Merry Christmas!

Wow, did Santa visit this kid! It was a whirlwind holiday, with a lot of present unwrapping and food eating done by all. Since he's two, Lucas hasn't yet caught on to the idea of "Santa" and all of the accompanying goodness; however, he is all about ripping up some wrapping paper.

We started a new tradition, with Boopa Steve reading "The Night Before Christmas" to Lucas...check out the inaugural reading here...we took seven billion photographs, a handful of which are in the usual place.

Happy holidays, and stay safe and warm.

The Casino Dealer strikes again...

For those of you who may remember, the little man was struck by a mean case of the croup last fall - well, we're just getting over its second visit today. Congestion, productive coughs, syringing out the nose (or "schnorkeling out your schnozzle," as it has become fondly known in our home)...it must be Fall!

It's the great pumpkin!!

Believe it or not, it's actually been a whole YEAR since we last visited "the patch," so it was a little surreal to return and take some more pictures. It is amazing to us just how much larger he is every time we do this!

The pictures are in the usual place, and we got some pretty "freakin' sweet" videos (here and here) of the fun [each one is about 30-40 seconds, so no worries]. Happy Halloween everyone, and enjoy the beautiful Fall weather!

School Daze

We (Daddy and Lucas) seem to be weathering the new school year pretty well, all things considered.

While I wouldn't say that Lucas enjoys being taken to school, he is certainly doing much better than those first few days.

As for Daddy, it is becoming apparent that it's been awhile since I've had this much reading (and writing) to do in such a short period of time. However, I'm with a great bunch of people (that's cohort to you), which makes up for a lot.

Our first day of orientation was a teambuilding day...there's some pretty good pictures involved, some of which I've put up over there...

A Visit from Papa

We had the extreme pleasure of a visit from Lucas' Grandpa Jon, AKA Papa, over the last few days. We didn't really do much, just a lot of relaxing by the pool and talking about old times. Just the same, a good time was had by all and Lucas very much misses his Papa.

I didn't take as many pictures as I normally would have - I was too busy enjoying the company - but what I captured is posted in the usual location. Thanks for coming down Dad, and we'll see you again very soon!

Monday was our first day at preschool....in a related story, Daddy is considering a career of heavy drinking. Actually, while we have had the usual "newbie" crying and screaming fits, his teacher assures me that he is beginning to fit right in. It rips my heart out to see him cry when I leave, but he seems to react very positively to his teachers.

*Sigh*...I have the disturbing feeling that we've left the baby days behind us, tearing blindly (and far too quickly, at times) into the intimidating realm of boyhood.

Suddenly, we have an avid fan of the Animal Channel on our hands. We have exposed him to this channel before, but he was a little freaked out by all of the animals.

For whatever reason, he is now enthralled, entertained and amused by the programming. He gets quite a laugh, especially out of the baby animals.

A day at the Beach

Lucas got to spend his first day at the beach last Friday - we went out to Fort DeSoto and joined up with Edison, Ana Tobin and Eli for a play date.

Lucas had an absolutely smashing time, between building 'sand things' and getting lifted off of his feet by the waves. I think we've found a favorite activity!

Thanks to Lesley and the "Tinnaro Kidz" for inviting us along for the fun...we can't wait to do it again!

As I'm sure you've gathered, there are some pictures to be seen - you know where to look.

Happy Anniversary!!

I just returned from attending Grandpa Tim and Grandma Vera's 60th wedding anniversary party. Yep, sixty years together. We had an absolute blast, listening to a great band and watching the two lovebirds sing and dance!

I took far too few pictures, as I was trying to talk with people I hadn't seen in 20 years or more. For those of you reading this who may have a special picture of the festivities that they'd like to share, please send it to me, and I'll put it up for the family (and the world) to see.

Happy 60th anniversary, Grandma and Grandpa, and thanks for having us get together to celebrate with you!

Daddy's Day

We had a great time celebrating Father's Day yesterday. We were very lucky, in that no one had to work! Lots of food, lots of sun, lots of swimming and relaxing. If the TV was on, there was lots of golf and baseball to be seen by all.

I think this is my new favorite holiday, especially now that we have started a new tradition of 'silly Daddy T-shirts' for gifts.

Samson gets a trim

Lucas has taken to fussing with his ears lately, due to his long curls tickling them. Last night he seemed more aggravated than usual with his hair, so we took a deep breath and gave him his first 'real' haircut.

He suddenly seems 5 years older, and doesn't look like a little baby anymore...sigh...we took a few pictures, although he kept trying to mug for the camera (which makes it hard to get profile shots)!

The Birthday Party

My goodness, but everyone had such a good time yesterday! Lucas (and Mommy and Daddy) hosted the second annual Lucas-palooza at our house, and we had a lot of people over for fun and bouncing.

Lucas feels that the party was a great success, and we had a gorgeous day for celebrating! The pool was cool and refreshing, the food was bountiful and tasty, and the blow-up bouncer was a smash hit (with the grownups as well as the kids)!

As always, we took a slew of pictures, and a couple of short video clips (here and here).

Thanks to everyone who could make it here, and special thanks to Mom Hudgins for helping to set up the bash!

And the first word is...

So there we were, using our time at a traffic light to admire a dump truck and line of school buses. Lucas used his patented "point n' grunt" technique to have me identify the vehicles, which (like a well-trained daddy) I dutifully did.

As the buses began to cross in front of us, I decided we would count them all. Lucas began pointing at the dump truck while I continued to count buses.

After frantic pointing and grunting, he opened his mouth and shrieked (as only an exasperated 23-month-old boy can), "DUM TRUCK!"

Okay, who had their money on 'Dum Truck' for his first word(s)? Yeah, me neither.

Believe me when I say that we're relieved the winner wasn't "No", "Dammit", or "Poop".

Hoppity Hop Hop

Okay okay, I know it's a week and then some since Easter. It took me a bit to find some quiet time, so that I could pare down the "Egg Hunt" video into a couple of small clips - this is better than boring you to sleep with almost 10 minutes of video. They're here and here...enjoy!

The little man took to egg hunting in the manner of one born to the task. No joke - I think next year we'll have to be pretty creative in order to keep him from finding all the eggs in less than a minute. As always, Easter was a blast; hanging with family on the holidays is always a lot of fun, as is watching Lucas play in the yard. As you may have noticed, I got the still pictures from Easter up over there (------>) a while back.

Decisions, decisions...

Well, I know you've all been waiting with fingers crossed, so I'll let you in on the verdict:

We're staying here, and Daddy will be going to USF grad school for the next few years! It was a difficult decision, but we're all thrilled to be staying in the area and remaining near our friends and family. Woo hoo!!!

In other news, the family computer took up smoking and suffered a tragic (but impressive) death. As a result, we have the laptop hooked up to everything and doing more work than it is used to. We still respond to your emails ("thank you for all your cards and letters"), but a little more sloooooooooowly.

Other than that, all of our time is spent chasing the 22-month-old tasmanian devil that lives in our house. We try to get the occasional picture - when he slows long enough to be captured on camera - and post them in the usual place (psssst.....look to your right).

A visit to the Snowy North

We just got back from visiting Grandpa Jon and Grandma Karen. We had a great time, and even the weather was wonderful - sorry that we took it with us when we left! Lucas got to meet an uncle, aunt and cousin on the trip; he also played with more toys than seemed possible...being the youngest grandchild has its benefits.

We took a LOT of pictures, most of them were at a wonderful indoor playground called "Wild Air." What a great trip! We had a blast, and hope to visit again during the summer (so we can play outside!)

The new toy

Lucas VERY MUCH enjoys playing in the yard, and being outside in general. We unveiled a super-whammy-dyne slide (complete with steering wheel - which I don't quite understand) today, and it appears to be a big hit. Pictures? Of course we took pictures! You know where to look.

As I'm sure you can guess, we shot two short movies of the merriment - here and here. Enjoy.

In grad school news, Daddy will either continue to be a Bull or become a Gator. Either way, at least we know now that we'll be staying in Florida. As soon as we make our decision, you'll be the first to know.

School Daze

Sorry for the lack of posts lately; Daddy has been busy with visits to interview for grad schools over the past couple of weeks. While this has been an incredibly stressful period of time, the good news is that it's almost over! We should know within the next month or so where "home" will be for the next ~5 years, if we should have to move.

Aside from all of that excitement, you can see from the newer pictures that life continues - as it should. Lucas is learning that riding a bike is VERY exciting, and his hair becomes curlier by the day. You can see the bike (and hair) action right here.