Ready or Not, Here We Come!!

Our long awaited vacation is finally at hand! We leave today for a three week tour of the beloved Midwest- IL, IA, MI (and a small part of IN). We'll see friends and family- when I say family, I mean nearly ALL our family, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, sisters, brothers, in-laws, second cousins twice removed... to say that we're excited would be the understatement of the year! I have more I'd like to post about but we leave for the airport in 1.5 hours and, of course, there's all sorts of last minute things to do before we go!!

The most important cargo packed and ready to go!

Ready to give big hugs IN PERSON!!!

Play Dough

The other day I was desperate to get some things done in the kitchen. Luke had other goals in mind- one of them must have been to drive me crazy! I needed something to keep him contained and entertained. The solution... play dough! I found a recipe online for making edible play dough using oatmeal, flour and water. It wasn't fancy play dough and must not have tasted all that good because every time Luke would put a piece in his mouth he'd make a face and spit it out. He was interested in it and seemed to enjoy smashing it and pulling it apart. Worked like a charm at giving him something to do besides drive me batty!

The cool thing about this form of play dough (apart from being super cheap and easy to make AND safe to eat) is that it can be baked afterward. Once Luke was done playing with it, I took the dough and made flat, round cakes with it. Then I pressed his hand and foot into each one - creating a keepsake!
I put them outside on the patio table and let the sun bake them. Once they were hard and dry I painted them to highlight the hand/footprints.
I'm pretty happy with the final results. We'll definitely be making more things with play dough in the days to come.

Technology and Cousin Micah

I have a love/hate relationship with technology. I love the convenience that goes along with technology and all that we are able to do now in terms of communication, especially with family from far away. But I hate when technology doesn't work the way I think it should- it is almost always operator error since I am not technologically savy in the least. Regardless, I am thankful that we are able to keep in touch with friends and family from all over the country via skype, email, blogs, facebook, cell phones, etc. It is amazing, really.

The other day we were 'blog hopping' and watching the videos from friends/family's blogs. Luke LOVES his cousin Micah. Even though they haven't officially met face to face, they spend plenty of time interacting via skype. We must've watched the video of Micah eating rice cereal at least 9 times before I was finally able to distract him with something else!

We love technology (at least today) but we LOVE cousin Micah everyday! Can't wait to see you IN PERSON in a few days!!

Our Silly Boy

I'm trying to remember what we did for entertainment before Luke was born. It seems that since we found out we were going to have a baby that has been our main source of entertainment - when I was pregnant we sat around feeling the baby kick and dreamt of the days to come. After he was born, we sat around, watching him sleep, smile, stare, etc. As he has gotten older, Luke has provided more and more entertainment for us. These days he keeps up laughing and continues to amaze us with all he is able to do. Luke can be such a ham and we have the pictures/video to prove it. (these are just a few of many) We love it!

One of These Things (is Not Like the Other)

Back in the day (we're talking WAY back in the day) when I was an avid watcher of Sesame Street there was a song titled "One of These Things (is Not Like the Other). Quite a catchy tune, really. The lyrics are :

"One of these things is not like the others,

One of these things just doesn't belong,

Can you tell which thing is not like the others

By the time I finish my song? "

The song was used in a sketch for Sesame Street where the viewers are shown a picture of 4 items all with a common trait, save one - the one that isn't like the others, the one that doesn't belong.

Lately, Luke has decided to resurrect this "game", although he has put his own spin on it. He will put a random object someplace throughout the house and then wait, ever so patiently, for us to find it and discover that it "doesn't belong". We've been getting pretty good at spotting the odd ball items.... let's see how well you do!

1. Luke's drawer

2. The Mop Bucket

3. The Kitchen Cabinet

4. The Refrigerator

5. The Drawer

Answers: 1.-cheese slicer. Bonus points if you spotted the dry erase marker also in the drawer. 2.- Cocoa and Chinese Beef Soup mix (yes, that is what those little packets are) 3.-toy remote control 4- dust pan brush 5.- Love Dare book

Gotta love this stage. :)

forgotten pictures

I forgot to add a few pictures of Luke's adventures at the pool on Memorial Day. The pool/club has a "splash park" that consists of a few sprinklers/fountains for the kiddos to play in. Luke was fascinated by all the water. It was a little on the cold side and he didn't like it too much when some heavier drops hit him square on the head, but that aside he had a great time. We'll definitely be back soon- especially with the 90+ degree weather we're supposed to have in the next few days.

Holding Daddy's hand extra tight- don't want to slip

Trying to catch some water drops

'Carefully' running (if there is such a thing with Luke) through the fountains

Too much fun!

Memorial Day Weekend

I LOVE long weekends! Throughout the week leading up to a three-day weekend I often find myself planning out all the things I want to do with that glorious extra day. I want to do multiple projects around the house/yard, I want to do something fun like go to the park or the beach, I want to sleep in and lounge around for most of the morning (not likely, but hey a girl can dream), I want to get together with friends, I want to have the house clean and other chores done... the list goes on and on. In reality I know that it is not possible to do everything that I'd like to, at least not in just one extra day, but I can't help it.

Anyway, this year we (mostly Matt) worked very hard around the yard, trimming shrubs, pulling weeds, edging the grass, mowing the lawn, etc. We (he) worked so hard and got so much done that we could justify lounging around the house most all day Sunday. Then since Monday was just a beautiful day weather-wise we played outside most of the day and even took Luke to our club pool for the first time. So all in all, we did about everything I wanted to do over the weekend - work, relax, play. awesome.

chill-laxing

studly DeBoer men sporting their hats

checking out the pool

testing the water temperature

first time really swimming