Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Easter Bunny Bounty


Luke's feet are getting too big for the shoes to fit in the basket


Easter weekend we enjoyed a visit from Luke's Nana and Grandpa and from the Easter bunny. Louis missed out on the fun because he was away on a trip with friends to Las Vegas. I'm sure he didn't have any fun of his own.



Easter egg snacks- the breakfast of champions


We hid the eggs from Luke's Easter basket around the backyard for an egg hunt. He had so much fun hunting them that we hid them a second time and he hunted for them again.


Working hard to clean up after this messy bunny


Cue the sunbeam


Bunny booty


Happy Easter everybody!

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Spring Things

We started this post over a week ago but never quite finished it... oh well, here we go...

The last few weekends we've been playing outdoors quite a bit. In true Texas weather fashion, we will enjoy 80 degree, sunny weather one day and freezing temperatures with snow flurries the next. So, we try to take advantage of the nice days which occur more often than not.

We took Luke to the first weekend of Longhorn football practice and hung out on the sidelines with his bud Vince and Vince's parents. Football season is a mere 6 months away, not that we're counting or anything.

Gotta put on some weight if we're gonna make the team


Quick, let's make a run for it!

We bought a kite a few weeks ago and let Luke pick out the one he wanted. He chose the ugliest one there-a weird robots and spaceship kite because he loves robots- who knows why- and he loves rocket ships a la the Little Einsteins cartoon. Here is Louis and Luke taking the kite out for its first flight.

Robokite

The next weekend we wanted to show off our new kite flying skills at the annual Austin kite festival. That day happened to be a super duper windy day, and our cheapo robot kite broke into two pieces within thirty seconds in the air. So sad. Thankfully, there were many other cool kites to enjoy at the festival, as well as a bouncy-house which is always a big hit.


Bouncing in Pooh kite shirt from Aunt Ariane's trip to Hong Kong Disneyland


"It's the biggest kite ever!"


Yesterday morning I came downstairs to this cute sight- Luke watching cartoons, Louis sleeping.

Saturday morning snuggles

Today Louis built an addition to our backyard playscape for Luke. The playscape has a small platform that you have to climb up onto in order to slide down the slide. The only way up was via a verticle ladder on which Luke was equally capable of climbing up and dangerously falling off. So, Louis built a ramp ladder for easier access to the platform. Luke helped out using his wooden toy tools and by stress testing the final product. Turns out he can still find a way to fall, but now it's a bit more unlikely.

Luke the builder, can we fix it? Yes we can!

Monday, February 18, 2008

Happy 2 (and a half) Birthday

We'll take any excuse to eat cake

Luke turned 2 1/2 years old today! Since an entire year is far too long to wait to enjoy three of his favorites activities- singing the birthday song, blowing out candles, and eating cake- we celebrated halfway through the year. With 2 1/2 candles lit on a cupcake, we sang him the happy birthday song and then he sang it to himself about a dozen more times. Happy half birthday buddy!

As Luke says it- "I blowed it up!"

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Happy Valentine's Day

Koko, will you be my Valentine?

Luke's other true love- dessert.

...and playgrounds, too.

Lots of love to our friends and family. Happy Valentine's day!

Friday, January 04, 2008

Christmas in Houston

We spent a wonderful week in Houston over the Christmas holiday. Luke had tons of fun hanging out with Nana and Grandpa and Aunt Kimmy and Uncle Scott.

Nana and Grandpa were so excited to give Luke one of his Christmas presents that they gave it to him two days early. Luke was very grateful because it is the coolest gift ever- a big bouncy horsie! I had one similar to this as a kid, but, as with most toys, they've come long way, baby.

Yeehaw horsie!

Christmas Eve night Nana read Luke (and a room full of adult friends and family who had joined us for Christmas dinner) the book The Night Before Christmas. Afterward, we set out milk and cookies by the fireplace for Santa so that he could have something to snack on during his stop at our house that night. Luke ended up drinking most of Santa's milk... sorry, Santa. Then Cactus (our dog) ate one of the cookies right off of the plate before we could stop her... again, sorry Santa. (We totally should have seen that one coming.) We refilled Santa's plate, then put Luke to bed with visions of sugar plums dancing in his head.

I guess Santa's milk must taste better than the milk in Luke's own glass

The next morning we woke up with Luke and excitedly walked into the living room to see all of the wonderful presents under the tree and the stockings stuffed full of goodies! Santa was here!!! After everyone woke up and gathered around the tree, Luke handed out presents to everyone and chanted "open it, open it!" while exhuberantly jumping around. It was our most fun Christmas ever.

Hard evidence Santa was here- cookies crumbs and an empty glass of milk.

The next day we visited Luke's Aunt Kimmy and Uncle Scott at their house. While there, Louis and Luke hijacked their 4-wheeler and took a joyride around the neighborhood. They didn't get busted by the cops, but had they I wonder if Luke would have gotten the ticket(s)... after all, he was in the drivers seat. Building a rapsheet by the age of 2 isn't going to help his chances of getting into a posh preschool...

Daddy and Luke riding Britney-style

Luke loves airplanes, so we took a short drive to a nifty little road near the airport that crosses the beginning of one of the airport's landing strips. You can park there and watch the airplanes fly right overhead and land mere feet from where you are standing. It was pretty cool to do when I was a kid, and it is still cool now. And Luke loved it. He sat on Grandpa's shoulders to get even closer to the planes and waved at the pilots and passengers every time they flew over. We swear the pilots tipped their wings to us as they passed.

I should have brought my slingshot

On another day, we spent the morning at the awesome Houston Aquarium. They have all types of cool stuff. Giant Octopus, Electric eels, 200 lb turtles, Mexican Walking Fish, White Tigers plus an amusement park with a train ride through a shark tank! They also have a merry-go-round and a very high in the sky ferris wheel that Luke rode for the first time. We were a bit nervous that he'd have not so much fun once the rides started, but he enjoyed them as much as we did. Having a kid is the best excuse ever to ride amusement park rides. Thanks Luke.

He kissed me!


Those raisins look delicious... and you look pretty tasty yourself, little boy


Getting carsick on the carousel


Ferris wheel fever!

It was fun to see some old friends while in Houston too. We met up with a group of friends at the Jumalons' house and watched the Longhorns trounce Arizona State in the Holiday Bowl. Luke hung out with his buddy, Vincent, and they partied until past their bedtimes along with the football watching crowd. Vince has a sweet motorized motorcycle that the boys zoomed around the house in. Luke drove at first, then Vince took the wheel until the batteries pooped out. The boys finally pooped out as well, and after a late night hanging with friends we packed up the next morning and headed back to Austin. Happy New Year, y'all!


Ponch and Jon running down some crooks

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Merry Christmas Update

To catch us up, here are lots of pictures from the last few months. We vacationed in France, had a spooky Halloween, a yummy Thanksgiving and we are gearing up for Christmas...


Farmer Luke in Normandy



Parent tip #932: Kids LOVE balloons!


Luke's cousin Lavinia takes him under her wing

Louis and his sisters Yasmine and Ariane.
Luke and his cousins Henry, Renee and Lavina.


Luke is pleased with the French cuisine


Luke on his second birthday,
dressed up for his great grandmother's 100th birthday celebration


Just another day at the office



Luke and Jen, hanging out


Luke cheating injury once again


Too much sugar!


Luke's first pony ride


Luke on the Deauville boardwalk


Renee pointing out a butterfly to Luke at the butterfly sanctuary


Lavina, Luke and Renee turning into butterflies



Back to Austin... football season, yay!


Splash time with Gabby in our backyard


Luke and Grandpa having fun


Grandpa saving Luke as he cheats injury once again


Smile!


Carving the pumpkin before Halloween... yummy


A job well done!


At the pumpkin patch


Luke and Gabby, awwww


Luke the cowboy, yee ha! Happy Halloween!


Martin Armstrong


Luke's buddies: Gabby, Luke, Vivian, Ellie, Zach, Winston, Martin


Luke and Gabby Trick or Treating


Hanging Christmas lights around the house

Decorating gingerbread house and noses

That's all for now! Happy holidays!