Luke-45 Months

Holla,

That is my new greeting. It is normally followed by "suckers". Mom and Dad are trying to break me of that second part. I'm big. Straight up. Most important update is that I am now free of two body parts- tonsils and adnoids. Can any of you say that? To mom's credit she did not take any pictures. The whole deal went well (according to my folks). It took me totally by surprise. I figured it all out after we arrived at Texas Children's Hospital (on a Friday) and was told that I would be having them taken out, after putting on some crazy flannel pj shorts and breathing in some gas in a flavor of my choosing. I chose cotton candy for those of you who might be wondering. If you want to know what it smells like, I saved the mask and you can still smell it. I don't remember the surgery. The post op was relatively painless. I was playing catch that afternoon and the next day. But then, come Sunday, my meds took over and I felt pretty bad. I have felt good and bad since then. Mornings are rough because if I sleep with my mouth open, my throat gets dry, causing me to cough and sometimes coughing hurts. I get pretty worked up about coughing and then my gag reflex kicks in. This causes me to upchuck gross amounts of liquid. Normally on mom or dad. Such troopers those two. Did you know when you have your adnoids out that you get dragon breath? I have it and hope it goes away soon. I'm off the antibiotics and only have tylenol every once in a while. I exercised a little this weekend and feel like I am on the mend. Oh, and contrary to the sterotype, I really didn't have that much ice cream. And after throwing up popsicles (through your nose) you don't really need any more frozen juice on a stick. I am very appreciative of all the get well wishes and gifts. Thanks to all my peeps for that. And thanks to Davis for going easy on me for the last ten days.

In other news, I'm still very much into Benny (see pictures below). I like watching my tv shows (can you all recite whole episodes of Phineas and Ferb?). My little brother loves kids songs. If I had to chose a favorite, I would pick the oldie but goodie, Turkey in the Straw. I sing it at a decibel and falsetto voice. I love baseball now (fast learner, I didn't even know how to play at EAster) and don't even need to hit off the tee. I ask Daddy to pitch it to me and throw me "the Heater." I'm super fast on my bike and big wheel and cant' wait to really get back on them now that I am recovering. I start swim lessons again this week and soccer in the summer. This year is really flying by. I've been helping Mom and Dad with Davis' new room and wrangling some new stuff for my crib too. I might even change my bunk beds to twin beds. I still can't decide.

Hoping to feel 100% soon and get to enjoying this wonderful spring.

Holla,
Luke

Davis 23 Months

Hidey Ho Internet,

I am getting so big, I can hardly be contained. My language and vocabulary are hard to quantify anymore. I ask so many questions, Mommy, Daddy and Mimi can hardly keep up. If people won't talk to me (or tire of talking to me) I just bust out in song. I still LOVE the Wheels on the Bus Song. I've added Take Me Out to the Ballgame and ABC song to the reportoire too. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE baseball. I like to catch the ball, hit the ball and most of all, THROW the ball. I have a pretty accurate throw, but it is not 100% yet. I am getting ready for my big second birthday. I picked a pirate theme for my party and can't wait to have a cake to blow out. My big present from Mom and Dad is moving to a big boy room. We have been working on getting it together and I have really been helping. I love my new room and can't wait to sleep in there (with Luke). I'm still eating my folks out of house and home. I have taken a liking to tiny, baby things. For Easter I got some eggs that hatch into toy foamy chicks. I have two chicks, Duckie and Feathers, that I take great care of. I put them in sleeping bags and take them to bed with me. I pet them and kiss them and talk baby to talk to them. It is adorable. My volume is always increasing. Mom and Dad are not fans of this and keep trying to snub my screams but I prevail. I'm still working on potty training and I start swim lessons this week. I have threatened numerous cannon balls. After my dunk in the lake in Marshall it is clear that I need some lessons because I have NO fear of the water. I am big into weapons lately. Probably goes with my love of throwing things. I love all of our nerf guns. Those with bullets, those iwth balls and those with rockets. I also love throwing marbles. Marbles HURT. As you can see, I am super busy and have no plans to slow down. See you next month for my big 24 month birthday (that is 2nd birthday for those of you who cannot divide).

-Little Brother

RSC Wildlife

So, there have been a lot of wild life sightings in our hood lately. We had tiny baby bunnies in our flower beds and the momma is still hanging around. There is a family of baby ducks waddling the neighborhood (in and out of the creeks) that made its way down our street too. Archie trapped some sort of critter in the garage over the weekend. We never did figure out what it was. The turtles are sunbathing again. We love spring (ed. note: except for tadpoles and baby frogs).

Happy Birthday Byman Aunts

We had a celebration last weekend for Aunt Marsha and Aunt Michele's birthdays. We had no pictures because mom and dad still had tonsils on the brain. But we had great dinner, Crave cupcakes and fun times. Happy Birthday Aunt Michele and Aunt Marsha. Hope you have great years!

Happy Birthday Buddy

Buddy's less than 60th birthday was last week. We started the celebration by attacking him with silly string. He loved it. Sue Sue, Mommy and Tia gave Buddy new koozies for his house. They say "Three Sisters' Acres". He loves them. Can't you tell?

Can you believe we are related to these clowns?

Buddy needed help blowing out all his candles. Especially the ones that Davis buried upside down in Buddy's specially requested coconut cream pie. Buddy and I ate that and the rest of the crew enjoyed that pretty apple pie.

Davis would not eat his dinner at first. Then, he found this fork lift toy and decided it would work as a great fork. Happy plate was quick to follow. Whatever it takes. Happy Birthday Buddy. Hope you have a fantastic year.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

We went to Opening Day for the Astros this year. Fun times. Mimi and Michael Patrick went too but sat with Mr. Randy and Mrs. Lynn. Opening Day had a lot of lines for food and stuff. That didn't stop us. We ate and ate and ate. First Nachos, then Kettle Corn, then Peanuts, Sprites and I was still hungry so we got this ginormous hot dog. I loved every minute of Opening Day.

Don't I look old? And very much like Benny?

We made it to the 9th inning. Even Davis, but he needed the paci to bridge him through the ride home. We had a fantabulous time. Now, if the Astros could just have a winning season. Fingers crossed!

Duck, Duck, Turkey

Pappy bought some ducks and turkeys for us to play with while we were visiting at Easter. I loved playing iwth the ducks. Brother was too rough, but not me. I was very gentle. The duckies even followed me around.

Sweet, precious duckie kiss

You want my duckie Nana? Take good care of it. Thanks for the fun times duckies.

Easter, and Easter, and Easter

Happy Easter everyone! We began celebrating the holiday just before Holy Week began. Our church hosted a fun day and easter egg hunt that Saturday. Baxter the Bunny was there. We were thrilled to see him. Daddy was too. Luke is only smiling because Mommy promised him a Big Wheel. She didn't think she had to worry about me but I caved at the last minute.

On to the hunt. Luke and I were in the same age group. Our competition was pretty weak and the eggs were all gathered in a small space, not even hidden. Luke really wanted the golden egg but he wasn't quick enough. That desire festered for a whole week (read on to see what happens). Here is Luke expressing his excitement for the easy task ahead.

I had a little more competition around me. But as you can see, my basket was not empty.

Easter celebrations continued to Mother's Day Out. We each had hunts with our classes and Mommy declared us Eggsperts. We like the shirts but thought posing together was beyond lame.

Then we took the celebration to Marshall. We had three hunts/parties to hit there. First we hit the First Methodist hunt at the parsonage. Rare fam pic is available because Nana came with us. They had egg toss, egg hunt and even egg shaped PB&J sandwiches. Good times.

The egg toss used confetti eggs. Luke and Mommy were a tough team to beat but ultimately the three time champion prevailed. I say it was rigged!

Nana and Luke getting ready for the hunt. Check out his Benny clothes, even on Easter Egg Hunts.

A bunny showed up in Marshall too. Luke charged the bunny. I thought he maybe wasn't scared anymore but then he doubled back to Mommy lickety split. I kept a safe distance but shouted many things to him for the entire afternoon.

The start of the young kids egg hunt. Do you see that desire for the golden eggs in Luke's eyes? That is pure determination right there.

His victory photo. I didn't feel like being in the picture but rest assured my basket was overflowing. There were so many eggs to chose from that I was challenging myself to only find the ones that were not in plain sight. Nana helped me reach the ones up high.

Onto our second Marshall hunt. This one was hosted by Trinity Church. We got an invite from Cade. It was at his neighbors house. They have a HUGE yard. It was covered in 2000 easter eggs filled with holy jelly beans. Luke ran so far to get eggs you can't even see him in this picture.

I was almost tired of egg hunting. Nana and I took it a little slower and stuck to the shade trees but we still ended up with a ton of jelly beans.

Luke and Daddy caught up with us towards the front of the yard. Luke was sweating from his super active egg hunting skills.

Finally, we made it to Easter morning. The Easter Bunny hooked us up. We got beach towels, water guns, candy and games. We only ate about 10 pieces of candy before church and that explains a LOT. Mommy and Daddy now know that they make the right choice by taking me to the nursery every Sunday at our church.

My final hunt. I perfected my basket carrying skills while running down hill to find more and more eggs.

Brother found a ton of eggs again. We raked it in.

Check out my loot. What a great day. Hope you all had a great Easter Week too.

Happy St. Patrick's Day and Mommy's birthday

We are GREEN. St. Patrick's Day fell on Spring Break. We spent the day at Aunt Donna's house hunting for treasure, saving the world from goblins and having a great time. That night, we took Mommy to the rodeo for her birthday. We got to make ropes, eat roasted corn and cotton candy. We all had a great time. Oh, and we laughed at Mommy when she missed the seat and almost fell on the ground (OUCH for her broken tailbone). Mommy had a great birthday with all her guys (and she got a super cool watch for running).

My big bass

I was fishing with Daddy last weekend and caught this big bass. Daddy claims that he was just holding the rod to make sure that I didn't drop it in the pond and didn't help me at all. I was holding the rod and cranking the reel when the fish hit the lure. Daddy coached me to keep reeling and after a few acrobatic jumps we had the fish in our hands. Brother ran in the house to get the rest of the family to come see what I had caught and to take our picture. Daddy says that he is very proud of me and was excited that I caught my first big bass on the new rod that he built. Brother caught a fish too but we didn't get a picture before he threw it back in the pond.

There have been a lot of pictures of me on the blog lately so here's a picture of big brother's first bass from the same pond 2 years ago.

Future ladies man