Happy Birthday to Luke!

Presents!!! That's the fun of birthdays! We waited until after the party to open presents so that Morgan would be home on his lunch break.

"What could this be? More Star Wars people?"

You can always tell when Luke is serious about the task at hand. Just look for the tongue curled up by his lip.

Here's the birthday boy with all his presents.

What would a party be without a little jumping on the bed and a scuffle for the balloon?

Here's Luke making a wish before blowing out the candles.

Here's the train cake I made...too bad it looks more like an 18-wheeler.

Here are Luke's guests playing with the balloons. The balloons were the favorite game of the party.

Each child got to decorate their own cake boxcar to take home. Luke thought it was so cool to put candies on his cake and lick the frosting off of his fingers.

While waiting for the guests to arrive, here is Luke and his friend Metz coloring a Thomas the Tank Engine mask.

It's so hard to believe that Luke is now 3 years old. We finally got him to say that he was 2 ears (yes, I meant to type "ears," he has a hard time pronouncing the "y") old and now it is time to work on the 3 years part.

It's true when they say that children grow up fast. It really feels like a few months ago when he was a baby and relying on us for everything. Now he tries to be so independent. Luke is an incredibly loving and smart boy. He truly brightens our home and I am so grateful to have him. Thank you all for being a positive influence in his life.

What are the Fifes up to?

Luke is the defender of our home. He takes his job very seriously as you can see here. He is napping with his blaster. Just don't wake him up too suddenly.

This is my arch-nemesis. I found this guy on a pot lid as I was putting the dishes away. Ewww gross! I even saw one run across our bed last week! He looks big here but in real life he is about an inch and a half long. I still hate them regardless of their size.

Morgan experienced his first "mini" this month. Here he is after lunch one day catching a few minutes of rest before heading back to the anatomy lab.

Luke sings for you! He absolutely loves the A-B-C's and sings it often. This was taken a few weeks before his 3rd birthday.

One night while waiting to have a webcam conversation with my mom, the kids and I discovered a frog wink. A frog appears on the screen, waits for the fly to get close and then he gobbles it up. Miriam thought that it was so funny to watch this frog. I loved her laugh so much that I filmed it for all of you.

Family Time Fun

Daddy's little girl. She holds his heart and his money.

Enjoying an imitation Oreo for our Family Home Evening treat.

Even Miriam got to eat one...or mutilate it.

Flying high in Dad's arms!

Wow! Look how strong Daddy is!

Attack of the Miriam!

Mommy and Miriam smiling big for the camera.

We are loving life and the light that our children bring to our family. Luke and Miriam make every day so much sweeter here. We are especially doing well since we discovered that we do in fact have a water heater. I had been heating water for over a month unnecessarily! All that time and energy wasted! I found the switch to turn the heater on one evening while throwing garbage in the can under the sink. I just about jumped through the ceiling in delight when I felt the warm water running from the faucet. Who knew that Dominicans turn their water heaters on/off rather than automatically having them on! However, those cold showers toughened me up. Last night the water was shut off due to all the rain we had received that day. I guess they were trying to keep the dirt out of the lines. So Morgan and I had bucket showers from our water barrel. I am so grateful that we filled it when we did for those very times when the water would be shut off. So for Family Home Evening tonight, we refilled the barrel and got extra drinking water for the next time that this happens. It just strengthened my testimony of following the prophet's counsel of being prepared for emergencies.

Miriam Crawls

After many failed attempts, Miriam finally started to crawl forward on Saturday, September 29th. Her motivation was one of Luke's Star Wars books that was on the bed. At the end of the video clip you'll hear Luke repeating his favorite phrase to his sister: "Don't eat it."