Trying to Keep Up With My Jones'

Well blame it on the chaos of May but our April recap is barely getting made in time before the next month is done! Eek! May came in a bit like a wrecking ball but I got it done and here is our April recap!!!

Like I said in last months blog, we started the month off in Mexico celebrating my sister and brother in law’s 40th! Think beach, pool, theme days, a day on an island, massages, all kinds of ridiculous birthday accessories and you’ve pretty much got our trip in a bag! It was a ton of fun and we loved getting to show up for them in a big way! Plus who doesn’t love a reason to go to Mexico?!

It sure helps to have amazing grandparents to hold down the fort in order to be able to do things like that!! These boys had a BLAST while we were gone and loved that they had their Mimi and G-Daddy all to themselves!!!

We got back right in time for the first t-ball game of the season! Luke has been AMPED UP for his turn at a sport but when it has come down to it, nerves have definitely gotten the best of him at times. But he persevered and did great!!!

Our friend group loves a good reason for a party, the Masters included! Even though the actual golf got rained out that day (something I would have never known without the party), we still had our own set of golf games and had our very own winner with a green jacket – Nick!! All creativity goes to Kristen who actually really loves golf! I’m sure everyone will be surprised to know that I was definitely there more for the chatting & the snacks.

Easter is always such a fantastic day! The boys are now able to serve with us at church which just makes it even more fun. They are rockstar greeters and sign holders and usually get TONS of attention. We also love our afternoons with our Easter framily that we’ve been spending it with ever since we’ve lived in Colorado. We all show up exhausted from serving all morning and just get to hang out together which is just perfect!

We had a fun girls night to celebrate Sarah’s birthday and had a very special guest with BABY JONAH!! We have prayed over this sweet baby for so, so long so get to meet him and hold him was the absolute best.

Throw in t-ball games with buddies coming to watch and lots of baseball practice for Caleb and Coach Nick! Their practice is in the field right by our house so it’s been lots of fun just walking right over! Luke and I are great cheerleaders.

A random Tuesday night at the Rockies game definitely paid off! Great seats, signed Kris Bryant baseballs, and getting to hang with Dinger! And of course ice cream because Luke 🙂

Nanan came to visit!!! We had a whole weekend of baseball planned for her to see both boys play but the snow had other ideas. Welcome to springtime in Colorado (eyeroll here). We took the boys to Slick City to ease the pain and burn off energy instead. And then Nanan got to see how crazy it is that the very next day all the snow is just gone! We are so glad she came!!

The Naturals finally had their opening weekend and Colorado decided to apologize with incredible weather for it!!! The boys did so great and it was so fun to watch!

And we can’t forget that Luke got to meet a bird at preschool!! How brave!

I do believe the theme of April (and our May too – just wait!) was definitely baseball. The boys LOVE it and I love it for them! If we aren’t watching it, practicing it, at a game, then it’s being played in our backyard. I think it’s safe to say that their dad’s dreams are coming to fruition. So there’s April and before you know it, I’ll be back with May! Whew!

I can’t believe this year is already three months down! It feels like it is flying by. I’m a bit behind on posting about March because we ended it in Mexico and went straight into Easter week, but we have recovered and I am back! So here’s a little recap on all things March…

I was able to start the month off with a weekend in the mountains with my girls live-streaming if:gathering which was a pretty fantastic beginning! I love these girls and love getting to dive deep into our relationships with Jesus together. Throw in a beautiful cabin with gorgeous surroundings and it was a pretty amazing weekend.

Caleb had show & tell at school and chose to take all of the seashells that he received from sweet Mrs. Nona from all over the world! He loved being able to share with the class and I love that he chose something so sentimental.

Reading books at bedtime can sometimes end like this for the little guy. Fast asleep with a book on his face. Caleb will often come get us to see because he also thinks it’s the cutest thing in the world.

I was able to chaperone the second grade field trip to the zoo! It was such a fun, fast-paced day with a group of boys and I wouldn’t have had it any other way! I always enjoy getting to be apart of anything with Caleb’s school & seeing him in his element. 🙂

Caleb finished off his basketball season and they had such a blast! He had incredible coaches and such a fun team that he loved playing with. This kid loves each sport he plays!

We had the opportunity to be apart of the sweetest baby shower ever for the most precious baby boy that we cannot wait to meet!

With the school year getting closer to an end, it makes our hearts so sad to know our time at Caleb’s school year is closing in. The PTA had shirts made for the whole community and they all look so great every Friday reppin’ their school spirit!

Sometimes I just never know what I’m going to walk into the room to with Luke. Just sitting on the trash can holding an old cell phone. Just living his life.

Luke performed in our preschool Spring Program and did SO great!!! Again, you never really know what he is going to do until game time with these kinds of activities but he sang and danced and was SO proud. Which resulted in Yogurtland to kick off Spring Break!

Nobody could accuse these guys for not showing up for St. Patty’s day.

Spring Break happenings included a first time to In-n-Out, trip to the library, free cones from DQ, and a swim day for the big kid. Staycation for the win!

Our big spring break adventure was to Slick City with a huge group of friends! All kinds of ridiculous kinds of slides makes for a super fun day for these kiddos. Top it off with icees and they are happy kids! Nick even did it once and has battle wounds on his hoodie from it that he’s not super thrilled about. So needless to say, it’s intense!

Meeting with my mentor is not ever documented but certainly one of my favorite things. Plus it always comes with super pretty lattes!

My favorite friend ‘from Ireland’ was in town and I so love the time that I got to spend with her!! And so excited that we actually get to go visit them in the near future! Eek!

Mimi & G-Daddy arrived for the epic grandparent weekend sleepover for our trip to Mexico!!

Our weekend in Mexico began to celebrate the sissy and brother in law’s birthday!!! Much more on that later!

And there is March!!! Here’s to April and WARM WEATHER (hopefully)!!!

Well look at that, I’m back for round two for February!! This month may have been short but it certainly was packed. So here we go!

The month unfortunately started off with the stomach bug that has run rampant everywhere. It took our smallest one down, but thankfully he was a champ. It cancelled a weekend away at a marriage conference for Nick and myself, but what better way to strengthen our marriage than handling sickness, amiright??

One of my friend’s daughters had a Galentine party and even though I don’t have a daughter to invite, she was still so sweet to include me! I love doing life with all these girls and their mamas. And who doesn’t love a reason to have a girlie party full of hearts and pink?!

Sunday school with these crazies is a weekly adventure. Throw in the scripture memory prize box and it’s just chaos. All I asked for was a normal picture and this was the result.

Luke got to be student of the week this month and he was pumped!! The end of the sentence ‘I love….’ is URBAN AIR. Every little boy’s heaven.

Caleb found out he was having a field trip to the skating rink and apparently our big time parent fail is we have never taken our kids skating. So we promised that we would take him before the field trip to prepare and that’s exactly what we did! These kids have it easy with these walkers these days, but it’s probably because of parents like us that forgot to ever take our kids skating. Whoops. Caleb couldn’t believe how well I could skate and that I basically skated all of the time growing up. Gotta love the 90’s.

Caleb has become a nonstop reader and it’s proved difficult to keep him with books because he flies through them so quickly. I feel like he is a boy after my own heart because we both love the idea of a brand new book to read.

One day it did turn into him creating his own ‘library’ in his room where he pulled ALLLL the books off his shelves and allowed all of us (mostly Luke of course) to check out books. Love the imagination even amidst the mess. And he is still not totally my kid with that organization right there?? 🤣

Basketball season is still happening and he is LOVING IT!!! Their team has worked so well together this year. It’s always so much fun to see how much they learn year to year!

Making valentines was the easiest it’s ever been! Caleb pretty much did all the work for his cards and for Luke’s. Win win! We also created a super fun box for his Valentines for school that looked like a Nintendo Switch with his favorite Kirby game right now. The kid may LOVE sports but he also loves being creative! We were both very proud.

These two cuties both wore jerseys on Super Bowl Sunday to church and I pretty much completely humiliated them by making them take a picture together. Because apparently in second grade, we already don’t talk to the opposite gender because SO embarrassing. Well too bad, so sad. One day I may be showing it at their wedding and they’ll be thanking me for forcing a picture on them.

Speaking of Super Bowl Sunday, this was a small snippet of the complete chaos fun of that day. I ventured down to the basement a handful of times but for the most part, I barely saw the kids during that whole game.

Every month our family serves at a ministry for special needs and we absolutely love it! I meant to get a picture of the 4 of us all together but totally forgot in the fun of it all. But thanks to BeReal on the drive home, we have documentation of us 3 in our All Stars shirts.

Every year for Valentine’s Day, our family does a special charcuterie dinner to celebrate with chocolate covered strawberries and valentines candy spread out on the board as well. Something as simple as being able to reach all thru the meal for whatever you want (including candy!) absolutely makes the boys’ lives. We had to up the dinner to the night before Valentine’s Day because of a snow storm causing me to last minute fly out on Valentine’s Day evening. But they weren’t even phased by that as long as it happened!

Our fun surprises on Valentine’s morning has always included a Valentine’s themed book and some type of candy! This year Caleb outgrew the picture book and it seemed like a good reason to just buy him another real book for the reasons from above. They both were beyond pumped!

Decked out in Valentines gear before school! Caleb also declared himself too old for a themed shirt so Nanan obliged and got him a red Under Armour shirt instead. Why do these kids insist on growing up?!

I sure am thankful for a fantastic co-teacher to celebrate those party days with at preschool! (And willing to wear ridiculous headbands with me.)

As annoying and hectic that snowstorm made my life, it did land me a day with the sissy! Which is always a huge bonus!

And then the real purpose of the trip was to celebrate with Katie saying goodbye to Fort Worth! We drove by all the places we lived (including that door we are standing in front of!), our grad school, some of our favorite places, and even got to see some familiar faces. It was certainly a trip down memory lane!

A fun thing we love to do every February leading up to Valentine’s Day is write a reason we love each boy and post it on their door. They eat this up like candy! Some are serious, some are silly, but who doesn’t love words of affirmation?!

We managed to knock dentist and doctor check-ups all in the same week! The kids LOVED us for that.

The oldest kiddo in our small group was in a play so most of the families went to support her, children and all! We pretty much are a big extended family so it was so fun to have all of us in the audience watching one of our own up on stage. And I’m happy to report that the kids (even our 4 year old!) did way better than I expected!

Caleb ended the month celebrating his BFF’s birthday at Main Event! His group of buds had a day of bowling, laser tag, arcade games, and LOTS of pizza. To say they LIVED IT UP was an understatement.

And that was February!!!! WHEWWWW!! For a short month, we really crammed in all the things. Or maybe I just don’t really realize how busy our lives are until I decide to do monthly recaps… Either way, here’s to a WARMER March! Come on sun, do your thang!

Oh hello there. So here I am again because I often think of how much of Caleb’s younger years are documented on this blog, but poor Luke has definitely had the short end of the stick. In an attempt to reconcile that, I’ve decided to recap each month this year for a family record of our 2023. Let’s see how I do!

We kicked off the new year with some of our best friends with poppers and the ball dropping at 10 pm! Nothing says a huge group of kids like considering if the poppers are worth the vacuuming and being in bed before the new year actually begins. Hooray!

Before school started back up, we spent a million hours at Urban Air with a ton of friends. This place is my boys’ haven and throw in a group of people and we stayed way longer than ever anticipated. I’m pretty sure we got our money’s worth that day. Luke’s dinner that night was just a nap on the couch.

Our small group definitely loves to celebrate a good birthday so our January (& one December) birthdays got celebrated with axe throwing! To say that I was not good at this is an absolute understatement. I’ve been one other time and I believe that I have declined in my skills (that were already not high). But it’s always a good time with our people!

We FINALLY made it back to the stockshow since 2020! They didn’t have it in 2021 because of Covid and then our family actually had Covid in 2022 so this year we were finally back! And we even took an extra kid with us who’s pretty much a part of the family anyway. The boys were pumped! It always makes me miss the Houston rodeo something fierce.

Something about this January is that it’s been FRIGID. And SNOWY. It’s pretty much what the rest of the country envisions Colorado to be all the time so it’s like Colorado decided to actually be that way. BOO. But we did take advantage on the school snow day the boys got this month to bust out the new sleds they got for Christmas!

Caleb had Red Carpet Night for Awana and lived his best life with some of his best friends! Nick was out of town that weekend so we are real thankful for great friends that take him along for the ride. I’m pretty sure he didn’t even notice we weren’t there. And it resulted in a great picture that will be awesome blackmail once these boys are in high school.

Basketball season has started so watch out for the Lions! Caleb is on a team with some of his besties from church and one from school too so he is absolutely loving it! This kid just loves ALL the sports.

This guy is a faithful watcher and makes sure he works on his skills before practice. He can not even wait for the day that he gets his turn on a team for any sport!

My life with this guy looks a lot like this! He is my trusty sidekick for running errands, taking Caleb all the places he needs to go, helping me in my classroom, and all the in between. Does he drive me crazy and crack me up while we are doing all of the above? Absolutely.

Caleb’s school had Donuts with Dad so these boys got to enjoy some pastries together! We are enjoying all of these precious lasts since his school is unfortunately closing at the end of the year. Our hearts are still so sad but we are so thankful for our school community making the best of it.

Since Caleb often has tons of plans with friends or birthday parties or whatever else an 8 year old boy does, this little one often has FOMO. Because he thinks he should be invited to all the things because in his mind, they are all his buddies too. So one day he landed himself a day with mom and dad at the bowling alley and arcade and a lunch of his choosing. He was ECSTATIC. He chose McDonald’s so clearly we were just as excited. So we obviously got that to go and he ate it enthusiastically at home. Sometimes there can be benefits to being the little!

And obvious benefits to being the big too! Talk about an elementary boy’s dream. A video game party.

So although Nick’s days of being a student pastor are behind him, it does not look like our days of being pranked by students are quite over. Toilet paper and cheese is what was found on the Sunday morning of our student weekend retreat in our yard. I’ve got to give these kids credit because pranking in below freezing temps is like a whole other level of determination. Also, can we just appreciate that our generation didn’t have to worry about ring doorbells?!

Caleb participated in the 2nd Grade Poetry Cafe where they wrote their own poems and read them before their class and families. He was so excited for this event and couldn’t want to share his poetry. It’s so fun to watch him thrive in different creative ways!

And that’s January! We are ending on the most frigid temps ever and really hoping for a warmer February. Or else I’ll be looking up real estate in Mexico. I considered Texas but apparently that’s frozen now too…

After we sent Caleb off to 2nd grade, Luke and I waited one more week and then it was back to preschool we went! Luke was VERY excited to be moved up to the 3’s class with Mrs. Joanna. He spent many weeks with me up at my classroom getting it ready before school so he would chat her up in the hallway. A perk of a teacher’s kid apparently!

We celebrated all of us going back to school at the same time with just one Back to School Brinner so Luke was able to fill out some of the same things.

I don’t know if you remember Caleb’s but his was to be kind to spread the Gospel. Luke stayed in true 2nd child form and is trying to figure out how to control the world. So there’s that.

He is super pumped about making friends and thinks that it is so fun that the old Wee Wiggle coach is one of his teachers. And the new Wee Wiggle coach is Caleb’s best friend’s mom. Gotta love all the things!

A switch for us this year is our classrooms are not next door to one another anymore. That was such an easy and sweet thing for us last year and we were able to enjoy a lot of waves to one another. There are days where I don’t even see him so that will definitely be an adjustment!

We asked him our same annual questions…

What is your favorite color? Red

What is your favorite food? Hot dog

Who is your best friend? Well Caleb and Brooks (Brooks is definitely Caleb’s best friend)

What is your favorite thing to play with? My new toy from the dentist

What is your favorite animal? Lion, Tiger, and panda

What is your favorite movie? Encanto and Trolls

What is your favorite book? I don’t have a favorite book

What do you want to be when you grow up? A football player

Here are his answers from last year…

2 Year Old Class

And there you have it! He is certainly our little guy that keeps us on our toes and makes us laugh a LOT. We are excited to see what God has for him this year as well!

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9

It is hard to believe but we are already in our third year of elementary school for our big guy! Something about second grade just seems BIG. But he was beyond ready! This year feels like his first NORMAL school year and we are SO excited for him.

A lot of his close buddies are in the other second grade class but he took it in stride and was excited to see who he might see again from kindergarten. The great thing about his small school is his grade level does lunch and both recesses together so he still gets lots of time with all of his friends.

Hot lunch has been free for the past two years because of the pandemic but that has sadly ended (for him and for me). Packing lunches has become a part of our lives again so that’s been a fun adjustment (for mostly me – ha!). Did I forget to send a drink one day already? Of course not.

He was VERY excited about the teacher that he got this year! When we asked him why he wanted that particular teacher, his answer was really only because she seemed to be friends with his first grade teacher. But we will take it because we are HUGE fans of his first grade teacher!

When his new teacher asked him what he was most excited about for second grade, he said writing! Which was what he said at meet the teacher last year too. So he’s nothing if not consistent. She has already made a huge emphasis on reading and it has certainly caught on! Caleb has always loved to read but now he seems to be reading nonstop if he has any extra moments. Mrs. Abney for the win!

Every year, our tradition is to have a Back to School Brinner {breakfast for dinner} the night before school starts. This of course makes the boys feel special but more than anything, it gives our whole family an opportunity to chat about the upcoming year and pray over the boys and pray for all the things. It’s been fun to see how much the boys look forward to this night!

The whole dining room is decorated in a back to school theme and I always lay out their backpacks to ignite some excitement. The boys were pumped to keep their Dude Perfect and baseball backpacks for this year.

Even though Caleb started a week earlier than Luke’s preschool, we celebrated both of them! Ever since Caleb started preschool, we have asked him the same exact questions every year. So this is since he was 2 years old! It has been so fun to see how answers change and how some have stayed exactly the same.

What is your favorite color? Green

What is your favorite food? Pizza

Who is your best friend? Brooks

What is your favorite thing to play with? My Pokémon toys

What is your favorite animal? Cape buffalo

What is your favorite movie? Planes

What is your favorite book? Dog Man and Cat Kid

What do you want to be when you grow up? I no longer want to be a spy because it seems dangerous if you quit that or get caught. I want to be a construction worker now.

Here are all his answers (& cute pics!) from past years:

1st Grade

Kindergarten

Jr Kindergarten

3 Year Old Class

2 Year Old Class

Y’all. His sweet little answer for how he plans to change the world. None of it prompted and all him. Moments like this, I am always reminded that this is Caleb’s mission field and our greatest ministry is disciple him and walk him through what it looks like to be a light in the darkness.

Where we cannot enter, God is with him. And the most comforting thing of all is knowing that God loves him more and His plans are far greater anyway. So here we are again, trusting God with our guy as he walks the halls of second grade! We are praying BIG things for our BIG guy!!

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9

As crazy as it is, this summer has come & gone! But what’s even more sad is that at some point, I stopped documenting our family’s adventures on this blog. It’s been a YEAR! I love to write and I love to keep record of what our fam is up to so here I am again to try and revive this old dusty thing! So here I am with a snapshot of our crazy busy summer!

We kicked off summer immediately with some of our best friend families on a road trip to Branson, Missouri! What could be more fun than 10 adults and 15 kids all in one house?! We played in the pools, putt-putted, boated & tubed like crazy, & even checked out some Branson shopping. It was SO MUCH FUN!

Next up was surgery. PARTY! The day after we got home, I had my gallbladder removed. So that obviously halted summer a bit. But thankfully I have an incredible support system that stepped in and took care of me and my family when I could not.

VBS TIME!!! Nothing like helping lead the charge on a huge event right after having surgery. I don’t always make the best life choices but I can honestly say that I sat WAY more for this VBS than even when I was pregnant with Luke. So I listen to doctor’s orders. Kind of. It was an absolutely MONUMENTAL week!!! (I had to throw that pun in for the last time.)

Caleb (and Coach Nick!) ended their baseball season! It was such a great time with fun friends and a really great team. I think the coaches had just as much fun as the boys.

Our favorite guy headed off to Poland to care for our favorite Polish friends!!! We were sad to not go with him, but we are holding hope for next time. He really enjoyed his time being able to reconnect with so many of his friends that he hasn’t had the opportunity to see in years because of the pandemic.

While he was away, my girls totally showed up and surprised me with a birthday party in my own backyard!!! Talk about the cream of the crop. These girls have my heart.

Aunt Katie came to visit too!!! We went to a fun ice cream shop, a concert in the park, putt-putted, and then…

We did the FRIENDS experience and took pictures with alllll the things!

Our best guy got home just in time for my birthday dinner at Chuy’s! Best birthday gift ever!

Our festive 4th of July weekend began with Red, White, & You with the whole town of Littleton!

We snuck in a night under the stars and twinkly lights on a dance floor with a bonus of fireworks that almost took out two of our hubby’s (including my own!).

A spontaneous visit from Aunt JJ was super fun and exciting!!

We ended the 4th with a BANG! celebrating with friends & fireworks at our house. Our culdesac on the 4th will always give me Sandlot vibes and I love it.

We had some lake days thrown in there throughout the summer!

And some pool days too! This is what summer is all about, right?! Especially when Colorado got all confused and it became a million degrees outside.

Nick and I had to reschedule our anniversary trip to July because of my surgery. But that meant we got to enjoy the rooftop pool! We stayed in downtown Denver at a hotel that overlooked Coors Field and it was all decked out in baseball decor. We joked that the baseball was for him & the pool was for me. And if anyone came to our wedding, it kind of accidentally/on purpose was baseball themed so it was perfect!

Next up was our small group camping trip to Glendo, Wyoming! It’s been a joke ever since we joined this group that I find a way out of the annual camping trip. Well this year I did it! A testament of how much I love these people.

Next up is where it’s about to get crazy! My dad flew up to help drive myself and the boys down to Texas for our 19 day adventure. Yup, you read that right. So I’ll try to break this trip down in sections…

The first part of the trip was at the cousins’ house where all the crazies could be reunited! It’s a shame they don’t enjoy being together.

Aunt Kaylyn took them to see Shrek Jr which was so cute! Luke was a bit terrified at one point because he thought Pinnochio’s nose was going to grow all the way to poke him but we worked through it. By me holding him the rest of the time.

One of my best friend’s family’s made the trek over to see us and it’s always so much fun to see how all the kids have grown when they are together again! That big teenage boy on the left was our ring bearer and now he’s deciding to show up all grown up with a girlfriend in tow.

We visited with our Aunt Janie who is my Grandad’s sister! It’s always so precious to be able to see her and have the boys get to know her.

Matching shirts are always a must.

Next part of the trip was time at Mimi & G-Daddy’s house! The boys and I got to eat LOTS of yummy seafood, take walks by the boats & water, play in the pool, and spent a night at the boardwalk which made up so many of my childhood memories.

We had to throw in a day at the beach since the cousins were there and the boys have never actually played in the ocean that I grew up right by!

The next couple days, the boys got to play with grandparents while I got some girl time with two of my besties at the beach! Way overdue and so, so great!

DUDE PERFECT TIME!!! Say what?! We surprised the kids with a 24 hour trip back up to Dallas to see DP. And even more fun was that Aunt JJ met us there too since she works with the twins’ dad and all. This whole show was SO MUCH FUN. Caleb’s hype level was absolutely beyond.

This is the part of the trip where it got kinda cray! We ended up driving to Houston, picking up Nick (YAY!!!), driving back to Dallas because plans got thwarted, and spending the week back up there. But the Nanan showed up a couple days in and all was well!

The trip ended with a youth group reunion where we got to see people that I probably haven’t seen in over a decade! It was so great to be able to reminisce and really celebrate all that God has done through that group.

We have taken a picture in front of the Sam Houston statue ever I started visiting when Caleb and Maddie were only 1 on our drives from Houston to Dallas. The tradition lives on!

We spent a lot of life with my sister’s family during those 19 days! A good bit in the car driving between Houston and Dallas, a night with all 8 of us in one hotel room, a ton of time in their pool, and some helping put their kitchen back together. (Because we totally showed up at the tail end of their home renovation just like all good guests do! Ha!)

We ended the summer with a pool day with JoJo!!

Whew! This was QUITE the summer where we really packed it in. It was definitely full of memories and fun! We are sad to see it go, but know that routine & structure & school are calling.

Farewell Summer 2022, you were one for the books!

Y’all, I don’t even know how we have arrived here. My little baby has decided to get all big enough to go to preschool. And what is even more fun is now I’m a preschool teacher and his class is literally right next to mine! It was always so fun knowing that Caleb was in the same building as me when he was in preschool, but it’s different actually being apart of the preschool with Luke. And by different, i mean that it’s really fun!

We celebrated Luke the same night as Caleb at our back to school brinner and we have steadily been trying to pump up the whole preschool thing. This summer, Luke has been crying every time we have dropped him off at his Sunday school class so I was a bit nervous about how this whole thing was all going to go. He kept saying he was excited but he’s also two years old so obviously he’s not always easy to believe! He is in the 2 year old class with Mrs. Paulette which is the same exact class that Caleb started in. We all went on and on about how amazing his teacher was, including big brother!

Since I’ve been asking Caleb the same questions since he started preschool, it was time to ask Luke the same ones! I have had lower expectations for him just because he is two months younger than what Caleb was when he started. But his answers were still pretty cute!

What is your favorite color? I love red!

What is your favorite food? Eggs (I’m pretty sure this was just because he was eating eggs at our back to school brinner. His favorite food is hot dogs ALL DAY LONG.)

Who is your best friend? JoJo

What is your favorite thing to play with? My car

What is your favorite animal? Lion

What is your favorite movie? Uhhhhh, I can’t remember that. Wreck it Ralph.

What is your favorite book? Uh… uh…Luca. Oh dinosaur book – I love that book! (He may or may not have received some help from JoJo on remembering about the dinosaur book.)

What do you want to be when you grow up? Uhhh.. GO TO SCHOOL!

The great news is that he went right into preschool with no tears at all! His teachers said he did great and every time I walked past, he was happily playing or participating. He gave us a report at the end of his first day that he had a good day which included playing at the playground (NOT in the sandbox), he ate his colored goldfish, and he is just going to go potty at home. He is not potty trained yet so apparently every time they asked if he wanted to try to potty, he said ‘I just go at home.’ 🤣

His backpack looks like a baseball and his water bottle is red so he pretty much loves everything about all of that! We are excited for our little guy and hope that he will have such a great year making some buddies and getting to be apart of something that is his own. When filling out the preschool paperwork, I wanted to write ‘he’s nothing like Caleb!’ 🤣 While Caleb is cautious, Luke is fearless. While Caleb loves to follow rules, Luke loves to be a little stubborn. The little guy loves to be silly and he makes us laugh on the regular! And one thing for sure is he loves his big brother BIG time. So anything to make time pass by until Caleb gets done with school, Luke is all about!

So here is to a super fun year for Lukey Bear! We love you buddy!

Here we are again – sending our child to elementary school in a pandemic! Although last year was so strange, Caleb absolutely loved kindergarten. His teacher and school were so wonderful and made school so much fun even amidst the weirdness. The great thing is that he didn’t really know the difference since it was his first year in elementary school anyway. And now he is off to first grade! We are choosing to celebrate the small victories like visitors (aka parents) being allowed back in the building, field trips coming back, and the biggest one for Caleb is eating lunch in the cafeteria. He is also pumped that they can play on the playground and eat lunch with the other first grade class since a lot of his buddies are in there. So again, not back to normal but choosing joy!

This year, we were able to go in person for Meet the Teacher! Caleb took us around on a tour of his school since Nick and Luke had never been inside. The school had a Jumpstart week and Caleb was able to get to know his new teacher there so he was pumped when he found out he had her for first grade!

Back to school means it was time for our Back to School Brinner {breakfast for dinner}! We celebrate the night before school begins with a special dinner. This gives us plenty of time to celebrate the new year, talk about school, and just bring some excitement to the new chapter! Caleb absolutely loves it because he is just like his mama – loves any reason to celebrate anything.

This year, Luke is starting school too – preschool! I always lay out Caleb’s backpack & water bottle on the chair in the corner so it got a little extra crowded this year. This year was back to Super Mario for Caleb and all baseball for Luke. Their favorite colors for their water bottles for the win (which their awesome Aunt Ley Ley & Nanan decked out with their names). Luke doesn’t start for another week, but we wanted to go ahead and celebrate both of them!

Our brinner is always decked out with place settings and decorated with school supplies. We always have some kind of variation of eggs, cinnamon rolls, fruit kabobs, sausage balls, and this year the boys went the chocolate milk route!

Our family has a red special plate that my family had growing up as well. It’s always a big day when you get to eat off the special plate! The problem is solved right now because Luke can’t eat off breakable plates yet (and doesn’t understand the significance of the special plate). Guess we will have to figure out something different when he gets older! Right now Mickey Mouse does the trick.

Ever since Caleb started preschool at 2 years old (in the same class that Luke is starting in!), I have asked him the same questions every year to see the difference. He is the one that now reminds me that it’s time to ask the questions!

What is your favorite color? Green

What is your favorite food? Pizza

Who is your best friend? Brooks & Hava

What is your favorite thing to play with? My Mario Kart cars

What is your favorite animal? Lion

What is your favorite movie? Yes Day

What is your favorite book? Dog Man books

What do you want to be when you grow up? A spy!

This kid is nothing if not consistent so he pretty much keeps the same answers every year. The last few are newer answers, especially because he can actually read this year! He flew through all the Dog Man books this past summer along with a lot of Nate the Greats.

Here are his answers (and cute pics!) from years past…

Kindergarten

JR Kindergarten

3 Year Old Class

2 Year Old Class

Our guy is so ready for first grade! He loves school – everything from learning to hanging out with friends!

When his teacher asked him what he was most excited about for 1st grade, he said writing! His first day of school included his favorite specials class… can you guess? PE! He was quick to report that he also has a new PE teacher this year because the last one retired. He has been so cute to explain differences between kindergarten and first grade but so far, only good things!

A couple nights before school started, our family prayer walked around the school. (Huge benefit to it being basically in our back yard!) We all took turns praying for Caleb, all the students, all the teachers & staff, and for God to move through his entire school and for the Gospel to invade all the spaces. We are well aware that it is another strange, less than ideal year. But we also know that God has prepared Caleb for just a time as this and placed him in that school for a purpose. So we are praying BIG things for our BIG guy!

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10

Wow! Looking back at my last blog post, it was OCTOBER. This feels like right around the time that life really geared back up to ‘normal-ish.’ But let’s be honest, normal is all pretty relative these days. Life just started to feel more full last fall when up to that point, it had been pretty bare. So apparently with the adjustment back, I clearly had no time to blog! This past summer has brought about a new chapter of my life so I’m hoping that means a little bit more time to write again.

After serving on our church staff for over five years, we feel like the Lord was leading me to take a step back. When Nick and I met, we were both working in ministry at two different churches. I left my staff position when we got married and it had always been our prayer that we would one day serve together on the same church staff. God was so incredible in answering that prayer and allowing us so many years to be in ministry together. As much as I have LOVED it, God was just tugging on my heart to focus more on my boys while I still have them at home. I’ve taken a position at our church preschool that I’m pretty excited about! When I came off church staff when we got married, I taught in preschool for a couple of years. So it’s not my first rodeo, but it will be the first time I have a kiddo at the preschool where I’m teaching which is fun! That’s right – Lukey Bear is headed to preschool this year. We also aren’t quite sure how he got old enough to do that but here we are. A new chapter for all of us!

Before we move to this next season, I wanted to do a quick highlight recap over our summer. Because it was FULL, FULL, FULL – especially compared to summer of 2020. We have reflected on this a bunch this summer. As excited as we were to be able to do things we missed, summer of 2020 will also be remembered as such a fun, chill summer where we just spent time with our bubble of people.

Here is our summer of 2021…

We went to Mexico with some of our favorite people in May! This should have been a whole blog post in its own because it was SO MUCH FUN.

The McCrarys came to stay over Memorial weekend and we had a blast together! They hadn’t been to Colorado since Luke was born so it was so much fun to actually leave our house and do fun, non-newborn things.

Pretty much all that happened between Mexico and this picture was VBS PREP!!! It was exciting to have VBS back in person this year even with all the restriction obstacles. This is a week where our entire family is serving & having fun together and we love it!

Bri and I were back at it this year with our themed birthday party! A 90’s Just Dance party was absolutely hilarious and such a totally awesome blast! Zack Morris would have been proud.

Student Camp was totally different this year but still so great!! Our awesome student ministry team hosted it on our church campus which was an incredible amount of work, but I’m pretty sure they would say it was totally worth it. Our boys certainly loved living that camp life every evening!

A family trip to the infamous Seaside was next on the agenda! Us and all of the southern states seemed to be vacationing together, but who can super complain when your days consist of beach & pool?

We celebrated the 4th of July with a pool party, fireworks, & LOTS of red, white, & blue!

These guys would definitely say a highlight was the All Star Game in Denver! Nick also got to go to the Homerun Derby while I rocked it as a boy mom and watched the whole thing on TV with the boys.

We spent TWO weeks in Texas this summer!! The first week, we hung out in DFW area with the cousins which included lots of swimming, splash pad, Fort Worth stockyards, a date night for the parentals, and family time!

Week two was at Nanan and Pop’s house in the Houston area which definitely included a lot of Olympics watching! Peep the banner and Olympics shirts.

Lake Boat Day!!! Lots of tubing & swimming for the cousin crew.

Water park day! These kids were living their best lives in the sun and water. The rest of the week was full of swimming and trampoline parks. Both things they absolutely love. Both things makes them sleep good at night. 😉

We spent a fun day in Galveston with Mimi & G-Daddy at the aquarium and eating yummy food! And LOTS of ice cream.

Some of my college besties and I met for brunch and my heart was so happy to be with them. These girls have been by my side since I met them, even if distance doesn’t always let us see each other.

Then I was able to end my Texas trip for a beach weekend with some of my other besties! We all became so close when we worked together over a decade ago (how is that even possible?). They are my original children ministry besties and I’ll love them forever!

Our trip came to an end and I survived a day in the airport with these two crazies! Both June & July trips brought cancelled or delayed flights which were definitely NOT a highlight of the summer. 🤪

Our family did a day in downtown Denver! I had not been down there since right before the pandemic so it was great to be back. We did the splash pad and checked out the new McGregor Square to watch the Rockies game.

Some family drove thru our part of Colorado for a trip which turned into such a great evening together! I say it all the time but if you’re ever in Colorado, PLEASE tell us because we want to see you.

These two besties got lots of fun play dates together during the summer! They may not have each other in school but they’re still partners in crime.

It’s been our family tradition for quite a few years now to do some time in Breck at the end of the summer. This year it had to just be a day trip, but it was still worth it! The annual trips with the boys in the same places makes my mama heart so happy.

And just like that, summer is over! The boys have all their back to school items and they are ready for the upcoming year. It’s always bittersweet to say goodbye to summer, but we can’t wait to see what this school year will bring with new rhythms for our family!