Birthday boy

Luke-a-duke turned three today. Time for a trip down memory lane photo style.

Rainy Day

It's no secret that I'm anti-umbrella. Because of that, I've put Belle's multiple requests for an umbrella on the super way back burner. Fortunately for her, we happened upon a 50% off sale - that included fun kid umbrellas - at Lands End. The kid knows a sale when she sees one. She also knows that mom has a tough time saying no to a sale. Even if an umbrella is involved.

The umbrellas found their way to our home on Friday and Saturday (after a trip back to grab one for Ava). Saturday was one of the most glorious days of 2009. The goofballs refused to come out and play, thus making it possible for me to get some much needed yard work done (if you look at the right side of the photo you'll see how far two bags of mulch made it - not very) in a relatively short period of time.

Along came Sunday. And with it, lots and lots of rain and fifty five measly degrees. The girls cheered when they saw the rain. Cheered! They were outside faster than I could pour my first cup of coffee.

Meanwhile, Luke spent some quality time with his second favorite play thing. Play dough. He's been known to play with the dough for three hours at a time. He goes through so much that it's easier to make a fresh batch each time. I'm a fan of this recipe.

Easter 2009

Dying eggs was a success. Only one broken egg that Ava promptly ate. Luke didn't get to participate because he decided to go to bed at 6:45pm.

The Easter Bunny left a bit of candy, some plastic animals and plants for the girls.

Luke got tons of bubble making accessories. The kid loves his bubbles.

Hunting for eggs at Grandma and Grandpa's. The wind was a bit chilly, but it was still warm enough for short sleeves. Belle's choice of clothes is never a good indicator of the temp. She wore that outfit during the ice storm.

Ava checking out the contents of her eggs.

Silly goose.

Torturing the kids by having them sit directly in the sun.

Found a better spot to sit. Wade had to work all day, so he didn't get to participate in the fun. He did get a plate of leftovers, so that kinda sorta makes up for it.

Tiny Bubbles

When Luke started (occasionally) blowing these tiny bubbles yesterday, it was instantly evident that he would benefit from Sponge Bob's bubble blowing class.



Bubbles from Autumn Hutt on Vimeo.

Christmas 2008

It doesn't matter how much we cut back, presents - much like rabbits - tend to multiply when kids are involved. We're at a really, uh, let's call it fun place with the kids and the whole anticipation thing. Even so, Ava managed to fall asleep in record time on Christmas Eve. (Think Belle's huge birthday cake had something to do with that. Mega sugar rush turned into mega sugar low pretty fast.)

We spent the morning at home. In the pm we went south to the in-laws where we ate (a very late) brunch, opened gifts and shot some hoops.

The ultimate bed head. Belle's dino roars and walks. It's not annoying at all.

This is Ava being so excited that she can't contain herself. Guitar wasn't such a hit. The Wedgits were.

Belle encourages Luke to open his gifts by threatening to open them.

Luke demonstrates not sticking out his tongue - his latest obsession.

Wade and Lou (brother-in-law) helped Steve (father-in-law) hang his basketball hoop. Here they are burning off some of those Christmasy calories.

By popular demand

Okay, so maybe not. Just thought I'd post a picture of Luke since he's been left out.

For those of you paying attention, this was the top half of his Halloween costume. This poor shirt has been loved hard and washed many times. His little boy belly sticks out from under it, but he refuses to let it be replaced by something that fits.

Belle saw this and asked where Luke's lips went.

Dry erase markers smell much worse than Sharpies, but thankfully aren't as permanent

It was peaceful. A little too peaceful if ya know what I mean. The girls were playing happily in their room with the door shut. Pretty much insures no interruptions or destruction by the little brother. Luke was occupied and I was enjoying the quiet. I was enjoying the quiet.

Who do I think I am to enjoy quiet? I have three crazy kids. Quiet and good do not belong in the same sentence around here. Unless it's bedtime.

Then, as I perused the net, I caught a whiff of a bitingly unnatural smell. It seemed to be coming out of the air vent, so naturally I got down on all fours to see (since smells aren't invisible) what was going on. It took me a minute and then it clicked. Luke found the dry erase markers that one of Ava's teachers pawned off on us at the end of last year.

So I did the walk run to the office to assess the damage. Legs? Check. Three foot area of carpet? Check. Desk? Check. Rocking chair? Check. I asked him what he was up to. "Coloring." Mmmm hmmm, I see that. Are you supposed to color there? "It's kyoot."

Kinda hard to punish that. We hate the carpet and plan on ripping it out sometime soonish, so no real harm done there. And since it was dry erase it pretty much wiped off the rest of everything. Except Luke.

But how many times has your defense/reason/excuse for something been, "Well, it/he/she was so darn cute." It totally works. Why'd ya spend $500.00 on a bag? Well, it's cute. Why'd ya spend $950.00 on that ho? Well, she was insanely cute. Why do you keep that destructive munchkin around? Well, he's ridiculously cute.

The color of love

Who knew it was dirt colored?

Spot #1 (aka dirty Spot) was Ava's first webkinz. She loved him. Then she lost him. Luke stole dirty Spot and claimed him as his own. Except for the occasional spat, Ava pretty much acknowledges this as the cold, hard truth. We knew that having a back up for dirty Spot was of utmost importance. But it never really made it onto our to do list.

Guess what Luke found yesterday as Belle was picking out her reward for sleeping in her bed all night for seven nights? Yep, a back up Spot! I knew that dirty Spot had been loved hard, but I had no idea just how hard.


On a side note, I love how kids name things in such an obvious manner. It's a really good thing that most of us grow out of that. Otherwise, we'd all be Pruney Looking Thing, What Was I Thinking, Damn, That Hurt or Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii.

Haircut marathon

We let ourselves go over the summer. Why bother with haircuts on a regular schedule when the hair is drenched with pool water and/or sweat? And since the kids (okay, they probably don't really care, but I do) don't want to look like they got their hair cut for the first day of school on purpose, we have to do it a little early. This was the week.

I'm pretty good with a pair of clippers. I can buzz the heck out of any head you throw at me. I can even make a pretty straight line. And I make a darn good fro-hawk. But scissors are a completely different animal. One time Wade and I decided that it'd be a good idea to save a few bucks and trim Ava's bangs ourselves. Fifteen minutes and no bangs later, we decided that the 6 pack we drank prior to was a bad idea. (No, we didn't get drunk and cut her hair. But it would've explained the outcome.) The worst part was that I knew better.

Growing up, my mom did most my grooming. Considering what a brat I was, it must've taken all her patience to cut my hair and not my throat. When I was around 7, I decided that I wanted my hair just like hers. She got me positioned just right, grabbed the nasty junk drawer scissors and got going. My bangs progressively got shorter and shorter and shorter. When there wasn't much bang left and I still wanted them shorter she was confused and finally thought to ask what I envisioned as the final product. "Your bangs." She didn't stop laughing for a year. See, she had long hair and a pony tail.

And so, we pay someone to cut their wild little manes.

Here's the before.

My kids think that "smile" means make the weirdest face possible. The front of Luke's hair wasn't too bad, but he was thisclose to rockin a mullet. Belle's hair was actually growing out super cute and looked great pulled back in a clip. Ava pretty much needs a buzz a la Britney to avoid the scream fest that ensues after I grab the brush.

And the after.

Again, I said "smile." When will I learn? Luke's bangs look like I got my grubby little fingers on them. That's the only thing I don't like about his cut. The lady does a great job on the rest of his head and even whispers sweet nothings into his ear the entire time she's got him in the chair. Ava decided on a slightly stacked bob. Belle went back to uber short. The first time she got that cut it was an accident, but it fits her sassy personality perfectly.

Here's to all those bad mom hair cuts!

Luke turns 2

His birthday was May 4, but we finally celebrated with the fam yesterday. The weather was perfect for a park party. I had a few issues with Elmo. He was so unwilling to work with me. Had he been a bit more cooperative, we could've gotten a better look. I'm thinking that his imminent demise was behind the attitude.

Luke was appalled by our horrendous rendition of happy birthday. You can be too by clicking here.

The winning present. Luke loved this poundy ball toy so much that he refused to swing (which might be his single favorite thing in the world). He hung out in the van with Wade clinging to the balls.