Luke's First Christmas

We had a wonderful first Christmas with Luke. He enthusiastically helped open presents, loved playing with his new toys, and provided our family with much entertainment on Christmas day. Here are some of our favorite moments:



The kids were ready for Christmas!



Santa left a big present for Luke this year!



Opening one of his presents...



Luke thinks he is pretty cool driving around in his new car!



Playing in his new house...



Luke gave Mimi and Grandpa a special present that we made.



All boy here!!



Our little elves



Our slideshow can also be viewed under the "Winterhoff Family Photo Albums" link on the right side of this webpage.

Visit to the North Pole

Our family took a quick trip to the North Pole this weekend!




On our journey, we saw a toy soldier.




We also spotted some snowmen!




Luke told Santa what he wanted for Christmas this year...




Winnie even came along to get her picture taken with Santa, too!



Funny how both the pet-friendly Santa and Santa in his sleigh just happened to have southern accents and used the word "ain't" when speaking to children. Gotta love South Carolina!

Christmas in Williamsburg

We went to Williamsburg last weekend to celebrate Christmas with the Winterhoff family. Grams and Poppy did so much to create a special celebration for all of their children and grandchildren. Luke loved playing with his cousins and we enjoyed our annual tradition of spending a Christmas weekend together as a family. Here are some of our favorite pictures and a slideshow of our Winterhoff Christmas:


Grams and Poppy with Luke





Slideshow:

The Magic of Christmas

Here are a few of our favorite poses from Luke's Christmas pictures. Everything about the holiday season seems to be a bit more magical this year: The bright lights on the tree, the colorful packages and bows, the joyful carols and spirit of the season, and most of all, the wonderous gift of our Savior's birth.




Look what Santa left under the tree!



Reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas"



"Pass the eggnog, please!"

On the Move!

Our little man is becoming mobile! Although Luke isn't crawling yet, he is certainly on the move! Recently, he likes to be on his tummy on our hardwood floor where he is able to spin in circles. I think he looks like he is breakdancing, and it certainly makes us laugh! Below is a video of Luke proudly showing off his newfound mobility:



Luke also seems to love "dancing" while in his Exersaucer. He bounces up and down and stays very busy. I am embracing these days of being able to keep Luke in one place, before I begin chasing him all over our house! Here's our little jumping bean in action:

O Christmas Tree!

We've spent a busy few days decorating our house for Christmas,and the highlight of our weekend was finding our Christmas tree. I think we've overdone it a little this year, but I rationalize this (again!) by saying that Luke only has a First Christmas once, and we are feeling very festive this year. Here are the stats on "Goliath," our tree:

-Height: 12 feet tall

-Adornments: 1400 white lights
Hundreds of ornaments (all Mark's and mine from growing up, with
one very special addition this year)

-Water Consumption: Multiple gallons per day

-Electricity used to light our tree for the next month: 100,000 KwH
(My GE husband's exaggerated guess!)

-Family Memories created: Priceless



Luke woke up yesterday morning ready to go Christmas tree hunting!


Our Perfect Tree!


Riding home after finding our tree (with Goliath on top of the Jeep).


Our new ornament for 2008!

Giving Thanks

We spent a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend in Pennsylvania with my family, full of great food, visits from friends, and lots of attention for Luke! We realize how much we have to be thankful for this year, and holidays seem to have special significance as we watch Luke experience so many things for the first time.



Luke donned his Thanksgiving outfits proudly, although I'm not sure Winnie was thrilled with her turkey scarf!




Luke also loved playing with his Mimi and Grandpa...




...and posed proudly with some of his favorite girls!




Another magical "first" occurred when Luke saw Santa Claus arrive on his sleigh at the Macy's Thanksgiving parade. Look at that face full of wonder!




A new tradition for Baby Luke:

Opening "Pre-Christmas" presents on Thanksgiving Day




Below is a slideshow of some of our other favorite pictures from our Thanksgiving weekend:

Luke's 7-month portraits

We had Luke's 7-month pictures professionally taken today, and love them! He looks like such a big boy compared to his 3-month portraits, and once again we bought way too many pictures. The studio also took lots of cute Christmas pictures of Luke, but we are saving those to share on a future blog post closer to the holidays. We hope you enjoy these poses of our cutie!

Our Little Turkey!

As we prepare for Thanksgiving this week, we give thanks for our many blessings.
We are thankful for our family, friends, health, and especially for our dear little Butterball, Luke! We wish you all a very happy holiday on Thursday!

BB Birthday Weekend

This weekend, we went to Charlottesville, VA to meet my college friends, the BBs, for a joint birthday celebration. All of the BBs turned 30 this year, and as our present to each other, we decided to plan a fun weekend getaway at the Boar's Head Inn. We had a wonderful time dining, wine tasting, and visiting. My boys stayed with Mark's brother and his family, (who also live in Charlottesville) and we were fortunate to also be able attend a Winterhoff family celebration for our niece's upcoming 5th birthday. We had such a fantastic visit with everyone, and although the weekend seemed to fly by, we created great memories and loved spending time with so many of the people who are most special to us!


The BBs pose with the first BB baby


Our big boy with Mommy and Daddy


Luke loves hugging BB Ang!



BB aunts Cary, Emily, and Jessica all adore Luke


Luke also loved meeting BB Krissy for the first time!


We are all Wake Forest Alumni (with 2 Demon Deacon babies!),
& cheered for WFU while watching the game on Saturday


Here's our slideshow from Maya's family birthday party, too!

New Discoveries

For the past few weeks, Luke seems to have discovered something new every day. We love seeing the world through a child's eyes, and revel at the wonder that Luke finds in everything as he develops new skills. Here are a few of our favorite recent family discoveries:




Luke learned that finding his toes is quite tasty!



Tall Daddy discovered how fun it is to have a sidekick
join him in seeing the world from up high!




Mommy found that folding clothes isn't even
a chore with this cutie in the laundry basket!



Mark and I realized that as joyous as it is watching Luke
become more independent, it still tugs at our heartstrings a little.



And best of all, this video shows our children discovering how much fun it is to have a sibling!