Luke's 2nd

Luke’s big day finally arrived and this year he seemed to know more of what the commotion was all about. It was his second birthday and he was into everything: the cakes, the balloons, and friends and family coming by for a visit, the singing, and of course the birthday presents. We had a small party with local relatives in Murphy, celebrating with a barbecue and some of the cutest vintage car cakes. Luke’s Nonna sent a great cake tin and all the candies to decorate the little cakes. He had a great time snacking on the extra candies, even swiping the occasional “wheel” off the cars for a taste---gummy Lifesavers are hard to pass up if your 2! It was wonderful to see Luke enjoying the day and his family, especially his little cousins Delaney and Morgan. It was only diminished by missing members of Ben’s family in WI, PA, and FL. We appreciated all the calls and cards from our friends and relatives far way, especially those in Italy with whom we celebrated Luke’s first birthday last year. At two, Luke is talking very well, forming short sentences and repeating nearly any word you say to him. He knows his colors and body parts, and we’re still working on letters and numbers. He can call nearly all this relatives by their names (or some pronunciation of them), even identifying them by sight in photographs from years ago. The only confusion he regularly makes is identifying a young Michele or Lauren (our sisters) as himself: “Dat’s Wuke.” L’s are still hard to say J He loves to play hard all day long: farm set with the barn and tractor, coloring books and crayons, kicking and chasing a ball, and “playing” the piano to name a few favorites. His only breaks are for a hard fought nap, story time, snack, or maybe a favorite kids’ show. He’s always busy and having fun. So here’s to Luke on his 2nd birthday and the many more to come. I can only imagine all the new things he’ll do during this coming year.

Little Mr. Sunshine

Seeing January as a great time to head further south to the Sunshine State, we finally made it down to Florida for a visit with Ben’s grandmother and aunt. We had a great time seeing them with Luke and how loving he was toward them. The weather was warm, breezy and beautiful for our visit, a welcome break from weeks of rainy and gray days in NC. Ben and I took Luke to Flagler Beach, where both and he and I vacationed as children since we both had relatives in the area. We never crossed paths way back then (to our knowledge anyway) but it is fun to have that shared place in our childhoods to revisit with Luke.

Like his father, Luke is a natural in the water, “falling” on purpose just to get wet as we walked along the shore. He loves chasing the birds as well as the incoming tides. Ben’s Aunt Sue took us on a great day trip to St. Augustine; we enjoyed a lazy lunch on the waterfront and a nice walk around town. Flagler College was a treat to see; the architecture is wonderful and the ongoing restoration is very well done. More than these sites, it was just nice to spend time with family there. I’m looking forward to more frequent visits back to Florida now that we’re in the South again.

The Newest Year

We kicked off the New Year with my family in Murphy, celebrating not only an important new year ahead but a new half-century for my father. His 50th birthday began around 1:30AM on Jan. 1, 2009. We were so glad to be with him to mark the start of another great year. I made him a crossword puzzle of fifty clues reminiscing about his last 50 years. He had fun working it aloud over a nice birthday dinner. We’ll soon celebrate the ‘new year’ of Luke’s second birthday, marking the start of his 3rd year of life. We can’t believe how time is flying. A couple days later, we’ll watch with awe as Barak Obama takes his oath of office and starts what we hope will be the newest year of change for America in recent memory. There’s much work to be done, and we can only pray he will be able to motivate and mobilize the country in a good effort to recover, rebuild, and reconnect.