Reading Man

Lucas has been working really hard on his reading and we are so proud of him. We love hearing him sounding out words from the other room. Today Ben shot some video of him while they stayed home from church because Lucas was sick. So, please don't be grossed out by the hacking, snot, slobber, and lack of a shirt. By the way, this is a cool book designed for a parent to read one page, then the kid reads the next. This was the first time they read it.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Happy Birthday, Mom! In honor of your special day, I present to you a few snipits of how we spent the day. This video is also to serve as a warning of things to come :).

Are you sure you're ready for our visit?
Oh, how things have changed since last year!

Chicken Makes Me Sad

You may remember the video when peas brought Lucas to tears.

Here's Evan's version.

Giggle Pants

My favorite sounds:


And click HERE to see a video of Evan after his nap.

And here's a funny video of Lucas helping me with dinner last week.

Train and Videos

This evening I surprised Lucas by taking him downtown on the new commuter rail. We met up with Ben, had delicious crepes for dinner, then Ben took Lucas back on the train, while I drove with Evan. Lucas had a good time on the train, asked way too many questions about all the bells & whistles, etc, and was louder than anyone appreciated, I'm sure. For a mere $2 it wasn't a shabby way to spend the evening.

Here are a couple funny videos of Lucas.
For Lisa: Here is Lucas opening a present my sister sent when he first went poop on the potty. We had him save it until he was a pooping pro:

After I cut the video off, he said, "I love you Lisa. Have a good day at work!"
And here is a vid from Saturday when Lucas was deliriously eating his M&M's in the car with Ben:

Strawberry Fields Forever

Today we went on an adventure to Sweet Berry Farms with some friends to pick some strawberries. Jeana and I left at 10:00 and got to the farm around 11:00. I fed Evan while she got the kids ready for some pickin', complete with plastic bags over their shoes to protect them from the mass amounts of mud.
While I fed Evan he managed to produce the biggest blow out of his 13 week life. And, yes, I forgot to bring a change of clothes for him. So, like a good mom, I took his clothes off, wrapped him in a blanket and stuck him in the Baby Bjorn. He wasn't happy. I tried to keep him warm, but he got mad whenever I bent over to pick a strawberry, so Lucas picked most of our strawberries. When I put Evan back in the car seat, nice and bundled, he was much happier and even managed a snooze. Lucas even found a little red wagon to pull him along for the ride. (yep - I put a picture of the poop. Sorry.)

Anyhow, back to the farm... They had goats, donkeys and horses. Lucas really liked the animals. All the kids also made note of all the different kinds of animal poop and mentioned it whenever they saw some, which was often.

The baby donkey was my personal fave. I had never seen one before and this little guy took a liking to my fingers:

Before we left the kids all got strawberry ice cream or popsicles. Jeana took care of Lukie again during that portion so I could feed Evan once more. I did manage to get the last spoonful of Lucas's melted ice cream and it was divine.

When we were picking strawberries, I noticed that our box had a lot of strawberry blood in it. I thought Lucas had just pressed a little too hard on some of berries. When I got home and went through them more carefully, I came to the conclusion that he probably picked a lot of them up off the ground and I threw at least a third of them away because they were slimy and gross. Lucas was sad to see them go to waste, but we enjoyed the remaining strawberries in the best spinach salad ever. I'll buy Lukie some more berries at the store to make that strawberry pie he's been waiting for so patiently.

Thanks for a fun day girls. Jeana - I owe you. :)

Caffeine Pills

Last night at about 10:00 my headache came back. The doc suggested I try bed rest and caffeine. Since I'm not a coffee drinker and not a fan of soda, Ben and Mom picked up some NoDoz for me today. In a few days this could be me:

Some more from the trip...

After driving 2,677 miles we are back. Here are some highlights:




If you'd like to see a full slide show, go here. But, here are a few of my faves...

Big Weekend Fun

This is the 199th post on this here blog, so it should be full of fun bits.
Yesterday I officially started nesting, by cleaning out the nursery, washing all the bedding, and getting ready for Bouncing Baby Boy #2 (BBB2). While I was upstairs folding last seasons onesies, Lucas and Ben were creating the coolest train track ever. I came downstairs to discover a huge mess, but at second glance, realized it was a train track that started from the bookshelf, continued down various containers. through the barn, past the LoveSac and finished in the hallway. They had each piece taped together with painters tape and used very imaginative support beams.

About an hour later I heard giggling and went into the bedroom to discover Lucas wrapped up like a burrito. He thought it was the best thing ever. For those of us who are claustrophobic it would be quite a nightmare, but Lucas thought it was just fine. Of course we had to wrap Ben up like a burrito, too. Fun times! Just listen to the way Lucas says, "burrito" - it's the best!

Oh, and you might have noticed the beautiful pink pillow behind Ben. I've been wanting some satin pillow cases. Not for anything romantical, but just because they are supposed to be better for your skin and hair (they don't dry out your hair or cause wrinkles when you are on your side).
Anyhow, I got a couple in the mail from my mom the other day. Lucas stole one pillow from me for his nap. That night I took it back and he woke up at 4am and asked for the "mommy pillow" so I gave it up. Ben is not too happy that his son insists on sleeping on a pink satin pillow, but who can blame the kid? I asked him if he likes it because it's soft or because it's pink and he said, "because it's soft and pink."

Singing the ABC's

Ok, grandparents and aunties, here's a video of our boy singing his letters and sounds. He loves to get the letter magnets out every day and line them up in order. It's quite impressive - he can do it all by himself.

Fun with Lisa... and other recent things.

My sister, Lisa, came to visit us a couple weeks ago. We had a lot of rain that week, but still managed to have lots of fun. Lucas basically banished me from the toy room so he could have Lisa all to himself. For his birthday, Lisa bought Lucas some cool numerical rods to help with counting and math, and they were quite the hit. He's basically a genius now. Well, maybe not a genius, but he understands the basic concept of subtraction and addition. While Lisa was here we managed a walk around Town Lake, lunch at Torchy's Tacos, and a trip to the children's museum. Lucas loves him some Auntie Lisa. He was sad when she had to go, but I think the little train she gave him at the airport helped make up for her departure :).
Thanks for visit, Lisa. We can't wait to see you again so we can do math, sing the alphabet among various songs about monkeys. We love you!

In other news, Lucas really loves his bugs, books, trains, blocks, etc. Anything you can line up and put a bug on is prime real estate in this house! Also, I'd like to thank Bob the Builder for 15 minutes of peace and quiet the other day while I was babysitting. Chances are if you leave your kids with me, their gonna watch some sort of movie for a few minutes at least. Sorry.

Saturday night we had such a fun night. We headed to Dave and Busters (a sports bar/arcade) to try to catch the BYU game, but it wasn't showing there. Instead we used our gift card on arcade games. It was awesome. Lucas and Ben enjoyed numerous driving/crashing/snowmobiling games. I mostly crash in those games or drive the wrong way. Lucas didn't understand why Lightening McQueen wasn't in the NASCAR game, so Ben explained that his beloved McQueen was a fictional character.
We also had a couple sessions of family target practice as we shot dinosaurs in Jurassic Park - my favorite. It was great. Afterward, Lucas got to spend his 174 tickets on a prize. The dragon that he wanted was 1,000 tickets, so he had to settle for this delicious Flash Pop. It's basically a huge push pop with a light in it. He ate the whole thing in one sitting Sunday night. Thanks, Stebbings, for the gift card providing us the best Saturday night ever!

After our arcade experience we went to Mighty Fine for some hamburgers. Ben happened to be wearing one of the many Whataburger shirts that make up his wardrobe and the owner had him strip in front of the whole restaurant and change into a Mighty Fine shirt & hat. He took Ben's shirt and probably put it in some sort of weird collection. He said he does it to about 3 guys a week. It was funny, though. Ben was a great sport.

Happy Birthday to Grandma!

Grandma, you're so wonderful! Thanks for always being so fun, for being there since day 1, for being adventurous, and for being so nice to me even when I'm naughty. I hope you have a wonderful day in Albikiki.
Love, Lucas

Happy Birthday, Nana!

We hope you have a wonderful day, Nana! Wish we could be there celebrate in the 110 degree weather with you... Instead we're stuck here in the 103 degree weather.
Perhaps you should head to Bahama Bucks for a birthday cake flavored shaved ice! We love you.

Safari

Today we decided to take Madison and Lucas on a magical safari! We headed down to San Antonio to the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch. It's totally like a real safari in Africa... except you drive your car through, feed the animals pellets through your window, and stop at the petting zoo and restaurant on your way out. But other than that, I would have thought we were in Africa - especially because it was so hot.
The highlight of the day that made it all worth paying the $16 per person fee was when we were attacked by an ostrich. Hilarious.

Aside from ostriches, we saw zebras, a bazillion types of deer, antelopes, Texas long horns, and other things with cool antlers. Then they had giraffes, hippos, camels and kangaroos in their own houses. There was a petting zoo where goats tried to eat our camera strap, Ben's shirt, and our paper bags - not the food inside. And Lucas sat on a pile of goat poop, so he had to eat lunch in his diaper.
After lunch we took one more drive through the safari to get our money's worth. I realized how awesome the sun roof was for animal viewing, and Ben realized that the line this time around was too slow and that we should have just gone home...

After we left safari land we headed into S.A. so Ben could pick up some parts for his bike rack project, got some delicious frozen custard and headed home. Lucas is down for his nap right now (at 6:30 pm)... as are Ben and Maddie.

It was a fun day thanks to that mean ostrich... and to Ben for eating part of a food pellet while Maddie and I watched in disgust. If you're wondering, they taste like really dry, bland cereal.

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

Happy Father's Day, Ben! We miss you so very muchil.
Thanks for all you do for me and Lukie. We lurve you.
See you in a few days!
FYI - Lucas has improved immensely on the Wiggle Car. He's now a wild man who rides with his feet up and will bail off for fun. The dirt all over his face is from him rolling all over the driveway...

Love Sac Jumping

I stumbled upon these videos last night and they made me laugh. I just love those Hollands.
Clay's Jump:

Ben's Jump:

Suzy's Jump:


I bet you want to come hang out now, huh?

Good Hunting

Here's a video for the family of Lucas hunting eggs Sunday night.

Guzzler the Movie

Here's the video. It's long, but it's pretty funny - to us, at least.

Happy Birthiversary, Grandpa Pat!

Happy Birthday, Pat! AND Happy Anniversary to you both. We love you and can't wait to see you again!

The Happenings

We've been a little lazy this week....

Lucas is obsessed with a new movie - "A Bug's Life." He wants to watch it every day and he also wants a recap for his nap time and bed time story. Usually the first thing he says when he wakes up is, "I want to watch a movie - bug movie. I want to watch a movie - bug movie..."
We're gonna have to give the DVD back to it's rightful owners soon.

We got the Legos out after family night a couple weeks ago. Lucas loved them and had us make planes, trains, cars, and sheep for him to play with. We had fun too...

So much fun, in fact, that we broke out the Legos with Clay and Andrea last weekend. Ben made the yellow truck, Clay made the awesomely tall robot warrior, Andrea made the tall guy's pet... reindeer(?), and I made the plane.

Then there was a tower. And it fell...

We've been working on time out with Lucas. He usually has to go sit on the stairs. One particular night he threw all his noodles on the floor and Ben had him go stand in the corner (after we removed the noodle-covered outfit he was wearing) until we finished cleaning the noodles. He was so cute in the corner that we had a really hard time not laughing at him. But he actually stayed there and talked to us with his face in the corner. Sometimes he's just so freaking cute I want to bite him. {Click for video of Lucas in timeout for a few seconds}