Holidaze

We have been enjoying some great time with family, quiet time at home, cold walks around the neighborhood, good food and leftovers of said good food, and a possible computer virus. So...until we have that figured out I am not downloading any photos b/c I don't want to lose them to the virus.

And, oh yeah, do not see AVATAR. It is three hours of your life that you will never get back.

Happy New Year! Hope to be putting some photos up in twenty-ten or however the heck next year is pronounced.

On the eve of Christmas Eve

We spent the morning playing at the toy store with some friends. We ran some errands, and got the dogs out for a great walk on a 50 degree day. Our kitchen produced THREE more successful loaves of wheat bread! We ate grapefruit for dessert and taught Luke how to enjoy all of the juice that gets left behind. We looked at each other and said we have a lot of things to be thankful for as the holiday season continues. We enjoyed some of Luke's new tricks, like climbing EVERYTHING, including out of his booster straps so that he can stand up, he even climbs ON TOP OF STAR so that he can pretend she is a horse. She is the best dog a toddler could dream up :)
We really ejoy when he gets on top of the ottoman, manuevers his way to the couch, grabs mommy's latest read and just relaxes
Happy Holidays, indeed.

Another cutie!

Luke spent the day with Gma Susan searching for banana bread and playing up a storm with the neighbors, while Steve and I went to St. Louis to pick up Uncle Greg's beloved baby, Puccini. Here he is making himself at home in our car after we got him.
He was so good. We left him for a bit to shop a little, and then had a little walk outside my Peace Corps pal's apartment. He chewed up a plastic bag while we enjoyed a fun visit with Becca and her hubby, Ian, but hey, he is a puppy and didn't know what the heck was going on...When we left St. Louis, Steve and I didn't think he would like riding in the back all of the way home so I got to bring him up front and he sat/slept on my lap the whole two hours. Very precious. I could do a whole other post on getting to Gma's house and watching Puccini and Luke reunite. Lots of tug o war over a rawhide and giggles were involved!

It was a wonderful day. Greg, Becca and Ian, we had such a good time visiting! Thanks for making time for us to meet you :)

Laughs, growth and some other stuff

Here is a terrific video of Luke laughing as he 'scares' grandpa Nick by squeeking a ball. He was just on fire :)


The school is on break, so on Friday my dad went with me to pick Luke up from his fun overnight at Gma Susan's. They had lots of fun going to see Christmas lights and playing at the park. While Luke was with Gma, Steve and I went to the school Christmas party which was lots of fun! We stayed out too late, but we had a babysitter and had a ton of fun together! Thanks Gma Susan :) We stopped to get some lunch for Steve and his secretaries which they enjoyed. Here is Luke making himself at home at Dad's desk

I couldn't resist putting a picture of Luke up from last Christmas and one from October of him on the same horse. It is always fun and amazing to see how much babies can grow!

A teacher got Luke a really neat wooden puzzle, block toy (great description, eh?) Steve had put it out and when Luke got home from gma's he noticed it right away and just talked and talked as he played with the different shapes and figured it out.

Here is my lovebug before his nap yesterday. He likes to lay on me facing out and snuggle against my arm while I read to him or sing "twinkle, twinkle, little star" I love the time with him.

Plays nice with others

One of my favorite people, Claudia, has had her grandchildren visiting from Japan for a few weeks and she was kind enough to invite Luke and I over for a playdate last week.

We had lots of fun together. I always love talking with Claudia, and Luke enjoyed all of the toys that she had. There were lots of cars and trucks and even a dollhouse that could be boyhandled and survive to tell about it ;)

Zack and Mallory were wonderful hosts, too. (Ruby, the chocolate wonderlab was a dream hostdog, too) Mallory left the room after a while to escape all of the boy energy and play with her dolls, but Zack was up to the challenge of sharing his toys with Luke, watching all of the birds that come to visit Claudia's feeders and also sharing a snack of apples and sesame crackers. He is 10 months older than Luke and talking a lot with the cutest & gruffest little boy voice I have heard.

A favorite moment of mine was when Claudia asked Zack if he had made a new friend and he said yes. She then asked what his new friend's name is and he said 'Erinn' melt my heart!

Recital - UPDATED! (with new pictures, mom)

This is a belated post because Luke's Wiggles n Tunes recital was last Sunday, but here are some pictures from it anyway. He was really well behaved and seemed to have a lot of fun even though the performance was right at his normal nap time. He had a front row of fans that enjoyed his every move, too. The funniest part was that his every move consisted of exploring the stage to look at all of the outlets and outlet covers that were scattered about on the floor. Future electrician, maybe? It would be exciting and interesting to have a handy fellow in the family. Although I have to admit is is a treat to be married to someone man enough to just call for help when it is needed.

On our way to meet another wiggler and her parents for breakfast...I loved these overalls from Gma Susan!

Putting on a performance face!

"Riding" the train.

Hanging out with Teacher Alyce :)

Getting some grandparent love post-show.


I laid him down about 10 minutes ago as he was falling asleep on my shoulder and now he is YELLING aaaaaah as loud as he can and fighting the nap. We have had a fun morning playing with a couple of new items. One is a wooden alphabet puzzle that I got for a quarter this summer at a yard sale. He was picking out letters and I was telling him what they are and where they go. When he picked the 'M' I told him that it stood for our last name and he went to the door with it and matched it to the 'M' that we have hanging there. I LOVE seeing him make those connections!


The other toy is Luke's great grandma Jones' mixer. I am determined to make some bread this week and got some help in the appliance department from Gma Susan. Yeah! With all of the wonderful treats that mixer has helped make, I am feeling more and more confident about getting some simple whole wheat to turn out :) Both grandmas donated a couple of cookbooks to the cause, too, so I am hoping this turns into a successful venture and I can have them over to enjoy warm piece of bread with butter one of these days. YUM!



My first loaf of made from scratch whole wheat bread was a major success. It came out pretty, tasty and smelling so nice. I felt like the best wife and mom when Steve asked for another slice and Luke walked back to the spot where I sliced it three times asking for more. Yippee!

Sick + Development

I am a big believer in sleep and calories when you don't feel well...so this week when Steve was home 2 days feeling under the weather, I made a couple kinds of soup and purple rice krispie treats. You can see that the treats were a favorite of both boys. The real hit, to be honest, was Gma Susan's lasagna...that will cure anything :)
sick Steve getting some comfort from the girls...they LOVE our bed in the winter.
On an entirely different note, I need to share a couple of Luke stories b/c I feel like I don't always mention neat new things that he is doing. Such as...
-reading Christmas letters as they arrive (Becca - he really liked the picture of Yasmine)



-signing 'more' unprompted when he needed more of whatever we are eating:)
-bringing me the tube of cream I use for diaper rash when he knew he needed it...poor thing we are battling some diaper rash right now and he is just a tough little guy
-nodding yes when I asked him yesterday if he wanted to go to Gma's house. I did that a few times b/c it was just so cute!
-problem solving multiple step situations while his dad and I watch with wonder and ask ourselves how on earth we were blessed with such an amazing kid (am I biased? Yes! Is he still amazing? Yes!)
-climbing in the shower with me today fully clothed, and proceeding to plug the tub so that he could take a bath. At the end, he pulled the plug and waved 'bye bye' to the water.

I love Luke more everyday...what a cliche, but again, totally a true one! Happy weekend.

Early Present

Last week, we came home to find a package on our front step. What fun! An early Christmas present from Aunt Ellen. My mom told me later that I was supposed to hide it and open it on Christmas, but we had so much fun that I am glad we didn't wait!








Ellen sent Luke an awesome travel cot with an attachable sleeping bag. He loved it immediately, laying on the blanket as soon as I had it unrolled, and then thrilled at the actual CLIMBABLE cot..how about that smile! He was climbing and rolling around so much, he needed some hydration after a bit!

The really exciting thing is that we are going to get to open a new one (that we ordered the next day) soon. Steve, active and involved and wonderful father that he is, decided to sit on the cot with Luke which caused irrepairable damage to the piece of furniture meant for toddlers. He had good intentions, and he certainly doesn't do silly things very often so I guess I won't tease him too much about it. I think he heard enough about it the day that it happened (less than 24 hours after receiving the gift!)

SO...THANK YOU ELLEN. Luke will get lots of use out of his travel cot (maybe even here at home!) and we love you very much!

Self-Portrait

The other morning my (getting taller every day)Luke was able to reach the camera off of our desk and came into the bedroom to show me his toy. He is very clever, in case I haven't ever mentioned it, and before I could say "cheese" he had the power on and was snapping away. I did help him get the flash up and on, but otherwise it was all Luke.


FYI, I will never teach my child to "say cheese" I can't really stomach fake smiles by children, and feel sad when a person learns to fake it for the camera. I really really love babies and toddlers in photos b/c they don't know enough or care enough to pose, etc...and that is a moment of their true person captured to enjoy forever. Just my two cents.

A Ginormous Post

We have travelled a bit in the last few weeks, spent wonderful times with family and had some fun at home, too! Here goes my attempt at a photo filled recap.

Hunting season started Nov. 18th and my uncle Mike (dad's brother) and cousins Michael and Nicholas came down to (not) kill a deer and hang out by the campfire. Luke had a little cold and we were hanging out around the house when they came, but he perked up for Uncle Mike's truck!

The next day, we headed to St. Louis for a fun overnight visit with Aunt Rebekah and Uncle Greg and their wonderdog, Puccini. Luke and Puccini became the best of friends really fast and we enjoyed a really fun visit before heading to Kansas City the next day to see Uncle Glenn!In this seat again?



We had a good time in Kansas City. Gma Susan and Gpa Paul were there, too, so Steve & I were able to go to dinner at our favorite, Houston's, and we all went to see the area, Zona Rosa, lit up for the holidays. Glenn also got us tickets for the Chiefs v. Steelers game which was fun (except for the OT loss) The last picture shows the topic of conversation on our way home to Glenn's after the game...the noise at the game. That humongous speaker had Gpa Paul and Uncle Glenn all worked up...





Monday morning we headed back home for a couple of days. In those couple of days, we tried to get Luke (and ourselves!) rested up for our Thanksgiving trip to Memphis, and we also were fortunate to have the dogs get skunked in the backyard at 10:00 pm...Their couch had to go in the trash. Literally, I watched it get crunched in the trash truck, and I managed to get them a new cozy corner put together with new beds, etc...before we left. Star had 2 baths in my de-skunk recipe and she still smells once in a while. Here they are figuring out their new spots... Memphis was a good time. We took my parents and Luke on their first trip to a Houston's on Wednesday night. Yum!

We watched the duck parade at the Peabody and relaxed in their lobby for a bit on Thanksgiving morning. There were a ton of people to see the ducks and it is a pretty funny sight. Luke liked the whipped cream from my coffee, and I liked getting some fun family photos. The Peabody was decorated really beautifully for the holidays. Most of the day we just relaxed, watched football, snacked and enjoyed being together. It was really nice to have my folks along. Luke loved going next door to their room, riding in the elevator and on the escalator (I taught him to point up and down from the many rides) and using the room key card. He will get my credit card out of my wallet now and take it to the front door like it is going to open it...too smart and too cute! He also LOVED the mini fridge. It was easy for him to open and he would rearrange items over and over. We wondered why things weren't very cold - ha - he had the door open all of the time!





We had a great view of the Mississippi from our room and really lovely sunsets each night that we were there. Friday we took a wonderful walk to Beale Street took in some downtown sights, visited the fire museum, ate at The Rendezvous, rested, rode the trolley in the evening and looked over the city from the syview at the Peabody, then took a carriage ride...whew, Friday was a great day!





















The carraige drivers all have dogs which is a Memphis tradition. Our dog was named Hazel, and she obviously knew that we were dog people. I loved our purple lights and being so cozy on the ride.

We are happy to be home. It is cold and we have just been taking it easy. Luke has been taking extra long naps this week to catch up from all of the excitement and maybe to store some energy for the coming excitement of Christmas. He is wonderful, getting bigger, smarter and funnier each day!

As for today, Luke and Steve are napping, so are Luna and Star and I am going to make some hot chocolate and read until they get up. I have homemade chicken noodle soup ready for dinner, and I am very thankful that I was able to have a LONG breakfast with my dear friend Angie today and have a LONG conversation with my 'angel on eath' aunt Ellen today. I feel fortunate to have such lovely and loving people in my life.