably tell you a million uses for a twisty-tie. She made a homemade swimmer's ear drop recipe for me when I struggled with frequent cases. She tucked notes in our lunch boxes. She taught me never to show up emptyhanded for a dinner invitation. She taught me to line up my decimal points so I wouldn't make mistakes. She taught me how to handle an insult, "Tell them to go pound sand." She taught me that I am valuable. She taught me much of what I know about being a mom. But I think the most important thing I learned is that being a mom is a blessing, something to be happy about!

This is Jeremiah's mom. He is the little babe in this picture. My mother-in-law is an amazing lady. She has a multitude of talents and admirable traits, but one of the things I hope to emulate is her patience. She is a saint. (I mean look at all those BOYS!) I've never seen her angry, or even annoyed. I'm sure she feels that way sometimes, but she doesn't complain. She is a hard worker, and always seems to know what to do to help. She is fun to be with. I always have a good time. I remember laughing really hard when she and I tried to stuff 2 christmas trees into a toyota corolla. She is a really good cook. She makes this strawberry rheubarb pie that is always fought over at dish-to-pass picnics. She makes her own pizza with yummy toppings like feta cheese. She has a beautiful garden and always helps us with ours. I'm grateful that she smiles and laughs easily. I'm grateful that she is so easy going with all of us. I'm grateful that she is Jeremiah's mom.


This last pic is today in my kitchen. It's a cheerful day with sunflowers and lemon meringue pie. It's a happy day, and I'm so happy to be a mom!

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Baby Girl!

We found out on Monday that our next little one is a girl! Luca promises to protect her with all his muscles. I went outlet shopping tuesday thinking that I'd be so excited to shop all the girlie racks of pink and purple, but it was a little overwhelming for me. I only bought one dress, and what color? Blue, of course.


The boys are really into caterpillars lately. Luca searches for his "little friends" whenever we go outside. James was afraid of them at first, but now he loves holding them. I just have to remind him not to squeeze.

For the first time since we've lived in Maryland we decided to make crab cakes. I had been craving them ever since we saw this special on PBS where they were trying to find the best crab cake in Maryland. I was afraid to spend so much for the meat and then mess up cooking them, but Jer did the cooking and they turned out as good as I've ever had in a restaurant.





Luca likes to do hairstyles lately. He gives them really cool names. This one is called the speed hunk. Some of his others are the heartattack and the side heartattack (the way Jer's hair looks when he wakes up in the morning.) There is also the Timeout, because as Luca says, "James's hairstyles only last 5minutes, like a timeout."

Monday, May 3, 2010

Joanie has been stockpiling little dresses in the guestroom closet under the guise of needing to give shower gifts. We're sorry to those of you planning baby shower parties, but we'll be keeping them for ourselves now.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Joanie is at work this morning. The boys are eating french toast and singing:
"I love it when you call me big Luca...
put your hands in the air
if you're a true player...
I love it when you call me big Luca..."