Ant Invasion

I love spring/summer, it is my favorite time of the year! But with every season there are pros and cons. Though there are several pros associated with spring/summer, there is a definite con, ants. The ants here are huge, were talking about some serious AOUS's (Ants Of Unusual Size). Every year at about this time, we find ants wandering around in our house. They are usually in the downstairs bathroom, but this year they have decided invade uncharted areas of the house. Recently we have been finding them upstairs in our bathroom. Every time you go to the bathroom, you are sure to see at least one ant, if not more. You know that feeling you get sometimes when you feel like something is crawling on your feet, well now every time I feel that I get a little jumpy, thinking I am going to look down and see an ant crawling on my toes (this has happened more than once). It is a little bothersome. Fortunately we have our own little "ant spotter", who can spot an ant several feet away. It is pretty impressive.

Spring is in the Air

We've had occasional days that tried to trick us into thinking that Spring had arrived, but it really wasn't until this last week that it really felt like Spring. There were birds singing and eating at our bird feeder, kids running around in shorts and t-shirts, and sunny days (4 consecutive days without rain). However, this doesn't necessarily mean that everything is bliss. Along with Spring, comes Katie's list of "Things we need to get done now that the weather is nice". (It also brought out the feral cats fighting under our deck, but that's a different story.) Katie got the garden weeded and prepped for planting, which we will hopefully get done this week. We also hope to refinish a dresser that has been sitting in our living room for the better part of 6 months now, and build an entertainment center that better protects both our equipment from Lucas, and also Lucas from electric shock. Hopefully, somewhere between all of the Saturday's we already have scheduled away, we'll be able to have some barbeques with the neighbors, do some fun things and enjoy the change in weather.

Echo........echo

Lucas has reached the stage of his development where he repeats, or attempts to repeat, everything you say to him. Sometimes it can be cute, while other times it can just be annoying. The other day Lucas was playing on our deck, throwing a ball over the side and his friend, Rhett, was throwing it back to him. When Rhett had to leave to go back inside, I said, "Lucas, tell Rhett goodbye". Lucas stared at me for a second, turned to Rhett and said, "Tell Rhett goodbye". Then he got mad when Rhett left.

Signs of Growing Up

Lucas has been more cranky than normal the past couple days, but we didn't think much of it until I was tickling him the other day and noticed something. Lucas is getting 2 new molars! Every time I look at them I think how painful it must be for a tooth that big to break through the skin for the first time. At least the incisors and cuspids are pointed on top and can 'slice' through the skin, whereas with molars it seems more like using a sledge hammer to knock down a wall.

The boy was born to sing...

Lucas has developed a fondness for singing the past few weeks. It started with "singing" along with the hymns at church (much to his joy, our embarrassment, and the dismay of the lucky family sitting in front of us). Recently however it has expanded to involve the use of actual words and the intended song can actually be deduced. Lucas' favorite songs are "Wheels on the Bus" (but only the "horn" verse) and "Ring Around the Rosie" (but only the last two lines). The best is when he does his own arrangement of "Ring Around the Bus" and combines the two into something that sounds like "beep, beep, beep.....beep, beep, beep......all fall down!"

(I know the picture has nothing to do with him singing, but it shows his love of music, and he's just cute.)

Galoshes

All winter long Katie was "heck"-bent on finding Lucas a pair of galoshes once Spring rolled around. Pennsylvania gets more than its fair share of rain in the Spring and Lucas was sure to not only have plenty of puddles to splash in, but we were confident he would want nothing more than to stomp in every puddle he came across. While it is true that Lucas does enjoy splashing in puddle while wearing his galoshes, what we hadn't anticipated was all the other things Lucas likes to do while wearing his galoshes. Lucas and his galoshes are nearly inseparable. Given the choice, I'm sure he would wear them to church (fortunately we're smart enough not to give him the choice).

Sunday Best

(Guest writer, Craig, continues his tirade.)

Lucas tried out his new church outfit for Easter. As one of our neighbors said, "Lucas is always dressed to kill." He looked pretty good, ignoring the runny nose.




Lucas also got a visit from the Easter Bunny, to complement the modest collection of candy he had already collected.

Lucas was actually more interested in setting all the chocolate sports balls on the table.