Jessica's Birthday

Most of this post will be from family dinner a couple weeks ago when we celebrated Jessica's birthday.  However, before we went, Luke found this big stick during our walk to the mail and was pretending to fish with it.  Luke had recently seen a Little Bear episode where Little Bear is fishing and keeps getting fish that are too small to keep, then he finally pretends in his imagination that he catches a whale, or something equally outrageous.  So, Luke finds this stick, then starts "fishing" by pointing the end of the stick into one of those little plants behind him in the picture (not sure exactly what he's doing at the moment I snapped this picture).  Then, he'd pull the stick back and say something like, "I caught a fish!  Ohhh... too small."  (I can't remember his exact verbiage at this point - I really shouldn't let two weeks pass before journaling about these pictures!)  Then, he would try again and say, "I caught a BIG fish!"  Then, I asked him if he would eat it, and he said, "No, no eat fish."  :P  Not sure if he's somehow picked up on Nathan's dislike of fish or what (which we usually don't talk about since I never serve it at home), but it was pretty funny.

Singing the "Happy Birthday" song in typical loud, off-key Hughes tradition.  We told the kids to sing loud and Owen really took that to heart - he sang with GUSTO!  Which is all the more hilarious because he's normally been the quiet one of the bunch.  :)

Waiting for cake and ice cream.  Luke kept telling us OVER and OVER that he wanted a certain ice cream (there were two flavors to choose from).  Whenever Nathan's dad asked someone what kind they wanted, Luke would say, "My want THIS one!"

Checking out the pictures on Grandma's camera.

Playing with a leftover balloon from Madeline's birthday party.

Cute Pictures

Way too many pictures taken a couple weeks ago on just one of our daily walks outside to get the mail and "play with rocks, sticks, leaves".  I am only including a few here, but I just couldn't bring myself to delete as many as I probably "should" have.  Some of them are quite similar, but they are all cute, and represent another facet of Luke's personality.  :)  If you want to see them all, they'll be on the Hughes site soon.

Sunday Walk

It's becoming quite the tradition to go on a family walk on Sunday afternoon, now that it's not raining on the weekends anymore.  ;)  These pictures were taken 3 Sundays ago (Yikes!  Am I really 2-1/2 weeks behind again?)  Ah, well...  They're still cute.

Luke was trying to push this light pole over - but didn't have much success.  :)

Then, he found a cool "drum" just his size.  Great opportunity to take some smiling pictures!

Happy Birthday, Madeline!

Two Saturdays ago, we helped celebrate Luke's youngest cousin's 1st birthday party!  Luke had been very excited all week about this party, and really enjoyed buying her presents.  He even got quite upset the evening of the day we bought her presents - it was time to go outside to get the mail and see Daddy drive home, but apparently he thought we needed to give Baby Madeline her present THAT DAY, and somehow Daddy coming home meant it would be too late to give her the present.  Kind of interesting convincing a toddler of something when he really has no concept of time yet.  :)  Anyway, when the big day arrived, he wanted to carry the present to the car - and thankfully it was light enough that he could do it.  Such a cutie!

I took a gazillion pictures at the party - mostly of Madeline.  That's kind of why it's taken me so long to blog about this day - too many pictures to look through and evaluate which ones to keep, etc.  I can't believe I used to take this many pictures on a regular basis.  Anyway, I've included just a few of my favorites here.  If you want to see the rest, check out the Hughes site - I'll be posting them all there as soon as this post is done.

Nathan "flying" Luke around the yard to chase some of the cousins.

Emma in the tree (along with Madeline's cousin, Nathan, from Dan's side of the family).

My camera was chosen as the one to take the group picture.  Originally we were trying for an "everyone" shot - which is why we needed to find a camera with a timer (I already knew how to use mine).  But somehow, that evolved into a "just kids" picture.  Only, some of the kids (mine included) aren't too fond of group pictures, so some of the parents stayed, and since the ones that stayed were "true" Hughes', they roped in the rest of the natural Hughes' to be included in the picture.  This particular shot is *mostly* authentic.  It was the obvious winner based on lighting and most facial expressions, except Owen was ducking down and Jessica was blinking.  I had great ones of them that were easily photoshopped in, so here you go!

My boys watching the present opening.

Eating her cupcake!  She didn't get all that messy, but she seemed to enjoy it.

Hiding

I vacuumed on Friday - finally getting back into the groove since Luke has been scared of the vacuum since he was born.  I figured I better just start doing it regularly, or else I'll never get back into the habit, and then the new baby will be scared of it, too - perpetuating the ugly cycle.  :P  Anyway, Luke and Cinnamon like to hide on my bed while I'm vacuuming (probably the only time Cinnamon will voluntarily hang out with Luke - guess Luke's not as scary as the vacuum is!), so this time, when I was done, I grabbed my camera and snapped this shot when I went into the bedroom - so cute!

Pockets!

Many of you know that Luke is addicted to wearing gloves or mittens - no matter what the weather.  Well, there were a few days recently when it was cold, but we had left his gloves in the car.  So, when we went to get the mail, I suggested to Luke that he put his hands in the pockets of his jacket to stay warm instead.  He really enjoyed that, and looked so cute!

Big Brother

Okay, so I guess it's been 2 weeks since I even downloaded pictures from my camera.  Oops.  Lets just say, I'm suffering from a bit of first trimester lack-of-motivation.  Anyway, I'm trying to be good tonight and get caught up on a bit of these.  Enjoy!

I took these pictures of Luke wearing the "Big Brother" t-shirt that Nathan's mom got him.  She bought it long before we were expecting this time, so was unsure of what the season/size would be when Luke could wear it.  Unfortunately, it's getting warmer fast around here, so the call for long-sleeved shirts is quickly fading.  So, I wanted to make sure he could wear it at least once before he outgrew it.  The sleeves still look a bit long, so maybe he'll still fit into it in the fall, when he can actually be in photos with his little sibling!

Heartbeat!!!

March 2nd, we got to see the heartbeat of our new little one!  Such a blessing to be able to see that - what a difference it has made for my mindset.

I took another pregnancy picture that day, too, to celebrate.  I'm only starting to "show" a little bit, but really these are the only pair of regular pants that still fits comfortably for an extended amount of time.  I'll eventually start cramping if I have on my regular jeans too long.  So, the very next day after this picture was taken, I unearthed my favorite pair of maternity jeans!  They work when I'm still little, and thankfully I have a higher percentage of "normal" shirts that are long enough to cover the belly band this time around.  So, I won't have to get out the maternity shirts for awhile longer.  :)

Smiles

I never tire of seeing Luke happy!  Here are a couple pictures from playing outside last week.  :)

Doctor Luke

Last Sunday (not yesterday), Nathan stayed home from church with a fever, so later that afternoon, I was taking Luke's temperature, too, just to be safe.  I let him play with the ear thermometer afterward, and he proceeded to take all of his kitty's temperatures!  So cute!

He seems to like doctor-related stuff, and after a recent watching of the doctor episode of Elmo's World, he will now sometimes say happily when we're changing his clothes - "Tummy!" (and pat his tummy) "Heart!" (and pat his chest)  Smart boy.  :)

Bursting

I never tire of seeing Nathan and Luke spending time together.  These are my two favorite people and my heart just overflows to see them love each other.  :)  Here, Nathan is reading Luke his Frog & Toad book.

Shaving Already?

Nathan got a new razor last week, and Luke thought it was for him!  Nathan let him "try it out" (not turned on), and he was quite pleased with himself.  :)

Fire-making Pro

Luke got to help Grandpa build a fire two nights in a row a couple weekends ago.  I got some pictures this second time.  He seemed to know just what to do - he's an old pro with fire already!

New Little Heartbeat!

Now that we've seen evidence that our newest little one seems to be healthy and growing, I can finally share these super cute pictures from the end of January, when we first found out we were expecting.  Yesterday, we had the privilege of seeing our baby and his/her heartbeat on the ultrasound - so special!  I've definitely had more symptoms this time than last time (when there were virtually NO symptoms), but they seem a little lighter than with Luke, so seeing that heartbeat has been really reassuring to my mommy's heart that things are going well this time.  Keep praying for us, that everything continues to go well with this pregnancy and especially that we'll trust the Lord through everything He brings our way - since there's always something to worry about if we let ourselves give in to that temptation.

To get the pictures of Luke, I was kind of chasing him around the house with the camera, which he apparently thought was hilarious.  :)  I ended up getting a much better picture of him in this shirt than I managed to get last time.  I'm kind of amazed that this shirt still fit him, since it was already technically a size too small when I bought it for him to wear a year ago - it's a bit short, but works for "advertising" purposes!  :)