Life seems to be going at 100 mph lately. Actually, it probably is pretty typical for us. This past week we had our first ultrasound of the baby, and we found out we are having another wonderful little boy :) Lucas was so proud of himself for getting it right. He has all along claimed he was going to have a brother.
Lucas finally got his bunk bed we've been wanting. Gary spent the whole day putting his room together. Lucas loves it and so do I! The first couple nights he slept on the top bunk, but decided against it after that. We hope to have one of his cousins over real soon so they can have a sleep over using the new bed :)
Tonight was Lucas' Kindergarten Christmas program. Lucas seemed rather bored with the whole ordeal. The only time he sang was during the song that had sign language (which that song name is failing my right now). At one point, I thought he and the girl next to him were going to start fighting. Lucas was so bored, he began bumping her for fun. She did NOT appreciate that!! haha ...
Anyhow, he looked adorable I thought.
As I finish typing this, I'm sitting on our couch watching Polar Express ... Lucas and Gary are fast asleep on either end of the couch. Not sure what to do about this considering I'm in no condition to pick up my 5 1/2 yr old right now .... hmm ...
Life has definitely been busy lately. I wonder how I'm ever going to handle another baby, in between my job, Lucas' crazy shool and activity schedule ... not to mention Gary's schedule doesn't necessarily make it easy either.
Trick or treat was a lot of fun. Lucas went out for the first time on his own (typically some of his cousins accompany us). He was hysterical and made conversation with every person passing out candy. He would always check out what he was getting, and if he had it already, he'd give it back. haha! He'd scream at all the scary costumes. People kept laughing at him the whole night. Lucas is truly one of the funniest little boys I've ever known. When we made it back to Gary's dad's house (Gary's dad lives in the neighborhood both Gary and I grew up in, so it was really nice to be able to take Lucas trick or treating there) ... Lucas would recruit people to the house by yelling at them across the street "We got treeeaasts heeeere" ... over and over. Good lord! Then when they'd come over, Lucas would talk to all the kids, see if they wanted to play in the leaves, dance around them, pass the candy out ... he's a nut.
All this said, Gary and I are very concerned about Lucas. Lucas' kindergarten teacher, along with Gary and I and his sunday school teachers, feel Lucas MAY have some slight issues that seem to mirror ADHD symptoms. Impulsive behaviors, inability to sit still/focus, calling out answers, interuptive, inability to keep hands to himself, etc. This is not really a shocker for me ... I have always felt Lucas' behavior was different than my nieces and nephews or other kids his age. Gary and I are firmly against drugs at this point in Lucas' life, despite the many suggestions to try them. I think it's a little easier to say that when it's not YOUR kid. So, we are trying to pursue other avenues. We are trying to make an appointment with a Christian counselor, adjusting Lucas' diet, and trying to offer Lucas a lot more structure at home. The kindergarten teacher, with our suggestions, is trying different techniques with Lucas and we are exchanging a daily journal. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to have helped the situation so far. So, we welcome prayer, if anyone thinks of us throughout the week :)
Despite all this ... academically Lucas is doing great. We got his first report card, and other than behavioral things, he did excellent. He seems to make friends really easily. And, because of his fun loving personality *wink wink*, he is very well known amongst the teachers, administrative staff and princple. :)
Another thing we believe Lucas could use, is activities to get out all that extra energy he has. We thought hockey would be a fun choice. So, we have Lucas in ice skating lessons right now. He is struggling learning because he gets so frustrated when he falls. But, overall we think he's doing a great job :) Most kids who start out are 3 years old ... who would've thought a 3 year old could ice skate so well? Anyhow, we are hoping Lucas moves up quickly ... I heard one mom say to another mom they thought the age limit for the class was 4 years old ... clearly Lucas is older than that!! Whoops! Sorry ladies ... I didn't get the memo that I was supposed to give my son ice skating lessons before potty training. Sometimes other moms drive me insane!
I usually don't type up stuff like this ... But, I have been so shocked by this election and the values (or lack thereof) that I'm seeing occur in our nation. I wanted to type a short (hopefully) blog on how I feel about all this.
First of all, I know God does not want us to judge other people. I know myself well enough, I have NO right to judge anyone. But, I still don't get how people who believe that Jesus Chris is God's son and died on the cross for our sins, a God who values each human life ... can at the same time, side with a presidential nominee who says partial birth abortion, infanticide ... heck, abortion, period! is okay ... Sometimes I think we as Christians sort of turn our heads to these issues of abortion, marriage, faith ... And, say, "We'll, I'm mostly worried about our economic condition and the candidate I most feel would help us comeback financially. I think religion and politics should not be mingled." Since, when did human life become less important than our precious economy? Since when did our values take a back seat to our need for money and power? Since when did God say that there is ANYTHING that we leave him out of?????
My church, which I LOVE, is in the midst of a prophecy series, titled, "What On Earth Is Going On?". I won't do it justice here ... but, it's basically about all the things going on in the world today and how all these things are leading up to the second coming of Christ. Our pastor takes information straight from newswires, history books, and world leaders - and, connects it all with God's plan for his Son to come back and take his people home. It's extremely interesting, and very eye opening. I think too often our Western Civilization, turns our head to these things. How about the fact that Iran would like to see the U.S. and Israel gone off the map? Yet, one of our presidential nominees still thinks it might be a good idea to sit down and reason with these people.
My point being ... this series has reaffirmed to me the reason why I vote the way I do. This world is sooooo extremely temporary. The economy, stock market, health care, gas prices, etc ... I will never allow these issues to get in the way of the values God has outlined for all of us to follow. If I had to be completley honest, I don't know that either candidate has a good plan as far as the economy goes. But, that's besides the point ...
Like I said ... I don't wish to judge anyone who voted differently than me. I just hope they attempt to see past the rhetoric, especially if they are Jesus Followers. I hope they get informed and they seek prayer before they vote.
Whoever wins, I am truly fine with. I know God is in control no matter what. But, I have felt totally burdened by this election, watching people's reasoning patterns when picking their candidate. It's shocking and sad that Americans have become this disengaged from God's value system. And, I'm sad to see the uninformed voter, allow the biased news media and/or liberal minded family, sway them to vote against everything Christianity stands for.
Our pastor shared this video today, which I thought was great.
Good luck at the polls! I chose absentee ballot :)
I can't remember if I blogged about Lucas playing soccer this past spring or not ??? But, he's at it again in the fall league. He seems to have improved quite a bit too. Last Saturday he dominated the game and scored 7 points :) Although, tonight, it was a different story. He scored once. So, I'm not claiming him a future soccer star yet. He did grab some girl tonight and try to knock her down. Kinda embarassing ... and, since I had been cheering him on all night, they knew I was the mother!
Gary coached this game. I think he was the hottest coach out there. :)
My sister and her kids and my mom came to watch Lukie play. Lukie, despite this picture, was VERY excited to see the J boys :) Afterwards, we went out to the Indian Caverns, had a picnic and walked through the caves. I wish I had some pics, but I have been busy using my new video camera and have not taken many pics lately. These pics are actually compliments of Rhonda. :)
These are three of my georgeous nephews. I love them so much. They each have their own personalities. Josh can be very sarcastic and he and I can really joke back and forth now that he's so much older. Joey is kinda awkward and hilarious -- mostly funny b/c he doesn't even know he's funny. We call him Eyore (SP???) from Winnie the Pooh ... b/c his voice sounds just like it! Jameson is sorta shy, but very very sweet. Lucas LOVES Jay and wishes he lived with us. haha ...
Her and I have not seen each other since the wedding. Amazingly enough!! I missed her!!
So a couple weeks ago, Lucas began Kindergarten. We have been really looking forward to this. Lucas is an extremely oinery child. I love him to pieces, of course, be he is OINERY! Gary and I are really hoping that the structure in Kindergarten helps him a little. :) Plus, I'm so excited to see all the new things he'll learn and do ... um ... Whatever, I'm just ready for someone to whip him into shape. haha ...
That morning unfortunately, I was extremely tired and sorta forgot to start taking pics until the last minute. Plus, it was raining and Lucas was getting very frustrated with all the picture taking. He was sweeter about taking pics when he was younger. Not so much anymore.
So, as I mentioned, Lucas is oinery. Gary and I jokingly talked about placing bets on how long it would take Lucas to get called into the principal's office. Well, it only took a day and a half for me to get a phone call from the teacher and for Lucas to sit at the "sit alone" table!!! When she called me at work, she told me he was talking a lot and being extremely disruptive to the classroom; therefore, she had to sit him by himself. I did not blame her one bit and really appreciated her calling me. But, was pretty embarassed at Lukie's behavior, yet not all that surprised. Lucas wants to be the class clown all the time. He thinks it's his duty to keep everyone laughing, particulary at him. Anyhow, I have not had anymore phone calls since then. We had an open house this past week and the teacher said he still is a talker, but he hasn't acted up quite like that since. Gary and I have been riding his butt a lot, so it must be working. Whew! Oh, and the teacher told us, several kids have sat there already. Whew, again!
I do love this teacher. She reminds me of the nanny on tv. You can tell she really loves all her students, but she won't put up with their crap either. So, it is a great combination. :) I feel very blessed to be able to send Lucas to this school and for him to have been assigned such a great teacher. :) Gary says he loves the school, but the jury is still out on the teacher ... haha ... whatever.
Oh, and this is funny ... first day of school he got a dresscode violation. Apparently his shorts were out of code. My goodness!! The handbook just said "uniform shorts". How the heck am I supposed to know what that means? So, I'm sure this teacher thinks the jury is still out on us as well ... haha
On a sidenote, for those of you actually reading this, I'm six weeks pregnant. Gary and I didn't waste anytime on that! The baby will be due around the end of April. I haven't even been to the doctor yet, but I am not one to keep too many secrets about myself. So, I'm telling everyone. Lucas actually told his whole classroom about it. "My mommy is going to have a baby. It's as big as a fly and it'll be here in 20 minutes." Nice.
i haven't been good ever since the wedding on posting pics of what we've been up to. it's been a lot more than wedding and a honeymoon (thought that of course was great!!!). we've been keeping busy getting out of the house and doing things with lucas. one day we tried to go to the zoo, but it was soooo packed we retreated and went to a local garden. lucas had a lot of fun despite the number of bee encounters we had :) the highlight of the trip was the train display there. lucas did not want us to leave!!
another thing we did was visit the newest water park in columbus - zoombezie bay. gary, lucas and i went with michele and lillian. it was a great day, and all of us had a really good time. lucas isn't what some people would describe their kids a "fish". the park was huge though, so maybe that played a part as well ?? hopefully next year we can get him to go down the big slides. lillian had no fears!!
Gary didn't think I could make it across this thing. but, i did! it was actually pretty easy. maybe because it was built for 10 year olds who couldn't reach as well??
a couple weeks ago, we went bowling with my aunt pam and her grandson, nik. pam had taken lucas bowling once before, while gary and i were on our honeymoon. but, it was hilarious watching him play. lucas THREW the ball down the alley, while nik (3 years old) rolled it so gently it took forever for it to make it all the way down -- one time it didn't make it at all. :) lucas loved it and was very competitive and wanted to see if he was winning all the time. gary didn't cut him any slack though ... gary beat all of us by many many points.
this is him throwing it. it would actually bounce once he threw it. very loud!
so, we had his kindergarten orientation tonight and met his teacher mrs. malley. everything was great. i'm really looking forward to this transition. a lot of people have asked me if i'm sad or if i'll cry. i don't get it ... i truly enjoy every stage lucas has gone through. there is no way i would want him as a baby forever. yuck-o!!! not to say there aren't some nostalgic moments, but i love this age and i think i'll continue to feel that way. anyhow, they had a small worship service and an ice cream social -which we made pigs of ourselves at. we went to the classroom and dropped off our school supply list (omg, SOOOO much stuff they wanted). it was all so cute. i wish i could be a fly on the wall and watch the first day. anyhow, lucas found a friend named rylan right off the bat and asked him if they could eat their ice cream together. when we left to go home the two boys were laughing and telling each other they'd see each other on wednesday :) so, hopefully that'll help lucas' transition from his preschool/daycare he's been going to since he was a baby to a school where he won't know anybody. :)
So, these are the pics from our honeymoon. It's been over a month now since we went and it seems like an eternity. We had sooooooo much fun!!! It was the first time Gary and I ever had time alone together for more than just a few hours. At first, at least for me, it was kind of hard to relax and not feel like I should be doing SOMETHING. But, it didnt' take long to get used to it. :) At first I was kind of missing Lucas, but then I got over that too. I knew he was having fun and he and I would have plenty of time together when I got back.
The Sandals Resort was beautiful and they treated you like royalty. The restaurants were wonderful and delicious. Our room was very nice and had a balcony that looked right over the beach. It was so nice to wake up every morning with the beach right outside your bedroom window. It was the perfect segue from a fairy tale wedding to a fairy tale honeymoon. The ocean was clear blue water.
We did a lot of fun things, but probably one of the best things we did was a zip line through the rain forest. It was soooo much fun. We were so high up and to "fly" above all that was pretty nerve wracking. As laid back as Gary is, even his hands were shaking!
On our way to the zip line ... we passed this mountain ... apparently a scene from Pirate of the Caribbean was filmed here. Does anyone recognize this???
Then, we saw this mountain ... it is suppose to look like a lion. Can you see the head of the lion??? Apparently, a week before we got to St. Lucia, two couples went to this mountain to cliff jump and they died doing it. :( Not a smart idea!
This was our view from dinner one night. It was beautiful.
Gary and I typically sat out by the beach & pool during the evenings after dinner. They had entertainment every night, and we'd watch from afar and listen to the ocean. A couple nights we did go in and listen to the music and dance.
Tubing was so much fun!!! I have told Gary I can't tell you how many times I want to buy a boat so we can do things like this all the time. He never really says anything ... so, I don't think it was a "no" quite yet :) But, if he has a Harley and a convertible Mustang ... why can't I get a boat? Right???
I did golf a couple holes :) And, we did not mean to match this day. I had on a much cuter outfit that included plaid shorts and a white tank top. But, apparently you can't wear tank tops golfing. How dumb is that?! So, I had to change and I had no short sleeve shirt to match my plaid shorts :(
We were on our way here to snorkel. That was a lot of fun too! I wish we had made the time to go scuba diving. If we ever get the chance to do something like this again, I think we'd definitely get certified and go scuba. Snorkeling was awesome, but it just wasn't quite enough.
Pool bar ... now, that is pretty friggin sweet!! They had all the fruity girly drinks you could imagine. :)
This was at an italian restaurant. Don't we look sorta silly the way we are holding hands? Kinda dorky I think. haha ...
This was a japanese restaurant. It wasn't quite the same as what I'm used to. But, it was fun and the guy making our meal was hilarious. I tried to wear my hair curly that night. What a disaster that was.
This was our last night ... we danced quite a bit and I was a sweaty mess. It was the perfect ending really. I was kind of surprised Gary was willing to dance so much.
Tonight was Lucas' Kindergarten Christmas program. Lucas seemed rather bored with the whole ordeal. The only time he sang was during the song that had sign language (which that song name is failing my right now). At one point, I thought he and the girl next to him were going to start fighting. Lucas was so bored, he began bumping her for fun. She did NOT appreciate that!! haha ... 
