A toddler day...

Yes, that's our pantry in the background of the picture... and that's my very mad son, after getting into mischief and pulling an enormous container of flour off the shelf, spilling it everywhere. Luke now shrieks with despair when he is told "No" and puts his head down on the floor in utter dismay. I couldn't catch him in time to prevent this mess from happening, and Luke was inconsolable after the container came crashing down. When Mark came home from work and helped us clean up the Great SC Flour Incident of 2009, he told Luke that he was banned from the pantry until he starts stocking one! Some days are so easy, with my happy, cheerful child, and some days are just those toddler kind of days...

The End of the Birthday

Grams and Poppy came to visit this weekend, which officially signified the last of the celebrations for Luke's first birthday. After 3+ weeks of celebrating, Mark and I have finally accepted that our baby is a 1-year-old, and have promised that we will tone everything down a bit next year! We had a wonderful weekend with our family, and have posted more pictures of their visit along with others from this month in our Winterhoff Family Photo Albums. Here are some of the highlights:


Still not thrilled with icing or cake!



Of the many, many presents that Grams and Poppy brought Luke, the balloon was his absolute favorite!



We went to the zoo, and Luke loved seeing the animals this time...



Enjoying the beautiful weather with Poppy



We tried out Luke's new baby pool- look at that bathing beauty!

Outdoor Fun

Spring is one of my favorite times of year in South Carolina, and we've had great weather here recently. While our friends and family in the Northeast are beginning to thaw from the long, frigid winter that they have endured, we have enjoyed budding trees, colorful spring blooms, and warm days for weeks. Now that the days are longer, we spend many evenings in the backyard playing with some of the new outdoor toys that Luke has received for his birthday. Here are some pictures of Luke's first time playing with his new water and sand table from my friend, Nicole. As you can see, Winnie enjoys Luke's toys as much as her little brother!



Checking out this new, fun toy!



The kids busy at play...



Sopping wet little man!



A strip-down was required after getting soaked!

Happy Birthday, Luke!

Dear Luke,
Today Daddy and I celebrate the amazing gift that we have been given in your birth, one year ago. It is our joy and privilege to be your parents, and every day we thank God for bestowing you to our care. We love you more than we can express, and you have made our lives incredibly rich and full. Happy Birthday, sweet boy! Love, Mommy

(More birthday pictures are posted under our Winterhoff Family Photo Albums!)

Dinner Tonight

We're currently accepting reader submissions for a caption for the above photo (please post in the "comments" section). Winner to receive a prize, yet to be determined!

Our family proposals so far:

Carrie: "Utensils are sooooo overrated!"
Mark: "#1 Spaghetti Eater"
Winnie: "Guess who gets to lick my brother clean?"
Luke: "Not another naked picture of me on the internet!"

Luke's First Easter

We had a wonderful Easter yesterday, and have posted our pictures in our Winterhoff Family Photo Albums (link on right) and in the slideshow below. Here are a couple of my favorite photos of Luke's first Easter: one of him waking up to find that the Easter Bunny left a basket of goodies in his room, and another of our handsome big boy dressed up in his Easter Sunday outfit!

Let the Birthday Begin!

I'm sure this will be the first of several posts that I share detailing the many celebrations that we have planned for Luke's first birthday this month. With 9 days to go until his actual birthday, we have already had 2 parties for the little man: a family celebration with my parents and sister last night, and we hosted 22 people today for Luke's 1st birthday party with his friends. I'll share all of the adorable details soon, but wanted to at least post this video of Luke after we sang "Happy Birthday" and ate cake. As you can see, all of the festivities completely wore out the birthday boy, and he fell asleep in his high chair for the first time in his life! Even with all of the partygoers and noise, Luke slept soundly for the rest of the party.






Sometimes being the center of attention is exhausting!



Our little party animal...

This is why we have a blog...

One of the main reasons we have a blog is because we live so far away from our family and friends, and want a way for them to share Luke's "firsts" with us via photos and videos. Tonight, we captured one of those moments that makes it all worthwhile! Here's the story:

It's T-minus 2 days until Luke's Grandpa and Mimi Richardson and Aunt Jamie arrive for Easter weekend. In preparation for his special visitors, we have been showing Luke pictures of his grandparents and aunt and repeating their names. Tonight at dinner, Luke looked at the shelf where there is a photo of Grandpa and clearly said his name for the first time. We have 48 hours to work on "Mimi" and "Jamie" so that Luke does not play favorites!!



P.S. Do you think that after Grandpa watches this video, he'll be even more excited to visit?!

Palm Sunday

At our church service this morning, we were given crosses made from palm fronds in honor of Palm Sunday. We tucked Luke's away in his shirt pocket, where he sweetly kept it throughout the service until we got home. Here he is in his Sunday best!

Easter's On Its Way!

"Here comes Peter Cottontail
Hoppin' down the bunny trail...
Hippity Hoppity, Easter's on its way!"

(Mark and I have been singing that song all morning, much to our children's dismay!)

We just returned from our neighborhood Easter party, where Luke participated in an Egg Hunt, decorated his own Easter basket, and met the Easter Bunny! We had a great time and got lots of cute pictures of Luke enjoying the festivities!


Posing with the Easter basket we made...



Luke's not sure if pink is his color!



We've got one!


Checking out this new, furry friend!