First Birthday Party

Last Saturday we had Luke's Birthday Party at our house. It was a small family party with hamburgers, cake and presents, and was just perfect for our little guy's first birthday! Here he is listening to everyone sing him "Happy Birthday". Daddy helping him blow out the candle. Luke's first piece of cake. He wasn't sure what to think of this little car. Oh wait this is awesome! Oops, did I eat too much? We are so proud to be his parents. =) My first attempt at decorating a birthday cake. I grew up with my mom making awesome cakes for us, so I am gonna try and continue the tradition. Hopefully I will live up to her!

Here he is with the Gahan family....

...and with Papa, his great-grandfather... (As you can tell, this boy wouldn't sit still)

...and the Gibson family.

Wow, look at all those presents!

Having fun opening his gifts.

On his real birthday we went to Story Time at the library with some friends, and then the next day had some of his buddies over to our house for lunch and cupcakes.

Here we are before Story Time. Luke had a rough day. He just wasn't interested in sitting still and definitely let his mama know that. Let's just say that there was biting involved!

Here are his buddies enjoying lunch at our house.

And here are all the kids sitting for a picture. They all had party hats on at one point, but this is the best shot we could get. =)

Luke's first birthday was wonderful and we will have these memories forever. I can't believe we now have a one year old! Wow!

1 Year Old Today!

Exactly 1 year ago at 6:27 pm, the sweetest little boy came into our lives. I can't believe he has been here an entire year. It went by so fast! I couldn't imagine my life without him and praise God that Brian and I were chosen to be his parents. He brings us so much joy and life is just too fun with him in it! He is still changing daily and in the past month has learned some new tricks.

• Walks super fast and will run from you if you chase him
• Climbs up stairs very quickly (lets just say I was getting groceries out of the car for maybe 1 minute and turned around and he was at the top of the stairs! Yikes that was a little scary!)
• Dances to pretty much all music
• Said his first word- Nigh Nigh (Night Night)- He says this when we put him in his crib and when we read "Goodnight Moon"
• Gives hugs
• Drops things and then puts his hands in the air as if saying "where did it go"
• Brushes his hair
• Waves Bye Bye
• Claps
• Eats anything and everything!
• No more bottles!

Here are a few pictures from Luke's first day of life. He weighed in at 7 pounds, 8 ounces and was 19 and 3/4 inches long.

Happy 1st Birthday Luke! We love you more than you know!

Still Partying!

This weekend we celebrated two more birthdays! We had a little family party for Luke on Saturday at our house, and then on Sunday we went to BJs to celebrate Aunt Tracy's 30th Birthday.

Here is the two of them enjoying BJs.

Luke was having the best time chewing on this straw.

Here he is showing the birthday girl how it is done. He had his party the day before and is now very experienced at blowing out candles. =)

Luke's party was so much fun and I have so many pictures that I will post a little later. He got a lot of great gifts too, including a wagon, 2 lawn mowers (one for inside and a bubble one for outside), some bath toys, a bowling set, some balls, clothes and several stuffed animals. He is having so much fun playing with all of his new things.

Here he is showing off his mowing skills.

Checking to make sure he has enough "gas".

After his party, Brian and I took him to the pool in his new ride. He really loved sitting in the wagon and it was a perfect place to enjoy a nice snack of cheerios and apple juice. =)

Oh and here is one last picture of the newest thing he has learned. The other day my brush got knocked on the floor. Luke went to pick it up and started brushing his hair. I never actually taught him this. It is so fun to see him doing things that he just picks up on his own.

Luke's official birthday is tomorrow! I can't believe my little baby will be 1!

Party Time!

July is a huge month of celebrations in our family. Over a week and half span Luke turns 1, his Tula turns 50, his Aunt Tracy will be 30 and his Uncle Will and Aunt Ali will celebrate their first wedding anniversary! Those are some big milestones this year! Well yesterday was Tula's 50th and we all went to my parents to celebrate. Here is Luke with the Birthday Girl in front of the sign my aunt made her. What a cute little girl my mom was!

Since Luke's birthday is a week from today (WOW!), the Dodges brought their gifts for him early. Here he is with a fun puzzle.

They also got him the cutest shirt. It says Neptune on it, which is my mom's maiden name. We are going to Austin in 2 weeks and Pepaw will absolutely love this shirt on him! Also notice his super cute shoes. They were a gift as well and are little crocodiles.

Here's Luke with his sweet cousin Molly.

After present time the boys got in the pool, and Luke walked around the patio. He found this angel statue and went to hug it. All the girls said "awwww" the first time he did it, so he kept doing it over and over throughout the night. So cute!

Here's Luke relaxing in the pool with Uncle Todd. They actually share the same birthday, July 21st. In fact, Luke also shares his birthday with his Great Grandpa Don. Very cool!

Luke escaped while I was changing him into dry clothes and thought he would go chat with Memaw. What a cute little booty. =)

This past weekend we also attended a birthday party for Miss Isabelle. Her birthday is tomorrow and we had so much fun playing with all the kids. Here he is with the "Lost Group" babies. Boy was this a hard picture to take!

What a fun week we had. I will conclude with more Luke cuteness. Here he is talking on the phone, wearing his 4th of July "USA Rocks" shirt...

... and here is his newest trick. He will drop his sippy cup or knock something over, and then put his hands up in the air and say "doo". Not sure what "doo" means but I think it means "Hey where did it go?". I love it!

Kauai Vacation

We had a fabulous time in Kauai! It was Luke's first vacation and plane ride. He did great! Due to mechanical problems we were actually on the plane for over 9 hours, and with a 5 hour time difference added in, poor little Luke didn't go to bed until 2am Dallas time. He was such a little trouper. Here are some pictures from the first day of travel. Since it was Luke's first plane ride, they let him up in the cockpit of the plane. Here he is with the pilot. Very fancy! =)

Luke did manage to take a few naps on the plane. What a sweet little face.

When we finally got to the house on the north side of the island it was dark, but look at what we woke up to!

Luke was a cheerio eating fool on this trip. I will say that I abused their "special powers" and he pretty much got them whenever he was fussy. Hey, mama's got to have a relaxing vacation too. =)

Here he is with Uncle Rett roaming around the house. Hmmm...I think someone gave him this piece of driftwood to chew on. Mmmm salty!

The first full day we spent hanging out at the house and then went to my favorite beach, Ke'e Beach. It is gorgeous and you can see the Napali Coast in the distance. We were able to swim with sea turtles and saw a ton of different fish. The sand is a darker color here, so if you go later in the day it is sooo hot and almost impossible to walk on with bare feet. The girls got a kick out of watching all the men sprint to the water in pain. =)

Here is Rett, Grant and Will at Ke'e.

The next day we took a walk to the beach next to our house, Tunnel's Beach. You could see Bali Hai and the snorkeling was great as well. This beach is now famous because it is where the teen surfer, Bethany Hamilton, lost her arm after a shark attack 5 or so years ago. Don't worry, we didn't see any sharks!

Luke got a little tired from the walk and fell asleep in the backpack.

After Tunnels Beach, the boys and I went on a zip lining tour. Since Ali is pregnant, and my mom doesn't care for heights, they stayed back with Luke.

The next day we went to Anini Beach. It was very flat and a great little picnic place. The boys started some competitions which included a rock throwing contest and and jumping contest. Boy are those men competitive. =)

Here are the Gibson 4 showing off our jumping skills.

That night for dinner we went to The Dolphin Restaurant in Hanalei. It had a fresh fish market and was so yummy. Here is the whole gang.

Another great site was Waimea Canyon. It is called the Grand Canyon of the Pacific, and is beautiful.

After the canyon we went to my Dad's favorite stop of the trip, JoJo's Shaved Ice. It is sooo good. The best combo is macadamia nut ice cream with coconut shaved ice. Yum!

Here is Luke just having fun on the beach...

...and enjoying a bottle on the beach. Speaking of bottles Luke is now on day 3 of no bottles! He is such a big boy now. =)

Overall the trip was fabulous and it was so much fun to share with family. I have so many more pictures and couldn't post them all. If you want to see them click on the link to my Kauai album on facebook. www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2070493&id=1209952244&l=68fda594a9