picture fun (lots of pictures!)

(He takes after his dad, he is attempting to play xbox!)

TONS of Memorial Day Pictures!

For Memorial Day this year we did the usual and went over to Grandma and Pa-ba Schlenker's house for a BBQ and some polar bear swimming!

I think that Pa-ba pulled out the bubbles to try and deter the kiddlets from wanting to swim in the pool because it was SO cold and there was no way I was going to get in. When it is cold it is either Grandpa, or they don't swim! I know, I am so mean!

as hard as he tried, even the fun new sprinkler wouldn't keep them away from the pool for long!

Cute picture with Aunite Becca!

Luke started by sitting on the side of the pool with his feet in the water and for a little bit he was content...

...until he saw Taylie jump into the pool and start having some fun with Grandpa

then he thought...

I WANT TO TOO!!!!!!

Last summer he was such a grouch! He would last maybe 10 minutes and scowled the whole time. This year, he followed Taylie's lead and jumped right into the 70 degree water and loved it!

Do you think he is having fun?!

They kept taking turns jumping off the side to Grandpa, who would catch them and swim with them for awhile. He is such a champ and my kids are so luck to have him for a grandpa. I mean, how many of you would jump into 70 degree water every memorial day just to make a couple of toddlers happy? I wouldn't.

We finally had to force them to get out when they were shivering, and even when we told them it was time to get out, Luke would let his body go limp so Grandpa would have to catch him so he wouldn't fall in the pool. Then he kept saying "1 more! 1 more! 1 more!" and would jump in as soon as his feet hit the ladder. No matter how cold he was, he didn't want to get out!

This summer is going to be much better with a happy boy to swim with!

Luke's 18 month check up

Luke is 18 months! Crazy. Here are his stats:

Height: 33 1/4 " or 2 feet 9 1/4 inches (75-90%)
Weight: 26.4 lbs (50%)

Head: 49.6 cm (90%)

He is staying very much along the same growth curve. Getting taller, losing the baby chub (except his legs, he has the same cute little fat legs and ankles he has had since he was a ity bity...) and his head is huge. Again, not a freak of nature, but big. The Dr. suggested that it much be holding his big brain because he is always blown away by how smart he is (actually, both of the kids). I know that sounds like bragging, and it is a little bit, but the Doc is actually really surprised by how much my kiddlets pick up on and how fast they learn. He has said that they are extremely intellegent.

He also said that Luke is so different from Taylie that I could not have two kids that are any more opposite if I tried to design them myself. His suggestion is that Luke's stubbornness will serve him very well as an adult, and for now I should just accept the fact that I am frequently manipulated and suck it up! I think I can live with that...I mean, could you ever be mad at this face:

Luke's favorite youtube.com video...

such a boy...



here is the proof:

again, such a little boy! amused by farts :)

trip to the zoo!

We made another trip to the zoo, this year we got to take Luke with us and I wasn't pregnant so it was enjoyable in multiple new ways. Taylie took it upon herself to show Luke around the zoo, since she is a self proclamed expert.

...love this girl :)
It was a totally different experience this year with Taylie a whole year and a half older. She knew what all the animals were and she knew what she wanted to see. First we stopped at the monkeys, because Luke loves monkeys!

Luke loved the monkeys! When he saw these little guys running around he would clap his hands together and say "SNAP!". ( This comes from a song that he sings with Grandma Brooks: 3 little monkeys swinging in the trees, teasing Mr. Crocodile 'can't catch me! can't catch me!' along comes Mr. Crocodile quiet as can be then...SNAP!...and so on and so on...) He saw the monkeys and clapped his hands and yelled SNAP! I thought it was hillarious that he was waiting for something to come and eat the monkeys. :)

Taylie and her favorites, the elephants! There was a new baby elephant this year that was SO darn cute!

me and Luke with the elephants

This is Taylie's favorite part of the day. She had been telling us for weeks that she wanted to ride an elephant. I thought we were going to run into a problem when we saw the actual elephants and she wanted to ride it, but she didn't say a word until the merry-go-round came into view. Once I caught on to her train of thought, it was an easy wish to fulfill. :) I love how easy she is to please!

Luke actually tried to jump off a few times...he didn't really get into it that much. He was more impressed when I told him he could ride a monkey next time.

Do you all rememer this picture from the last trip...

Well, here is the updated version! It makes me sad to look at this and see how big she got in such a short time.

and of course we tried to get one of Luke, but he was being difficult as

usual so this is the best we got.

Luke is all about the monkeys! He loved the tigers too but they were all being lazy and sleeping so we didn't get any good pictures of them. He thought this was pretty cool though.

and you remember this guy from the last visit? The water squirting elephant...

This year I think it was a little early in the season for the water to be on, so when it was activated all it did was snore! Because of the lack of interesting responce from the elephant, she moved past it much quicker this year.

Luke's favorite part of the day:

LUNCH!

In the gift shop, Taylie found the animal masks (obviously) and she put it up to her face and said:

"Mom...where did you go...BOO!" I laughed out loud and had the whole place looking at me :)

We asked Tay what souviner she wanted to take home and this is what she picked out:

The GINORMOUS elephant! This time, Taylie had everybody around her who heard laughing. She asked so sweetly "Mom, can I have that one? Pleeeeeeeease?" When I told her that it probably wouldn't fit in the car, she opted for a snake instead.

We had such a fun day! Taylie could have stayed all day and she wanted to, but Luke was tired and so were Jacob and I, so the vote was 3-1 against staying. We went home. Very tired. Taylie asked if after she took a nap if she could go back.... *sigh* If I only had a little bit of her energy!