Luke's First Theater Show

Luke went to his first live show, "Jack and the Beanstalk", last weekend.  We are so proud of him, he sat and watched about 75% of the show, and was pretty good for the other 25% of it too (just wanted to walk around the empty rows while watching the action).  Valerie had a great idea to take the boys to the community theater, it was so cute!  There was a cow in the opening scene, and not again until the end.  All the time in between Luke kept saying "Moo" and pointing to the stage, like "where's that cow?".  

Nathan, Ben and Luke

Big boy seat

the whole gang

Sunday we went for a walk in Open Lands before heading over the Bullock's house to watch the Bears game with friends.  

Olivia Bullock - 8 months old - getting so big!

The Kramarcyk's were there, with their three kids.  Luke chased after them all day - they have 2 boys older than Luke and a little girl about Luke's age.  

All the guys - Steve, Andy, Jeff, Matt

All that Bears game watching and kid playing wore him out!

A quick boat ride on Saturday - father and son admiring the tranquility.

Luke's 2 year photo shoot pictures are in!  We got some good ones that really capture the little stinkers' personality:)

Baranko Family Reunion

Emil, George, Mike, Bertha, Rosemary, Irene

Last weekend all six of the Baranko siblings were reunited for the first time in almost 8 years!  They hadn't all been together since our wedding in 2004, so it was a big deal when we had them all in the same room again. Donna and Emil hosted the big shindig on Saturday, with Bertha slaving away making all of the family recipes.  A bunch of cousins were there too, including Fritz, who had driven out from WA with his Mom, Aunt Bertha.  What a fun reunion it was to see everyone and hear all the stories of their childhood together.

Aunt Bertha making fried chicken

Super special cookies, their Mom used to make these - Matt's Grandma

It was a beautiful day, we had an indoor/outdoor party.

Celebrating Uncle George & Uncle Mike's birthday, and Aunt Rosie's birthday and retirement

Cousin's kids!

Brotherly love

The night before Matt and I had attended my work friend Katie's wedding.  She looked gorgeous and we had a blast.

On Sunday I left for a business trip to New York.  I have been working on the marketing launch of Walgreens' new loyalty program, called Balance Rewards.  It launched on September 16th, so I went to New York to make sure everything went as planned with our marketing, at least in that market!  The best part of the three day trip was sneaking in a visit with Shelley.  We walked our way up from 39th street to 54th strreet - hitting GMA, Times Square, Rockefeller Center, a Pink concert at the Today Show, (almost) Central Park, it was awesome!

This was our Walgreens in Times Square - the digital signage  was one of the things I worked on.  So exciting to see it up in person!

Shell at Good Morning America!

Rockefeller Center

One night me and my coworker hit the Feast of San Gennaro in Little Italy

Amazing breakfast at Norma's in between store visits

Statue of Liberty sighting between store visits

One year anniversary of Occupy Wall Street - more riots - right outside one of our stores.

Private Party

Since Grandma and Grandpa Mackus were out of town last weekend for Luke's birthday party, we had a "private party" with them last weekend.  They came down and stayed with us on Saturday and Sunday, and we had such a nice visit!  We had beautiful sunny days, but a little too chilly for swimming and a little too windy for boating.  We managed to fill up our time just fine, though.  Saturday we had Luke's 2 year photo shoot with the talented Steph Stanger from Shutterwinks. After the shoot we went out for a really nice dinner.  On Sunday we went hiking at IL State Beach for the first time ever, even though it is only 20 minutes away from our house, and then Mom and I hit the annual Antique Fair at nearby Deerpath Middle School.  Sunday night Mom and Dad got to witness as we gave Luke about 10 time outs in a row trying to get him to sit in his chair to eat dinner.  He finally did, though!  We won this battle, at least.  Somebody was sure quick about giving him the "Terrible Two's" memo, geesh.  It has only been a week since he turned two!

Speaking of being 2, this week we had Luke's 2 year doctor check up.  He continues to be in excellent health and is statistically speaking (and Mommy-speaking) a big boy!  Here are all the stats:

Height:  36" (75-90%)
Weight: 28.5 lbs (50-75%)
Head Circumference: 19.25 (50-75%)

Luke is also starting to say even more words.  Check out this video proof of a sentence! He says "I did it!"  You sure did!

Pictures from the week and weekend.

Little Stinkers!  He REFUSED to wear this shirt during his photo shoot - but had no problem letting Isolene put it on him a day later.  That's why you see an old green T-shirt in his photos below instead of this smart collared shirt.  

Sneak peeks from the shoot!

Steph and Lukers hard at work during the shoot - which we did in Open Lands

Playing on the swing set with Grandpa and Daddy

Never ending birthday with all the presents from Grandma & Grandpa!  Gorgeous wooden toys that they had won a while back through a charity silent auction.

At Illinois State Beach - the sand dunes were so pretty!

Stopped at this amazing park on the way home - big kid park for sure, but so cool!

On Monday I went to visit my friend Tonya and her little baby girl Taylor.  

Taylor's big brother Drew is Luke's little friend:)

Family Fun & Luke's Birthday Party

Family picture with the 2 year old

Labor Day weekend was long anticipated.  We hosted our big family birthday party for Luke's 2nd birthday on Sunday, we enjoyed Ben and Linda's visit home for the weekend, and finally, it was Kristin & PJ's last weekend in the Midwest   

Ben & Linda came back in town from ID just for Lukers' birthday party!

Kristin and Paige stayed in the Midwest instead of moving to AZ earlier, just so they could go to Luke's bd party too!  What a lucky boy:)

We had a jam packed, fun filled weekend with both of our siblings staying at our house for the majority of it, and Donna & Emil over a lot of it too. We only missed Cory, who was driving the pets out to Arizona all weekend, and my parents who were in FL on vacation all weekend.  Luke's party was a huge success (with the forecast for rain being totally wrong). A ton of wonderful family came out to celebrate our little guy with us, generous with their time and the many thoughtful gifts for Luke.  He is in toy heaven every day that he wakes up and sees all his new goodies.   We are so grateful for everything!

I had a half day of work on Friday because of the holiday weekend, so I got to enjoy a half pool day with PJ, Luke & Kristin.  Later that night we went to Downers Grove to meet up with Matt, Ben, Linda, Donna and Emil for dinner.

Luke and PJ continue to play together so well - it is so adorable and fun to see.  

Egg Harbor take out on Sat am.

Walk into town to go to the Farmer's Market and playground.

Street market

Playground.  Racing up and down the slides.

Silly monkey

Uncle Ben made this amazing life size chalk van, complete with a Cookie Monster driving the van and a dog and fairy as passengers.  Unfortunately, soon after the masterpiece was completed the remnants of Hurricane Isaac washed away his work.

Amazing dinner made mostly by Linda - salmon and scallops with roasted and grilled veggies from Ben and Linda's garden.

Piano concert from Matt & Ben, very relaxing after dinner time.

Luke's party!  Uncle Mike, Emil's brother, drove up from IN and his sister Rosie drove down from WI.  

Cutie little cousin Jackson Warner

Orrin and PJ sitting in a tree:)

Kurz clan - wicked badminton players!

Aunt Diane and Lila relaxing under the umbrella

Gorgeous sunny, hot day made for many swimmers!

The Dukerson in Fort Dukerson

Matt's childhood dump truck, lovingly restored by Grandpa Emil.  Luke LOVES it.  

Luke in front of his loot.  After he got his truck from Grandpa Emil it was a little tough getting him to be interested in the other presents!

PJ and Orrin helped out though.  

Sesame Street Playhouse from Mom and Dad was a hit!  This is similar to the one I used to love as a child, that Luke plays with at Grandma & Grandpa Mackus's house.

Giant Atomic Cake from G&G Baranko.  

Mackus clan:)

Matt's cousin Denise and her family came at the end of the party, it was great to see her and the kids!

Staying hydrated before bed.

uncle/nephew lounging time.

Taking a walk in open lands.  Luke falling off the tree stump!  "I'm ok!"

Boat time on Monday before Kristin & PJ went to the airport

It was hard to say good-bye to Kristin & PJ, and to Ben & Linda - all in the space of a couple hours.  But all good things must come to an end, so they say.  We are just counting down until the next visit!

Good luck to the Carpenters in their new adventure!  We'll miss being only an hour away from a visit with you, but are looking forward to a gorgeous new vacation destination.

Birthday Boy - after lunch with Mom on his actual birthday.