Matt's Big 3-0

Matt's 30th birthday is this Tuesday the 26th. I'm glad he'll finally join me in the 30's. We had dinner last night at his parents' house for his and Rebecca's birthdays. Rebecca will be 20! Luke helped blow out the candles and Kate helped with the presents. Kate is also very into posing for the camera with a big smile and holding out "cheeeeeeese" for a very long time.

Kate-18 months

Kate had her 18-month check up on Friday. It was a good one because there were no shots. She weighed 23 pounds and was 31 1/2 inches tall. Her head circumference was 48 1/2 cm. This placed her in the 25th percentile for weight, 50th percentile for height, and 90th percentile for head circumference. Boy, that girl has a big brain!! She is right on track for her language skills also. She says sooo many words and she'll try to repeat just about anything. Some words of hers that I like are "oh-koe"/open, "me-me"/binky, "nigh-nigh"/blanky or night night, "muh-mee"/monkey, "buhbee"/puzzle, "boof"/book, "woooh,woooh,woooh,woooh,woooh"/dog, "Beh-puh"/Becca, "yeah-you"/thank you and "bye-bee"/diaper. Of course, if she is still saying them like this when she's five, I won't think that it's so cute and I'll have to offer her my professional services.

Springfield Zoo

This Saturday we went to the Springfield Zoo. The weather was beautiful and breezy. Luke and Kate got to feed fish, goats, and giraffes. It was a perfect day! We left the zoo at 1:00 to get lunch at Burger King. Kate was immediately asleep in the car and missed out on chicken nuggets. She had an almost 4 hour nap! Actually we all had what we like to call a "family nap" until 4:30. Then tonight, Luke and Matt headed out to the Springfield Cardinals game for a guy's night out. Kate is at home with me playing with any toy she wants to in the house.

Cute things I don't want to forget...

I pretty much copy everything that Kim does on her blog...but she's an awesome blogger! She has great ideas...so file this entry under cute things I don't want to forget (or my own tidbits). At 3 1/2, Luke is getting into the whole imaginary play thing. And like many children, he has some imaginary friends. The only thing is, they don't have names. He just calls them "the kids". "The kids" often get blamed for making him do things to get into trouble. Last night, Luke did not want to go to sleep. He always wants "mama come sleep with me for a little bit". Many times, I give in to this request because I figure my days are numbered for my son wanting me in his room with him. Last night was no different and I stayed with him until I thought he was asleep. The moment I moved to get out of bed, he sat straight up. I told him that I'd be back to check on him and "Go to sleep!" I went into the living room to sit and watch Michael Phelps win another gold medal. I heard Luke moving around quite a bit and talking in his bed. Pretty soon he shouted out, "Mama, these kids are messing with me!" He finally told "the kids" to settle down and they all (including Luke) went to sleep. Life with a three-year-old....I wouldn't trade it for anything!

The Fountains!

On Tuesday morning, we went to the fountains that are downtown next to Jordan Valley Ice Park. The kids had soooo much fun and it was a beautiful place!

Pictures with David and Alex

We made another trip to Portrait Innovations for pictures with David and Alex. All four of them were amazing and listened and held their poses. It was our least stressful picture session so far.







And More pics

We've been having lots of fun with Elizabeth, David and Alex. They came to our house for Chinese food and the kids loved eating "cranberry goons"!!






We also went to have our pictures taken again with David and Alex. Afterwards, we went to eat at Imo's. One of Elizabeth's must-haves when she comes to Springfield. Kate decided to eat her styrofoam cup and Luke had a great time playing Galaga with Daddy.