Birthday Party

Today Luke went to a birthday party for his best buddy, Max. The party was at the Multnomah Athletic Club in one of the gyms. There were bouncy houses and play structures, but what Luke loved most were these cool scooter cars.

He made sure to ride one of each color.
Aunt Ronny got to come, too! She was visiting from Michigan.

Here are Luke's two best friends from day care, Renne and Max, the birthday boy.

During cupcake time, they all sat together on the bleachers.
Renne, Max, Luke, Jacob
Best buddies

Kitchen Remodel

Last year I had asked, half seriously, on my Facebook page, "Second child, or kitchen remodel? That is the question." Well . . .

Here is a picture of our kitchen remodel underway. I'm sure Luke will appreciate it in the years to come much more than he would a brother or sister.

Here is the before picture. I'll post more pics as it starts to come together. It is going to be so sweet! Custom cabinetry all the way to the ceiling, farmhouse sink, black paperstone counters, window trim, crown molding, bead board wainscoting, and wood floors. My talented brother Matt is doing all the work.

More pictures of our little 23-month old.

Grandma Pictures

Here are some cute pictures that Grandma took while we were in Kauai. Luke had a great time while we were gone, as you can see from these photos.

Luke and his best buddy, Max, at a birthday party.

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."