November recap

We had a busy month in November.

 

We squeezed in a trip to the park with these cute babies.

We went downtown with the Gohean's for the Christmas parade. 

I ran my first ever 5K with one of my favorite people. 

My biggest excitement was getting to go to Chicago kid-free for a long weekend. I can't thank everyone who helped get me there enough. It was so much fun! 

I got to see my friend Myra while I was there. 

My friend Lauren and I spent some time together without our kids for the first time ever. We enjoyed eating in peace and having uninterrupted sleep. 

Thank you to the McNeil's for coming to help while I was gone and for Luc's surgery. He had his adenoids and tonsils out and tubes in his ears. He was quite a trooper. In fact, he has been asking if he can do it again. 

Luc's first day of school

Luc has been so excited to begin kindergarten. He has been eager to go all summer. The one thing he has shown concern about was not getting enough sleep. (I wanted to say "yeah, me too buddy"). Luc has always been my sleeper. He often sleeps until 8 or later. He still has a rest time and usually falls asleep during that time. So, here we go messing things up with school. Back to sleep in a min...

So Monday, we all got up and walked to school with Luc. Of course this caused him to be late for his very first day. Drop off was easy since he was so excited. Later in the morning, Brian noticed Luc's lunchbox in the refrigerator. Yep, on top of being late, I also forgot his lunch. We were able to get it to him before his lunch break so it was okay. When I picked him up, I noticed that I filled out his first week of school transportation name tag with MY name. His teacher had crossed out my name and wrote in his. Seriously, she must think I am crazy!

 

Luc loves his teacher. She has been with the district for 22 years so she has some experience under her belt. She has told me that Luc naps every day during rest time and that he asks her why rest time is so short.

 

I have been so sad about him starting school. I miss him a lot. He does make me so proud though. He is such a sweet kid. We'll see how long this going to school excitement lasts for him.

Luc's Space Birthday Party

Luc has been loving space stuff lately. We have been reading a lot of books about space. We took him downtown to UT's star gazing where he got to see Jupiter through a big telescope. So what else did we expect when he wanted a space birthday party. His requests were quite extreme. A rocket birthday cake that would really take off. A real spaceship that he and his friends could ride in the sky in. Luckily, he settled for less exciting ideas.

 

He loved painting his solar system.

I enjoyed making his cake.

 

This is as close to having the rocket take off as I could create. 

 

I never plan activities to do for the kids birthday parties. I think they all enjoy running around playing though.

 

Luc was very overwhelmed during gift time. I'm not really sure how to work on that. We really talk to both of the boys about not asking for or expecting gifts. We talk about less fortunate people who don't have so many things. We talk about being appreciative of what we do have. We have, by the way, been working on thank you cards but I haven't gotten them in the mail yet. Anyone have any ideas on how to teach little kids how to be grateful?

Guess who is 5 and really excited about it...

Yep...he is "FINALLY" 5. From another perspective, this 5 years has flown by. I love the little boy Luc has become. He's so sweet and silly. Some of his favorite things right now are climbing trees, riding his bike, going to preschool, playing with his friends, and any kind of art. He is so creative and imaginative. He really surprises me sometimes. He has also become really shy at times. I would have never thought my outgoing, hyperactive toddler would become shy and timid around a group of people. Luc is such a sweet big brother to both Evan and Madeline. He often tries to make Evan happy when he is throwing a fit. He is so good to keep Madeline entertained for me when I have to do something. I love him so so much.

 

 

For my records...he is 45 1/4 in tall, 43 lbs, and has BMI of 14.7%. He's looking more and more like his Daddy but he's shaping out like a lanky Paulk.

I love these silly faced boys...

Robot Birthday Party

Luc was so set on having another train birthday party this year. I tried to talk him into a vehicle party, a pirate party, an outer space party, finally we settled on a robot party. Thanks to Pintrest and Google searches, I found some cute robot party ideas. It was a lot of fun to get ready for this party. Luc was able to help a lot with the robot cans.

Getting ready takes some time but it's fun when you have fun help. Thank you Heff!

 Buddies

 I love these prissy girls

 Evan sure had fun at his brothers party

 And the fun begins...

 Ring around Mr Brian

 Sleeping beauty

 Googly eyed monster

 M&M thief

 We had some super cute babies at the party too.

Thank you so much to everyone who came and helped make this birthday so much fun!

4 YEARS OLD

I really can't believe this boy is 4. Luc is a smart, sweet, imaginative little boy. He always compliments me or his teachers on clothes or shoes or whatever else he notices. He can be sweet and caring with Evan...and he can be a typical big brother too. Luc's imagination amazes me. He can create some pretty awesome Lego vehicles and buildings. He is beginning to draw pictures...he literally drew his first stick person last week. It was a pretty cool drawing though. He loves to make up new games, songs, and stories. He is also very inquisitive. This boy really catches me off guard sometimes. "Why does that car have two 'hot things' but yours only has one?" "How do babies get out of the mama's tummy?" There are many other questions that I don't have answers for or don't know how to answer at this age. Anyway, I love love love this kid. I am very proud of the sweet little boy that he has become.

GROWTH UPDATE: Here are Luc's growth stats from his doctors appointment...

height: 43 in, 90th percentile

weight: 37 lb, 75th percentile

BMI: 5%

I was so sure that he was below average for weight since he looks so skinny. I was wrong. I think he's going to be a tall handsome guy...that's a mama perspective.

Date Night

In January, our church organized a mother/son date night at the bowling ally. We had never taken Luc bowling but I figured it would be fun anyway. He loved it and of course loved the one-on-one attention.

 Our friends Kim and Ryan...

 and Briana and Bubba were there too

 After bowling, Luc and Ryan had lots of fun playing in the arcade.

 At the end of the night, Luc and I played glow in the dark putt-putt. Luc didn't exactly get the rules. We pretty much walked through each course and dropped the ball in the hole.

I really enjoyed my night out with Luc. I hope to do that more as he grows.