Luke's First Thanksgiving!

Luke thoroughly enjoyed his first Thanksgiving complete with turkey, dressing, and even pumpkin pie. Of course his favorite part of today was spending time with family and entertaining the crowd. Luke loves to give hugs & kisses (he can pucker and make a "kiss" sound now), wave and say "Hi!", and he shares his sweet smile with just about anyone who makes eye contact!! Mike and I have so much to be thankful for (especially our sweet baby boy) and if you are a reader of this blog we count you as one of our many blessings!

Happy Thanksgiving!
Love,
Mike, Megan, and Luke

Waiting patiently for dinner to begin...

Aunt Linda carving the delicious turkey!

Mmm...these sweet potatoes are soooo yummy!!

Everything was beautiful and the food was excellent!

So sweet!

Working the crowd!

Luke, Mommy, and Uncle Bob...Luke LOVES Daddy's cell phone. (We learned the hard way it's important to lock the key pad after Luke accidentally called several people at GE, including Mike's boss, before we realized what he was doing!) One of Luke's favorite new games is "talking on the phone." This is an especially fun way to practice his new word "Hi!"

(A side note...Luke's favorite friend to say "hi" to is Lily. He actually says "Hi Di-dee!", too cute! )

Giving Thanks!

As we prepare for Thanksgiving on Thursday my heart is full of joy and thanks from a weekend filled with the very best things...good friends, sweet memories, and even a precious new life!

Friday night Mike and I got dressed up for a night out (yeah!) and went to GE's Grand Event held at the Hall of Mirrors in the Hilton Hotel downtown. It was lovely in the ballroom, the food was great, and we enjoyed casino games with a few of Mike's colleagues from work. I'm pretty lucky when it comes to roulette but I found I'm even better when the money is #1: not ours and #2: not real!
Saturday we got up early and headed up to West Lafayette, IN and our alma mater Purdue University!! It was a windy and cold but we still managed a walk around campus and even took a few pictures with Luke. Mike and I enjoyed reminiscing about college life and I was reminded again how blessed we were to have such happy memories.
My favorite part of being on campus was visiting Greyhouse, the coffee shop that PCCH recently renovated and opened. It is AMAZING!! As soon as we walked through the doors I felt the same sense of peace that I had each time I walked into Campus House. There was something so wonderfully familiar and easy about being there it felt like coming home. I could have spent hours just sipping my tea. However, since we had Luke with us I ordered my chai to go! Seriously, everything is just perfect and the vibe is so cool...if you ever have a chance to stop by it is worth the trip!!
Our fun day was capped off with dinner at O'Charley's where we were able to meet up with some of our dear friends from Maryland (also Purdue grads...except Mindy) who were on campus for the Old Oaken Bucket Game, Purdue v. IU. Purdue won 62-10 Go Boilermakers! But, IU did score 10 points...Go IU! (That's for Mindy!) We loved spending time with all of our friends and their terrific kiddos...Maya has the sweetest disposition and Ryan is SO smart! We hope to meet Oliver in person soon too- I can tell by Mindy and Larry's blog he is a very sweet little boy! We had hoped to meet for breakfast the next morning but after a rough night (i.e. sleeping away from home can be hard...for kids and grown ups!) we decided to leave before breakfast. Luke slept almost all the way home (good for us!) and we got nice naps in the afternoon too. We hope to see all of our MD friends again very soon!!
Sunday evening after a yummy dinner with Mike's family we ended our weekend in the very best way...meeting Lauren and Ryan's new blessing Gwyn Addison born Friday evening. She is just beautiful and there is nothing better than cuddling a brand new baby!! Celebrating her little life was the perfect end to a wonderful weekend!

Gwyn sleeping peacefully.Congratulations Ryan and Lauren! We agree...she is perfect!!Mommies and babies : ).Hmm...wouldn't we be cute as a family of four? Mike says not to get any crazy ideas!

Halloween

We enjoyed Luke's first Halloween last night! We decided to wait on trick-or-treating until he can walk and eat the treats. So we joined our neighbors for their annual driveway party and enjoyed yummy chili, passing out candy, and eating a few treats of our own. Luke munched on crackers, played with his friend Madeline "Miss Monkey", and just looked adorable in his alligator costume!

Despite no actual trick-or-treating Luke was not short in the treat department. Our friend and neighbor Meredith (Madeline's mommy) filled a very cute pumpkin sack with toddler treats and Nana & Papa brought over a treat bag with puff cereal and a few treats for Luke's Mommy and Daddy too!

My sweet alligator!

Madeline "Miss Monkey" smiling with Luke's Nana.

Aunt Sarah "Cinderella", Nana, and Papa stopped by to trick-or-treat and visit for a while. Then they went to Chipoltle for dinner...on a side note, Chipoltle gives out free burritos on Halloween if you come dressed in costume or as a burrito (i.e.wrap a little tin foil around yourself for free dinner!).

Looking for treats.

Winding down at the end of a fun evening.
Good night hugs for our next door neighbor Lorie. See you later alligator...

HallZOOween!

This morning we met friends at the Cincinnati Zoo for HallZOOween! Kids are encouraged to come in costume and there are special Halloween events during the day...like treat stations, pumpkin smashing & eating by the animals, and pumpkin carving demonstrations (by the zookeepers...not the animals). We were a little early for most of the activities because we were trying to fit in our visit before afternoon naps, but we did manage to pick up a couple of treats before leaving. I was so worried today would be rainy (after all the rain yesterday) but it turned out to be a beautiful sunny crisp Fall day at the zoo- perfect for bundling up and drinking hot chocolate while visiting the animals. We will definitely be making this a new family tradition : )!

Corinne "Flower", Luke "Alligator", Bryce "Elephant",

and Adam "Dinosaur"

They were all SO cute dressed in their costumes!

When Luke smiles his big wrinkled-nose-grin you can now see two top teeth coming in!

Cuddling with Mommy. We love how Luke gives us hugs and kisses!

Staying warm with hot chocolate!

The giraffe exhibit is so cool, Luke and Daddy were able to feed the giraffe a piece of leafy green lettuce. See the giraffe tongue reaching for it? Mike actually got licked by the giraffe! We encouraged him to use a little hand sanitizer after that encounter : ).

Such sweet kids...

One of the treats being passed out was a cup of UDF icecream. Luke enjoyed a little bite and then Mommy and Daddy helped finish it. A fun way to end our time at the zoo!

A cute side story...
While Luke was enjoying his nibble of ice cream a zoo keeper stopped us and commented "I didn't know alligators enjoyed chocolate ice cream." I said, "Of course they do! Maybe the zoo should consider adding it to the zoo alligator's diet. I think they would like it." Then he asked, "What kind of alligator is he?" Mike responded, "A wiggly, tired alligator." The zoo keeper said, "Yes, I'm familiar with that species!" So are we...and hopefully after a nap our little 'gator will be all smiles again!

"Get your blog on!"

Yesterday Mike said "Megan, you need to get your blog on!" and post all of the pictures we've taken over the past couple of weeks. I admit when it comes to blogging I have been a bit of a slacker!! So I think I am finally caught up now...enjoy our past two weeks in review!

Also, a few pictures at home with our pumpkins after we returned from the pumpkin farm...

Pumpkin Farm

On Saturday we went to one of our favorite places...Hidden Valley Fruit Farm! I love our family tradition of going to the 'pumpkin farm' and look forward to the apple fritters, pumpkin donuts, and fresh apple cider all year!! Of course picking out pumpkins is also part of the fun! This year was extra special because we shared the experience with good friends and our sweet baby boy!

After our visit to the apple orchard last week and Luke's new found love of apples I think he is trying to take a bite out of this weird looking apple. Sorry buddy, this isn't quite so tasty!

Luke and his friend Adam chillin' in the pumpkins.

Luke, Corinne, and Adam in the pumpkins!

I like this one Mommy!

This pumpkin patch is fun!

I found some more my size!Mommy's little pumpkin!