Labor Day Weekend

Ah, Labor Day weekend. The unofficial end to summer. :( We made the most of it, though, and headed up north again to Indian River for a fun time with Jonathan's famiy.Luke's first kayak ride with daddy.

We spent a day at the beach and Luke had so much fun!

He crawled all over! Not sure where he's headed here...

I love how he is studying his foot so intently in this picture. It's like he's discovering his toes for the first time! :)

I just adore that blonde hair and those long lashes! Both features from his daddy, of course.

Before: Riding backwards on the trip up. How sad and boring!

After: Facing forward on the ride home and enjoying the view! :)

Luke enjoys his riding buddy a little more than Peyton does hers.

Going for a boat ride with Grandma.

Chugging daddy's root beer. Mmmm!

Just Luke

Luke's personality is shining through now and we love just watching the things he does. I thought I'd post some pictures of him eating. Every time I get the camera out, he hams it up. (By the way, that's pizza sauce on his forehead!) I also included a video of Luke dusting. He just started doing this today; apparently I don't keep the house clean enough??

Another Trip to Indiana

Luke and I made another trip to Indiana last weekend. He did so well in the car, I couldn't have asked for a smoother ride! I was able to catch up with some old high school friends that I haven't seen in a while, which was a lot of fun. And my sister and I had a blast watching the Olympics. :)

Our mini reunion

Luke got to see Uncle Jacob this weekend, too.

"Let me show you how to play pool Grandpa."

Emily really got into the Olympics. :)

Chair Pictures

So we had all these pictures taken of Luke this past weekend in different chairs. The little rocking chair is my old one, the yellow chair is from my great-grandma's house, and the blue chair is where I had all my birthday pictures taken. I think there are probably pictures of me in each of these chairs. :)

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Last night we went to a West Michigan Whitecaps game. IWU alumni from West Michigan were invited to the game where we got free t-shirts and pop. It was a lot of fun! Luke seemed to really enjoy his first baseball game!
Luke figured out real fast how to drink from a straw when there's pop in it!
You can't go to a baseball game without eating a hot dog!
"Mmmm, that was good!"

Our Little Chatter Box

These last couple of weeks Luke has been jabbering so much more! He used to be content to sit on my lap and listen to me read. Now he prefers to do the reading! And his favorite thing to play with is a cell phone. Here are some videos of him reading to Auntie Em and calling his daddy on the phone.

More Pictures

Here are just some more pictures from our time with my family last week.

Luke and Grandpa enjoying the water.

I put Luke to bed one night without his stuffed animal that he usually sleeps with, thinking it was no big deal. About an hour later, he woke up screaming. We went in his room, I found him this stuffed bear and he held on for dear life. :) It was so cute! I guess he just got lonely without a friend to keep him company.

A soft teddy bear and a hug from daddy...what more could a little boy want?

Luke was not real excited to be in his stroller. He prefers to move on his own. :)

Just a nice picture of my mom and me!

What We've Been Up To

Wow! It's been a while since our last post. Luke and I were in Indiana all last week visiting my family. And now, my family is up here in Michigan for the week for their vacation! It's been great spending all this time with them. I know Luke has loved all the extra attention! :) Here are just some pictures from the last week and a half or so. I'm sure we'll have lots more from this week to post later on!

Emily and I got our hair cut yesterday. I was so impressed--Jonathan noticed I got it cut all on his own without any hints from me! haha

Luke's cousin Jacob turned 6 yesterday and we went to his birthday party. Luke and Julia had lots of fun playing together.

It's party time!

This was taken right before Julia snapped the string on Luke's party hat. Poor Lukie!

My dear friend Elisa was back from China and I was able to visit with her. It was so much better than last year when she came up to Michigan for a 24 hour visit when Luke was three weeks old! Saying good-bye to Elisa.
My cousin retired from the Air Force so we went over to WPAFB in Ohio. After the ceremony we were able to go in the museum and see all the old planes, which was really cool.

Bath time!

Luke needs a big bib to match his big appetite! :)
Mmmm!
Luke and Mommy at the pool.
Check out that baby belly!
Luke tried to crawl on the cement but found it a little rough on the knees. So, he came up with a new way to get around:

My little Mozart. Luke loves to swing!
Playing with Grandpa at the park.
Such a handsome boy!
Luke had so much fun with this shopping cart. His Aunt Emily got it for her 2nd birthday. It was so nice of her to share it with him!

"All that walking made me tired! Someone push me now, please!"