Saturday, February 19, 2011

Daddy's boy

Luke is becoming more and more of a Daddy's boy. He's been a mamma's boy for the majority of his 22 months but lately he's been switching sides. It has been a joy to watch, honestly. Luke gets SO excited when Daddy comes home, we're talking the type of toddler excitement where, when Luke hears the garage door going up he must drop whatever he's doing and run around in circles, laughing, and eventually go hide because he just can't contain his excitement. It is amusing to say the least! Oh, Luke still has a soft spot in his heart for good ol' mom but we both know who he'd rather play with, hang around, and imitate... Dad. I've got the pictures to prove it.

Playing with photo booth on our computer on a Saturday morning
Watching sports before bed
Bath tub fun
(Matt will probably despise the fact that I posted this picture...sorry Matt! But as long as I am the founder, author, creative director, and editor in chief of this blog I'm calling the shots. ) :)
Practicing their golf swings... in the living room.
Watching for planes flying overhead
Playing at the park, enjoying the 75 degree weather.
Surfing the net (most likely some sports site)
Ah, my boys! They're my favorite.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Bread

A few weeks ago I enjoyed this year's Christmas present from Matt... a bread making lesson with some friends! It was so much fun (Thanks again, Leonards, for setting it up and hosting). We ate lots of tasty treats, chatted, laughed a lot, and learned how to make bread - "stupid easy bread" according to our teacher/baker extraordinaire, Sandra. It really is 'stupid easy'. Just four simple ingredients, mixing it up, letting it sit/rise for 2-24 hours, knead, bake and enjoy! The awesome thing about this dough is that you can make tons of things out of it - bread, rolls, pizza dough, pitas, etc. AND it's healthy for you since it doesn't have all the added preservatives that packaged breads do. Needless to say, we're big fans. I haven't bought any form of bread since taking this 'class' if that tells you anything. :) Plus, Luke loves to help in the baking process which makes it even more worth it!

Little baker COVERED in flour.
Kneading the dough
(Sandra had another word for this part of the process but I can't, for the life of me, remember it. Oh well, at least I remember how to do it - that's the important part right?)
Fresh homemade bread. Mmmmmm.

And just because I have a recent baby belly picture, I'll post that for those of you who are interested in how large my midsection has gotten.
This is at about 25/26 weeks - measuring at about 27 but I'm sure that its just a big baby or the way I'm carrying it. I measured large the entire time I was pregnant with Luke too and he was 9 days past his due date. It does amuse me when the kids at school comment about how HUGE I am already. I love the look they get when I tell them I still have 3 months to go! Haha. Middle schoolers... gotta love 'em. Things are going along well with this pregnancy- no major problems or complaints (apart from my love/hate relationship with maternity clothes). I do feel like it is going by quickly and May will be here before we know it!

Friday, February 4, 2011

Blocks

Luke is quite the fan of blocks, which is a good thing since he owns hundreds! He likes stacking them up, lining them up, pointing out various animals/fruits/vehicles that are stamped on the sides, etc. I thought he'd be more into knocking down towers but as of right now, he much more interested in the building/preserving of the tower rather than the destruction of it.
For Christmas this year Luke was given a set of 75 blocks from Uncle 'Ick' (Eric) and Aunt Candice. I'm pretty sure we've played with them on a daily basis since Dec. 25. This past week we built a tower using ALL 75 blocks!

Hard at work - look at the concentration on his face
The construction process
The finished structure!
I'm not sure what's more impressive... the tower we built or the fact that Luke is actually looking at the camera and attempting a smile in this picture! :)
At first I thought that getting Luke to smile for the camera was just a lucky, one time thing. Not so! He is now grasping the concept of smiling and will even say, "cheese!". Such a proud moment for any parent. :) From now on our pictures will (hopefully) look a little different.
"Cheese"
(and I promise you - Luke and I had an EQUAL share in the building of the tower. I did not take over this construction project and then give Luke the credit. Just so you know.)