Luke is SEVEN!

Hard to imagine, hard to believe that my baby boy turned 7 yesterday! Has it really been SEVEN years since I held him as a newborn? SEVEN years since his ruddy complexion caused worry to appear on his doctors face? SEVEN years since we spent an extra week in the hospital with him in constant worry about his Bili Reuben numbers and praying every second for it to go up, up, UP already!? SEVEN years since I opened a jaundice google page and realized that he could have brain damage or death? *shudders*

Today he is a healthy, thriving, rambunctious SEVEN year old that grabs hold of the hearts of everyone he meets. He is compassionate and kind, sincere and forgiving, tender and loving. This little boy is literally THE sweetest boy I have ever known in my life, and the fact that God gave him to ME to care for completely humbles me.


Luke at one day old...see how red he is?
He was under lights for his jaundice for a week. That week SUCKED!
But he was soon a healthy peach color and cute as a bug!
And yesterday he turned 7...unbelievable!
The cake (that I totally stole from my gf, Missy btw!! Thanks for the awesome idea, Girl!) was the easiest Mom said she's ever made! It was a surprise so to keep him from peeking we made him close his eyes!
He liked it! "CANDY!!!!"
My babies
Gracie played "Present Fairy"...started out as "Garbage Fairy" but she got tired of that really fast!
Grace gave Luke her OWN present. Three beanie babies and an extra little bunny. She was so excited to wrap it herself and give it to him! It was the first present in the present pile, AND the first one opened! :)
He liked it! :)
Oh yes...my boy LOVES guns. Oh my. He wants to be a soldier when he grows up!

*Mama throws up a little....*
Typical big sister behavior.
Reading his card aloud to all the party guests!! They were impressed!
The FABULOUS cake!!
So Handsome...and SO OLD! :(
Best friends
Supervising Daddy to make sure he does it right.
"I have to make a wish before I blow them out, Mom!"
He was too quick for me...missed the blowing! LOL

That's it for this year! It's going too fast! TOO FAST! Next thing I know he'll be driving and thinking that blonde down the street is prettier than me! AAAHHHHH!!!!

Yachats 9-19-09

We had a spontaneous trip to the Oregon coast this weekend. Mark's SBB called and asked us if we wanted to zip over for a car show. They had a room and were staying all weekend and we decided to go on over then stay the night with Mark's mom in Florence. I gotta say...spontaneity must agree with us because we had one of THE BEST weekends we've ever had over there! It was relaxed, beautiful and SO FUN! The kids had a blast, Mark and Leroy spent some quality boy time and Missy and I were able to just chill with a couple bottles of wine, chat and just BE! It was wonderful!

I'll start off the pics with ones taken with my cell phone as the quality isn't as good! :)

The kids got busy right away playing in the sand.

My babies!
Self portrait

Huh?
The kids helped Grandma set the table for dinner this morning :)
Onto the camera pics. It was THE perfect day. Seriously! Not a cloud in the sky, 70 degrees, no wind...PERFECT! This is the view from their room's balcony. Ya.
The cars...technically this was the reason we were there so I thought I should get a shot or two of them. meh.

Gracie looks interested!
Ok...now for the fun! THE BEACH!
My babies and me!
My girlfriend Missy and me!
Cool rocks huh?? LOVE IT!
Missy and Leroy's daughter, Nicole. She is a beautiful young lady inside and out.
Nicole and her girlfriend Raelynn. Cool log huh??
The gang!

GORGEOUS!

Shoes!

Ok, ya. SUCH a framer!

He was so HAPPY!
Shadow!

Allie and Tyler. They got SO wet! LOL
The waves were incredible!
I wrote all the kids names in the sand and Gracie wanted to write hers too. She did a pretty good job!
Sitting waiting for the next wave.
I could have taken pics of Grace all day. She was just so cute!
They were SOPPING! The walk back to the motel was a bit uncomfortable! LOL


These two girls could easily be sisters! Grace absolutely adores Nicole and talks about her all the time, so I had to get a pic of just the two of them! Beautiful!
Missy and Nicole...can we say "mini-me"? hehe
The lighting was perfect for some head shots!



Plumber butt! I'm sure this is not the first nor the last pic you'll see like this! LOL! She is her father's daughter!
Birds!

Couldn't have captured this any better


Gracie LOVES her Aunt Missy!!!
Beautiful windblown girl! This was Aunt Missy's idea...it's such a framer!
Huge flock of seagulls!

So ya...literally the best weekend! Thank you Mary's for inviting us! We are looking forward to next year already!!! Love you guys!