Happy, Happy Birthday Regan, Dear

My oldest is older (let's not even talk about what that makes me... 

Regan amazing us daily with her intelligence, wit, kindness, sensitivity, and, of course, her fashion sense.  She has really become my go-to girl with my busy school schedule.  There's not much she can't do.  She cooks, she cleans, she makes up games for her and her sister to play for hours...I aspire to be more like her.

Happy Birthday Regan.  You are loved more than we can ever explain.

Here is an interview I admit to totally, unashamedly ripping off the idea, wording and even design for, so thank you, Susie Leggett and Tristan!  Click (I hope) to make it big enough to read!

And, lastly, a few shots from the family birthday party on Sunday...

The cake she chose, which was actually a two-layer brownie completely covered in candy.

 The birthday girl blowing out the candles.

Quick as Lightning

Jeff and I L-O-V-E lightning storms.  

When we first moved to Arizona we used to get amazing storms during the monsoon season and Jeff and I (no kids yet) would open the blinds and pull a couch up to our big picture window and sit all evening watching the lightning.  Tonight, after we had put the girls to bed we noticed some lightening starting over the Boise area.  The storm surrounded us in all directions, but we just had some (thankfully) cool breezes.  We got the girls out of bed, and spent an hour enjoying the light show in the backyard and teaching Regan and Hadyn how beautiful a storm can be.  It was spectacular!  Jeff got some amazing photos and a video I thought I'd post to make all you non-Idahoans a wee bit jealous...

The girls on the grass watching the sky. 

Now I think it is safe to say that 

The Luke Family L-O-V-E-S lightning storms!

We Love Daddy, Yesiree

Jeff,  Happy Father's Day to one of the best dad's I know.  

You are surrounded by girls and all that goes with that, 

and you are such a great sport.  

You work 24/7 to make our home nicer 

and our family more functional and happy.  

You never say no when the girls want you to ride bikes, play soccer, etc., 

even when I know the list of things you need to get done.  

Being married to you makes me want to be a better person and 

being a parent with you makes me want to be a better mom.  

Thank You.  You deserve more than one day a year of being celebrated.  

I love you!

Love, Maria

 Dear Dad, I love you so much.  Thanks for being the best dad ever.  Thank you for teaching me how to ski.  I like it when you let me go build with you on the swings and stuff.

From your daughter, Hadyn

 Yo, Daddy-o, thanks for being the best dad ever.  Thanks for teaching me how to build stuff.  I like that you taught me how to play checkers.  Thanks for doing all the stuff you do for our family.  Thank you for building all of the things that we use a lot, like the swing set.

Love, Regan

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, JEFF.  

WE LOVE YOU.

Summing up six months in one post...priceless...

So, my last post was exactly one day before I went back to college full-time for the first time in too many years to count.  I got accepted into Boise State's nursing program and began working toward my BS-RN.  I had a great semester, learned a lot (including that I could actually keep up with all those young whippersnappers), and really leaned on all my family and friends for support.  Sadly, the blog was moved pretty far down on the to-do list and never got to-done.  So, in no particular order, since moving photos around on blogger is really more hassle than it is worth, here is the Cliff's Notes version of the last six months of the Luke Family Chronicles...

Here we are on the BYU campus in Provo.  Our lovely neice, Rachel, was a freshman this year and so we stopped to say hi.  She took us on a tour of campus, her dorm, and we were all able to attend the Karl Bloch exhibit, which was amazing.  Now, my girls, trained since birth to be Vandals, want to go to BYU...I'm still working through that one...

From the mouths (or markers) of babes...  Hadyn's artwork pretty much sums up my last few months...

 

More soccer.  Both girls played in the city soccer program, and loved it.  Hadyn had already played a little, plus she was part of the youngest group, so she jumped in at the same level as the rest of her team.  Regan, being 8, was on a team of kids who had already played for years, so she was a bit behind.  She worked every night in the back yard on dribbling, kicking, everything.  Sometimes alone, sometimes with her dad.  She became one of the team leaders in skills (my unbiased opinion) and learned that if you work hard it pays off.  We were proud of both girls.  Neither of them can wait for Fall soccer to start.

 Regan and Hadyn both participated in the Capital Classic this year.  Regan ran it a few years ago.  They both brought friends, and between them and their friends, were the sole participants from Middleton in the race.  Way to represent!  

Each spring our entire town (at least the cool people) participates in "Middleton Unplugged".  Everyone gives up TV, computer games, cell phone games, etc. for an entire month.  There are activities every night to take the place of being plugged in, parades, games, spa days, etc.  It's really cool.  Regan and Hadyn signed up for the challenge and made it the entire month without watching TV, etc.  They posted signs all over the house to remind them to not watch/play.  This is a particularly specific one reminding them not to watch anyone watch TV.  The bottom arrow pointing to the picture should say, "a screen".

Yes, I even missed documenting birthdays.  Hadyn turned 6.  She wanted donuts instead of a cake.  I was more than happy to oblige.  

Jeff turned...well, Jeff had a birthday.  I don't even have pictures of him with the cake, but here he is with lots of help opening his presents...

And lastly, here I am with my clinical group.  We rocked clinicals, and it was a fun group.  Next semester I have 20+ hours a week of clinicals, so I hope they go as well.

I hope you enjoyed the brief synopsis.  I missed a lot, I know, but hopefully now I can do better at staying caught up.  Happy summer!

Hadyn's First Soccer Game

Today Hadyn played in her first soccer game. She had never played soccer before (except for her first practice that was the night before the game). Here she is with her first official sports uniform.

Hadyn did awesome and scored a goal! That's pretty impressive since there were only a handful of goals scored the whole game. I didn't get her goal on video, but I got one of her near misses. She had a couple bounce off the post or get stopped by the goalie. She has a great time, and can't wait until the next game.

What We Did Over Christmas Vacation, by the Luke's

Oh December, we will miss you and all the magic you fill our home with.  The girls had the long school break, of course, and Jeff was able to take most of the month off which was so fun.  We got to go to the Middleton Christmas Celebration (yes, they said Christmas...I love living in a small town!!) where we watched a parade, ate cookies, drank cocoa, took part in the tree lighting, and, of course, visited with Santa.  

The girls made many a gingerbread or graham cracker house between church and school.  Here are their creations from Regan's Achievement Day activity.  It's a group in our church for girls 8-11.  Hadyn doesn't qualify, but when her mom is one of the leaders she gets to participate.  

We made our lanterns for Santa.  We have made these each Christmas Eve since Regan was born.  It's just four gingerbread walls held together with royal icing.  Each of us creates one of the walls and we use hard candies to make the stain-glass windows.  Our lantern gets lit right before the girls go to bed on Christmas Eve, and helps Santa find our house.  It works.  He's never missed us yet.

Hadyn has become family scribe.  She loves to write reminder notes, cards, lists, etc.  I'm sure I've picked up 100's of her memos over the past month, and I'm sure I've been irritated at the volume of paper she leaves all over the house, but then sometimes, like yesterday, when I had mountains of things to accomplish and only a molehill of time to do it in, I find this propped up on my kitchen counter, and all the clutter is forgotten:

Man, I love that girl...maybe she could give some love note tips/reminders to her father... :)