Christmas Part 2

We had an absolutely amazing Christmas this year. My husband is the winner of the "Husband of the Century" award for what he did! Jonathan did not have to work the 24th or 25th, but because he's low man on totem pole, he did have to work Friday the 26th. So, the plan was to head to Indiana Friday evening when he got home. Well, Christmas Eve, we were finishing up with the Athearn Christmas, and Jonathan says, "We'd better get going, we have a long drive ahead of us." Turns out, one of his co-workers had plans to go to Texas that fell through and he offered to work for Jonathan on Friday. My wonderful husband found this out on Monday and surprised me with the news Christmas Eve! He already was packed and had everything all planned out! We ended up leaving early Christmas morning and got to my parents' house around 11:00 am. My mom about fainted when we walked through the door! It was so great to be able to spend Christmas with them! Thank you, Jonathan, for such a great Christmas gift!! :) Okay, sorry for the rambling...here are some pics and videos from our Christmas in Indiana.

Luke reading his new Noah's Ark book to Grandma...

and to Grandpa too!

Opening his huge present...

a basketball goal!

Checking out his musical sit-n-spin from Aunt Emily.

Grandma and Grandpa got Luke some sweet Colts gear!

Jacob and Emily completely surprised us with Rock Band!!

Luke helping Grandpa open his present.

Luke and Grandpa hanging out.

Even Peyton got a present!

A football that makes THE most annoying squeaking noise in the world! Thanks Emily...

Aunt Emily painted this stool just for Luke!

Trying it out...I think he likes it!

This is the face of a toddler who has had too much Christmas fun!

Back home putting the new stool to good use!

Christmas Part 1

Here are some pictures from our Christmas with Jonathan's family on Christmas Eve. We of course had a great time and enjoyed being with everyone. I think Luke is getting used to the chaos! :)

Showing Uncle Mike his cool new video.

Rock Band Videos!

Just Like Daddy

I was in the bathroom the other day putting on my make-up and Luke helped himself to Jonathan's drawer. He seemed to know exactly what he was looking for. I'd never seen him do this before, but now anytime the bathroom door is open, he goes straight for the razor.

Sweet Peyton!

This is one little boy who loves his puppy!

Disclaimer: for those of you easily grossed out (sorry mom!) be warned, the following pictures and video may make you never want to use utensils at our house again. But we have a high-powered dishwasher that gets out all the germs! Besides, dogs' mouths are cleaner than humans' anyway, right? ;)

Veggie Tales

A couple weeks ago, Luke received a package in the mail with all kinds of Veggie Tales and other kids videos. It was from my friend Melanie's mom, who was so very kind enough to give us all her old videos. We popped one in, and as you can see, Luke was pretty into it! :) Thanks Grandma Manning!!

Children's Museum

Last week, Luke and I headed to the children's museum downtown with grandma and some cousins. It was Luke's second visit, and I think he enjoyed it much more this time since he's walking now and can actually explore everything! I took tons of pictures and videos, so enjoy! There are a couple more videos which for some reason I'm having trouble uploading, so I will try to get those on another post this week hopefully.

Doing a little fishing with Grandma.

I loved just watching him play and figure out how things worked!

Of course he fell in love with this stuffed puppy!

We spent a good 10 minutes or so at this peg board. Luke loved just putting all these things on one hook. It didn't look that exciting to me, but he was fascinated by it! :)

Getting ready to crawl through the triangle mirror tunnel!

They had an area all about penguins. You can tell what Luke thought of the penguin costume we put on him...

The best shot I could get of Luke and his cousins.

Luke trying to run away with Lydia's shopping cart. She was not happy about that!

Loading up his shopping cart with lots of fruits and veggies!

Is this not the face of someone who got caught with his hand in the cookie jar??

Luke and Taylor checking things out.

Out of all the things at the museum, Luke kept coming back to this: the water fountain!

For Mom :)

This post is mainly for my mom. She wanted to see our Christmas lights that we put up outside. And I know she loves seeing video of Luke! :)

Go Griffins!

Last Friday night we went to a Grand Rapids Griffins hockey game. It was dollar hot dog night, too. Mmmmm! ;) We had a fun time and it was a good game overall, even though the Griffins lost in overtime.

Luke is crazy about hockey! :)

Merry Christmas from the Athearns (and Auntie Em!)

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Video of Luke

Here are some random videos of Luke and what he's up to these days:

We have really been working with him on his manners. I hate whining and want him to learn quickly that whining will get him nothing! ;)



Last week I let Luke give Peyton a dog treat for the first time. He loves doing it now and often points to her treats and says, "pease?" This video cracks me up--Luke has Peyton doing a new trick! I never knew she could sneeze on cue...



And finally, here is a video I forgot to post with the Thanksgiving stuff. Grandpa put up the Christmas tree and got out his train. Luke was mesmorized by it!

So Much to Be Thankful For

We were fortunate enough to be able to spend Thanksgiving with both our families. We had Thanksgiving lunch with Jonathan's entire family and then headed down to Indiana for the rest of the weekend. We have so much to be thankful for this year. For those of you who didn't hear, the Geo Metro is no more. :( Last Tuesday on his way to work, Jonathan slid in some icy slush and went off the road into a 10 foot ditch, rolling the car. Praise the Lord he crawled out the back without a scratch. It just makes me so grateful because I know how very different this Thanksgiving could have been. So now we are in the market for a new (used) car! Here are some pictures and video from our time in Indiana. Hope you enjoy them and remember...never take a single day for granted and always thank our Father above for the gifts He blesses upon us.

We took Luke to the zoo for the first time! There's a small zoo in Randolph County (ME's Zoo) that puts thousands of lights up at Christmas time so we decided to venture out in the cold to let Luke experience the animals! He was pretty content in the stroller while we walked through the zoo. When we got to the petting area, though, he was ready to get out! I was surprised the goats didn't scare him, considering they were right in his face, but I guess when you grow up with a dog that size, you get used to it! :)

Luke and Grandpa checking out Omar the camel.

Luke also got to go bowling for the first time! I think he did better than me...

"I want this one Grandma!"