2 sisters and their dogs

My sister and I are not really animal people.  Amy got Copper about 2 years ago and I thought she was crazy.  She was big and a total spaz!  But Amy fell in love.  After years of my husband begging me for a dog I agreed when peanut, a super tiny, low-maintenance dog, fell in our laps.  They couldn't be more opposites.  But we do kinda like them.

A boy and his dog

They are starting to warm to each other.  They love to play together and cuddle together.  I love to see Luke try to discipline him. He thinks he's the boss.  He says "knock it off Peanut".  or  "No peanut eat my poop"....it was too late he already did.

Luke's birthday

Only 3 months overdue!!  I still can't believe my sweet baby boy is three.  He is talking all the time....non-stop and very loudly.  He is so friendly and cute but ornery at the same time.   We had a small party for him just dinner at Bandanna's with the whole family and then back to mom's for cake.

Did I mention he LOVES spider man and sponge bob!!

1st Snow fall of the year.

This was early December.  The kids were so super excited and spent a lot of time outside.  Luke was frozen to the core and didn't even care.  I made him come in and he did kicking and screaming.  The only reason he stopped was because I made them some hot cocoa.

 Luke was too busy shoveling to help us build this snowman.   Lauren helped but I did most of it.  I actually had a good time.  It had been a really long time since I built a snowman.  Lauren wanted to name him frosty.  He has a real carrot nose, lego eyes, rock mouth, santa hat, and stick arms.  I think he even has some ears.

 I made him go out with a hat on but he kept taking it off so I gave up.  We went sledding too.  It was fun until Lauren started throwing a fit about me walking up the hill first.  I had to take her to the car where we had to stay and watch Daddy and Luke sled.  Luke had a great time.  He kept saying "again, again" When it was time to go he threw a big fit.   Geezzz kids take all the fun out of a family fun activity.

New year's Eve

 Wow this ones a little late!!  Every year the Cunningham's are so gracious to host a New Year's Eve party.  This year especially gracious being that they just had their fourth boy 2 weeks prior.  22 children were at this party.  Seems crazy but is really fun and not that out of control.  We made it until midnight.  Luke cried all the way home but fell asleep right away once at home.  Both kids slept super late the next morning.

My semi-sweet Girl

Lauren has a super sweet personality but she will turn on you like a viper.  I enjoy having conversations with her.  I like that she is so interested in things and  wants to hear stories.  She is doing really well at school and when she is focused does a really nice job with her reading.  She has a wonderful singing voice and loves to belt out the song Let it Go from Frozen.  She is helpful and a good listener some of the time.  The rest of the time she is very challenging.  She is not always nice to Luke, she is very competitive...not in a good way, she throws fits (screams and yells), wants her way and is not nice about it when she doesn't get her way.  She can be sassy and snotty.  Thankfully she does have a good side to help me forget about the not so great stuff.

Lauren's favorite food is grilled cheese with ketchup.  Not the kind I make only from a restaurant.  She loves spaghetti too.  She still loves playing with barbies and dolls.  She has done a nice job of taking care of Caroline (her American Girl Doll)  She dresses her every morning in an outfit she lays out the night before.  We call her a hoarder.  She has way too much stuff, her room is a mess, and she refuses to get rid of anything.  Her favorite princess is Sleeping Beauty.  She got the movie from my sister for Christmas and she has watched it 15 times.  When she grows up she wants to be a princess.  Her favorite color is pink and she is still obsessed with pink Blankie.

My Lukie

Luke is approaching 3 and he has been a delightfully cute and funny little 2 year old.  He has a love-hate relationship with Peanut.  And Peanut has a love-hate relationship with Luke.  In this picture Luke loves Peanut...Peanut does not love Luke so much.  But at dinner time Peanut loves Luke!  And at bedtime Luke doesn't like Peanut so much.  He yells at him to "GET OUT".  He doesn't like Peanut to come in his room.  They both love to chase each other and play.  Peanut likes to bark at nothing so we are trying to break him of this and Luke is helping us.  We have a can filled with pennies and it is suppose to get him to stop when we shake it.  So when Peanut barks Luke yells "GET the CAN".  Luke likes to say things very loudly and repeats what ever he is saying over and over until he gets the answer he wants or until we tell him to stop.

Luke likes dinosaurs.  He runs after us with it saying rrrrr at the top of his lungs.  Or instead of running he just shoves the dinosaur in our face and says rrrrrrr.  It's really cute!  He has spiky hair here.  He loves when I do his hair like this.  He has so much energy and is so full of life.  It's sometimes exhausting which is why I took the next picture.

He loves to sleep with his Ni-Ni (blanket) and his moose pillow.  Which is now really flat because he sleeps on top of it every night.  He is going through a phase where he goes to sleep pretty well but will get up during the night.  It is making me crazy.

The boy still loves to eat but has become a little more picky.  Every time I asks him what he wants to eat or what he ate he says pizza. In this picture he is showing me a piece of chocolate.  He loves candy and anything sweet.  At dinner he usually looks at what I have fixed and says "I no ike dat".  I make him try it because he usually does like it (spegheti, ham, chicken, rice) and he takes a bite and smiles and says "me ike it".

Before Luke turned three he was no where near potty training.  He had yet to even pee on the potty.  On Christmas day we let him go without a diaper and we told him if he used the potty he would get a piece of candy.  He went right to his little potty sat down and came running to say he pooped.  I went to look and sure enough he did.  It was the size of my picky nail but by golly it was a poop so he got his candy.  He proceeded to poop two more times in the potty but peed twice on the floor.

Lauren and Luke are still sweet with each other about 60% of the time.  The other 40% of the time they bicker.  Luke likes to tattle now.  He comes to me and says "woren mean".  I say what did she do that was mean.  He say" I ont know".  He is starting to push the limits more.  It is getting really hard to discipline him because when he does something he shouldn't he knows he shouldn't and gives you this big cheesy grin.  I have had to send him to his room a lot for not listening.  He goes in without complaint and comes out a minute later saying "I orry Mommy, I orry :( "