Bon Fire

My parents were hanging onto a fire pit for us & when we finally picked it up (over a year later) we celebrated by roasting marshmallows!
Luke-man enjoying his first marshmallow

Maddie's turn

The wind shifted & Luke got hit by the smoke (which was when we decided to call it a night :-)

Winokur Costume Party

Tonight our friends, the Winokur's, hosted a costume party for the whole family. Their son, Charlie, was in Madison's preschool class last year. Madison, who for the last 6 weeks has said that she wanted to be a princess, decided that she wanted to be a kitty at the last minute! Luckily thanks to her ballet wardrobe & my cat costume from last year we were able to make it work. Luke-man is, of course, Lightening McQueen!! He loved the costume but it was a little constricting so this was about the only time he wore it tonight (he did make an entrance at the party before he quickly took it off to run.)




I didn't take many pictures at the actual party & even though this one is very fuzzy I had to post it. Madison is sitting next to her "boyfriend" Trent & his brother Tommy. Everyday when we get her daily report from school it always includes "played with Trent." He is the one that she talks about the most & I hear that it's the same at his house. She is going to be so embarrassed reading this someday but apparently they even go to the bathroom together!

The Winokur's passed out goody bags for the little ones & the kids loved the fake teeth inside!

Disney on Ice

Friday morning we took the kids to see Disney on Ice. It was fun but slightly disappointing! There were not as many princesses as I expected & there were NO Cars! As you can see from the picture...Madison is enjoying herself, Luke is completely bored...

Mulan

Even though we were only in Row 5 that was the best picture I could grab :-)

Endless Summer

With the kids still in swim lessons & the weather getting colder, their instructors suggested we pick up wetsuits. Sunday we headed over to Capitola to the O'neill surf shop. Madison kept insisting that hers needed to be pink. The first one that we saw as we entered the shop was pink! Poor Luke, with no opinion, ended up with a used red one at a fraction of the cost.
They were really excited about their new get-ups...

Heading to the beach to test them out...

...But unfortunately the contamination signs were out so this is about as close as we got to the water

Future lifeguards?

Enjoying some ice cream in the Capitola village before we head back over the hill

Our budding artist

Yesterday Luke started his first art class! A community center in our area offers "My First Art Class" for the little ones. It's fantastic. They have 4 stations set up for different art projects & the kids just rotate around them at their own pace. The best part? He can get as messy as he wants & I don't have to clean up after him! :-)
The theme was "Pirates", Luke working on his treasure map...

On to the pirate hat...

Finally, pirate's treasure...(they also made flags but I didn't grab any photos)...

Mommy's little helper

The other day when Madison woke up from her nap she found me folding laundry (as usual). She was really eager to help & was so excited when I asked her if she could put her clothes away! She was so proud of herself, it was really sweet to watch. I'm hoping I get at least one neat freak out of my kids. Someone has to follow in my footsteps!!

Luke's Birthday Run

Aunt Jill took this cute video of Luke @ his birthday party running down the trampoline & diving into the foam pit. (Excuse me for yelling at him in the background but it was NOT his turn! :-)

Present Opening Time!

Last birthday post...after another round of long naps (thank you gymnastics + sugar crash!) Grandpa Silly, Bagga Judy, Uncle Jason & Aunt Jill came back over to help Luke-man open his birthday presents...
What is the first present Luke wants to open? The one in the CARS bag of course :-)

Another Lightening McQueen! What really surprised me was that we don't have this one yet!! Thanks Sanchez Family!

A Harley trike from Grandpa Silly & Bagga Judy. He's still a little short to pedal it but he loves to just sit on it & push with his feet :-)

Wow, that nap was rough on the hairdo

A fire truck! This was a big hit also...thanks Imelli Family! (Note: he still has his new Lightening McQueen in hand :-)

Madison, Grandpa Silly & Uncle Jason taking a break from assisting Luke

A fun new pull train from the Temple's

Madison taking command of the Tiger. Uncle Jason & Aunt Jill gave Luke a stuffed Tiger with a BBC DVD about Tigers (as well as a contribution to Luke's 529)...leave it to Uncle Jason to keep it all educational! Aunt Jill has vowed never to let him do the shopping again :-) Anyway...Luke was afraid of the Tiger! He backed away the minute we took it out of the box. Madison was more than happy to commandeer it.

The monkeys in their monkey shirts taking a break for some 7-layer dip

Luke finally opened a toy Grandpa Silly could play with...some bristle blocks. Thanks Baker's!

A new Thomas the Train Lego track! Thank you Florio's! This one got a lot of playtime :-)


Aunt Jill, Bagga Judy & Madison playing with the band set Brigit & Elizabeth gave Luke

Madison & her Bagga Judy...

...and her Grandpa Silly

Aunt Jill took a really cute video of Luke at the party (see next post) and the kids wanted to watch it over & over again

The Luker's & the Allen kids

Back to the fire truck (see Uncle Jason in the back ground pushing his tiger closer & closer to Luke?)

"Come on, just play with it for a minute!"

"Nope, I want my fire truck"

Madison getting a big kiss from her God-Mommy, Aunt Jill

Luke so sad that Uncle Jason & Aunt Jill have to fly back home to La Jolla that he's running after them :-(

Thank you to all of our friends & family for making Luke's 2nd birthday so much fun!!