Luke had his pictures taken this morning. Can you believe that this kid will be 4 in less than 2 weeks? Because I can’t.

I brought our globe, since Luke is so in to states-es and countries right now.

Luke did a great job listening to the photographer and following his directions. All of the pictures turned out great and I love all the different Luke expressions that he captured.

We’re on day six of a nasty stomach bug. It’s hit all of us, to varying degrees. Poor Adam seems to have gotten it the worst. He missed school Thursday and Friday of last week and I’ve already called the school to let them know he’ll be out tomorrow too.

Ours has not been a fun house.

I’m really, really hoping we’re all back to normal soon. Mainly because I hate it when my little ones aren’t feeling well, but also because sick kids generate a lot more laundry than healthy ones (no pictures of that for you, be thankful).

I also wish someone would invent a folding machine, because all that laundry? It’s not going to take care of itself. But right now disinfecting the house and rocking sick kids trumps matching socks.

We had an appointment for Luke with an ENT doctor on Wednesday. The doctor determined that Luke needed tubes in his ears and so he had the surgery today. It was sooner than I expected, but it was either that or wait a few weeks.

So this morning, Luke and I headed out to the hospital.

He did really well waiting before the surgery. The doctor was running about two hours late, and that’s a lot for a little kid that hasn’t had anything to eat since the night before.

The surgery went fine. The doctor said Luke had fluid in his ears and also that there was a significant amount of negative pressure behind his ear drums, causing them to retract, which can be pretty painful for him. The tubes should help with all of that.

He was a little crabby coming out of the anesthesia, but he fell asleep in the recovery room for a while and woke up my happy little Luke Luke.

We stopped for a quick cookie on our way out – he was starving and I didn’t think to pack any snacks. Not that it would have mattered if I did, after the morning he had, that kid deserved a cookie.

He insisted on wearing his cape. He’s been wearing capes a lot lately, and I love it.

Thankfully Luke has been fine all night. He and Adam even went tiger spotting earlier, using some binoculars Adam made out of rubber bands, tape, and toilet paper rolls.

Man I love those boys.

I can’t believe how much older he looks, or that there are only 3 weeks left of the school year!

At some point during last night, all three kids ended up in bed with me (thanks to bad dreams, painful teeth, and who knows what else). Once everyone was settled, I moved to the guest bed. I woke up there this morning to find them all cuddled around me again.

This sort of sums up motherhood for me right now – being fiercely needed, surrounded by love, devoid of personal space, and short on sleep.

Well that and drowning in laundry.

Today was a busy one. Maggie, Luke, and I met up with some friends at the playground for a couple of hours this morning.

This was my view on the way to the bus stop this afternoon.

We went to the local police station’s open house tonight. The boys got their pictures taken with McGruff the Crime Dog (Maggie preferred to wave to McGruff from at least 10 feet away).

The kids got to climb around inside all sort of rescue vehicles – including a helicopter!

Luke liked the firetruck.

They had two demos tonight too. The first showed how tasers work and included a (crazy) police employee that volunteered to be tasered (Adam thought that was a little scary).

The second was all about a police dog (a real one, not McGruff). It was amazing to see how well trained the dog was and the boys both liked seeing him hunt for “clues”. They had a newer policeman in a bite suit that acted as a “bad guy” and so we got to see the dog attack too. The kids enjoyed that as well; Luke liked cheering for the dog.

Thursday night, I ran out to pick up milk and dinner, leaving Steven at my house with Connor, Adam, Luke, and Maggie. He sent me this photo of a Lego tower they made that reached all the way up to the ceiling. It was pretty impressive – almost as impressive as the fact that he got a picture with all four kids in it and three of them were even looking at the camera.

Friday morning, Luke and I took Adam to the bus stop.

Papa and Mabel went to Adam’s school that afternoon, so they could have lunch with him. Adam had been looking forward to it for weeks and was super excited for them to see his school and meet his friends and teacher.

We had two four-wheelers at our house over the weekend. Luke loved pretending to drive them and was thrilled when he actually got to go for a few rides around the house with Papa and Uncle Steve.

Maggie adores Connor (most of the time). She loved pushing him around in that little car.

Luke is a big Connor fan too (how can you not be?). He said, “I love my two babies”, referring to Mags and Connor.

Maggie received a lot of very nice presents for her birthday. She was so cute when she opened them. She’d say, “It’s…….it’s……it’s…..”, until she had removed enough paper to actually determine what was inside and tell us.

Adam got her a doll stroller and Dave’s parents gave her a baby Minnie Mouse. She pushed them around the driveway for at least half an hour Saturday night.

Our guests left this morning and this afternoon, the boys had a Lego Star Wars build at Toys R Us. They each got to make a spaceship and take it home with them. We ended up running in to one of Adam’s friends from school while we were there and they had fun building together.

Maggie had some birthday money to spend, so we picked up this Minnie Mouse play set for her while we were there. It’s a little purse, a phone, sunglasses, and some make up. She was so excited.

She started making calls as soon as we opened it up.

She’s a busy girl.

Of course we had to take a Bear in the Chair picture of our new little two year old.

And here’s a recap for you:

Maggie had her 2 year checkup on Friday. The doctor said she looked great and he didn’t have any concerns about her at all. She didn’t have to get any shots, which made for a happy Maggie (and mama).

I took Maggie to get her pictures taken today.

That outfit she’s wearing is the same one that I wore in my two year portraits.

We did one outfit change ( I do love little kids in overalls), and her favorite baby doll even made it into a few photos (she will not keep clothes on that baby).

We were even able to get her to leave her Minnie ears on for a couple of shots (that girl is CRAZY about Minnie Mouse).

I can’t believe she’ll be two tomorrow!