Lucas turns TWO!

sweet, stubborn, special, social, sneaky, smart, silly, sassy, strong-willed, smiley, sometimes smelly, spoiled, super, second son.

those are just a few words that come to mind when i think about him.

but, i mean, seriously... could he be any cuter?!?



sunday, january 30th, we celebrated lucas' 2nd birthday. can i just say W.O.W. it does not seem like it has been 2 years since he was born. it has been a wild ride, that's for sure! but i wouldn't have it any other way. well, for the most part! :) sunday morning he loved opening his presents before church! then playing with them with his tongue stuck out, and carrying around all the gift bags! :)

opening his presents and loving every minute of it! (trace on the other hand, had a small meltdown when we wouldn't let him open his brothers presents by himself!)

 we had a small family party this year at the house after church. it was so fun having everyone over, and the mickey mouse party was a total success! the kids especially had a blast eating pizza, cupcakes, chips and dip, m&ms, drinking juice boxes, and of course, pulling every toy out of the toybox!

all the cousins lined up... eating their food and watching a duke basketball game! :)



having fun... other than lucas who had a few little whiny moments. but ya know, it's his party and he can cry if he wants to!



stopping to pose for a picture with the birthday boy!

i bet i heard "mickey mouse cupcake" fifty times b/w the time i baked and decorated them saturday and his party sunday after church. and when that glorious moment finally arrived when it was time to eat the cake, he LOVED every last bite of it! he didn't however, love us singing us happy birthday. in fact, i think he said "no sing." ha!



 L-O-V-E him!!

party-hardy!

 though the party was small and simple, it was great! i struggled with having a close-family only party. but that's just what we decided to do. but no worries, trace will be 4 in a month and i am already planning his party! so you might just be seeing an invitation soon for him. ha!

we have the best family ever (yes, rob, ya'll are family too!) and had a great time celebrating lucas' birthday!

a few facts about lucas that i want to remember:

- he weighs about 25 pounds (i scheduled his 2 yr check-up with trace's 4 yr check-up in march. so i will know then his exact stats!)

- he is still in a size 4 diaper, and has been for over a year! we are going to hopefully work on starting to potty train him soon.

- he wears mostly 24 months clothes, and a size 7 shoe.

- he still LOVES his paci and blankie. he knows mama will give it to him when he asks, but 5 days a week when he's not with mama all day, he only has it for nap time! :o) we are working on that at home too! but he's still a baby. it's not like he will be 5 and sucking on it, or even 3 for that matter. so anywho!

- he has become SO vocal lately. i mean, he's always been super smart and talkative, but here lately it is crazy how much he talks! it is so fun to hear him make sentences. used to it was just phrases, but now he will practically carry on a convo with you! :)

- a few cute things he says A LOT are:

- wight dair (when you ask where something is, the answer is "right there". no matter what! so funny!)

- of course he will say "bless you mama" if i sneeze or "scuze you mama" if i ahem, burp. and if you know me, you know i can burp with the best of them! ;o)

- i LOVE when nate or i are putting him to bed, we tell him nite nite baby, and he repeats it "nite nite baby." same with "sweet dreams angel," and "i love you bubba!" so cute and funny to hear him call us baby, angel, and bubba!

- if anyone is crying, he will say "cwyin, what's wrong?" then if they stop he will say "it's all better!"

- he has picked up a few habits from his cousins and it's so funny. if he is in the other room and we call him, he will answer "yes?" and come running! he got that from lala! and if you ask him why he was screaming, he will try and blame it on someone else, like "caden." :) even if caden isn't in the room! and one day bitsy asked him why he was screaming and he simply said "because!" ha. he listens well and knows to say "because" when you don't know what else to say.

- he can sing jesus loves me all by himself, and parts of twinkle twinkle and a few other songs.

- he can say his a-b-c's and count from one - eweben (11)

- he loves taking a bath. and almost always gets in trouble for throwing a fit when it's time to get out!

- hide-n-seek is a new fav game of his! he will laugh so hard when we go around looking and saying- "is he in the closet? nope." and wherever he is hiding, he will say "nope" everytime we do! he also laughs and giggles from his hiding spot. so adorable!

- he loves mickey mouse (hence the theme of the party) as well as martha speaks and super why. he also likes dino dan and bubble guppies. and bibleman (thanks nae nae!)

- he is a picky eater, at least for me anyways. and lately he never wants to sit in his chair and eat, he wants to get up and just get bites of whatever anyone else is eating! he loves to share your food!

- so if you are eating or drinking something that he doesn't have, count on him coming up to you countless times and saying "i awnna bite" and "dink!"

- he takes an afternoon nap, some days it's only an hour, some days it's three! and he has been sleeping better at nite, but will still occasionally throw a fit in the middle of the nite

- he runs full speed ahead at all times. he constantly has bruises, bumps, and scratches on his head. he is just 100% B.O.Y.

- he loves his brother. i hear "where's bubba" all the time if trace isn't in the room with us. he also loves his cousins, ESP baby tim-o-fee!

- he is so stubborn and strong willed. that determination is really coming out lately. he wants to "do it myself" when it comes to getting dressed, putting shoes on, etc! i know it's a learning process, but it's also a testing-mama's-patience process too! ;o)

- his smile is AWESOME. seriously, it warms my heart. he has the best smile ever! it lights up a room.

- he loves going to church, and cries when we pass by and aren't actually going to church. (we pass it daily!) - he is a puggle in awana and i love that he is learning the stories and verses in the bible at such an early age! he loves to participate and thinks he is one of the big kids!

ok, i know there is so much more i could say about him, but these are some of the main things i wanted to remember!
i am hoping the twos aren't so terrible, and that we will have a wonderful year! :o)

dear lucas,

although you have given me several gray hairs in the past year especially, and lots of times made me question my sanity, i can not imagine life without you sweet lucas james! yes, you are strong-willed and as stubborn as they come. nana called that when you were only 3 days old and trying to hold your head up by yourself!  but you are such a precious gift from god, and we are so thankful that you are our son! it is our prayer that god uses your determination to do great things for his glory and that you come to know him as your personal lord and savior at an early age! you add so much to our family. your bubba trace loves you so much, and so do your mama and daddy! i love to see your smiling face every day and hear your precious voice say "i wub you mama." there's nothing better! sometimes you are more than i think i can handle, but i know what doesn't kill us will just make us stronger! ;o) we can't wait to see what this next year brings, and watch as you learn and experience life as a two year old. happy second birthday lucas james whitt! we love you to the moon and back sweet, beautiful, baby boy!!

mama and daddy

philippians 1:3 "every time i think of you, i thank god for you!"

the greatest show on earth!

ladies and gentlemen... children of all ages...

the moment you've all been waiting for...

the whitt family experiences

 the greatest show on earth!

we L.O.V.E.D. the circus... everyone had an awesome time. it didn't start until 7:30 (yes, the time that lucas is normally in bed!) so i was def worried about him. we got there about 6 pm so that we could go to the pre-show. i will admit that was a little nuts... but once the show started, the kids were great. to watch the circus through the eyes of your children is amazing... their looks of awe, wonder, and excitement will not soon be forgotten! i can't believe all 4 kiddos stayed awake the whole time. yes, even lucas! hope you enjoy the pics...  

silly glasses!

the elephants were DEF a fav... esp with lucas. 5 days after the circus, he still says randomly throughout the day- i wanna see elephants! :)

so at one point, nate felt a little like blowing his head off. don't worry, we didn't have a real gun ;)

trace would have probably been JUST fine in a dark room at home with his glow up sword. i feel sorry for the guy in front of us, who probably wanted to beat my child with that sword before the circus was over. i think trace came close to cutting his head off a few times when he got carried away swinging it. ha!

the clowns were actually pretty funny this year. even us adults were laughing at them!

lucas was pretty impressed with the cotton candy that mama scored at the dollar store ;) he even shared some with bitsy!

speaking of clowns... yeah. the picture says it all!

ooohhh, i always love the lions and tigers! i still see them as big ol harmless kitty cats! guess that's cuz i'm not in the ring with them, huh!?!

 a fantastic time was had by all. so glad bitsy could come and enjoy it with us... hate the others missed out, but maybe next year!

and i'm pretty sure these next 2 pics say it all... remember the look of pure excitement i was talking about? here it is folks... doesn't get any better than this!

a week in review... cell phone style

one day i will take some real pictures. but for now, you get cell phone pics... AGAIN. i apologize to my 5 blog readers. nothing terribly interesting happened at our house the past week. but for what it's worth, here's our week in review...

the boys loving on baby timothy! 

 cheese mama!

 trace hit his head (at the library of all places...) and had a nice little knot, bruise, and cut. it's better now though~ and thankfully no stiches were required.

 i got a new phone... this is me playing around with the camera on it :) and i'm showing off my scarf that my sis made me! she has learned to knit. maybe one day i will learn! ohhh, and please note that my hair is in a pony-tail. woo hoo!! i've been letting it grow for a while now and i am so glad i can finally throw it up when it's getting on my nerves. which is every day. so i have to make myself wear it down some days! sorry for that rabbit trail. like you cared.

 lucas makes this mean face when he is mad... he jacks his eyebrows up and i call it his "angry eyes." :) or grumpy mcgrumperson. either way.

 trace loves his new pillow pet. he named it duke. go figure...

 lucas decided to ditch the spoon and tear into his yogurt fist first. really son? really? someone should've been watching him. i mean, for real. where were his parents?!?

 trace loves working puzzles... but up until recently, he needed lots of help. i was confident if he would just try to do it by himself, then he could! so when nate was cooking dinner last nite, the boys had puzzle time. and whatdoyaknow... trace did his hot wheel puzzle all by himself! so proud! :)

so although last week was kind of laid back and boring, it's not so much this week. we are busy busy busy. tonite nate has praise team practice, we have church tomorrow nite... then thursday nite we are going to the circus! i am so excited to take the boys. you will DEF see some real pics from that outing i hope! :) then friday nite and saturday nate is attending and helping lead worship at a men's conference at crosspoint. and finally, we will close the weekend sunday by celebrating lucas' SECOND birthday! wow. i'm tired just thinking of all that! here's hoping we all get rid of our coughs and colds and have the energy for all that is planned this week!

chuck e cheese H - E - double hockey sticks

what possessed us to take the kids to chuck-e-cheese's last saturday, i'll never know! we got there and stood outside, in line, in the freezing cold, with 7 kids (4 adults- me and nate, plus meme and rara.) when we pulled up, i saw the line and thought to myself, surely it will move fast... well i could not have been more WRONG! the kids were so pumped too, even lucas kept saying chuck-e cheese's. i figured it would be devasting for them if we cancelled our plans. but seriously, it was all we could do not to punch the dumb cops in the face while waiting in line amongst the crazies. it was bad ya'll. like really bad! for a second, i wondered if we were in chuck e cheese hell! finally, after 40, yes FORTY minutes of waiting and still not making it inside, we convinced the kids bowling would be just as fun and headed next door to vestavia bowl. (turns out there was an hour long wait to get a lane there, but at least it was inside!) we ordered pizzas and let the kids play in the arcade! when we finally got our lane and the kids bowling shoes on, they were so excited! who knew kids would get so excited over tacky black and neon green velco shoes?!? ha. i don't think any of them had ever been bowling before. we got them all the lightest balls they had, but they were still 6 pounds. and that's heavy for a little kid. i mean, i think i only bowl with like an 8 pound ball, but i'm a wuss! ;) anywho. it was quite an ordeal but i think when it was all said and done, the kids had a blast! and honestly, i don't know if we will EVER attempt to go to C-E-C again. or anywhere in vestavia for that matter. ha! next time, we would do just as good to let all the kids pick out a toy at springville walmart and call it a nite. haha! and of course, i left my camera on the kitchen table. so here are a few pics i took from my crappy old phone. but it's better than nothing!

 at least this little guy was chillin and happy. well, once we left the madness that was the waiting line of chuck-e-cheese that is. while we were standing outside, little man was not happy. we had him in his pumpkin seat all wrapped up and he was just a screaming. (i don't blame him, i wanted to scream too!) well about that time, a young girl who could have been no more than 15, with a baby on her hip, walked past and asked me in a know-it-all-voice... "ya know yo baby's cryin, right?" OHMGEE, are you kidding me? i had no idea. thanks for the tip. ok wow. just wow! i thought nate was gonna slap her. that's about the time he decided he and baby t would be best off waiting in the car! :)

so.... there ya have it. a nite out with the whitt's is never dull... there's always sure to be drama of some sort. but, i would say if you look past all the drama, we had a great time bowling and the kids can't wait to go back. but next time, i bet we are all a little more prepared! (and by prepared, i mean i will take a few extra drugs deep breaths before we leave the house.)

;o)

sledding fun

(i'm a couple of weeks late posting this. the storm was jan 9-11.) with the threat of an ice/snow storm coming, we decided it would be a good idea to camp out at my parents house... in case we lost power, so we wouldn't be stuck on our hill with no heat! so we packed up and i swear it looked more like we were going on vacation for a week, rather than my moms house for a few days! josh and shannon were there too. so that's a total of 2 mamas, 2 daddys, 1 bitsy, 1 poppi, 1 nana, and 5 kiddos! :) the snow started falling sunday nite, HUGE flakes. they were so pretty. with it came sleet and rain. so when we woke up to 4 inches of snow monday morning, it was topped off by ice. we couldn't build a snowman or make snow icecream b/c it was so hard and frozen on top, but it made for perfect sledding fun!  

the big kids, checking out the snow sunday nite!

baby timothy stayed warm and cozy, and was a great little cuddler!

love this pic of the kids all bundled up, before we went out to play in the snow!

 everyone had their own sled! a few store bought, and a few homemade by poppi! he's the best! :)

 i sledded a few times, but mostly i enjoyed taking pics of everyone else having fun! i stopped to pose with the kids a few times! say cheese everyone!

 we had the BEST time sledding! we started in the back yard, then moved to the driveway. after that we stole the neighbors driveway, then the we got brave and moved to the big hills across the street! the kids had a blast. loved hearing their screams of fun, and in a few cases, seeing eyes big as saucers when their sleds went airborn. of course there were a few small spills, but nothing major!

 we always had one or two designated "catchers" at the bottom. usually i was one of them, and more times than not, the person on the sled flew on past me. good thing poppi was there to back me up! ha. (the bottom left is me trying to stop nate and trace!)

 yeah, THIS is the big hill i'm talking about! josh and shannon took turns with caden, and then nate and poppi also made a few trips down. by this point, i had gone inside with lucas, lala and trace. they were all freezing cold and miserable. lucas kept crying "cold, hands!"

 (this was before his meltdown, when he was still loving the snow!)

 ok yeah, i'm glad that i was not watching when the crazy boys adults were sledding. because apparently nate was gonna go for one last run, and wouldn't ya know, that's when he crashed into the curb. he bruised and scraped up his leg pretty bad, but worse than that, he broke the homemade sled! (j/k nate, you are more important than the sled!!!!)

 we just thought 3 inch pvc was pretty durable. must have been a hard hit nate took! very thankful that he didn't get hurt worse, and that josh and poppi had the sense NOT to let caden go on that last ride with dogg!!

 all the kids (big and small!) had a great time playing outside! and we enjoyed lots of good fun, yummy food, roasting marshmellows over the fire, and drinking hot chocolate while we were inside! my biggest complaint is the air mattresses weren't so comfy, but it was a small price to pay for being snowed in at bitsy and poppi's house! we def had a great time, and i guarantee it was more fun being all together than it would have been if we would have stayed home! mom says same place same time next year... but my guess is we won't have to wait until then!

 and one last pic that i couldn't resist not sharing of baby tim-a-fee! :) loved getting snowed in with this sweet boy.

4

4 excited kiddos (ages 4 and under) on 4 fun sleds, bundled in 4 layers of warm clothes, enjoy the 4 inches of snow/ice :)