Let It Snow!

Luca's 1st official day playing in the snow (and it kept falling and falling and falling!) He learned as quickly as any other kid how to catch a falling snowflake on his tongue!
He had a blast, and the cold didn't seem to bother him a bit.

He also quickly learned that eating the snow was a much more efficient way of getting it into your mouth. We did our best to warn him of the "yellow snow".

Mike took a break from shoveling (one of the many clearings he did that day) to build a mini snowman with Luca! Luca's favorite part? Knocking it down of course!

A Day With the Fishes

An escape from our flood infested house into more water...at the Shedd Aquarium! We all had a blast exploring that day. Luca here is

walkin' on stingray...how cool is that?
I wish you could hear him singing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" as he sat there rowing all by himself!

The giant tank was definately ALL of our favorite attraction.

'Twas the Christmas Before Christmas

Our Bala Christmas was celebrated the weekend before actual Christmas and with EVERYONE in attendance. Here, 3 kids short of the grand-total of grandkids for our family so far~probably far more interested in playing than reading. (and let's not forget the 2 on the way!) Reminds me of the opening of 'Twas a night before Christmas when all through the house, not a creature was stirring..."
And finally, Luca and Albert together again. Luca couldn't stop talking about his long lost cousin for months prior to our Bala Christmas (and so far for months after their visit!)

Auntie Carrie giving Luca a ride on a skateboard. No, this was not one of the kid's gifts...It was Uncle Chris'!

Ahhh...contentment. Luca had his Papa, his "Coppie", and plenty of presents to last him to..well...Christmas!

Sweet Temptations

I don't know how we did it, but the presents stayed wrapped and under the tree...
But this one in the corner was too good to resist sitting on every time Luca walked past it! Luckily Cuisinart makes their products durable!

Santa Baby

This time around Luca fell in love. I think he knew this Santa was the real deal. (I mean come on, have you ever been to Santa's House in downtown D.G.? It doesn't get more real than that). Luca was in such awe that he couldn't even remember he wanted a train table like he had been talking about for months. The only thing he could think of asking Santa for was a candy cane...and good thing too, because Santa was able to supply on the spot!
Ahhh...Santa IS real! Have you ever seen such love?

Breakfast with Santa

So, Luca wasn't a huge fan of Santa this day...
But as you can tell, he really enjoyed decorating his own gingerbread boy...and of course eating it!!!

Thanks Siena for having us over for such a fun day!

Off the Blog

I have to apologize for falling off the blog for awhile. In the past month, we've had the stomach flu, approaching terrible 2's, Christmas, a flood (resulting in construction and mass chaos in our house), and total exhaustion. Let me bring you up to speed with the next few posts and I'll try to be better in the future! ...