A birthday, a wedding and an early Christmas

One more post and now I'm caught up!

Kristin's 35th birthday was on December 12th!  Happy birthday to my funny, talented, beautiful big sister!  My parent's hosted the annual popcorn making party for Kristin's birthday.  I managed to skirt the hand burning popcorn making portion of the night ("Sorry, Luke needs me!"),  but don't worry - I didn't miss the popcorn ball eating portion of the night:)  

The next weekend was the long awaited Eichinger/Davis wedding in Springfield, IL.  Katie is Matt's cousin, she is a doctor in Peoria and she is newly married to Caterpillar employed Brock Davis.  Everybody came, (including Ben and Linda - yay!!) so it was a very fun reunion for all of the cousins.  The wedding was beautiful and the reception went too fast.  Katie is the only girl in her family with 5 brothers!  Her brothers gave a very funny and moving speech at the reception that was a huge hit with everyone.  The next day Katie's brother and sister in law, the wonderful Dan & Amy, hosted a brunch at their house to keep the fun going.  

Katie asked her oldest brother Dan to give her away

The Baranko Family - all dressed up:)

Ben and Linda - so photogenic:)

Katie & Brock

Aunt Diane with cutie grandsons River & Lennon

Quality time with Uncle Ben

Love this family photo

What a handsome fella

Is this dance taken?  Luke was charming all the girls at the party:)

All the Eichinger kids!  Katie, Matty, Joe, Dan, Mike & Steve

At the Sunday Brunch - Mike, Steve, Amy and her twins Kate & Will

Since Ben and Linda were heading back to Idaho, we celebrated our Baranko side Christmas on Sunday night when we returned from Springfield.  It didn't even feel like it was early - everything was so fun and festive in Donna and Emil's house.  We had a delicious Italian dinner, then exchanged gifts by the crackling fire.  Luke really made out, spoiled by his grandparents and aunt & uncle.  Matt and I were also spoiled silly with many thoughtful and generous gifts.  One of Luke's favorite gifts was the toy vacuum from Gram (Donna's new grandmother name - debuted on Sunday!) and Grandpa.  He also received a beautiful Thomas the Train set from everyone that we can't wait to set up and see him marvel at.  Thanks everyone!

Tractor toy

Twilight Turtle

On Monday Matt and I took the day off of work to spend time with Ben and Linda before they left.  We all went to the Chicago Botanic Gardens (yes, we finally went there!) to see the amazing "Wonderland Express" train exhibit.  This exhibit was so cool - not only did it have the trains, but it had all of these miniature landmarks of Chicago made out of natural forest materials like bark, moss and leaves.  A horticulture masterpiece!  We also got to have a nice visit with Grammy and Boyd before we said goodbye to Ben and Linda.

Luke liked to point out the trains as they passed, he loved them!

Note Luke looking at the train, not at the camera.

Visit with Grammy & Boyd

Just can't wait for Baby Richardson!

I'm still catching up on the blog updates, but I can't miss recapping the wonderful weekend we had celebrating the upcoming arrival of Baby Richardson!

Katie and Joe are expecting their little bundle of joy at the end of January, we're so excited!  Kristin and I hosted a baby shower for her on December 10th at our house.  We were happy to make the party into a whole girls weekend, with Katie coming in town on Wednesday and her friend Kathleen flying in from Houston on Thursday.  Kathleen had never been to Chicago before so we spent the entire day on Friday seeing the sights of the city.  The shower on Saturday was lovely, with many of Katie's friends and family there to shower her with love.  Katie looks beautiful!  Only a few more weeks until we get to meet that precious little baby!  Also, huge congratulations to Katie for graduating from business school this past weekend.  YAY, MBA!

Lunch at the Hancock Center

View from lunch

Shopping along the Magnificant Mile seeing the decorations

Famous Chicago sights!

Cloud Gate

The Lukers enjoyed the festivities too!

P.S.  Here are the pictures promised from the Brookfield Zoo & Donna's birthday:)

Zoo Lights & other fun times

The busy holiday season is upon us, which means lots more stuff to get done on a daily basis!  I'll try to recap the highlights of the last couple weeks.  Here is Part 1:

Donna's 65th birthday was on December 1st!  We celebrated with her and Emil by going to the Brookfield Zoo (in Brookfield, IL).  We were so excited to see the zoo lights - tons and tons of holiday decorations and lights.  We had a wonderful time at the zoo with Lukers, then went out for Chinese after.  We took pictures on Donna's camera, so once I get them I'll post a few.

Matt, Luke and I picked the perfect Christmas tree and decorated our house a couple weekends ago. It is so festive! We love our new kitchen layout even more now that we can enjoy our twinkling Christmas tree 24/7:) Luke has been pretty good about not breaking the ornaments (knock on wood), and he seems to enjoy all the other decorations we have all over the house too.

Little helper

Luke has an interesting habit of putting everything around his neck

Done!

My friend from work, Erica Goode, is a budding photographer. She offered to take some pictures of Lukers, which we happily took her up on.  Despite Luke's initial resistance to smiling - I think she got some great ones!  I love how she plays with the colors to make things pop.

We have to give a shout out to Ben, our generous & genius brother, as he just went down to Haiti as part of an Engineers Without Borders trip.  He helped create a water pump system to help local towns have fresh water.  He just got back and says it was a great experience.  We can't wait to see him this weekend at the Eichinger/Davis wedding!

Luke went to the doctor for his 15 month well visit.  We're happy to report that he is as healthy as ever.  Here are the stats, long and lean with an average head size!
Weight: 23.5 lbs (25-50%)
Length: 32.5 inches (75-90%)
Head Circumference: 18.5 (50%)

Huh?

Little man in his big boy pajamas