Looking out for Mom

Ella cracks me up. On nights when we're eating a dinner that she likes and approves of, she'll look at me and say, "good dinner, Mom!" I'll tell her thanks, and then before he even has a chance to say anything, she'll look at Seth and say, "now you say it". It is so funny! She's got my back!

Luke Pics - 11 months

Next month at this time, I'll be posting pictures from Luke's 1st birthday!! It really doesn't seem possible.

Coug fan

I love this picture.... Serena and Luke, eye to eye

mmmmm, pancakes

artwork by Si

I love this boy

comin' at ya

Luke is always on the move these days....loves to stand up

hanging out with cousin Jameson

Mr. Smiles

standing up in the crib - he shocked himself, can you tell?

EASTER

It was a busy Easter weekend, and get this - the weather was gorgeous!! We hadn't planned on it, but we went to the Easter egg hunt at Riverfront Park downtown on Sat morning because the weather was so nice. We just wanted to be outside in the sun! There were tons of people, which we expected, but it was a good time. The egg hunt itselt was a little nutty...... 2 huge roped off grassy areas with 100's of eggs inside. When the clock struck noon, the kids were given the ok and off they all ran to scoop up as many eggs as they could. Ella got 5 I think. There were more for the taking, but she was pretty overwhelmed with the whole spectacle. I was just relieved to get at least one and that there were no tears..... Luke was happy, sitting safely in the stroller, away from the crowds. After the egg hunt we walked up to an Earth Day street fair that was also going on downtown and then headed to Red Robin and the Mall in the Valley. Whew! A long day! Easter morning, the kids slept in a bit so we did our own quick egg hunt and unveiling of the Easter baskets before getting ready for church. After church we headed to Kristen's folks' house - Tom & Ruth - for a wonderful dinner with their family and friends. Thanks Tom & Ruth for a wonderful afternoon!

these eggs need some color!

ready!

plastic eggs - yum!

Carousel rides are the best!

running from the garbage eating goat

the happy hunter

Easter baskets....yea!

family pic

in their Easter best

Ella & Abby after their Easter Egg Hunt at Tom & Ruth's

Making his move.....

It's been a nice, peaceful 11 months. That peace and calm that came from Luke staying in one place has now come to an end. He's slowly putting it together and is getting from one place to another when he really wants to. There's no crawling yet...it's more of a military crawl or scoot. He pulls with his elbows and digs in with his toes to propel himself forward. It's not very effecient, but it does the trick for now. He still gets defeated pretty easily.... especially in this video. I pulled out the camera a little late to catch his full energy attempts. This is just the beginning....

Working on a mouthful

Luke seems determined to be cutting a tooth constantly. He's got 3 that are impossible to miss (can you see in the pic above?) The 4th - the other front tooth on top - is just slowly pushing it's way through. Definitely not the funnest part of being a baby! Luke is also expanding his vocabulary lately. Seth and I are taking turns saying, "did you hear that?", as he strings together noises that sound a little like mama and dada. So fun!

Thinking spring

We have seen mostly the dark and dreary side of Spring around here until lately and we are so ready for more sun and warmer temps! It's been so hard to wait to get outside again. There have been a few days here and there to head out, and Ella loves her new scooter!

Go Fly a Kite

Costco has the coolest kites, and Seth had to get one for the princess fairy in our house....the old softy. Ella and he went to Hart Field to test Tink out a couple weekends ago. The wind was a little gusty so it could have gone better, but it was a fun outing anyway I hear. Seth came home and said that he didn't remember flying a kite to be so hard! I'm sure there will be time to practice more this spring/summer.