Things with Wheels

Note: Mommy and Daddy are in Kaua'i right now on vacation while Luke is at home getting spoiled by Grandma and Grandpa Siorek. Of course I brought the laptop and now I have time to update the blog.

Here are some photos of Luke's Christmas present from Uncle Matt.
Two cool, hand-crafted wooden race cars! Luke loved them.

Luke loves almost anything with wheels.

He likes to lay down and watch the wheels turn.

Speaking of wheels, check out these cool wheels Luke got for Christmas.
He is very proud that he can ride his bike by himself. Mostly we ride in the basement but when the Portland weather cooperates we go outside.
He loves riding his bike around the block!

Aloha!

We recorded video greetings to send to Luke. These are stills from the videos.

Happy New Year!

Wishing everybody a happy and healthy 2010.
Love, Matt, Daniela, Luke, and Roosevelt.

Luke, being less cooperative than Roosevelt was, in his New Year's hat.

Christmas Pictures

Santa spoiled Luke again this year.
Luke is a lucky, happy little guy.
He got a tricycle . . .

. . . and a fire truck.

Trains were another big hit this year.

Luke practicing Art.

Luke reading the instructions.

Luke unwrapping a present with vigor.

Tiger bed was also a big hit. I can testify that it is nap inducing.

Here's a photo I took tonight of Luke listening to one of his presents from Mom and Dad. His favorite band is Weezer and his favorite song right now is "Troublemaker." (You can hear the song playing in the background in the video below.) When I look at this, I can imagine him as a teenager, hopefully without the ga-ga!

Christmas Video

Here is a 4-minute video of highlights from Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning.

Joy and Peace

Last weekend we went to Peacock Lane, a short street in Portland where every house is lit up with Christmas lights. It's a Portland holiday tradition to visit Peacock Lane and it was indeed very very crowded. It was almost impossible to get any good pictures but here's one that I like just for the contrast between the expression on Luke's face and the message in the background.

Luke loves outdoor Christmas lights. It has been his favorite thing about the holiday so far. We drive around the neighborhood almost every night after work just to look at the lights. He gets very excited and points and says: "More lights too!" and names the colors.

The other obsession these days is firetrucks. If you want some advice on good firetruck videos to watch on YouTube, email me and I'll fill you in. Here is Luke wearing firetruck jammies and his Junior Firefighter badge he got from a real fireman.


I like this picture because Luke and Roosevelt have the same expressions on their faces.


Pink Ga-Ga

"Santa Claus is coming."

Luke says that Santa Claus is coming, so we thought we should put the tree up. Here is Luke putting the star on top.

He was pretty excited at first to watch daddy put the lights on the tree.

But he lost interest in the process pretty quickly when he realized that the round glass ornaments weren't the kind of balls that you can throw. Matt ended up decorating the tree by himself while I tried to contain a meltdown. Oh well, there is always next year to fulfill my dreams of a happy family tree trimming party.
Good photos of Luke are rare these days. He is obsessed with the digital camera and whenever he sees it he immediately wants to look at the photos on it. Immediately. He will not sit still for a picture and he starts to whine and cry. Here is a lucky shot.

Here is what it looked like the other night when Matt tried to take a picture at dinner. Luke became upset because he wanted the camera. He was perfectly fine and cute before the camera came out.
I did manage to get some OK pics the other morning of Luke in his green froggy boots.

Here is a video of the kind of whining we hear a lot of these days from our camera-obsessed boy. In the second scene he is calling for the "black camera."

Thanksgiving and Trains

Today we went to the Columbia Gorge Toy Railroad Club to see their toy train layout.

Luke loves trains, like most little boys do.
He had a great time.
It was quite an impressive show and it was packed.
Here is Luke and his Thanksgiving dinner guest, Cameron.

After dinner, Luke and Cameron played chase. They must have run back and forth about 20times.

Luke from a few weeks ago.

School Pictures '09

Here is Luke's "school" picture for the year. Luke wasn't feeling well that week, so this slight smile is the best that they could get.

And here is the Toddlers' Room '09 class photo.Back row: Teacher Brittany with Morgan, Nora, Teacher Rachel with Tom, Jacob, Teacher Yorda with Harlow. Front row: Max, Raife, Lily, Luke, Camille.


And here was his school photo from just a year ago.

All Saints' Day

Today on All Saints' Day we took a short walk through The Grotto, a beautiful Catholic shrine and botanical garden in North Portland.

It was a serene, slow walk. A little chilly. Luke liked the trees and the spiders.

Then we stopped off at Gartner's Meat Market for some meat.

Luke has started showing his affection for Roosevelt by pulling his tail, petting him hard, and full body tackles.

I did not take these photos or else I would have stopped what was happening. Roosevelt is actually very calm through it all, much calmer than I would be.