I Can't Wait Until I'm 8!

 Believe it or not, Hadyn has allowed herself to grow another year older this past week.  We'll post some more legit pics once we do the whole cake celebration next Sunday with the Luke Family.  However, her birthday was a huge success.  She refused to tell us what she wanted, saying, "I know you'll know what to get."  Wow.  Talk about pressure!  We apparently did a great job, since she loved the outfit from Regan, and the electric keyboard from her parents.  The biggest gift, however, was getting her ears pierced.  It's the big 8-year old right-of-passage in our home, and she has been soooo excited.  

Not a tear was shed, even after their trick of saying they would count to three and only counting to two before pulling the trigger.  She remembered the same trick from Regan's trip to get her ears pierced two and a half years ago.  Also, like Regan, we did both ears at the same time, which is good, since she may not have stuck around for the 2nd ear otherwise.  She was happy it was done, did not cry a tear, but did think it hurt worse than she expected it to.

Back on the Wagon

One of my New Year's resolutions (with much prodding from my family) is to actually post on this blog regularly.  Oh know, crazy.  I was once a faithful blogger.  Then, I got accepted into Boise State's nursing program (don't worry, I'm still and will always be a Vandal...Go Idaho!) and the blog world as I knew it came crashing down around me.  Well, with a semester left before I graduate as a full-fledged RN, I am determined to regain control of the blogging world, at least my tiny corner of it.  Over the next several weeks I plan to update on all the Luke family and what they've been doing since Regan's 9th birthday a year and a half ago...the last time I posted.  {Shamefully lowers eyes}.

In keeping with the New Year's theme.  I interviewed both of the girls as to how they see themselves at the beginning of a new year.

  See you in an update that will come in less than 18 months...I promise :).

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... :)

Snowy Days, Crazy Weather, Air Hockey, and Random Catching Up

We have really been enjoying this winter. 

Here is Hadyn all geared up for fun after the first big storm and Regan with the first snowman of the year.  

The fog out here has been crazy, some real pea soup.  I don't know if Boise has been this fogged in this year or if it's just Middleton, but this is a pretty standard morning for us.  Normally you can see barns and cows out there...

I kept meaning to post this sign Hadyn made for me after I got admitted to BSU's nursing program.  She's such a cutie.  I probably should have corrected her that I am still two years away from being a nurse, but I really just smiled and enjoyed it. 

 Last week we made the trip into the big city of Boise because I (hold your applause) SCORED a full-size, fully operational air hockey table off of Freecycle!!!  Could that be any cooler?  We have spent many an evening and afternoon in the garage working on our skills, and as the girls say, learning our angles.  

Then, since we were already down there, we stopped by the Capitol building to see the tree and walk around.  I do not think there is a prettier state capitol building than ours.  I haven't been to the capitol since they finished renovating it.  It was awesome to see the old photos of all the past sessions of the Senate, here is the 33rd Session and my Great-Grandpa, H.T. Moss.  I know you're thinking, "what a looker", to which I must reply, "of course, where do you think I got my dashing looks from?"

Jeff checking out Boise from above.  This is just behind the senate chambers.

Hadyn striking a pose and looking very fashionable.  A future senator...

The Luke family in front of the Poinsettia tree in the basement level of the rotunda.

Looking up.  Isn't this gorgeous!?

  A close up of the tree...I spy with my little eye, something cute and red-headed!

And here we have Idaho

Winning her way to fame....

(for you poor, neglected friends out there from other states, that's from our state song...)

All I Want for Christmas...

In order to show that the Luke family (at least two of them) have already completely accepted the commercial side of this Christmas season, I present to you Regan and Hadyn's Christmas Wish Lists...get comfy...I'll add my own thoughts in parentheses and keep the original spelling, because it's just so cute). 

Hadyn:

1. Ice Cream Maker (we already have 3)
2. Dipindots
3. Beard-a-Bear (I think Build-a-Bear, but Beard-a-Bear sounds like an interesting take on it)
4. Pendo (I have no idea)
5. Gttre (Got nothin')
6. Doggy
7. EZE Bac Micwav (EasyBake Microwave)
8. Liv Doll
9. Fla Scen TV (Flat Screen TV...I got my first flat screen TV when I was...)
10. Gogo (I'm not sure what this is)
11. IPod in blue
12. Laptop in pink
13. ITuch in Green
14. Kitty that's brown
15. Nal Polish that's sparkly
16. DSI
17. Stilish clothes
18. A room with food in the room (We never let her leave the kitchen with food.  Apparently she's tired of that).
19. Dollhouse bed
20. Trning rack with clothes (turning rack, I guess like in stores)
21. Dollhouse and dolls with furniture with it

Regan:

1. Justice dance shirt and pants (FYI, Regan loves the store Justice, you'll see that as you read along)
2. Liv doll
3. Flip Flop slippers, pink, Justice
4. Justice sequin jeans
5. Jo-Ann kids sewing machine (my mom would be proud)
6. Dip'n Dots maker
7. I-Pod or I-Phone (what!)
8. Justice sandstone skinny cords (skinny underlined)
9. Puppy! (exclamation point included...both girls asked for this, and both girls literally climb up my body if they even see a real dog)
10. Clay Pepperoni (I'm not sure what this is)
11. Barbie video girl
12. Scrabble Flash
13. Spy video tracker
14. Paper jams (?)
15. Easy bake cookie maker
16. Pendo Penguin - Pink (this must be what #4 on Hadyn's list is)
17. Membership in Poptropica (Kids web-game)
18. Laptop !! (Again, she added the exclamation marks)
19. SpyNet night vision
20. SpyNet spy watch
21. Cute snowboots
22. Air Hogs Vectron Wave
23. Cell Phone
24. My own bedroom (Dream on sister)
25. Skateboard
26. Magic Fabric
27. Snowboard
28. Build-a-Bear
29. Light brwon boots
30. Earrings
31. My own flat screen TV
32. EasyBake microwave
33. GoGo Walking toy puppy (This was on Hadyn's list too, I'm sensing some collaboration on these lists)
34. Justice on the Go Sugar Sweet Set
35. Justice Blue Skinny Cords (Can you tell we just got a Justice catalog in the mail?)
36. Laptop mouse
37. $10,000,000 (I'll get right on that)
38. Laptop in black and white
39. Cream snow vest
40. Kit Kat (now we're hitting closer to my budget)
41. Tic-tacs (again, I'm willing to consider this one)
42. DS
43. DSI
44. Wii
45. Candy maker
46. Legos
47. Sleeping bag
48. Make-up set (WHAT?!!)
49. A pink throne (why not)
50. Dollhouse

I'm out of breath, and ran out of pretend money hours ago.  Luckily, they know these lists are just for fun, and they really aren't expecting really any of this.  I love Christmas dreaming :).  I remember going through the big Sears book every year and choosing something off each page with Rich and Kathi.  So fun...

Ummm...Merry Christmas

I decided to update my blog today.
I'm also sick...did I mention heavy doses of cold medicine.
Buttons were pushed, changes were made, and I lost my links.

All of them.

Blogs I follow.
The craft sites from which I steal countless good ideas and claim them for my own.

If you have any sort of sympathy for your sweet, runny-nosed, fuzzy visioned friend, please send me your blog links.  I'm sort of at a loss for how to continue on...

Sigh...

It's Not Late, I'm Just Stretching Out the Halloween Season...

We were lucky to go back to our old alma mater and spend Halloween in Moscow with Jeff's sister Cathy's family and the only friends who will still be our friends from the old U of I days, Dave, Christine and their boys.  We had a lot of fun trunk-or-treating, and we even spent an afternoon at the ice rink where Dave gave us all ice skating lessons.  Fun, no injuries, lots of candy...a very successful Halloween weekend...  

Ninja Regan

Queen Hadyn (do not say princess or you are likely to be banished)

The cousins, ready to hit the trunk-or-treat.  Quite the motley crew, a ghost, queen, black cat, ninja and a fireman.  Jeff's company would be very pleased with the diversity we have embraced...

Regan rockin' the rink.  She took to skates immediately, no surprise.  If my kids have all this natural talent, shouldn't I have a little...I don't understand genetics...

Hadyn after letting go of my hand.  She did awesome.  Once she started, there was no getting her off the ice.   Let's just say she slept very well that night.

The crew of cousins and friends.  Fun times...