Happy Birthday Luke!

Five years ago we brought home this darling baby boy.

A couple years later, he loved the new addition to our family.

And he has loved being a big brother again!

We have been so lucky to have Luke as our eldest child. He is so much fun to be around. His adorable little face, whether showing a mischievous grin or pure joy, always brings a smile. He is very sensitive and caring as well as imaginative and silly. He always has new "moves" to show us with his light sabers. Luke loves preschool right now and enjoys reading and drawing. He often wants to "call someone on the phone" and has lots of friends. He is also a great friend to his little brother Owen(when not fighting), who copies EVERYTHING Luke does. He is also a great helper to little Pete who I'm sure will one day adore his big brother too. Happy Birthday, baby boy. I can't believe it's been five years since you joined our family. I love you!

Luke's first day of preschool

Ok, so I know this happened a month ago--but hey, I'm now only a month behind! Luke started preschool September 2 and has been loving it!

First day and ready to go (Owen thinks he's going too)

"No, Mom, I'm not tired, I just want to read."

"What I did this Summer"

Some favorite summer activities, by LukeT-ball with my number one fan, trips to the zoo, picnics in the backyard and making up cool costumes while getting really dirty

Thanks to Gustav

Could Luke look any happier?

I know that hurricanes usually don't bring anything good with them. However, Hurricane Gustav required that my sister Autumn evacuate New Orleans-- so she and her friend Rhonda came up to Dallas for a few days. Autumn taught us how to make the Mardi Gras staple of King Cake and played endless hours of Old Maid, Duck, Duck, Goose, Candyland, baseball, basketball, Hide and Go Seek, etc, etc with Luke and Owen. We love Aunt Autumn time! So, thanks, Gustav for this one thing, but please keep away with all your Hurricane friends from now on.

Coloring the sugar for the topping

Just out of the oven

The finished king cake

Happy Anniversary!

Dear Joel,
Can you believe it's been seven years already? I agree with you that in some ways it seems like only yesterday we were getting married while in other ways it's hard to remember not being together. I love you. Thanks for being such a wonderful husband and father. I'll be forever grateful you chose me and were so patient in waiting for me to figure out how great you were! Happy Anniversary, baby.
Love always,
Jen
p.s. I'm glad you didn't look like this when we first met...first impressions can be hard to shake!

You clean up very well!

More family fun

Grandma Mietus with her oldest (Jared Oaks) and youngest (Peter) grandchild at the bowling alley

My Grandma and I

First and second cousins--Ashley and I with Garrett and Peter (They're only a week apart!)

More second cousin love-My cousin Stephanie and her youngest, Lily with the Pete man

Joel, Pete and I had such a great time seeing and spending time with family. We certainly missed Luke and Owen and were happy to be reunited upon our return.

Peter's Blessing

Do you like my hat?

Wearing the same outfit that his father, uncles, cousins, and both brothers before him wore, Peter was given a name and a blessing on August 9, 2008 during our trip to Utah. It was great to have so many family members with us. Thanks to Grandma Mietus for taking such good care of the outfit that it has become a family tradition and thanks to everyone for making it a special day.

Peter with his Great-Grandma Johnson


Peter with his Grandma Mietus

The Johnson family contingent

The Mietus family representatives

The Wedding

Joel and I were lucky to be able to attend our niece's wedding in Utah on August 7. My mom watched Luke and Owen for us and we took Peter on his first plane ride. (He slept the whole time.) Emily Desmarais married Teancum Light in the Salt Lake City temple and then had a beautiful reception at the Alpine Art Center. We loved seeing Joel's family and had a great time at the wedding. Thanks for inviting us, Emily, we love you!


The happy couple
Does Teancum look thrilled or what?




Benjamin, me, Emily, and Marti
Fun at the reception (Yummy cake behind us)



Doug and Julie
Tired but happy parents of the bride


Emily, Grandma Mietus, Peter
Yes, Peter did have on nicer clothes for the wedding, but instead is wearing the emergency change of clothes from the diaper bag. (Sorry Marti!)

All the cousins (except Jared and Nathan Oaks, Luke and Owen) with Grandma

The Mietus Family
Natalie, John, Stacey, Mom(Grandma), Jason, Julie, and Joel
All the in-laws were there as well, but we escaped the picture!

Luke's first T-ball season

Luke played T-ball for the first time this summer and had a great time. He also surprised us with some defensive plays-like throwing a runner out at first!

Throw to first

Batter up!

I have a couple videos of him playing, hopefully you can make it out despite the glare. Can you hear Owen at the end of the batting clip?

Never too young

Here Pete demonstrates that it is never too early to begin male bonding rituals, i.e. watching sports with the boys. I'm not sure if having his shirt off is in preparation for a shirts v. skins game afterward or if he's just showing off his muscles for the camera.

Two months old!

Peter turned 8 weeks old on Thursday and celebrated in style by sleeping through the night for the first time. (Thanks Pete!) He is now 13 lbs 7 oz and 24 1/4 in. He makes his brothers happy by smiling, cooing, and the favorite...burping. We all love our little Pete!

Check out those lips!

Entering the blogging world...

Little Peter Joel Mietus joins our family on May 29, 2008.
9lbs 6 ozs; 21 1/4 inches
Lately, I have been feeling that I really needed to stay in better touch with our family and friends that live so far away. I have not been great at sending pictures, videos, or even letters to keep everyone posted on our goings on here in Texas. At one point, I didn't even think we'd get to see Joel's family this year and so I decided I had to take action. (Luckily, we will get to see everyone at our niece's wedding in August--but the fact remained I was not doing my part to keep everyone up to date on our lives.) So, here I am, attempting to enter the world of blogging.
I am not going to set any grandiose goals of updating every day or even every week but I will try to keep regularly posting pictures and news from our family happenings. I have a lot to learn about all the things that can be done on a blog but for now I am happy to know how to type and post pictures. Here's to new blogging!