Christmas Eve Eve 2010

We had a pretty low-key Christmas celebration at home on the 23rd.

Luke got lots of art supplies to go with his new art easel...

...lots of new clothes...

...a mug... hey, wait, that's Mommy's mug!

...a new soccer ball (or is that football?) from our friend Chris...

...and a new percussion set! We must be crazy! Merry Christmas Eve Eve!

Santa visits KVUE

Every year, Santa Claus comes to KVUE, where Sarah works, to tape a special Christmas show that airs on Christmas Eve. All of the kids at the station and their families get to come for the taping, which means Ryan got to sneak behind enemy lines and enjoy some holiday cheer.

Everything went really well, as you can see above, until Sarah got the bright idea to take away Luke's candy cane...

...which did not go over very well.

I believe he's giving Mommy the evil eye here. Yep, moral of the story - taking candy away from a baby is HARD. And will result in an hour-long meltdown. Don't do it.

Landon Winery for Mom and Dad

Ryan and Sarah left Luke with Grandma and Grandpa Lonnevik on July 4th for a few hours to catch up with our dear friend and Luke's godmother, Janette. We hung out at Landon Winery and drank some delicious wine, and generally enjoyed our time in downtown McKinney!

Easter 2010

For Easter, we went down to San Antonio and visited with Nanny, Aunt Robin, and Meme. Luke got to eat ham, and wear shoes! No Easter egg hunt this year, though... maybe next year.

Happy New Year!

We rang in 2010 at home, just like we rang in 2009. But this time, Luke was on the outside, so I got to enjoy some grown-up beverages. Hooray!

Our friend Adolfo came over for our impromptu New Year's Eve party. I made barbecue meatballs, bacon-wrapped brie-stuffed dates, bacon-wrapped pineapple, and bread pudding. We also had a cheese plate with brie, gouda, and some very stinky and strong goat cheese. And of course, some Asti Spumante and other beer and cidery things.

We watched Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin (that naughty lady!) until 11pm, then switched over to watch Ryan Seacrest (only because he wasn't Carson Daly) until midnight. Then we rang in the New Year very quietly:

It worked, because Luke stayed asleep. Happy New year!

From New Year's 2010

Luke's First Christmas

We spent Christmas Eve at home in our apartment, and Luke got to open up a few presents. He got some blocks, a toy camera, some socks, a few bowls and a new sippy cup from Mommy and Daddy. He was a little overwhelmed with all of the action but managed to hold it together pretty well before he went to bed. Next Christmas should be really exciting when we have a toddler on our hands!

Luke also turned 6 months old the day after Christmas and has his checkup coming up on New Year's Eve.

Luke meets Santa

Luke got to be a part of the Santa Claus special that will air on Christmas Eve on KVUE! He enjoyed listening to the music and watching all the big kids dance, and was totally fascinated when Santa Claus walked in, ringing his jingle bells. He listened to Santa read "'Twas The Night Before Christmas" and even got a Christmas present!

After the show taping, Luke got to meet the man in red, and couldn't take his eyes off of him. He even got a fistful of beard and determined it was real!

Luckily Luke has been a good boy for the almost-half-year he's been with us, so we think this won't be the last time Santa visits!

Luke's First Halloween

Luke had a pretty uneventful day, especially considering his first Halloween was on a Saturday. But Daddy had to work and deal with all the crazy Halloween revelers in downtown Austin, so Luke and Mommy hung out all day.

He started the day dressed up as a pumpkin, complete with green pants and candy corn socks, but as the day wore on the drool won the war and we had to retire the pumpkin shirt. He did get to wear his super-Halloween-y outfit to the library though!

In the afternoon, Luke changed into a baseball uniform, but he took too many slides into home plate and had to change into his away uniform. Luckily the third outfit made it - a pitcher of course, because we had a ball but no bat.

We got buckled in and went to visit a couple of moms from the MYC group at church. We went by and saw Carey and her family and her very spooky neighborhood, and then went and visited Kari and her mom and baby Delaney. Kari gave Luke a bunch of Butterfingers, even though he only likes eating his own fingers right now!

Luke was pretty tired from all the trick-or-treating when we got home, so he took a nap and then we read THREE books before he went to sleep. What a day!

Luke o'lantern

With the pumpkin we bought at the pumpkin patch, I decided to commemorate one of the scariest things of all - parenthood! So I designed a pumpkin carving template in Photoshop and carved a jack o'lantern with Luke's face on it. I think it's pretty spooky!!

Visiting the Pumpkin Patch

The day before Luke turned four months old, we went to visit a pumpkin patch at a church! They had all kinds of pumpkins - big ones, little ones, and even white ones and warty ones! It was a nice afternoon to be out - sunny, warm, but a little windy. Luke was a bit tired so he wasn't his usual smiling self, but we picked out a pumpkin anyway.