Happy First Year!!!

HEY!!!

Guess what I'm one!!!!!!!!!!!

So Dad can I get a drivers license now!?!?!

Happy birthday little buddy!!!

Can you BELIEVE it?!?!!

It is almost inconceivable to me that tomorrow Jan. 29, 2009 we welcomed Lukas into our family. Do you realize that is one year ago!!! How did that happen? Look at that incredible little guy. I will have to be honest here and say, although I knew I would love being a g-ma I had NO idea how much I would LOVE IT!!

Jesse and Amy are head over heels IN LOVE with this little guy. They are incredible parents. I think they are doing a great job in raising Lukas. From the beginning he had a relaxed demeanour. I am sure there were times, but really he has been so good natured.

Right from the beginning he has been inquisitive. He always seemed to be taking it all in.

Happy, happy, happy, happy. Even when he isn't feeling well, or is teething he tries to be....well happy!!!

I can guarantee you that I am not the only one who enjoys being with Lukas. His g-pa is so taken with him. They are buddies, and Dave loves taking him around exploring. The minute they are together the "tough guy " melts. Now that Lukas is walking and chatting g-pa is more than happy to show him all kinds of things. When Lukas was tiny Dave would take him around and let him touch everything. His favorite was the lights....and he would bat them around which was fine until he was a little older and wanted to touch the lights wherever we went!!!

And of course his Aunt Ya Ya (Sarah) spends as little time with him as she can!! NOT!! She is a GREAT aunt and when she can, she goes to V-burg to babysit and if they come to town she drops everything to come over also. She loves to make him laugh, and she doesn't even mind changing those wonderful diapers!!


OK, so what has this year brought to Lukas. Call me biased if you need to but ,I am impressed with what he can do. He walked at 10 months. Not only walking but, getting around really well. He stands up REALLY fast and loves to carry things all over. Crawling is a thing of the past. He is also quite the dancer, loves music and really "gets down". He has 4 and a half teeth and they are so cute.

He seems to pick up things really quickly. He can be playing and if you ask him where something or someone is he stops what he is doing and looks around till he spots it. And when you ask him to get something he finds it and runs to pick it up, then he will bring it to whomever you tell him to. The other night when he was here he never made a mistake in who he was asked to take things to.

Although he makes all the sounds da,ma,ga,ba and various combinations of all of those, we truly believe his first real word will be light!! Ya, I know what the heck. He LOVES lights and ceiling fans!!! The ladies at his child care say just wait, once he figures it out this boy is going to have a lot to say. He is constantly chattering. As I have said before I know he says hi and g-ma also!!

Let me have my moment will ya!!!

He is feeding himself really well, doesn't want you to feed it to him. He is trying with a spoon and fork, which he is good at if you put the food onto it for him.

When you ask him how old he is he will hold up his little finger and show you that he is ONE!! I know "1 "can you believe it. How did this happen??? Feel free to go back and read some of the last years blogs to see how adorable he is!!

On Sunday we will get together with family and friends to celebrate this little guys big day!! I can't wait to see what kind of damage he can do to his cake!!! Stay tuned it will be fun!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUKAS!!!

We LOVE you!!!

Outnumbered 11 to 1

This is usually the time that Lukas would add his perspective to the blog but he is a little under the weather today. He has some yucky congestion stuff going on. We are hoping he is ALL better soon. So I will try to fill in for him, because as you can see he has a story to tell.

On Monday night the women folk decided it was time to get together and Lukas joined us. We all met up for dinner. We need to do this more often because the last time we got together like this Lukas was a baby, and Autumn was still pregnant. Now look at them......Lukas is almost a year old and Victoria is 7 months!!!! How time flies!!!

They played well together after dinner, while we chatted and watched. Lukas was generous and shared Victoria's toys with her. Yep, you heard me right they were her toys and he was willing to share them one at a time!!. We came really close at the end to a good head butting....wheeewwww tears averted!!!!

They played well together........

Lukas spent time chatting with great grandma. The food and the company was great. I think great grandma was surprised at how well Lukas was feeding himself and how much he ate!!!

As you can see the whole family likes it when we get to spend time together. I can not believe it but I didn't get a picture of us all together......they pinned me in at the back of the table!!!

And.... with this it was time for us to pack up and head home!!!!

TOO CUTE!!!

I went back to V-burg with Amy and Lukas for the evening, so that the next day I could watch my favorite little man. I can't believe how much he learns from week to week. There is always something new. First on the agenda was a bath and he loves blowing bubbles. He also likes to wash his own face........well, you tell him to wash his face and maybe just maybe he spends more time sucking on the washcloth.....but he has the idea!!

I can hardly believe that Lukas will be a year old in just a couple of weeks. I know I am prejudiced but, I believe he is the smartest little one. He loves to examine everything. When you ask him where something is he will look around for it and if you ask him to get it for, he will bring it to you. I asked him where his pants were and to bring them to g-ma and, he carried them to me from across the room!!!

He loves to have books read to him...and as you can see he loves to read them himself!!!

What???? This isn't how you read a book!!! :)

Lukas was not having the best of days. He was congested and clingy....not that I minded the hugging time!!! I just felt bad for him. He was still a trooper and wanted to play off and on. Why is it that after you spend time with others someone seems to end up not feeling well and you worry about if you passed it along....the joys of illness!!!!

I do want to tell you a small story.......oh come on.....listen up I said small...

Lukas loves phones???? We are not sure what the fascination is, but he does. Anyways, he had my phone and was opening and closing it. I asked if he wanted to see g-pa and I brought up a picture of Dave. Lukas put his head on his shoulder and went ohhhhhhhhhhh (ok so I am not sure how to type baby talk), or something like that. He would point at the phone and then he kissed it......I kid you not.....it was so adorable it melted my heart. I told you I would make it short...ya'll need to believe me!!

And when daddy got home he played for awhile.

Then wanted to be held. What better place than in his daddy's arms.

I had a great time visiting with all the girls. We definately need to do that more often, and include the little women in the family. I feel so thankful that we all get along so well and value family time.

Here is hoping Lukas feels better soon......he has a party to plan!!!!

Finally!!!!!!!!!!!!

Title explanation later but first... The weather was a little bit better this weekend than it has been. It was in the mid 30's instead of the 20's today!! So what does that mean to the die hard bikers in this area?....yep, you ride. This is our friend Tom (I will not vouch for his sanity)who stopped by on the start of his ride.

BRRRRR...

While we were outside I saw this little pest invading the owl box. Won't be long and he will have to be REALLY brave to play here. He did go in and stay.

And with that as incentive we come to the title of the blog!! Finally, we got the new camera in the box. Now, I know I may have mentioned a few times before that this was going to happen.

But, baby it's cold out there!!!!

I have to be honest and say I can't blame Dave for putting it off. We knew we were running out of time though as we are seeing and hearing the owls more often now. So up he climbed in the cold.

To replace this tiny camera.....careful don't drop the screws!!

So once the owls decide to make an appearance I can sit in a nice warm house and see this on my TV screen. (OK, so I am really hoping to see the owls not Dave's hand.)

When all the hard work is done what is there better to do than come inside and watch the Vikings annihilate the Cowboy's :) and do a puzzle!!.

So Finally!!! the camera is up and running!!!

Thank you Honey!!

33

It is hard to believe but it has been 33 years since these two adorable, youngsters said "I Do".

We had a very informal wedding with the mayor of Kentwood doing the honors, and Dave's brother Tom and my sister Nancy standing by.

In the day of the BIG glasses and leisure suits, with the support of our parents....this pic happens to be with my parents.

We made it legal.

Over the years we added our two awesome children and a wonderful daughter-in-law.

Just under a year ago we were blessed with our first grandchild, and little love, Lukas.

They say you marry your best friend, and I can honestly say......33 years later I did!!!

Looking forward to at least 33 more......

Happy Anniversary honey....LOVE YA!!!

Bad Blogger!!

Okay, so I am a bad blogger. I should make sure to update on a more regular basis. It isn't like I have nothing to talk about. What I really need to resign myself to is that I CAN write a blog even though I don't have pics to post. I sometimes wonder if I bore you all with the everyday mundane things? Should I be more open with my thoughts and share more of my opinions....watch out I am thinking again!!!

Well, until I figure it out I will continue with the life we live and the fun we have!!!

So, we headed to Sarah's so that Dave could work on his daddy do list!! He made some good progress. Installed a new doorbell and shower head ( Sarah was going to try it herself but found she didn't have a crescent wrench) Guess what she will be getting for her birthday!!!

Again I digress.........the next project on the list was the Ikea dresser she got a couple months ago. Let the unpacking begin.

Sarah was right in there with her dad pitching in. At least this wasn't as much work as the deck was!!!

And the finished product. She has wanted a new dresser that matched her bed for awhile and she was very happy with her choice. Then we moved the red armourer out of the living room into the bedroom. Things are starting to come together. Next on the agenda some painting.

We got to have our favorite little man for an overnight visit this weekend. Believe it or not I only took a very few pictures. We were having too much fun playing to take pics. I think the difference is that at his house he is a little more confined. He is learning so many things so fast these days. He is seriously walking everywhere, and can stand up so fast. If you ask him for something he goes and gets it and will carry it to you. He will stack the cups when you hand them to him. Don't you love the matching outfit g-ma is wearing!!

And like I told you before he loves things on the ceiling!!!

We had our friends Tom and Ann and the kids for dinner in the evening so that we could plan the big summer camp trip and biking adventure. While they were here Sarah was letting Lukas play with the owl we keep on Ed the head. He got ahold of one of Ed's horns and would not let go........luckily with a little help she was able to pry those fingers loose!! One of the other things that I thought was cute was when you would ask Lukas where was g-pa he would turn and look towards Dave's throne !!! He does love his g-pa!!!

I will try to be better at this blog thing.

Been awhile!!

Peek-a-boo I see you!!! I know you're surprised aren't you?? It has been a long time since G-ma has let me work on my blog!! It has been a really busy time with my first holiday season. I had soooo much fun and I got a lot of really cool new things. Thank you to everyone!!

Hopefully soon things will all be back to a regular schedule...I have been a doing a lot of running around. Besides that I have also had an ear infection and I finally got one of my top teeth. Man that was a real pain..hope the next one comes in a little easier!!! If you look closely you can just see it. This was taken during lunch yesterday when g-ma finally came down to watch me. I was showing off my awesome spoon drumming skills.

So besides the holidays what have I been up to you ask!!??

Well, lets see. I have decided that the best way to make it around is walking. I can stand up from the middle of the floor and I am figuring out how to step over and around things.

I am trying really hard to master some new sounds. G-ma is very sure that I say hi.....hey, let her have her moment will ya!!! And now that I have the gaaa sound down she is POSITIVE that I am saying hi g-ma...........oooookay then!!!! G-ma says you can be the judge.

Mommy is happy to see that the back of my hair seems to be a little bit curly!!!

It can also get REALLY out of control after I have a hat on or after I just wake up!! This was while mommy, daddy and I were making Christmas cookies for Santa and they finally let me take the santa hat off!!

This is just one of the cool toys I got for Christmas. It makes all sorts of real truck noises and I can walk around behind it all around the room. Thank you great grandma and grandpa.

When daddy came home he brought g-ma a frappichino from McDonald's and she was nice enough to share a little with me. I did get a little ice cream headache, but it was soooooo worth it. That whipped cream stuff is really yummy!!!!

Now you may think this is a little weird but I am absolutely fascinated with all kinds of things, but especially things on the ceiling. At my child care place they say I am their little fire inspector, because I have to check out all the smoke alarms. It is no different at home....I just love them here too!!! This was me in baby jail while g-ma helped make dinner, what.. she thinks I might try to get into things while she isn't looking???

Funny g-ma!!

Here I am at lunch time. G-ma and I were having a lot of fun. She was making some funny noises and if you look closely she says you can see my top tooth in this video!!




So what was it that g-ma was making for dinner?? Ohhh it was stuffed manicotti!!

Can I just say......YUMMY!!!

Mommy was trying to help me with my eating skills. It is really too bad that g-ma stopped filming when she did because....yes that noodle did go up my nose. It was really neat how it would go in and out when I took a breath. Too bad g-ma maybe next time!!!

Anyways, that is what is new with me. It won't be long and I will be one year old. I keep hearing talk about something called a party!!?? Not sure what that is but it sounds like it will be a lot of fun. I have never seen the show before but g-ma says it was called the Carol Burnett show and when she signed off she always tugged on her ear......Well, okay here goes......Lukas signing off!!

Again a big thanks to Lukas for filling in the blanks by the pictures. He is such a joy to us all. Who would have believed how much he is doing. Walking everywhere, making all sorts of new sounds and when you ask him where something is he points to it. When I would tell him to get his new owl for me he went right to the toy box and got it out and held it up for me. I was VERY impressed. He points to noses when asked and eyes also......except with my glasses he finds those more interesting than the eyes.....and boy does he have a grip!!!

On the home front I thought you would like to see what was eating ALL my suet the other day.

He is one big bird.

On Sunday it was 7 degrees when we woke up. Dave was out and noticed Hootie sitting in a tree across the drive. She was sunning herself and was puffed up trying to stay warm. This morning before it was light out I heard them right behind the house "monkey chatting" with one another.

Sorry it took so long to get a new blog up. Hope you enjoyed it!!!