Luke's First Christmas!

Christmas festivities began on Christmas Eve with Ashleigh making a bazillion cookies.  They were so yummy right out of the oven!  Luke really wanted some, but, you know, we hadn't really gotten into the whole solids things.  It totally wasn't the massive amount of sugar or anything.

Then we had our annual Mitchell Christmas Eve Service.  Ever since Marinda was little (and before that) Marinda's family has had a tradition of reading the Christmas story in the Bible and Book of Mormon, and a book that her Grandma Mitchell had been reading to Marinda's dad every Christmas since he was little.  When they used to have Christmas in Utah she would read it, but now Marinda's Mom does.  We end it by singing "I wonder when he comes again."  Everyone was there and it was just so wonderful.

Then we helped John and Mary set out milk and cookies for Santa (it was funny how John didn't quite get the concept that his mom was handing him a cookie NOT to eat) and we set out stockings.  Then Marinda and her Mom began the there scramble to finish Luke's stocking.  It turned out amazingly well.  "I just wanted something that Luke can hold onto throughout the years and know that his mommy loved him very much."

Then Christmas morning came!  AND SANTA HAD COME!  :D  Marinda remembered growing up and doing the procession out to see what Santa had brought.  "All because I'm a parent and am the one with the camera doesn't mean that I'm still not bursting to see what Santa brought!  The magic of Christmas isn't just for little kids!"  After breakfast we opened family presents, then spent the rest of the day chill'axing.

The rest of our visit home was great, full of family fun.  Marinda's Dad took her to see Twilight, and   It was also great to see Luke playing with his cousins.

Hanging out with Grandpa, look at how comfy they both look!

Ashleigh made fivethousandmillion cookies that night!
And we ate about half of them....  :)

After the traditional Christmas Eve Service, setting out our stalkings waiting for Santa to come!

SANTA CAME!!!!!!

Luke got some fun puppets from Santa, with GIANT TAGS!
Every baby's dream...

John and Mary were excited for there toys too!

I love Christmas.

Marinda handmade Luke's stoking from scratch.
Sure she and Grandma finished it at 1am Christmas Eve,
but it turned out perfect!

The Candy Cane Caper - How Google Failed Us!

The air is becoming colder, the sky darker, and the world a much more glittery place.  While most people are counting down the days to Christmas, we here at The Heb are counting down the days until the winter soltice.  Seriously though, it isn't the rain and over cast, it is having it be dark by 4pm (3pm on cloudy days) that really gets to us.  

To make this week a bit more pleasant, we had some fun with our friends and celebrated the darkness by visiting Candy Cane Lane - a fun little street where every house is decorated to the max!  We thought Luke might be interested in the sparkly lights, but he was just kind of hanging out (literally - ha ha!) but we sure had a good time!

Amit was also introduced to Halo that night (this is the part where you all say "REALLY?") as well as Marinda having waffles for the first time in forever.  Needless to say, everyone had a good time.  :)

Glowing Lights!

GASPA!

RRRRRAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!

On Thursday we began our epic adventure to California.  We thought we would take the senic route and turn it into a little family mini-vacation down the Oregan coast - but Google lied to us!  *gasp!*  I know, the great and all knowing google maps did not acuratly estimate how long our new route would take adding an extra 4 hours to our trip that wasn't planned for.  We had planned on taking I-5 down past Eugene, and then cutting over to 101.  It turned out to be a good thing because as we were approching Eugin we saw signs saying that the road through Mt. Shashta was closed due to weather.  We spent the night in a nice resort in a small coastal town that was VERY reasonably priced because of the off season.  When we arrived that night it was nice enough and we wondered how close we really were to the water.  The next morning gave us a wonderful surprise!  Enjoy the video taken outside our window!

(Note:  Eureka California is super sketchy.  When we were driving through it we felt like we were back in Cleveland driving between Case and Downtown.  Yeah, Marinda was pretty positive that our car was going to get stolen while we were in Subway for lunch.)

We also stopped on our way to get a Pack-n-play for Luke to sleep in - and honestly it was one of the best investments we should have made in the beginning.  We had a cradle we got in the very begining if you remember, but a pack-n-play would have done the trick just as well and we would have been able to use it in the future.  Not that I totally regret getting the cradle, it is pretty cute.  While we were in Target Marinda also got to help a lady change her 10 day old baby.  It was her first time out, and she appreciated the help.  *warm fuzzys*

Luke's having a blast being trapped in his confining torture device all day!

LOVE this look!  Marinda looks creepy - and Luke looks concerned.

Luke playing in his incredibly awesome new pack n play!

Our super art-sy shot

We finally rolled into Kerry Court late Friday night, where we were escorted to our suite upstairs where we had a most needed restful night.

First Solid!

The adventure begins...Luke started eating solid foods! We're trying to baby-led weaning approach, in which we put food in front of Luke and he grabs it and puts it in his mouth. It can be a little messy (this is pre-high chair too) but it actually works! Plus, it's super-fun to watch him take a giant handful of food and shove it in his mouth.

He didn't seem crazy about the avocado at first, but for some reason he kept going at it. We at the Heb have a feeling he'll do just fine with this whole eating thing.

Luke also got his first haircut. We at the Heb are divided over this. Amit thinks it's criminal. Look at that poor little baby! That's the hair he was born with and now we're just going to chop it off?!?!?!? Marinda, of course, wants Luke to look cute, hence the haircut. Guess who won the argument over it? "Well, there's not much I could do," Amit said. "She can cut his hair anytime I'm not looking. But to preserve this natural treasure, I would have to be on the lookout 24/7. So instead I did the next big thing - I took the implicating video. I'm sending it to the Hague ASAP. Expect the war crimes trial to begin soon."  Haha, what a joker! Check out the video below:

I don't know about this mommy...

Amit, Luke and Asher, who is only 3 weeks older than Luke! BFFAE!

Oh Christmas Tree!

Some weeks, nothing happens.  Other weeks lots of stuff happens!  Or at least we take lots of pictures!

Well, this week a lot did happen. First off, we bought our Christmas tree. We're a tad limited on space so we needed to find a tree that could fit on our coffee table. And we did it, but not without Luke's help.

We also had some friends over for a little send off for our pals the Swansons. They left Seattle for Wenatchee for dentistry stuff so we were sad to see them go. Luke was so upset one of his girlfriend's were leaving that he tried to "kiss" Abby's hand. 

Lastly, we did a little photo shoot with Luke and Christmas lights (thank you Pinterest!). We got some Christmas lights and ornaments and let Luke play with them to his heart's content. And yes, the inevitable happened - Luke tried to eat one of the lights. Such is life with a 6-month old.

"Hey big people I found the perfect tree over here, and it looks HUGE to me!"

It looks like the two children couldn't manage to look at the camera.

She's moving where!?!?!? I am not pleased with this...

Is Luke trying to lick Abby's hand?

Luke is reading Marinda a story - didn't you know that you're suppose to read
by smacking the pictures?

And...the start of the Christmas light photos. Merry Christmas everyone! (Even though this is being posted after Christmas).

Christmas Time is Here...

Our adventures this week began at...the airport! We flew back and it went fine. It was good to be back in Seattle for a while.  The best part was seeing the Christmas Tree on top of the Space Needle as we descended.  And then on the way home, all the cranes had wreaths or christmas trees on them.  Being in such a secular city we weren't expecting to see so many blatant christmas things, so it was very warm-fuzzy inducing to see them.

This week wasn't just a traveling week for the three of us, Grandma (Marinda's mom) came out for a week and a half to visit!  We know that she just was here two months ago, but Luke is so cute she just couldn't stay away.

Saturday night was a VERY special night for Luke (well, more for Marinda) because Luke got to meet Santa at the Church Christmas Party!  Marinda was super excited because Luke HAD to get a picture with Santa, and this Santa was free!  (the ones at the mall charged $40 just to sit on his lap!)  Luke smiled nice a big smile while wearing his Christmas hat and bib from Jejejma.  Though why he was so ok with it may be because he had no idea the fluffy red thing we put him down on was a person.

We also watched Brave Saturday night and throughly enjoyed it.  Yay for finally realizing that we can rent movies on our Xbox 360!

Mother Mitchell went on some nice walks with Marinda and Luke.
Luke has been accused of looking nefarious in this picture...

What a happy little boy!  All ready for Christmas!

Yup!  My baby is SMILING on Santa's Lap!
Though he may or may not have thought he was just a red couch he put him on...

And... Luke's had enough of picture for one night.

Marinda's Mom said she looked one of those girls on the Bob Hope Christmas Shows.

Luke had a great time with his Grandma

Best.  Picture. Ever.

Having fun!

A BIG kiss from Mommy!

ZOMBIE BABY!