Back Yard Times

I think Luke would happily live outside. It's gotten so bad that I almost hate to take him out because he cries so hard when it's time to come in. He really loves it.


Here is our little guy asking where "Dadada" is. This happens a lot and it is cute.



I can't believe he's still on the blanket. :)


Looking to see where he'll explore first.



I even brought a snack. Unfortunately, Luke tried to take a bite out of it before I got to peel it. Yuck! I don't think he liked it either.


Enough sitting still, he's off!

Happy boy!

Also, I took a picture of the book I took outside to read while he played. Yeah, it just sat there unopened the whole time. Did I really think I was going to be able to read while chasing a curious toddler?

Bubbly Luke

Here is our crazy baby playing with bubbles. He made me laugh so hard just because he was having such a good time. I don't think he understood why he couldn't catch them, though.

Playing with Trains

Here are just a few pictures of our crazy kid playing with the Little People train set Gramma and Grandpa got him for his birthday. He really likes it and has unfortunately learned that if you stand on the buttons they make noise and music (the train is supposed to roll over them, depressing them and making a train whistle and other sounds). He is funny.



Okay, this picture just made me laugh. So I put it here. :)



He loves the little houses for the horse and the dog. He think it is so cool to pull or push on the tops and get the doors to open. He hasn't yet learned how to twist the top of the ticket booth...


He really enjoys this toy.

He has almost learned to close the doors himself, but can't quite master the sliding mechanism. It won't be long before he's opening and closing them entirely by himself!

This toy is always good for a nice play session. We keep it in the "formal" living room so it's not mixed in with most of his toys. We usually take a break from the family room several times a day to go and play in the living room and the train set is always a highlight. Especially if I am willing to sit there and stuff a person/dog/horse/whatever in the little house and close the door five brazilian times. Of course I then have to act incredibly surprised and pleased when Luke opens it to reveal the object inside. Sometimes the force of the door sliding open knocks whatever is inside out and behind the house and it cracks me up to see his shocked look. He knows there was something in there and it should still be there... He's learning to look behind to see if it's there. He is too sweet.

Thanks for the trains, Gramma and Grandpa!

Luke's Lunch

Here is Luke happily consuming what's left of his ham and cheese sandwich...

Two Boys

Here are my boys, decked out in their West Virginia hats, ready for the park! This was the last time that Lukey was able to fit into his hat. :( They look so darn cute together!

Happy Father's Day

Well, we've come a long way, baby! I have been looking through a bunch of pictures this morning, being sorta nostalgic and all. I am so thankful for the wonderful father my husband has become. It has been really neat to watch Andrew grow into his role more and more. Luke is a blessed child and I, a blessed wife. Luke loves his daddy so much. He gets SO excited when he hears the door at lunch time and at the end of the day. It is precious. Also, if he ever hears a noise out the window he starts saying and signing "Da Da Da Da Da." Because one time, Daddy was out there grilling and made noise... Now every noise from that window must be Dada. He is too much fun.

I am thankful that God has given Lukey and I just the man that we need. I love to watch Luke trying to emulate his father. It won't be long before he cries when Andrew leaves for work instead of happily waving "bye bye" and signing "I love you!"

It's hard to believe that this is our second Father's Day with little Luke. I understand a little more each day why my parents always tell me that only yesterday I was a baby on my father's knee. Thanks mom and dad.

And here are a few pictures of Andrew with Luke over the last 14 months...


This was taken just days after Luke was born. They were so very sweet together!



Again... just so sweet! I can't believe how tiny he was!


Of course, he always looked tiny in Andrew's hands.


Just holding hands and hanging out. :) Luke was very talkative that day as I remember.



I think this one was within a month of Father's Day last year. His shirt says "I Love Daddy" and was worn by Andrew when he was little! I miss that shirt!


Two boys in two hats. It's hard to believe that Luke's hat doesn't even fit him any more. It looks so big on him here!

I remember trying SO hard to get both of them to look at me at the same time... No luck, but I love Andrew's eyes in this one.





And then there's those two, taken only last month. Our little walker, talker, signer, eater, player, sleeper, but still not cuddler, has sure come a long way.

Thank you Andrew, for all you do for us. I know you work hard and then you come home and work hard some more. Thanks for all the sacrifices you make every day for Luke and me (and also for your grammatical awareness... I had to stop and think, "Luke and I... no, cause then if I take Luke away... :)).

I love you and am so very proud of you. I'm so happy that I am married to you. It is wonderful to be truly hopeful that our son grows up to be just like you.

ps- I'm sorry you had to go to church alone on Father's Day while I stayed home with our sicko!

Fish Chair

Several weeks ago we were over at Sam and Gina's house to play Settlers. We heard Luke crying and this is how we found him. :) He was stuck and very frustrated. I wonder if he remembered the fish chair from when we borrowed it?






He was NOT impressed.

Who, me?

Leaving The Park

Absolutely precious.

Memorial Day Park Fun Part 2

Here are a few more shots of our Memorial Day at the park. Luke was super sweet and I just loved watching him toddle around exploring.


This is our first real occurrence of "stick play." Luke found a stick at the park and was fascinated by it. He used it to poke things and point at things, mostly. It was just cute.

Here, Lukey and Daddy are playing the big xylophone at the park. It was pretty cool. Andrew did a pretty nice rendition of "Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee" but declined my request to put it on the blog! :) Luke thought it was pretty cool that he could hit something and it made a sound.



My two happy boys. Luke was really ridiculously having a good time. (Yes, I know that sentence is odd.)


Again with the swings. I have got to look for a toddler swing for our house. We have a place to put it and everything. I just need to be a little more disciplined about looking for one.


I'll leave you with this look of glee.

Cloth Diaper Blog

Okay, so this is a shameless plug for cloth diapers and for a contest currently being held over at simplemom.net. She's got a great cloth diaper review here as well as several great posts about cloth. This weekend only there is a giveaway for several different brands of cloth diapers and I think you should all go and enter it now! It's found at the end of the diaper review. If you don't have kids or wouldn't use cloth, enter it anyway and when you win give the diapers to someone who will use them! (Like, for instance, me!)

Seriously, we love using cloth diapers at our house and think you should check it out just for information's sake (can "information" have a sake?). I actually have been meaning to do a post on cloth diapers for a while, but haven't gotten around to it yet. Maybe someday...

Here are a few pics of Luke in cloth. Unfortunately I don't have any really good pictures (I'll have to work on that) but I think cloth diapers are really cute!



This orange one is a FuzziBunz.


And this blue one is a bumGenius 3.0.


Soon we'll be back with more Memorial Day fun, but for now, go win some fluff!

Memorial Day Park Fun

So, fairly early on Memorial Day, we headed off to the park. It was definitely the time to go as there was no one else there. It was wonderful to have the place to ourselves. We finally let Luke actually walk around and climb on things and he had such a good time! We got lots of good pictures from the day.



He was SO happy to be standing up there! I admit I was nervous and am just out of the picture, in case he lost his balance. He's turning into such a big boy!



Here he is demonstrating his mastery of stairs. He's only been up stairs a few times in his little life, but he sure acted like he knew what he was doing.



Again, I wanted to be right behind the little explorer. :)




He just gets such a cute happy/proud look on his face sometimes! I just want to grab him and kiss him! What's funny about this picture is that I am right behind him, with my feet up on the rails so that we can get a picture of him by himself.


And here, I dropped back down to chase the little toddler on down the walkway to Daddy. It was such a good time. I love seeing him learn. More pictures will follow eventually, when I get them saved to blogger. We have some lovely pictures of Andrew and Luke playing a big xylophone there in the park... :)

Back Yard

Well, Luke is finally getting used to the grass under his feet. He loves being outside... to the annoying point that he has started crying whenever it's time to go in. I've been around enough kids to know this day would come, but it doesn't make it any easier. :) I hate laundry the most, cause I have to go outside and around the house to the basement. I usually bring Luke and plop him down on the grass near our garden while I run in and work on the laundry. Unfortunately, that usually only adds up to about five minutes, max. I've tried leaving him upstairs, but he inevitably gets into something he shouldn't. I've taken him in the basement with me, but that's hard cause I don't want to put him down on the nasty floor, and it's hard to do laundry with him in my arms (it's hard enough to carry him and a laundry basket!). The sling helps some, but...

Anyway, that was a tangent I didn't intend to go off on, but, he really does like to be outside! It seems almost cruel to take him out for just a few minutes, but I can't be out there for 20 minutes-forever every time I need to switch laundry! :)







I just like this kid. I'm keeping him.

Just Luke

He is such a fun and goofy kid. He loves this bowl. I have pretty much just let it begin it's life in the toy bin instead of in my cupboard. Only recently has he begun to "help" mommy in the kitchen by grabbing this bowl and waiting until I give him a spoon to stir with. He's just so much fun these days. He learns something new every day!


"Hey Mom, did you know this makes a great hat?"



"See, you put it on like this..."




How can you not smile at this?