Greatest Hits

Lucas woke up early today (7:10) and we watched movies. He loves watching videos of himself. I found these classics and thought I would post them.

skip ahead to 1:15 on this one to get to the actual show.




and this was just the beginning of the messes...

Sugar Fest!

The other night I was cooking dinner and went over to grab something from the pantry when, to my surprise, I saw Lucas and half my pantry covered in a powdered sugar mess. I was just sitting in it having a great time. I had forgotten I stuck an open bag of powdered sugar in the pantry a few days before. I thought when I did it, "You should really not do this... Lucas is going to find it." And he did. I just let him play in it for a few minutes while I finished up cooking until Ben got home. Lucas was pretty pleased with himself. After all, this was a mess that tasted good! It was much sweeter than the time he spilled the flour.

South by Southwest

SXSW has been going on the past few weeks and this past Saturday was the final day. Ben really wanted to go hear some music, so we ventured out Saturday afternoon.
There were free concerts at Auditorium Shores, which is just south of Town Lake. We knew parking was going to be an issue, so we prepared ourselves by saying, We are going to have to pay for parking and it will be a nightmare to find a spot.
We got off the freeway at about 15th street and Ben said, "Ok, the first spot I see, I'm taking." WHAT? Granted it was a madhouse, but you want to walk 15 blocks??? Hello - 15th street = UT, not downtown. Luckily, we didn't park at UT, we found a great parking garage downtown at 2nd and Brazos by Ben's work for only $7 and we were on our way. On a side note, I don't know how any businesses in Austin got anything done last week. Music was blaring from everywhere. There was even a stage in the parking lot next to Ben's office and he said there was always something going on there.
Anyhow, we got to the concert and heard some awesomely bad rap music, tried not to inhale any pot, got some free drink samples, and smelled the $6 BBQ sandwiches. We managed to hang out for 20 minutes or so before we realized it wasn't very fun. We also realized we loved each other and our normalcy very much (we're getting old). We decided we would have more fun at the park. So we walked across the street to the coolest park EVER.
Town Lake Park is just west of the Pamler Event Center and has a cute pond, lots of grass, and a fun place for kids to play in jets of water. There were tons of kids running around in their underoos soaking wet, even though the water was freezing. We took Lucas's cothes off so he could join in the fun, but he didn't really know what to think of huge jets of water shooting out the ground at him. He mostly enjoyed walking away from us and not looking back.
Seriously, this kid could care less if we are with him or not. He just started walking down the sidewalk, half naked with no shoes looking for a good time. Finally I caught up with him and convinced him to walk around the park in a big circle to where we would find Daddy.
Then he kept going up this big hill. At the top there were people flying kites and playing with their dogs. I think Ben had to go up three or four times after Lucas.
At one point Lucas spied a man and his dog headed for the pond and took off running faster than he's ever ran. We're lucky I got to him before he got to the pond.
We finally captured Lucas and decided to head back to the car and find someplace for dinner.
We decided on P.Terry's for hamburgers. We took them back to the park and Lucas ate in his stroller while Ben and I enjoyed the sunset from the park bench.
All in all it was a delightful afternoon. That night Lucas was exhausted and fell asleep in the car while I ran in the store (Ben was in the car too). We couldn't wake him up no matter what we did, but once we got home he went berserk. We managed to get a few hours of sleep anyways...
(sorry about the poor photo quality - I took it with my scratched up camera phone).

Aliens

I have some fun stuff to post and I wanted to do it tonight, but instead I was kept busy by the aliens that have taken over Lucas's body.
Lucas has been sick for several days now and he has woken up almost every night for a couple hours. I was lucky tonight - it was from 9:15 - 11:15, as opposed to 3:30 - 6:00 like the other day.
At our 18 month checkup, the doctor said he would start waking up during the night now, but I don't know why. And why does he have to be insane and scream for hours or want to play? We were blaming it on his sickness... now Lucas and I both have horrible allergies, so I can blame that. It better not keep up or I might start abusing that nice little bottle of percocet I have. (j/k)
Anyhow, when I have time I can tell you all about our day at SXSW & the park, and the powdered sugar explosion.

Make Some Plans!

Make some plans, everyone! The high tomorrow in Austin, Texas will be 91!!!!!!!

Making Cookies

A few weeks ago, Dani, Jen and I made cookies with the kids. Here are a couple shots of Lucas, Addie, and Spencer. They made such a mess! Flour everywhere... Lucas was climbing up onto the counter. It was crazy, but FUN. And DELICIOUS!

The Adventures of Bucket Boy!

You're gonna feel dumb for buying toys that cost hundreds of dollars after you see the joy a $5 piece of crappy tupperware can bring.

Lucas likes his real toys, too. He really likes the Baldwins' toys as well. Last week Lucas was having such fun playing at their house and Jeana said, "Suzanne, you have got to get Lucas some toys. Look how much fun he's having with a real toy! It makes noise!" It's a common joke that Lucas likes to play with cans, boxes, junk... He does have real toys, though.

Smarty Pants

Ben tried teaching Lucas his colors over the weekend. Being Ben's kid, Lucas has a chance at being a genius. We got this little video tonight.

We really think it was just a coincidence. But, I think he must remember a little from his schooling over the weekend.

Vote 4 Ben

Ben has submitted his Taking Tree shirt to Design By Humans.
http://www.designbyhumans.com/vote/detail/8289

Please vote! It might only be up for a day or two, so vote ASAP!

Also, you can blog about it too if you have cool friends who will vote!

Thanks!

New Lucasisms

Well, Lucas officially turned 18 months old on Friday. And just like my book says, the tantrums have increased and he is an emotional yo-yo.
He has a meltdown anytime we come home. He wants to play in the car or in the garage and if we don't let him, he goes ballistic.
Lucas is now aware enough to know where we are going when we drive around. So, if we drive past the playground in our neighborhood, crying ensues. When I do take him to the playground he has lots of fun running around and going down the slide. Sometimes I let him walk home (he walked all the way home last week, which was quite impressive). The problem now comes when we get to Scott and Jeana's street. Lucas loves his Baldwins and if we don't go to their house he throws yet another fit. This happened the other day, so I picked him up and carried him. Then on the next street I tried to put him down and he just laid down in the street. Safety first!
Last night we were driving home from a semi-foul dinner out and we drove past Scott and Jeana's street and, yes, more crying!
Lucas loves all of our friends. He always cries when they leave our house, too. Last night the Hollands came over to play games and Lucas loved it! He was such a champ, staying up until 11:00 grinning and laughing. It was honestly the happiest he had been all day! I think he has a crush on them.
He really loves everyone. Last night he even whined when our waitress left after taking our drink order. Silly kid.