Luke rips out his 3rd tooth!

Well, Luke (aka crazy man) has done it again -- another tooth is out pre-maturely! His new favorite thing is for us to double bounce him on the trampoline and him to go flying in the air. This time he went too high and too close to the net and his tooth got caught in the net - yikes! At this point, the front tooth is still there however, it is "crooked" (as one of his friends pointed out at school) and apparently, is hanging by one side.

Most likely, Luke will be wishing for 4 front teeth for Christmas this year!

I loved Granlyn's comment when we told her -- she recommended a mouth guard for all sporting activitis and in Luke's case 24/7 -- we love you, crazy man!

Here are the girls - from left, Ronda, Whitney, Stacey, Kirstin, Dawn, Kristi, Claudia and Me -- we had such a fun time, maybe even more fun than the kids :)

We met at our friends house, the Bowie's, for a before (and after) party -- Luke had the idea 6 months ago to be the Incredibles for Halloween so, this has been a much anticipated evening at the Elder home! We had a great time and the kids loaded up on candy.

Luke's Halloween parade at school

Here is my little Incredible Dash! This costume fits him perfectly as he always "dashes" around the house or anywhere for that matter! Happy Halloween -- oh, and he insisted that I wear mine to "his" party - whew hew!

Nate. Luke and Parker after Nate's baseball game!

Parkers little friends -- Peyton and Presley. Daddy sang at Gateway church on Friday night and the kids had a blast playing together with their friends. Here are a few of them.

Verde Mexican Restaurant

This was Sunday afternoon and we stopped at this Mexican Restaurant on Hamilton Pool Rd called Verde. It has a gigantic area for the kids to play ball and an area with statues like this one of the turtle, the kids were having a sweet moment and I got them to hug -- priceless!

I love this picture! My little daredevil taking my cautious one out to the platform. Luke had swam out to the platform and jumped off a number of times but Parker was scared, she finally went with a little encouraging and then did it the rest of the day! Yeah, she conquered her fear, we knew she could!

More DCR

Fishin' and swimmin' at DCR!

Deer Creek Ranch Fun

Last Sunday afternoon we went to Deer Creek Ranch, the subdivision where Chris builds, and the kids had to go through a few homes before we played so, here they are anxiously awaiting for Mom and Dad to hurry through the houses. Their expressions are priceless in this pic!

Parents Day at Luke's school

The same day as the Author party, Luke had a Parents Day at his school -- he is learning so much and he shared his journal with us.

When you ask Luke to smile, this is often what you get so, it's candid! Silly Luke.

Parker Publishes her 1st book

Parker published her first book in school. They had an Author party where parents could come and listen to their kids read their stories. Here is Parker reading her book, it was about Luke and a pizza party -- she always writes funny stories about her brother!

September 19th - Luke learns to ride bike w/out training wheels!

YEAH! Luke was so determined to learn to ride his bike this weekend w/out training wheels! Grandad is the pro at teaching all the kids and he has another successful rider! Luke was such a sport, he fell a number of times and would get back up and say "I'm okay, let's do it again!" -- that's my tough guy! And Parker was a great cheerleader for her brother!

Granlyn and Grandad came in town for the weekend and we had so much fun! Parker was so proud to show them her reading -- she is doing so well and getting very smart :)

Painting Faces

I had to get this picture because at the end of the summer, the neighbor kids LOVED to paint their faces -- well, as you can see Luke decided to paint his entire body - so fun! Needless to say, we immediately jumped in the bath and thank goodness they make markers that are "washable" nowadays!

Parker and Luke in their "fort"

Here they are! Doing one of their favorite things -- building a fort with our pillows. I wish life stayed this simple! :)

Our Dogs

Here are our precious little dachsunds -- on the left is Callie (girl) and Jingle (Bell) is on the right. The kids were reading books to Jingle and made a pallet for him to lay on. Sweet Callie likes to be wherever Mom is and preferrably in my lap!

Just Proud Parents - again

Luke, Luke, Luke -- well, he has been in school a few weeks now and he is quite the socialite! He rides in a carpool with 2 other boys and often they talk about "boy" stuff in the car on the way to and fro.





Ms. Gretchen is his new teacher and was scared that Luke was going to hurt himself on the playground the first day of school (which is the typical reaction of someone who has never seen him on the playground!). But said how cute and fun his personality was and she could see why he was the most requested kid to be in class with.





After insisting that there weren't any girls in his new class, he finally fessed up and said that he did think one of them was "kinda cute" -- her name is Mia. Mia is the cutest little girl. Chris went to the school and surprised Luke the other day on the playground and he was performing for all 5 girls on top of a tractor (and he says there aren't any girls). I'm afraid I have my work cut out for me during those teenage years!



Luke always keeps us laughing.

Just Proud Parents

There is no picture with this post, just proud parents that like to share their kids stuff!



Tonight was Back to School night at Clayton Elementary -- I was so excited to hear about what Parker was learnin although, I do know a lot of what goes on because EVERYDAY after school she races to put her backpack up, shoes up, changes clothes (of coarse) and then goes straight to her "classroom" to teach -- sometimes I stand by the door to hear her :) and most of the time, if not all the time, I am the student. Her teachers are so nice and they speak so kindly to the kids. I found out tonight that they don't use a "behavior chart" like they did in Kinder because they feel it put the kids on display that continually get in trouble -- and when I thought about it, I knew everyday in Kinder who had the dreaded "clip change" and who just "doesn't know how to behave at school". Instead, her new teachers use all positive reinforcement and only focus on the good and not the bad -- yeah! I love it!



We got to look through her journal and what she had been writing about every day and I had to share a few...

1) My Mom and Dad are crazy. -- I'm assuming in a good way :)

2) My home is a safe place to be.

3) I have a Mom, Dad, bruvr (aka brother) and 2 sets of grandparents. I love my family.

4) My Mom was sick and then my Dad got sick, I think my Mom got my Dad sick.



I am so enjoying them and thank God that he entrusted me with his precious gifts.

Parkers New Bike

It's official! We bought Parker a new bike on Friday because her knees were up to the handle bars of the other one -- we are going to start riding to school! Yeah!

Look at her cute little attitude with her hand in the pic -- oh, and I wish they had baskets like that when I was young. She can carry all sorts of stuff in there.

Brownie Ceremony

Parker is officially a Brownie! They do a cute little ceremony to welcome them from Daisy's to Brownies and then it's to Girl Scouts from there. She didn't want me clapping or taking pics of the actual ceremony so here is a picture of the "hand squeeze" they do at the end of each meeting after singing "Make New Friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold".

Granlyn, I remember you being the Brownie troop leader when I did this and I volunteered to help with selling cookies - whew hew!

Luke's new Gymnastics Class

Luke started a new gym class this week and he is really loving it! He is the only kid in the class and the instructor said that he was "so strong and coordinated" for his age! Of coarse, I beamed just like it was the first time I had heard it :) He got to do rings, parallel bars, trampoline, pit and spring board all in one day -- you think he would need a good nap afterwards but not so!

Luke's 1st day at CDC

Here is our little one, Luke headed for his new Pre-K class! The director told me Luke was the most requested kid to be in their class by parents! We love you Luke and are so proud of you and your vibrant pesonality. Mom and Dad

First Day of School for Parker and Luke

Here she is -- our big girl going to 1st grade! She was so brave going to school and was practically running to get there! We love you, Pookie!

Beach Girls Trip

I forgot to put a picture of our girls trip to the beach -- we had just the right amount of dancin', relaxin' and sunnin' -- thanks girls for coming this year, I value each of your friendships.

Teacher Day

Today we got to visit Luke's class room at CDC and find out who Parkers 1st grade teacher is -- what a big day it was full of excitement.

Both kids are so excited to start school.

Buca

Last dinner out before the new school year starts! We got to sit in the kitchen and watch the chefs prepare the food at Buca di bepo -- we had a great time and the food was yummy.

The funniest part of the evening was when Parker discovered a porcelain angel fountain and you can guess where the water was pouring out from -- the kids couldn't stop laughing and we had to keep getting up to go see it - kids, they always find humor in the ordinary to adults! I love it!

Luke and Nate -- best buddies! It was so cute, the cousins all had a blast and when Nate had to get in his other car to go home, Nate and Luke both cried. They love each other.

Jeff and Luke

This is such a sweet picture -- this is our family friend Jeff Gladden, whom Stacy and I grew up with -- he is so good with our kids and he held Luke up so that he could see all the fish that the Big Boats were bringing in at the Deep Sea Roundup. Thanks Jeff for giving Mom and Dad a break. We love you!

Parker's Camp Spirit Performance

Parker had so much fun at this camp -- it was a 3 day camp where she met new friends, learned some new cheers and she was so proud that she was chosen to be front-and-center for the pyramid - Mom, Dad and Luke went to see the performance and we were so proud of her.

Mom and Dad's 2nd Honeymoon

We went to San Diego to celebrate our 9th Anniversary - whew hew! This picture was taken on the last night at the hotel after a few cucumber martinis :) 9 years and still havin' fun!

Luke and Chris going out in the boat

I love this picture because this was Luke's favorite thing to do at the beach -- he and Dad would go out in the deep water and ride the waves with the boat. My little thrill seeker even loved it when the waves would tumble him over.

Beach weekend w/Chris' parents

I love these pictures! Playing on the beach, going for a sunset cruise on the boat. We even saw a "pirate ship" in the channel and luckily we were safe.

July 4th weekend (more)

Here we are at the Piggy Perch contest -- 1st ones there, imagine that!

We are ready to "reel" em in!

A good pic of the captains of the boat!

BDog, ElDog and D-man

Not sure when or where we came up with those names but somewhere in our years of friendship!

D-man is not looking very jovial in this pic, don't let him fool ya - sometimes we can't get him to stop giggling!

July 4th Beach weekend

So fun! A highlight was going to the Deep Sea Roundup and the Fireworks. Luke and Parker got to touch a 54 lb. Wahoo fish that came in on the boat, it won 2nd prize! Luke touched his eyes and Parker touched his belly. It rained the entire 1st morning of the roundup so you can see us in ponchos, made out of black trash bags :)

You can tell from the picture that fishing in the rain is not Parkers idea of fun!

Beach w/Harris' and Dilts' '08

We had so much fun this year at the beach with our good friends -- the kids played really well together and as always, we made some new, fun memories! The pic on the left is of the kids dancing on the bed and the one on the right is a pic of us visiting "Bruce, the shark" -- what fun!