Christmas at home

Luke and I made cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve. Santa must have liked them because he only left half a cookie.

It was nice to wake up on Christmas day in our own house, but it was a little strange too. 

There were so many new things for Luke to play with it, it took the whole day to open all the gifts.

It was so much fun to watch Luke open and play with his gifts.

Christmas in Houston

We celebrated Christmas a few days early in Houston.  It was chilly, but the sun was out on Friday. Luke had a fun time sweeping up the leaves in the backyard.

He was amazed by his cousin Brandon's magic tricks.

This year he got the whole present concept and did an awesome job opening everything.

Gramps and Grandma Terry gave him an electric train set.  Man was this a hit!  Even his cousins Michael and Daniel were mesmerized.

Distmas Dee!

We put up our Christmas tree after we got back from our Thanksgiving trip to Charlotte.  After we decorated it Luke helped Brad put the star on the top.  He gets so excited to turn the lights on the tree. The first thing he said when he woke up the day after we put it up was "I want see distmas dee!"

We didn't have any presents under the tree until yesterday.  Luke noticed them right away and when we asked him where they came from he said "Santa!"  Then he insisted on giving some of the gifts a ride in his car.

Poppins!

This year Luke was a pirate for Halloween.  His school had a Halloween carnival and he even got a pirate tattoo! He got into it and was very excited to spot "poppins" (pumpkins) everywhere.

On Halloween night he helped me hand out candy to trick or treaters. He had a hard time giving away the gummy bears because he wanted to eat all of them. He had a ball and was so excited to see "mor dids domin!" (more kids coming) as the trick or treaters walked up and down our street.

He wanted to come home every night this week and "mama dight dandle" (mama light candle) in the pumpkin. 

We brought our kids to work for the annual costume contest.  Luke and Ellie had a grand time entertaining our co-workers and keeping them from getting any work done. 

Dinner Date

Last night we went to Maudies with my friend Lyndsay and her daughter Ellie. Ellie will be joining Luke again soon in the Duckling room. 

It was a nice break between work and sitting in traffic. The kiddos had a good time checking out what was going on outside and taking turns standing up in their high chairs. We didn't even leave a big mess!

New Class

On September 1st Luke moved from the Ladybugs to the Ducklings class. He was the oldest kid in the Ladybugs room for a couple of months and now he's one of the youngest Ducklings. His new teacher Ms. Ericka says he's doing very well in the class. He still talks about one of his old teachers, Ms. Elena, all the time - "Lana! Lana!"

He's been doing so well that after one full day of being a Duckling he jumped out of his crib at naptime!  We were definitely not prepared for that and will have to get out the kit to convert his crib to a toddler bed very soon.

Waves!

We went to Port Aransas for a few days last weekend.  It was a great time to go.  The beach was seaweed-free and not very crowded because school started the previous week. This trip was definitely more fun for all of us than last year when Luke was not quite walking yet.

Luke got to practice some new words like boat, waves, beach and lighthouse.  As soon as we got there we had to check out the cool bench seat at the condo.

It got very dark when we went down to the beach the first afternoon.  We even heard some thunder.  Good thing we put all that sunscreen on.

Because he loves hoses so much Luke was on sand clean up duty each time we got back from the beach.

He had a great time with all the beach toys they had at the condo and he loved slinging sand and water at us.  

After the second day he wasn't as scared of the waves as much and he started shrieking "waves! waves!" as he chased them going in and out.  He also cleaned up some tar.

Each time we went to the beach Luke seemed a little more comfortable in the water, but by the end of the trip he still wouldn't let us take him in with him.  Next year we will stay longer.

Doda

Luke got several Lego sets for his birthday.  Somehow Legos come out as "doda"

He's really been into them the past week or so and his beloved vacuum is playing second fiddle.

Up and Down

We got Luke a Rody horse for his birthday. He likes it, but as you can see the vacuum is still number 1.

  

We left his vacuum cleaner in the cabin in Mississippi. He kept looking for it after we got home so we had to replace it.

Frey Family Reunion

My mom's family had a family reunion at Paul B. Johnson State Park in Mississippi.  Nearly everyone in the family made it and we had alot of fun.  Luke had a great time staying up late and running around with his cousins.

Laura and Cate

Uncle Mark and Luke

Elise sampling a vanilla cupcake

Our cousin Hannah designed a t-shirt for the reunion.  We were so glad Gramps decided to make the trek to the park. Thanks to everyone who made it happen!

Gramps, sisters and husbands -  Sam, Joan, Mike, Nan, Walter, Pat, Mark, Charlotte, Gramps, John, Mom, Shay, Kitty, Michael, Mary

Gramps with some of the youngest great grandbabies - Luke, Theo, me, Elise, Ana Maria, Cate, Michael, Sophie, Gramps, Kara, Tyler, Liz, Eve, Ava, Lenora, Kate, Janelle and Noah

Tyler makes the funniest faces

Aden, Luke and Elise were very interested in Uncle Sam's oars

last chance to check out the water

my very own peach!

It was a long day and Tyler and Luke were delirious by the end of the night.

You can see the rest of the reunion pictures here.

Luke turns 2!

Luke started off his 2nd birthday celebration with a swim in the lake.

Then he shared some pretzels with his cousins Elise and Aden.   

He had a really big party with my mom's side of the family during our family reunion. About 35 of us squeezed into our one bedroom cabin for cupcakes my mom and Ana Maria were kind enough to make.

Even though Luke helped blow out the candle, he wasn't interested in eating the cupcake.

His cousin Cate had a great time at the party.

We ended the day with a walk out onto a pier on the lake.  When I put Luke to bed that night I asked him if he had a good birthday.  With his thumb in his mouth he shook his head yes.

Father's Day Excursion

Luke and I took our first road trip alone this weekend. We hadn't been to Houston for a long time so we went to visit my dad for Father's Day. 

My grandfather was a barber in Cuba and my uncle is the family barber. He gave Luke a little trim.

 

After the trim my dad and Terry took us to dinner at a restaurant in the new development called City Center. It was really nice.  It used to be Town and Country mall and it's similar to the Triangle or Domain in Austin. They have an area with a big fountain and live music where you can hang out and kids can run around. 

Luke was very affectionate at the restaurant. I think it's because his dinner consisted of chips and french fries.

Splash Day

Today is splash day at Luke's school.  They get to play in the sprinkler and have fun with some water toys.

Here are a few funny things Luke has been doing lately.  He started saying his own name, "Duke".  He likes to sing and his current songs are the Itsy Bitsy Spider, the Bumblebee song and Three Blind Mice, which Brad thinks sounds like three brown rice.  He likes to play with his bear aunt Ana Maria sent him, and he feeds him waffles and milk.

Memorial Day Weekend

We got Luke a few new toys this weekend.  He's been obsessed with vacuum cleaners for a long time.  Last weekend he discovered one at Brian and Lisa's that is like a real one so we had to get it for him.

We also got him a basketball goal.  He shot a few hoops in between vacuum breaks.

 off to vacuuming again

One more shot, but he kept his eye on the vacuum!

Zoo

We went to the Austin Zoo and Pet Sanctuary on Good Friday.  The zoo is not very big, but they have a good variety of animals.  I liked checking out all the monkeys.

They had lots of peacocks running around.  Near the end of our visit one of them spread his plume to show his beautiful peacock feathers.  The peacocks reminded me of the Dude ranch we used to go to in Bandera.   We'll have to take Luke there someday.

 Luke thought the giant tortoises were pretty neat.

You can get food to feed some of the animals.  Luke wanted to feed the deer, but he got scared when it started coming close.  

We didn't have time to ride the train, so we'll have to do that next time.