Birthday Party Fun and Stuff.

Luke's 1st birthday was March 27th but we celebrated it with a little party on the 29th at our home. We did food and cake and the older kids beat on a pinata. It was a wonderful day and a perfect celebration honoring Luke and his truly amazing first year of life.

Aunt Sarah (Uncle Brad's girlfriend) and Grandma Stephanie (Hersom) taking their turn with Luke (thankfully, a sign-up sheet was unnecessary but discussed as a possibility...)

All was well until Mom put on the uncool party hat (this was the only time the entire party that Luke cried and it lasted for 5 seconds.)



Nate Archuleta (Godmother Aly's son) taking his turn the first round of pinata beating.

Dad controlling the pinata with Luke's pal Eli Hoffman as his assistant.

Jordin Arthurs (Dad's employer, Mike's, daughter) getting the job done.

Nate Archuleta, Eli Hoffman, Dana Archuleta (Nate's sister and Mom's Goddaughter) and cousin Kaylene Fagan displaying the versatility of the Henard Family front yard rock (it was mostly used as "home base" during tag.)

Luke eyeballing his personal cake while Happy Birthday is sung...

...and Mom and Dad help blow out his candle.

Exploration begins with a sniff.

Resulting in a perfectly red frosted nose.

The crowd cheering Luke on.

The end result? A chocolate goatee!

A moment on the lips a lifetime on the hips... The painful realization sets in.

But life is again good once the clothes come off!

Kisses for the Mom.

Luke and his grandparents (minus Grandpa John- taking the picture- and GREAT Great Grandma Elliott.) Clockwise starting from the big guy in the middle- Grandpa Jim (Hersom,) Grandma Chrissy (Henard,) Papa Gailand (Henard,) Great Grandma Wanda (Elliott,) Luke in Great Grandma Hersom's lap, Great Grandma Joan (Styczynski,) Grammers Carole (Hersom) and Grandma Stephanie (Hersom.) What a lucky guy to have so many wonderful grandparents.

We are officially back online and have no major plans between now and the end of next month (Stephanie and Kevin's wedding extravaganza!) so I hope to start posting again regularly. Luke did have appointments up at Stanford last week but they were incredibly uneventful which is really good. The neurosurgery team reports that the shunt is in place doing it's job and the CT scan results came back normal (Luke's version of normal.) We also visited a developmental clinic and the doctor there is very satisfied with the progress Luke is making (she saw him in September so had some frame of reference regarding his growth.) Although he is very delayed physically (only rolling over and back- no sitting, crawling, standing, etc.) she found him to be very bright and engaging. And with all of Luke's babbling and mimicry, she thinks actual talking might be in Luke's near future!

We've had a very busy past few weeks but have a had a lot of fun and have enjoyed seeing so many friends and family. Thank you again for all the love and support and make sure to keep in touch!