Happy Birthday Lukey

Yesterday my son turned two. Wow. I am still kinda shocked by that. We had a good day, for the most part. We played with some new sidewalk chalk (which was a big hit), played with some lacing cards he received from Uncle Sam and Aunt Gina, made a big mess with the bowling game given by Uncle Mark and Aunt Jena, and played with a kazoo and car given by Uncle Josiah and Aunt Jessi until Mommy had a headache and the car smelled like burnt electrical something. :) We finished the day with a chat via Skype with Gramma and Granpa Mack and Uncle Jonny and Colin. It was a good day. I am proud of my two-year-old.

It couldn't have been a birthday without a birthday greeting written in sidewalk chalk, right?

Daddy came upstairs for a brief respite to draw a snowman with the birthday boy.

I would say he was having a really good time. I don't know that he'd ever seen chalk before, at least not to get his hands on it and touch it, so he was lots of fun to watch.

It's sad when you have to write your own birthday message...

Just Luke, being Luke. I love this kid!

An end of the day birthday gift from us. I think the lacing beads will provide lots of entertainment and one day, he will be able to play with them on his own. :)

We enjoyed our day with our little one. He is infinitely precious to us. Thank you God for this evidence of your grace in our life.

Luke's Birthday Party

Luke had a great day celebrating his 2nd birthday with some of his little friends. We had his party this past Saturday and it was a fun day. Very busy, but fun. :) We decided that while he wouldn't have missed having a party, he certainly enjoyed the one he had! I had fun, too, even if it was a little last minute. This is a crazy busy time of year with friends and family birthdays as well as Easter. Next year I shall plan better and in advance!

A Turtle Cupcake Pull Apart Cake. I had to use SO much frosting to get it to stay together... I don't think the kids minded. Not so sure about the moms. :)

Homemade play dough. I got a recipe from my cousin Jena that uses Kool Aid to colour the dough. It smelled SO good! Andrew arranged it so nicely on the table that it looked like fruity yumminess!

I love the look on Luke's face here. He had such a good time playing with the other kids.

Uncle Josiah and Uncle Mark played with the kiddos a bit and it was sweet to watch. I think it was a hit. (Luke is standing here as I type saying "Want play dough, few minutes" and it is too sweet.)

More play dough fun. Luke enjoyed playing with the cups almost as much as he did playing with the play dough!

Here comes the birthday cake! He really enjoyed everyone singing to him. He has been walking around singing Happy Birthday to himself ever since.

I was pretty impressed that he was able to blow out the candle himself with no help, problems, or slobber! I think he was pretty pleased with himself, too.

Just waiting for the cake to arrive!

I think he was enjoying it... We gave him the "head" of the turtle, so it had M&M's on it. He's never had M&M's... I forgot to sit and watch him, but he didn't seem to have any issues... :)

Enjoying the yummy cupcake!

Opening presents. His first gift, from John and Shelly, had a really cute fish watering can in it, among other things. I don't think he let that out of his sight for the rest of the day. At one point, Andrew found him in the bathroom with it half filled in the tub. He was pretty excited. He received many lovely things and I am excited to enjoy them with him!

All the present-y mess. He had such a good time. I'm so glad that we had a party for him. It was fun to get together with friends! I was exhausted, but already look forward to next year.

Happy birthday to our beautiful little TWO year old! I will refrain from reminiscing overly much... but we are so thankful for our son! He is a blessing.

More Faces of Lukey

I don't really think captions are needed for the following post... :) I hope you enjoy some more expressions.

What a funny little guy he is!

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!

So Sweet

Luke has recently realized that the shoes on his cabbage patch doll actually come off. He was sweetly asking me to take them off and put them on all day a few days ago. I nearly stopped thinking it was so sweet. And then I put Luke to bed and came back out to the living room to find little Stephen's shoes right next to Luke's. I actually teared up. I love my little boy!

Eric Peters in Concert

We enjoyed the Eric Peters and Stacy Grubb concert this past weekend here in Beckley. It's always fun to hear live music, and that was some good live music. Even Luke enjoyed it... Well, he liked the guitars, clapping and camera. :)

Okay, when I got out the camera to take a few pictures of Eric, Luke insisted on a picture of this face. I was laughing so hard.

He just kept making funny faces and wanting me to take pictures of him. It was hilarious.

Unfortunately he was moving in a couple of the best ones, but he's just such a funny kid!

It was a great evening out. And Luke slept in forever the next day. It was crazy. I enjoyed getting to chat a bit with Stacy Grubb. Good times, good times. :)

Luke's Learning to Smile

Here are some photos of our little guy working on his smile technique. I think he's getting pretty good, dontcha think?

Oh, he makes me laugh.

I guess he really likes pizza. :)