Birthday Boy

April 20, 2011

 

April 20, 2012

Our sweet Luke Benjamin is one year old, and what a joy this little man is! He is so full of smiles, chatter, laughter, and wiggles. At his one year well appointment we learned that he is 31 1/4" tall (89th percentile) and weighs 21.5 lbs. (27th percentile), which makes him one long, light boy. Luke has quite a lot to say these days. He will jabber on and on and then grin or giggle like he's just delivered the punch line to the greatest joke ever told. The year since Luke's birth has flown by so quickly, and yet it seems as though he has always been a special part of our family.

 

Mr. Cheeks McGee 

We have spent the past several weeks celebrating our precious little man, beginning with a very windy barbeque at the park with our close friends. I made special cupcakes and decorations for the party, but everything was tossed about by crazy wind gusts (including, at one point, the whole table of food!). I decided to just enjoy our company and try not to sweat the rest. One day will laugh as we recount the day to Luke, and I will always remember how kind and loving our friends were on such a crazy day.

 

The big kids had a blast flying kites — 

at least that crazy wind was good for something!

We traveled to Houston on Luke's real birthday to celebrate with our families...

 

I think he may soon turn into a cupcake — ha!

A post in which I overwhelm you with pictures

We have really been missing Jason during the week and greatly cherish our weekend time with him. Thankfully, he has every Friday off! We're all hoping this crazy situation will be ending soon so that we can finally be in one place together. We started Jason's first weekend back in Fort Worth (several weeks ago now) with a trip to Kincaid's for milkshakes...

and brain freeze!

We also had a wonderful Easter. I really didn't get to decorate much this year since we are showing our house, but I think our many Lenten and Easter activities more than made up for it!

This year we began the new tradition of a glow-in-the-dark egg hunt, which was a big hit with Nathan. (I cannot take any credit for this idea, which came from a teaching website.) We filled a dozen eggs with LED lights and took turns hiding them around the house. I think Nate would have done this all night long if he could have, which is kind of miraculous because he is not a fan of the dark!

On the Saturday before Easter we took a trip out to Glen Rose to visit Dinosaur World. Nathan has been very into dinosaurs for the past several months, and the weather was absolutely gorgeous, so we packed a picnic lunch and headed south!

Maybe we shouldn't have been smiling...

This kills me every time...

Luke was one relaxed little guy as
we strolled around the park...

Nate's favorite part of the day was the fossil dig...

We also ventured to the Sea Life aquarium in Grapevine last week, where both boys had a blast. We stayed for a little over two hours before leaving for lunch and Luke's naptime, but I think Nathan would have been happy to stay for much, much longer. The aquarium is a relatively small but beautiful space with lots of nooks and crannies to explore.

Later we explored the Japanese Gardens in Fort Worth. I remember bringing Jason here when we were in college, so it was fun to come back with our kiddos a decade later!

Nathan had his spring musical performance at school last Thursday night, and our very kind neighbor watched Luke so that I could attend (Nate and his class were dressed as monkies). He did a great job — and, yes, he's huge!

And just so you don't think sweet Luke
spends all of his time in a stroller...

Believe it or not, I have more pictures to share, but I think I'll save them for another day. Kudos to you for making it all the way to the end of what is surely the longest post ever!