pumpkin patch luke

yesterday luke and i headed up to apple holler (or holl-a! as we affectionately called it) in sturtevant, wisconsin to meet our friends ms. amy and her little guy simon (9 months old). the warm weather was such a special treat and we really enjoyed our time at the pumpkin farm and apple orchard.

oh, and while we were there, we got the news that luke's newest cousin, Collin Matthew Johnson, was born that day. just one year and one day after luke. luke is excited to meet him and start showing him the ropes! he is a veteran afterall. :)

getting lost (but still having fun) in the corn maze.

group shot on our hay ride through the apple orchard. we were kind of confused that there wasn't any hay on the tractor, but it was still pretty cool. :)

luke and simon trying to pick out just the right pumpkin for carving and roasting of the seeds.

luke is 12 months old! 10.6.10

even with all the birthday posts, i wanted to stay true to our monthly updates. luke is officially 12 months old! and for old time sake, let's look back at what he looked like 11 months ago with our first monthly update. it amazes me how he has changed so much.

lucas quinn johnson. 12 months old on 10.6.10

lucas quinn johnson. 1 month old on 11.6.09

luke is officially a one-year old!

after luke had his first birthday party a couple of days early, we (or maybe just "i") basked in the last few days before he officially became a one-year old. i even got a little teary eyed the night before his birthday when i put him to bed for the last time as "a baby." this last year just went by too fast and in the blink of an eye we have a one-year old on our hands.

we are so proud of our luke and are in such awe over all the things that transpired during this last year. two days after he was born when we received his "infantile stroke" diagnosis we just didn't know what would be in store for him or us. he has been a joy to us each and every day (yes, even the days of lots of crying as a newborn). we thank God for this precious gift we've been given and give him all the Glory. i just love hearing his belly laugh fill our house, watching him discover new things, and seeing his little personality develop. i have a feeling we're in for a fun year ahead of us!

luke playing with his birthday balloons on his big day - what a cheap form of entertainment.

waking up from his morning nap. bed-head and all. if you look carefully you can see he even has a little birthday cake left on his face from his big party on saturday. oh, wait. maybe that's breakfast. ;)

if you didn't notice, it's luke's first birthday! just wanted to make sure everyone knew.

a special treat to spend his actual b-day with his gram and gramps!

luke's first ever birthday lunch (at one of our favorite neighborhood spots - harmony grill). it was such a nice day out that we even got to sit outside! a very special treat for the birthday boy.

the token pictures of mommy and daddy with the little man of the day.

luke's first birthday party!

luke had a great first birthday party over the weekend. he had a blast opening presents, eating cake and just enjoying the time with all his family. i guess i was just happy that he enjoyed it so much and didn't have any meltdowns during the party. our little monkey had a blast!

luke, the first birthday boy, in all his sock monkey glory!

luke and his proud parents.

luke's smash cake and cupcakes. and of course they were from sweet mandy b's (a local chicago bakery who makes the best cupcakes)!

posing in front of his mountain of b-day gifts (thanks everyone!)!

this kid loves a good book and his birthday cards fit that bill!

another shot of the birthday boy and his proud parents.

luke digging into his birthday cake. he was pretty delicate with it but enjoyed the sweetness!

and a little video of all of us singing "happy birthday" to luke. the quality isn't the best, but enjoy!

luke meets his great grandma johnson

over the weekend we headed to truro, iowa a small town in south central iowa, population 427 (according to the 2000 US census). truro is located in madison county iowa which is the where the book "bridges of madison county" took place. not only that, but more importantly it is where luke's great grandma johnson lives. we took the 6 hour road trip over a long weekend and had a great visit.

luke and his grandpa and daddy on the tractor outside of the machine shed restaurant in des moines, iowa. luke loved "driving" the big tractor and he also loved the machine shed's delicious sweet potato fries!

luke meeting his great grandma johnson for the very first time.

luke has heard a lot about great grandma johnson's beautiful backyard and garden. he wanted to check it out for himself. the weather was beautiful the day we arrived (the other days it rained), so we're glad he was able to enjoy the yard for at least one day. we also were able to take home some fresh green beans from ggj's garden. yum!

besides the first meeting of ggj and luke it was also a very special weekend as ggj celebrated her 93rd birthday while we were in town with 50 of her closest friends and relatives! happy birthday ggj!

luke's a salad spinner

luke constantly wants to be in the kitchen with me, so in an effort to keep him entertained versus tugging at my legs while i do dishes, we pulled out this fantastic kitchen gadget . it has quickly become a new favorite toy for luke. he loves this thing!

downtown lucas quinn

this summer luke and i planned to visit daddy downtown during the week and have lunch with him at a nearby park. well, today we finally had a chance to do it. it was a gorgeous day and we enjoyed the nice fall day and lunch on the lawn (followed, of course, by a swing!). considering how hot our summer was, this actually was better for us all!

meal time is still...

...messy. lately luke has been going for the spoon more frequently and this is what happens when he wields it for part of his meal time. oh yeah. this boy loves his food and he loves to wear it too!

luke is 11 months old! 9.6.10

we sure do have one happy little boy on our hands. it is so hard to believe that there are only 4 more weeks until luke turns 1. where did this last year go?

eric and i did a little reminiscing about what was going on in our lives one year ago around this time - before we even knew that baby j was indeed a boy and before God blessed us with our precious little luke. we had just taken a few days of "babymoon" at the w hotel downtown and were just about to gear up for a major construction project in our home to get ready for baby j. wow. that seems so long ago, yet it doesn't. i sometimes wish we could just stop time. especially at this fun 11 month stage with luke. we love him so much!

luke's first beach vacation - charleston, sc

at the end of august we took a vacation to the isle of palms, south carolina just outside of charleston. we went with our good friends, brian, katie and will bridges. you may recall them from earlier posts. luke and will are just four days apart in age. the bridges family currently lives in greenville, sc and we met them through our church small group back in 2007 while they lived here in chicago for a year. we continue to be great friends as we raise our boys miles apart.

bridges/johnson family vacation 2010.

luke and will checking out the beach. and by checking out, i mean eating the sand and scanning the sky for birds.

luke and his momma watching the waves roll in.

luke catching some hang time with daddy.

johnson. party of 3.

will and luke were each other's wingman. one of these days they'll be fighting over who is goose and who is maverick.

proudly wearing our vacation t-shirts. the back of the shirts said (vacations used to seem like...vacations). that certainly rang true as there was no sleeping in or even sleeping through the night on vacation. we were convinced the boys were scheming against us. we staged a "parents take back the control" intervention one night but it didn't quite work out in our favor. i guess there's always next year! thanks brian, katie and will for a wonderful week! looking forward to many more to come.