A cousin's birthday party

Luke has had a season of birthdays... He thinks "Happy Birthday" is a great song to sing. I think it helped that the string was begun with his own birthday. :) These photos are from a cousin's birthday party in April. Luke had never really gotten into slides much, but he had SO much fun. I need to look for one for him.

He also hadn't ever played in a sand box. That was big fun, too. I definitely found a list of summer toys I would love to have for him.

He LOVED the "swed." He just really had a good time playing with all the outdoor toys. It does a mommy's heart good to see her boy having such a good time. I love that little guy!

Cousins and date nights

We had the privilege of exchanging babysitting services with our dear cousins Mark and Jena recently. We kept their kids one night and they kept Luke the next week. We had a great time playing with their kiddos and I know Luke had a blast at their house. It was a lovely time to just spend a few hours kidless. We went out to eat (Lonestar has a great 2 for $20 deal going on, and it comes with an appetizer!) then went shoe shopping for me! What a great guy I have. I've been needing some new tennis shoes but just haven't shopped yet. We were planning to go do something more "fun," and then Andrew comes up with this idea to go shoe shopping. I couldn't believe it, and we almost didn't do it cause it wasn't very "date like." But, it was SO nice to try on shoes without having to chase down a little boy at the same time. Next time: Mini Golf!

Here is Luke with his cousin Abe. I wish Luke wasn't in the cheesy smile stage, but it's still kinda endearing. :) They are gonna be trouble together, soon!

Cousins

Here are just a few photos of our day with a cousin. My brother and his wife and oldest son went to a WVU game last month and we kept their daughter, who is seven weeks younger than Luke, all day. It was a fun day and made me have a new appreciation for people who have twins. :) I had hurt my back, so Andrew got a lot of responsibility, but the day went rather well in spite of that fact. They played well together and it was fun to see Luke interact with another toddler.


They both thought that they bowl on the head game was hilarious.


Magnets (Andrew's old work buttons!) on the side of the dishwasher are also a winner. I need to buy Luke some of those magnetic letters...

All in all, we had a great day. Our niece was quite agreeable and easy to care for. We were glad to hang out with her for a Saturday!

P'bo Zoo

Here are some more shots of our trip to the Peterborough Zoo. Luke had such a good time with his cousins and aunts and uncles. It was a really good (but LONG) day.

This is in front of a cute little fountain... Andrew gave me a penny to throw in and make a wish! Poor Luke was almost asleep by this point.



Here is Luke with GrammaMack. He enjoyed looking at the goats etc., with her!




I love this picture of Luke. He was so enthralled with all there was to see.


He enjoyed climbing around on things. His expressions made me laugh!



Luke has such a happy look on his face here as he raced to look at... whatever!



Looking at the turkeys.



Luke had no shortage of cousins to help him up, or down, or feed him, or play with him, or hold his hand, or push the stroller, or... you get the idea. I had a bit of a vacation at Aunt Sue's house!



He is such a sweet boy! He had a lot of fun looking into all the enclosures (I don't think there was anything on the other side of this fence, but hey, it was awesome!). His favourite things were all the birds. Plus when the cousins got him to pat their shoulders and were then all clamouring for his attention yelling "Luke, pat me, pat me!" "No, it's my turn, pat me!" It made me laugh so hard.

All in all, we had a lovely day with family.

Cousins

These pictures were taken a little more than a month ago... but they're so darn cute! Abe and Luke showed up to the church meeting one Sunday in matching clothes. Fortunately I had the camera.






Two very sweet little boys. You can visit Abe and his siblings here.