The last few days

Brooke was being cute at dinner the other night.  She knows several signs now and it is so fun to be able to communicate with her. 

 Addison had a birthday on the 19th.  We got her a new backpack.  She was thrilled. Now she doesn't have to put her school work in a Wal Mart sack when we go to bible study.

 We were going to take her to a restaurant to eat, but she decided she wanted to stay home!  Her reason was because she wanted steak and "They don't make it as good at restaurants as you do at home."  Awww, she's so sweet.  So I made her favorite.  Steak wrapped in bacon, corn, sweet potato chips, cinnamon swirl bread, and I threw in a salad for Scott. 

 The next day we had Amberly and her family over for dinner. This day was Scott's birthday too.  The kids all got a big piece of cake.  It was a pretty special treat. 

 Addy and Luke have been playing soccer.  They are the orange team.  Addison LOVES soccer.  She likes it more each time she plays, and she's getting pretty good.  Luke wanted to play until we went to the first practice.  He usually just stands out there with his hands behind his back and occasionally he will run after the ball.  The last game we played he actually kicked the ball 3 times!  He is getting better, but he is one of the youngest so he's also the slowest.  At least it's good exercise!

They have a good coach.  She is very patient and has fun with them.  We recorded a little of the first game, but when we went to watch it on our computer the computer crashed.  When we got everything restored I went to watch the video again and I thought it crashed again. So I'm done with that video.  

Addy's first tooth

Addy has had a wiggly tooth for a few weeks.  It was ready to come out.  

Friends

Today we went to the park with some friends. 

The kids found a nice place to play in the water and and squish their  toes in the mud.  Look at those sweet faces begging for permission to go through the tunnel.

Then we found a place to dig in the sand. 

 Everyone had their own area in the big sand box.  They made some pretty neat sand castles.  It looked like a little city.  They were all working so hard none of them said a word. 

And don't forget the baby!

Bedtime giggles

We laugh a lot at our house.  With an almost 6 year old, 4 year old, and 1 year old it's easy to do.  One of them starts laughing and then we all start laughing.  There's just something funny about being funny.

They have been saying some pretty funny things too.  At bedtime last night Luke got the idea to practice the 10 commandments.  He said, "Lets say the 10 commandments so we know what we need to work on."  Scott said, "Ok, let's go through them."  As Scott started going down the list Luke said, "Now remember, there's 10."  With a serious face.  After we were done they both decided they needed prayers for coveting.

When we went to pick up our soccer shirts they asked the kids what number they wanted to be.  Addison of course wanted number 6 because she is turning 6 in 6 days.  When Luke was asked what number he would like he shouted out in the most excited voice, "79!!!!"  And then giggled.  It was just the random number that he thought of first, and if you asked him tomorrow I'm sure it would be different.  When we got home I told Scott to ask him what number he was.  Luke shouted out "17!"  I said, "No what number did you choose?" He said, "77!  78!"  Well, at least he remembered there was a 7!

The other day Addy said, "Mama?"  I said, "Yes?"  She paused and then replied, "Shouldn't you wait to hear what I am going to ask before you tell me yes or no?"

We have been learning the hymn, "This is My Father's World."  So Luke woke up one morning, opened the window and said, "I hear nature singing!"  Then he heard a train and said, "Is that nature singing?" Now whenever we hear a bird singing, wind blowing, or insects making noise he says, "I hear nature singing!"

Luke was trying to convince us the other day that God loves the little children more than the mommys and daddys.  He backed himself up by saying, "Don't you remember that verse that Jesus loves the little children? And a long time ago Pastor Dave said in church that Jesus loves the little children.    And we even sing a song!"

Easter weekend

 Scott had Friday off so we went to Topeka to see some friends.  We had a great time catching up and the kids are now old enough to enjoy playing together.  They had little chicks, so the kids got to pet them.

 Luke wasn't sure he wanted to touch it at first, but he warmed up pretty quickly.

 Then after church on we headed back up to Topeka for the family Easter gathering.  Brooke had her first egg hunt.  It didn't take her long to figure out to pick up the eggs and put them in her basket.

 Luke was a pro this year. 

 This is Addison's 2nd basket full.  They hid so many eggs the kids had to get another basket to fill!

 Brooke sat here for quite awhile opening the eggs and examining the candy.  Good thing she doesn't know that you eat the candy yet. 

Awww. Doesn't my grandma look so good!

Something really neat happened after this picture.  Luke opened up all his eggs and then went around to all the big people and offered them a piece of each kind of his candy.  Some people didn't want any, but he insisted, saying, "Ok, then you can just save it for later."  He got rid of a lot of his candy.  Addy went around and did the same thing, but she is normally pretty generous.  Luke is our I want everything I'm not going to share anything kid, so this was NOT normal for him.  I asked him why he gave away so much of his candy and he said, " I want to go to heaven."  We'll see if this pattern keeps up, but we were so thankful for this opportunity to encourage him.



AWANA Closing Ceremonies

We had a great year of AWANA this year! Addison and Luke had a blast memorizing God's word!

 Here's some of the Cubbies coming in.  This is their "bubbles and duck tails."

Usually the Cubbies are a little timid on stage. Not this group! They discovered microphones. 

When one discovers the microphone they all want to give it a try! 

And the Sparks did great!  What a great group of friends! It will be fun to watch these kids grow up together.