why was 2011 the best year ever?

Two reasons...

 Reason #1

His earnest way of ambushing every drop of wisdom from the world around him, his sensitive heart and invincible spirit, his gentle yet courageous soul that ever stands on the threshold of adulthood, and his maddeningly witty nature - made this year the best ever.

 Reason #2

His blazing smile and enormous laughter, his busy intentions and stampeding pleasures, his tender embraces and sympathetic nuzzles, his invigorating certainty and dazzling dances - made this the best year ever.

To our boys, you light up our life with a million stars of hope and happiness.  Thank you for making 2011 the best year ever!

A Great Day...

Merry Christmas!  As you can see, we had lots of fun around our house!

There will be more pics to come, but I just had to share this one of Blake opening his Red Rider BB Gun.  I think we scored some points with that one!

Tree Shopping!

We got our Christmas tree last weekend!

As you can see, the boys had so much fun finding the perfect tree and decorating it.  Well, Luke didn't decorate it as much as he undecorated it!  We now have a tree that's only decorated on the top half, but it's beautiful nonetheless!

Halloween!

Amazingly, for once I have more pictures of Blake than Luke.  Blake was happy posing as a ninja warrior, but Luke was so excited about his garden gnome costume he wouldn't stand still!  

They were both the handsomest costumes of all!

showing off his ninja moves

"I am a ninja warrior."

I don't think ninja warriors usually have such handsome eyes!

Luke only lasted about 30 minutes before having a major meltdown, but he was cute while it lasted!

Happy Halloween!

Lately...

I'm eating an acorn in this picture!

The Face of a Stinker...

Do you see that glimmer in his eye?  It's usually the same look I get right before he does something he knows he's not supposed to do...like climb on the fireplace.  I've put up all sorts of barricades, but somehow this little stinker still manages to get up there, shaking his head "no" the entire time (and laughing!)

He might be a stinker, but he's the most adorable stinker I know!

Our football hero!

We're so proud of Blake for scoring his first touchdown in his flag football game Saturday!

He ran a kickoff back about 30 yards and sailed right into the end zone!  I had my camera in my hand, but was too excited to remember to take a picture :).

I did take this one of Coach Josh and his star player-

Blake's having so much fun playing football and, to us, that's all that matters!

The weather has been perfect here (finally) so we also took a family trip to the park this weekend...

My little sweeties posed like pros for me!

As always, Luke's favorite part was playing in the dirt!

Have I mentioned how much I love these boys?  All three of them!

Luke at 12 months

It's been way too long since I've been able to post!  I took these pictures of Luke right after his birthday, but I'm just now getting around to posting them.  I don't know if you can tell from these, but this little boy wants to do nothing but run around, eat rocks and dirt, and will do anything to get away from mom's camera!  He's so funny!

As always, Blake was hiding from my camera as well.  We told him that in 30 years we're going to wonder where our other kid was!

 

Big brother was helping him ride the horse and he thought it was hilarious!

Yes, that's dirt on his mouth! He likes to try to eat sticks and rocks!

I have more pictures to post soon (I hope!)  Luke is getting so big and Blake even let me take a few of him too!  

Birthday Boy!

Luke is ONE!

We can't believe our baby boy is already one!

This year has flown by, but we've loved every minute of it.

Happy Birthday sweet Luke...we love you soooo much!

Bathtime

11 Months Old..and Walking!!

Luke is 11 months old!  He was sick when he hit his 11 month birthday, so I'm just now getting around to taking his pictures.

Our sweet boy is officially walking now!  He's not to the point where he walks everywhere, but he prefers to walk most of the time and only resorts to crawling when he wants to get somewhere fast!

He's also started waving bye bye and still loves to clap his hands and dance to just about any music.

He's endlessly curious and would follow his big brother everywhere if he could.

He's also best buds with Josh and throws a huge fit when he has to come to me in the mornings so Josh can go to work.

What can I say, Dad is just more fun than Mom! 

Here are Luke's 11 month pics.  I tried to get him playing with his stuffed animals, since they're his best friends, but of course this little guy won't stay still for more than a millisecond, so I couldn't get many!

 He's such a happy little man!

A Second Grader and a Sick Baby Boy...

Blake started second grade!

His first day was last Friday the 19th and it went great.  He loves his new teacher and is enjoying seeing his old friends and making new ones.  

 

Blake's latest passion is the weather.  He starts every morning by checking the weather radar and making predictions on storms for the day.

Yesterday after school, he informed me that he had told his teacher, "If you know anyone in Florida, you should probably call them and warn them that Hurricane Iren (as he called it) is heading their way."  I'm sure Mrs. Fowler was grateful for that advice!

Of course, he had to wear his Bradford jersey on his first day!

 

We're finally getting back in the swing of things after Luke had an awful virus last week.  He started running a fever on Wednesday and didn't start feeling better until Sunday.  Poor little guy had a high fever, sore throat and tummy issues for that entire time.  

The guys hung out on the couch together the morning before school started.

You can tell Luke is sick here because he's laying still, which is normally never the case!

 I just had to share this picture taken at one of our trips to the park a few weeks ago.  Luke loved it so much, and I can't wait until the weather cools down so we can visit the park more often!