Cute Luke

There is something about Luke that will just always be cute. Now that he has turned five, he has gone from super cute 4 year old, to super cute 5 year old.

Being all boy he loves spiderman, hence the cake:)

Just look at that face!

I think this one was "OOooooo!"

He is a sweet, happy and loving little boy. He has plenty of silly in him which is why he is so cute even when he is trying not to look cute:)

Mark turns 12

I know it's late, but at least that's better than not at all right? Besides, it's not like we forgot his birthday, we were just so busy enjoying it that we forgot to share it with everyone else:)

Because this was such an important birthday, and we had family coming to visit, we had to compromise on the cake. Mark really likes my ,ahem, homemade cakes, by Duncan Hines, but it's a lot of work to decorate, so this year, he got two "cakes". First was the Jello on his birthday, and then the Sam's Club cake the day after when all the guests were there. He loved having the jello, but we did learn the hard way that candles in jello is not such a, um, hot idea:)

The night of his actual birthday, our brave boy was all alone. He needed to do an overnight campout to complete a requirement for Scouts, so he went on his first overnighter with the other Scouts and no parents. What a trooper! (Seriously, he had a blast, no parents to tell him to go to bed, coyotes running around the campsite, yeah, I'm not sure he even missed us:))

On Saturday we opened gifts, which is always a family affair:)

We also decided that 12 was a good age to begin investing in suits for our boys. So here he is all dressed up and ready for his first General Priesthood Meeting with his Dad.

 David has been anxiously awaiting this day for about twelve years. They even stopped for ice cream afterwards.

It's Not Pretty

Luke.  Cute, fun-loving, adorable Luke.  He turned 5 recently.  And apparently, 5 year olds are clumsy.  Their motor skills can't quite keep up with their energy level.  He literally falls at least once a day.  Sometimes it creates a bruise or a cut, most of the time he just gets right back up and continues on his way.

I wonder if he's just trying to get out of pictures?  We get professional pictures when they turn 5.  But Luke has been falling consistently for the past 3 weeks.  And with each of the recent falls, he has acquired a new bruise on his chin or nose or face.

His most recent fall (today) was a real doozy.  It was bad enough that Karen took him to the dentist...who referred her to an oral surgeon.

He was doing exactly what his mother had repeatedly asked him not to do.  Unfortunately, Luke had to learn the hard way.  He was climbing on the back of the settee in the 3 seasons room and fell...hitting his mouth right on the edge of the windowsill.  

Here is the windowsill (yes, with the blood):

And here is Luke's mouth while we were waiting at the doctor's office:

Pictures never quite do it justice.  But I prefer looking at the pictures as opposed to the real thing!  The good news is that the oral surgeon told us it should heal on its own.  Just a return appointment in 2-3 weeks to make sure that's the case.  But he warned us that it will get uglier before it will look better.

Luke was brave.  He played on Karen's iPhone while we waited and was accommodating for the doctor.  As long as we keep Tylenol in his system, he should be good.  But hopefully, he'll avoid future falls so we can get his 5 year pictures before he turns 6!