The Fruits of YOUR Labor.

Last Saturday, Luke, Matt and I headed over to the San Luis Obispo Children's Museum to redeem the passes Luke won from the "Cutest Cupid" radio contest. Not a bad prize for second place (although we all know he should have come in first... :P) We held off using them until close to the expiration date (only good until the end of June) so Luke would enjoy the experience more by being a bit older.

I am glad we waited but there still wasn't too much there that peeked his interest. He is such a social kid but his vision is just so bad that most objects aren't very exciting to him. He rather spend the day talking your ear off or playing his favorite game- "Copy Every Noise/Facial Expression/Movement that Luke Makes!"- then anything else so our time in the museum was a short 40 minutes. But I have to say- "regular" kids probably wouldn't spend much more time there. Our museum is new, small and slightly lacking.

Anything with a steering wheel was a big hit. Luke loves to spin the wheel. The fireman hat he could do without.

I think Daddy was more interested in this police motorcycle. Luke is wondering where the steering wheel is.


Keeping the mean streets of SLO safe.

This real cash register was a huge hit. It made all the right noises and Luke loved pressing all the buttons. Luke is quite the accomplished button-pusher.

A fake trolley. This was a perfect wheel for Luke because "Luke do" all by himself (no parental lap needed.)

Daddy playing the happy passenger.

This was hard to maneuver with one hand but Luke gave it a shot. He was move interested in sliding himself down the stairs he's sitting on.

The TWO Cutest Cupids.

This was a hard picture to get. It's a giant fake train in a really small area (that's basically the entire 3rd floor of the 3 story building.) You can see Matt hanging out the back and he's holding Luke.

Thank you to everyone who helped us in the contest and worked hard to make Luke come in second. These museum passes weren't cheap so we appreciate getting to experience it for free. We entered the contest more for bragging rights and for Luke to solidify his position as a local celebrity. Considering I still have strangers recognize him from the contest- mission accomplished!

May Days.

I can hardly believe that it's almost JULY and I'm just getting pictures up from May! Where does the time go? Luke is busy. busy, busy (he's calling for my attention at this very moment) so my time is all about him. I love that that is so "typical" of this age and we have had very few "typical" times with Luke. Therefore, I'm having a serious love/hate relationship with the infamous "Terrible Twos."

So here's middle to the end of May in a nutshell. I've taken very few pictures since then (Luke has become very aware of the camera so every picture is starting to look the same!) but I'm hoping that getting caught up will inspire me again. Very going to need to get some new videos on here as well. Luke attempting to sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" (aka "Itsy Bitsy Diaper") is priceless.

But until then- May 16-31, 2009:

Some of my Kappa Alpha Theta sisters came on May 16th to celebrate our sorority being on the Cal Poly campus for 20 years. It was an incredibly fun weekend, kicked off by a brunch at the sorority house- I even gave a speech! These are the times that it's great living in SLO and so close to campus- it gave us a nice home base to hang out and reconnect versus sitting in hotel rooms. All and all it was an amazing weekend and Luke LOVED having the ladies around to do his bidding.

Ann and Luke. Ann was one of my roommates in college and was in our wedding. It was great to see her but we want to see her little girls (Susie and Claire!) soon too!

Luke and Melissa. Luke bossed Melissa around for hours and was in love by the end of her visit. Gotta love a woman who does exactly what you say.


Melissa's fiance better watch out.


4 1/2 Thetas- Melissa, Mommy, Nicole (due the end of July with a little girl!), Marissa and Jennifer.


Luke's class took a field trip to the dairy one Friday. We got to mingle with the baby cows but Luke is just NOT a fan of farm animals. But that didn't stop me from introducing him to a baby cow and inadvertently allowing the calf to use him as a salt lick.

"All done baby cow. All done baby cow"


Memorial Day weekend my brother Chris and his girlfriend, Gina, came to town. We enjoyed hanging out with them and Luke was a-okay with some novel attention.

Luke and Uncle Chris.


Working his magic on Gina.


Matt, Luke and I went on a little beach walk in Morro Day on Memorial Day. The weather was beautiful and Luke was in fine spirits.

Daddy and Luke.



Mommy and Luke.

Our little barnacle.

This is what I mean by saying that Luke is aware of the camera. I have about 1000 pictures of him with this cheesy grin. "CHEEESSSEEE!"



The last weekend in May, I headed up to the Bay Area to celebrate Luke's soon-to-be Aunt Sarah (my brother Brad's fiance) at a bridal shower. Luke stayed home in SLO with Daddy but I couldn't resist posting a few pictures of my solo trip.


Mommy, Grandma Stephanie, Aunt Sarah and Grandma Carole.


On our way home from the shower (it was in the East Bay) we swung by the Werner home in Pleasanton to meet baby Blake. It seems like just yesterday that Luke was rubbing Heidi's swollen belly but no more! Blake Matthew was born May 19th and is just sweet as can be. Matt and Heidi did a fine job!


Matt, Heidi & Blake Werner.


No matter how hard I try- Luke WILL NOT let me hold him like this anymore. Thanks for letting me borrow Blake, Heidi!

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer and I promise to get back on the saddle with posting. Luke is not a fan of my computer time (he literally turned the computer off on me while I was typing this!) but I know there are a few disappointed grandparents out there who would like more regular updates so I will try!

With Good Reason.

It just occurred to me that it's been almost a month since I've posted anything- bad mommy. But I feel I have good reason. We've been exceedingly busy. Check out this brief video:


So between the now RAPID forward movement and the desire to be UPRIGHT whenever possible- our life has been taken over by a very, very demanding little boy. We have the typical 2 year old behavior (he asks once and then melts down when we decline his request ) mixed with Luke's militant orders. Here's a typical daily occurrence:

Mom sits down at the computer to do a blog post. Luke quickly scoots in the office.

Luke: "Mommy doot-ing?" (doing)

Mom: "Mommy is going to work on the computer"

Luke: "Pick up PLEASE."

Mom: "Not right now, Luke."

Luke: "Mommy check email PLEASE."

Mom: "In a little bit."

Luke: "Sit down lap PLEASE."

This type of dialog continues for a couple of minutes until Luke doesn't get his way and proceeds to have a complete crying meltdown. Therefore my computer time during the day is highly limited.

This also happens when I'm on the phone.

Needless to say, I'm posting this at midnight because our little angel is in bed. I promise to soon post lots of cute pictures from last month but until then a parting picture:

Pudding anyone?

And a little celebration- LUKE IS PULLING HIMSELF UP TO STAND ALL BY HIMSELF!!! WE ARE SO EXCITED FOR HIM AND HE CAN'T BE MORE PROUD OF HIMSELF!! He did it for the first time on May 15th and we're just so happy that he finally hit that huge milestone. We didn't get it on video (he was very sneaky about it- Matt looked over and there he stood at the coffee table!) but the video is an accurate re-creation of the moment. I'm willing to guess he was going for the remote control then too...