Date Night

This past weekend Matt & I had a date night!  We attended a formal dinner dance for Matt's company and decided to make it a night out in the city.  With Donna and Emil's help watching Lukers (thank you!), we headed downtown midday on Saturday to have a nice lunch and a quick trip to the Field Museum before going to our party.  After we hit the annual post-party it was so nice to be able to head to our hotel room instead of making the drive back to Lake Forest. The ability to sleep in was amazing, of course, and then to top it off we  went to brunch at our former West Loop fave Meli.  When we got home G&G and Luke were at the mall playground, so we headed right over to the local park to get some ice skating in.  We both got ice skates for Christmas and were eager to break them in.  It was so fun!

Reinacting his proposal at "proposal point" at the Shedd Aquarium

The next Kristi Yamaguchi?  I think so!

In Luke news, he is almost completely over his cold and is back to his old mischievous self.  He has gotten really good at throwing balls, I'm not sure if I've updated on that yet.  He can really let them fly!  He also LOVES books.  I would say that looking at books is his favorite pastime.  He likes to lift the flaps and point at the animals and turn the pages.  We have a voracious reader on our hands! 

Not sure that is the 

Sitting in the book basket

Sloppy Joe?  No, Sloppy Luke

Isabelle Anne Richardson

Isabelle Anne Richardson was born last night, yippee!  She weighed 8 lbs 5 ounces and was 20 inches long.  Mom and baby are both doing well , they are happy and healthy.  Even though Katie and Joe didn't find out the gender, we all thought they were going to have a boy.  What a wonderful surprise for everyone when Isabelle arrived.   I can't wait to meet her next week:)  Congratulations Katie and Joe!

P.S.  How funny it is, at least to me, that of my four bridesmaids (Kristin, Katie, Shelley & Andrea) all four of them now have little girls.  And I always thought it would be ME who had the girl!  Who would have thought?  Lukers will be surrounded by lots of little ladies as he grows up.  

Let it snow!

Finally we got some snow!  This was the first time that Luke really had the chance to experience snow (last year doesn't count).  He was so excited to go outside and loved to watch the snowflakes fall from the sky.  Though he soon found that snow in his mittens is not so fun, and it is hard for little legs to walk through deep snow:)  

Two weeks ago we went up to WI to spend the weekend at the Carpenter Crib.  Kristin gave me a facial package for Christmas, so we had an awesome girls day receiving our treatments while the guys watched PJ and Cory.  I love the idea of two guys taking two kids out to lunch - what a cute sight.  The kids got the chance to do some sledding in the backyard, another first for the Lukers!  Good thing he had Paige to show him how it is done.  Inge came by on Sunday with baby Ingmar, who Matt and I were so excited to meet for the first time.  What an adorable baby!  PJ loved having both of her cousins over at the same time.

Helping to cook.  He liked all of PJs stools.

Meeting Baby Ingmar Carpenter

I was back in Indianapolis for a couple days last week for work.  While I don't like being away from my boys, I did enjoy sneaking in a visit with Katie and Joe one of the evenings.  Katie is due on the 27th and is looking so great!  Not long now until baby Richardson arrives!

This past weekend we hung around town.  Lukers had a cold so we had to adjust our schedule a little.  We did still get to go to Drew Conklin's 2nd birthday party, which was very fun.  On Sunday we were lucky to have Mom and Dad come down, fresh off their two week cruise through the Panama Canal, as well as the Carpenters.  It was nice for all of us to see Grandma and Grandpa before they head down to Florida next week for a couple months, trying out their "snowbird" experiment.  Since Dad/Grandpa was going to miss most of the snow of the Midwest this year, we made sure he got in one cross country ski outing.  Very fun day!

Souvenirs from Grandma and Grandpa's trip - fun shirts!

Luke's cold has meant that he has had some difficult nights of sleep, waking up in the middle of the night congested and coughing, not being able to get back to sleep.   Matt and I aren't too keen on the hours of rocking and soothing a crying child in the middle of the night, but we're hopeful he is getting better and will be back to his healthy self soon.

One of the cutest things he's doing these days is to laugh along to his storybook.  Isolene got this one on tape, and it is impossible for me not to crack up every time I watch it.  He's adorable.

Spring in January

It was the first full week of January, but it felt more like April!  We'll take it!  We had such warm days all week, with bright sun too.  They were wonderful, and we took advantage by getting outside both days of our weekend.  On Saturday we went to the Botanic Gardens with Donna and Emil, and then out for Mexican food.  On Sunday Matt & I used our brand  new bike trailer "chariot" to take Lukers on a bike ride.  This was a Christmas gift from Donna & Emil.  It is awesome.  Not only is it a sweet trailer, complete with enclosure so you can use it in cold weather without exposing your child to the elements, but it also turns into a stroller.  On Sunday I went to the first day of my swimming group, which is back in session.  It was rough since I haven't swam in months, but it felt great to be back in the water!

Lukers has already gone back to his sweet self.  That cranky phase was short lived, thank goodness. He's back to being hilarious and happy go lucky for most of the day.  The only time he gets upset is when he doesn't get what he wants (i.e. push all the buttons on Mom & Dad's phones) but he's pretty easy to distract so that he's soon happy again.  He's really starting to copy more and more things that Matt and I do.  Like tonight Matt was blowing on his dinner, and he starting blowing too to cool it off.  On Saturday we were taking the Christmas tree down and transferring ornaments from the tree to the kitchen island, and Luke went and got an ornament and then tried to reach up to put it on the island too.  It is really too adorable!!  He's such a smart little person already!

Carefully placing each plate and bowl in its place

Gangsta hat with new train conductor shirt and overalls

Paper pirate hat that Isolene made him

Gorgeous darlin'!  Wearing Mommy's hat & scarf

Snacking at his new table

Matt made him this little cube and of course it went right on his head and he walked all around the house like this.

2012 Here We Come!

Happy New Year!  We can't wait to see what 2012 holds for us, hopefully only good things for us and for all those we love.  

Last week we took a couple days off of work to extend our Christmas vacation.  It was fun to spend a day watching Luke play with all of his new toys.  

Train conductor hat from Donna & Emil

Avocado face

On Wednesday we gave Emil one of his Christmas gifts, a private tour of what is considered the largest privately owned antique tractor collection ever.  Matt's coworker happens to be the nephew of the man who owns the collection, and it is only 10 minutes away from where Matt's job is!  This collection was amazing (even for me, who really isn't that interested in tractors!).  Not only were there over 100 tractors, but there were also antique cars and trucks

The tractors were all lovingly restored by the owner Mr. Schaaf and his restoration team  - each one is a labor of love.

The tractors were huge!  Luke enjoyed weaving in and out of them while we tried to catch him.

Before we went to the tractor tour, we snuck in a quick visit with Matt's Uncle George and his family - in town from Washington DC.  We haven't seen cousins Anna and Steven in years - they're so grown up!

On Friday Luke and I headed up to Wisconsin again to visit with my childhood besties Shelley, Andrea and Abby.  Shelley, Rob and Alyssa were in town from New Jersey for a few days only so we could not miss a visit with them.  Shelley is still in remission (yay) and looking great!  She definitely deserves a wonderful 2012.  And Abby is recently engaged and getting married next month - congrats to her and fiancee Omar!  Anyway, we had an awesome playdate with the kiddos before heading to a very fun-filled dinner.  Shelley's brother and sister in law came to dinner, Jeff & Jen, and so did Kristin & Cory.  Seriously, we didn't want the night to end - it was so fun!  With such great friends you don't need to see each other often, you can just pick right up where you left off.  I do wish we could get together more frequently.  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Mackus for watching the Lukers while I was at dinner.  

Rob playing with all the kids- whatta guy!

Andrea's girls Isabelle & Josie, Alyssa's behind there too, and then Lukers.  Josie and Luke are only 2 days apart, look how they're the same height!

Dinner at Asiana - the girls - Kristin, Kelly, Jen, Andrea, Abby, Shelley

The guys:)  Rob, Jeff & Cory

Saturday night we hosted Kristin, Cory and PJ for a low key New Year's Eve celebration.  We had a yummy steak dinner and a movie night while the kids slept.  Not as crazy as years past, I'll admit, but definitely still fun.

Playing Barbies:)

Then Sunday and Monday we had pretty lazy days!  So strange for us!  In Luke news, we think Luke has been growing and/or teething.  He's also trying to adjust to only one nap a day.  He gets cranky a little more than usual, and is frequently pretty clingy and whiny too.  What?  What is this?  This is a new phase for us, we're so used to him being basically angelic all the time.  We're starting to realize that this is when the whole thing discipline thing starts.  Boundaries are being tested and he knows when he's doing things he shouldn't be - consistency is key!  It is hard not to give in to that adorable pouty lip though - look at that face!

Matt telling Luke he can't run off the trail into the woods on our hike

Result?  Huge pouty lip.

Matt loading up the back garage with all our outdoor furniture for the winter - see ya in June!  We'll miss you outdoor stuff.

Exploring outside - enjoying the semi-warm January temps - in the 40s!

Yum- spaghetti dinner

Look at those LONG legs!

Here are a couple cute video clips from the week:)  Peek a boo in Open Lands on NYE, and playing with the pots and pans tonight.