*WARNING* Hormonal surge may occur.

This blog post may cause high levels of maternal urges and warm fuzzies. (At least for mommy....and gramma.) I won't be writing much so I can get back to spending a rare evening with hubby. But really, these pictures of my beautiful, precious baby girl don't need much explanation..... (they are most effective if you click on them to make them larger. Oh, be still my heart.)...
Ohhhh, the rosy cheeks, that pouty little mouth, those delicately curled eyelashes.... it's too much.

Now, these pics of my favorite little man may not be the most adorable shots I have of him, but the story behind it makes me overflow with the warm fuzzies just thinking about it. The other evening after putting Maria to bed, Luke was being VERY loving and snuggly with lots of hugs and "disses", (and he doesn't usually volunteer "disses".) I just didn't want it to end, and he'd had a later nap, so we changed into our pj's and had a pajama party in Mommy's bed watching Nemo instead! (I skipped over the scary parts. We didn't need them to put a damper on our happy snugglefest.) When I tried to take pictures of him with the red eye reduction on, he got a kick out of all the flashes. He giggled every time the camera started flashing, giving me some great mid-giggle shots.*Sigh* And now I'm off for more snuggles with my favorite big man.

We've been exersaucing...

About a month ago, I decided Maria was probably big and strong enough to graduate to the exersaucer so we pulled it out of storage and set it up upstairs. Ok, by "we" I mean I was the brains and my sweet hubby was the muscle. (I asked and he dragged it upstairs for me.) But anyway, back to the star of the blog post...Sure enough, her legs were juuuuuuust barely long enough to touch the bottom. She loves the ability to sit and "stand" upright to survey her short little world.
And as long as I keep some toys on long enough "chains" for her to get to her mouth, she's a happy camper.My goodness, isn't she cute? Do you think Gerber might be interested in a new spokesbaby?

Apparently, seeing his old friend the exersaucer brought back fond memories for Lukas, too. I could hear him playing with it and thought he was just playing around it but was amused to find this....With both legs stuck through one leg hole, I might add.He was having fun until he realized he was stuck. Since then, he's gotten in it almost every day at least once. Each time, he can't figure out how to get back out and he'll call for me, "Tuuuuuck! Mommy, tuuuuuck!", (that's "stuuuuuck, stuuuuuck" for those of you who don't speak toddler,) which means he's done playing and would like me to get him out now.

In the mouths of babes...

I walked in to get Luke after a nap a while back and caught him looking like this...
Notice anything on his face? I wish I could say it was due to something cute, like trying to rub lotion on his own adorable cheeks, but no....
I caught him sucking on a tube of diaper creme. No, I'm not kidding.He thought it was pretty funny. Not to mention tasty. The diaper creme is now well hidden, in case he gets the urge for a midnight snack.

Our precious little girl, on the other hand, has thankfully been keeping to more... appropriate things. Like her doll's face...She always just goes for the face. She could care less about the wooden rings her dolly is "holding", designed for just that purpose. That would be boring.And, like her big brother, our little girl is anything but boring!

As Elmo's World Turns...

Now that Luke's two, I've eased up on the t.v. watching. This was one of the first times he saw Elmo in action on t.v. What's that they say about t.v. turning kids into zombies?....He looks very concerned. Must have been a dramatic episode of Elmo's World.
No matter how many pictures I took or how close I got, he didn't even blink. It made me laugh out loud at the time, but I'm sure going to treasure shots like this for years...

Babysitting

I've been a bad, bad blogger. *Sigh* If these pictures look like they were taken a few months ago, well.... it's because they were. You know, back when the kids could go without long pants and socks because it was still summer? I am attempting to get caught back up again, so I will begin around where I left off...

Of course, this is old news by now, but I'm sure you will all be impressed when I share with you how I've already begun teaching 2-year-old Lukas how to babysit. Yes, we feel there's no sense in waiting until he's older and "more responsible". Psshaw! Nonsense. That responsibility stuff is highly overrated and it's about time he started pitching in around here. And now, we will demonstrate for you his amazingly advanced skills...


"Lukas, Mommy wants you to babysit Maria.""Good job, buddy."

Ok, the REAL story is that I was working in the kitchen and Luke kept turning around, bending over and slooooowly and caaaarefully backing up toward Maria and the bouncy chair. He'd gingerly try to perch his little behind on the corner of her seat and sit for a moment, get up and turn around to survey her and the seat, then turn back around again to take aim with his tushie from a different angle for another attempt. Yet another of those times when I wish I could hear what was going on in that brilliant and adorable little mind of his.

Something old, something new, something hand-me-down and blue...

No, nobody is getting married. At least, not anytime soon. It just seemed to fit what I wanted to share today. So, as I was saying...

For something old, I bring you "The Tale of a Dresser" ...
This dresser was once painted yellow and held the sweet little belongings and the diapered tushie of a baby girl named Candy Star. Candy Star grew up, stripped off the yellow paint, refinished the beautiful wood underneath, and it's drawers once again held precious little baby things as Candy Star used it's top to diaper the tushie of her own baby girl, Karie Ann Marie. While Karie Ann Marie was growing up, much to her dismay, she gained an obnoxious younger step sister named Adrienne. They both grew up, Adrienne turned out to be not-so-obnoxious after a while, and eventually started a family of her own. When Adrienne was getting ready to welcome their second babe into the world, Candy Star brought her the one last missing piece needed for the new baby's nursery, the changing table dresser. So, while gigantic-ly with child, Adrienne carefully sanded the worn dresser and refinished it with love for her new baby girl, Maria Ann Star, who shares the names of her great-grandmother, two grandmothers and the niftyness of two middle names like Auntie Karie... but that's all a different story.
And now for something new, I give you "Diddy 'Bout a Diaper Bag"...

There once was a new mommy of two,
whose bag once held tidbits of blue.
She tried with all her might
to cram all baby things in sight
and that's when the diaper bag blew.

Then the new mommy of two's fairy godmother (ok, fine, it was actually the new baby's gramma) gave her some gift money, and the mommy used it to buy this fab new diaper bag. The end.

And last but most certainly not least, Maria would like everyone to know that she can rock the baby blue hand-me-down pacifiers like nobody's business...
"Baby blue is the new baby pink, don't you know?", says fashion forward Maria.You go girl.

I (almost) have no words...

It's difficult to give up the preconceived ideas of what your plan for your life may be, but it's AMAZING what the Lord can do if you truly put those notions aside and let Him lead the way.

Let this ongoing story touch your heart. (Click on the "blog".) I promise you'll be blessed by it.

Paci love....

Luke likes to help Maria with her pacifier. Maria often doesn't want her pacifier. If Lukas sees it laying nearby, he'll try to somehow get it into her mouth and keep it there. Maria, on the other hand is just soooo enamored by her big brother that she puts up with a lot of abuse.
Lukas: "Aim at the mouth.....wait for an opening.... then SHOVE!"
Maria: "Hi big brother! I'm so happy to see you. I love you big brother."

Lukas: "Dang, it's right back out again. I should just be able to push it back in with my thumb.....concentrate....wait for it...."
Maria: "I love you big brother. Big brother, have I told you lately that I love you?"

Luke: (Squeezing the pacifier,) "What's wrong with this thing? It seems to be defective..."
Maria: "....love you, love you, love you..."
Luke: "Maybe if I try it from a different angle...."Luke: "Ok now....aim....steady....now put my weight behind it and really CRAM IT IN!"
Maria: ".....love y*gag* *cough*...love you, love you...."

Basketball

One would think that living in the Summers household, our son would have a complete understanding of all sports equipment and their uses. But alas, Daddy must be slacking because when Luke heard me tell him that one of his new toys was a basketball, he stopped for a moment as if in deep thought...
...then promptly went directly to the nearest laundry basket and sat in it, with his "basket"ball.

(I had to include this next shot just because of the funny, spaced-out look on his face.)..."Earth to Lukas. Come in Lukas."

More to come...promise.

Quite a bit has happened in the past month since I last posted regularly; I was laid off in the middle of my maternity leave, I was asked to co-lead a group at a bible study I've been attending for years and will start doing so in a few weeks, Rainer's had surgery for a clinical trial, Maria was dedicated (but I've covered that post already,) and I've found I may be going back to school, at least for a few classes, if not more and changing to a different line of work. I'll have to go into detail later, but here are a few pictures of the kiddos for now:

Luke continues to be fascinated with turning the lights on and off, and when he figured out how the dimmer on his table lamp worked......there was no obstacle he wouldn't conquer to satisfy his OCD light switching tendancies.
Maria continues to grow more and more delicious each day, and I continue to try and capture her yummy cuteness as best as possible. Maybe if I get in reeeeeeeally close...
Some ladies like to unwind in a nice warm bath with a glass of wine......Maria prefers a paci.

I will get back up to date soon. Promise.