Vacation Bible School

This week, Christian and I went to Vacation Bible School at a nearby church. This particular church holds their VBS during the evening, so it worked out nicely for us.

The class had a lot of kids - way more than Christian is used to at school. So the full room, combined with the unfamiliar setting, made for a very clingy little boy.

I was thrilled when on the first night, he agreed to put on the costume for the centurion guard (the center picture).

Outside time was Christian's favorite time, although once he got a ball to himself, all he did was play with the ball alone. Every once in a while, he'd play with one of the little girl's, Bryn (lower left corner picture).

One our final day there, his teacher (Melissa, the woman who originally watched him before we moved to Verrado) went around the room asking the children what all they learned during the week. When she got to Christian, I didn't expect him to have answer. So I was very pleasantly surprised - and pleased - when he said, "Jesus."

Wordless Wednesday - July 13, 2011

This Week: Papa's Boy

Christian is typically my shadow - every day, every where. This particular week, however, Christian has totally been a "Papa's Boy." How cute!


That pic made me think back to the pic below from February 2008:

Oooey Gooey Waffle Bite

Christian's special 4th of July breakfast was an oooey gooey waffle. I love the way he says "syrup" like "seer-eeeee-up." So cute!

Click to enlarge.

Family Muffin Monday - July 4, 2011

Today's "Muffin Monday" became "Breakfast Monday" because I had the day off. We ventured off to Five & Diner and had a mighty fine morning together!

Happy Fourth of July!

Congratulations to Auntie Liz!

We'd like to congratulate my sister, Liz, on taking a leap of faith and leaving her job of 11 years to take a new, and very different job.

Liz is now working for the Gila River Indian Community as a Hydrologist. It will be a different job in a a very different work environment. The Gila River Indian Community is a sovereign nation and has their own government, and way of doing things. She certainly has a lot to learn.

Most of all, we are delighted that she picked a job that will keep her here in the Phoenix area! Christian LOVES his Auntie Liz and would have been crushed had she moved away.

Liz spent some time with us this weekend, and read Christian's bedtime books to him.

Congratulations, Liz!!

"Coffee is soooo good!"

Christian has always been fascinated with his Papa's coffee. He loves to get really close to a cup of coffeen, take a big sniff and say, "Mmmmm!"

Christian decided he'd like to try some and did the "finger test." As we've seen him do many times in the past (say, with lemons or sparkling water), his initial reaction was a funny face ... but then he went back for more.

And Christian proclaimed, "Coffee is soooo good!"

What was especially cute is the way Christian shared the tastes with his Papa. He'd dip his finger into the coffee, have a taste and say, "One for me ..." and then dip his finger back in, and gave the next sample to Papa, "One for you ."

After he was done sampling the coffee, Christian came to my lap so I could read him a book. Gotta say, it was kind of weird to have my three year old breathing on me with "coffee breath."

Christian's Restaurant

Yesterday at school, Christian created a "restaurant" out of Legos. His class was in a different room when I picked him up and I noticed this structure in his cubby when I picked up his lunchbox.

When I picked him up, Miss Jo asked if I'd see what was in his cubby and noted Christian made all by himself and told her it was a restaurant. Aww!

I asked her if it could stay in his cubby until the next morning so I could take a picture of it, and she agreed.

Today we arrived at school with camera in hand. We walked into Christians's classroom and he lit up when he saw his restaurant masterpiece! And he was thrilled when I asked him to sit with his restaurant at the table so I could take pictures.

He told me, "Its my restaurant. Its beautiful!" What a kid! I agreed with him that it was beautiful and told him I really liked the red flowers."

Miss Jo told me that its a nice step forward that he actually gave a name to his awesome creation.

Cooling Down a Hot Bath

Here in the Phoenix area in the summer, the water comes out of the faucet hot - even when turning on the cold water faucet.

The solution? ICE!

Wordless Wednesday - June 29, 2011

Muffin Monday - June 27, 2011

With an expected high of 115 today (*gasp!*), the Lucero men braved the more mild morning temps and headed to downtown Phoenix to ride the light rail for the first time. As you may recall, Christian loves trains, so he was thrilled to get on board and go riding around!

Show and Tell

When Christian moved up to the preschool class a while back, one of the things I was nervous about was "Show and Tell." On most days, after lunch, the kids gather in a circle and take turns showing something they brought from home. It is a voluntary activity, so not all kiddos participate, but I was impressed with most who did. Their conversational skills were terrific and their ability to speak about their object was really impressive.

I decided that every single day, Christian would bring SOMETHING so that he'd have to get up each time and face an audience. The first few times, I had just arrived to pick him up and he was painfully shy about talking in front of me - despite all the encouraging I was doing from the sidelines.

So Ms. Jo caught on and now makes sure that he's done his show and tell before I arrive. She occasionally has a moment to tell me how he did ... and I'm just so thrilled that he enjoys show and tell and likes to talk about his toy of the day.

I used to pick out his show and tell object for him each morning, but nowadays, HE picks it out ... and even tells me "No" when I suggest something he's not interested in taking. So I let him take something of HIS choosing ... even it its something he's shown several times before.

Wordless Wednesday - June 15, 2011

Muffin Monday - June 6, 2011

Put the Pedal to the Metal!

At last, Christian is using the pedals to move his tricycle along!!

Too bad HOT weather will soon bear down on us, making the outdoors the very last place any of us want to be (for three months).

Lightening McQueen

There's a store in Glendale that Jonathan has been eyeing for Christian ... the kind of store where you can walk in and "build you own car." So Christian chose to build a "Lightening McQueen" car. Really, would he have built any other car? :)

Click to enlarge.

While Mommy's Away ...

I am in Orlando all this week, so Papa's in charge. And that means ICE CREAM. Today the Lucero Men went to Cold Stone Creamery, and Christian had a big ol' ice cream.

I hear there was no room for lunch, and so ice cream is all Christian ate this afteroon.

When Mommy's away, the boys will play!

Ever so slowly, our house becomes a home.

I have not yet figured out what my "decortating style" is. Well, not entirely, but if I could have our home look like anything out of the Ballard Designs catalog, I'd be in heaven!

The past three homes we've lived in generally look like tombs. We don't have much furniture, few window coverings and not much at all on the walls. Why? For me, I have to LOVE something before I can buy it (and Jonathan has to love it, too). See the painting on the wall in the first picture? Jonathan's parents got it for us as a new home gift back in Santa Fe. Jonathan and I both loved it, and so they very kindly got it for us (thanks again!). And to this day, it is one of the few things that is on our wall.

Of course, I do find a lot of things I "love," (I could buy up the entire Home Goods store if I had a bottomless bank acocunt). But let's be realistic, I can't have it all ... and I don't even try. I acquire our treasures a very small bit at a time.

We have one picture up of our little family from a couple of years ago - and that is it. We don't even have our wedding picture up anywhere. Why? I just haven't found frames I like for the photos we'd put up on the wall.

When I saw this mirror below, I had to have it. We've got a large wall in our living room that we had no idea what to do with ... it either needed lots of smaller things, or one ginormous piece ... and the ginormous piece won! I waited for months for it to go on sale ... and finally, it did!

The three pieces are super heavy and Jonathan did an amazing job of getting them proper aligned and installed, all while having a very curious little helper who really wanted to climb the ladder and used some tools.

Now, if I could only find picture frames I'm in love with ... :)

After School Fun

We just love Christian's school, the staff and his teachers. This week, they had a social event with a jump house ... and ya'll know how much Christian loves jump houses (by the number of times I've posted pics with him jumping).

This time waa bit different, as they only let kids in the jump house by age group. They could jump for five minutes, and then they had to get out so the next group could come in. Christian did NOT like being told he had to get out ... and his teachers started to see a very different side of our boy wonder.

Ms. Jo (his current teacher and featured in the pics below in the blue shirt) couldn't believe Christian's reaction to having to get out. And that is good, becuase that means he has good behavior while at school in the classroom setting

Wordless Wednesday - May 11, 2011

The Wedding Dress

Christian loves "Cinderella," and so when I walked out in my wedding dress just for fun, he looked at me and said, "Mommy is Cinderella!" Awwww!!

He's never seen such a big, poofy dress and kept looking in amazement, so I asked him if he wanted to wear it and he said, "Yes!!"

He was so cute trying to walk around surrounded by all the poofy layers of tulle. Maybe I'll save these photos and share them with his fiancée one day. :)

Muffin Monday - May 2, 2011

Muffin Monday - April 25, 2011

For today's Muffin Monday, the boys went to the fountain in our community, and then out to Christian's very first Happy Meal at McDonalds.

Yes, that's right. Christian is just about 3 1/2, and this was his first McDonald's Happy Meal. We try hard to get him to eat as healthy as possible, and fast food is typically not part of the menu.

We are pretty fortunate that Christian doesn't have a taste for fast food (not yet any way ...).