Mom says:

A new genre to match the funnies that come out of Luke's mouth:  the funnies that come out of my own!

There were some pretty scary pigs in that movie, huh?

The baby doesn't speak English yet, so give him some grace.

Please don't use the utensils on your feet.

A Most Unusual March

Sandals.

Ice cream.

Spring cleaning with the back door WIDE open.

Yes, he's naked.  As a jay bird.  Outside.

Emerado Park.

My lily-white Canadian legs saw my Californian soul-mate, the Sun.

Even the exersaucer made it outside.

Luke says: (playing with cars)

I will bump you to my heart's content!

(as an insult) You're a dodge dart!

Car #1: Those cars cannot race because it's raining.
Car #2: Indeed it is.

kid of the day

Today Luke was kid of the day in preschool.  If you remember, he was kid of the day once last term as well.  Kid of the Day gets to be line leader, push the buttons on the elevator, help the teacher teach a new letter, wear a special sticker, and bring something for show and tell.  The Kid of the Day's parent is in charge of snack and is welcome to spend the morning helping out around the classroom.

Luke played nicely with his classmates during play time.  His favorite thing to do was stir up the buttons in the play table with the magnet stick and collect the metal magnets into an "ice cream cone".  Luke loves to play with his cousin Roehn, mostly racing cars.   Luke must be dragged away from playing to do his craft.  Today the craft was making little nests.  Luke put two green eggs in his nest.  I asked him who was inside the eggs, was it perhaps Luke and Seamus?  No, he said.  Those eggs were for eating.  Green eggs!  All we needed was green ham.

I didn't get to participate in gym time because I was setting up the snack:  rice krispy treats and bananas.  When the children came back from the basement, Luke produced his show and tell during circle time.  He brought the horse that my Great-aunt Deanna gave to him before he was born (and which he rarely plays with, I might add).  The teacher asked if the horse had a name and Luke said, "no, it's just a boy horse".  He went on to talk about how this particular horse doesn't have a working mouth, so he doesn't eat, but he's very soft and perfect for hugging.  He also reminded everyone that this was a "very special horse" that was given to his Mom when Luke was still in her tummy, but she gave it to him when he came out at the hospital.  The teacher whispered in my ear during snack that she would like to ask Luke more questions and just let him talk because he always has something interesting to say, and she is so right!

It's special to have someone tell you something they've noticed about your child, and put into words what you may already know.  Those things that most drive me crazy are skills that Luke is perfecting and may someday be his greatest strength!  When Derek and I can't get a word in edgewise at the dinner table I need to remember this may be annoying now, but if we help cultivate it, Luke could turn into a famous author, or an amazing public speaker, or a fantastic father who makes up original stories for his children's delight! Dear Luke.  You play so hard.  You love so strong.  And you always have a story to share.

You are my kid of the day, everyday (I can say that because Seamus is my baby of the day, everyday!).

A couple of weeks ago we made a snowman on a Friday.  On Saturday I watched it's head fall off, on Sunday there was nothing left but a little puddle of snow and lily stalks (arms).  It has stayed very warm since then - we even had a thunderstorm. I do believe we even hit 80 degrees F one day last week!

Luke says:

Come look out the window Mom!  It's almost Spring and Iceberg is gonna be open!

If I eat too much I'm going to grow a baby in my stomach and I won't let anyone sit on my baby.

I'm bigger than you, so I'm brave.

What in the world?!

This is a capable magnet: it can stick on the stove, the dishwasher, AND the fridge!

Have a good day and drive safe, Dad.  Make sure to stop whenever there's a red light and go whenever there's a green light!

These mittens are magic, so they're special.

This is the goodest dinner I ever had.  Thanks, Mom.

(on Seamus's toes) This little piggy went to market. This little piggy had roast beef.  This little piggy had none. This little piggy also had roast beef, and this little piggy went 'weeeweeeweeeweewee', all the way home!

luke: I want to tell you that I'm enjoying the soft breeze.
me: Me too!
luke: Yeah, I am also. (the word also doesn't have an 'l' sound in it:  ahso)

found footage

I found my camera.  Not my big camera, the little one.  The one that we bought so that we'd always have a camera at hand, but which somehow always manages to be missing when you most want to reach for it.  I found it, and remembered that it takes video, so I took a video.  A little one anyway.  All the memory that was left on a very full memory card.  This is a video clip from one of the most splendid evenings in living reckoning.  Our first true day of spring. 

Today we played outside LOTS.  We BBQ'd hamburgers for dinner, and I made a fruit salad. We opened the windows with reckless abandon (reckless because I forgot to turn the heater off - oops!), and put the baby in the grass while we drew with chalk on the driveway.  Also, as a not-so-exciting-to-you-but-one-of-the-most-exciting-things-about-Spring-to-me kind of thing:  I scooped dog poop - ALL OF IT!  Three cheers for Spring:

Hurray!

Hurray!!

Hurray!!!

from January

at church in the foyer during the service

Brothers, brothers. Never were there such devoted brothers.

All three brothers.

Luke, Linus, and Seamus.

We sometimes make a Linus sandwich.

Which is not actually roast dog on a bun, 

but a boy hug with a dog in the middle.

Linus likes it just about as much as being on a bun,

but we're a happier family for all those hugs.

The Dog and His Boy

An Up-Day; when wooden spoons are put to good use

For some reason, today we got up and even though I felt tired, we got moving right away.  Soon enough I found I had energy.  We realized quickly that we had ideas, we had creativity, and we had an empty calendar!  So we put all those things to good use.  We got some important chores done before 10am and then got jiggy with it.  For real.  We had a dance party, singing loud into our wooden spoons (thank-you Michael Franti).  We built a fort and danced in our fort.  We made special deliveries to and from "The Fort".  We managed to make lunch, eat fruit, have a visit with friends, and have naps and play sword fights with Dad in "The Fort".  It was a very good day.  An excellent day.  Sometimes I wonder if I'm bi-polar because there are these days that stick out as SO VERY GOOD, and some days really stink, you know?  But in the end I think these awesome days remind us that even when it doesn't feel like it: Living Big is good.  Breathe deep and play hard.

Kids know it, but they take their cue from us (unfortunately even on the bad days).  So I vote for getting up on the right side of bed!  The up-side. 

(sink full of dirty dishes be damned!)

This is how he lunges forward to get up on his knees.

Not crawling on his knees yet, but he's certainly up on them!

Playing in the Snow, as promised.

We shoveled the driveway, we rolled down the pile the snowplow left on the yard, we threw snowballs (powdery ones, but snowballs nonetheless), we got snow in our socks, we built a tunnel, we climbed through the tunnel, we took photos of ourselves, playing in the snow.

And according to the weatherman, we'd better have our fun while we can.  Plus 10C in the next week oughta do away with all our snow pretty quickly.

PS- that scarf Luke is wearing was made by my great-grandma Ada, Luke's great-great-grandma Ada Bergen.  The toque I'm wearing I actually made for Derek when we were dating.

To Catch you Up

This guy is crawling.  It may not look like the crawling you know, but he's MOving.

Lots of snow.  Acres of snow.  Wind that howls and blows the snow.  March comes in like a lion they say.

He brings the snow inside for us, the little turkey.  On his hairy little paws.  Then he dashes around in an effort to warm up and gets the snow all over my freshly cleaned floors.  Yes he does.  Lord, let me laugh instead of cry.

the best kind of friends bring books.  drink coffee.  love on the baby.  don't notice the dirty floors.  and don't hate the dog too much.

Our diaper baby doesn't play in the snow too much yet, so for him it's always a good time to be naked!

I just adore his naked chubbiness.

With all this snow you'd think I'd have some photos of us playing in it.  But since I'm participating in the play, there are very few photos to show for it.  I pick up the camera when we're sitting inside with company though!  I will make an effort to photograph the snow-play.  Now I'm being intentional; it'll happen.