What We've Been Up To Lately

So it turns out that I'm kind of a lazy blogger, but I have finally gotten around to posting about some of the big events that I missed and getting this blog back up to date.  There are a couple of new posts below, so keep reading.  This post is just a few more photos of the things that we've been up to lately.  (Most of these were taken with my iphone so the quality is not that great.)

Charlie's parents sold their home in New Mexico and made the big move to Price, Utah.  Charlie took Isaac along to help them move.  Isaac loved being part of all of the action and getting to ride in the big moving truck.  He especially loved playing with his cousins in Utah.  They went to Chris' office and saw all of the "animals."  But his favorite thing about the whole trip may have been playing "Dead Man" on the trampoline.  He has not stopped talking about it!

Luke and I had a quiet weekend at home while they were gone.  We went shopping, went running (out on the trail instead of stuck on a treadmill), and Luke got to play with all of the toys without anyone snatching them away.

We've been enjoying some nice family walks on the bike trail.  Isaac likes to see the "big rocks" in the river bed and throw sticks over the bridges and talk about how long it will take for them to make their way to the ocean.  Whenever we take Luke outside in the jogging stroller he holds his legs straight out the whole time and wiggles his little feet in circles.  I think it is so adorable!  It's also how I know if he's fallen asleep when I am out running with him because his feet go down.

We had a streak of warm weather a few weeks ago so I took the boys to the pool.  It had probably been six months since we'd been swimming (not since Hawaii) and Isaac was thrilled to get back in the water.  And happily, Luke seemed to enjoy it this time too!  We are looking forward to summer and lots more time at the pool.

Isaac's latest obsession is snakes.  He learned about rattlesnakes when we were at the Ronald Reagan Library in December (there were signs warning about them outside) and has been talking about snakes ever since.  We went to the library a few weeks ago and checked out every snake book that they had.  He is in heaven!  We are working on learning to read and hopefully will make some good progress this summer.

Two weeks ago Isaac tested for his yellow belt in his karate class.  One of the requirements for his test was that he do the first nine steps of his kata (a series of blocks, punches, etc.).  It was really difficult for him to do because he has a hard time keeping focus.  We kept practicing at home though and he successfully passed his test and got his yellow belt!  He was very excited and we are very proud of him.  Then last week in karate Isaac got to break a board for the first time.  He used a front kick and broke it right in two.  He was SO proud of himself and has told everyone who will listen.  He brought the board to his cousins house to show them and took it to school for show & tell.  Yesterday at the mall I overheard him telling some of store employees about it too.

My baby Luke is growing up too fast.  He is 11 months old today.  How did this happen?  He is crawling all over the place and has gotten pretty fast.  He loves to stand and cruise around the furniture, the walls, my legs, etc but is probably still a ways off from his first real steps.  And he's figured out how to open cupboards and drawers and will fling their contents all over the room if he gets the chance.  His favorite place to play is the dishwasher.  As long as there is nothing breakable in his reach it is a great way to keep him entertained while I am busy in the kitchen.

Luke's hair was starting to get quite long and was looking a little mullet-ish in the back and around his ears.  Maybe this is silly, but I kept putting off getting it cut because it made me too sad.  I knew that with just a few little snips he would start looking a bit more like a little boy and a bit less like my baby.  I finally gave in though and he is still just as cute as ever (but I do miss his long baby locks).

My cousin Becky & her husband Steve were visiting from Utah this weekend so we all got together at my aunt & uncle's house today for lunch.  It was fun to get together with everyone and catch up with Becky.  Isaac bounced on the trampoline almost the entire time (there were some other kids who knew how to play "Dead Man" too!) and Luke loved crawling all over the grass and trying to eat dirt.  Charlie put Luke up on the trampoline and let Isaac bounce him around a bit.  Luke could not stop giggling and was crawling all around in circles.  It was quite darling - especially when his hair all started sticking straight out from the static electricity.

And to wrap up this post, I have one more video of Luke to share.  He is quite the little dancer and starts bouncing and wiggling his shoulders whenever he hears music.  We first discovered this a few weeks ago when Isaac gave me one of those birthday cards that plays music.  I'm still learning how to use my video editing software, but I think Luke makes up for that with his cute dance moves.  Enjoy!