Luke moves in with Jack...

I took the long overdue plunge and moved Luke's crib into Jack's room... So now it's officially the "little boys' room."

Luke Thomas- 11 months

Here we are just one month shy of celebrating Luke's first birthday.  He has been an absolute joy to our family and the kids all rush to help him whenever needed, which has been a blessing to me.

Lilly Anne is 7!

This beautiful, loving, thoughtful & bright girl is 7 years old today!  I can't believe every time another year ticks by for each of our children, but am even more amazed how much they grow and change in just one year.

American Heritage Girls Joining Ceremony

Lilly and Brilee started attending American Heritage Girls this year, which we were thrilled for the opportunity for them to be a part of this great organization. The mission of AHG is,

 "Building women of integrity through service to God, family, community and country."  

Sean has been attending the partnering group for boys called Trail Life for 2 years, and just this year, the girls' group at the same church switched over from the program they were offering to American Heritage Girls.  So, the charter is brand new, and all the girls were given the "joining award" at a ceremony last night which also served as the official establishing of the new charter.  

Family Photos 2015

We were long overdue for family photos, since the last real pictures we had taken were 2 years ago when Jack was the age Luke is now!  Last year we didn't do traditional family photos since I was due in December, so we had pictures of our family taken in the hospital.  Which turned out awesome, but those aren't exactly the pictures you can hang up in your living room :)

Luke Thomas- 10 months

Our sweet Luke Thomas is 10 months old today.  He has 4 teeth and refuses to be fed anything but table food.  He won't even let me feed him with a spoon-but fusses until he can grab it and inspect it before putting it (mostly) in his mouth with those sweet, chubby fingers.

 He has been gaining confidence in cruising around holding furniture, and he wants to let go SOOO badly, but as he hovers there one hand on a chair and one hand outstretched to try to get over a gap to the next piece of furniture, he ends up dropping to his knees and crawling there then standing back up.

 Everyone encourages him--except Sean---because he doesn't want him to beat his record as the earliest walker in our family.  He walked about a week before he turned 11 months old and was running soon after.  I have no clue whether Luke will break it or not, because Jack was also like him cruising around at 10 months, but never got the full confidence to walk alone until ON his birthday.  We'll see how much he wants to keep up with the other kids to motivate him to let go.

 He's got the "squat save" mastered to keep himself from falling all the way to the ground on his bottom.  He gets those strong legs from daddy.

 I put him in the basket just to see what he would do, and of course he was tring to find his way out right away.

 What in the world am I supposed to do in here mommy?  Why do you put me in this thing once a month?  And why did you dump all of my and Jack's clean laundry on the floor just to do this?  The answer is mommy is sentimental and wants to finish out our laundry basket project to see the final round up of pictures in December.

Luke Thomas- 9 months old

I have blinked and another month has already passed.  I'm not even surprised anymore that the 17th has come again because you've been growing leaps and bounds.
As I write this you are happily munching on table food because you refuse to be fed anything that has been pureed or mashed up in any sort of way.  You prefer to gum it or you scream your head off at the silliness of baby food and a spoon.  So, eat away at that deconstructed chicken pot pie, sweet little one, because that is one less thing mama has to do at dinner time!

I didn't even bother putting you inside the laundry basket this month, because I knew you'd have it flipped over and be outta there before I could bend back up to take a photo.  Instead, I let you push it happily across the floor until you found the childproof lock you are so enamored with.

 Yes, I understand your frustration that you can't get it off the door.  That is the point. ;)

I told Sean the other day that he better watch out because I think his record of walking first will be taken down by you.  He walked just around a week shy of 11 months, and the rate Luke is going he's going to probably match or best that.  He cruises around holding onto furniture, can climb the stairs (much to my surprise of finding him halfway up in a blink one day), and is eager to join the ranks of the big kids partaking in their mischief making.  You'll be there soon enough, sweet boy, so please slow down.  You're really the last baby this time!

 mmm, tasty

 Trying to figure out how to get the toy (just out of sight) without letting go of the chair