our own little picasso

Luke loves to paint! He practically wants to do it every day. His favorite color is blue, so that is typically the first color to get used up, but then he moves on to other colors but fondly thinks of blue and talks about how its gone. It's been a great way to pass some of the colder winter days.

scooter time

once again, the weather was so warm today that we got a chance to be outside enjoying the weather. luke is really enjoying riding his scooter and bikes around our court. we are practicing our street safety and look both ways when we cross the street. he basically just shakes his head to both sides and then goes. it's a start!

Luke is our Valentine

every day of the year, but especially today.

gearing up to be a big brother

The hospital where baby brother will be born offers a "Super Big Brother" class for kiddos who are preparing to be older siblings. This was a great class and it was so cute to see Luke in action as he gears up to be a big brother. He loved holding the baby and learning how to change the baby's diaper. Class or no class, we know Luke is going to be a terrific big brother. We are excited to see him transition into his new role.

Super big brother, super big cheesy smile.

Changing baby's diaper. Should be interesting to see if he has any desire to help once baby brother arrives!

sledding!

Luke went sledding for the first time ever with his cousins Christian and Alyssa. There is a great sledding hill practically in the Orozco backyard, so we headed over there for a good ol' sledding session. Luke loved it so much and he even liked climbing back up the hill after a successful trip down. We haven't had that much snow yet this year, but hopefully there will be many years of sledding with the Orozco kids ahead of him.

a little b-ball outside in january!

The temperature was 53 degrees today, so of course we decided to shoot some hoops outside and take advantage of this weather. Who knows when the next day of 50+ degree weather will come around.

Luke in action. He isn't choosey when it comes to the type of ball he uses to shoot hoops.

Happy to you Daddy!!

Great Grandma Crowe Turns 90!!

Luke's Great Grandma Crowe turned 90 years old on January 2nd. We traveled up to Oshkosh, WI to celebrate this momentous event with her and all the Crowe family. It was wonderful to see everyone and get the entire Crowe clan together.

Great Grandma Crowe and all of her 18 great grand children (soon to be 19 in March).

Anna Mae Crowe, the matriarch of the Crowe family - all 41 of us.

Christmas Season 2011

We had a great Christmas season this year. It was a busy time of year filled with a visit to see Santa (that went much better than last year), tree trimming, family celebrations, visits with good friends, and birthday festivities.

This year, Santa knew what he was doing when it came to having little ones sit on his lap. Santa told us that we'd all sit down with him and get a few pictures and then each of the parents would slink away, leaving only Luke sitting on Santa's lap. It worked great! You can tell that Luke still wasn't 100% comfortable sitting on his lap, but it was a vast improvement over last year! Then of course, Luke talked about it for days and days afterward!

The whole family posing with the jolly old elf.

Luke giving his best "cheese" while slightly uncomfortable being the only one left with Santa.

Loving the tree and all the decorations (this tree looks a little small in the space we have now, but it was a perfect tree for our condo). :)

Johnson Family Christmas celebration at our house. All the cousins posing for the camera.

Upon our arrival to Georgia, Luke needed to unwind with a good guitar duet with his Gramps.

Luke also got a little Georgia cousin time. He loves Anna, Ella, and KK and says their names in that order like they are one person. :)

We took a day trip to visit the Bridges family in Greenville, SC. Luke and Will had a nice time visiting and having a good ol' snack of animal crackers together while bonding over the fish the Bridges were "fish sitting."

On Christmas Eve we went to church and Luke sat with us through the entire service. He really enjoyed watching everyone and "singing" Christmas music. His favorite part was when we celebrated Jesus' birth by singing "Silent Night" by candle light (my favorite part too).

Luke finishing out the advent calendar by putting baby Jesus in his bed of hay on Christmas Eve night.

Posing for the camera one more time with Gram and Gramps before bed time.

Christmas day present extravaganza!

The day after Christmas we spent part of the day at the firehouse that Gramps volunteers for. It's always a highlight for Luke to get to see the firetrucks up close and personal. He loves it!

We also celebrated mine and Eric's birthdays. Luke did a great job singing "Happy to you" and helping to blow out the birthday candles!

Thanksgiving 2011

Happy Thanksgiving! We enjoyed a great brunch meal at Grandpa Frank and Grandma Kathy's and then a nice turkey dinner at the Orozco household. This year we were able to take a "nap break" between Thanksgiving meals since we live so close to everyone now - it was wonderful!! And we're excited to see what Thanksgiving looks like next year with another little Johnson boy in the mix. :)