Happy 4th Birthday, Luke!!

Well, it's official - I have a 4-year old now! My baby quickly turned into a toddler, who then turned into a preschooler. I can't believe he will be going to Kindergarten in one year! So sad :(

I asked him what kind of birthday he wanted to have. The answer was undoubtedly Star Wars! He chose the theme and also the guest list. Seven of his closest friends came over for a water party at the house. With the temps in the 90's, a backyard water park was definitely the way to go!! We set up a Slip N' Slide, a kiddie pool and cool 12-foot long wiggly sprinkler. The kids had a blast. The only issue was that we didn't get a chance to mow the grass til the morning of, so the kids had grass all over them, but they certainly didn't care!!!

This was the nice clean house before the party ...


The cake. Once again, we choose a theme to which a cake does not exist. (This happened 2 years ago with the Backyardigans theme). So, I asked them to make it black and gray with stars, and I would add my own decorations. I think it turned out rather nicely. Luke especially liked the Darth Vader candle holder!


He woke up from nap right before the party to find a new Star Wars shirt outside his room.

All his friends eating cake!

And opening presents...

Oh boy! A light saber. Or as Luke says, a light "saver". Don't try to correct him, though, he's sure he's right.

Then we headed outside for some water fun!!

That was Saturday.

On Sunday, we had a family cookout for his birthday.

Cousin Gregg and Mimi

Grampa Brian and Aunt Martha

Awww... sweet!

That's a little creepy!

Cousin Gregg and Darth Vader ... hee hee!

Time for an Update!!

Wow! It's been 3 months since I posted on the Blog. My apologies. I guess all my "extra" time has been going towards Facebook lately. So I'm going to try to catch you up on the last couple of months. And this weekend I will post pictures of Luke's 4th birthday party! He's going to turn 4 on Monday, the 22nd. My, how times flies!!!

In April, Luke got a new bed!! I wanted to wait til his birthday, but we found it on Craigslist 2 months ago and couldn't wait. Greg painted it white and blue with a red door! And Luke loves it. I thought it was pretty cool til I had to change the sheets out - that's not fun.

This is what I found when I went in to wake him up for school. How sweet is that?!?!

Sometimes you just have to let a kid be a kid ....

He just wanted to play in the rain!

But if he wanted to splash in the puddles, he had to roll his pants up....



So fun!

A couple of weeks ago, I wanted to go hiking so we drove to Panther Creek State Park in Morristown. This was Luke's farthest hike to date - 1.4miles total. Downhill and back up. He did awesome!! He was obsessed, though, with finding spiders and bugs.

This at the trailhead after we hiked down 0.7 and then back up 0.7! He did awesome!! Didn't complain at all!!! We're going to have to start working our way up to longer hikes!

Also at the trailhead, a heart-shaped grassy area.

A nice view of the lake ...

That's when you wish you had a boat:

The best part for Luke, the Park had a playground!

One of our favorite summer evening activities is chalking up the driveway! I always ask Luke what he wants me to draw ... usually he says 'a shark'. But lately he says "Draw whatever you want to draw, Mommy." So it's something different every night. One night, I drew the whole solar system ... it was quite elaborate, but the rain washed it away before I thought of photographing it. I believe it will need to be recreated soon!!

What's better than an ice cream cone on a hot summer day???

That is, until it starts melting ...

Time for a bath!!

The Zoo

I couldn't wait to take Luke to the Zoo as soon as it got warm!! So last weekend we went.
He practically packed the bag for me - here he is waiting by the door...



We met Cindy and the boys there. They had so much fun together!!
(Notice how her boys will smile nicely for the camera while mine won't even turn and look at me....)


Ugly rhino...


This was my very favorite ... the red panda. Is he not just the cutest thing you've ever seen?!?!

As we walked past the giraffe and then the Zebra, we were remembering the names of the characters in Madagascar. So in this picture, they are yelling at the Zebra, "Marty!"

We caught the elephant during Zoo talk. This particular elephant weighs 15,000 pounds! And I believe he was 45 or 49 years old.

I love the big cats ...

The tiger was asleep on his back with his belly in the air...

Playing on the safari truck - one of their favorite things to do...

Then, while eating lunch, we just happened to run into Luke's best friend from school.

They are like 2 peas in a pod!

Then we rode the carousel ... Luke wanted to ride the crocodile!

The prairie dog - isn't he cute!?

And then finally, the bears were actually awake this time. I think I've only ever seen them sleeping! And I don't think this one was too thrilled that I was taking his picture ....

If you ask Luke, he will tell you his favorite animal at the Zoo was the bear.

It was an enjoyable day - but walking all over the Zoo wore us both out!!!