BBQ Festival 5K Walk/Run

John and Luke ran the BBQ festival 5K this year during Mother's Day weekend. There were around 400 participants this year...not counting Luke. The run took place on a Saturday morning.

Pre-race....Luke wasn't enjoying this time much. He's having his breakfast milk here.

Daddy and Luke at the start line, waiting for the race to begin.

Here is Luke in his shades with his walking buddy. He started toting the bunny around on our walks in the neighborhood, so we brought him along for the race. The best part is the bunny sings and moves. We get lots of laughs as we walk.
The race is on. They've gone about a quarter of the way at this point. John's strategy was to start in the back with the walkers so he could pass the "slow people" along the way. That's pretty good encouragement to get you to the finish line.

WE MADE IT!!! I didn't get to the finish line before they did because I stopped to get water and pick up a few groceries. John said he let Luke out of the stroller to run to the finish line the last 25 feet of the race. I am still disappointed I didn't get to see that, but John said Luke was all smiles and laughing as the crowd cheered him on.

Following the race, Luke was checking out the dogs in the crowd. Since he has had some time around big dogs at Grammy & Pappy's farm, Luke shows little to no fear around other big dogs, which is a little scary for Mommy. This was a friendly German Shepherd that Luke liked.

Luke's Buddy

Here is Luke's sleeping buddy, Mickey Mouse. He snuggles up to him when he naps and goes down for the night. Luke calls him, "Me-Mou," (Mou rhymes with cow). This is very close to what he called me for a long time, "Me-Ma." Luke seems to be growing out of that one though, so I'm now Mommy (John has been Daddy for a while.)

Girl Time

During April 3 of my college friends came to visit. We all have April birthdays and celebrated together during college. We decided to relive the old days and celebrate together again. From left to right is Luke and me, Jessica and her son Ross, Natalie, and Jennifer. We had a fun time. John was a very gracious husband letting me have a slumber party with my friends.

Easter and April

So, yes...I'm still behind on Luke's pictures. We are in Kansas City right now, heading home tomorrow. If it's any consolation, I am up-to-date according to the pictures on the computer since we haven't unloaded the camera in a month. We have lots more pictures and some videos to post from our trip. Hopefully I can also post a list of the latest and greatest things Luke is doing sometime in the near future. For now, here are some pictures from April.

Here is our cool cat on Easter sporting his Easter shades from Grammy and Pappy. This wasn't actually the planned Easter outfit, but the weather turned very cool and the original outfit wouldn't work. We didn't have dress shoes since we had just bought sandals to go with the original outfit, so the kiddo was very hip on Easter since he had to wear socks and sandals to church. Unfortunately that's not in the picture.

Wearing Daddy's boots...some big shoes to fill.

Hammin' it up for the camera.

CHEESE!!!

The Easter Egg Hunt

The much anticipated Easter Egg Hunt pictures are finally here. We did our hunt at church the weekend before Easter, and the weather was great. Luke had already had a few practice sessions with me at home around the yard, so he had an idea of what was expected of him;) We had been practicing with prizes in the eggs (cheerios/pretzels), but we found out the church did things a little differently. They divided the children into 3 separate areas according to age, which we loved, and the eggs were basically spread across the lawn. It was more of a "pick-up" than a hunt. These eggs were empty though, and they turned in their eggs for a prize. Every child received the same prize bag, another idea we thought was great. They also had "prize eggs" that you turned in for a special prize, but I don't think they put those in the baby section.

And we're off...as you can see, the bunny ears have already come off.

We're off to a good start. Eggs are going into the basket, just as planned.

The discovery is made....these eggs are empty.

Luke's attention to the game is now lost since there seems to be no point in picking up empty eggs. He quickly shows great interest in the "bahs" floating in the air....balloons.

Ready for something new to do.

Wow....now this is where the fun is happening! Luke found the eggs that had already been turned in to be much easier to throw into his basket than the ones on the ground. Plus they were lots of fun to play with. Eggs went flyin'!

Makeover

Well, what can I say.....Luke likes makeup. Now don't worry. He mostly likes to try and put it on me, but he likes to take the sponge or brush across his own face occasionally. Really it's not the makeup that interests him at all. He just wants to hold the sponge or brushes. These pictures were taken the first time I let him hold some of my applicators.

He thought this was pretty neat.

A little blush on the head never hurts. He made the funniest expressions when he would put it on his own face, much concentration.

FRESH FACE!!!
Oh, and by the way....Daddy was still at work:)

Finishing Up March Pictures

These pictures were taken on one of those fun mornings when Luke is wiped out by 9:00 because he woke up at 5:30. Fortunately, this hasn't happened again in the last couple of weeks.

Luke was enjoying his morning dose of PBS under the chess table.

This is the book Luke chose for Daddy to read to him. He is a very ambitious reader.