Things That Make Me SMILE

“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.” 

― Thich Nhat Hanh

A long overdue post once again, so I thought I would just list out, with pictures of course, the things that make me SMILE!

I am pretty sure we are done with SNOW for the year, although we really enjoyed the SNOW as a family this year!

Thinking about the excitement of EASTER morning. Mckenna's hands shook, she was so excited to find all of the hidden eggs! Q was so happy to have a Buzz toy, he was absolutely uninterested in finding eggs! 

Mckenna looking so GROWN-UP and cool in her sunglasses. Also, can't forget to mention her interest in WRITING alphabet letters these days! 

The inability to get a good PHOTO of these two cuties!

The AWESOME home improvements we have done lately. A huge THANKS to Matt, My Dad and Matt's Dad!!!

Remembering Q's voice as he exclaimed "HI MOM!" every time he peeked out the windows of the play house.

These two cousins and their LOVE for each other, shown on Brooke's 3rd Birthday.

A really GREAT weekend with really GREAT people getting together to celebrate one really GREAT little girl! (Even though car trouble had us stranded in Mount Pleasant-- Thanks to Papa Ken we made it there!)

My two ADORABLE nieces! 

The list could go on and on... There is a lot to be SMILING about these days! 

Love from the Lucas Family! 

Setting the Cammera Down

Would you believe it if I said, "this is the only picture I have from my trip to Iowa"? Take away the couple of pictures of Laura's family in the pool, this is it. No really, this is it.

I've realized lately that sometimes it is important to set the camera down. Like, when you are the only parent for two kids for the weekend, and if you pick the camera up... who knows what could happen. Really though, memory making can happen without the view from my lens. The memories from last weekend will have to live on through this blog.

Friday, the kids and I, packed up and headed to Iowa alone. ALONE. I drove five and a half hours alone with two kids. I was out numbered, any number of things could have gone wrong. But, they didn't, we had a pretty smooth trip there. We won't talk about the fiasco in Fairfield, where I had to totally strip Q down and change his clothes due to an explosive diaper. At any rate, we made it there. Mom, La, Brooke, and Hannah were there to greet us. Karen and Mary stopped by for a quick visit and a squeeze from the kids.We hung out, waited for Chris and Dad and then had a great dinner.

Saturday, we went swimming at the YMCA in Waukee. It was a nice outing, Mckenna was a fish. I couldn't believe it. She was so brave swimming around and trying the slide, and waterfall. Q was a little nervous and hung out with me. Can't blame him, the water came up just below his chin. He would have been fine if he could catch his balance. After swimming and lunch with the Meades we headed home for a nap before our outing Saturday night. Saturday night we joined Angela, Jeremy and the kids for some bowling and dinner. The kids had a great time, more importantly they were rock stars. Taking turns bowling, eating all their dinner and sitting in one place at the restaurant puts that outing in the win column, if you ask me.

Sunday was a slow day, with a visit from "Aunt Margie and Uncle Jim". We finished the weekend with Mckenna's favorite meal, pork chops! The trip home was pretty uneventful, even though the threat of snow had me a bit worried. We made it home just before Matt got home from work and the kids were so happy to see their Daddy-o!

It was a great visit, filled with some of my favorite people! I am so happy my job allows me to trek to Iowa with two kids, ALONE, during Spring Break. Setting the camera down isn't my favorite thing to do, but I think it was worth it. The time spent making memories was treasured just the same.

Love from the Lucas Family.

Magic

“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.” Terry Pratchett

Last weekend Nini and Papa Ken came down for a visit. Papa Ken and Matt worked so hard to improve our laundry room, or rather laundry closet. Nini and I got to spend some quality time keeping the kids out of the way!

On Saturday, like magic, the eyesore of the cement slab disappeared. Don't get me wrong, if you ask Papa Ken and Matt is was not an act of magic. Taking nearly all day they accomplished a task we never thought was possible. Once the cement slab was gone, they worked to improve the area. Adding nice paneling, cabinets, and nice trim to make my dreams come true. You see, I have been wanting a nicer looking laundry area for some time. Of course this comes last on the "list of things to do", seeing as this is probably the smallest area of the house. But in a couple of weeks we are getting new flooring, something else I have wanted since we moved in, and we decided we better do all the improvements before we have to work around new floors. The new laundry area looks so nice, I am so happy with the added storage and aesthetic appeal! It wasn't an actual act of magic, it was hard work, and for that I thank Papa Ken and Matt!

Nini and I, on the other hand, did witness an act of magic. The magic of watching toddlers learn and explore. We took the kids to the Magic House. This is a children's museum full of areas perfect for kids to explore, play and learn. Mckenna and Quentin were no exception, they were eager to run around and take it all in. I was amazed with Mckenna when she fought through several "big" kids to be able to climb up the Jack and the Beanstalk imaginary beanstalk. She went up and down several times, of course Nini and I were nervous and wanted to keep her in our sights, but she just wanted to explore. Quentin was amazing when he would step right up to something new and try it out. I was shocked when he went up the (very narrow) spiral  stairs all by himself with the goal of sliding in mind. You could hear Quentin say, "my turn" often, wanting to experience the same magic he saw sissy experiencing. Nini and I had a great time watching the magic of learning and exploration take over.

 

Despite the frustration that remodeling an OLD house can give, and the struggle to keep two kids happy on little sleep, I believe there was something magical about last weekend!

Love from the Lucas Family! 

Lifting the Weight

This blog has been a weight on my shoulders for some time. When did I get to the point where the routine of writing about our lives became forgotten about. Routines are funny, change them slightly and the old, somewhat comfortable routine becomes a chore. This blog has become that to me and I let it get so far from my reach that I spent more time figuring out how to repair it.

It is time to forget about the lost time, it is time to write again. I had thoughts of starting a whole new blog, making this blog a memory, but as I sat down to make up a new blog I didn't know where to start. I didn't know what to name it, I didn't know what my first post would be. So, ultimately I decided to keep this one going. We are not the "new" Lucas family anymore. Truth is, we have changed so much in the almost four years since I started this site. But I don't believe we are "old" either. We are still changing, learning and finding our family.

I have a lot of ideas of how to use this blog differently. But I am not going to make any promises. I am going to get back into the routine of writing, whether is is about an exciting adventure, a funny saying of Kenna's, or something Q learned to do/say. Let's not forget about Matt and myself, we are worthy of talking about too! :) If I've lost some readers over time, hopefully they will get the itch to check in on the blog and they will see, I AM BACK!

Because photos of the kids is a necessity....

Stay tuned! Love from the Lucas Family!