Christmas in Indiana

This year for Christmas we went up to Indiana to visit friends and family. It was different from most years in that we actually got to spend three days in Indianapolis with friends instead of only a half day as we passed through. We stayed with Dori and Tom and spent a lot of time with Kevin, Jen and Nolan as well as Matt and Erin, though somehow I think Matt and Erin totally escaped being photographed. Luke enjoyed playing with everyone, and it was interesting watching his bossy side come out with Nolan as you will see in this clip. (-:

We spent quite a bit of time explaining that Nolan could play with things to and that his mommy was the only person who should be taking things away from Nolan, Luke didn't need to help! (-:

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Luke was very happy to take pics with our camera and most of them got deleted right off the bat, but here are a few of his better ones....

Jen...

Nolan finding the remote....

Kevin...

Nolan's diaper bag.....

Luke's Thomas the train....

I took the one above, the boys had to play madden football!

Luke took this one of Tom and Dori...

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Luke also snagged Erin's camera and took over 300 pictures with it before Erin got it back! I think we will be looking at finding him one he can play with in the near future!

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We really had a good time in Indy with our friends, shopping, eating really good food, playing poker, etc. It went by really fast, and Monday morning we said good-bye and headed up to Goshen to Mimi and Papa's house!

I have not been as good about taking pics as I have been in the past, but Luke really enjoyed "helping" Papa get some of the Christmas present's ready for the other kids....

The cousins didn't get to Goshen until the 24th, so we had a lot of good time with the grandparents before that and then it was all Christmas celebrations until we left. Luke enjoyed playing with his cousins, but there were definitely some adjustments on all sides getting used to each other again. Luke is so tall that I think his older cousins expected a little more of him than he can understand at only 2.5 yrs old and he would get frustrated and then someone would come and say, "Um, Laura, Luke just __________". Most of the time it wasn't too serious, but there was once when he dumped out soil from a potted plant all over the floor at Greg's Aunt Glenda's! At least it wasn't fabric paint!

(I love Luke's face in this one!!!)

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All the kids with their stockings on Christmas morning!

Mimi wraps EVERYTHING, no matter how small, so when everything was done there were a ton of tiny scraps of paper everywhere!

The ladies sitting together with no kids, almost. Once we realized that the three of us were sitting and enjoying conversation with no kids we asked Mimi to take a picture and that drew Easton's attention so he got his head in the picture. Almost as soon as we were done taking that picture though it was time to open gifts so everyone else joined us as well.

Papa with the Boys!

Mimi with the Girls!

This year each kid got one big present from Mimi and Papa and here is Luke opening his, a system that lets you turn you tv into a kid friendly computer with about 10 different educational games for him to play. I think it may be a little advanced for him, but I am thinking it might be a good thing for us to utilize sometimes after the baby comes and Luke needs something special to do while the baby nurses.

Each person other than Mimi and Papa had their name drawn by someone else. We got Cassia this Mellissa and Doug cupcake set that has markers she can use to decorate the cupcakes as many times as she wants, pretty cool I thought!

We also had Isaac and he wanted the game Blokus which Greg was really excited to give him! Another gamer in the making!

Anna's big gift this year was an American Girl doll which brought back lots of good memories for me of me and all my girl cousins playing with our American Girl dolls in Grandma's basement each Christmas.

I also had Kathy's name and knitted her a pair of socks, her second pair from me.

Greg's name found the entire Die Hard series in one set on sale big time so Greg was really excited!

Cassia got her doll house and Easton got a Barn. Isaac's big gift was a Leapster (I think?) and some games to go with it.

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It is always amazing to me how much small kids love these singing bears that come out around the hollidays. Anita has several including caroling snowmen and this Valentine's bear. Luke has loved these things since he was just a baby and this year he added a really funny dance and made whoever was close by sing with the bear while he danced. Anyway, I thought his little dance was hillarious.

We had a really great time with friends and family and it was all over way too fast. Next time we see them there will be a new addition to our family!

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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

quick update

So both Greg and Luke have felt the baby move several times now. We never did vote on an in-utero name but the options are all cookie related, chocolate chip, snicker doodle, macaroon, etc. Annette, my aunt, is voting for Mac, short for macaroon, but I haven't asked Greg yet if he has any preference. If any of you have a preference or other idea (there are lots of possibilities) post a comment and let us know!

Otherwise everything is going really well. The baby is moving all the time now and has gotten big enough that he is giving me heartburn almost every evening. When I hold crying babies at work he often wakes up to give them a few kicks which cracks me up, and of course any time I sit still a little while he gets really active. I love that feeling! It always makes me smile.

Right now Luke's two favorite games involve getting extra hugs and kisses from me. One he loves is to tell me he is going to work, then we go through the good-bye routine with hugs and kisses and telling each other how much we love the other person. Then he steps outside the door of the room for two seconds and comes back in to do it all over again. The other game involves me telling him it is time to go to sleep, giving hugs and kisses, etc. Then he closes his eyes tight and waits for me to wake him up with tickles and we do it all over again as many times as I am willing. He is super affectionate, I am so blessed, and he frequently comes up to me out of the blue and says, "mommy, I love you!" very sweetly. The funny part is that if I say I love him too he usually will say, "No! I love Mommy!" until I say, "Yes, I know, Luke loves mommy and I love Luke!" and he finally understands that I am not saying that he doesn't love me but that I love him too. (-;

We have been looking at lots of pictures lately, his other favorite thing to do, mostly on my blog or other people's blogs. He is really looking forward to going to see his Indiana family and I have been helping him remember how to say everyones' names which he likes to practice too. He and I both had really bad colds a couple of weeks ago and even though he has been feeling better for a week and a half now he still tries to get me to give him suck candy by fake coughing and telling me, "Mommy, I sick! I need suck candy!" He is pretty smart but I think I am still just a little ahead of him most of the time! ;-)

That's it for now!