Our Family

Kindergarten thoughts

2010-10-11T18:14:00.000-07:00

I officially have a "school-aged" child now. Sure, he was in preschool before, but this is the real deal. Honestly, the build up to get ready for school was much more painful than the actual process of starting school has been. Last year Aaron and I were really struggling with what to do with Luke when this time came around. First of all, we were concerned that he would not be ready maturity wise. His social skills have always been a little behind his peers with regards to playing nicely, taking turns, ability to take turns, ability to deal with disappointment/frustration, etc. In some ways we didn't feel like we had much of a choice because his birthday is in March and we just felt that was too old to hold him back. However, he made great strides over his last year in preschool and by the end of the year we were at peace with the decision to go ahead and send him to Kindergarten. Now the real dilemma was where should he go. We have a public school literally down the street from our neighborhood, about 1/2 mile away, and we've heard good things about it. It's been at least a "recognized" school since it's been open and has several "exemplary" years. However, we had seen other schools in the district with excellent reputations go bad in a matter of 3-5 years. Plus, we had several friends from church who had chosen a private school here in Fort Worth and they could not stop raving about how wonderful Covenant Classical was.

We really struggled with the idea of private school. We didn't want to be "those people" who are snooty and all "look at how wonderful my privately educated child is". We also didn't want Luke to be surrounded by people who are all "rich, white folks". We wanted him to have some diversity. On the flip side though, we couldn't stop thinking about all the things he would be getting in a public school. We cringed at the thought of having to explain 4-letter words to our 5 or 6 year old, or having to discuss what sex is because he heard the work on the playground, or having to address issues such as why so and so has 2 moms or 2 dads. In the end we decided we should at least gather all information possible so we could make an informed decision.

In the fall, I visited our local elementary and the secretary gave me a tour. It seemed nice, but the tour was after hours so I was unable to observe anyone in action. I didn't have any bad feelings, but I felt pretty neutral about the whole thing. Then we attended a parents meeting at Covenant. We were blown away by what they had to offer. Sure, the academics were top notch and we knew our kids would be educated beyond what even Aaron and I got in school. But what really sold us was the How- how they taught and how they approached education. It's a classical education approach which I'd never heard about before. To boil it down to basics, they put emphasis on the "classics" when it comes to literature and they focus on teaching kids how to learn and not what to learn (although the what is certainly there). They do lots of oral exercises where they repeat songs, poems, chants, etc. back to the teachers. They have recitations monthly where each grade level presents memorized material in a program for the parents (I think of it like "Little House on the Prairie where they stand up and recite material). Still, that was icing on the cake. The biggest determining factor was their spiritual approach to education, and their Christian Worldview. I'd never heard of this before, but it's exactly what we say we want for ourselves and especially our children. They don't teach God in a vacuum. They teach God in everything they learn. It's not: science class, reading, chapel, bible study, math, etc. It's God in science because He created us and the world we live in. It's God in math because God is a God of order and the order in math reflects his Glory. It's God in history as they study history beginning with creation and work their way through history to present day (and study the Bible lessons in the same time period as the history they learn so they can put together the cultural context with the biblical context). It's even God in their rules and discipline: learning respect for elders and position of authority, learning how to respect others (by not talking in halls and disturbing them), etc. Their approach to education in addition to their biblical approach to all things was something unique that we've not heard or seen anywhere else-even in other local Christian private schools. Still, we were torn.

Aaron was primarily home-schooled and I went to public school. Neither of us had ever stepped foot in a private school before and it wasn't really anything we were looking for. We both turned out fine without any major emotional scars or maladjustment, and we both feel like we are well-educated. We absolutely cringed at the thought of the money we would shelling out monthly for private school, in addition to the taxes we would already be paying for a public system our kids wouldn't even be attending! We prayed and discussed and prayed some more for almost 2 months and we just couldn't shake the idea that this was something we could not pass on. I kept telling Aaron, "if we do public school it will be so much easier for us, but even if it goes really well I'll always wonder-what if. If we do private school it will be very difficult and mean changes for our whole family, but we'll never have to wonder what if- going private to public if it didn't work out would be a much easier transition financially than the opposite would be." So we finally decided to bite the bullet and we applied for private school. I actually cried when we made the decision because it had been such a difficult one and I was so relieved to finally have made up our minds (and I never cry, so this is saying something!)

We've not once regretted our decision. Every time I would step foot on the campus (to turn in applications, for kindergarten testing, for parent interviews), it felt like home. It felt comfortable and it made me feel happy to think about Luke being there. As a mom who wanted to protect her child as long as possible, I felt so safe with the people I would be sending him off to. It was overwhelming to think that someone else would be responsible for and influencing my child for 28 hours every week. But at Covenant, I didn't bat an eye because I knew that all his influences would be strong Christian leaders who did everything in their power to bring Christ into their work.

The first day of school was very strange. He didn't start until after Labor Day, and I LOVED having 3 extra weeks with him (compared to when other local schools were starting). He was supposed to start that following Tuesday. We talked about school, we got his uniform ready and laid out for the next day, we talked about what he would take for lunch, and we said a prayer before bed. I went and checked my email (this was about 8pm) and we had an email from the school saying the first day was cancelled. There was a water main break down the street that had occurred on Monday (Labor Day). Because of the holiday they could not get someone out in time to repair it so the school had no water, which meant no functional bathrooms, which meant no school. I had to go back in and tell Luke. He was so disappointed, and frankly I was too. We had both gotten mentally prepared and geared up for this (especially me, getting ready to send my firstborn off) and it was so deflating. The next morning Luke just cried because he so badly wanted to wear his uniform. I admit I enjoyed the extra day, but it was just delaying the inevitable. So Wednesday became our first real day. We all got up early, and Luke was so excited he immediately got dressed and ate breakfast (which is saying alot for my night owl who hates the mornings like I do). Ben was another story. He cried and threw fits all morning long and so all our energy and attention was getting him ready to get out the door. To top it all off, that morning was a torrential downpour. We're fighting rain so hard you can hardly see the whole way to school and everyone is racing in and crowding the halls dripping with their umbrellas in hand. It turned into a very fast and cursory "love you, have a great day, let me take one quick picture before I go" because of all the craziness with the weather. Then, I had to take Ben to preschool and I went to work. I really didn't have time to think much about it and it turned out to not be very emotional for me at all. I was VERY excited when it came time to pick him up and I picked his brain the whole way home about what they did, what they learned, etc. The second day was actually harder, because that day they wanted people to start using the drop off line and not walk the kids in. It was so strange to let him get out of the car all by himself and walk into the building all by himself. I wasn't there to make sure he knew which room to go to, I wasn't there to make sure he put his backpack in the right place, I wasn't there to make sure he made it to his seat. I just watched his back as he walked in all by himself looking so big and so small all at the same time. That was the most difficult part because I was truly having to let go and let him grow up in a way.

He has impressed us beyond belief. The environment of this school is very structured and very strict. We really wondered if he could handle it and if he would be able to contain himself or if he would go crazy having to sit still and quiet all day. We expected names on board with checks every day for several weeks (initials means warning, then name on the board results in a consequence, and checkmarks after that mean further consequences) and constant meltdowns at home for at least the first couple of months. He has had his name on the board only 2 or 3 times in the whole 6 wks he's been in school, and on those days it was because he was talking in the hall or playing at rest time or something like that (not due to punching out a classmate or being rude/disrespectful to his teacher, or having a hysterical fit which were some of the things we feared). We love hearing about what he's learning- academically and spiritually. We get tickled as he tells us he learned that internal means inside the body and external means outside the body. We love hearing him quote scripture from chapel- "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is filled with His glory" or add substance to his prayer thanking God for making the world or thanking him that Jesus died for us. This week he's been grabbing his Bible and walking around telling us how much he loves God, and he needs to study the Bible because if you love God you study the Bible. We hear other parents talk about difficult discussions they have with their 6 and 7 year olds because of what they hear at school, and we just thank God that we were given the opportunity and the means to choose something different for our children. This school is good for Luke because it helps him with discipline and respect. It will be good for Ben because he is more sensitive and much more perceptive to what's going on around him. God only know what blessings this school will hold for little Vayle, but we're excited to see how the years will unfold.

Summer 2010 Highlights

2010-09-19T12:44:00.000-07:00

Heading into this summer, I didn't think it was going to be that busy. We didn't have that much on the calendar, and our only planned trip was to Sea World in June. Well, our summer filled up very quickly and seemed to fly by. Here are some highlights.

While I was out of town for a continuing ed course, Aaron took the boys to the children's museum in Fort Worth. I've never taken them, and it re-opened after a major remodeling less than a year ago. This particular day was "superhero day" and any child wearing a superhero costume got a discount on admission. Let me tell you, that was not a hard sell to get the boys in costume! Here are some pics Aaron took of them.

Aaron's dad, or Nonnie as we call him, had given the boys a matching Thomas the train outfit. They both loved them and liked to be "twins" and wear them on the same day. I thought they looked pretty cute and wanted a picture, so they gave me a super cute pose too! I just think this is the cutest picture of the two of them.
Visiting with the Tungate cousins in Lubbock, they all lined up on the couch before bedtime one night to watch a movie. It's rare to get these 5 in one place at one time, so I snapped a picture.
Because we're having a baby girl this time around, we had to do some rearranging of the house and get some new furniture for the boys. Ben was in a toddler bed, but it was the crib that converted to a toddler bed. Obviously he needed a new bed because I wasn't going to buy a new crib. Luke was in our extra bed, a queen sized bed, so we decided to go for bunk beds for the boys to save some space and allow for all their toys to be moved into their room. They absolutely LOVE their new beds. They've had them for about 2 months now and Luke will still randomly run and give me a big hug and say "I love my bed so much, thank you Mommy!" These 2 pics were taken the first night in their new beds and they both wanted to pose on top, of course.

Coincidentally, Aaron and I got some new furniture at the same time. We have been married almost 13 years and never had a bedroom suit-just hand me down furniture. We found a great deal on furniture we both really liked (thank you Costco!) and went for it. The boys had a couple of days of fun playing in boxes the furniture came in.
Luke also had his first sleepover this summer. We invited his best buddy Braden over and they were very excited. I snapped this picture after they finally fell asleep (which took awhile of course; no one ever falls asleep when they're supposed to at a sleepover!)
Aaron went to Haiti for a medical mission trip end of July. I'm still trying to get him to download some pictures and share his experiences, but that's another story. Anyway, before he left we took a family outing and rode the Trinity Train. It's a little train that's located just across from the FW Zoo and runs along the Trinity River and down to a park and back. It goes over several bridges and is around a 40 minute train ride. It's a great way to take the family on an outing that doesn't take too long or cost too much money, but doesn't take the whole day either. We've ridden the train 3 or 4 different times and both the boys love it.

Half way through the ride, the train stops for about 5 minutes and there is a small concession where you can buy cokes and popcorn for about $1.

Almost every summer, usually in August, we take our yearly trip to Possum Kingdom Lake. Some friends of mine from PT school invite us to stay the weekend in her parents' lake house, so 4 families (all of us that were in the same study group/research group and our families) spend the weekend relaxing on the lake. We've grown from a group of 7 (3 couples and one single guy) to a group of 15- 8 adults with 7 children ranging in ages from 8 down to newborn. We had to take turns on the boat this year, but still had a great time and our kids look forward to it as much as we do every year.

My side of the family all got together over Labor Day weekend. It's a chance for all the Bundy cousins to get together to play, and my parents love having all their kids and grandkids together in one place- no matter how crazy it gets. We went out front to snap a picture of just the grandkids (8 of them, with Luke who is 5 being the oldest) and a neighbor walking by offered to take one of all of us. We were amazed how well the impromptu family picture turned out. As my brother Nate said, it's because we didn't plan it. His wife Kristin, who Aaron and I have dubbed the fun aunt, always has great ideas for the kids. The past 2 times we've gotten together she has created a scavenger hunt where the kids follow clues all around the yard and house until they find a little prize at the end.

This is all of them rushing to grab their prizes.
Aaron is the pancake king at our house. They boys like to help sometimes. Ben in particular is very much into helping cook these days.
Enjoying some fruit salad and eating raspberries off of their fingers. Why not?

Luke's first day of Kindergarten. We decided to send him to a private school for many reasons, and although it was one of the toughest decisions we've ever made as parents, we've been nothing but pleased so far. He was so excited to wear his uniform- he loves to wear a belt and tuck in his shirt (he sees Aaron do this daily for work), and his first 2 weeks have gone really well. He was being a stinker in many of the pictures though as he refused to smile. He looks miserable, but he was actually excited. I don't know why he chose to not smile, he just said, "I don't want to smile". So here are the pictures I got. Ben had his first day of his little mother's day out preschool he goes to, so he got in on a few of the pictures. I'll do a separate post later to describe our thoughts and feeling about sending Luke off to school.

Luke and Ben have these blankets that they will pull out and play with occasionally. One day Luke had them laid out in the living room and insisted that they were his bed and he had to sleep on them that night. It was leading into a weekend, so we agreed to let them sleep on the blankets. We did, however, insist the blankets get moved to the bedroom. They fell asleep without too much trouble, but Aaron did move Ben into his bed later that night, and Luke woke up and got into his bed as well. I got a couple of pictures first though.

Finally, we participated in a Heart Walk a couple of weeks ago with Aaron's clinic that he works for. There were hundreds of people that came out, and even I survived the 2 mile walk- 7 months prego and all. They handed out water along the way and many of the local hospitals or clinics handed out little items (wristbands, flags, koozies, juice or snacks, etc.) They boys had a good time, and Luke loved all the "free stuff".

So that's just a few of the highlights of our summer. All in all it was a good summer, although EXTREMELY HOT. Now on to the new adventures of the school year, holidays, and what a new baby will bring in the coming months.

Summer coming to an end

2010-08-22T12:52:00.000-07:00

So here we are, at the end of the summer, almost. I didn't think this summer would be very busy, but it seemed like we were always doing something or had something going on. June was busy with Sea World, and various trips Aaron and I made out of town for guys weekends or continuing ed stuff. Then family reunion in July and Aaron left towards the end of the month for his Haiti trip. Now we're in August and we had a weekend at my parents, a weekend at the lake with great friends, and now we're preparing to do some painting to the house and getting ready for school to start. I guess some of the busyness of the summer has been due to our planning ahead for the baby and the fall. In July we pretty much rearranged the house to make room for the baby and had to get new furniture for the boys. They have bunk beds now and they LOVE them. Luke in particular loves his bed up high, and they both think it's so cool they can touch the ceiling when on Luke's bed. Fortunately, we have 2 more weeks before school starts. Luke starts kindergarten the Tuesday after Labor Day, so I will be very thankful these next 2 weeks as I see all the other parents dropping their kids off and knowing I get at least 2 more weeks before that's me. We have gone and gotten all school supplies and his school uniforms, and that was exciting. I even had Luke put his uniform on this weekend, just to see how it all looked, and he looked so grown up! He will be quite the handsome 5 yr old, so I'll have pictures to post in a couple of weeks after his first day. Ben will not be so thrilled I don't think. All weekend as we were getting stuff for Luke, he'd say,"What about my pants?" or "What about my class?" He will miss Luke and it will take a while for him to figure out that Luke goes 4 days a week and to a different school now, not the 2 days at the Mother's Day Out program that Ben will still go to. Coming soon, I may try to add a few updated pics, and I'm still bugging Aaron to download his Haiti pics and maybe write a little about his trip. In the meantime, we'll try to not melt in this INSANE heat and try to enjoy the last 2 hectic weeks before we start the hectic normal that will be school!

We don't "do" suprises- a frank and honest analysis

2010-07-11T13:15:00.000-07:00

I think most people who know us know that we are having another baby. Also, if you know us very well, you were probably surprised to hear that we were expecting again. So were we. Now I've always been a bit on the side of, "how surprised can you really be, I mean we know how babies are made and if you're not careful then is it really a surprise?". I always knew it would serve me right to eat my words, and now I am. However, in my defense (without TMI I hope), we can honestly say this is not a case of "I guess we weren't careful enough" and more of a case of "we now fall in the statistics of the 10-20% failure rate". That being said, this has been a HUGE adjustment on many levels for us. When I was pregnant with Ben, I really wanted a girl. Although I was disappointed, he has been the sweetest thing ever and I can't imagine it any other way. He and Luke have so much fun together, and it will be wonderful to watch their relationship grow over the years. We were always on the fence about whether to have 2 or 3 kids; Aaron was more on the 2-side and I was more on the 3-side. However, when we made the decision to send Luke to a private school that made the decision for us. We ran numbers over and over and decided that while we could afford private tuition for 2 kids with me working only part time, there was no way we could manage more than that unless I worked full time and that was not a sacrifice we were willing to make. So decision made. 2 kids, 2 boys, Luke and Ben, we're done. I mourned the idea at first, but in the end we knew it was the best decision for our family and I was at peace with that. I had come to terms with my 2 boys, who I love dearly and are so much fun. This was our family and that was OK, we were all happy with that.

Well, apparently we were WRONG. This is a case where we just throw it to the heavens and say, "God, clearly our plans and yours didn't match this time so we're going to have to trust in you because we know we certainly can not manage this all by ourselves." To say we were in shock when we found out about our surprise is probably an understatement. I was in denial for a good 2 months, and honestly I still find myself shaking my head in disbelief as I think of the sleepless nights and dirty diapers to come. My pregnancies with the boys were very easy overall. I had heartburn (severely), but that's it. A little bit of trouble sleeping with Ben, but it was manageable with a bed full of pillows to support me. I never felt sick, just really hungry. I was really sad to think that I wouldn't be pregnant again, because I really enjoyed it. This time has been different. I felt AWFUL for the first 2-3 weeks, and just OK for the 2 months that followed. I would wake up in the morning and literally dread the idea of getting out of bed because I knew as soon as I got up I would feel terrible, and feel that way pretty much all day. More nights than not, I would end up on the bed after dinner because if I sat up or moved I knew I would throw up. I never did, but there were many close calls. After about 2 weeks of this, we had a ladies retreat at chuch. There were prayer stations set up, and signs directing your thoughts to pray for certain things. At one of these stations I just prayed for the sickness to go away. I couldn't handle 2 more months of this. I had 2 VERY energetic boys at home, a husband who was working very hard for us, and a house that was falling apart because I couldn't do anything to keep it up. Fortunately, God answered that prayer. Within the next week I started feeling better and I didn't have any more episodes that sent me to bed. I still didn't feel the greatest, but I could function in the day and at night-time, when I felt my worse, my worst now was what my best had been in the weeks prior. I still had some strange food aversions- no lunch meat, no cereal, but other aversions were improving- I could eat sweets again (and not just the good stuff that's bad for you, but I could actually eat healthy stuff like fruit again, and I could stomach vegetables better) and I was having fewer cravings for junk/fast food. Now that the first trimester is over, I feel back to myself again. I'm eating normal again (or at least normal for pregnant me) and I feel good again. Already needing extra pillows to sleep comfortably and having some very mild heartburn, but that's all.

All this time though, we're still adjusting to the idea of an expanding family. We've had extensive conversations over how we're going to re-arrange the house, how we're going to pay for everything. And "everything" is a lot. We're committed to remaining debt-free and believe strongly this is what God wants for our family and our finances. But boy has it been difficult. Aaron's insurance changed in June, and our deductibles literally tripled (actually tripled and a half). Fortunately we were able to make some changes with my insurance and I don't think we'll end up maxing our deductible, but we're paying more than double what we initially planned on paying and had set aside to cover "baby costs". And then there's the car. We've been saving for a car for a couple of years now, but our plan was to have one more year to save for our family vehicle. Now we have 6 months to save what we had planned to save in 18 months. And then there's just the costs that come with having another: Ben was sleeping in his toddler bed, which is the crib converted so the boys need new beds so the baby can have the crib; there's the typical baby equipment that we got rid of due to wear and tear from the first two that we need to replace; and to top it off- it's a girl!- so that means some clothing (although I have friends and sisters-in-law with daughters who promise to help in this arena), blankets, crib bedding, washclothes/towels, and all the other stuff that comes with having a baby of a different gender. That also means re-arranging the house to make our "extra room" be the nursery now.

So we've got most of that figured out now, for the most part, more or less. But back to the "it's a girl!". I had come to terms with only having boys. We didn't plan on having this one, so I'm still getting used to the idea of a baby at all and I honestly could care less what the sex was. Truly. Most people just look at me and say, "Aren't you so excited?!?" and I don't think they believe me or really get it when I just say, "Yeah" or "I really didn't care this time". But I didn't. On one hand, I can see a revival of the dreams I had given up on- mommy/daughter mani-pedis, teaching how to wear make-up and having make-up parties for her friends, shopping for prom dresses and wedding dresses. But on the other hand I think of how EASY another boy would have been. We have all the clothes and toys and any boy could want, much less need. And when it comes to the "tough topics" of growing up and adolescence, I could put most of it off onto Aaron because he's the man, he can handle those topics with the boys. Now I have a whole new set of parenting talks to have, and it will all be on me because I'm the mom and the female perspective. More pressure for me; yeah, that's what a mom needs is more pressure! And Aaron is really adjusting to the idea of adding a girl to the mix. He's never hidden the fact that he's wanted boys and would be happy having only boys. He has lots of reasons for not wanting a daughter, and they pretty much all revolve around the idea of a teenage daughter and dating (closely followed by the reasoning of the high cost of paying for a wedding). All of his reasons are valid. However, I suspect that a root cause of his feelings are actually more out of fear. He never had a sister, and he never had any girl cousins that he spent great deals of time around. I've never heard him talk of any close family friends that had daughters that he grew up around either. I think he's scared because he doesn't think he'll know what to do with a girl. I guess he'll find out, because that's where we're headed.

So where are we now? The biggest hurdle right now is naming this little girl. We can't agree on a name. Fortunately we have about 4 more months to think on it. The house is in the process of being arranged, so we'll still have to get the nursery done but the bulk of the moving is done now. We're getting used to the idea, and we know when all is said and done we wouldn't be able to imagine it any other way. We have 5 years to figure out how to pay for school (much less college) for this one, and right now we're hoping and praying some financial aid will come our way when we get there to make it happen. I'm starting to look at baby bedding, and we're talking about paint colors (actually not for the nursery, but some other rooms in the house), and Aaron researches family vehicles online. So even though we don't "do" surprises, we're figuring it out and dealing with it as it comes. Who knows what the next 4 months has in store for us, because the last 4 months have been a roller coaster. But when all is said and done, I know it will be a ride that we were all very happy we went on.

Sea World and more

2010-06-20T18:45:00.001-07:00

Can you believe it? Less than a week and I'm already doing another post?!? I'm going to do better now that I'm finally caught up, I swear. So, we have had a very fun, and busy past week or so. This first picture was actually taken 2 weeks ago. We decided last minute to go to a Rangers game one Friday night. We had a good time. We brought our own hot dogs and snacks and enjoyed the game, followed by some great fireworks! And to top it all off, the Rangers won! They also had a couple of home runs which was fun to see.

The rest of the pictures are from the past 5 days. We went to Sea World in San Antonio on Thursday and Friday of this week and had an absolute blast. The boys did SO GOOD, I can't brag on them enough. They got to bed extremely late every night and were troopers in the park. In fact, day one we were only 30 minutes shy of doing open to closing in the park! We had no intention of staying that long, but the boys were doing so well we just kept going. It was about as perfect a day you could ask for. Although it was extremely hot, there were no lines or waiting for anything, so we were able to do everything we wanted (some things more than once) that first day. Aaron even walked directly on a couple of the rides that the boys and I couldn't do. We did the water park on the second day, but I didn't get any pictures there. We were pretty wiped out by the time we left, but again we had no more than a 10 minute wait for any of the slides and we easily did everything we wanted to do that day.

Luke was happy to get his picture taken with Shamu. Ben liked the idea of seeing Shamu, but once it was time for a picture he chickened out.

Luke's first roller coaster! You can see me with the glasses on, Luke is hidden on the other side. He rode several rides, but this was his favorite. He rode it at least 4 times, maybe even 5.

The first place we went was to the Sea Lions. There was this tiny baby that I think someone said was only a week old. We were able to witness one of the sweetest scenes I've ever seen in person. The baby was all by itself on the rock, stumbling around a little like it didn't know where to go. It was crying this sad little cry, and this went on for several minutes. All of the sudden you heard an adult sea lion bark. Baby cried, mama barked back, baby cried, mama barked, cry, bark. Then you saw mama sea lion come running (the best way a sea lion can run) across the rocks and jump over to comfort baby. This picture is when mama first got to baby. She immediately laid down and baby began to nurse. It was just the neatest scene to watch how some things are the same across all types of mammals. This baby cried, and mama recognized the cry and came running as fast as she could get there to take care of baby.

Shamu show!
This is one of only a couple of rides Ben could do.

Dolphin in mid-air during dolphin/beluga whale show.

At the dolphin tank.
We paid to feed the dolphins, and Luke and I were able to very briefly touch one as we gave it fish.

A great memory- as Luke and Aaron were on a ride, there was a sudden flash storm where it downpoured for about 10 minutes. Aaron and Luke were actually on the ride when it hit, so they had no protection. Ben and I got under a shade tent, but it was not totally water proof, so we still got pretty wet. As you can see, the boys were TOTALLY drenched, and this is completely from the rainstorm that hit. We were all soaked to the bone, but it was so hot we were actually quite refreshed and really didn't mind how wet we were. The boys took a few minutes to splash in the puddles as the rain began to taper off.

All tuckered out at the end of the day. We had barely left the parking lot and Ben was crashed in his seat, holding Shamu of course!

Luke didn't crash until we got back to the hotel, so he's showing off his purchases from the day- a dolphin he named Dolphiny and a scuba diver man with all scuba accessories (accessories not pictured here because I didn't want to lose them in the car).

We got home LATE Friday night, and then Saturday was the big open house for our new church building. We went up to that and they had someone doing face painting for the kids. She was about as talented as I've seen in face painting, and the boys picked out their designs. Luke wanted to be a cheetah, and Ben was Spiderman. She said that under 3 can be real iffy for face painting because it's hard for some to sit still long enough (although she was VERY fast, less than 5 minutes per face). Ben sat there perfectly still and didn't move a muscle, he was so determined to be spiderman. Unfortunately, they had to wash their faces off as soon as we got home- Ben needed a nap, and Luke had a swim birthday party to go to. I made sure to get a picture first so they could look at themselves as a cheetah or spiderman whenever they wanted.

Yes, FINALLY an update (of the past 8 months)

2010-06-10T18:37:00.000-07:00

Well because I'm so far behind, I've tried to just hit the major highlights- you know birthdays, holidays, etc. That being said there are still a ton of pictures! I started at Halloween and went down through Luke's pre-k graduation. Now that I'm finally up to date on things, I plan on doing some more general postings about life in the Tungate house. I just got so behind on pictures when the computer crashed in the fall, and then when I did get everything up to date on the computer I hit a period where I didn't feel very good for about 2 months (more on that in a later post). Then once I felt better, I had major catch-up around the house and I'm just now getting to the blog update. Whew, so here we go....

Halloween: Ben was Buzz Lightyear and Luke was Darth Vader.

Ben turned 2 in November, he was in a period where he was OBSESSED with trains, so the birthday theme was obvious. He loved his "choo-choo party" and still talks about it.

Pop and Gran gave him a train table that the boys love to play with. We had the rest of friends and family give him trains and other accessories to go with his table.
We also started potty training and he got train underwear for his birthday.

Thanksgiving was at Pop and Gran's house.

Luke was ringbearer in a wedding Thanksgiving weekend, and he was just so darn cute in his tuxedo! He LOVED wearing it, he was so proud of how handsome he looked in the tux, and he especially loved his shiny black shoes.

Dancing with the flower girl at the reception.
Luke with the bride and groom.
Christmas!

We took the boys down to the Gaylord Texan resort in Grapevine one night, they had a huge Christmas display. This is one of the many exhibits out, which was a lifesize, real gingerbread house.

The boys pre-school Christmas program. Ben saw me as they walked in and cried most of the time he was on stage because he wanted to sit with me. Yes, that is his finger up his nose. That's pretty much how he stood throughout the entire singing of Jingle Bells!

We had a very snowy winter, including some snow Christmas day! Here are various pictures from some of the snow days we had. I really enjoyed the winter weather this year. Luke absolutely loved the snow and would have stayed out all day if we let him. Ben liked the idea, but after about 5 or 10 minutes would say, "I cold, go in house."

Luke turned 5 in March. He had saved his money for over 6 months to help pay half for a Nintendo DSi for his birthday (handheld gaming device, but also has a camera inside to take and edit pictures, and lots of other features). He was so excited to play it the first day.
Aaron literally fed him popcorn as he played.
He wanted a shark birthday cake, so here was my creation. He and the kids at the party loved it, so I was pleased. His party was at a local gymnasium and the kids ran and played and had a blast.

Easter!

Luke played baseball for the first time this year. He had a hard time focusing in the outfield, which is pretty much where he stayed all season, but he learned alot and had fun. He also got to play catcher some and really enjoyed dressing up in the gear that required.

Pre-K graduation. Although I think pre-K graduations are a bit silly, he did look awfully cute in his cap and gown. They sang a song with sign language, and answered some questions on the microphone. Luke's answers were: Favorite thing to do at school- play with legos; What do you want to be when you grow up- policeman.

Luke and the boys in his class (all but one boy). He made some good buddies this year.
That's all for now!

Yes, I'm still alive

2010-01-11T19:59:00.000-08:00

OK, now that everyone knows we're still here and I've not totally forgotten about this site, let me explain my long absence. Our computer started to go out sometime around Halloween, so I had not downloaded any new pictures. It finally crashed and we ordered a new one, which took about 3 weeks to arrive. So we got a new computer before Christmas, but because of how the old one crashed, I've not taken the time to transfer all pictures over to the new computer yet. I did have most, if not all, backed up; but I know it will take FOREVER to weed through all the files from our old computer (pictures, documents, music files, you name it) and I've been terribly procrastinating the process. I have LOTS of updates to make. I never did finish my Europe postings with pictures from Paris, so if you want to see some of them (and we do have some amazing photos), email me and I'll send you some of them. We had Halloween with Darth Vader and Buzz Lightyear, Ben turned 2 years old, and we had Christmas. So eventually you'll get one more giant posting with updates from the last 4 months. I just can't make myself take the time to do it. The prolonging of the inevitable is worse the actual process I'm sure. First my excuse was focusing on Ben's birthday, then the holidays. Now my excuse is applying to school for Luke (we're hoping to send him to Covenant Classical School, a private Christian school here in Fort Worth) and trying to pick up some extra work to help pay for it. So I promise I will eventually catch up. And I sincerely hope and plan to catch up before Luke's 5th birthday in March. So, if any of you still check here (and I wouldn't blame you if you didn't due to how long it's been), stay posted. More to come!!!!! (sometime.....)

European vacation part 2

2009-08-12T20:07:00.000-07:00

This posting will wrap up our time in Germany. We toured the castle the first day there, and then Sunday was spent mostly with the local Church of Christ there. The church building is shared by 2 groups, the German speaking group and the English speaking group (which consists mainly of American military families). That morning they had a combined service, and our group led the service that day. Our worship minister, Raymond Schultz led the worship that morning, and the praise team sang 2 songs we had been working on in German (O Sacred Head, and I Need Thee Every Hour). It was really neat to hear how loudly the Germans joined us in our German songs, and by the way, O Sacred Head sounds wonderful in German (although it was quite a pain learning how to pronounce it!) That night, we had a full hour of praise and worship, which was attended by primarily the english speaking group, and it was again a blessing to share our music with others. We were also blessed with the entire experience of worshipping across the world with strangers, using different languages, but all worshipping the same God. Our last day in Germany we went to a nearby town. They had a palace with gardens that were the size of about 58 football fields. It was neverending paths with fountains, sculptures, and bridges at every turn. It was beautiful and we spent the whole day wandering around and admiring everything. In Heidelberg, there was a town square that we spent much of our time just sitting and visiting. In fact, there was one table in the corner of the square that we claimed as ours. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of us at that table, but it holds many happy memories of our time in Germany. Each night we would walk around and look at shops and pick places to eat dinner. They had many street vendors that we gave business to as well: brats, crepes, gelatto ice cream, and more. The pictures really don't do justice, but hopefully will give you a glimpse of our time there.

One of the local hotels. This type of building and greenery out front was the norm. Notice the cobblestone street as well.

This is the bank of the Nekar river that ran through the town. This picture was taken Sunday afternoon. All the locals just came to the river bank and spent the afternoon out with their family and pets. Side note: Germany is VERY pet friendly. It was common to see dogs on the trains, buses, even outdoors on the restaurant patios.

Stairwell in our hotel; the other couple is Cary and Andria Tucker who are good friends of ours who also went on the trip.

This is the riverbank on the other side of the bridge, again just showing the local activity on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

This was taken at the palace gardens. The Tuckers are there, as well as our friends Mark and Destin and their baby Nash. Let me tell you, that baby was amazing on this trip. We carted him around everywhere and he hardly fussed!

Another fountain with sculptures at the palace gardens.

This is at the top of the structure with the view of some more of the gardens behind us. Destin's mom Jonesa is with us, she came to help babysit Nash.

Andria and I are waving from our window at our hotel. Goodbye Germany!

European vacation part 1

2009-08-09T18:36:00.000-07:00

There will be several more posts to come, but here are the first pictures and stories from our vacation to Europe. We had an amazing time. We went with a group from church, which included several of our closest friends which made it even better. We loved every part of it, and in a way we really didn't want to come home. These first pictures are from our first day when we arrived. We were in Heidelberg, Germany. If we look tired, it's because we are! We had been awake for over 24 hours at this point, but we had to stay awake so we could quickly readjust to the time change, which we did. We were not prepared for how much we would love Germany. It was so beautiful, and the town was small, and quaint, and friendly, and peaceful. We wished we would have had more than 3 days there, but it was 3 days well spent!

This was our hotel. It was very old, and we had to walk up 4 flights of stairs to get to our room (there was no elevator). But we enjoyed the quaintness of it and felt like we had a better German experience.

This was taken on the bridge in town. If you look on the mountain behind us, you can see the castle. This is one of the only castles in Germany that was not damaged or bombed in WWII.

Closer picture of the castle.

We toured the castle, and this picture was taken standing at the castle wall. The grassy area you see below is actually the moat area.

Note the date, 1779. This was to signify the time that they built the "new" part of the wall. I don't recall the date of the original walls, but I was blown away that the new section was over 200 years old.

Inside the castle, the courtyard area.

There was a wedding reception inside the castle courtyard, so we took a picture. How fun to say part of your wedding took place at a real castle!

From April to July

2009-07-09T10:29:00.000-07:00

Below are several posts updating things from April until now. We've been busy this summer with lots of fun activities, some of which I posted about. Luke has done fantastic with his swimming. Between week 1 and week 2 of lessons, it just clicked and he swims all over the pool by himself. He still can't touch anywhere, so he goes from edge of pool to Aaron or I and back and forth between us and the pool sides. He can swim 10-20 feet at a time and tries to come up for air, but hasn't quite got that down yet. He will change directions in the water though, and if we give him a shove down, he'll go down and get dive sticks and bring them back up. It's alot of fun to watch our little fish. I plan on getting some video of it, and I'll try to figure out how to put a video clip on the blog sometime this summer so you can see him swim firsthand. Aaron and I are also getting geared up for our trip to Europe. We leave the last week of July, and we'll be in Germany for 3 days and Paris, France for 5 days. Aaron and I will also take a one day detour to Belgium to visit my aunt and uncle who live there. We are so excited. The boys will get some grandparent time with both sets of grandparents. I know they will have fun too, but I do worry how their behavior will deteriorate over the 10 days Aaron and I are gone. We've never left them for more than 2 days at a time. Luke is old enough to understand, but I fear he will become meltdown central the last few days just because his routine will be out of whack with Aaron and I gone, and him wanting us home again. Ben doesn't have the same concept of time, but he may get increasingly whiny and fussy as time goes on, we'll see. I predict he'll be ok overall, but will be extraordinarily clingy for the first few days when we get back. Fortunately, the grandparents are coming to our house, so the boys will be at home in their own beds at least. Oh well, I'm keeping my worries to a minimum because there's nothing I can do to predict or change how they'll act while we're gone. It will be a great vacation for me and Aaron. We've not had a real vacation, as a family or a couple, since we moved to Fort Worth 8 years ago. We've gone on trips with our extended family for some long weekends at various places, but this will be our first extended vacation in 8 years. I also look forward to taking the boys on a family vacation sometime in the next year. We had planned on doing a big family vacation this year, but when the Europe opportunity came up, that trumped any family vacation plans. So we're thinking maybe Sea World/San Antonio next fall or spring, or something like that. So, get ready, I will have lots of pictures and stories coming up in the next month from our European vacation!

4th of July

2009-07-09T10:08:00.000-07:00

We had a busy, and very fun 4th of July. My parents took all the kids and grandkids to Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine for the weekend. It's an indoor water park resort, and there are tons of other stuff to do there as well. We had fun, and there are truly things there for every age. However, Aaron and I are beginning to show our age. We came home so exhausted, more so than the boys even, and believe me they were tired too! I don't actually have many pictures of us in the water park, and that's where we spent most of our time, because I didn't want the camera to get wet. My sister in law got some good pics of the kids playing and if I get around to it I'll post some of those on here. But here are some pics I did get. There are also a few of us watching fireworks after we got home, and doing sparklers in our backyard.

This is their version of Build a Bear. They had various different animals you could pick out and stuff. Luke wanted a white seal. We chose the wolf for Ben. Luke loves his seal, and he would carry it around and pet it and pat it, and even tucked it into bed that night at the hotel. Ben also loves the wolf. He calls it a dog, and when we gave it to him he started barking. It was really funny.

They had an arcade area as well, and Gran bought tokens for all the kids. They had alot of fun playing games, and Ben especially loved getting in the cars/trucks that you could "ride". Above, Luke is pretending to play guitar hero. He had already used up all his tokens at this point.

Although most of the resort is indoor, they do have an outdoor area that's open in the summertime. These were some pics from our outdoor swim time.

Trip to Illinois over Memorial Day

2009-07-09T09:51:00.000-07:00

Here are pictures from our trip to Illinois. Yes, I know it's July and this is from May, I have no excuses except it took me that long to get around to downloading pictures from our camera. Anyway, it was a good trip. You'll see several pictures with some of the boys' second cousins, Eli and Elise who are the same age as the boys (Luke and Eli are 10 days apart, and Ben and Elise are 2 or 3 weeks apart).

Ben "playing" the Nintendo Wii, with a grass skirt on.

Chillin in the pool.

Luke and Eli, and they truly are playing the Wii. Luke loved the Wii. And he was actually pretty good at it. He almost beat Aaron legitimately at bowling, and Aaron was trying to win. Santa may have to bring our family a Wii for next Christmas....

Boys playing and mom's retirement

2009-07-09T09:35:00.000-07:00

Here are some various shots of the boys playing and of mom's retirement "party". She didn't want a big party or anything, so the kids and their families all got together and came down for a surprise dinner. We cooked her an italian meal, and she was surprised. The food was good, and mom loved having all the kids and grandkids there to celebrate.

I just thought it was funny that ALL the grandkids were playing topless.

Playing with the "moonsand" and having fun.

This is a great story. I'm getting ready one morning and Luke says, "Mommy come look. Tarzan is Jesus." I went and looked and this is what I found. He got a little wooden decorative cross off the piano, and placed his Tarzan toy on it just like Jesus being crucified. It was actually quite realistic considering Tarzan has long hair and wears a loincloth and all. I thought it was too sweet; I love his imagination and that he thinks and talks about Jesus and God the way he does. The other picture of him holding Tarzan up was "Jesus when he came to life again" as Luke said.

Ben watching cartoons on our bed. This was one of the first times he actually was paying attention to the TV and I just thought the thumb and how he holds his little lovey elephant was sweet.

Been a while

2009-06-08T18:36:00.000-07:00

OK, well it's been quite a while since I've been on here. I've been quite the slacker. Honestly, I've just gotten busy doing other stuff. For the past month, I've had a terrible obsession with the Twilight book series. All I did for about 3 weeks off and on was read. Ask Aaron. It was making him crazy. Now I'm trying to play catchup on the house which needs desperate cleaning from the month of neglect it got. Then we've also been busy with Luke's soccer. We've all enjoyed it, but we're ready for it to be over now. Only one more week.... And then we also had our trip to Illinois to see Aaron's family. It's always a good trip and we enjoy seeing the family. When I get around to it and quit being lazy, I'll put some pictures on here from our trip. Now I'm in the middle of swimming lessons for Luke. He's doing very well and can swim by himself for short distances, but I have a hard time getting him to do it outside of swim lessons. He's not tall enough to touch in the pool, and he's become quite dependent on his arm floaties so he can just jump in and swim all over the pool by himself. The problem is, he keeps his head above water when wearing the floats, and as soon as they come off he totally forgets how to swim because he lifts his head and then the body sinks- he's nowhere near good enough to try to actually swim with his head up. So I try to make him go without the floats, but he gets tired quickly and it's not quite as much fun, so he ends up pouting and just getting out of the water entirely. So, I don't know how well the swimming independently will stick with him for the summer, we'll see. But overall we have a fun and busy summer planned. 4th of July weekend we'll go with my family to Great Wolf Lodge which is an indoor water park here in the metroplex, and then in July, Aaron and I are off to Europe!! We'll be in Germany and France for a total of 10 days, and we plan a one day excursion to Belgium to see my aunt and uncle. Anyway, so overall our summer is pretty full but should be fun. I'll try to catch up more here now that I don't have a book obsession keeping me occupied until late hours every night......

Soccer and the Zoo

2009-04-24T20:34:00.001-07:00

Here are pictures from Luke's first two soccer games. It's alot of fun to go and cheer all the kids on, and it's not nearly as chaotic as I expected it to be. They are actually making improvements from week to week as well, so it's fun watching them learn the game. The league has this tunnel that all the kids run out of before each game, it has smoke and everything, and the parents line up and cheer. It's all very exciting. You see Luke with 2 of his buddies from church that are on his team. There are actually 2 other friends from church that are on his team too (5 of the 8 go to Altamesa!), but they weren't there yet, so I only had pictures of these 3 boys. They were so excited to be all dressed up in their soccer gear.

Next are the zoo pics. I have a zoo membership, so I go with the boys fairly often. I never think to take pictures though, so one day last week when it was so beautiful, I actually took my camera. We hadn't been to the zoo in a while because of winter, and we stayed a long time, much longer than usual (we usually just go for 1-2 hours), and had a great time. Despite their expressions in the pictures, they were really good and we enjoyed the day. Luke is pouting in the picture with the lions in the background because he didn't want me to take his picture. The lion on the ground is actually a lion cub, the lion had 4 cubs and they were all out that day; as you can see, they're not small cubs anymore, but they are definitely not the size of mama lion (unfortunately, I cut the top off too much, so you don't get a good view of mama lion lying on the rocks with another cub). The kangaroo, well, Luke just thought he needed to be on his back for the picture, so that's what he did. I couldn't get Ben to stand still long enough to get him in the shot. The others are in the penguin exhibit. It's indoors so it's kind of dark (and no, the water is not that green in person), and there is a glass that separates from the penguins, but they swim right up to the glass so you get to see them upclose. I got too much glare off the glass, so you can't see the penguins there real well. Ben did not want to sit still, he wanted me to hold him, so that's why he's crying in all the pictures. They played hard, as seen by the last picture. That's how we arrived home, and it's only about a 10-15 minute drive from the zoo to our house, they were pooped!

Easter

2009-04-24T20:17:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures from our Easter, it was alot of fun. Luke is all into it now, and understands it better. He understands the Easter bunny, but he also understands about Jesus dying on the cross for us. Ben is just old enough to participate, and that was fun too. We decorated eggs, and you see our finished products. And then the egg hunting. They were both excited to see their baskets, which had a few small toy items and a movie for each of them, and some candy that was too big to put inside an egg. Well, then you see Ben crying on the floor. That's because when he saw the candy in the basket, he would not stop crying until he got a piece. He just sat on the floor and cried. Finally, so he would participate, I put a small chocolate egg in his mouth (second picture of Ben), and then he was happy as could be and helped Luke get the rest of the eggs. What a stinker. The last two are the best, and only pictures we got of the boys dressed in their clothes for church Easter Sunday. They're humorous at least. Luke has a cheesy look on his face in the first one and Ben wouldn't put the toy hammer down. Second picture, Luke looks just as cheesy and Ben is crying because I took the hammer away to try to get a better picture. Oh, well. At least they make me laugh even if they're not the "best" pictures of them!

Luke's Birthday

2009-04-24T20:05:00.000-07:00

So here are FINALLY some pictures from Luke's birthday (only a month later!). I included some of Luke playing with his presents, and several from the party itsself (it was at a local bounce house party place, I think Aaron had as much fun as Luke did!). I had to include the picture of Luke blowing out his birthday candles. Notice no cake-just ice cream sundaes. That's what he likes best anyway. The guy from The Jumping Party who was helping in the party room was very confused as to how we could sing happy birthday without a cake, but it turned out just fine. Even at Luke's four year check up, the doctor asked him if he had cake at his party, and Luke said, "No, I had birthday ice cream." That's my boy.

Fun random shots

2009-04-14T19:13:00.000-07:00

Since I have TONS of pictures to put on here, and I finally got around to downloading them from our new camera, here are some various random shots of the family. More "themed" posts and pictures will be coming very soon. Most are pretty self-explanatory, but I'll comment on a few. Aaron took the pics of the boys playing outside. Ben loves sitting in that rocker, so I snapped a picture of him one morning. We both thought the shot of Luke on the swing was cute because he was just in his own little world playing. Ben climbing the ladder shows his little independent streak that is developing; he can climb the ladder up to the slide platform completely by himself now and he's quite proud to do it. And the one of him looking down at Aaron from the little clubhouse part was just too adorable. I took the one of him eating at breakfast because I was laughing at how dirty he was. He has to feed himself these days, and peanut butter and jelly toast is not eaten cleanly! I captured the cute grin amidst the jelly too, and that was an accomplishment. The last one of Luke and Aaron in bed says it all. Luke has always liked to get in bed with us in the mornings, and sometimes he'll go back to sleep. He gets very upset when he comes in our room and Aaron is already up and getting ready for work, because he likes to "sleep with daddy". This morning was actually Easter morning, and since we weren't in a huge rush, Aaron got back in bed with Luke so he could "sleep with daddy" for a few minutes before getting up. I wanted to take their picture because it was sweet, and Luke is about as much a morning person as I am, so there's your shot.... pretty appropriate actually.

Back on the horse, or bicycle

2009-04-08T21:12:00.000-07:00

Well, happy to say that Luke is back on the bicycle. He wanted to ride his new bike every day the first week we got it, and then out of nowhere he refused to ride saying he didn't like his bike. Me, being the sympathetic mother that I am, forced him to ride his bike around the corner, to which he screamed in terror and cried the whole time saying, "I'm gonna fall, I'm going too fast" over and over. He didn't understand it's impossible to fall if you're not even pedaling and you have training wheels! Well, after 2 days of forced bicycle riding (who says only trained clinical psychologists are experts in exposure therapy!), with no falls mind you, he suddenly exclaimed that he did like his bike after all and have had 2 days of successful, happy bike riding at normal speeds. Yeah!!!

By the way, I promise birthday and soccer pictures are coming!

Just random

2009-04-04T21:00:00.000-07:00

Well, I desperately need to post pictures, but I need to figure out how to download pics from our new camera, so it may be another week or so before that happens, so I'll just write a little about what's going on these days with us.

Luke just turned 4. We had a great party down at a bounce house party place. I believe Aaron had as much fun as Luke did. We did not have birthday cake, because Luke inherited my love of ice cream (although I do enjoy cake as well), we had birthday ice cream and Luke loved that. Luke is maddening and entertaining. He's so full of energy, and gets so excited over the simplest things, it's a joy to watch. Then he makes me want to pull my hair out because of how difficult he has to make everything. Nothing easy with this guy. But anyway, his developing awareness of things around him, and how he expresses things, constantly humor me. Two examples: For those who don't know, Aaron's mom died from cancer just over a year ago. We called her Pamma. Aaron's dad, "Nonni", has since remarried. Her name is Lynda, and she makes Randy happy and the grandkids have all taken to her very well, and we're happy to welcome her to the family. Well, Nonni and Lynda came down for Luke's birthday and we were all eating doughnuts for breakfast. Luke looked at Nonni and said," You had a good time with Pamma last year?" (these days, his reference to anything in the past is called "last year"). Randy replied, "I sure did." And Luke looked at him and said, "Yeah, but you got Lynda now, that right?" We had a good chuckle over this, it was a sweet exchange. Second example: One of Luke's good friends is Esther; her daddy Lloyd is black. Someone gave Luke a little figurine of Albert Pujols (who has dark skin) for Luke's birthday because they know how much Aaron loves the Cardinals and Pujols. This figurine is very lifelike, and as Luke looked at it, he suddenly pointed at the face and said, "He like Esther's daddy! They both have... they both... they got....... He's black!" It was so funny watching him search for the word to try to describe his skin color, and we got so tickled how he got so excited comparing him to Esther's daddy. The next day, Luke brought the figurine in to me and said, "What's his name?" I reminded him that it was Albert Pujols, and he looked at me and said, "Yeah, but I'll call him Lloyd!" (In case you're wondering, Lloyd and his wife Julia got a kick out of this story too.)

I've also been wondering what has possessed my child lately. Luke has been extremely emotional, and cries alot easier than he used to; that in itself I don't mind so much, because it's better than the raging fits he likes to throw (which we still see sometimes). But he's doing other things very out of character. I forced him to ride his bike tonight-exposure therapy I say-, which he LOVED the first week he had it and wanted to ride it everyday, but tonight he cried the whole time and screamed in a terrified voice, "I'm gonna fall, I'm going too fast!" and would barely go faster than a snail pace. What happened to my little daredevil speed demon? And at his last soccer practice, he ran off the field in tears during the scrimmage because he didn't get the ball every time it was kicked. At his first game, he didn't leave the field crying (he had been given many pep talks about not giving up), but he did leave the field early several times and didn't finish his time on the field. He really had no good reasons; once it was because he fell and got mud on his hands (he said he needed a shower- like he's ever cared about being dirty before!) and once he wanted a drink, and once he had no reason. What happened to my tireless energetic aggressive child!

Ben is growing and quickly changing from my little baby boy to a little toddler- makes me sad to say it! He's still quite the character, and his language skills are beginning to explode. He has quite a few little words, and he uses several signs regularly. He's too cute when he puts his thumb in his mouth and carries his little bear around, and he's developing some defense mechanisms against big brother that are quite annoying! He has this half yell/half growl he does anytime something doesn't go his way. Doesn't matter if he dropped a toy, Luke took it away, Luke hit him over the head with it, or if Ben just looked at something and it wasn't given to him immediately- same response. His teacher at school (he goes 2 days like Luke from 9-2) even commented one day on how he's got the yell down pat. Of course, she called it cute, I don't think it's quite so cute. But it's fun to watch them play, Ben follows Luke around and is going to be quite the pest of a little brother I think. I love to watch them interact, and it's amazing to see how different he is from his older brother (for better and for worse).

Anyway, lots of thoughts on my little men. I'll have pictures very soon, I promise!

Happy birthday dear Lukey, and other stuff...

2009-03-23T20:04:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile so I'm including various pictures from the last month. Our church has a parent-child "date night", so I got to take Luke out. We went to the church and they had lots of sweet treats for dessert, and they took your picture and the kids made a picture frame to decorate. So I included a picture of Luke and I before our first big date; there was one picture of Luke with a more normal grin, but this one definitely is more of his real personality and better than the eyes squinted shut shot. There are several of the boys coloring/painting at the table. Luke likes to draw or color (which is really just more scribbling on the page, he is able to do more than just scribble, but his preference is to simply "scribble-scrabble" as he calls it), so Ben must follow suit. I bought Ben some special crayons at Christmas that are more difficult for him to eat, so that's what the toy-looking things are that Ben is rubbing on the paper. Well, Luke quickly decided this day that he wanted to paint, and so Ben was quickly unhappy with his crayons and wanted a paintbrush too. At first, I was just going to let Ben rub a dry brush, or at the most a dipped in water only brush, but then I thought why not just let Ben paint too? He enjoyed it and if you can see the painting at all, he did it all by himself! The only help I gave was when he occasionally tried to paint off the paper (oh, and I did put the paint on the brush for him, but the painting itself was all him!)

Next, but definitely not least, today is Luke's birthday! My oldest baby is now 4. We got him a bike for his birthday, his poor knees were bumping the handle bars of his tricycle. He did so good, and it's not just mommy bragging good, it's he can really ride a bike good. At first, he would push back on the pedals on accident and bring himself to a halt, but he figured out pretty quick to keep pushing forward. I still had to help him out to get up the driveway into the garage, and occasionally to get his feet pedaling again, but he almost instantaneously took off down the cul-de-sac. I even had to jog a few times to keep up with him! Aaron said he had one of those moments that are forever burned in your memory as he watched me and Luke take off down the cul-de-sac with him riding his bike, and thinking how big Luke looked and wondering how is already big enough to be doing this, riding a bike?!?

He's always been such a motor driven child, I've predicted he will be quite the athlete. I guess we'll soon find out because today was also our first soccer practice! We were late, because I pulled one of my rare, but true, airhead moments and had the time wrong. We were out riding our bike and my friend Andria called (whose son Braden is one of Luke's best friends, also pictured) and said "where are you?" I instantly knew I had messed up and realized I had the time wrong, so we missed the first 25 minutes of practice, but I still got a couple of pics. He was so excited he had to put his soccer uniform on when we got home and he wore it the rest of the evening.

Well, there will be birthday party pictures coming soon (party is this coming weekend), and I will include more soccer pictures after he plays a few games.

Happy birthday Lukey!

The things kids do.

2009-02-27T08:22:00.000-08:00

Two stories, one on each of my children.
Ben: He's just now learning to talk and communicate, and is beginning to understand more of what we tell him. He's 15 months now, and will say "no-no, bye, hi, night-night, ma-ma, da-da" and he will sign: please (rubbing his chest), more (touching his hands together), eat (touching his mouth, or his nose), and all done/finished (waving his hands in the air). However, with the signing, we generally say the word first, like "are you all done?" and then he will sign. Well, today he initiated the sign and I couldn't resist. I'm not a morning person, I wake up slowly and it's not uncommon for the boys to wake up and be playing on the bed with me while I try to wake up. Ben's new thing is to climb off the bed and go explore the house, and lately he will empty his diaper bag and bring me whatever snacks he finds in there (because he wakes up hungry and wants me to fix him breakfast). This morning, as I'm being lazy and trying to wake up, he crawls off the bed and returns a few minutes later carrying a bag of fruit snacks. I said, "no Ben". He grunted and shoved the bag in my hands. I said "no" again and gave them back. After doing this 2 or 3 more times, he began persistently rubbing his chest, very fast and hard, in an adament signing of "please". He got his fruit snacks.

Luke: He is potty trained, and has been for almost 2 years now (he trained very early and easy, the only thing he's done that hasn't been a battle in his whole life!) He will take himself to the bathroom, but is not yet able to wipe himself for #2 , so it's not uncommon for me to be across the house and suddenly hear Luke yell, "mommy I'm done!". Well, today I was in the middle of getting Ben dressed, and he was screaming his head off for no apparent reason except he didn't want to be lying there, and Luke comes walking bottomless down the hallway, "mommy, look at my bottom". I reply, "what's wrong with your bottom", and he responds by bending over slightly so I can see that there's a mess there that I need to clean up. I said, "OK, go back to the bathroom and I'll be right there to wipe you." He goes and a few minutes later returns carrying some soiled toilet paper and said, "mommy look at this mess". I figured he attempted to wipe himself, because we've been working on it, so I told him to go put the paper in the toilet and I would be right there to finish. When I go into the bathroom to make sure he's clean, he tells me there was a big mess on the wall but he cleaned it up. Instantly, red flags go up. "Luke, on the wall or do you mean on the potty?" (there were some traces on the seat lid, so a valid question). His reply, "on the wall". I'm getting worried now but he assures me he cleaned it up. I said, "where on the wall" and he points to a spot, where I can see very slight traces of a mess (he did a pretty good job of cleaning it). So now for the real question: "Luke, how did poop get on the wall?" "Cause I go like this..." and he bends over and shakes his hiny a little. Apparently, he bent over and rubbed his rear on the wall. Why, I don't know, and didn't really bother to ask. I'm just glad that 1) He told me. and 2) He cleaned most of it up. I just had him wash his hands again and instructed him not to do that again.

Oh the things kids do.

Cowboys and Superheroes

2009-02-16T15:03:00.001-08:00

The boys had cowboy day at school a few weeks ago, so I got a couple of pics with them in their duds. They were pretty cute if I do say so myself. Also, the boys got into Luke's costumes this past week. Luke changes from Batman to Mr. Incredible, and on this night he was Mr. Incredible. Well, here comes Ben carrying the batman cape and hands it to me to put it on him. He was so funny walking around in his diaper, a tiny one year old in a 4T batman cape! Then, a few days later, he comes carrying the Mr. Incredible costume. So I managed to pull the arms and legs up best as I could on his tiny frame, and he walked around very happy to be Mr. Incredible. It's amazing the things that he wants to do because he watches big brother Luke.

Ice Day and black eyes

2009-02-16T14:49:00.000-08:00

We had an ice storm a few weeks ago, and the schools were out because of icy roads; therefore, Aaron didn't have to go to work that day! I took a couple of pictures of Luke and Aaron out on the ice. Also, I had to document Ben's first black eye. The picture really doesn't do it justice. It's been black for over a week now and is still not completely healed yet. He was walking and fell right into the corner of the piano bench; it immediately got really swollen and bruised (it was right on the bone at the outer corner of the eye socket). Amazingly, he didn't cry very much; he cried, but not nearly as long as he'll cry if Luke hits him or takes a toy away. The bruise extended all the way under the eye, and though the picture is not great, it was the best I could do. We were lucky it didn't break the skin worse and require a trip to the doctor's office. He's going to be an easy bruiser like his mommy!

Such big boys!

2009-02-16T14:47:00.000-08:00

2009-02-16T14:31:00.000-08:00

Here is some photo evidence of how big the boys are getting. Luke sat down for breakfast with his bowl of cereal one morning, and Aaron had left the paper sitting there. Luke reached down and picked up the paper like he was reading it and eating his cereal. He can also work the computer by himself now; or should I say, he can play a computer game by himself. He's enjoyed the games for awhile now, but I had to help because he didn't know how to negotiate the mouse (doesn't help that he's a lefty). Well, for Christmas, his Nonni gave him a v-tech computer game, and he has mastered the mouse. We hadn't done computer games in a while, and one night he wanted to play, so I pulled the game up for him. He immediately grabbed the mouse and went to playing like he'd been doing it forever. It was very cute and grown up all at the same time. I also like the picture of Ben sitting at Luke's little table and chairs. Ben climbed up there all by himself and grabbed the paper, again like he was reading it or something. He thinks he is so big just like his brother, and gets very proud of himself when he does something like that. I also included one of us reading Ben's favorite book, Goodnight Moon. He'll pull it off the bookshelf himself and carry it to me to read it. They're both growing up so fast!

Must DO NOT SEE movie

2009-02-05T10:34:00.000-08:00

Now for the do not see. If you're like me , when you start hearing of movies nominated for awards, you get interested in seeing that movie because of the buzz, curiosity, whatever. One of Aaron's co-workers gave Aaron a copy of one of these movies, so we gladly sat down one night to watch it. Well, do NOT see Changeling with Angelina Jolie. It is a very good movie and deserving of the nominations it received, but I feel it my duty as a mother and especially a parent of two boys to tell anyone who has children, especially if you have boys, to NOT see this movie. Halfway through Aaron admitted he would not have watched it if he would have known more about it, and asked if I wanted to turn it off. At that point we had seen the worse and so we finished it out. However, if you have children it is too disturbing and not worth it so don't bother. If you are also like me, and get too curious and want more information as to "why", email me and I'll be happy to tell you why (my need for the answer to "why" drove my parents crazy growing up, and now my husband, but I'll gladly answer your why if you want it). But for those of you who need only a warning, you have been warned.

Must see movie!

2009-01-24T19:31:00.001-08:00

Aaron and I don't get to see many movies these days; too hard to mess with a babysitter, extra cost, etc. So when we do see a movie we try to make it a good one. The one we saw today is FANTASTIC, and I recommend it to anyone. Slumdog Millionaire. It's the perfect mix of harsh reality and fantasy/feel good happy ever after. The whole movie is real enough that it grips you and there are many heartwrenching parts to the story that are difficult and uncomfortable to watch. But you leave the theater happy and hopeful about life and moved by what the human spirit can endure. It's also fascinating to get a glimpse of a different part of the world and culture that we know very little about. Bottom line, go see the movie, I don't think you'll be disappointed!

How blessed are we?!?

2009-01-22T20:00:00.000-08:00

Ok, this blog is just a little dose of reality that I am so thankful God continually places in front of me. Our small group at church, in the past 7 years (how is that possible!) we've been here, has always been a driving force in our lives and been a place of great fellowship, friendship, and spiritual growth. We've changed many times, where we grow too big to be "small group" anymore, and have "split" and become new groups on several occasions. But the core of us that have stayed together are continually blessed with diverse friends from different backgrounds that constantly remind me how blessed I am. We have young friends with kids our age, and older friends with no kids. We have friends from different cultural backgrounds and different religious backgrounds and we always learn alot from each other. But what's been on my heart lately are two moms, who are single moms in different ways. One is a single mom who is from Africa and still has family in Africa, and recently had to almost leave her daughter in Africa for an undetermined amount of time because of financial reasons. She lost her job and is afraid she will lose her home and could not afford to put her daughter in daycare but was having a hard time looking for a job and not having a place for her daughter to go. Fortunately, she brought her daughter (who is only 15 months) home with her. I've been so blessed by her and seeing how she keeps such a positive spirit about her and is doing everything she can to make a good life for herself and her little baby girl. The other mom is a single mom because her husband is on a one year tour in Iraq with the army. She has 3 chilren- 4, 2, and almost 1. She takes care of these kids day in and out by herself, and has no family support. Her mom criticizes her for taking her kids to church and calls her a bad mom, her sister is dealing with cancer, and she says she's alone all the time because her friends are all very young and a bad influence on her. I've been so blessed by her strength, and how she never complains about her life. These new friends of mine remind me how blessed I am to have a husband who works normal hours and is home almost every night and weekend, we have a house and good jobs that pay our bills easily and with some left over, and we have great friends and family support. I can't say it enough, we're so blessed and I thank God for putting people in my life so that I never forget it!

Santa!

2009-01-21T19:53:00.000-08:00

Santa Claus came to Pop and Gran's house this year, because we were on our way to Lubbock for Christmas. Luke had been wanting a "Larry boy car" (from veggie tales, Larry boy) since SEPTEMBER. Santa was kind enough to fulfill his wish. Ben got a stocking full of little goodies, so you see him on the couch with some of his loot.

Christmas presents

2009-01-21T19:47:00.001-08:00

There was no way I was even going to attempt to show the variety of Christmas photos we have. We had a great Christmas; we had Christmas at our house, Pop and Gran's house with all the cousins, and Nonni and Lynda's new house with the Tungate cousins. The only pictures I included though were a select few from our Christmas at home. First is Luke playing with his cool train bridge/waterfall set that Aaron and I got him for Christmas. Next is Ben with one of his presents from Aaron and I, and last is Luke with the new boots we gave him for Christmas. The best is the pose; we simply said,"Let us see your new boots so we can take a picture", and he gave us the pose. He's such a ham!

Putting up the Christmas Tree

2009-01-21T19:44:00.000-08:00

Luke put the star on all by himself!

Ben and Patti

2009-01-21T19:41:00.000-08:00

At my parents house, our dog Patti is obsessed with running in and out of the backdoor to chase and bark at the birds, so she likes to look out the blinds. We were visiting and Ben was looking out the door as well, and they made quite a cute pair.

Random various shots

2009-01-21T19:28:00.000-08:00

So here are some various shots; Luke and Ben in PJ's in the morning drinking their milk side by side- it was so adorable I couldn't resist. The boys playing in the laundry basket together, Ben and his first REAL haircut (not me doing a halfway job of trimming certain spots)- and despite the unsure look on his face, he actually did a really good job of sitting still and not crying while she cut! Luke and his Pop (my dad) crashing on the couch after a hard day playing together, and the Tungate sandwich- Aaron and both boys "wrestling" on the floor. Anytime Aaron is on the floor, both the boys take that as their invitation to jump on him!

2009-01-21T19:23:00.000-08:00

Ben had lots of help from cousins, and a couple of friends, opening and playing with his birthday presents.

Birthday cupcake

2009-01-21T19:20:00.000-08:00

Ben's First Birthday!

2009-01-21T19:09:00.000-08:00

Ben turned one just before Thanksgiving. It was a jungle animal theme, and I made his cake which was a giraffe as seen below. His personal cupcake was a lion (I went a little crazy on the mane so it looks kind of goofy), and he tore into it. He grabbed it and ate the whole thing up, I included some of the evidence.

Lil' Red Raider

2009-01-21T19:03:00.000-08:00

Ben loves to wear his hat, which is Texas Tech of course! Seriously, when he gets dressed or is on his changing table, he reaches for it (it hangs on the wall above the dresser) and grunts for it. So here's evidence of some of his more creative pairings of the hat- with his birthday suit, and his PJ's.

Another funny one

2009-01-21T13:55:00.000-08:00

It's cute to watch your kids pick up on your expressions, and it's even cuter when they get them wrong. We were playing a match game with Luke, where you turn cards over and try to match pairs. He is very good at this game, and it's actually hard to beat him. But the other night Aaron was beating us all, and had gotten 2 or 3 matches in a row, and Luke said, "Wow, daddy, you're on a rock!"- translation, he meant to say on a roll

Finally figured it out!

2009-01-10T20:06:00.000-08:00

After spending WAY too much time trying to figure it out, I finally got a slide show to work. I wanted to have some pictures from the past for viewing, but there were way too many to put on the page, so slide show was the way to go. So, now I can start putting new pictures on the pages too! My plan is to put occasional pictures on here so people can watch the kiddos grow (because seriously, who wants to watch me or Aaron age!). I can include cute little stories too, for anyone interested enough to bother to read them. So, for cute story number one: Luke rarely can make me laugh when he's in trouble. Aaron cracks up more often than I do, but I can usually hold the laughter in at least until I'm away and he's not watching me any more. But he got us both good the other day. We were playing a game, and Luke lost. He is NOT a good sport these days, and we're working hard on teaching him how to win and lose with a good attitude, but we're failing miserably right now. He lost and began to cry very loudly and woke up Ben who was napping. Aaron spanked him because Luke knows he has to be quiet when Ben's asleep, and he also know he's not supposed to throw a fit like that when he loses. Well, immediately after he was spanked he looked at Aaron through his tears and said, "See, you spanked me and now I'm crying again!" We both laughed out loud, couldn't help it. Well, I'll try to start posting more often, and updating pictures more frequently, so we'll see how it goes!

Gonna give this a shot

2009-01-03T17:35:00.000-08:00

OK, I have really resisted doing this for many reasons. I never check anyone elses blog, I don't expect them to check mine. I'll never update it, etc. But, I'm giving it a try anyway. This will at least be a location to put some pics and some cute stories of the kiddos. So we'll see. I may fail miserably at blogging, it's not really my thing, but we'll give it a shot!