Cute Fam Photo

From l to r: My brother with a semi-adult beverage in hand (It was an amaretto sour for goodness sake. Puh-lease. What's next? A wine spritzer?), my dad, my mom, Aron, then me.

Seriously? This kid turned 4 today??

*Le sigh*

They're so stinkin' cute together. Luke was pretending he was camping out in our laundry basket. Of course, he needed "provisions" if you know what I'm saying...can't expect the boy to go camping without food (see also bag of dried fruit).

They like to lay together and color like this. Luke has a harder time stretching all the way across but he'll be darned if he'll miss out on the fun.

Who are these beautiful people?

Seriously, I told him when I would be snapping the picture but this is the face he came up with anyway. He knows it kills me when he does it, therefore, I will post this picture and embarrass him. It's my job as spouse to embarrass him
Me and my Mom. She obviously knew what to do when the camera was in her face unlike you know who up above.

Just your typical Friday night...

Two-time Heisman trophy winner Archie Griffin
E Gordon Gee

with two-time Heisman trophy winner Archie Griffin (I think he should just change his name to include the "two-time Heisman trophy winner" part. That's the only way he's ever introduced anyway!) and E Gordon Gee! My brother won an OSU alumni association award so we all attended a banquet with Gordon and Archie. I'll post a link to the award pictures when the alumni association puts them on their website.

What are they thinking?!

Me loves popcorn with my sibling...
What's going on in that little head of his??

Do you ever wonder what your kids will remember from their younger years? What will be their earliest memory? What will stand out in their mind as being worth remembering?

The year was 1979. I have a cousin, Josh, who is 8 months older than I am (he was born in December and I was born in July). I remember when I was 3, that Josh was strutting around and thinking he was soooooooooo cool because he was 4 and I was still only 3. I remember specifically standing in the house that my parents were building. We were playing around in one of the rooms that didn't have drywall up yet because I remember seeing the pink insulation. He teased me mercilessly about still being 3 and I remember thinking "Some day I'll be 4 and he'll see how great that is." Little did I realize that when I became 4, he would soon be 5. Rats!

Will Ella and Luke remember that they liked to sit in the chair in our living room under a blankie, eating popcorn, and watching movies? Will they remember that they love going to story hour with Miss Lori and that she is some sort of story-reading Goddess who sings and laughs and makes crafts with them? Will Ella remember that she loves watching Dancing With the Stars because when it comes on she dances around the house with her Dad? Will Luke remember that he hates going in the car wash and freaks out every time we go? Will it be a memory of going to my grandparents house after church and practically busting down the door so they can get to the Hershey's kisses that my grandma has put on her table just for them? Will Ella remember that she takes flowers and puts them all over the house or will she just know that she enjoys making things beautiful but won't know where or when it all started?

Or, will their first memory be something that we haven't done yet? Some adventure that is out there for us to wander into?

Poppy's Little Helpers...

Ella's ride
Luke's ride
The kids decided to help Poppy do some farming on Monday. They had a little place to sit (aka Poppy's cooler with his lunch in it) in the cab of the combine while Poppy was working so they had a bird's eye view of the whole process. Poppy brought along a little snack for their ride...smarties and dark chocolate M&M's.

Here are the pix Ella took

Pix

I think both the kids might be future photographers. Luke grabbed the camera at one point during the party and this is what he came up with...

Him Strong Like Ox

That Uncle Kevin...he's pretty strong. He's got Aunt Annie and Ella both on his back.

Ella's personal cake

Ella had her own personal, very pink cake from Lindy. She was willing to share it with Uncle Kevin because he told her on the phone once that pink cakes were his very favorite. Way to score some cake, Uncle Kevin.

How does this kid manage to stay underweight?

Luke was very excited that his Granny Lindy made him a cake all for himself. Can you tell?

We must have been going a little too slow for him--he took matters into his own hands...who needs a fork, plate, etc?

Oh for goodness sake--it's out of control!

What's that I see tucked in the corner of each card? A flower courtesy of Ella...

We had a double birthday celebration over the weekend with Aron's family. We celebrated a belated birthday for Luke and an early birthday for Ella. When Ella realized that people would be coming over for a party, she took things into her own hands by beautfying the table in our hall. Yes, each one of those cards fell victim to Ella's World Beautification/World Dominance.