Cowboy?

The other day Luke ran inside and got his trusty ol' construction hat...

He put it on and said, "Look, Mommy! I'm a cowboy!!"

 Then he started running back and forth across the yard...

...yelling "HEEEEEE-HAAAAAAW!" over and over.

Giddyap, sweet silly cowboy!

Burrrrrrr....

Unless you've been hibernating all winter, you've probably experienced some really cold weather lately. All our peeps down south have been miserable and stuck inside for days due to the recent frigid temps (to which we say, "Welcome to our world, friends"). We up here in the Midwest (some of those same peeps would call it "The North") have been lucky not to have had nearly as much snow as the East Coast, but we've had our fair share. I do have to say, though, that being a Florida native and much preferring the heat to the cold any day, I have had zero point zero zero zero interest in sledding or playing much in the snow the whole time I have lived here. Phil hasn't had much more than I, but the other day he decided he wanted to take Luke sledding for the first time. When Phil told me where he wanted to take him, I reminded him that that very small hill led right into a very busy road and that it might not be the safest. He thought about it and then decided it was too late in the evening anyway, and that maybe they'd try it another day. Instead, he decided to take Luke to one of his all-time favorite places, especially now that it has been so off limits because of constant snow. Where might this awesome place be?? Well, if you guessed the shed in our backyard, then you are the winner! Yes, the shed, or the "barn" as Luke calls it, is a beloved place in Lukeland because it houses the almighty lawn mower...and visiting the lawn mower is AWESOME. Duh.

Here is the journey in pictures. I know you can't wait.


All bundled up sausage style and checking on how the swing has been doing all winter.


Zoning in on the beloved barn...


...and taking off!


Daddy runs to catch up.


Unlocking it together.


The anticipation is just killing you, I am sure, but wait for it....





THERE IT IS!!!
THE LAWN MOWER!!!


So exciting that he lost a mitten and didn't even notice or care.


Daddy had had enough of the freezing cold and took off.


Wait? What do I do now?


Daddy come back!!


Oops! Face plant.
Now was the time that he realized he had lost a mitten and totally freaked out when he saw his bare hand completely covered in snow. It was hilarious, but I couldn't get a good picture.


The next best thing to the lawn mower, in Luke's opinion, is the snow blower. He has quite the love/hate relationship with it. At this point he was begging to turn the snow blower back on (Daddy had already cleared the driveway while I was bundling Luke up). Knowing that Luke would hate the loudness of it once it was turned on, we tried distracting him by taking pictures.


Luke's lisp captured on camera. Adorbs.


Mommy looks like a giant stepped on her head, and Luke can't take his eyes off the snow blower.


Sooooooooooo....we finally obliged and turned it on.

This was the result:



The hate part of "love/hate".


Poor little scaredy cat!

New Year's.

For the 8th year in a row, we spent New Year's with our good friends Tito (no, his mom didn't really name him that. his real name is David.) and Stacy. It was so much fun, especially since our kiddos got along so well. Now that Luke is older, they could finally play together and play they did. Jax had a plethora of boy things--bikes, cars, scooters, tools, balls, and even a 4-wheeler. Luke was in paradise. We grownups had lots of fun just being together again and catching up. We even got a babysitter for New Year's Eve and went out to a fancy dinner. Such a treat! Tito and Phil went to the Gator bowl and watched Mississippi State stomp all over Michigan (sorry Mom!). They had awesome seats, thanks to Tito's brother, and had a great time. And since we were in Jacksonville, we got to escape some brutally cold weather up here in Indy. It was glorious. Sadly, though, we big kids only took one picture of the 4 of us together, and it did not turn out well, so I won't be posting it. But you don't look at this blog to see Phil and me anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter!

The Stinkerman playing with Jax's super fancy tool table and showing off his manly chest and equally manly fuzzy footie pajamas.


Pushing the button, turning on the "yowd" table saw, and making Jax cry. Kind of ironic, considering that turning on a hair dryer within a 1 mile radius of Luke instantly elicits a complete freak-out because it is too "yowd".

Quintessential Phil.
He had a little too much fun with Jax's toys, too.

Is Jax not the cutest little redhead you've ever seen, pj's and all?

I LOVE this picture because that is such a Tito face that Jax is making!

Kindred spirits. This is how Luke goes down big slides, too.

Isn't this what dads are made for?


I think Luke would agree.

So cute.
(And hilarious if, like me, your first thought when you saw this was that it looks like a my-two-dads family Christmas card.)

"All dum", with a sweat induced mohawk and a lollipop to save us from the I-don't-want-to-leave-the-playground temper tantrum.

Thanks so much, Tito and Stacy, for such a good time!

A Tractor Kind of Christmas.

We celebrated Christmas early with Phil's parents at their mountain house this year, and it was possibly the highlight of Luke's year. PopPop has so many motorized toys that Luke thought he had died and gone to heaven. He was SOOOOOO excited. A few days before we left Indy, we told Luke that we were going to go see Grammy and PopPop soon and that he was going to get to drive PopPop's tractor when we got to their house. Well, he has the memory of an elephant and talked about this for days. The morning before we left, this was how he greeted me when I went to get him out of bed:

Me (opening door, walking into his room): "Hey, sweet boy..."
Luke: "Grammy PopPop soon!"
Me: "Yep, we're going to see Grammy and PopPop soon."
Luke: "Ride tractor!"
Me: "Yes, you're going to ride the tractor with PopPop."
Luke: "Two days!!"
Me: "No, now it's only one day. We're going tomorrow!"

He never quite understood the countdown of days, but he understood very well that we were on our way to PopPop's as we made the TEN hour drive on Friday. He must have said "PopPop!!" at least 400 times during the drive and "ride tractor" 300 times. We spent the entire time reassuring him that yes, we were still headed to see PopPop, and yes, he was going to ride the tractor. It was a very long drive.... Once we got to the mountain house, we parked in the garage where the regular riding lawnmower (mowing is another obsession), the John Deere riding mower, and the 4-wheeler live. He was so excited to see them and immediately climbed up on the John Deere. Later as we were unpacking, he disappeared for a few minutes, and we found him out in the garage back on the John Deere. He run down the hall, through the laundry room, and let himself out into the garage. Needless to say, we were vigilant about dead bolting the doors after that. The next day Luke finally got to go for a ride. In typical fashion, he wanted to DRIVE, so PopPop got the John Deere going and let Luke stand in between his legs and steer. They just kept going in circles. It's a wonder PopPop didn't get sick. Later PopPop got out the big, refurbished Massey Ferguson. He drove Luke on the road all the way down the mountain and back up. It was the cutest thing and Luke absolutely loved it. When it was time to put the tractor up, he started to pitch a fit, but we told him that the tractor had to go nigh-night, and he was okay with that. The next day he got to ride on the 4-wheeler once with PopPop and once with Daddy and kept calling it a motorcycle. I guess it does kind of look like a big, fat motorcycle. By this time we had opened Christmas presents and Luke had received some lovely camouflage overalls and a hoodie from PopPop. Perfect 4-wheeler riding attire. We had a great time celebrating Christmas with the whole family (minus JoJo and Brian--boo hoo), but you'd never know to look at our pictures. They are all of Luke on some sort of machine. Oh well. Those are the only pictures he'll care about when he's older anyway.

I wasn't there for this and am wondering if PopPop really let him drive the John Deere out of the garage. Surely not.


He did let him steer, though!
Here is circle #374. And he only turned left, like a true race car driver. If this is a glimpse into his future, I'm in big trouble....


He insisted on "mowing" with this fertilizer thingy.


Overall-ed and 4-wheelin'. Yeehaw!


Headed down the mountain with PopPop.
(Luke absolutely had to have his hoodie up, even though it covered half his face.)


It was a long way down....


And they're back!


Riding the tractor is serious business.
Two hands on the wheel, and get out of my way!

Watching begrudgingly as the tractor goes nigh-night.

Thanks, PopPop and Grammy for making Luke's Christmas so special. He won't soon forget, which means neither will we!!

What a Stinker!

Guess what Luke was for Halloween....

Well, a skunk of course!

We had been very benevolently loaned a fabulous Elmo costume that was in the running for a while, but Luke's Elmo love has since waned, and (brace yourself--your not going to believe it...) it was too big. So we went with the most appropriate costume that we could think of. Together with my mom's help, I collected 3 black articles of clothing-- pants, a turtleneck, and a hat. Then I went to Joann's and bought the longest, most skunk-like fur I could find. I cut it into strips, thereby scattering fur all over the table and floor and releasing it into the air to haunt my house for years to come. I sewed it on using big fat stitches that I could easily remove later, and ta-da! A skunk was born. When test driving the costume a week before, the Stinker would absolutely NOT wear the hat for more than .004 seconds. I figured it was pretty much a loss, but crossed my fingers that on the big day, he'd somehow sense that the hat did indeed make the costume and surrender to wearing it for at least a few minutes. Little did I know, he'd wear it the WHOLE time! All it took was a little bribing. He'll do just about anything to be allowed outside, and if you throw in a ride in the wagon, you've got yourself a deal. Thus, he succumbed to the ridiculous hat and made his mommy sooooo happy! We took him out trick or treating but didn't think he'd last very long. Well, once he realized that we were actually going to let him ring any doorbell he wanted, he was in it for the long haul. We'd pull the wagon into the driveway of a house, he'd hop out and RUN to the door (usually the garage door for some reason, only to be redirected by one of us to the actual front door), yelling "Do-beh! Do-beh!" all the way. Several doorbells were actually low enough for him to push on his own (apparently gnomes live in those houses), so he'd go to town pushing it as many times as he could before a parent snatched him up, apologizing for their overly zealous Stinker. When asked to say, "trick or treat", he'd say "treat". He totally knew what was up. To heck with the "trick" stuff, give me the treat. If offered the bowl of treats to choose from, he'd touch just about every piece before picking one, only to then put it back and take another. Thank goodness we only went to a handful of houses on our street. Mommy and Luke could have kept going for a while, but Daddy fizzled out and was ready to go home and have dinner. All in all it was a great night, and I couldn't be prouder of my big boy. I think he had a lot of fun, too, especially once Mommy let him taste what the night was all about!

Getting ready and looking a little more like Dopey than a skunk.

All dressed and ready to go.


"Are you sure I have to wear this hat?"


The Stinker rockin' his State Farm Insurance ride.


Ringing Mr. Ben's doorbell. It was the perfect height for Luke!


Yay! Every successful ring was cause for celebration.


Headed back to the wagon, but not before doing a little dance in the gutter.


Loving the lone bowl on the porch. In true Stinker form, he poured the whole thing out while we were talking to our new neighbors in the yard.


When we got to this neighbor's house, there was a surprise on the other side of the door...


Dorothy!!


Isn't she ADORABLE??!!! Her real name is Tessa, and she is just a few weeks younger than Luke.


Putting his candy from Tessa in his bag.


And then it was time to mow! He spotted Tessa's mower just inside the door and therE was no stopping him.


Thankfully Tessa's grandparents needed their house mowed, so they didn't mind the Stinker taking over.


Onto the next house. Luke was a pro by this point.


All done and headed home.


One happy Stinker enjoying some of the night's plunder.