The weekend in pictures

Saturday morning trip to Starbucks in the jeep

Having my face painted at "Family Day" at the Hill Country Galleria

I requested a pink butterfly and Ariel.  (Of course.)

The Robbs met us there, so Lillian and I got to spend a little quality time together.....

....decorating cookies.  Hey Lillian, you have to put the icing on the cookie BEFORE you eat it.

Luke finally got to swing for the first time and he liked it.  A lot.

He feeds himself now.  Black  beans are a favorite.

We got in a little pool time.  Dad calls this a "Classic Kate" look.

Luke's hair gets crazier every day.

Taking a break to smooch my mom.

Pretty baby boy.

I swear.  She CANNOT get enough of me.

Swimming can wipe you out.

Bath time to wind down a fun weekend.

I can write my whole name!!

Today I wrote my whole name by myself for the first time!  Obviously, I am so very proud of my accomplishment (and so are Mom and Dad).

Fayette County Fair 2011

Look at ALL of these necklaces!!

Popo's pretty neat.

Luke sleeps through it all.

Leaving the Fair on top of the world (and Mom's shoulders).

This weekend was the Fayette County Fair and it was my 2nd time to go and Luke's 1st.  The parade was amazing as usual.  We watched with all of our La Grange friends at Popo's station.  And the McEwans came too. Everybody there is so nice and they all just want to hug and kiss on Luke and me.  Once the parade started, I raked it in on candy and necklaces.  I loved all of the floats.  When the town floats go by and the girls are in big dresses, I am convinced they are princesses of something.  The noise of horns and sirens is still a bit much for me.  Luke on the other hand napped in his stroller through most of the parade including the sirens.  That's ridiculous.  That night it was time for the carnival.  Luke stayed at Blackjack with Gigi since he was ready to go to bed right around the time we were ready to go to the carnival.  My favorite ride is still the ferris wheel.  After we rode a few of the rides, we got a little carnival food and then danced around to the band.  On the way out I got a cool light up butterfly wand.  Oh I love the Fair!

Luke is 9 months old!

I am out of here, Mom.  You better be done!

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The original "Dr. Teeth"

The resemblance in uncanny!

The head tilt

Um, can you say "charming"?

Kate gets in on the head tilt action

Three quarters of a year already under my belt!  That's right everyone - I am 9 months old.  And I am living it up!  I have mastered the official crawl and I am like lightning!  I chase after Kate all day long.  I have tooth number 3 coming in - top front left.  And it is a honker!  I come from the family of big teeth, so it should come as no surprise that I am growing a super tooth, but Mom has still taken to calling me "Dr. Tooth." Apparently there was some muppet by the same name who had disproportionately GIANT teeth.  All of this tooth-growing has really been putting me in quite the mood lately.  But I will tell you what makes me happy - food.  I love everything!  Grilled chicken, meatballs,  ravioli, peas, carrots, corn, beans, rice, scrambled eggs and blueberry muffins.  And I have found the way to charm everyone when I am in my high chair.  I tilt my head completely to the side and smile.  I can always get Dad, Mom, and Kate to play along.  In other news, I am quite the adventurous little man.  I am into EVERYTHING.  I like to dig in Mom's plants and get all dirty, I love crawling up stairs, although I have not quite figured out how to get back down which presents a problem.  I love to "pet" my dogs, especially Lucy.  Bath time is still my favorite part of the day.  It is so relaxing.  Frankly, it is the only time (aside from sleeping) that I am even remotely still.  Kate and I continue to have wrestlemania each and every day.  I adore her.  My face lights up when she walks in the room.  She has so many cute names for me.  She calls me "Buddy Man, Buddy Boy, Lukie Boy", but rarely ever just Luke.  Hopefully these names don't stick until she is a cool senior in high school and I am just a freshman.....
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First Day of School 2011

My own artistic rendering of my first day of school look.  I picked the outfit myself.

Big sister admiration.

Today is the first day of school!  I am moving up into the "bigger kids" class at Montessori and although I am excited about learning the new things in that class, I am going to miss my teachers so much.  I will be moving from Miss Leti's class into Miss Swarti's class.  Oh but I am ready. Let me brag on my intellectual prowess for a minute:  I recognize all of my letters and numbers and I have phonics down!  I have even started sounding out words and I know lots of sight words, so I am really getting ready to read!  I can count to 50 in English and 20 in Spanish and German.  I love painting, drawing, coloring and glueing anything.  I love to sing (Shakira is a new favorite, thanks to her duet "Todos Juntos" with Dora) and when Mom is making dinner, she will turn on some music (The Beatles is a favorite) and I will dance around the kitchen with reckless abandon.  So back to school;  I suppose I am ready for a new challenge.   Lots of my friends are getting to move into the new class with me, too, so we are going to have so much fun together.  Let's do this!

The Giggles

Matagorda with the Hidells

This weekend we made another trip down to Matagorda, but this time the Hidells met us there.  It was so much fun!  Berlin and I chased each other in circles on the beach and Luke and William even did a little baby playing themselves.  What a fun weekend at the beach!

Wrestlemania

Wrestling has become one of our favorite sibling activities.  Right now, Kate certainly has the advantage and wins most of our matches, but just give me time....

8 months old

Believe it or not, I am already 8 months old!  I am on the move, I have a very healthy appetite and I love to snuggle and be held all the time! I also love my sleep.  I sleep 12 hours a night and still take 2 naps during the day.   What can I say?  I am a growing boy!