Mimi in Kansas May 9-14

Ok, so some of these pics are out of order because some of them were taken on my camera and some on Anita's camera and for some reason they didn't both save to the same date folders.  We only went to the zoo once for example, but it is too much work putting them back in the right order so they are staying as is.

We spent a lot of time outside working on getting our garden's ready, taking walks or going to the park or the zoo.  Sometimes we all went, sometimes it was just Mimi and Luke.  These are some pics of Luke and our neighbor kids playing in the sprinkler while we worked in the garden (hence Luke's shirt is off).

Bath time is always a favorite, but even more so with bubbles!

Mimi bought lots of goodies and made lots of yummy food while she was here including pop-sickles!  Did you know that they make little tiny ones for little kids like Aaron?   Other favorites included her enchiladas, guacamole, and this yummy dessert you will wee later on.  

Mimi had to take pics of Luke a couple of times to keep him focused on eating.  (-;  

Greg tried a recipe for "butter beer" (from Harry Potter - non alcoholic) that didn't live up to the hype, but maybe we will try a different recipe!

Zoo!!!

Luke trying to walk like Aaron.

While Anita was here there was Mother's day and the Infant Dedication at our Church.  Cruz was the littlest baby at only a few weeks old (with Penny and Gus, his parents).

Also being dedicated was Xavier who was the oldest baby and will turn 1 in June (Pam and Mike), and Levi (Jyl and Jeremy) who is a little younger than Charlie.  Jyl and Jeremy read a letter they had written to Levi about their hopes for him as he grows and how they want to parent him that was so beautiful I think everyone including me asked for a copy of it.

And of course Charlie (with my brother Ben and sis-in-law Andrea), such a cutie and the only one who was both awake and didn't cry!  Ben and Andrea chose a beautiful passage for Charlie's life verses.

After the infant dedication Ben sang special music.  It wasn't directly related to the dedication, just happened to be placed there, but it was beautiful and I got a video of it.  I posted it to you tube and gave them the link but I wanted him to be able to choose who sees it so you have to ask them if you are curious.

Here is that amazing dessert I mentioned!

Mother's day lunch we went out to my Regier grandparent's house and after eating the guys started playing corn hole.  Luke wanted to play but it was too hard for him to throw from the same spot as the adults so they gave him a closer mark to stand at.  The kid was an ace and he kept getting them right through the hole!   I saw him get three in a row once and his team killed daddy's team!

Luke is really into playing games right now.  He has a memory game and an animal domino game that he likes a lot, and he also loves to play this game Ben created for him one night when we were at Norm's coffee shop.  They each get a stack of poker chips and each person puts some chips in the middle (Luke always wants to put in more chips than whoever he is playing).  Then each person turns over one card and whoever has the higher number wins the chips in the middle.  Luke is in charge of counting the symbols on the cards which he loves and it has really helped him get his counting straightened out.  I am hoping that it will also help him start to recognize the numbers on the cards mean something.  

The last night Mimi was with us we went to the park to play after supper and took some family pics.  They may not be as composed as more professional family pics but they are funny!  

April 28th

I had the day off and enjoyed spending time with the boys.  Aaron looked so sweet taking his nap I couldn't help taking a few pics.

When he woke up we went to the park with Ben and Andrea and Charlie!!!  Ben and Luke spent most of the time running around together while Andrea and I and the babies sat on blankets on the grass.

I also managed to get a short video of Aaron walking.  Now he walks everywhere and can get up in the middle of the room by himself, but then he was just walking short distances and still crawling most of the time.  He had gotten over the fear though and loved to practice a lot.

April 26

I had to go back to have my finger checked and they gave me 2 more weeks of wearing the splint at work but gave me passive range of motion exercises to do to start getting it loosened up again.  While we waited Luke needed something to do so I let him play with my camera and he actually got one decent one.  Then of course I had to get one of him too.

While I had to wear the brace at work I was not allowed to work on my unit because it would be nearly impossible to clean it well between patients.  I volunteered to wear gloves all the time at work (changing them all the time of course) so I could continue to be on my own floor but they said that infection control still wouldn't let me do it.  So, for 4 weeks I worked in Employee Health filing paperwork all day long!  It was fun getting to know the girls down there, they are great people, but the filing just about drove me nuts.  I used to think it wouldn't be too bad having a job like that which didn't take a lot of brain power or physicality, but the monotony of it would drive me insane.  I think that the girls who work there all the time get to do other stuff to break it up, like giving to tests or immunizations and planning employee health fairs etc. but all I got to do was file.  It made me even more excited to get back to my regular job, and thankfully when I went back 2 weeks after these pics were taken the Dr said I was clear to work without the brace.  My finger is still a little stiff and it is pretty weak so I can't quite make a fist yet but it is mostly healed and only twinges a little when I try to pick up something that is too heavy.  

April 22

Greg took Luke to Men and Boy's retreat at Camp Mennoscah that weekend and they had a pretty good time together.  Luke ate a TON of marshmallows and somebody there sent home some left over giant marshmallows because he knew Luke liked them so much.  Greg said Luke had a blast playing with the other kids, especially playing baseball with his new wiffle bat and ball that Greg picked up before they left.  After they got back Luke and I went to the park so he could show me his skills, which were impressive, at least to me!  Unfortunately it was pretty windy so it was hard for me to get the ball too him without a gust taking it in the wrong direction, but most of the time if I got it anywhere near him he could hit it pretty far.  If he tossed it up himself he almost always hits it.  I wish Greg had come along so I could have video taped him hitting the ball.  Every time he got a hit he asked if it was a home run and if it was he had to "run the bases"!

After the park we came home and ate some left over Oreos and Aaron got cookie all over his face.

Why do I let myself get so far behind!!!

OK, so it has been over a month!  I will try to catch up but before I go back and put things in order here is something Luke asked me about the other day that made me smile.  

We were discussing relationships I am his and Aaron's mommy but not Daddy's mommy.  Mimi is Daddy's mommy and Gammy is my mommy and I am Daddy's wife.  Luke asked me, "will you be my wife when I grow up?"  I told him that I was already Daddy's wife and that when he grew up he would find a different girl to be his wife.  Luke asked me who his wife would be and I said I didn't know.  He got kinda frustrated with me at that point and kept saying, "Just tell me!"  so finally I asked him who he thought might be his wife when he grew up.  He thought a minute and then named a few of the girls in his Sunday school class.  I asked if he thought a few of the other girls in his class might be his wife someday and he said no, but he wasn't sure why he thought that.  Then he said maybe one of our neighbor girls would be his wife when he grew up.  (-:  As his mommy I hope that he waits until he is a grown up and that when he does find a girl to be his wife that she is a loving and kind person.  

milestone!!!

Aaron started walking tonight!!!  I was supposed to go to work tonight and got up to get ready but while I was downstairs getting laundry done I started playing with Aaron and suddenly he was walking!  first he took 2 steps by himself, the 4, then 7!  He was so proud of himself he threw his head back with this huge grin on his face!  I'm proud of him too!