Our Thanksgiving Week

Just a some pics from the last few days. My sister, dad, step-mom, step-sister and nephew have been here to help us celebrate Thanksgiving.

Gobble Gobble

Here is the handprint turkey that I mentioned earlier from MDO. Isn't he just so cute!?!? I love it! Happy Thanksgiving!

Sarah's Here

So what better way to celebrate her arrival than to have a big pile of leaves to play in? Well, that wasn't the real plan but I guess there wasn't a real plan so it worked out great. Luke went with me to the airport yesterday to pick Sarah up and when we got home Troy had been blowing the leaves into a huge pile in the backyard. It was so intuitive for Luke (Troy and I both commented on that later) to run and jump in the leaves! He wanted nothing to do with them last year but he was all about it yesterday. Luke stayed outside with Troy for over an hour until it got dark and had a blast throwing himself into the leaves, running through them and throwing the leaves up in the air.

A Few Pics

Bed head today after Luke's nap. 11-18-10

Chillin' on the couch with all the necessary comfort items. 11-16-10

Being goofy with Mom. 11-12-10

Grandma & Grandpa Visit

Grandma and Grandpa Johnson came for a quick visit at the beginning of the week. Luke was thrilled to have them here and enjoyed showing them our favorite park Monday morning. We fed the ducks and geese, did some exploring and just had fun being at the park. Luke also enjoyed making Grandma and Grandpa sit in his tent with him and play trains. Thanks for the visit Grandma and Grandpa and for allowing Mom and Dad to have a nice dinner out alone :)

More MDO Art

More of Luke's artwork from MDO. I love all of my fall decorations in the kitchen. We just saw the leaf and tree last night at Open House. Also, Luke missed out on a handprint turkey last week when we were gone. His teacher said she would help him make one next week. They were so cute; can't wait to show you a pic of that one when he brings it home.

Luke loves this spider. 10-20-10

This week's project. Luke was excited to show me his pumpkin when I picked him up. 11-10-10

Open House Art: Luke apparently decided the leaves should be falling off the tree and on the ground rather than still on the tree :)

Open House Art: This is one of my favorites :)

Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs

Last Wednesday through Saturday Luke and I were in KC visiting my mom and step-dad. My mom had a party to celebrate being finished with chemo or as Luke called it, "Yay Grammy party!" He most definitely enjoyed being the center of attention for a while during the party--Luke is still very much a social butterfly. Some of our other activities included going to the park by my old elementary school (talk about making yourself feel old), enjoying the warmth of the fireplace while playing and/or reading, and the highlight (besides the party) was a trip to Union Station to see the dinosaur exhibit. It was so cool! Luke absolutely LOVED it and had his mouth open in awe almost the whole hour we were there.

One of the most amazing moments to me was right after we got there. We had walked into the first room which was mostly introductory stuff with life-size dinos on a wall and I picked up Luke to show him a skull with large teeth in it and he said, "Mom, it's a fossil." Huh? How old are you and you know that? I hadn't said anything about it being a fossil and he remembered what it was from watching Dinosaur Train. I SO wish I had it on video but I don't think I'll forget it. Luke is constantly blowing me away with his knowledge and memory.

Standing in front of a life-size Triceratops

Awe and maybe a bit of fright

Talking to the baby Stegosaurus

Making the dinosaurs move

Checking out the last of the exhibit

Roaring for Grammy (or maybe a yawn)

What a Difference!

I was going through some older pictures last night and ran across one of my favorites from last year that was taken on November 4. It hit me how much Luke's appearance has changed in a year. He no longer looks like a baby--he's definitely a little boy. What a difference a year makes!

The picture with Troy was taken on Halloween when he and Luke were having some man time in the man "cave" they built :)