Memorial Weekend

Luke hanging out with Faith and Lauren.

Chillin' in the swing

To the top of the tree house!

"Are there any more Wheat Thins?"

In between rain showers

Memorial weekend can be summed up in one word....food! We went to 4 cook-outs and ate way too much. We started the weekend off right on Saturday by going to the Troutts where we had ribs, burgers, chicken and the trimmings. We topped it off with homemade vanilla ice cream and orange cake. Luke had a blast playing with cousin Lauren and her friend Faith. He also loved going up and down the stairs to the tree house. He wore all of us out with his energy. He was exhausted when we left and was asleep by the time we got to Long Hollow Pike.

Sunday morning we went to church. Luke walked right in his room and barely gave Paul and I a second glance. My how things have changed! We had a couple of hours to rest before we headed back to Gallatin to a party at the Kelley's house. This was our first year to go to this party. There were so many kids there; it was wild! They have a great pool and place to entertain. The Kelleys are originally from Lousiana so they served crawfish, black eyed peas, brisket and corn on the cob. I decided to forgo the crawfish, but I got a kick out of watching Jon and Kristen try it!

From Gallatin we headed south to Madison for the Reynold's annual Presleyterian Camp Meeting. There was a slight damper on the festivities because of a few rain showers. By this time Luke had had abut all the partying he could handle for one day. We cut our evening short after supper so he could wind down.

We ended the weekend with a cook-out lunch at Nonna's on Monday. Somehow I did not take single picture while we were there. We did manage to squeeze in some more yard work between eating! Paul was also busy getting ready for his business trip. He left this morning for a training in Kansas and will be gone until next Thursday. Time will tell how I do as a "single" parent!

Quick Hair Cut

So Paul and I have been contemplating trimming Luke's hair for awhile now. When he is outside or it is humid he has the cute little curls. But when his hair is straight it was getting too long in the back. He either looked like a little redneck child with a rat tail or a funny looking little girl! We finally decided to do it this past weekend. I have absolutely no experience cutting hair; it takes me forever to make an appointment to even get mine cut! It took a few minutes for us to get Luke to hold still long enough that I could snip it. It looks pretty good although I don't plan to make a hobby out of it. I only trimmed the back so now his hair is longer on the sides and it is curling up! Oh well, it will be fine for now.

Fun with Nonna

Peek-a-boo!

Whatcha doin'?

Hmm...let's see...

maybe it goes like this...

or maybe this?!?!

It was so nice to have Nonna come and watch Luke Sunday while we did yard work. We can get so much done when we can both work and someone else can entertain Luke. He tried his hardest to figure out how to get Nonna's sandals back on her feet. I don't think he ever figured it out.

Another Day in the Yard

Hard at work

Hard at Play

I can do it!

As I have mentioned in numerous posts we have quite the project going on in our backyard these days. We inherited a vast amount of landscaping when we moved in a year and a half ago, much of which we have thinned out and modified. With the unprecedented rain falls in Tennessee this Spring we have a big drainage issue! Our back yard is sloped and it is eroding away! We have been working on the problem for weeks now but with all the weekend rains it has been hard to get anything accomplished.

Paul has dug a trench down the length of our yard, laid pipe, covered it with rock and eventually top soil. We have it draining to the road. We hope this will help! If not we are in trouble! We found some great deals at Lowe's so we decided to bring in a load of topsoil and do some planting. Sunday was beautiful. We asked Nonna to come over after church to watch Luke in the hopes we could get some work done. Luke loved being outside playing in the dirt! We made progress but we still have a long way to go. I went back to Lowe's last night and bought a lot of ground cover and grasses in the hopes that they will slow the water that might still flow to the bed. We'll see!

I wanna do it

As usual Luke is right on our heels when we are doing things around the house. Paul was changing out the air filters last weekend. Before we realized it Luke had climbed up the step stool and was reaching like he was going to do it. He climbs on everything! He still has a way to go before he can reach the ceiling!

Family Pictures

I love this one!

These are some family shots that Mattie did while we were shooting Luke's pictures. Some of these are my favorite we have had to date.

"12- Month" Pics

Above are a few pictures Mattie Callahan took of Luke for his 12-month pictures. He was closer to 15 months when these were taken! We went to Moss Wright park which had some great backdrops. We thought they turned out great! She gave us a framed panel from his 3 sessions he had with her the past year. It was so cute and neat to see how much he has changed. I like the pictures she did because they are more casual compared to the ones I had done in a studio.

Our Little Helper

Luke watering the flowers

Hmmm...don't know if this is the
proper way to carry this?!?!

Sweet boy

Look Mom I can reach the door handle!

It just amazes me how much children absorb and observe. Luke has watched me water the plants a few times. Last night he picked the watering can up and went from flower to flower watering the plants! He also let us know that he is almost able to open the door on the porch. Paul will be installing a lock ASAP!

While I was getting supper ready last night Luke saw the lid to the skillet laying on the counter while I was holding him. He picked it up and made me move close enough to the skillet for him to put it on. Again, crazy what all they learn just from watching us.

Mother's Day

My little fella

Sunday we went to church. Luke has continued to do well in the nursery. He goes right in and does not whimper. He always seems happy when we pick him up. After church we stopped and picked up BBQ and Nonna came over to join us for lunch. I enjoyed a leisurely afternoon nap which was a wonderful Mother's Day present. I also got a cute craft Luke made me at school and some wind chimes for our back porch. It was a very nice Mother's Day weekend!

Fun with the Troutt's

Luke is spoiled by Nana giving him
ice cream

We caught the tail end of a posed picture.

Luke loves drinking from a real straw.

Last Saturday night we went to Brixx Pizza at Indian Lake to celebrate Mother's Day with the Troutt's. It was relaxed and casual which was great. Everyone was amused by everything Luke would eat. We still have not found much that he does not like! His new thing is drinking from a "big person" cup with a straw. If Paul and I have straw then he wants to drink from ours, not his sippy cup. He ate the tomatoes off the pizza. He also had turnip greens for the first time last weekend, which he gobbled up. Yuck!

We all got ice cream at Marble Slab after supper. Luke got his first taste of nuts. When I came out of the shop Luke was eating some of Kitty's butter pecan ice cream. Luckily he did not have any kind of adverse reaction to them. We eat so much peanut butter and nuts in our house I think we would have already known if he was going to be allergic to them anyway.

Tool Belt

Paul got Luke a Craftsman tool belt with some tools recently. Luke wears it everywhere! Sometimes he insists on putting it on when he first gets up or sometimes he likes to put it on before he goes to bed. In this picture he wanted it on after he got his shower before we put his pj's on him. If you ask him where his tools are he goes to his toy box and gets out a hammer or screwdriver. It is pretty darn cute!

Last Day

Luke definitely did not want to leave!

Our only family photo

Luke did not want to leave Florida. He kept running around the condo and going out on the patio. He did great on the trip home. He stayed awake until after we stopped for lunch even when me and Nonna were napping. Only at the last hour and a half did Luke start to get restless. We stopped at the rest center at the Tennessee line to let him run off some energy. We all had a great trip but it was also nice to get home and back to reality.

Luke starts a new daycare tomorrow, Good Shepherd United Methodist Church in Hendersonville. They just have a part time position open now so Ms. Terri has agreed to continue to keep Luke on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We hope he adjusts quickly!

Seafood

Aunt Mandi, Uncle Andrew and Luke

Paul got his seafood

Luke was over the restaurant by now!

Yum....grilled cheese!

As I mentioned earlier Andrew was advised to not go to any closed in public places due to increased risk of illness. We talked about taking a picnic to a local park but decided we would rather find an open air seafood place to eat at. When Andrew said he was game to try it we were all set! We ate at one of the most touristy places on the beach...Angler's. Luckily there was not a wait and there were very few people there on a Sunday night. We asked to sit outside but they didn't have the patio open due to an impending storm. Some of the windows were opened on the deck so we decided it would be ok for Andrew to eat there.

Through the course of the weekend I learned, firsthand, how limited the kids menus are at restaurants. They generally consist of grilled cheese, french fries, PB&J or cheeseburgers. Angler's did not even have vegetables unless you count french fries or mac n'cheese! I also found the same to be true at McAlister's Deli where we stopped to eat lunch yesterday. I was very frustrated! Is it too much to ask to offer some green beans or carrots for the little people? Or for the big people for that matter! Oh well....

Spoiled

Cute boy!

Let me in here!

I must say there is something about spending extended time with family....Luke gets spoiled rotten! Any time he wanted to be picked up there was someone there to do it. If he wanted to go outside, there was someone to take him, if he wanted to take a nap on someone's lap there was someone there to do it! So, needless to say when we got back he was used to getting his way! I warned his babysitter he might be whiny and needy today. But, she said he did great!

Luke is fascinated by anything with buttons, knobs or levers. He wanted to open the gates around the pool so bad. Of course, Nonna would open and close it for him over and over again!

We also realized on this trip he can put the key in the ignition of the vehicle! He loves to "play" in the car. He jumps up and down by our car until we get in with him and let him turn the radio on and dance! He definitely gets that from me.

Florida Recap

Luke continually squinted outside.

I want that camera, Mom!

Hangin' with Uncle Andrew

We spent a lot of time in our condo hanging out with Andrew and Mandi. We watched the Derby on Saturday afternoon. We got some great steaks and pork chops at Fresh Market and grilled out one night. We went to the beach a couple of times but the water was pretty dirty and the waves were really large. The water was also a little too cool for me and the Lukester.