Some Updates

This girl...

is growing so much! Mckenna's vocabulary is exploding! Talking in sentences is an understatement! She can carry on a conversation with you, tell you how her day was, and express all of her love for you with words. You will often hear her say, "That's a great idea!" or "You're welcome, Dad!" or "I wanna wrestle!" or the ever so hard question to answer... "WHY?" Kenna will cuddle close to bed time, watching one of her favorite movies. She is still a ball of fire and is CONSTANTLY on the move! She loves coloring, blowing bubbles, playing play-doh, and being outside! The swing-set in the backyard is going to get a TON of use this summer, I can tell. Kenna is in the "helpful" stage, she will help fold laundry, fix her dinner, pick up toys, bring dishes to the kitchen, the list really is endless! She will tell you that she loves her "brother-sister" even though we have told her over and over Q is the brother and SHE is the sister. Mckenna has become such a daddy's girl, spending time with daddy is top on her priority list. Recently, her and daddy went to the store and came home with a few "extra" items, because "they were having fun." Mckenna's biggest accomplishment lately is learning to use the big girl potty! Yes, that's right, Mckenna is wearing "big girl underwear" and telling use about a million times, "Mommy, I gotta go potty!" She isn't perfect yet, but give her the choice to wear a diaper or undies when we leave the house and she will hands down choose the undies! Celebrating bowl movements has become a BIG part of our day around here! :) We really are amazed at how much she has grown and we are very proud to have her as our daughter.

This guy...

 smiles all.the.time! Quentin is also growing leaps and bounds. When I say he smiles all the time, I am not exaggerating! He is such a happy baby that we didn't even know he had an ear infection. He never complained, it took a rash all over his body to get him to the doctor to find it! Quentin was so kind to give his mother the gift of sleep for Valentine's Day and has continued the trend. He has slept through the night since last Tuesday, and it is awesome. I recently put away the floor mat, the one with all the toys that hang down, because he no longer stays in one place  on the floor. If he is put down on his back, he will quickly roll over to get a toy. Once he is on his belly he will start to scoot himself, backwards. That only means the forward movement is in our near future. Matt says he will be crawling by the Ides of March. (I didn't know that was March 15!) We will see, if so Kenna better watch out! Q or as I like to call him, Boo, is now saying "da-da" pretty consistently. He is pretty vocal, after all he has his sister to compete with! He is eating cereal/fruit in the morning and veggies/fruit in the evening. He is a pretty good eater, but just like his sister, when he is done you know it! We are also amazed at how fast he is growing and couldn't imagine our lives without his smiling face lighting it up!


With all that said, life keeps moving at a fast pace. I am trying my hardest to keep up and savor each and every moment!

Some pictures to highlight the current events in the Lucas household...

Little Gym show day, a visit from Papa Ken and Nini, playing in the snow (the only snow we've gotten), enjoying Valentine's Day, and playing a little doctor! The little moments, that's what it's all about!

Love from the Lucas Family!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas was so much fun and so exhausting that it took me three weeks to write about it! Not, really but I needed an excuse for my lack of posting! :)

Christmas was double the fun this year with two. Double the smiles, double the excitement, and double the toys to find a new home! We celebrated in several different ways and each one was special and exciting. I will break down the holiday week for you!

Christmas Eve's Eve: Matt, Mckenna and I made several goodies. We made a cake for Baby Jesus, cookies for the Lucas Family Christmas and almond bark covered pretzels. I have to say, I hope this is a tradition that sticks. Mckenna was so excited to make a cake for Baby Jesus, and I was excited to see her excitement over celebrating Jesus's Birthday! I was prepared for her, I measured all of the ingredients out before we started, this way she could pour each item into the bowl herself. It was so much fun watching her pour the items in with a concentrated look on her face. At one point I gave her the bowl of eggs and told her to pour them in, and she did with one exception, she missed the bowl and managed to pour the eggs all over her shoes! I learned from that lesson though and gave her the measuring cup with a handle the next time. After the batter was mixed I decided it wouldn't be making a birthday cake if I didn't let her try just a little bit of the batter! For the record, she was a fan!

Baking the cookies was just as much fun! Matt and Mckenna had a great time putting the cookie dough onto the pan! Matt would get the cookie dough into the cookie spoon and Mckenna would use all of her muscle power to get squeeze the cookie out, onto the pan!

Christmas Eve: Christmas Eve was packed full! John, Charlene, Kelly, and Brian all came over for appetizers and presents around noon. The weather was unbelievably gorgeous for December 24th so we even spent some time outside! Mckenna was so excited to open all of her presents. She wanted each and every one of them opened on the spot so she could play with them. We especially liked her reaction to her little puppy that walks when you pet its back. She put that puppy on the ground, rubbed it's back, and yelled "wait, come back! Don't run away!" Hopefully, this is a memory I can hold on to for a long time. Quentin was his relaxed self all day long. Obviously, since he's five months old and so laid back, he didn't really know what was going on. Other than the fact that he had some pretty cool new toys to play with! After presents and an appetizer lunch we were on our way to the Lucas Family Christmas! We had great conversation, food and fun watching the little ones open their presents.

Christmas Day: Christmas Day was for us, our family of four. We slept in a bit, moved slowly, and made our way to the tree. The kids opened their gifts from Santa and we just spent time with each other. Matt made breakfast, as I opened boxes and assembled toys. It was a great morning! The afternoon was just as lazy, time spent with John and Charlene as the kids slept and played! It really was as simple as the description but full of moments that make my heart swell! 

Christmas in Iowa: We packed up on Wednesday between Christmas and New Years and headed for Iowa. The weather was perfect, the roads were perfect, and our little travelers were next to perfect! Once in Iowa we spent the first couple of days laying around and visiting. Matt and I took the kids to see Angela and her family on Friday before Christmas that evening. We spent some valuable time with Uncle Jim, Aunt Marge, Laura, Chris, Brooke Papa, and Nini. Traditions were not the same this year but the love and time spent together was unchanged! Saturday, we spent some time with Great Grandma Von Bon too! The hit gift in Iowa was a swing set for our backyard! Dad spent the time putting the swing set together so Mckenna and Brooke could play on it there. I don't know if Mckenna quite understood that the swing set will be coming to our backyard but when it comes to MO  I know she is going to LOVE it!

I know this post was picture overload, but I didn't want to miss anything! As I was adding pictures I kept thinking to myself, "How could I forget to talk about the playhouse at Papa and Nini's?", "How could I forget to tell about Mckenna saying "yes" and using her arms to help express her excitement?" There were several moments of sentiment and memory making in that short week that I hope I can remember and  tell the kids about some day!

Love from the Lucas Family!

Holiday Bliss

As usual I am behind. Here it is two weeks until Christmas, and I haven't even posted about our wonderful Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving was very nice. This year Thanksgiving was Iowan style. Kenna and Q have become quite the travelers! For the most part the trip there and back was pretty uneventful, if you don't count Kenna getting sick as we rolled into town (I was so scared she had waited until we got all the way there to get sick, but it was probably a combo of motion sick and the milk we gave her...??) Thanksgiving was at Aunt Karen and Uncle Chucks' house. Kenna got a little dose of farm life, mingling with the cats and riding in a tractor. After Thanksgiving, it was back to the Lake House. Friday was a pretty lazy day and Matt helped dad move some dirt. Q rolled over for the first time, and Kenna swung in the frigid temps! Uncle Jim and Aunt Marge came out Friday evening and we had a great dinner and played Mexican Domino Train. Saturday was equally lazy, we all hung around the house and enjoyed the company.

The week after Thanksgiving we traveled to Highland, Illinois to see Aunt Kelly. In Highland's town square they have a Christmas display. There were several little "houses" with scenes to look at, as well as Santa's Hut.Kenna wasn't so sure of Santa. We talk about Santa and read about Santa all the time, you would think the girl wouldn't be scared of him. She was more than happy to talk to him and show him her purse and tag she was holding, but she refused to sit on his lap. We also went into a cute gift shop and had some delicious cupcake pops from the bakery in town. Kenna also had her first Candy Cane, and I think she liked it! :)

 

When we returned from Highland we decorated the Christmas Tree. Mckenna and I decorated the tree while Matt hung some lights in our front window, and Quentin hung out with Papa John and MawMaw.  Mckenna was a lot of fun to watch. She had her own little ornaments to hang and she hung them all in the same spot. Decorating the tree was so much different this year, more of a "family" thing rather than a "Jenna" thing. And I like it, I can't wait for even more help next year! 

So, Holiday Bliss, yes we have it! :) The presents are wrapped and waiting to be opened, and Matt and I are ready for a week off! I am hoping to do my next post on the kids and their developmental milestones. (That is if I get another post in before Christmas!) 

Have a great week! Love from the Lucas Family!