Welcome to our family, Luke!

Luke joined our family about a week before we had scheduled for him to arrive. On Friday, November 8, Paul was downtown at a science teacher's conference dissecting a pig. I was home with our three boys, timing contractions. When I first talked to Paul, the contractions were 20 minutes apart. By the time he checked in with me again, the contractions were about 10 minutes apart. Since we had a c-section scheduled, I called my Dr. to see what he wanted me to do and if he wanted to see me again. (I had just had a Dr's appointment with an ultrasound the day before.) My Dr. said he was heading to the hospital and he would meet me there. By the time I got to the hospital, my contractions were about 7 minutes apart and we discovered my water had broken. The nurses prepped me for surgery--we were having a baby!

My first picture with my sweet Luke!

Paul got to hold Luke shortly after and walk him to our room.

After getting cleaned up and dressed, Luke got to hang out under the warm lights for a while.

Later that evening, Grandma and Grandpa Cheney brought Eli, Micah and Joshua to meet their little brother. They were all excited to see him and were in wonder about every part of him.

G'ma and G'pa loved meeting Luke, too!

The next morning, Eli (in blue), Joshua and Micah (in yellow) all came back wanting to hold "Baby Luke."

We had a lot of rest time in the hospital as Luke is such a good sleeper. We had plenty of time to hold him and enjoy our sweet new blessing. Welcome to our family, Luke!

Wearing the shirt my big boys gave me for my birthday (as I had promised!), we were ready to go home!

Happy Halloween!

Our little trick-or treaters:

Elephant-Joshua, Anakin Skywalker-Micah, and Yoda-Eli

Eli and Micah had been talking about carving pumpkins at school and were excited to carve some at home too. I had them help me scoop out the seeds and pulp,

which Joshua was excited to play with!

And Paul carved the boys' pumpkins!

The boys' school had a "Let's Pretend Parade" on Halloween, so we invited G'ma and G'pa to join us. The boys were so excited to have G'ma and G'pa at school!

Then...Daddy surprised them! (Micah doesn't look happy here, but they were all thrilled to see him.)

Fall Fun!

Rumor had it that Angry Birds were going to be at a local Chick-Fil-A, so the boys and I headed out after dinner for a little snack and to meet the Angry Birds. It turns out, only the red Angry Bird was there, but Eli and Micah didn't mind!

Eli and Micah thought the cow was funny, too!

Joshua didn't like the bird or cow, but he LOVED the french fries.

On one particularly warm day, we took our "babies" outside for a "bath" in the water table. All of the boys really enjoyed this activity. It kept them busy for almost an hour!

I had been craving good apple butter, so my grandma shared with me her recipe for apple butter in the crock pot. The boys loved helping me get everything ready. It was so yummy, we made two batches!

When we put the baby bed up in our room, Joshua started climbing in and out of it....then he started trying to climb his as well! Paul took off Joshua's front rail and gave him a toddler bed instead of a crib. He really loves it and doing a great job staying in his room for naps and bedtime.

For the second year, the boys celebrated the end of Paul's Cross Country season with a little backyard camp out. They were supposed to go to a friend's pond to camp, but the rainstorms earlier in the week flooded her pond. When an unexpected rain shower showed up at our house about 9pm, I was glad they were all at home and could sleep in their own beds for the rest of the night.

Everyone enjoyed their s'mores...

especially Joshua!

Joshua is full toddler

Welcome to the toddler years! Joshua is curious, creative, and fun-loving. Recently, he's gotten into a lot of pretend play. Here are some of my favorite pictures of his recent toddler-play explosion!

Joshua has become very attached to this baby. He loves to feed it, push it in the cart and sleep with it.

Here, he was practicing sleeping on his nap mat for school.

He reenacts a lot of our daily routine, especially reading the Bible and playing the guitar, like we do every night before bed.

Joshua loves to paint!

Paul emptied a dresser drawer. Joshua climbed right in and made himself comfortable--complete with his elephant and blanket.

Joshua is obsessed with smoothies and our blender. He has taken the blender out of the kitchen a number of times to make "elephant smoothies."

"Piiiiieeeee!" Joshua loves to explore everything--and have his picture taken!

He still loves the water and splashing in the rain puddles.

With all of this play, Joshua has become very verbal as well. He talks all day long and says something new almost every day. He had gotten really good at using sign language and he still signs some things, but he's quickly replacing all of his signs with words. It's amazing to watch him grow and mature so quickly!

Happy 5th Birthday!

The celebration actually began at school a day before their actual birthday. The boys chose to take "grape lightsabers" and cupcakes with Angry Bird Star Wars toppers. Micah chose strawberry frosting while Eli chose mint.

The party day finally arrived! Eli (right) and Micah (left) were so excited! They asked me at 6:30 am, "Is it time for our friends, yet?" Ummm.....no, not until 3 pm! This year, they chose to invite just 5 friends over for their party. They didn't want any "babies" or other grown ups at "their" party. 

The kitchen set-up. Thanks to Mobile Home Mommy for the garland idea and printables.

 The food--a Yoda hummus, a Darth Vader from black grapes (with red cherry eyes), cupcakes with lightsaber-like candles, and lightsaber breadsticks.

As their friends started to arrive, Eli and Micah sat and read a couple of Star Wars books we had picked up from the library. 

Then, the fun really began....with a lightsaber battle. Poor "Darth Paul" was completely outnumbered by Jedi. 

Happy Birthday to Eli!

 Happy Birthday to Micah!

Then, came the life-sized sling shot. The kids had a blast with this! 

...and so did Paul. :-)

We took a small break to play Angry Birds Star Wars Bingo while we waited for parents to come back for pick up. Eli and Micah had a great time celebrating their birthday with their friends. They can't wait for their next birthday!

Some of their favorite gifts: 1. Cash! 2. UNC shirts. Eli (with his thumb up) was showing it to Paul. 3. Star Wars Angry Birds shirts for their party. 4. Super hero capes.

Eli has been saving every penny for quite a while to buy his very own Nintendo DS. Some of our family and friends gave him cash for his birthday, which gave him just enough to buy this DS and 4 games to go with it! He still has a little left over and is saving for a new game. 

When Eli became really serious about saving his money for a specific purpose, Micah wanted a goal, too. He decided he wanted a Glo-Fish tank for his bedroom. He worked hard and saved his money to finally purchase the tank, rocks, decorations and one fish. He also moved his snail from his home in the kitchen to this new tank.

Paul and I feel so blessed to have these sweet, energetic, curious and determined little 5 year olds in our lives. We are glad to celebrate every birthday (and every day!) with them!

1st Day of School 2013

This August was an exciting one for us--all three boys are in preschool two days each week. Eli and Micah had been unsure about what to expect, but after "meet the teacher" morning, they were excited to start their new year!

Joshua warmed up quickly to his teachers and rolled his backpack around the house after he met his teachers saying, "Bye-bye!" Even on the first day of school, Joshua didn't shed one tear. He is happy and busy during the school day, but so happy to see me in the afternoons! He often tells me, "Miss me" when I pick him up.

Here are our big boys on their first day this year!

Micah

Eli

Joshua

 Eli and Micah wanted me to take a picture of them in their room. ;-)

Eli and Micah will have "homework" occasionally sent home. It's obviously not for a grade, but extra practice. Well, both boys were excited to do their work and take it back the next school day to show their teacher. I am just so thankful they love school this year, like and respect their teachers, and seem to be soaking up any bit of new information presented to them!