Learning is fun

$2 desk at a yard sale...score! A whole new place to enjoy his books!

Playdates

This is our Monday playdate! Addison and her mom, Trinity, are really fun and easy to hang out with and Addison is 3 days older than Luke so they are kind of figuring each other out more and more each week. These pictures show them taking turns laughing and tickling each other in a rare moment of play. Normally, Luke is busy climbing up and down the stairs and Addison wants to be in the swing.

After our fun at the park on this morning, we went to visit Gma Susan and not only had a fun visit, but lucked into lunch at her house :) Thanks Gma! Luke knocked out before we were halfway home. I LOVE carrying a sleeping baby into the house. He just molds to you and trusts you all the way. So sweet :)

Dinner

This is what I see as I make plates and get dinner ready around here...pretty great couple of guys to look at while I try and put something yummy on our plates. I wonder how much Luke loves his DaDa? Looks like a lot to me :)

Ice cream

Steve's parents were out of town most of last week, and Luke missed visiting with them so he kindly reminded me that Gma Susan mentioned homemade peach ice cream a couple of times this summer and that we should have some made for her and Gpa's return. So we thawed and crushed up some southern Illinois peaches, heated some milk, heavy cream, sugar and vanilla and let the machine do the rest of the work :)

As the pictures show, Luke was much more interested in being a taste tester once he realized the ingredients tasted SO good! He did help me stir a bit, but somehow kept trying to lick the mix off of the whisk. He was also very nice about taking the bags of peaches and putting them in the bucket until I needed to mix them into the milk mixture. (pics 1 & 2)

I did sample a little of the finished product and shared the rest with friends and family. Luke hasn't had any, but I would bet that he might share a bite with Gma this week :) Uncle Glenn will be relieved that Luke is finally getting a little taste of ice cream...

He said what?

We took Steve some lunch today and ate with him at school. We ate at Steve's conference table and Luke was great sitting in the swivel chair like he was running a meeting while he munched on a bagel! I love that high school! We stayed a lot longer than I had planned b/c we got to visit with so many people which was a total treat.

As we were leaving Gpa Nick volunteered to carry him out to the car. I loaded him up, and walked around to the driver's side while Gpa talked with Luke, asking him, as usual, to say 'Grandpa'. As I got in the car, my dad was beaming and clapping (and maybe a little tearful) because LUKE SAID GRANDPA just as clear as a bell!!! It is a moment that I will never forget. Not only is it great to see his speaking abilities grow, I will always remember the absolute joy on my dad's face as Luke repeated himself 3 or 4 more times :) showoff, eh?


blurry pic i know, but you can still see that great grin of our little guy in his terriergear today...cute

Yogurt as facial moisturizer

He does have really soft skin!?
The pictures (9/21) pretty much speak for themselves. He did start with a spoon, just for the record.









Did you notice I put one picture on here twice? I just love it so much...also, did you catch the bits of yogurt in his eylashes. Maybe we can market yogurt as an eyelash grower instead of people buying that wild treatment that is popular now.

1.5 years

Luke has been around for A YEAR AND A HALF! This is a big day :) For some reason 18 months seems like such a big deal to me, so we have had a pretty fun morning and he just went down for his nap.

Today already we have: read books, gone to music class, took a trip to the farm stand and bought some cider and mums (Luke explored all over and loved trying to pick up the biggest pumpkins) stopped at Kroger for a few things and we discovered a whole new love of luke's life - the shopping cart with the car attached to the front. Wow, was that a hit. I think I could shop until next week, and he would happily 'drive' around and honk the horn randomly for 7 days straight. He cried when we had to leave the car at the cart rack...we have also visited with our neighbors and had a good lunch of pasta w/olives, cheese, strawberries and a small popsicle when he was done!

Here are a few of his current favorite things: his shape/color/word/number posters and the matching books, books (and naked time!), OUTSIDE.




Luke, you are a total joy to your family. I adore you, and continue to wish you health and happiness. You certainly bring happiness to others, and you are fortunate to have so many people that love you. xoxoxo

At 18 months, this is a typical day:
7am - up, out of crib, says shhhh as he passes mommy still laying in bed, and races to the kitchen for juice and banana
7:15 - mommy up, books in her lap for a while
8:30 - breakfast with mom, toast & eggs usually
morning - park, shopping, playing, visit with friends snacks (cheerios and apple slices)
12 - lunch (grilled cheese, pasta, yogurt, we mix this one up!)
diaper change and book time/singing with mom pre-nap
1 - nap
3:30/4:00 - up & signing "EAT" get a drink and snack
play and wait for daddy to get home!
get outside to play some more, play with daddy while mom cooks dinner
6 - dinner
7 - bath by daddy/run around time
8 - books in bedroom with mom and dad
8:30/9:00 bedtime

It is a good life, and we are thankful!

Luke Loves...

I made Luke a bulletin board today with the title "Luke Loves" and proceeded to decorate it with things that he loves. Such as, cars, his grandparents, the playground, outdoors...I hung it at his height in the kitchen and he really seems to get a kick out of looking at it. (I did already have to glue one of the pictures back down b/c he wanted to take the car off and run away with it.)


This is just a shot I really liked of L and Star deciding that the rain wasn't really reason enough to stay indoors this afternoon.

Fire Truck

How Luke loves thee -

$3 at the flea market this weekend. Best buy ever...good pick Gma J! He zooms this thing around like his life depends on it and enjoys every second of it. Further proof that a love of things that go vroom vroom comes as a package deal with male anatomy.

Glenn-O

Happy Birthday, Uncle Glenn! We love you :)

Whew!

Our shift button has been torn off somehow. I suspect a 25 pound little guy, but noone is telling me anything. If my capitalization goes to pot, I have explained myself :)

On to the weekend - Here is a kind of word problem (answer at the bottom) to describe the weekend:

What do the following all add up to?

Overnight at Gma Susan & Gpa Paul's
+
Daddy time on Sat morning (shopping for a DVD player & going to a football game)
+
Saturday night stroll and playing in the backyard
+
Sun. morning flea market with mom and Gma Jackie
+
Big walk around the beautiful fairgrounds (no stroller - a real walk) after walking the dogs at the spillway this morning
+
more time outside checking out our plants and pumpkins (yeah we have 2 beauties growing)
+
walking a new/used fire truck all over the house and deck
+
snacking all morning and eating some lunch to top off that belly of wonder
+
fun visit from Gma Susan and Gpa Paul
+
books, books & more books during pre-nap story time
=

Totally not staged at all...i was dying when I went to check on him and saw this wonderful sight. We had a great weekend!

Cars and Sudoku - pretty much a random post

Luke really, really, really, loves cars and trucks and all things that go vroom vroom. When we go to our nearby park, we end up at the corner of a busy street sitting together & watching all of the traffic. Forget the park equipment and the other kids, there is TRAFFIC nearby! He HAS to be watched really carefully in areas with no sidewalks (like our street) because he just wants to play in the road....argh!

Today at the park while we waited for our play date, a couple of semis honked at him which was the coolest, and he waved to several other passing motorists, which always got a smile in return. It is actually a pretty good time.

Today after I had laid him down for a nap that he did not take (until an hour later) I went to check on him and he motioned for some books to be brought to him (Prince Luke is my new name for him, I am the lowly servant mama) which I did, and he sat in his crib for 10 more minutes reading about baby sign language and The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

I continued to make some lunch and read the paper. However, I soon heard some LOUD shouting so I went to see him standing up in his crib signing "eat" so we got out of the crib, ate some lunch, pasta w/peas and blueberries (have I mentioned that this boy EATS all day long? I love it!) and then enjoyed some fun time with cars while servant mama cleaned up and played along with the various car chases and wrecks that I could help out with.


Totally changing the subject, here is how we found him the other day. Sitting on my side of the bed, working one of my sudoku puzzles. I don't even do these in front of him or when he is awake so it was even funnier/cuter/more amazing (you pick) to see him holding the pen and trying to figure out where the correct numbers go (b/c his dad & I are convinced he knows the rules)

Enough of this randomness...I still need to finish reading the paper!

Terriers Win!

Labor Day Weekend started with a big victory! The Terriers beat the Tigers in a really good game. Luke and I were there to cheer them on for the first half, and then we came home with Gma/Gpa so that we could hear Steve's interview on the radio (which was great!)

Uncle Glenn recommended the #7 jersey for this game, and Luke seemed to be right at home wearing mesh on a Friday night.



We listened to the rest of the game on the radio while we played in the house. I think he was looking for a ride back to the field to catch the rest of the action live :)

Play Doh

We have journeyed into the land of Play Doh, and although Luke is not really into the texture or making a big mess, we have done some squishing and rolling and exploring of this strange stuff that most young ones want to eat. Here is my babe's first creation (yes, I have kept it on my violet shelf to dry because I love it!)

Road trip

I have about 10 months left to enjoy being home with Luke every day. I am going to take advantage of the time and take weekly road trips to nearby towns/parks/libraries and hopefully some unique places to get lunch.

Last week, we hit the road with the dogs to visit Pyramid State Park. There are several small lakes here and about 16 miles of trails. We stayed on the main road though, b/c the trails were pretty thick and within minutes of getting on one, we were being swarmed by five pound mosquitoes - Ugh, I hate those little b*st*rds. But, we did really have a great time walking around and seeing lots of beauty.

On the way home, we took some back roads, the dogs got to run around in a soybean field when one of said back roads ran out of road and we got chased by a super fast dog...all in all, a fun trip.

Hitting the trail. Even though it was a short visit, this are his first official steps on a hiking trail. Very exciting :)
Star was a swimming maniac. She jumped and went totally under from the dock that we were on and came up looking like she had no idea how that could have happened.

Mom, do you need to leash our wild dogs? Nah...I didn't see another person out there!

There were TONS of beautiful butterflies out there. One of Luke's favorite books right now is The Very Hungry Caterpillar so I took some time to explain that the butterflies were like the one in his book. Maybe he understood a little of what I was talking about?


I grew up around cornfields so I was pretty excited to find a photo/adventure opportunity at one of the picnic areas in the park. Luke was pretty into hiding behind the corn and walking through the rows. I adore these pictures of him.



The vicious and FAST dog that chased us down the road that turned out to be a dead end...that meant we got to be chased twice. Oh, the fun!

Off to the races

Last Tuesday we went to the horse races at the DuQuoin State Fair. This was pretty special to me because I grew up going to the Illinois State Fair with my dad every year for the races, and now Luke is joining in on the fun. Steve also used to go to the horse races with his Gpa Merle :)

Luke was more interested in the tractors and the trucks and running up and down the handicap accessible ramp, but noticed the horses and enjoyed the outside time. He also really got a kick out of the huge lemon shake-up cup.

Thanks for so many fun memories, dad. I am really thrilled that we have started a new tradition with the LukeSTAR. Grandma, how do I open these doors?

up close and personal with the ambulance (that he knows has a siren and fun lights)
Mom, do you see this truck? It is HUGE! and I LOVE IT! Vroom, Vroom.
Grandpa, I said put $2 on number 1 to win...easy choice
Everything at the fair is HUGE!
Enjoying a laugh with my dad :) He is great!