Happy Birthday to Luke (WARNING: lots of pictures on this post!)

A little trip down memory lane (of course) Here's Luke on his BIRTHday.


First Birthday, eating his choo choo train cake.


2nd birthday cupcakes.

And now for the BIG THREE!!!

Luke's special day started out bright and early when we woke him up to take Daddy to work (hence the coat :)). Here he is noticing his birthday decorations and sign for the first time :), still a little groggy, but I just love his cute little fingers, I should have zoomed in on them....they're a dead, excited giveaway :)


This is his first good look at his present. It's crazy, but we made him wait until the evening to open it. He was surprisingly not too interested in opening it until WAY later in the day :) must be the age because that has always driven my older kids crazy.


Here is his sign (crazy tradition that started because we had a laminated poster with Nate's airspace map on one side and we were able to use dry erase markers on the other side...this is a fun little EASY tradition that my kids love). Luckily the big huge roll of butcher paper my mom gave me a million years ago was still here at my Dad's, so we were able to use it this time. I forgot to do it with the kids earlier the day before, so I made it all by myself really late the night before. I like it :)

Luke's present was too big for the birthday wrapping paper we had, so we used the butcher paper (lots of good uses) and I thought it would be fun for the kids to color it :) They were obviously in no hurry to take their coats off :).

Everyone had fun decorating it all day.

So after we dropped off the girls at school we (Steve, my boys, and I) were all going to take advantage of the "Free Grand Slam" at Denny's, but apparently EVERYONE had the same idea. The place was insanely packed. Steve had work too soon, so he treated us to McD's instead :) It turned out to be a lot of fun for the boys. They played basketball with Steve. And got to break all the rules about not climbing on the thing because there was no one else there :) It was fun to watch Luke play. He's really good at basketball. That's why we got him the gift we did.

this was right after his slam dunk. I thought I had gotten a better pic of it :(

This is how Noah enjoyed McD's. Snoozing away......so cute!

I think Luke enjoyed having his way with just about everything all day :) He got to bring the balloons with him to go pick up Kelly, and he got to watch a show while we waited :) What more could a 3 year old want :)

Here is his "Spider Cake" that he wanted. I liked it. I still wonder if I would have liked it more if I had made the whole cake into one big spider, but anyway :) I love birthday cakes :)

Nana was the first person here for the party. She had put Luke's present in a gift bag and just set it on the floor next to the couch. Well, Luke got curious and asked if he could hold the bag. I told him he could hold it, but not to peek :). He had told me earlier in the day that he wanted to eat the cake and ice cream and THEN open his presents, so I reminded him of that and told him he had to wait until after we ate the cake and ice cream. Well, his curiosity really got the best of him :) He couldn't help but peek in the bag (that's what this picture is). Nana thought I was being mean, so she told him he could just open it up. It was just so cute to see him trying so hard not to open it, but still trying to see what it was. "What is it?? Is it mine?? Is it my special game??" Just a funny little kid :)

FINALLY!! :) It had been a few seconds of pure torture!

He is very content with his new "special game" as he calls it :)

Noah got to hold the batteries :)

And a big thank you hug.

Then we played "pin the spider on the web". Luke refused to be blindfolded, but he enjoyed watching everyone else play :) he's more of an observer anyway.

Here's Kelly, don't you just love how kids tip their heads back.....hmmmm.....I wonder why??

Here's Luke doing his (these pics are out of order apparently)

and bradley :)

and Kelly

Then Charity had a second try as "Nana's turn". She's such a goofy little girl. She totally kept peeking out of the bottom of the blindfold :) I wonder where these kids get their urge to cheat!

Oh, maybe from their Uncle Brent! HA! totally kidding :) Brent was a really good sport, playing the game with the kids :) Nate did it too....and Charlie- sorry no pics.

CHarity really went all over the room pretending she was confused :) what a goof.

The old comparison of the 6 months apart cousins :) Charlie really is catching up!

I love this picture :) Noah's bending down to make him feel better :)`

Kelly made up a fun little musical balloons game....everyone had fun playing that one.

Even Charlie.....although I don't think he had much choice :)

Luke felt really special all day and I LOVE that. I really do love that my kids have a whole day to feel like the coolest thing alive :) (hopefully they have more than just one, but at least this one :))

cute little "Chawlsly" as Brad calls him :)

getting ready to get the cake.

All the lights were turned off when I took this one....you really couldn't see a thing, how cool is that!

Blowing out the candles! He did so good!!

ya have to lick the candles!

And the big present! He was so cute while opening this. It's like kids can't even begin to look at the box or tell what it is until every little scrap of paper is off :) He was way cute opening his present. I love how he gets all shy when everyone's watching him or singing to him.

He felt pretty special to have a whole plate of brownies for himself as well....thanks again Brent and Sarah...

we were really happy that Luke liked his present. The kids all played basketball for at least an hour....it's so fun to have a basketball hoop again. It's just like the one we had to sell before we moved to AK.

Love this :)

Well, I thought Luke had a pretty special day. I love that he is getting so talkative these days. We ran into the Primary music person at the grocery store and even though Luke (since he's in Nursery) has only seen her a time or two, he remembered her and shouted out to her "Hey! You're my teacher!" Then carried on a whole conversation with her about his birthday and his cake and everything else he could think of. I just love that about him.

Some more things about Luke that I want to remember:

He is very loyal to his family members...no matter what, if anyone is being picked on (unless he's doing the picking of course :)) He is right there to defend them....no matter what the cost ;)

The other night after Nate had tucked the boys in, I was walking past their room and saying good night, and Luke shouted out "wait mom! I didn't give you a hug!" He had never done that before, so it was just way cute to hear. He gave me a big squeezy hug and then told me that he loved me and giggled :) I loved it.

He loves his Nursery class. There are only a few other kids in there with him, and they are all really young and basically just cry the entire time. Luke's teacher has said a number of times that Luke is like a little ray of sunshine in that class because he is just so happy :) I love that! I guess he just bounces around playing with everything showing no sign that the constant crying might be bothering him :) (maybe a result of all the training he's had with Noah, who knows) But I think it's nice that he is so happy there and loves to go so much.

He's really REALLY good at basketball. He makes about 90% of the shots he takes. It's fun to watch him play. He's very excited for himself and very confident. He says, "I'm so good at dis!" about once every 5 seconds.

He LOVES to watch people cook. Anytime he sees me in the kitchen he comes running in to watch (and taste test) every step of the way. I think it's cute that he is interested in it.

He's very good at climbing and good at taking initiative when something is not getting done in the time frame he would like :) Sometimes it is annoying, but overall, I think it's a good quality :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUKE!!! He's three!!!