Guess Who's 2?

Believe it or not, Luke turned 2 on Saturday! Sometimes I can't believe it myself - where did these past 2 years go? We started off our morning with some presents.











Luke got a combination of a few Barney-themed presents and train-themed presents. The biggest present was to be found in the basement!

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Then it was time to head to Barney's Birthday Bash at the Rosemont Theater. Who knew Barney and Lukey shared the same birthday?!?! :) Luke has really been into Barney lately. I really have no idea how this happened since the big purple dinosaur isn't on tv anymore, but he is On Demand and I think we have a few DVD's and apparently Luke watched it enough that he is now somewhat obsessed (or at least he was, this obsession has now been taken over by Polar Express - more on that in another post!).

Luke was perfectly content sitting on my lap the whole time. He would not go to Wally or sit in his own chair, he sat right on my lap and did a little dancing and singing with me!









After Barney we grabbed some lunch and Luke took a nice long nap. Then we were off to the daycare Christmas party.



The martial arts performance. Luke was trying to do the 'moves' in the corner too!


He was getting his groove on to the music!


Then they had a birthday cake for Luke and sang to him!


He actually blew out the candle before everyone started singing so we had to light it again!


Santa even made an appearance with presents for all of the kids.


Santa also busted a move during the Cha Cha Slide!


Then I had to get some pics of Luke and his best bud A.J.

Phew! It was an exhausting, but very fun day!

Happy 2nd Birthday Lukey Boy!

Just Some Video

I just gave my hardwood floors the best cleaning of their life and Luke is still napping so I thought I would post this video from last night. Sorry I didn't get it on here last night Car! Oh and doesn't Luke do the best "ho ho ho!"? :)

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St. Nick

St. Nick made a stop at our house last night. This is what Lukey found in the morning:

The movie "Santa Claus is Coming to Town"


and some Christmas jammies


I swear he was more excited than his face shows :)

So tonight, we of course first watched the movie and then we put on our new jammies and Luke did some posing for me! Wally laughs at me when I ask Luke to take these pictures, but he seriously is more than willing. He's very much into the 'cheese' these days! I think if my Christmas card idea doesn't work, one of these will!

Breakfast With Santa

This morning we had breakfast with Santa at Cardinal Creek Golf Course in Beecher. This is a course that Wally plays often so he got an email about the breakfast. We got there at 8:30, were seated, had our breakfast, and Luke very patiently waited for Santa to arrive.

Frosty the Snowman was there to greet us at the door. Luke ran right up to him and grabbed his hand for a picture!


A rare picture of Mommy and Luke


Here he is patiently waiting!








It was the funniest thing - Luke was standing, looking out the window at the snow on the golf course when all of the sudden he turns to me and says "ambulance". I didn't hear anything and there certainly wasn't anything on the golf course so I said "no, I don't think so Luke". Then probably 2 seconds later he turned to me again and goes, "Mommy, I heard it" while pointing to his ear. I looked at Wally and laughed and said well then you probably do hear it because you hear everything! Sure enough, here comes Santa being pulled up to the door by a tow truck that had it's lights and sirens going - Luke has the BEST ears!!! And he was in heaven!!!





Then we waited our turn in line to sit on Santa's lap.


When we were next in line, I was holding Luke and asked him if he wanted to get down and go to Santa by himself, he said yes. And he did!!! He literally RAN to Santa's lap. Everyone was laughing as most of the other kids were very cautious and had to be placed on Santa's lap. Not this kid...he loves anything/one dressed in costume!


He was a little shy once he was on Santa's lap (notice the nervous hands on his chest - ha!), but he had no problem just hanging out there. He forgot to ask Santa for the scooter he wants, but I think Santa already knows :)


Lukey got a stocking full of goodies from Santa!


It was a great morning! As I have said before, this is my most favorite time of the year and it just keeps getting better and better as I get to see Luke experience the joy and spirit of Christmas too - love it!

The First Real Snowfall of the Year

So it snowed a little bit earlier in the week, but this morning we woke up to a good 3 inches of snow. By 8:30 we were all ready to get outside to play in it!

Off they go!








Down he goes....the question is - can he get back up????


With a little help from Daddy he can!




Daddy got him with a snowball!


Now it's time to get Daddy back!




Even Nala was having lots of fun running around!


Unfortunately, the gloves didn't last too long. Seriously, how do you get your kid to keep the mittens on????? Actually the question is how do you get them ON so that your kid can actually use his hands??? I can make them tight enough so they don't come off, but he can't function very well...sigh...we'll figure this out!

Luke took a trip down the slide into a pile of snow.


Time to shovel and/or rake!


Then I asked for him to pose in front of the house - this is what I got!


Then he tried to get Nala to pose too!


Then it was time to head to the front so Daddy could shovel. Luke helped too!




Luke thought he could brush the snow off the driveway.


We had lots of fun enjoying the first 'real' snowfall of the winter and it's STILL snowing! Then it was meltdown city when it was time to come in. He didn't want his coat on any longer so I told him we needed to come inside, but then when we were in the laundry room to undress and he wouldn't take his snowsuit or boots off and was throwing a fit over, well, just about everything...is this what happens when kids turn 2 (or are about to turn 2)? Yikes! By 11:30 Luke was asking us to go lay down in his bed...good idea Luke :)

A Cubs Loss

Ron Santo passed away last night. I got the news via text message from my mom this morning. It was very sad news for me to hear. This is the second announcer for the Cubs that I have felt very sad having lost. The first was Harry Caray. I remember being quite upset when I heard he was gone in February of 1998. Harry and I spent many summer days together when I was younger. I used to create my own scorebooks at home (I used notebook paper and a ruler - I am sure my parents would have bought me a scorebook, but I never asked) and I would watch the games, keep score, and listen to Harry Caray and Steve Stone announcing. During Speech class my senior year of high school, I even wrote a eulogy to Harry Caray for one of my speeches. I wish I knew where that speech was! So now, I must do the same for Ronnie (this will probably turn into rambling as I am not being graded this time around!).

I have been a life-long Cubs fan! I will admit that over the past 2 years, the number of Cubs games I have actually sat down and watched has significantly decreased, but that is because life just got busier, not because I was any less of a Cubs fan. But there was nothing better than listening to a Cubs game on the radio. Ronnie and Pat made many long afternoons at work go by a little quicker for me.

Not everyone was a fan of Ron being on the radio and many questioned whether or not he should even be in that seat. But to me, and many others, Ron embodied a Cub fan in every way possible. He was full of emotions and they were real. When a Cubs player made an error or when a player hit into a double play with the bases loaded, Ron's reaction was exactly the same as the way I was reacting. The only difference was that he was being heard by millions. When a Cubs player would make an outstanding play or hit the ball out of the park, Ronnie's reaction again was exactly the same as every other Cubs' fan out there. He didn't really have a filter - some would say that is not a good thing for a sports announcer, but that is what made Ronnie so likeable. He was just like us and wanted a Cubs win just as badly as we did.

Ron went through many hard things in his life, but I believe that the Cubs made his bad days better - whether they won or lost. I think that is a great thing to have in your life. Baseball can be a long, drawn out sport, but sometimes allowing yourself to just get swept away in America's favorite past time is just what the doctor ordered.

True Cubs fans love the Cubs whether they are winning or losing. True Cubs fans are not fair-weather fans. After a Cubs loss, Ronnie would often say to Pat at the end of the broadcast, "let's go get 'em tomorrow Patrick". There is always hope for a winning season for a Cubs fan and Ronnie certainly had that hope.

I will miss the ridiculous things Ronnie said during the broadcasts. I will miss hearing his love for the Cubs through his unfiltered reactions during the game. Cubs radio will not be the same...Ronnie truly is irreplaceable! RIP Ronnie - you will be missed :(

Thankful

So I know Thanksgiving has passed, but I just wanted to express how very thankful Wally and I are for our families. These past 2 weeks have been kind of crazy and our family has been there for us, no questions asked and more than willing. It is nice to know no matter how near or far we are from our families that they will be here anytime - even if they have to leave at 5:30 in the morning to be here by 7 AM!

So thank you, thank you, thank you to my parents, Wally's parents, both of my sisters, and the rest of the family that was more than willing to help out if we needed you! Luke thoroughly enjoyed his 2 weeks with family babysitters in his home!

So one final thank you, but I am also going to be very thankful to get our routine back and get everyone's life back to normal!