Pumpkin Mania

The past two weekends we have been in town and partaking in all the Fall activities around our home.  Fall is my favorite time of year, so I for one really enjoyed soaking it all in, and we all loved so much family time.  

Luke is pretty much the cutest little boy of all time lately.  All of this talking is awesome.  He is starting to point out everything he sees, like "moon!" and "airplane!", and things he would like to see, like"apple bread" (he helped me make some yummy apple bread yesterday), "more spin" (this one is his new fave, I get dizzy after spinning him only once though!), "mama read" (he is choosing more books these days before bath time instead of iPad time, it is astounding!).  A funny thing he's doing these days is that he is getting "me" and "you" mixed up.  Luke when he wants something he'll say "Cheese! You!" and then pat his own chest to further emphasize that he wants it.  Very confusing because it is already hard to understand what he's saying because his pronunciation is at the early stages, then you have to interpret it too.  It IS kind of a hard concept to explain, we're like "No, Luke, you're "me" and I'm "you."  What?  Part of all the fun of this new stage:)  He also is getting so smart and remembers so much.  Last night Donna was over (Emil is visiting Uncle George in Washington DC), and so she gave him a bath and put him to bed before heading home.  This morning when I got Luke up the first thing he said is "Gram?" and ran into the guest room to see if she was in there.  Super cute!

Our little pumpkin in the pumpkin pile - Isolene took him to the Botanic Gardens

Highlights from two weekends ago...

At the dog park with Grandpa and Gram last weekend.

New dog beach and the dog park - Spumoni loved it

Trying to get back to the car before the rain storm hit.  We made it!

painting a little pumpkin, although he had a brush, it was more like finger painting

Carving his first pumpkin!  Getting all the innards out.

Luke loves to take the top on and off and fit the shape of it back on AND peek into the  inside of the pumpkin.

Hello?!  How is that lighting up?  

And now this past weekend's highlights.....

Donna, Matt, Luke and I hit the Highwood Pumpkin Festival.  Anyone who goes carves a pumpkin and their goal was to have 32,000 pumpkins!  It was simply amazing.  HGTV was even there to feature the festival on one of their shows.

Luke is really into fire trucks these days.  He loved the fire truck and the free plastic fire hat from the local firefighters.

Sun setting on the Pumpkin Fest, time to get Chinese food with Gram!

Mom and Dad came for breakfast and a visit this morning on their way to Chicago to see a show.  Mom read books to Lukers with great enthusiasm!

We went for a little spin on the boat.  Cool hand Luke.

Matt cruisin'

Throwing stones into the water.

Running up the ramp.

Big News

It's official - we're pregnant!  Luke is going to have a baby SISTER around February 19th:)  

Baby girl waving hello

Profile pic

Wearing his Big Brother shirt proudly

Luke is so excited that he did this little dance, take a look:

Ga-lorious Galena

Last weekend Matt and I went on our first full weekend getaway since Luke was born to celebrate our 8th anniversary. We chose Galena as our getaway destination, eager to experience the quaint town, Fall colors and some fun hiking. It did not disappoint! Thank you so much Gram and Grandpa B. for watching the Dukerson while we were away.

We both took the day off of work on Friday to get a head start to Galena (about 4 hours away).  Before we left we couldn't resist an outing with our little stinkers to Didier Farms.  We went there last year for their fall festival, but Luke was too little to do the activities.  This year he was a great age for all of them, and we had our fill of everything they had to offer.

While in Galena we relished two full days of relaxation and togetherness:)  We stayed in a luxurious bed and breakfast called the Goldmoor Inn, we went to two gourmet dinners, we shopped 'til we dropped in Galena and at the local fair that was going on, we raced down an alpine slide, had breakfast served in our room, we both got massages and then went hiking at two gorgeous places soaking up those Fall colors that I can't ever get enough of.  It felt like we were gone for a week!  We had a great time.

Feeding all the animals carrot sticks.  This was a favorite activity for Luke.

Matt and Luke must have gone down this slide 10 times.  Luke kept saying "more!".

We were a little worried about him going on these rides by himself, but he loved  them all and did great!

Picking out pumpkins, what a Hercules!

Seriously, he pulled that wagon with 4 pumpkins on it all by himself.

We got little pumpkins and paint for Luke and Kira (Isolene's niece) to make some masterpieces. 

The view from our B&B in Galena was gorgeous!  That is the Mississippi River.

Flaming tree outside our room at the inn.

Anniversary lovebirds:)

Downtown Galena, super cute!  Like going back in time.

President Grant lived here - pretty interesting museum

That looks like Pres. Grant himself!

The Galena County Fair was going on, which we learned makes that weekend the most crowded of the year!  We just happened to pick that weekend because of our anniversary.  It was about 20 degrees cooler than normal, thus my hat and scarf.

pretty Galena River and downtown

Alpine slide at Chestnut Mountain

Breakfast in our room on Sunday morning before our couples massage  - so relaxing!

Hiking around Galena.

Hiking in Apple River Canyon State Park on our way back home.

Super pretty!!

On our actual anniversay, October 9th, Matt made us a campfire and we ate dinner outside.

Burritos al fresco. 

Great Grandma Della's Birthday Party

We had a really nice weekend enjoying the beginnings of Fall and celebrating Great Grandma Della's birthday.  Saturday we had a nice boat ride to see the Fall colors with Gram and Grandpa B, then we had Grandma's birthday party Saturday night, and Sunday we spent with Grandma and Grandpa B hiking in Wisconsin.  We also had the pleasure of a visit with Katie, Joe and Isabelle last week.  Isabelle is so big and just adorable!  Thanks to Katie's brother Paul and girlfriend, Nithu, for hosting us - and to Donna & Emil for watching Luke so we could go downtown on a weeknight.  

Here is the Luke update - first, he is talking so much more, it is so exciting.  We seriously can have two way communication, almost like real conversations!  His independence is blossoming, too.  There is never a stool for reaching things too far away.  He likes to turn on and off the lights in every room, and especially likes to wash his own hands.  Emil made him a wonderful high reaching stool for our European height bathroom vanity:)  

We are continuing with the whole potty training thing slowly.  I think I mentioned that he has gone potty on the big toilet with the toddler ring several times.  But we just got him his very own little potty seat, and he loves it.  He is more interested in going pee on little potty than he has been on going on the big toilet.  He goes on it almost every night.  Last week he even had his first #2 on his potty!  Quite the milestone.  Matt tells me that it is inappropriate to post the photo of this accomplishment, but don't you worry, we have it documented!  

The leaves on Lake Forest trees were gorgeous, so we took the boat out for a Fall color spin on Sat morning.

Gram and Grandpa came up for breakfast and the boat ride.

Stopped in Waukegan to see the cute little dockside restaurants.

Little elf in the flower bed

The maple tree across the street from our house.