Dreams do come true

A dream of Luke's these days is waking up to an entire collection of life size construction equipment sitting in our house - or in our yard at the very least.

We can't quite make that happen, but we can stop on our way home from the store and (trespass) meet a trackhoe up close and personal. It was parked right on the side of the road and I thought it was worth the chance!

We only stayed for a few minutes and most of those minutes he stood there staring at this fascinating object as if it appeared out of a dream!

We were also able to find a small remote control backhoe at the store so he is building quite a collection of CAT products :) This is just a tiny example of the way a babe enhances life...smile if you see a bulldozer today!





The rest of this post is dedicated to my husband.

I had a childhood book called "Goose Goofs Off" that is part of a 26 book Sweet Pickles series. Each letter of the alphabet is dedicated to the lead character of each book. For example, "Who took Alligator's Shoe" or "No Kicks for Dog" etc...A-Z.

I love these books because they create this sweet little animal world and there is a map of where all of the animals live, shop, work, etc...in each book. Very cute.

I know that I had more than one of these when I was little, but only Goose survived all these years. I looked for some new copies to get the series for Luke, but they are out of print :( Well, I mentioned this to Steve and explained how cute the books are etc...a couple of months ago. Steve listened quietly like he normally does and we didn't talk about it again.

Yesterday, though, he mentioned that he had some investment books coming in the mail and he came home for lunch to find the box of books sitting on the counter. He opened the box a little and then let Luke start taking the contents and bubble wrap out of the box. I finished getting a salad ready for Steve and looked over at Luke playing with a stack of colorful books. What?????

Steve found the whole series and now they are in our living room and I am laughing as I work through each letter because they really aren't award winning books, but I treasure them and I treasure the fella that chose me to be his lady!



Steve, you make dreams come true, and Luke and I are are so lucky to be part of your life. Love you.

Birdwatcher

Thanks to our vicious guard dogs, we do not get any squirrels in the backyard. That means it is a bird paradise and we share lots of food for them and enjoy seeing who comes to visit. Here is Luke checking out a cardinal couple and a few finches stopping by for a snack.

Happy Reader

This truck book has become Luke's constant companion. He loves to read it in the car and then look for his favorite motorized vehicles on the road. He is a total eagle eye and can spot an emergency vehicle or bulldozer from miles away. He will point, scream, go brrrmmmm brrmmmm and give a good whooo whooo if his object of affection has a siren on it. Good fun. Steve and I are just thrilled that he is such a happy reader :)

Requested

My Dad has become highly interested in checking out the latest pictures of Luke. He asked me today when a new post would be up so...here you go dad!

His new expression with 'EYEBROWS UP!' He does this lots, which means he is excited/happy/interested in what he is doing.

PS Dad picked up a tractor/construction equipment catalog and Luke couldn't stop saying WOW as he browsed through it. If we were millionaires, he would have a trackhoe in the front yard for his birthday :)

From this to this

What a weekend! It has been in the 60's and just gorgeous. We have spent a ton of time outside soaking up the sun and loving the warmer temperatures. Six days ago we were looking at this in the front yard
and now we are seeing these!

My Aunt Anne would say this is just the start of 'the beauty'. Love it.

We are here.

The computer has been at the doctor all week, but with no work done yet so that explains my MIA on this blog. We have had a fabulous week of fun, food and family.

Fun: trip to Paducah to Ya-Ya's Island, an indoor playground with a train to ride, a bounce house to giggle in and a mini-rollercoaster to shay whee on, storytime in Marion, warmer weather that allowed for running through mud puddles and climbing up and down hills OUTSIDE with mom and the dogs, watching in awe as an excavator tore down a local restaurant and then filled a dumptruck with waste (we sat in the car two days for 30 minutes watching this exciting happening, having 15 friends over and 10 moms for playgroup on Friday. Whew...what a week!

Food: risotto with asparagus and chicken, spaghetti and meatballs, white bean soup with veggies, noodles and beef at Asian Bistro (and a free ice cream cone for L...he fell in complete love with our waitress), blueberry muffins, oatmeal raisin cookies and egg casserole at Friday's playdate...yum, yum, yum

Family: We have actually spent a lot of time together, just the three of us and it has been a very good and fortunate week.

Luke says moon a lot now and it sounds like maaan. He also has gotten really good at saying Yummy when he is enjoying a meal or treat. Cute.

Steve and I have gotten really used to pointing things out to him when we are driving or walking like trucks, construction equipment, etc...but now Luke spots stuff faster than we do and will point and yell until we notice the tractor, truck or bobcat that he is fascinated with at the moment. Little eagle eye.

really? ok, we can deal with this

Do we really have more snow outside? We are all over it...see, Luke doesn't even want to open his eyes to see it.

Thankfully, I just booked a trip to FLORIDA in a couple of weeks so hopefully we will meet the sun when we get there. Counting down the days until we can spend time OUT OF DOORS.

So we decided to get outside anyway today. Went to a favorite trail, I put socks on Luke's hand b/c his mittens are a little big and he won't keep them on. He was intrigued with the sock idea. Grandpa tried to show him how to make a snowball and throw it at mommy, but he was still stuck studying his hands. It was a fun time out in the cold, and, yes, there is a lot of beauty during the winter. It was a joy to be out in it!

Love is in the air

and in the rice krispies!
Playdate today had a Valentine theme so we took these treats and our valentines to share. Luke was happy hanging with the other kids (there are lots of boys about a year older than him so he soaks up a lot from them) and all of the cool toys at a different house for a couple of hours. Towards the end he walked up to me with his arms up and laid on my shoulder which I took as our cue to hit the road. Before this, however, we did exchange valentines (I 'played' Luke since he was busy with the train table) and one of the kids shared heart suckers. Luke ate his on my lap, then left to play for a little bit. A mom soon came out to let me know that he was trying to grab all of the other suckers out of kids' mouths and eat them. Is is really wrong that I find a lot of humor in this story? Happy Valentine's Day Weekend. Share some love!




P.S When we got home, I cleaned all of the sugar residue off of Luke's hands and face. I asked him to pick out a book to read which was 10 Apples Up On Top. We read it in a different room, so I asked him if he would like to read some more in his room and he said "YEAH" clear as a bell...it was a moment.

Banana picker

Luke woke up for a long time with repeated calls for DADDY. I didn't ever mind this, as it allowed me to stay in bed for a few more minutes, and really, isn't Steve a better choice for who you want to see first thing in the morning or post-nap?!

Well, things have changed recently, and Luke is really insistent that MOMMY is the one that he deals with first thing in the morning. If Steve gets him up, he marches into our bedroom, grabs my hand, drags me out of bed, and marches me into the kitchen so that I can hand him a banana and get him a cup of juice. Steve told me today that Luke PUSHED HIM OUT OF THE BANANA AREA because he just wasn't capable of accepting one from Daddy. I had the gall to use the restroom before getting to the kitchen and I am lucky I haven't been locked out of the house today.

The overall point of this is that I am pretty thrilled that Luke likes to be around me and I will get up with a smile (it might be a grin depending on the time he gets up) and give him his breakfast every day. We did enjoy some oatmeal Gpa Nick style today.

We also made three loaves of delicious bread. Luke is quite the mixer. He was honing his pouring skills between bowls and just having the time of his life.


It just came out of the oven and I have already eaten 2 slices...YUM! So cool to watch the yeast just grow and grow...

The sun is out today, and if Luke gets up before the sun sets we will be going out together to walk the dogs. He is hungry for outdoor time, just like his mama.

A quick bite of our day

I just wanted to say that today as I read "the little engine that could" to a very tired Luke, he grabbed the page with the lovely illustrations on it of the yummy oranges and apples and candies and ice cream cones that the train was trying to carry over the mountain and he licked it and tried to bite the delicious looking pictures right off of the page.

I don't have the energy for capitalization or the best grammar right now, but I do have the energy to write about this little magic moment that happened today with my little valentine.

It was an especially sweet moment because he has been a little finicky about his eating lately so at least he found something that he liked.

Also, just for the record or for when Luke's college girlfriend reads this, the copy of "little engine" that we have is very lovely and the illustrations are top notch. It is a hard cover and very large so the pictures do come alive as you read it...I considered going after a piece of candy myself, really, I did.

Helper

Guess who helped stir the cake batter last night?

It has been a relaxing weekend. Luke ran all over with Daddy yesterday. He test drove some (toddler) cars at Toys 'R' Us. Steve said his favorite was the Escalade b/c the radio worked :) He also got to eat Panera for lunch while watching a plane land at the local airport and then play on the trainset at Barnes & Noble...What a dad Luke has!

This morning we took a long drive around the area with my mom and a nice hot cup of coffee and will be eating rib tips and chicken wings as we watch the commercials during the SuperBowl...Pretty good fun on a cold weekend. The sun is out today - hooray!

A Day in Our Life

This is a stream of photos from our day yesterday, February 4, 2010. There is a brief description of what we did if the photos aren't clear at the end. Life is good.





































We start the day with a clean slate, open the drapes to say 'hello day' and eat some banana and other breakfast goodies plus a Flinstones vitamin that he savors. I like to have a cup of green tea and read the paper while we check out the super problem on "Super Why".

Luke often has a treat war with the dogs b/c he likes to give them treats but sometimes has a face off for a bit before he hands it over :) We always enjoy seeing daddy dressed up on his way to work before toys get out, snacks are had, climbing happens, markers come out, diapers are changed, giggles are heard, etc...Yesterday he even climbed out the doggy door in a second to check out the new bird feeders and enjoy his independence.

We took daddy some lunch and then Luke climbed into the car like he was ready to stra on his seatbelt and ride shotgun. We also enjoyed an Ansel Adams photography exhibit at SIU's museum (and the other displays) and a quick visit to Gma Jackie's office before lunch from the co-op and some stories and milk before nap time.

Steve needed to get his new suit so Luke spent some time in the evening with Gma Susan and Gpa Paul while we headed to Dillard's and dinner (after Steve avoiding a double ticket) and headed home with a sleepy head. I would live this day over and over...