Summer…..here we come!!

We are 9 very short days away from summer.  We can’t wait.  We kicked it off this weekend by celebrating Memorial Day.  I have a feeling summer is going to be a whole lot of this….

  We went to a party at the Valdes.  The boys LOVED it!  They (especially Luke) keeps reminding me that Natalie said we can come over this summer.  Little does she know she may have her own little water rat :)

Max teaching Luke some new moves.

For some reason this is Drew’s new favorite face. 

Then today Luke and Drew decided to have a water balloon fight.  It was Drew and Daddy vs. Luke and Kaiden.  I still don’t know who “won”.

 

 

Reloading….

 

 

I blame Uncle Sean and Jett for Drew’s “precision aiming”…..only a Marine could teach him that :)

and in honor of Uncle Sean, Papa and John’s dad…thank you to all who serve or have served our country.  We are so grateful.

Happy Mother’s Day

 

I had a fantastic Mother’s Day with my 3 favorite boys.  We had a lazy morning and then headed off to the park for a picnic.

Little Drew….

….with big muscles

 

love, love, love them.

 

wouldn’t be the same without his goony face :)

 

 

silly boys. 

the long awaited birthday date

    Luke has been waiting for his “date” for weeks.  He woke up super early and came running in our room screaming, “it’s date day!”  First stop (after dropping Drew off at cousin Jett’s) was Starbucks for some vanilla milk.

…the boy who made me a mommy….

We played quite a few rounds of Sequence.  Every time it was my turn Luke asked me to “take it easy on him”

For the record, I never won.

After that it was off to Toys R Us to pick out a toy. 

Then to lunch.

and a little travel trouble.  He really wanted the Star Wars trouble game but we couldn’t find it at the store.  Luckily Rin Rin came through later that night. 

and ice cream!  he looked terrified when they sang to him.

…..and then we went and saw How To Train a Dragon in 3-D.  (secretly I was dreading this part because it didn’t look all that great but it was darling!)

then we headed to momo’s house to meet up with the family for some home-made cake by Raquel.

Jett was obviously partied out from his day with Drew.

one word. spoiled :)

…oh, yes, Momo got him a talking Bill Clinton.  He looked rather confused when he opened it.  :)  (It was a belated souvenir from Arkansas.  she made up for it by buying Toy Story 3 legos.  Tons of them)

Happy Birthday Little Man.  I hope all your wishes come true…..

5 years old…

Luke

Our sweet Luke…I have asked so many times in the past few days to please stay 4. Don’t grow up….but that isn’t happening. You are growing and growing and growing and most of all you are growing into an amazing boy.

You make us laugh with your silly faces and corny jokes. You are dramatic, funny, and kind….oh so kind. It is probably your most admirable quality. You are loving and affectionate. Not a day passes without a million “I love you’s” kisses and hugs. I dread the day that you are “too cool” for that. But, I have secret hopes that that won’t happen. 

You love Star Wars and action heroes. In fact, just the other day you told me that you can’t wait to grow up and become a super hero. You love to read and write and our house is covered in notes and letters. You are so artistic. This family picture is one I will treasure forever. And it is so you to put our hearts on the outside of our bodies.

 

I think I’m most proud of how well you look after your brother (most of the time :) You give into almost every one of his demands…especially if you know that will make us happy. You are changing everyday and I just want to stop and bottle it up. I want to remember every moment of you struggling to read, of the look in your eyes when you run out onto the soccer field, the sleepy look in your face when you walk into our room in the morning, the look of determination when you try something new. All of these moments are going by too fast.

I love, love, LOVE that you want nothing more for your birthday than a date with Mommy and Daddy. You want to go have chocolate milk at Starbucks, a movie and popcorn for breakfast, lunch and dinner. You would rather this than a party with your friends or toys. I am going to treasure every single moment of that day.

We have big dreams for you little man…and I bet you will exceed them all. I pray that you never lose direction. You have such a pure, sweet heart. I pray that you never lose sight of that and remain kind to the less fortunate and continue to see other’s pain before your own. I pray that the world “gets” you…that you encounter kindness and grace every step of the way. I so badly want to protect your heart…you asked me the other day about bad people and that if you ever saw one you would tell them to listen to Jesus and not do bad things. Please keep that innocence.  And I truly believe you will change this world….

We want to grow up and be just like YOU. We love you, our first little 5 year old…..to the moon and back.

 

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

the endless journey….

 

Sunday morning we decided to take a hike with our favorite neighbors.  Luke and Drew were so excited to see real animals (like lions and tigers!)…we ended up seeing birds and caterpillars, but same thing, right?!? :)  I think Luke was more excited that his best buddy Kaiden was going.  I have pictures of the two of them since they were itty bitty at football games.  I hope they are always the best of friends.

 

Drew trailed along with Daddy.  He ended up on Daddy’s shoulders because we walked close to 4 miles. 

 

John said that he has similar pictures of him (shirtless and ookey I was thinking :)  when he was a kid in Oklahoma :)

it wouldn’t be a real family adventure if it didn’t have a little of Drew’s “perfect pout” at some point.  but man oh man, i love the gut :)

seriously, he got so big when?  and how is he almost 5?  that literally happened overnight…..

Making political activists out of children :)

Our district is currently in impasse with our union.  Over 3 measly days.  I am very hopeful that it will be resolved soon, especially because I am one of the pink-slipped teachers.  :(  The parents and students have been rallying around the teachers.  Of course, in true Raquel form, she was on the front lines from the very beginning.

 

in front of the school…

Even Ethan took part!!

 

My student, Katelyn

 

Not a car went through the parking lot that didn’t hear about it from a parent or student.