Just some tid bits

My naked little monkey dancing on the desk

I had a few things to share so I'm writing a brief post to share my over the top excitement about Luke the past two days. When he woke up in the morning on Thursday, his poor little behind was itchy and had some red spots on it, so I let the little guy run around without a diaper on for awhile. While playing on mommy's bed, I asked if he had to go pee pee and he said no, but then proceeded to climb down and go into the bathroom and pee on his potty! The most he's ever gone :) He got much praise of course

Then about an hour and a half later when asked if he needed to use the potty he said no again. This time he was pretty certain.....until offered a Skittle. I know I know...we're not supposed to reward and punish our children with food, but scold me if you must, I rewarded. He indeed went pee again (about the same amount) as last time.

Yesterday with the promise (again) of an animal cracker Luke used his small toilet one more time! YEAH!! :) The kicker came at bedtime lastnight though. When I told him it was time for bed, on his own he said "use potty" as he climbed down off the bed and wandered into the main bathroom (where his potty chair is NOT) so I had to correct him and tell him to come in mommy's bathroom to use his potty. He pointed at the large toilet and said "big potty". Sure enough I held him on it and he peed and peed away, wiped, flushed it, and PUT THE SEAT DOWN!!! Look at that, he's already ahead of his daddy! :) Call me crazy I know, but I almost got teary eyed as my not-even-two-year-old used the adult potty for the first time!

I know it was a long story....about a kid peeing, so thanks for bearing with me.

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I also found a couple of long lost Christmas pics I wanted to post two of them and some from yesterday and today.

Luke partaking in Aunt Dana's "graham cracker house" - eating the M and M's off the top.

Taking a quick break

Daddy and Luke taking a nap together

Fell asleep on the couch in the afternoon. Guess it was nap time.

Getting ready to climb on the desk

Doing some more Wii bowling......he scored an 85 by the 7th frame! It took him 1/2 an hour but hey....who's counting.

Found him walking around in my new boots. No idea how he got them on!

And a new year begins....

Happy New Year Everyone!! I have no doubt that 2009 will be a year to remember! Hope everyone rang in the new year with friends an family and have enjoyed the first few days of the 365 to come. I myself had festivities at work as a few of us gathered quickly to watch the ball drop in between feedings and alarms. I really don't think the babies really cared so much, but we wished them Happy New Year anyhow! David was with the youth group up in NY skiing, so we were definitely far apart! I called and left a quick voicemail seconds after the ball fell...of course he had turned his phone off to conserve battery life since he forgot his charger. It's the thought that counts right? He's home safe and sound now and we're looking forward to sharing 2009 as a family.

Anyhow, now that the holidays are FINALLY over (man I LOVE all the family and celebration, but it's quite draining.....I'm sure you'll all agree) the tree is down, the decorations put away, and the smell of cookies and gingerbread are long gone. Who am I kidding, those smells were never here to begin with! Such a bad mommy and wife! :) Luke was quite a trooper making the holiday rounds....pulling many a LATE nights (but thankfully following that with sleeping in).

The weekend before Christmas we were blessed to go see the Radio City Rockette's at the State Theater in Cleveland with my whole family courtesy of my Grandma and Grandpa Kandel! A HUGE thank you to them for lunch at Stancato's and a great performance. We had a really nice time together and thankfully there was no snow storm as in years past. My only complaint was the bitter bitter cold (it was 3 degrees when we left).

Christmas was my holiday off this year (although I worked the Tues before and then Friday/Sat/Sun) so we went to the Christmas Eve service at church, and then headed over the the Estes' for some fondu with Dana and Steve. From there ran over to my mom and dad's to visit and play some Wii. Good times for all! Came home to put Luke to bed and set out the presents under the tree....even loaded up the ones to take back to grandma and grandpa's in the morning.

Christmas Day brought a lazy morning with us all forced to get up at 8am so we could get back to Grandma and Grandpa Kandels' house. Oh how I don't look forward to the Christmas mornings when the kids are up at 4 am rarin to go! haha :) Got to my parent's about 9:30, had our yummy marshmallow crescent rolls (SO delicious...if you want the recipe, leave a comment). My grandparents were there as well to join in the festivities! Took our time and watched each other open gifts. It's so nice because we do it in such a relaxed fashion and get to enjoy the experience. Luke participated some of the time and enjoyed playing with one of the first gifts he opened...the fire hose ball shooter from grandma! After a yummy lunch there, we ran to the Estes'. Had more food while Luke napped and then we were able to open our gifts while he slept. When he got up, there were some visitors and Luke was being rather grumpy - not wanting to open his gifts. So with much prodding (and assistance), we managed! Lots more goodies. This kid isn't spoiled or anything! Left about 6:30ish to head back to our house for Christmas there. I was keeping my fingers crossed that Luke would want to participate in the opening of Santa's presents, and sure enough he was! He helped open nearly each one and LOVED his stretchy worms, drums, and dinos the best I think. About 10 we had to call it quits so I could shower and get to bed for my 3 day stretch at work. I got to surprise David with 2 pretty good gifts which was nice, since he usually spoils me!

So needless to say we had an incredibly blessed Christmas season this year. Along the way keeping in mind the birth of our Savior over 2000 years ago and that HE is the reason we celebrate! It is only with his birth and death that we have will be able to spend eternity with Him. How awesome!

Before the pictures come, I wanted to share this amazing and touching video with you below. Some coworkers showed it to me on New Year's and it is so cool that I wanted to pass it on. The actual video takes place from 1969/1970 but was aired a few months back on "The View". I had never heard about it until now, but it's about Christian the Lion who was adopted and released back into the wild. It's about 2 minutes so grab a tissue and enjoy :)



Cleveland to see the Rockette's

David and I at Stancato's Italian Resturant

Passing Jacob's Field....well, what USED to be Jacob's Field. Stupid Progressive!

(not a bad picture since we're driving AND it's through the windshield!)

The BEAUTIFUL ceiling in the State Theatre



My naked boy "fixing" (hammering) the fridge



Opening his tool set from Aunt Denise....sawing the wood.




Checking out his remote dinosaur....not too sure about it at first so he was checking it out from farther away :)

Looking back at Great Grandma :)

Playing with Reggie...cousin Sam's puppy

Rockin with Reggie


Christmas Eve

Cutest smile EVER :)

Kandel family picture....not the best, but hey we're all there!

Sweepin Grandma Estes' floor

In our stockings every year, Sheree gets us punching balloons. Luke LOVED trying to blow them up and hitting them all around.

playing the Wii with Aunt Julie

CHRISTMAS DAY

(pictures are out of order)

Grandma and Grandpa Estes'

The stocking hung by the fire with glee....

Some gifts by the tree

Haha....Sheree thought it would be funny to get Dave a JUMBO remote since he has a harder time seeing now :) Like his goofy grin?

Luke LOVES coffee! NOT something I starte (ahem....daddy). He drank half of grandpa's cup!

Cuddle time with grandma

His "giant" T Rex



Our house

Diggin into his stocking

Shooting his wormies with the machine gun (and NO I would NEVER buy my 2 year old a gun) Oops.

An updated "oldie but goodie"....the viewfinder. This one is a discover channel one and has some disks that have audio too! Very cool!

TBall set from Aunt Carol! He plays with is ALL the time :)

climbin on daddy's back.

He spent at least 15 minutes vacuuming with the sweeper, and using his broom and dustpan!

This was his high pitched "eeeeeee" face when he opened the dinosaur set! It was SOO cute!

Kissing T Rex

The next rock star. Daddy told him how to say "Rock On" when he plays

A TRUE look of surprise when he opened a mysterious last gift while he was on the phone talking to his dad. It was something he'd really really wanted for his bow to hunt with.

Our tree with all the presents!



In the dark




Luke having 1 on 1 time with Great Grandma




Great face! Trying his first sour patch kid!

Still recovering from the taste

Great G and G's present from Heather, Julie, and myself

Hmmmm....what's in here?

Veggie Tales DVD

New hat and Dick's gift card!

Kisses for papa Gene

We left the kid alone in the kitchen for 2 minutes and he snuck himself some powdered donuts.....can ya tell?

A Wii for mom and dad!! Ever since playing Heather and David's at Thanksgiving they've really been into it! They're both pretty competetive though, we'll be hearing about a divorce by May. Haha, just kidding!

Napping with Aunt Heather

Chillin in the box that our chest was in



Post Christmas Visit

I was thankfully able to meet with a few girlfriends from highschool one evening after work (as you can tell by the scrubs). It was especially nice cause Sarah (in black) married a Canadian and is living up there now, so we rarely get to see her :( Had a nice time chatting and playing with the dog and cats!

Here's to 2009! Love to all!