Monday, November 29, 2010

Jackson's Baptism - October 31, 2010

Jackson was Baptized at St. John's Lutheran Church on Sunday, October 31, 2009. He wore his Great Grandpa Carlson's Baptismal gown which his Great Great Grandma Carlson made for her four sons. I was also baptized in this gown and it is so special to us.


Jackson's Baptism
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Jackson started to smile as soon as Pastor Jackson laid his hand on him to bless him; so precious!
Pastor Jackson with baby Jackson
Jackson's Godparents; Van & Marta Sliger and Dorothy & Dan LaBar
Dan is one my first cousin's on my Dad's side. He is the oldest son of one of my Dad's older brothers, David LaBar. Dan and his family, Dorothy, Heidi and Holden live only a few miles from our home and we have become extremely close since moving to Kentucky. They are such a wonderful family and we are so blessed to have them in our lives and as Jackson's Godparents.
I began baby-sitting for the Sligers in Cookeville when I was 12 years old. They have three of the sweetest and nicest children (their daughter Haley was one of my junior bridesmaids in our wedding and both Chase and Matthew served as acolytes). Their family has been extremely special and important to me and for nearly 20 years now they have been a wonderful example of what a Christian family should be for me. I have been so fortunate to have such wonderful friends like the Sligers in my life and we are so blessed to have them as Jackson's Godparents as well. Aunt Marta holding Jackson before church
The LaBar and Carlson Family
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From left to right Heidi, Aunt Dorothy, Uncle Dan, and Holden (LaBar), Sherry and Ted LaBar, Kennedy, Jackson, Anna, Reagan and Tim Lueker, Aunt Arla and Uncle Scott Carlson
The Lueker Family
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From left to right Uncle Jimmy (Frizzo), Grandpa Jim and Kennedy, Grandma Karen Lueker, Jackson, Anna, Reagan and Tim Lueker, Aunt Julie and Uncle Chuck Cox
Tim, Anna, & Jackson with maternal grandparents Sherry and Arthur LaBar


Tim, Anna & Jackson with paternal grandparents Karen and Jim Lueker

Jackson with his grandparents
Jackson and Mommy - I love that sweet baby!
Mommy, Daddy & Jackson

We invited everyone for breakfast before the Baptism because we had so many out of town guests. Here's a piture of our most festive food; an edible flower arrangement from Grammy and Krispy Kreme Halloween donuts
The girls enjoyed the special breakfast and their cute aprons from Grammy to keep their clothes clean :)

Poor Holden only got yogurt! :(
Pop-A-Lops and Reagan giving Jackson some attention and love :)
Reagan sure loves Uncle Scott and Aunt Arla who are one of her Godparents

Reagan was very excited about Uncle Van and Aunt Marta visiting our house for the first time. She also had to ask Uncle Van if he had seen the movie the Labrynth as soon as they got to our house after the Baptism. She is such a little goof ball sometimes... lol :)
Kennedy couldn't wait to dig into the appetizers as we prepared lunch for everyone. "Self" (how she refers to herself doing things by herself) pulled up her steps up to the table and dug right in!

We had a dinner of ham and turkey with sides prepared by Grammy, Grandma, Aunt Arla and Aunt Dorothy. Thank you everyone for all your help and assistance in getting dinner prepared and ready so quickly after church!


Kennedy having a blast playing with Aunt Julie who is also one of her Godmothers
Aunt Marta feeding Jackson
Thank you to everyone who came and shared Jackson's special day for us. We are especially appreciative of everyone who traveled to be with us for Jackson's Baptism.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Lexington Adventures of the Bug Squad

One of our favorite book series is currently Ladybug Girl. Ladybug Girl has several friends and together they make up a superhero group known as the Bug Squad. Reagan loves to "pop" into Ladybug Girl as well as Bumblebee Boy. Kennedy is frequently Kiki the Butterfly Girl. The girls pretend to be these characters and love the books so much it wasn't a hard decision to make our own little bug squad for Halloween this year. If you're familiar with the books, I'm pretty sure you'll approve of Reagan's costume as I think we did a pretty good job of nailing Lulu's ladybug costume. You'll have to forgive us for the liberty we took with Butterfly Girl and Bumble Boy since their costumes aren't quite as elaborate in the books. And in case anyone is wondering, even though I'm not dressed up, yours truly frequently plays the part of the fire breathing Marley, Dragonfly Girl. :) Hope you enjoy the Lexington Adventures of our very own Bug Squad! :)
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May I present the one and only... Ladybug Girl!
Ladybug Girl and Butterfly waiting for the festivities at the Disney Store the weekend before Halloween to begin.
Aunt Dorothy and Bumblebee Boy
A beautiful Cinderella Bride
After a mini parade around the mall we were led back to the Disney Store for some not so well thought out games... The kids were supposed to use straws to suck up those little discs and carry them to another table where they would drop them in a little cauldron. Say what???Seriously, I don't know if the adults could have managed what they were suggesting this group of 2-6 year old was doing their best to accomplish.
I agree Kennedy! Forget that nonsense and just use your hands. lol :)
After that they moved the kids to a note quite large enough space to dance. When the music stopped everyone was supposed to make a scary face. Okay...
Scary faces...
Love this picture of the two of them, how sweet can these two girls get???
Bless the their hearts for trying but things just weren't working out for the Disney Store that day. There final thing was to talk to the kids about nutrition and then hand out frisbees that said something about nutrition on them. They didn't have enough frisbees and they kept bringing out a few at a time. All the kids did finally receive one but it was the goofiest process ever. We still had a good time and were extremely helpful for the assistance of the Hamlin during all this craziness!
Reagan has group violin lessons every other week. The week before Halloween Ms. Bethany allowed the kids to wear their costumes to class.
Ms. Bethany had some special Halloween games for the kids to play together like passing a "ghost" while carefully holding their bows in the correct position
After the group lesson Ms. Bethany had a special Halloween snack for the kids. The church they have their group lessons at sells pumpkins so the kids loved chasing each other through the pumpkins after they finished their special treats.

Every Tuesday morning we head to our local Barnes and Noble for storytime with Mr. Lowell. The Tuesday before Halloween everyone dressed up and had a parade around the store with multiple stops for treats as we went.
Bumblee Boy slept through most of the excitement
One of our stops for candy My little bugs busy working on their goblin art project
The Goblin Squad :)
Kennedy and Danika are only a couple weeks apart in age and I thought it was adorable that they were both purple butterflies for Halloween. Way too cute!!! :)
Daddy took the week off (his first chance since Jackson was born) and came to meet Mr. Lowell and see our Halloween festivities at Barnes and Noble
Jackson's Baptism was on Halloween. As such, we had company in for the weekend. Unfortunately since Halloween was on Sunday it didn't work out for most of our company to be there for trick-or-treating. Since Kennedy is going through a shy period right now and I wasn't sure if she would trick-or-treat at strangers houses and to give everyone a chance to have fun with the girls we decided to have a practice trick-or-treat Saturday night. We had people stationed at different doors around the house and the girls had a blast! I think they would have kept walking around the house if we had let them. lol :)
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The Lueker Bug Squad
Uncle Scott and the girls posing by their amazing pumpkins
Yep, they've got their bags and they're ready to get busy "practicing"
Love my precious Missy K and Bumblee Boy I have no idea what this face was about but I love it too! :)
The first stop of our practice trick-or-treat was with Grammy by the garage
Next was the back door with Grandma and Grandpa
Then to the front of the house where we started with Aunt Arla
Aunt Julie made sure Jackson got to participate in the practice trick-or-treat too :)
Reagan wanted to hit the front door for one final practice trick-or-treat after a few final pictures in front of the house :)
What an adorable picture of Grandma, Grandpa and their Ladybug Girl
Missy K sure does love her Aunt Julie and I always get such precious pictures of the two of them together!

The big finale to our Bug Squad's adventures in Lexington was of course Halloween and trick-or-treating around our neighborhood. Uncle Dan, Aunt Dorothy, Heidi and Holden came to join us and we had an awesome time collecting lots of candy together!
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Our band of little trick-or-treaters
Mom and her Bug Squad
Ready to head out and get some candy!!!
Holden was hilarious when he decided to ditch his stroller and push the girls in their wagon instead. What a little character! lol :)

Even though Heidi was technically Cinderella I just couldn't help thinking of a little run away bride everytime I saw her darting around lol :)
After a few stops Pop-A-Lops and Jackson, excuse me, Bumblebee Boy, decided to go back home to help Grammy hand out candy
After we finished trick-or-treating the girls worked on a little craft project with each other back at the house
Kennedy, sorry Kiki (and she really would stop and correct me), couldn't wait to break into her candy and specifically the suckers. She received one at one of the first stops and carried it in her hand nearly the entire time we were trick-or-treating. One house we stopped at was handing out handfuls of dum dums and she just stood their waiting for more. As you can see from the pile of sticks in front of her she did her best to eat every last one in her bag as soon as we got home! lol :) Love you Butterfly Girl!
Two of our little bugs with Grammy and Pop-A-Lops before they left Sunday evening.
We had one crazy, busy, super fun weekend! The girls basically fell into bed in their tent from Grandma and Grandpa together. I couldn't believe how quickly the fell asleep especially since they insisted on sleeping together in the tent. I sure do love my little love bugs!

Thank you to everyone who helped us have such a wonderful Halloween this year! We are truly blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives to share holidays and special events with and have so much fun!