Fun at the Fountain

While taking Flat Stanley downtown a couple of weeks ago, we ended up at the Pineapple Fountain. This is one of our favorite places to go. It is an iconic Charleston landmark and the boys get so excited when we are there. (I think it has to do with the fact that they can actually get in the fountain and swim.) Well, there was no swimming this day, we still had other places to go. But like always, my two wild ones had a blast!

Flat Stanley visits Charleston

At the Battery in front of Charleston Harbor

For the past few weeks Flat Stanley has come to visit us from Paulding County, GA. Mimi's 2nd grade class has been reading the book and we were given the honor of showing him around Charleston. We had big plans to take him to all sorts of cool places, but I kept forgetting him!

A couple of Fridays ago the boys and I, plus Stanley, hopped in the car and headed downtown. I was determined to show Stanley a good time and all that Charleston has to offer. In a little under 4 hours we went to the Battery, East Bay Playgound for a picnic, Waterfront Park and the Pineapple Fountain and the Market. We took pictures every where we went. We even picked out a postcard for him to take home with him so he could tell Mimi's class about his adventures with us. I sure hope he had fun. Let me show you what we did...

At the Battery


At Waterfront Park in front of the Pineapple Fountain
Waterfront Park
At the Market with a sweet grass basket

A letter to Luke

Dear Luke,
You are now 19 months old and I simply can not believe it! Everyday you make me and your daddy smile. Everyday you make your brother laugh. Everyday you are into something, and it usually makes a mess, but I don't mind.
You are a natural explorer and an observer. You are learning so much right now, just by watching you brother. You are learning more words. You still are saying ball, mommy, dada, more, fish, iz(lizard). Now you are also saying hot or ot. You have learned about your eyes and your belly button. You can locate them on you and the rest of us in the house! We are working on ears and nose. You'll get it! You LOVE to read! You can't hear enough books, but they must be short and you really like lift-the-flap books. You also love nursery rhymes and we read them a lot everyday.
Every morning you wake up about 7:15 and join me as I read my bible. Everyday you take a nap at 1 and you go to bed at 8. You love grapes, and you prefer to walk around the house with the entire bag right from the store! You love to let Gracie outside and you can't wait to close the front door when someone leaves our house! You are very independent and can't stand for us to help you. But that's ok, we let you try and wait for you to ask for our help. You love to pour as much bath water onto the floor as you can. Yes, it makes a mess, but its ok. I love you still!
Oh my goodness! I love you so much and I am so proud of you! You are smart, cute and hilarious! I am praying for God to shape you into a warrior for him one day. But until then, I will cherish each day that I have with you and enjoy every minute of you growing up.

I love you,
Mommy

My Date Night with Will

Last week I had the chance to go on a date with my son. I know that I can go out with him anywhere or anytime, but our local
Chick-fil-a was having a Mother-Son Date Knight. For Will this was perfect! He loves knights right now and Chick-fil-a is his favorite restaurant, so it was a win-win for him.

I have to say, Chick-fil-a really went all out. The restaurant was decorated like a castle. They had a photographer. They even had tablecloths and candles on the tables and they took our order from the table and served our food on plates. They went through a lot to make our night special. And it really was. When we left, Will told me thank you and that he had a lot of fun.



Well buddy, I had fun too! I had fun getting to talk to you. I had fun riding in the car with just you. I had fun just watching you enjoy yourself. You are special, you are my little knight, and for me it was a night that I will cherish for a long time!

More Family!

Luke, Adriana, Will and Chloe. The girls are cousins on the Duggan(Mike's mom) side of the family.

About a year ago, Will started understanding the concept of family. First, we taught him about grandparents and their how they relate to us. Then we started teaching him about our brothers and sisters. Once we mastered all of this, we started talking about cousins. Ask Will who his cousins are and he will tell you Tate, Caleb and Jake. They are our nephews and the ones that he plays with when we go home to visit family. He had it down pat.

But over the past month and a half we have gone to two different family events on both sides of the family. And it is at these events that Will has met even more cousins. (Ok, they are actually 2nd cousins, but how do you explain that to a 3 year old? ) Anywho...for my social little boy, this revelation has been awesome! He now knows about his cousins in Tennessee, Georgia and Florida. He adores his cousins and loves the fact that he has even more to love and play with!

So...here are some more cousin pics. I do need to admit that I have no pics from of our sweet cousins in Florida. When we went for my Grandmother's wedding, I forgot my camera.:(

Will, Luke and Caleb and Grandma Fessler

Tate, Will and Luke

Will, Luke and Jake

A fun day out!

This past Saturday we took the boys down to watch the College of Charleston women's basketball team play. We have a good friend at church who is one of the assistant coaches. She scheduled Mike to do a devotion for the team before the game and got us tickets to watch the game as well.
We had told Will all week that we were going. He could not wait! We have a small basketball goal in our playroom and Will and Luke play all the time. But neither had ever been to a game.
By the time we got there, Will was fascinated. He loved everything and surprisingly, sat very still and quiet for the entire first half!
Luke also sat quietly and was very interested in everything happening on the court. He ended up falling asleep during the second half, and Will was more interested in going up and down the stairs and watching the game from the upper level.
The girls did not win, but our boys sure had a good time. Will has even asked when we are going back. Thanks Coach Kaye for a fun day out with our family!

Luke at 18 months

I know I updated on Luke not too long ago, but we just went to the doctor last week for his official 18 month check-up. According to the doctor he is healthy as a horse and growing like a weed. He weighs about 23 pounds and is about 2 and 1/2 feet tall.

Since the last update I gave, Luke has been talking up a storm. We can't keep him quiet! Other than more(his favorite word), he has learned dog and knows that it says woof. He also knows fish and points them out anywhere he sees them. He is trying to say other words as well, but right now they are still coming out as gibberish. He so wants to talk and I have a feeling that it is coming anyway!

He loves to dance and does this really funny hand motion whenever he hears music. He squeals with delight whenever he sees Mickey Mouse on tv and he can point him out in books.

Speaking of books, Luke is still very much into reading, which if you know me, then you know that makes my heart smile. Being a children's librarian by trade, I desperately want my boys to desire to read. Right now, they both do. They can't get enough and they look forward to our weekly trip to the library. Luke makes me smile when he wants to read. He will get a book and come and plop down in your lap whether you are busy or not. Right now he likes any kind of lift-the-flap books.

Luke also loves to play cars and basketball. He hasn't figured out how to make a car sound so he likes to make the fly around like an airplane while he makes a flying sound. Whatever works, right!

One thing we have noticed is that Luke favors his left hand. Whenever he plays basketball in the playroom, he constantly uses that left hand. I'm not sure how long this will last, but it would be neat. Will is all right handed. Maybe we can have a southpaw pitcher in the family, just like his daddy!:)

Oh, Luke! You make us laugh daily! We love you so much
Sweet brothers!