Trip to Indy...

We just got back from a one week visit to the great state of Indiana. We were able to see so many family and friends. It was a great time! Luke still is talking about Chewie and Emma (my brother's dog) and tells me how he wants to pat them. Good time was had by all!

Luke loves his great-granddad!!
Luke received the cutest suitcase from his Auntie Olivia and Uncle Wessel as a birthday gift. He likes to fill it up with his cars and bring them everywhere. It's the perfect size for him! Thanks Auntie and Uncle!
Luke received a goodie bag of treats from his Grandma Betsy. Luke is definitely a gift lover...maybe his love language??
play-doh!!
Here is one of the friends we visited with during our stay. This is Mollie. Her mom is a college friend of mine. Mollie is adorable and Luke completely invaded her home with cars!!

I unfortuantely did not get pictures of the other friends we visited. We also had so much seeing Christopher, Kaitlynn, Maggie, Mackenzie and Mica!! Thanks for a great visit!!

Luke at the Orchard

This weekend as a family we went to the local orchard (many more trips to come). Luke liked looking at the pumpkins (but not touching them), looking at the farm animals and of course enjoying a warm donut after we convinced him they were not longer hot. I have brought him to this same orchard for the past 3 years now (the first time he was less than 6 months old). Amazing how much he changes every time! Love this boy!

For some reason, I think this is the funniest picture ever of Luke. His expression is absolutely priceless.

Here is Luke telling Daddy his donut is hot. Better eat that donut quickly Luke before Daddy does!

Luke at School...

Luke started a school for 2 yr olds this year. It's 2 hours once a week and I stay with him. He loves it. His teachers are great (I tell Luke we're going to school and he says, "to see Tammy" who is his teacher). Luke is not a sensory guy...he hates having his hands dirty so he's not digging the finger painting but we had a huge break through this week where he would actually put on his paint smock and play with paint covered marbles. He's getting so big and I love spending this time with him. Here are some pictures from one of his first days.

Note: Blogger is having a hard time downloading my pictures. Will try again later.

The Cutest...

So...this picture is posted really late. We have great friends here in MI with three girls and one boy. The girls LOVE to take care of Luke and let's just say, he loves to be taken care of. One of the girls, Rachel, loved bringing Luke around in the toy mustang. Luke LOVED it. This boy never sits for longer than 2 minutes, so this was huge. Here's a few pictures of the fun...

If these two get married, this pictures is DEFINITELY being shown at the wedding!

Luke's odd habit...

So as I'm sure I've shared with most of you...Luke enjoys spending a lot of his day aligning his toys, shoes, pantry items...just about anything he can get his hands on...with his cars or figurines, they must all be facing the same way and if one is messed up, he'll stop what he is doing to correct it. I wonder who he gets that from?? Here is some proof on what he does:

This picture is sideways too...I like how the caterpillar is a head of the pack. He's even facing the right way!

Hands On Museum

Luke and I took a day trip to a Hands On Museum in Ann Arbor. There was a preschool room that Luke loved...especially the water table. He would have stayed there all day if I would have let him. The smock did not help much...he was soaked....especially his shoes.

He's becoming such a big boy!

What a surprise...Luke lining up something!!
Luke and I went through the rest of the museum...but mostly it was stuff to advanced for him. He enjoyed looking around though.
Luke on the piano!

Jeremy's Birthday

For Jeremy's birthday, I surprised him with flying lessons! He was able to take off, fly a plane and land (of course with an instrutor). Luke and I watched Jeremy take off and land which was fun. Luke loved watching the planes! ("panes"...as Luke says!). Jeremy loved it EXCEPT...he became pretty air sick which caused two things: 1.a very long car ride home and 2. this is the last time Jeremy will be piloting a plane!

Jeremy about to take off.
Getting his ear phones on...
Coming in from landing...
Our one time pilot!

Luke's Birthday Part II

Off to Indy for more celebration. This party was so special because we had so many family members able to attend including Luke's great grandma and grandpa. Luke loved his party!

Here is Luke's cake. Jeremy and I did our best on it! Luke had a race car them party...Jeremy asked me why a taxi was on the cake then?? I had no answer!

Luke was a little overwhelmed with everyone singing to him. This was his only smiling picture with the cake. He LOVED eating cake!

More cars...Luke received so many nice gifts!

I'm free!!! I'm free!! Luke loves his freedom!

Grandpa Albert pulling Luke in his wagon with his balloons. One of many, many rides...Luke loves his wagon!

Summer Recap Part II

Luke turned 2 on May 24th. We had two celebrations. One his birthday morning and one with extended family in Indianapolis. He loved the entire celebration and completely understood the day was all about him! He loved it!

Sorry this is sideways. Anyways, we had Luke get up before Jeremy went to work so we could all celebrate together...we started the morning with yummy cinnamon rolls. Luke thought, "what is going on??".
He loved the presents!! He uses this mower the most at Grandma and Grandpa's!
Probably Luke's favorite toy right now...anything with cars and the slide that makes the cars for "fasss", according to Luke!

Summer Recap Part I

Totally have been slacking with updating our blog this summer!! I'll give some highlights! We have been having a blast enjoying the parks in the area, the pool, splash park, Luke pushing his mower around and taking very many jogs (and walks) in the jogger and the wagon. Luke loves the outside and cannot get enough of it! Here are some highlights...

For my birthday in May (my last year in my 20s!), my mom treated me to a trip to Dresden, OH to see the Longaberger basket company HQ and factory. We had so much fun. Below you'll see their HQ building...of course, a huge basket! Funniest thing ever. Supposedly, the handles are heated and move so the snow/ice do not ruin the buidling. The dark spots you see are the windows. Can you imagine going to a basket every day for work!?!? We actually went inside and it's a really nice place. Baskets everywhere...

Closer look...
The largest apple basket in the world!! I guess the first Longaberger basket was made to be an apple basket. Huge! Seriously baskets where everywhere...everything in the stores were stored in Longabergers, all trash cans, even in the cafe, the straws/napkins were stored in longabergers. Unbelievable!

Thanks mom for a great trip! We had so much fun!

My little angel...

Just to give you a taste of what life is like right now with Luke...I'm trying to get him to stand/hold/be near this "2" picture for his upcoming Birthday invite. Easier said than done. Now whenever he sees the "2", he pretty much starts crying. What's so hard about this you ask? Who knows...that's why it's the "terrible 2's"!!

Life stinks...
except when surrounded by my favorite animals...
they make life all the better!!

Chi-town!!

Mega fun weekend! My good friend from Chicago turned 30 this weekend and I made a trip out there to surprise her with a girl weekend! We had so much fun! We had lunch on the 95th floor of the John Hancock building at the Signature Inn...beautiful! We did some shopping on the fun Michigan Ave and then headed to Elizabeth Arden for a manicure! Fun! We loved walking down the red carpet and sitting on this comfy red sofa! We were smiling the entire time!

Brooke and I waiting for our fun manicures!
Tulips were gorgeous on Michigan Ave
Scene from the ladies restroom at the signature inn--unbelievable!
Gorgeous!

Luke LOVES the outside

If Luke could have his way, we would spend every waking moment outside. This Monday in the morning, we went to the park and played 45 minutes on the playscape going down slides, climbing stairs and running everywhere! I was exhausted but Luke was having a blast! He LOVES everything about the outside--especially walking everywhere and his second favorite is running with me in the jogging stroller.

We got the sidewalk chalk out. Luke would take one chalk in each hand and randomly go all over making one line everywhere. He looked super serious...he knew exactly what he was doing!
Okay, so don't comment on his hair. It's a sore, sore subject. Something I am still healing from.
Loves to walk and...
walk...and
walk with his bouncy ball! He's such a happy boy and finds fun in everything he does!

One Clean Crack...

Okay, so when Luke grows up he's going to kill me...but I just had to! At least it's clean!

Easter

We visited family in Indy over Easter weekend. It was our first time in Indy since Christmas, so the visit was much needed! Luke did great in the car (as you can see below). We were a little nervous since his opinion is becoming more evident every day. We saw all of our family which was awesome! What a great weekend.

Luke received yummy easter marshmallow cakes from his great g-ma. He loved them!
All dressed in pink...isn't he cute? He's so handsome!
My little fam! Jer wore a pink tie to match Luke!
Okay, so Luke had numerous Easter baskets and probably 30 eggs to hunt all by himself! He needs cousins desperately! He was double fisting m/m's like there was no tomorrow. Smart kid actually b/c I stopped that habit the very next day!