MY LITTLE VALENTINE!

My buddy LUKE was the first friend I made here in Lansing so we've been best friends for over a year now! When Lukes parents go on a date, I usually get to go on a date with Luke and his brother Isaac. Some people might call it babysitting, but we call it a date! Luke called us the other night and invited us over for smoothies. He loves to open the front door for us when we arrive and then jumps up and down yelling, "Ian and Mallie are here!" (We have progressed from Madre to Mallie. Secretly, I hope he never figures out how to say Natalie. It's just the sweetest thing to hear him call me what he thinks my name is).

When we hang out, we like to play imaginary musical instuments, ride our imaginary choo choo train to which there is no end to where the tracks will take us, we like to dance to banjo music, run to blues music, and read books to classical music. Luke can read his books for hours! But I think his all time favorite thing to do is drink a cup of milk. As soon as he has a cup of milk in his hand, the other hand goes straight up to his head where he twists and plays with his hair until the entire cup is gone.

I got to hang out with Luke at my house Monday morning while his mom and dad were at a doctors appointment finding out that a baby GIRL is on her way! Luke stood in front of the heater vent (or as Luke calls it, "fresh air") nearly the entire time trying to stay warm in our cold house. He was excited to see "The Tickler" aka Ian and kept saying, "I'm over here by the fresh air Tickler, but don't tickle me!" And when he got no response from the Tickler, he changed it to, "Hey Tickler, I'm over here by the fresh air, and you can tickle me...but only for two minutes!" But my favorite conversation between the two of them was:
LUKE: Hey Ian, did you go to the Temple?
IAN: Yes I did!
LUKE: The Temple is Jesus' house. That's where he lives!
IAN: Thats right!
LUKE: Did Jesus open the door for you?



I just love my little buddy Luke so much and he is MY LITTLE VALENTINE! He really is! Hanging on my fridge is a homemade pink card with a heart and star glued inside, with other random glue clumps and marker scribbles, to prove it!