What a weekend...

...and it is only Friday! Luke and I have had so much fun having Steve home for the past few days. He has been on vacation since Tuesday night, and we have enjoyed him every minute!

Wednesday we got the dogs out for a fun hike at the lake - after celebrating the fact that Luke made it through the night! It was really lovely out and we took full advantage of the sunshine and warm weather.

Later we met our wonderful friends, Bill and Claudia, for a fun dinner at their house. It was wonderful to see them enjoy Luke and to hear great stories about their grandchildren. Luke REALLY loves baby spoons right now - they feel good on those sore gums - and Claudia pulled out her full collection for him to enjoy while the adults enjoyed Quatro's pizza and wine. We always learn something about wine consumption when we visit with Bill which is an added bonus to our visits! I think, though, that before the night was over Luke had about 12 spoons strewn around the kitchen..he was in heaven...and we had a great visit! I have to mention Ruby the wonderlab, too...what a great dog they are fostering while her family is in Japan.

Thursday we enjoyed a second night of Luke sleeping through the night - Hallelujah - and got up early to make appetizers for the Thanksgiving feast. We were going to spend it with my folks but they both had colds so we just did a food exchange and stayed at home. It was a really great day, even though we missed hanging out with Gma and Gpa. We did take a walk with them after we had all eaten so it was fun to get to visit a little.

I was able to visit with my friend, Franciene, on Thanksgiving morning. We had made breakfast plans but nothing was open (go figure!) so we had a good visit at Burger King...oh yeah! Thanks, Andy, for scouting places that were open :) She is a school counselor now and her stories and excitement over the job gave me a boost...always good to see someone loving life.

Here are a few pics of us together and of Luke trying some mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes. They were both hits...Luke has been eating a little more and working on chewing/gumming. He likes little bits of cheese and pasta. I got some teething biscuits tonight and he enjoyed working on one of those while we visited with our friends Carrie and Gene at Italian Village. He also enjoyed some ice bits and pizza crust...there were about 7 pieces of crust on the floor when we left but he got a little of it in his mouth and enjoyed gnawing on it.

I love his fist and the look on his face saying you are NOT fast enough, mom....COME ON and FEED ME!
I love his look here...he really likes mashed potatoes, not that you can tell from this shot
Self-portraitHad to get the dogs in one of the family shots :)It has been a wonderful holiday weekend. Steve wanted to get out to some stores today just to see what all of the fuss was about with the 'deals' so we went out for a while before dinner. The highlight was playing Foosball while I had Luke in the front pack at Dick's sporting goods. He couldn't stop laughing at the little 'players' spinning around.

Our Christmas tree is up and I am going to try and decorate it tomorrow...I think all of the ornaments are going to have to go on the top quarter since Luke has already walked his walker over to it and made a grab at the bare branches...we will see what happens!