Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we headed over to Dave's Granny's house for dinner and a few presents. It was a special night since both Dave's grandmothers were there and got to be a part of Luke's first Christmas Eve. Other highlights included getting to see Stephen's mullet (he and some other friends on his soccer team are growing them... don't ask me why) and watching Luke slide all over Granny's slippery floor. After dinner we headed to church. We had put Luke in his PJs and hoped that he would fall asleep during the serivce, but no such luck :) He was up and raring to go, so he and I ended up spending most of the service in the foyer where he crawled around and made several friends (including a little girl who came and laid on top of him and Nathan). After church we headed home to put Mr. Man to bed and wait for Santa :) This is random, but I thought it was funny.... here's a picture of Luke and I last Christmas Eve and this Christmas Eve. What changes a year can bring!!!

Oh, Christmas Tree (and some other random pics)


This is Luke getting into his toys in our TV armoire... he likes to take everything out and then try to get inside
I caught Luke trying to open one of his presents (too bad he wasn't this interested in the presents on Christmas morning)
We went out for dinner on Mark's bday and then came back to our house and let Luke open a present :)

Snow Day


Saturday, December 20, 2008

Giraffe Slippers

It doesn't take much to amuse Luke and these slippers were no exception. He spent about 10 minutes staring at and talking to the giraffes on his feet. He kept looking at his feet and then looking at me and smiling and then looking back at his feet. He was so enthused that even Cadence had to come check the slippers out.

Shopping on the Square

As most of you know... Ambrosia is the best store on the McKinney Square :)
So last Saturday when I had to go find a Christmas ornament and a gag gift I headed straight there. We got to spend some time with Tammy and she gave Luke this adorable elephant for Christmas. He hung onto it the rest of the day while we shopped and he loves to snuggle with it before he goes down for a nap.
Here's Luke at Ambrosia:
Playing with his new favorite toy:
Tuckered out after an afternoon of shopping: Side note: This was really the first time that Luke has worn shoes and I couldn't get over how "big" he looked. For some reason, those shoes changed him from a baby to a toddler... I'm not sure if he'll ever wear them again :)




Totally worth it

It's no wonder that Luke is laughing as hard as he is in the video below... Dave is acting like a complete fool! :) It's funny what we sometimes catch ourselves doing to get a laugh like this, but I've got to tell you - looking dumb is TOTALLY worth it!

Sunday, December 14, 2008

SANTA!!!

On Saturday we took Luke to "Brunch with Santa" at the country club.
Luke absolutely LOVED Santa (and his crazy beard) and didn't seem to mind being held by two complete strangers at all. As always he completely mugged for the camera :) and was being an absolute flirt with the people watching him have his picture taken.

Here we are during the brunch portion of our outing:

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Christmas Spirit Week

So, this week was Christmas spirit at MCA. My student government kids put on another fabulous spirit week complete with Christmas music, gifts and theme days. Monday was Christmas colors day (red and green), Tuesday was Christmas ties and socks, Wednesday was Christmas hats, Thursday was Christmas sweaters (the tackier the better) and Friday was Baby, It's Cold Outside (scarves, mittens, etc.). On Thursday we gave out free hot chocolate before school (Dave and I made five gallons at 6:30 in the morning before I headed to school and then we made about 7 more when I got there - it helps when your husband manages a country club and you can borrow giant insulated cooler things) and on Friday we delivered the approximatley 1,650 candy grams that we sold throughout the week. Yes, I said 1,650. You should have seen the looks I recieved when I walked into Big Lots to purchase my pallette of candy canes. It was almost as strange as the looks that I got last Valentines day when I hit up every Walgreens within 15 miles to purchase 750+ Hershey bars :)
Tuesday night was the Upper School Fine Arts program and I was really impressed. The JH drama was AMAZING and it's always fun to get to see the kids outside of the classroom.
Just in case the week wasn't hectic enough, I decided to employ a new exam review strategy - breaking my students into groups of 2 - 4 students and assigning each group a chapter that they would have to present to the class. My 7th graders didn't rise to the challenge as much as I had hoped they would, but my 8th grade students well surpassed my expectations.
This coming week is exam week, and to be completely honest, I am REALLY looking forward to the peace and quiet.
Anyway, here are a few pictures from my crazy week at school (You'll have to click on the picture to make it bigger in order to read any of the text)

Thanks, Dr. Buchanan!

Dr. Buchanan (the local orthodontist) is a friend of ours and this week she gave Luke his very first toothbrush. Luke was quite intrigued with the bristles and with the way the pewter felt on his gums... he still doesn't have any teeth, but I guess it's never too early to brush! :)

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Hobby Lobby

Although the cashiers at Hobby Lobby and I don't always see eye-to-eye (seriously, could their sale signs be more confusing... plus, if it doesn't smell should it really be considered potpurri and not seasonal and therefore not be on sale?!?!?! - sorry, I'm still a tad bitter). Although vowing to swear off all Hobby Lobbying it seems that it has become a big enough part of my life that I simply can't stay away - despite their deceptive signage. :)
Anyway, Luke, mom and I headed down there this past weekend to pick up some things to make stockings (which have morphed into christmas tote bags - I'll explain later) and managed to have no trouble entertaining Luke. He's always been extremely tactile, and I like to let him feel different things - in this case a peacock feather, giant santa face and wedge of fake cheese.

Looking intently at his Gibi
I also feel this way about cheese :)

Let's hope he's still this happy when he meets the real Santa this weekend

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Central Park (not the real one)

Last Sunday after church we headed to the gazebo at Central Park in downtown to take a few quick pictures since Oma and Anneka were headed back to Canada on Monday. It was FREEZING and windy, but we managed to get in a couple of good ones.
Here's Luke before heading to church, it has nothing to do with my previous comment, but I thought he looked cute:




Thanksgiving Break

The week of Thanksgiving was relaxing and exhausting all at once.
Monday I attended the ACSI (Association of Christian Schools International) Conference in Dallas where I got to spend the day listening to some great seminars and getting some ideas for my classroom. The highlighted speaker was Josh McDowell who had a convicting message at the end of the day. Tuesday and Wednesday Dave worked and Luke and I got ready for Thanksgiving by making several trips to the grocery store and the outlet mall :)
On Thursday Mark came over in the morning and helped entertain Luke while Dave worked (they have a HUGE Thanksgiving brunch at the club), mom and dad went to pick up my Oma and Tante Anneka from the airport, and I cooked Thanksgiving dinner.
My mom's family is from Holland and Oma is dutch for Grandma and Tante (pronounced "tunta") is dutch for Aunt.
We had a fantastic dinner (am I allowed to say that since I cooked it???) and lots of fun catching up.
Mark reading to Luke while I worked on diner:
Oma (my mom's mom) and Luke
Oma put socks on Cadence - this is a prime example of the antics that ensue when Oma is around
Me, Oma, Mom (Gibi) and Luke On Friday we headed to Willow Bend for some Black Friday shopping (I forgot my camera)
and Saturday we headed down to the square for "Dickens of a Christmas"
Here's Luke all bundled up and ready to shop:
A trip to the square wouldn't be complete without a visit to our favorite store - Ambrosia - and a visit with our favorite "Ambrosia lady" - Tammy.
Along with a visit to Ambrosia, no trip to the square would be complete without a piece of chocolate chip pie at the Pantry. Here are Luke and Oma enjoying the pie (and the warmth) inside the Pantry: After the Pantry we headed to MCA's Nativity booth where I got to see several of my students (and their siblings and parents) put on the nativity store. There were different casts putting on the production every hour Friday - Sunday. The next two pictures are Luke strapped into his big boy carseat happy to be out of the cold wind:

After a nap, we headed to Cheesecake Factory for dinner. While waiting, Luke made a new friend - a random woman who he kept wanting to sit with.
Here's Mark and Oma:Mom, Luke and Anneka
Apparently the Cheesecake Factory makes Luke happy... me too :)
I can honestly say that for years everyone has been telling my mom and I how much we look alike, and it wasn't until I saw this picture that I kind of saw the resemblance... maybe it's the glasses

Bracing ourselves...

Luke is SO close to crawling and we're bracing ourselves for him being into everything. He's extremely curious (and determined) as displayed in the kind of blurry pictures of Thanksgiving morning
reeeeeaching

sweet success
VERY proud of himself
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