My girls...

First attempt to dress them alike and get a good picture, failed.... but these are funny and cute to look at anyway. Sydney was just ready for bed and Ava was pointing at me to hand her her binky, which is also known as "binks" or "binky binky boo." I like to sing her a song I made up called "binky binky boo" when she is crabby and needing it, it almost always makes her smile :)

Luke's first fieldtrip of the year

GO Luke GO!!!!

Today Luke and I went to "The Farm" in Snohomish. It was great to have some one on one time with him... well, Sydney was with us but she slept in my ergo the whole time. We picked out a white pumpkin in the patch, went down a curvy slide in a barn, played in the sandbox with tractors and Luke got to eat his first dreamsicle. His favorite part was playing with the little kittens. Daddy would of been so proud to see him push himself through all of the 4 year old's so he could play with the kittens too. I snapped a picture of him doing it... I love his personality, laid back but definitely not a pushover. He may be the kid that still prefers to be with his Mama while the other's are all playing and being wild, but I love that about him and will hold onto to it as long as I can. Before I know it, he is going to be grown up and maybe not even want his dear old Mama around. He is a passionate, sweet little boy who definitely has his tough 3 year old moments... but the good outweigh the bad by a landslide and I know that it is all just a part of growing up and him figuring out his place in this world.

...and after a busy busy day, I find him completely konked out before dinner time in his costume. I was lucky he didn't wear it on his fieldtrip.

A good night sleep...

My little angel slept 8:30-4:30 on Saturday night... needless to say I had a ton of energy on Sunday. Good thing because Stevo was sick :(

My little Batman

Today Luke got his Halloween costume in the mail. He was so excited, he literally wanted to sleep in it. He would run around and stop and put his hands on his hips, it was so cute. I don't think he totally understood how to wear the headpiece, because he kept trying to stretch one eye cutout to see out of both eyes. I showed him how but he kept doing his own thing, oh well. He was so excited for Ava to wake up from her nap so he could show her and put her costume on. She tried on her duck costume (that she picked out in the store) once and now has no desire to put it back on... much like Luke last year with his Buzz Lightyear. All he wanted to do was wear Ava's tutu. He will probably never live that one down. I guess until they are 3 or 4, you never know how they will respond to a costume.

Country Village

We went to Country Village yesterday, like every Friday. It was the last Friday of the Farmer's Market for the year :( It is definitely Luke's favorite place to go and has been for a long time. He calls it "Kunch Vidge." I love that it is Fall now, we recently pulled out the boots and our hats. Here are some pictures taken with my handy Droid... a pretty decent camera in daylight, for a phone. I just love watching their sweet little faces... always wondering what they are thinking about. These photos capture some of their expressions that I love so much!

This photo is of Luke watching the model trains... his favorite part about the whole ride. In fact, sometimes we can skip the ride while he watches the models so intently.

I love her in her boots!

Ava's bedtime tonight...

Putting Ava to bed tonight was such a treat for me. Usually Steve and I take turns putting either Luke or Ava to bed so they can each have us alone for some good one on one time. Tonight was my night with Ava (and a quiet Sydney.) The typical routine is that we read books together on her rocker. She hops up in the chair and pats the seat where she wants me to sit. And then we look at picture books, search and finds (which is she is better than me at,) and lift the flap books. Lately, she just rips the pages so I try not to pull those books out to read. After about 20 minutes, we sing. She loves to hear me sing which is so funny because I do not have a good voice.... but she thinks I do! I rock her and sing her tons of lullabies and I watch her eyes get heavy... but it is only for a short moment because she fights actually going to bed. Anyway, after that I put her in the crib and lay all of her 4 blankets on her as she insists that I do and I blow her kisses as I leave the room. Well, tonight was different....as much as I love that routine it was nice to do something different.

Tonight, I just let her play and I sat there and watched her for 40 minutes. She had Baby Stella and her other doll who is yet to be named. It is one of those dolls I never thought I would ever buy for her because she has those scary eyelids that bobble up and down. She saw it in TJMaxx a couple weeks ago and I could not resist buying it for her because I think it is so cute that she loves to be a Mommy. So she was trying to put real diapers on them, one of her size 4 diapers and one of Sydney's newborn diapers. This is the only time I don't get annoyed that she wastes a real wipe. She takes out the wipe and cleans both dolls thoroughly and then she plops the doll on top of the still folded diaper. I ask her if she wants help and she clearly says "NO." I ask again just to make sure and she almost gets mad at me. There is no way she is getting the diaper on by herself but oh well, she is having fun so I let her. Then she decides she wants to read to them. She puts them both on the rocker, on top of the same diapers she was using, which are still not even fastened to them whatsoever. She decides to clean them with the wipes again and then she goes and gets books and starts reading to them. She looks at them after she reads each page and makes sure they sitting up straight and doing ok. Then she decides to clean their private parts again with the same ol' wipe and she reads again and then sings to them. I can only tell it is singing because it is a bunch of moans together in the "Hot Cross Buns" melody. That is an Elmo song we have been singing with different lyrics lately. She could honestly do this all night... change diapers, read, clean them, read, sing, etc. but I tell her is time for bed. I turn on her night light and give her kisses even though she is clearly mad at me for making her go to bed. I know when she wakes up in the morning she will be so happy to see me. I leave the room so honored that my 21 month old is taking such great notes in her head of how to be a loving Mommy. Girls are so much fun!

Unfortunately I do not have a picture of this. I wanted so badly to leave the room and grab my camera but I didn't want to disrupt her because she was so focused and having so much fun. Sometimes special moments like these are better caught by words anyway.

Peanut Butter Graham Crackers for Dinner

I am a big fan of cooking and take pride in making healthy but good tasting meals for my kids. Tonight's dinner was embarrassing but I have to blog about it because it is just what you have to do sometimes when all 3 kids are screaming at the top of their lungs and Daddy is not home from work yet to help. Tonight was an easy night for me, Trader Joe made some enchiladas for us and I had plenty to go around. Luke is obseessed with snacks right now so it is to the point where I call breakfast, lunch and dinner snacktime just so he will sit down and eat it, regardless of what I give to him. If I feed him chicken deli meat and call it a snack, he will eat it... but if I serve him the same thing and call it lunch, he will not even make his way to the table. So tonight I told him he was getting a snack and was planning on serving him an enchilada. Well Sydney started crying and I could not get her to stop and Miss Ava who had decided not to actually sleep during naptime today was cranky and throwing a full on temper tantrum, belly to the ground, legs kicking and screaming... and then Luke started crying probably just because the girls had lost it. I panicked and just for the sake of getting someone to stop crying, I faltered and surrendered to his request of a peanut butter graham cracker sandwich for dinner. At least there was some protein in there is how I look at it.

Oh, and a number of people have been asking about B, thinking he is still lost. He was found last week by Steve. This time he was under the guestroom bed and I was amazed that Steve even checked there because that is a completely random spot. He is safe and sound in Luke's bed with him as we speak.

Never Say Never...

I woke up this morning to a smiling baby by my side, a snuggling big brother right next to her and then Daddy on the other side. Of course, when we went to bed there was just 2 of us. Sydney joined us after the middle of the night feeding (I fall asleep when I am feeding her.) Luke has nightmares and even night-terrors lately so he runs up to our room in the middle of the night screaming and crying. He usually sleeps on the makeshift bed on our floor but he made his way into our bed last night.

Don't get me wrong, I love to snuggle with my kids but I have always said I would never let them sleep in my bed because that is the only time of the day I have to myself. And now here I am with 3 kids, 3 and 1/2 and younger, not caring who is in my bed or bedroom as long as it means both Steve and I can get some extra sleep that is very much needed and deserved! :)

This picture of Luke and Sydney is one of my favorite sibling pictures to date. It was taken a couple months ago on a lazy Saturday morning.

She scaled the fence...

Last Thursday, at only 21 months of age, Miss Ava escaped her crib. I have seen her throw her foot up like she wanted to get out but it has never gone farther than that (that I know of.) Almost a week later now, she has not tried it since. I think the number 1 reason is because it did not feel great on her bum, or whatever she fell on. I would also like to think she listened to me after the talk I had with her and told her not to do it again... it is dangerous!! She definitely keeps me on my toes.

I don't know why she would ever want to get out there... she has everything she would ever need besides food in there. She has about 10 of her favorite stuffed animals, loveys and dolls, 4 blankets, some books, a nightlight, a couple outfits for Baby Stella and I think that is about it. You would think with all of this stuff she wouldn't notice if it started disappearing one by one, but she does.

Lately, whenever I go to get her, she has removed her pants and sometimes her top. Here I am trying to teach Luke to do that at 3 and 1/2 years old and he has no desire whatsoever, unless of course it means getting in the bath as quick as possible. This has got to be a big difference between boys and girl.

The third one is supposed to be the easiest???

Whoever said that the third child is supposed to be the easiest?? Just the other day Steve joked (atleast I think he was joking) that if Sydney was our first born, she might be the only child. The poor sweet girl has the worst gas! She seems to be coming out of it a little bit, with some help of "gripe water," which is a natural supplement made of ginger and fennel extract. Most of her awake time is spent crying. At least she sleeps well... I am very fortunate for that. She is so sweet, she sleeps on her side in the Fischer price "Take Along Swing", just like her sister did with her binky propped up to her mouth, all day long. I carry it all over the house with me. It is either that or I bounce her on the stability ball or carry her in the Pikkolo carrier that is way better on my back than the Bjorn. On the days when I can manage to get her to smile at me... REALLY smile at me, not just gas smiles... I grab my camera and shoot away. I am extra lucky if I catch her dimple in a picture.

Making Cookies

I love to cook with Luke. A few months ago we made some snickerdoodles. In the few seconds that I turned my head, Luke decided to pour the salt in after I had measured out all of the dry ingredients. It was hard to be mad about it because he was not trying to be bad, he honestly thought he was helping me out. I tried to remove as much as possible and then added some extra flour just in case because I scooped out more than just salt. We finished making the cookies and lets just say they were very salty. The saddest part of this is that I was pregnant and I ate them anyway.

Today, we made some of Luke's favorite cookies... chocolate chip and M&M. He used to call M&M's, "Ma Moo's" and now he calls them "em nems." Most of the M&M's and chocolate morsels ended up in his mouth before they made their way to the bowl. I think he likes chocolate as much or even more so than I do, if that is even possible. I blame myself for that because I ate a TON of chocolate when I was pregnant with him... he was due right around Easter time and I love Easter candy. Anyway, after we put them in the oven, he sat right in front of the oven and did not take his eyes off of them for the 10 minutes it took to bake them.... now that is dedication!

Batman

The latest toy craze in our house is Batman. Luke can not get enough of the show or the toys. He has 2 batman's and the batmobile, which he calls the batman car. He is now lobbying to get the batcave and batcycle out of the newest Fischer price catalog. He has been sweet enough to share one batman (the one he has had for a longer time) with Ava so they can play together. I LOVE watching the kids play with their toys and seeing where their imaginations take them.

She misses her big bro...

Little Avabee is so cute... when we drop off Luke for school she wants to ride in his car seat wherever we go. She literally pitches a fit if I try to put her in her own seat.

It's the little things...

I love her heart shaped mouth! Whether opened or closed, it looks like a heart.

Missing Bear

"B" Luke's beloved bear is missing as of Sunday, September 12th. He was last seen in the family room by Steve. This is the longest he has ever been gone. B, please come home, we miss you.

The History of B:

B is actually a retired TY Pluffy named Cloud that I picked out at the shop of an Empire Suites in Franklin, TN. Steve had surprised me for Valentine's Day with a romantic dinner and overnight stay at the hotel in 2002. I love stuffed animals and I always had him sitting on my night table. One day, I decided to give him to Luke when he was just about a year old. He always just hung out in Luke's crib. The first time I remember him playing with him was in October of 2008. Right after Ava was born, Luke and B were inseparable. I think it was his way of dealing with the addition of his baby Sissy into our family.

The impossible picture...

Ok, I am not used to blogging.... apparently if I forget to say something I can't just go back and edit, I need to create a new post. I may be blogging 25 posts a day till I can get used to this.

I wanted to say that it is so hard to get a picture with all 3 kids in it looking at me.... 2 kids is definitely doable. I don't even need a smile, just all 3 kids looking somewhat close to the lens, eyes open... They could even be looking at each other and I would be happy. Until I get a good one, I will just have to be happy with pasting their 3 cute faces together in a photo collage.

Figures that I forgot my good camera on Luke's first day of school and I had to use my phone to take a picture. I guess I should just be happy that I remembered to take a picture and that all 3 kids were content at the same time and looking at me. Well, Sydney's eyes were closed but that is ok because she is a baby.

No, I did not misspell our name...

LAS stands for Luke, Ava, Sydney. And no, we did not chose their names for that reason, it just so happened that they spell out our last name. I hope this doesn't mean that we are supposed to have a 4th child with a name starting with "S..."

The end of the Totsite era

I have been thinking about creating a blog for about 6 months now instead of using our totsite. The totsite will end in January and this is beginning NOW =)

I think it will be easier to capture and write about the kids in a blog format rather than a weekly/monthly update. Now that Luke and Ava are older and talking, there is so much to capture about their everyday moments. Moments that we tend to forget until we are reminded by old photographs or videos. There are so many little moments that I have wanted to record in a baby book and I know I have forgotten so hopefully this blog will end that.

Most of all, I want to do this for my kids. I want them to have all of our memories so someday they can look back and be reminded. This blog will become a book for them.