milestones

Luke had a read-aloud in school the other week.  Parents were invited, and I was curious to see how it would go.  Luke hates to talk in school, much less read out loud.  It is a huge source of anxiety for him, and he avoids it at all costs. 

Luke knows how to read, and is a good reader, he just doesn't like to have to talk at school very much. 

I was blown away, when I got to the school, and Luke not only read every word into a microphone, loud and clear, but he was the main character, and had a LOT of reading to do.  I ended up wiping silent tears away through the whole thing.  It was such a big deal to see Luke doing that, with confidence.  My heart just about exploded for this adorable, freckle faced, blue eyed, blonde haired boy of mine.  He made a big milestone that day, and I am so proud of him.

taking a well deserved bow

tball with my buddy

Earlier this summer, I was able to be the assistant coach for Luke's Tball team.  Our town does neighborhood teams, so Luke was on a team with all of his friends.  The beginning of this summer was absolutely insanely busy, so I was nervous about taking on something else, but it turned out to be so much fun doing something with Luke.

Luke was timid at first, but as soon as he broke out of his shell, he was a great tball player!  He could really slam the ball off of the Tee,

and he is extremely fast!!   I loved how he would get all ready to run when he was on a base.

ready position...haha!

Sam came to almost every game, and was a huge helper.  He is also a monkey, and set a "great example" of climbing up the dugout almost every game.

We had a really fun season, with a really cute little team. Go Jets!!!

Left to right:  Luke, Ian Johnson, Ty Hadlock, Christian, Ky Russell, Luke Phillips, Pippa Suhkan, Elle Kohler Evalyn Dyer

lukie turns 6

Luke's 6th Birthday was a fun one.  He went to school, and Ben went with him and helped him hand out donuts to his class.  Luke wasn't too fond of the attention, so his teacher handed them out, and they kept it low key.  As long as Luke felt special and loved, it didn't matter if he was the center of attention or not. 

After school, he got to go see Tamatha, his favorite person, and his therapist.  He LOVES going to see her, and he really wanted to see her on his Birthday.  He had a fun time with her, and she gave his some fun Birthday gifts.

After Tamatha, it was off to Silver Eagle, Luke's favorite place.  It is a gas station right here close to our neighborhood, but it is a weekly tradition to take Luke after school on Friday to get a hot dog and a candy there.  The ladies that work there love Luke and Molly and always fuss over them.

Then it was home to get ready for the party.  I had plans of doing a simple party of a few games, some cake and ice cream, and presents.  It was the last week of school, it was absolutely crazy busy, and I didn't have time to do a huge detailed, themed party. 

Too bad Luke came up to me, 2 days before his birthday, with is big blue eyes and long eyelashes looking at me, his freckled nose and white hair making him so innocent and sweet, and his cute little voice asking me if he could PLEASE have a minecraft Birthday party.  I said yes...and then I stayed up half the night on Pinterest trying to figure out how to pull off of Minecraft party in two days.  Two very busy, full, crazy days.

I enlisted a ton of help from Mary and her friend Alina, and we set to work. 
I spent a lot of time at the Fed Ex store printing of ridiculous amounts of Minecraft stuff, spent 2 hours at Walmart in Spanish Fork, during Mary's cheer practice, and then an entire day assembling stuff.  Good thing I love Luke.

Luke waited for the big moment, and pretty soon, we had a house full of friends, Minecraft stuff everywhere, and a very happy Luke!


pin the head on the minecraft zombie

 

exploding minecraft TNT.  (coke mixed with mentos)

The TNT was a HUGE hit!

 

We taped these "Minecraft creepers" down in the basement, and the kids shot them with nerf guns.  This was by far the favorite game!

 

minecraft bingo

Ben was the Bingo man for this game

A small part of the food table

the potion

Mary and Alina helping to make Luke's cake.  They saved me!!!!

Luke had a great time at his party, and he handled the social part of it really well, even with being the center of attention lot, which he doesn't like.  He has so many friends that love him, and had a fun time celebrating him.

Fun facts about Luke:

He LOVES minecraft.
He is very smart with building, engineering, mechanics, tools, anything of that nature.
He and I have a special prayer that we do every night.  It is our sweet moment together, and I hope it never changes.
Luke's best friend is Boston Sweat.
His favorite color is kind of blue and kind of green.
His favorite food is cheese pizza.
He is amazing with Legos, and he builds legos every single day.
He weighs 41 pounds.
Luke loves to sing opera, very loudly, when he thinks nobody is listening.
His favorite store is Silver Eagle and the dollar store.
Some of his other friends:  Kai Russell, Luke Phillips, Joey Goates, Dawson Boone, Evalyn Deyer, and Tucker and Harper Holmes
He is very sweet, soft hearted and is not one to instigate arguments or problems in the home.  He is a total momma's boy, and he totally has my heart.

Love you Lukie!

Happy 6th Birthday

luke graduates

This past school year for Luke was a really hard one for him.  He struggled almost every single day to go to school.  He has had a lot of anxiety and social anxiety problems, and school is just a very difficult thing for my little guy.

It was so hard for me, as his mother, to send him out the door each morning.  He fought it for a long time, he cried a lot, he begged a lot, and then, the last 1/2 of the year, he would go, but I could see the apprehension in his eyes.  It broke my heart for him every single day.

Luke is very smart, and had no problem with the actual school work, it was just the social aspect of it all.  His therapist, Tamatha, has been a huge help to him, and she gave him lots of tools to help him deal with his struggles.  His teachers were also excellent to work with Luke and to help him feel comfortable the best they knew how.

Luke's kindergarten graduation was a big deal because of this.  It wasn't just a celebration of graduating Kindergarten, but for us, it was a celebration of Luke's making it through the year, and hanging on, even though it was so hard for him.

The graduation was adorable!!  Luke didn't want a speaking part, so his teachers let him do the flag.  He LOVED it, and he felt very important.

 He also got to be one of the five green and speckled frogs for one of their songs.

They sang a bunch of songs in English and Spanish.  The program was adorable!

At the end, Luke got his certificate.  He didn't shake any of the teacher's hands, but at least he got his paper.  haha!!

He walked right past the principal, haha!  Oh Luke.

 

Luke did stand next to his teachers for one last picture.  I am so grateful for these ladies.  They truly care about my sweet little guy.

Mrs. Mahoney- English

Mrs. Solan- Spanish

I am so, so, so proud of Luke!  I love this boy of mine with all my heart.  Good job Luke!

go lukie go

Luke's first soccer game was last Saturday.  He shocked us a little with his natural talent and his speed.  I wasn't sure if it was just a good game for him, if he was just excited, or if it would stick.

On Tuesday, he scored his first goal!  The game was another 3 on 2, with Luke's team having 2 players.  Luke stole the ball countless times, dribbled it down, and took a shot at the goal.  He had a hard time slowing down and aiming correctly for most of the game.  When he finally did, he got his fist goal, and it clicked!!  He was sooooo excited!!!  He ran hard the entire game, and showed some great skill and speed. 

We have always told our kids that they could earn $5 for every goal they score.  The older three kids scored maybe once or twice a season.  I did not tell Luke about this reward, but right after he scored his first goal, he came running over to me, beaming, and asked for $5.  haha!  He remembered that from last season when William played. 

Luke decided to save his $5, and see if he could score another goal on Saturday.  That would give him enough money to buy this minion that he has been wanting for months.  He literally counted down the days to his next game.  I was worried that he might not score a goal, and that he would be so sad.

Well, Saturday came, and Luke played his little heart out!!  He sprinted up and down the field.  He stole the ball, defended his goal, dribbled the ball, and just played so hard.  He scored 3 goals!!!  After he scored his first goal, he threw his hands in the air, squeezed his little eyes shut and cheered.  He was SO excited.  After his other two goals, he would flip, jump around, and cheer.  He would soak it all in.  It was adorable!! 

After this game, I realized that this could be a very expensive season if he keeps this up!  I decided to try to have him pick something out that he really wants, and then we will tell him how many goals it will take to earn it. 

His next item is a Lego set.  He already has 2 goals from his last game that we did not pay him for, and he needs to make two more goals to get the lego set.  We will see.....

Luke is a very good soccer player.  I'm not sure where he got it from, but he shows some natural talent aside from being very, very fast.  He has a little bit of foot work, he is aggressive, and he can dribble really well for his age.  He also seems to really love the sport.

It is so much fun to watch him play.  He works so hard, but it is obvious that he is having fun. 

I love it when my kids find something that they enjoy so much.

Luke LOVES his minion "Bob."  He takes him everywhere and sleeps with him.  It was a hard earned toy!

Go Lukie Go!!!

luke the trap master

Luke is the master inventor.  He is always working on a hide-out, fort, cave, trap, bad guy cage, potion, and everything in between.  I love that he is so creative and inventive.  To his credit, his creations are always really, really good.

This bad guy trap in particular took him days to figure out.  Everything had to balance perfectly in order for it to stay up.  He was also moving incredibly heavy rocks.  It was a chain reaction type thing.  Numerous times throughout the day, I would hear him stomping and screaming because the trap fell down, or didn't work, but he kept on working.

He finally accomplished it, and it was awesome!

Go Luke Go.  Keep us safe from those bad guys.

pre conncections preschool

Luke just finished his last year of preschool.

The grade school here has an awesome preschool program, where the kids go 4 days a week for 3 hours.  They get to ride the bus, and when they are 4, they also begin learning Spanish.

Luke loved the first half of preschool, but once they started doing half of the class in Spanish, he got nervous that he couldn't understand and started REALLY not wanting to go.

He also decided that he wants to wear nothing but fleece pajamas all the time (even when it's 85 degrees outside), and the fact that he had to wear normal clothes to school, made it even worse to get him to go.

We spend the last half of the year with charts that he could put stickers on each day he went to school, and when the chart was full he got a prize.  I had to do charts, bribes, some days just letting him miss school, and pretty much a lot of begging and pleading for the past 6 months.

Getting him to the bus stop was torture, but once he was there, and once he went to school, he loved it and had a great time.  (insert eye roll)


the bus stop crew. I never got over how cute it was every day to see these little guys line up and walk to the bus every day.
This particular day was pajama day at school..Luke was beaming!
Kason Dix, Luke, Joey Goates

I am so proud of him for sticking it out.  He is a very bright little guy, and learned a ton this year!  I am so excited for him to enter into Kindergarten next year.