Sunshine

Sometimes you just have to take a break and soak up a little sun. Oh, how I love my Luna girl.

Bliss

I just watched from the doorway as Luke floated to sleep for a second nap of the day. It was one of those absolutely perfect moments. He was burrowing into one of his favorite blankets and looking at himself in the crib mirror so I could see his body AND his face reflected in the mirror as his eyes got heavier and heavier and as he talked to himself with sweet "me, me, me" sounds. Aaaaah...The summer weather and activities have warranted a second nap a few times in the past couple of weeks, plus he seems to be bigger after each snooze session so the rest is good for him.

Steve is enjoying a Father's Day nap, too, before we cook out with our parents and neighbors. He has worked incredibly hard on the continued project in our backyard from the storm mess and our yard is going to end up looking better than before the storm - silver lining, anyone. (The Father's Day feast was a great time. Steve was a wonderful grillmaster, Luke was the life of the party especially with his popcorn popper, and we enjoyed great company and food)

The picture above is from tonight. I played tennis during Luke's bedtime routine so Steve sent this picture to illustrate how much Luke moves around in his crib. Can you see the leg sticking out of the bars? He got it back in and is resting with his head at the other end of the crib now!

I got the all clear to swim and resume all activities today at my Lasik follow-up! Yeah...we went swimming tonight. It is brutally hot, but I am NOT complaining :)

Dad

Happy Father's Day, Dad! This is a picture of my fabulous father directing "Big Blue" on Little Grassy a couple of days ago. He took me out to fish, well, he fished and I enjoyed the sun and the beauty of the lake.

I have been extraordinarily blessed to have the Nickster as my dad. He taught me so many things, including what to look for in a partner. Thanks, dad, for everything, and thanks for helping me find Steve, who, as it turns out is a pretty amazing dad himself!

Visitors

Luke's Aunt Shannon and Uncle Eric were in town FROM SICILY for a couple of days and we all really enjoyed seeing them and spending time together. Shannon made an AMAZING dinner on Wednesday for us all to enjoy - pistachio pasta that I dream about - You will notice a little Puggle puppy in the background. He is the newest addition to the family. His name is Puccini and he is Greg and Rebekah's 9 week old pup. Super cute! Luke spent the night at Gma's so that he could soak up some extra Shannon time. He is enjoying his bedtime bottle I think :)
Susan called this her family Christmas since it is tough for all four of her kids to be together at holidays.
Enjoying the feast!
Three generations of great guys!
Trying to find Uncle Greg's cash

Haircut

Luke got his first haircut by Gma Jackie last weekend. You can see how it all went down...what a sport and what a gma (he has two of those!). His hair is so cute now. I love running my fingers through it and making it look kind of messy.

Luke

Amazed at the fun of the splash park at Crown Center in KC
Taking a wagon ride with Uncle Glenn at his house($5 at a yard sale up the street!)
Posing so well for his portrait to be drawn (with a little help from a sno-cone and daddy amusing him)
Figuring out how Uncle Glenn's blinds work

It is summer and we are busy enjoying the outdoors and friends and family. This blog will likely suffer in the name of summer but that is a pretty great reason to suffer if you ask me. Just wanted to try and get a current photo of Luke on here and a couple of info bits before I disappear for however long...

Luke is climbing things (I know I mentioned that but it is really crazy and cute and amazing at the same time)

He will give lovely and delicious open mouth kisses and then giggle about being kissed.

He loves toast with lots of 'all fruit' on it in the morning (all fruit is the spread that is just pureed fruit - no extra junk incl. extra sugar!) So far black raspberry is a hit and strawberry of course. He also LOVES black olives, black beans, blueberries and any fruit you put in front of him. His appetite has really increased recently - it is fun to watch him eat!

We met some friends at the mall yesterday and Luke was not interested in being in his stroller. He cruised around that place like he was in charge - and he also giggled a lot at Reese (8 months) thinking she was chasing him around.

He blows bubbles through a straw into his drink and is incredibly proud of not only the result of his efforts but also the reaction from adults around him.

He gets really mad when Steve or I leave the house but if you look in the window as you are leaving he has already moved on to something more interesting and has forgotten to be mad.

He is WONDERFUL.

Happy Birthday Grandma Susan! - Edited

Blogger is not letting me post pictures right now which is part of the reason it has been a while since I have posted anything. In the past week we have had a great weekend in Kansas City, I got Lasik, Luke and I both got a wicked cold/cough that he is recovering from and I am battling through and lots of other things that I can't seem to think of right now.

Luke is currently CLIMBING on top of his table and chairs and trying to figure out how to climb on the 'grown up' furniture. I hadn't even thought of CLIMBING but here we go...he walks up to everything now and sticks his leg up trying to figure out if he can get his foot latched on something in order to CLIMB IT...yikes...

The important thing today, though, is that it is Gma Susan's BIRTHDAY! Yeah! We are celebrating with a cookout at my parents this afternoon...should be fun.

Birthday pictures (posted on 6/19)

Bass Farms

Steve and I work with lots of wonderful people. One of them, Cindy, covers for admin staff lots during the school year and she really adores Luke. Cindy is full of life and love and just always makes you smile. Her brother is named Bill and he runs Bass Farms in Cobden. Cindy told my dad that I should take Luke out and let him pick strawberries at the farm so we made it out today. It was cool and breezy which is pretty much perfect for strawberry picking.

I got to the produce stand at about 1:30 and waited for Bill to kindly come up to meet us and we had a nice converstation and then he said follow me...so I strapped Luke back in the carseat and took off behind Bill. He led us about a half mile up the highway and then turned off and led me through a gravel then grassy drive. We eneded up right in the middle of the strawberry fields, he gave me several quart containers to fill, talked with Luke for a minute, told me to have a great time and to make sure that Luke met the cows before we left and then left us to our fun.

This had to be one of my favorite days with Luke. There was just a lot of learning and experiencing going on and it was special time with him. He is just a great kid and I adore him. Here are the pics of our afternoon.

We also went to the lake today and hiked around with the dogs so it has just been a fun day of outdoor time and new experiences.

There are a lot of really good people in the world. There are also a lot of pictures on this post. I just couldn't pick 2 or 3! Enjoy!
I love these containers, mom!
Getting started...





I just love that his outfit has a tail ;)






stained fingers

The cows really loved the clover and grass that we fed them. They were pretty thrilled with a break from their normal feed. Luke wanted to touch them, but whenever one would get close to licking him or nudging him he would squeal and jump away.

I love Luke-

-He's such a good boy. These are lyrics to a song I made up for Luke when he was itty bitty. I change the 'good' to a variety of different words to make up the verses and love to sing it to him as he gets ready for bed. Steve will even break out in song when we are in the car or Luke needs a little pick me up. It is pretty simple, but it is also pretty special because it is a one song that he only hears from mom and dad.

Manhandling his new table and chairs
Admiring our new fireplace decorations
Where's Luke?
Here I am!

On to the fun stuff. I was really moved today when Luke and I were exploring the back yard. We planted some pumpkin seeds and then took off to see what else was back there. As we were adventuring, he looked up and grabbed my hand. I melted. He has taken my hand lots before b/c it is offered, and he will put his arms up a lot to be picked up but there was just something special and heartwarming about having him realize that he wanted to hold my hand, search it out and take charge and grab it on his own. Sweet, sweet, sweet...

We stayed home all day today and it was wonderful. No scheduled activities - just playing, a fun walk with a new mom, Vanessa, that lives down the street (she has 2 month old adorable Hannah Day) and exploring the yard after a massive lunch of watermelon (new favorite for sure) pizza, blueberries and sweet potatoes. Good fun.

The weather has been HOT HOT HOT the last couple of days which is wonderful but we are having to move our morning walks up to an earlier time so that L doesn't get too warm. Yesterday, I had him stripped down to his diaper and we were out from about 9-10:30 but it still just wore him out. He has napped for nearly 3 hours the last couple of days which is surely a sign of a tired growing boy and those teeth that are still working their way through the gums.

Tomorrow is the last day of school for Steve! I love his summer hours and he will have lots of time off in June so Luke and I will be enjoying having him around :) Today he came home for a fun lunch visit (which Luke slept through) and tonight we went to get pizza and pasta which was fun.

Much better than our dinner out on Sunday when we had to get our food to go since Luke was NOT interested in being in a restaurant! I need to remember to write a ranch dressing post one of these days...Happy almost weekend :)

It is June!

Yippee! We are all glad to be dunzo with May...There is major progress going on in our yard today. The oak is down :( the utility pole is off of our shed :) we were able to deposit our insurance check :) our deck is being put back together :) the oak will be hauled off this week :) and our broken window is getting replaced tomorrow :)

Those are the last :) I will use in this post...It is gloriously HOT outside, we are looking forward to Gma Jackie's pool warming up for lots of afternoon fun and Luke is napping (for the past 2 hours!) after a busy morning. Pick up Gma, drop her at work, play at park, go to dry cleaners, visit bank, visit another bank, go see daddy for a split second, go to music class, head home and knock out.

Music class (wiggles 'n' tunes) is becoming more of an experience every week. He is more mobile, more strong willed and not quite as interested in singing and dancing as I may have hoped! He loves the kids and all of the toys but the rules and having to stay in one place just doesn't always agree with him. He has gotten annoyed with me a couple of times because I reign him in (I just don't want to be THAT MOM that lets her kid do whatever b/c it is 'cute') but for the most part it is still a good time and he is definitely learning. We sing "the itsy bitsy spider' A LOT and he is starting to try and do the movements with me/daddy/gma Jackie now...fun!

I have lunch ready for him - sweet potatoes and pasta and watermelon - and have gotten a bunch done during nap time because Steve and I have made a decision to keep our television OFF for the month of June. Just another reason to appreciate the month. NO TV = better quality of life - that is our guess anyway. We'll see...

And now for some recent pictures:
Friday afternoon Luke helped me re-organize the kitchen. I wanted it to be a little more Luke friendly and safe so we created a "Luke" cabinet and safety proofed most of the rest. He was pretty thrilled to go through stale bags of chips and display them while also trying them out to see if anything was still tasty...
Where's Luke?
Typical diaper change these days - he just isn't really into laying on his back and waiting for his pants to be changed.
I have spent a lot of time in this chair with my babe (thanks Gma Susan for donating it to us!) and am really glad to have a picture of us in it together. I am wearing glasses ONLY b/c I am going to Lasik next week (trying again...)
He is up...off to a fun afternoon and our HS athletic banquet tonight. Steve is going to take Luke and a booster seat and see how long he lasts. Steve has an excuse to leave early if Luke decides it is time to go - ha! Have a mentioned that LIFE IS GOOD?