San Antonio Travels...

Jami spent the last 4 days in San Antonio for the Kappa Alpha Theta Grand Convention. Nearly 500 Thetas from across the United States and Canada gathered together to meet regarding Theta policy and planning for the years ahead. The trip started off a bit rocky as Jami was without luggage for the first half of the conference since her bags were somehow mistakenly sent to Ithaca, NY, by America West!! But things started looking a bit brighter as the chapter that she advises at Arizona State won fantastic honors as the top Theta chapter internationally! Here's a photo from the awards ceremony: College District President Stacy Rini, Jami, Fraternity President Karen Ledbetter, Current Chapter President Katie Hernandez, and Past Chapter President Jackie Vollmer.
Here's another photo of Jami with her friend Heidi Pollmann, who's the new president for the Greater Kansas City Alumnae Chapter ... and also a K-State Theta.

Flying mattresses.

With the arrival of the bunk beds this afternoon, we decided to scout out some mattresses tonight (unfortunately, those weren't included!) We founded a great deal at a nearby bed store, so we loaded up the 2 mattresses on top of the Tribute, tied them down, and headed home.

Well, Arizona is known for its dust storms that suddenly blow up out of nowhere ... no rain, just blowing dust. Lovely. We left the store and the weather was fine. Not more than 10 minutes and less than a mile from home, we were in the midst of a brewing dust storm. The mattresses turned into windsails, popping the twine that was securing them. They toppled off the car. Luckily, no damage was done to the mattresses or any cars behind us, and fortunately, we were on a side street. We surveyed the situation and determined that we could shuttle the mattresses home one at a time inside the car if we crammed them in there. Luke had to be a little cramped, but he found the whole experience quite humorous. But this also meant that one of us had to wait in the blowing wind with the other mattress alongside the road. Scott was the lucky one.

After Jami unloaded the first mattress at home, she headed back to rescue Scott and the 2nd mattress. Only 5 minutes had passed, but 2 good Samaritans had stopped and offered their assistance to Scott while he waited. Nice neighbors. We managed to get home all in one piece with 2 mattresses, one laughing Luke, and a first of many good stories to come about fun times with the bunk beds.

6 months and growing.

Jami just marked the start of her 6th month of pregnancy. She's feeling great and has become an expert at beating the summer heat. The baby has taken up early morning karate, which is Jami's new alarm clock. Luke loves to talk to the baby and give Mom's tummy a little pat every now and then!

A visit from the Cappos.

What a treat for us to spend time with the Cappo family over the past few days during their recent vacation to Arizona! Uncle Bruce, Aunt Mary Ann, and cousins Michael, David, and Emily ventured down for several days. Highlights of our time together included an afternoon swimming at Eric's pool, dining at our favorite restaurants, a trip to the mall, family game night, IKEA tour, and laser tag. They also took a day trip to see the sights of the Grand Canyon. Here's Luke with Bruce and Mary Ann. He was all smiles about our visitors ... more people to entertain ... and to entertain him!

Family Night Out

We've started a new Leahy family tradition for the summer months -- family night out once a week. With it being so hot in evenings, it's a good excuse to get us out and about ... and an activity to look forward to for all of us!

Last week, we enjoyed dinner and a movie. The feature film of the evening was "Cars." Luke LOVES going to movies! During the opening trailers when one clip would finish, he'd shout out during the pause, "Where'd it go?" He sat on the edge of his seat throughout the movie and interjected funny comments here and there.

Tonight we ventured out to an inflatable playland called Bounce U. Dad and Luke were hopping here, there, and everywhere. They zipped down the slide, climbed through the obstacle course, and even played some bouncy basketball.

We'll see what's in store for next week...

Happy Dad's Day!

To celebrate Father's Day, we treated Dad to brunch at the Ocotillo Golf Resort, which featured his favorite ... an omelette station! We dined al fresco and then took a short stop to check out this practice putting green. The rest of the day was pretty relaxing with a grand finale of playing legos with Luke! What more could Dad ask for!

No more secrets.

Up until this holiday, we've been able to trust Luke with keeping a secret ... but no more! He managed to let the cat out of the bag on several occasions about Dad's surprises for Father's Day.

The Presents.
Earlier this week, we spent some time wrapping Scott's Father's Day gifts. When we were done, we neatly tucked them away in the closet to hide them there until Sunday. When Scott came home from work that evening, Luke began talking all about the "presents" and then opened the closet to show Dad where they were hidden. Good thing they were all wrapped!

The Pictures.
Another part of our surprise for Father's Day was to take some photos from the "3 of us" to give to dear ol' Dad. When we took the photos on Wednesday afternoon, Mom had to persuade Luke to cooperate a bit by explaining these pictures were for Dad from Mom, Luke, and Baby Brother. That night Luke started telling Scott all about the pictures. "Go see pictures. Now." Scott thought he wanted to look at photos in an album or stored on the computer and was a little confused when Luke wasn't interested in that. A bit later, Luke resumed talking about the pictures even more. Luke's secret-keeping skills need a little work. He had spilled the beans once again. So we ended up giving Dad this Father's Day gift a bit early ... since he'd already heard all about it anyway from the little monkey! Below is our favorite photo.

Quotable quotes from Luke.

Now that Luke's vocabulary is booming and full sentences are coming out, here are a few of our favorite phrases:

"Let me show you something."
This phrase is used at least 20 times a day to show Mom or Dad the amazing discovery that Luke has found, which really turns out to be not all that exciting and sometimes the same "discovery" that we were shown 20 mins. ago. But we always play along with great enthusiasm. Perhaps this phrase will come in handy when Luke becomes a car salesman someday.

"I do it."
The independence of a 2 1/2 year old is best stated in these 3 words. Whether it's crawling in his car seat or twisting the lid on his cup, Luke is finding his way into the world of doing things on his own.

"No please."
Mr. Manners is getting good at minding his p's and q's ... although sometimes they get a little mixed up. Rather than saying "no thank you" Luke likes to say, "No please." It works. We get the idea ... and can't help but smile at his kind gesture.

Night out on the town...

A highlight of the weekend's festivities for Jami was attending a bachelorette party for her friend Jenny. Jami has known Jenny for nearly 7 years since the days when they worked together at Jane Mobley Associates in Kansas City. Actually, Jami hired Jenny as an intern, but they are the same age! She's been a great friend over the years, and we're so glad to have all settled in Arizona.

Here's lookin' at you, kid.

Luke and Dad exchange some looks (and laughs) while at lunch at Pita Jungle.

Jumpin' Jack Splash.

Here's our first attempt at a video blog. We went swimming at Uncle Eric's last night, and Luke was showing off his swimming skills. It's a short video clip, so just click on the play button in the bottom left corner and enjoy!

A record month for RSD...

The month of May proved to be a record-setting month for Jami's company Ruby Slipper Designs! So far 2006 has been steadily busy, but this past month was the best yet in the 2-year history of the business in terms of projects completed and total income. With jobs ranging from small business promotional materials to wedding invitations to birth announcements, Jami has found a great balance of work both creatively and time-wise. Thanks to all the friends and family for the many wonderful referrals!

Monkeys in the bunks.

It's official ... we purchased the bunk beds today! (A sample picture is on the right.) After much searching and deliberating over the best layout, color, options, quality, etc., we settled on this great set from the old standby Sears. Over the past few weeks we've been to several stores to "test out" bunk beds. While Luke really liked the models with the slide option or even those resembling a fire truck or race car, we determined it was in the best interest of a peaceful night's sleep if we opted for something more traditional. In a few weeks (and after some assembly work), Luke will be super excited about his new room set-up ... and we can begin work on the nursery. Luke will start out on the bottom bunk at first, and then move on up once his brother is ready to share a room. Hopefully, there won't be too many squabbles down the road about who sleeps in the top bunk!

Holiday weekend.

We enjoyed both a productive and relaxing holiday weekend. On Saturday, Scott taught Luke the basics of automotive maintenance by taking the young lad with him to buy new tires for the car. We also embarked on a major closet cleaning and organization project to prepare for the little one arriving this fall. Luke enjoyed helping us organize the bins of holiday decorations and old childhood memorabilia. On Sunday, we took a dip in the pool near our friend Terese's house and then walked over to our neighbor's BBQ that evening. We were up bright and early on Monday morning and off to the zoo. The highlight of our zoo adventure was renting a "bike car" ... you pedal it like a bike, but it looks like a car. This was a great way to tour the zoo and get in quite a workout, too! We met Eric and Charity for lunch at Oregano's, and then they came over later that evening for some Trivial Pursuit. What a great weekend ... a good balance of work and play!

Early bird gets the worm...

At least that's what Luke thinks! Luke has started operating by summer hours and now wakes up between 5:30 and 5:45 in the morning. We've attempted to make his room as dark as possible, but it doesn't seem to be tricking his internal clock. When the sun's up, so is he! He's still in his crib, but the railing is down so he can crawl out at his own leisure. He usually trots downstairs and takes a direct path to his sound-asleep Dad, trying to wake him with a variety of questions and vocal volumes. After discovering that his attempts aren't working, Luke then usually 1) resorts to trying to wake Mom up (usually she's already awake and laughing at Luke's antics) or 2) abandons "Operation Wake Up Dad" and retreats to the family room to play trains for a while. While it is early in the morning, it is a pleasant (and comical) alarm clock!

Half way there!

This marks the 20th week of pregnancy for Jami, so we're half way there! Hard to believe we're at the 5 month mark already! Since finding out that we're having a boy, we've resumed the name discussion but no final selection yet ... we're still deliberating. Luke is becoming more aware of his soon-to-arrive sidekick. They will be double trouble for sure!

Date Night Out at the Wrigley Mansion

On Friday evening, we enjoyed a date night out to the Wrigley Mansion. Margie and Ted had given us a gift certificate at Christmas for Geordie's Restaurant at the Wrigley Mansion, and we were excited (and intrigued) to check out this famous house up high on the hill near the Biltmore. In addition to a delicious meal, we also explored the grounds and learned a bit more about the history. What a fabulous view of the city, too! We were happy to return home and receive a glowing report for Luke from his Theta babysitter Cassidy!!

The results are in...

We found out today that the littlest Leahy is a BOY! Our ultrasound went well today, and we are so excited to welcome another boy into the Leahy family. Raising Luke has been such a joy, so we are looking forward to doubling the fun (and craziness) with raising 2 boys. Better start shopping for those bunk beds...

Swim lessons with Mom

Jami has resumed teaching Luke how to swim this summer. She worked a lot last summer to get him comfortable around water, and now Luke is moving on to bigger and better things. He's working on holding his breath underwater and swimming to the side (under the water) from about 5 feet out. With much sputtering, splashing, flailing, and laughing (something about being underwater makes Luke giggle), he is getting better about swimming to the side with little assistance. We alternate playing in the shallow end with working on the more "technical skills," but Luke loves his time in the pool!

Mom's the word!

What a great day for Mom this Mother's Day! After a morning walk, Jami returned home to a bright-eyed Luke saying, "Mom, presents for YOU!" So she opened up a handmade card from Luke and some new silver Silpada jewelry! Then Luke and Scott treated her to the traditional Mother's Day brunch at the Wild Horse Pass Resort. This year was an extra special treat with getting to dine al fresco and poolside! Luke was pretty tempted to take a dip but was easily distracted by a little bacon and yogurt to stay at the table! It's starting to heat up here, so we escaped the 100+ temps with an hour cruising the mall and stopping by the play area. In all, it was another wonderful Mother's Day!

A Day Out with Thomas the Train

This weekend we took an overnight trip up north to Williams, AZ, to the Grand Canyon Railway where Thomas the Train was making a special stop. We ventured up Friday afternoon and spent the night in the hotel that's adjacent to the train depot. Luke loved sleeping (and jumping on) his bed in the hotel! The next morning we awoke bright and early to catch some breakfast with our friends who joined us -- the Hadleys. Then it was off to see all the sights and sounds of the "Day Out with Thomas" event. A few highlights were meeting Sir Topham Hatt, jumping in the inflatable bouncy, and taking the 25 minute ride with Thomas pulling the train! Luke slept the entire 2 1/2 hour trip home.

Cinco de Mayo Fiesta

What better way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo than with a big fiesta at Casa de Leahy! We invited some friends over for fajitas and fun! The kids enjoyed splashing around in the kiddie pool, zipping down the slip-n-slide, and taking a swing at this boot pinata. The event was BYOS -- Bring Your Own Salsa -- so we enjoyed tasting every salsa from super hot to super sweet (peach salsa). It was a great evening for chilling in the backyard and letting the lil' ones entertain us with their crazy antics.

Here we grow again!

The littlest Leahy is really starting to grow ... Jami at 4 months pregnant. Baby Leahy is really starting to move around. In a few weeks, we should find out if we're having a boy or girl! Dad's hunch is it's a boy; Mom's guess is that it's a girl.

Luke's first camping trip

Scott and Luke ventured out on Friday for their first father/son camping trip. They went camping near some mountains on the east side of the city, but it was still a lot of desert land (and within 45 mins. of home in case any issues arose!) They joined our friend Kenn Welling and his 3 sons Christian, Truman, and Nate and their church group. Luke enjoyed sleeping in the tent, but he got a little tripped up when some jumping cholla cactus balls got stuck to his shoes! Dad to the rescue! They made s'mores, played frisbee, and enjoyed the outdoors. I'm sure it will be the first of many camping trips for Luke!

On the hunt...

Luke is on the hunt for more Easter eggs while he masters the art of carrying two eggs in one hand at our Islands neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt.

Fun with Grandma and Grandpa Keary!

Grandma and Grandpa Keary visited us over Easter weekend, and we were hopping with fun activities! Here are the highlights from their visit:

- Hiking at South Mountain
- Relaxing in the backyard while watching Luke and Charity's nephew Morgan splash around in the kiddie pool
- Scouting out Easter eggs at a neighborhood hunt. The Easter Bunny arrived by boat on one of the lakes!
- Watching Dad and Uncle Eric play soccer
- Dinner out with Charity's family at a fun Mexican restaurant called Tia Rosa's
- Putting around for a game of mini-golf

We love having our family here ... especially when we can enjoy so much time outdoors!

A-hiking we will go!

We are enjoying a nice Easter weekend visit with Margie and Ted. Today we ventured over to South Mountain for a hiking expedition. Luke hiked some on his own and rode part of the time in the backpack. What a great day for a spring hike with family!

Splash Fest!

Luke's buddy Alec came over for KidSwap this week, and the boys had a Splash Fest in the backyard. Every toy ended up in the kiddie pool, and this truck was well washed! The boys also decided to run a bucket brigade to the backyard plants, so they had fun running all around the yard dumping water on the plants and trees!

BUNCO!

Each month, Jami has a fun night out with the girls to play Bunco ... only thing is the group has yet to play Bunco!! We usually end up socializing more or playing some other board or dice game because we're short of the necessary 12 for Bunco. But that doesn't stop us from having a good time! Each month the hostess chooses a theme. This month's was a pajama party. Here are the Bunco girls in their finest sleepwear!

What's hoppin'?

On Saturday we spent the morning at the City of Chandler Easter Egg Hunt with our friends Liz, Lee, Robby, and Ethan. The boys hopped on up to see the Easter Bunny, and then they loved picking up the eggs in the Easter Egg Hunt. They traded in the traditional plastic eggs for a bag o' candy ... what a treat!

It's a bird ... it's a plane ... it's a flying Luke!

Luke and Scott just finished their 9-week session at the Rolly Pollies kids gym by our house. Luke's weekly classes have really improved his coordination, balance, and strength ... and he and Scott enjoyed the father-son time together! At the last class, the kids enjoyed a special treat and rode this zipline into the foam pit.

An artistic adventure.

We ventured out to the Tempe Arts Festival on Saturday. Not that we were looking for any new artistic masterpieces for the Leahy household, but it was fun to walk around and check out all the booths with everything from wall art to jewelry to pottery and more. Eric and Charity joined us as well. There were some fun street performers milling around, too. Luke met these 2 very tall women ... and even on Dad's shoulders, he couldn't quite measure up!

First swim of the season.

The last 2 days have hit over 80 degrees, so we decided it was time to bring out the swimming pool. Today, Luke took his first swim of the season in our "backyard pool." As you can see, he talked Dad into taking a dip with him. Looks like a big game of H20-teeball was in the works, too!

Salsa-licious!

Grandma and Grandpa Nelson returned to Arizona for one final visit before it gets blazing hot this summer! Speaking of hot, we tested our taste buds at the Salsa Festival on Saturday. For salsa lovers, this is a dream come true ... more than 75 different varieties of homemade salsa recipes. Some restaurants enter, but a greater majority is your average Arizonan who enjoys a good chip and dip. Luke loves chips and salsa, but we had to steer him clear of the hot stuff. What goes better with salsa, than a big bag of Tostitos ... pictured here!

Luke's ready for American Idol!

Luke is ready to audition for American Idol! He's been working on his singing and can now officially belt out his first song. It goes something like this.

To the tune of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat"

Row, row, row, row, row, row BOAT (boat is always shouted with great gusto and there's a lot of extra rowing before you get to that part!)
(Long pause) Stream.
Merry, merry, merry, merry.
(Long pause) Dream.

As you can see, he has his own rendition of this time-honored classic, so we're not sure what Simon would have to say about that!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Luke the Leprechaun would like to wish you a Happy St. Patrick's Day from the Leahy family! Hope your day was full of green, good luck, and good times! Mom and Dad went out to a St. Pat's party with some friends, while Luke enjoyed a date night with babysitter Abby. For some reason, he thought her name was "Happy" and kept doing the sign language for "happy" every time he said her name. Funny little leprechaun.

Ruby Slipper Design's First Show!

Today Jami participated in a first for Ruby Slipper Designs -- a vendor fair. It was hosted by the Scottsdale Parenting Group and held outdoors in the parking lot of a church. It was a great morning ... and a great opportunity to pass out a lot of business cards for new potential clients!! Another fun challenge was creating a display table for the event pictured here.

Go Phoenix Suns!

Scott scored some free tickets from a vendor to tonight's Suns vs. Clippers game, so we enjoyed a family night out to the b-ball game. We had great seats in the lower level, and Luke was on his best behavior. Scott was scouting out "celebrities" and spotted in the suite behind us one of the local news anchors. Luke was pretty intrigued by the monkey (AKA the Suns Gorilla mascot). It was a great game, too ... the Suns are doing well this season. Here are the wild fans (and someone more interested in sneaking a sip of Dad's coke).

Rain ... after a long drought!

On Saturday, we finally had rain after 140-some-odd days. The last time it rained was Oct. 18! It started raining in the early morning hours on Saturday and rained continuously all day and into the night. Since it's usually sunshine and blue skies here, Luke is accustomed to playing outside, and it really threw a wrench in his schedule to have to make alternate plans! He tried riding his bike while Dad held the umbrella over his head to protect him from the sprinkles, but that didn't last too long. So we planned a tour of inside play areas ... McDonald's and the mall and the Leahy basement ... to keep him occupied during the rainfest. He was all too happy to wake up on Sunday and see that the sun was beaming brightly! His first adventure was to explore the backyard ... good thing the thirsty ground soaked up the water so we didn't have any mud to contend with. Our dormant winter grass should be springing back to life in the next week with all that rain.

Prison break!

Another milestone has been reached -- Luke managed to crawl out of his crib today! He's made a few attempts to date but has never officially hit the ground running ... until today. He was supposed to be taking a nap, which on occasion he also decides to boycott with the simple reply of "Not sleepy." But today he decided to make his big break. We've caught him a few times riding the crib railing like a horse, but he was always a little confused on the next step. Obviously, he figured it out today (and with much silence, too) because we never heard as much as a thump or thud or any loud sound other than him standing in the hallway crying (probably because he was shocked at his feat!) He wasn't hurt but a little dazed (most likely from the adrenaline rush of scaling the outer banks of his crib.) We had to give him the "why it's not a good idea to crawl our of your crib" speech. Scott and I were both chuckling to ourselves ... we knew this time was coming. Better head to IKEA and get the big boy bed.

A visit from Paul, Juli, and Sawyer

Paul, Juli, and Sawyer recently came down to AZ to visit for several days. Here are some of the highlights of their visit:
- A backyard BBQ complete with smoked salmon and chicken (courtesy of Chef Scott) and some competitive badminton amongst the family.
- A trip to the Scottsdale train park so Luke could show cousin Sawyer his stomping grounds.
- Lots of time outdoors! Since it's been in the teens back in KS, we really enjoyed some time outside in the 70 degree weather ... whether playing out in the yard or going to the park.
- Watching Sawyer boogie to his Blue's Clues dance! He's got some great dance moves!
- We also celebrated Paul's birthday with a special sweet treat -- a pazookie. Basically it's a fresh-out-of-the-oven chocolate chip cookie in a pan with vanilla ice cream slowly melting on top. Luke, the expert candle blower, helped Paul with one of his candles!

Luke and Curious George

Luke enjoyed a special Valentine's treat today ... his first trip to the movie theater! "Curious George" was the feature film, and Luke loved it! He sat still through the entire movie. The only issue was when he spilled his drink down the front of him ... oh, well, it dried by the end of the movie. Here's a picture of Luke and his buddy George.

Travels here, there, and everywhere.

In the last week, the airport has been our second home. Scott made a quick return trip to England to resolve some work issues on the project there. He spent all week in Swindon, but this time they were brave enough to let him rent a car and test his skills at driving on the other side of the road!! Scott noted that it was a little hard to get used to ... especially those round-abouts. Scott returned home late on Thursday night and swapped suitcases with Jami who caught a flight to LA on Friday to attend a leadership conference with some Theta officers from the ASU chapter.

As a result, Luke now has some funny associations with the airport. When he wakes up in the morning and asks about Dad, the explanation is "He's at work." Well ... when Scott was gone to England, we explained to Luke that he went on the airplane for work. He seemed satisfied with that, but now it's having a reverse effect because when we mention work, he thinks Scott's at the airport. He must have a pretty warped view of the airport.

Rolly Pollies

Scott and Luke have started a class at a nearby kids' gym called Rolly Pollies. The class focuses on coordination, balance, motor skills, etc. Music is incorporated into each session, and the kids have a ball going from station to station. Luke is a champ at swinging from the trapeze (is the circus in his future?) and jumping in the inflatable bouncy. He also loves to do forward rolls and jump on the trampoline. Not sure who has more fun ... Dad or Luke!

The Greek chapters we advise...

Scott, his brother Eric, and I have been pretty involved with advising for our fraternity/sorority chapters at ASU -- Delta Upsilon and Kappa Alpha Theta, respectively. The DUs are making a comeback on the campus and have had marked success over the past year with the guidance of Scott and Eric. Whenever I see the Greek Life Advisor, she always raves about how much Scott and Eric have done to help the chapter turnaround and gain ground at ASU. Theta is one of the top sororities at ASU, and the 13 sororities are highly competitive. As you can imagine, there are some unique challenges with advising at an urban university.

Last night, ASU held its Greek Life Awards (sort of like the Oscars for fraternities and sororities at ASU). Both DU and Theta earned numerous awards. The DU Advisory Board even earned recognition as "Outstanding Advisory Board" among all fraternities at ASU. Theta earned a long list of awards, which helped the chapter achieve the top overall honor of "Chapter of the Year." The women have been striving to reach this for several years, so they were ecstatic about this!

Da Bears.

We went to a Super Bowl party hosted by our friends Rob and Lori. Apparently, these two little guys thought the Bears were playing in the Super Bowl!! Luke and his buddy Robby preferred tackling these bears over the Steelers/Seahawks game!

Kicking off another soccer season

Scott has started another soccer season. He plays on Saturday mornings with a group that originally started out several years ago as a bunch of Motorolans and their friends, but now it's sort of a hodge podge of players. This season Scott stepped up to the role of co-captain (a good friend of ours Kenn Welling is the other co-captain) ... and brother Eric plays on the team, too. We'll let you know if any Olympic hopefuls emerge from the team!

From Loot to Luke.

We've been working with Luke to help him say his name. For a while now, he would call himself "Loot." There was just something about that ending sound that he couldn't get. He knew it was a crisp sound, so "t" sufficed. Well, today he finally figured it out and out came "Lukkkkkkkkkkke," almost like he was clearing his throat! Can't wait for him to put together the big intro phrase, "Hi, I'm Luke!" Soon enough...

Vroom, choo-choo, zoom to 2.

Today we celebrated Luke's 2nd birthday with a party complete with cars, trains, and planes. Luke hosted 9 lil' friends for the birthday bash. Here are some highlights. The kids enjoyed watching the Lionel electric model train (operated by Grandpa Jim the Engineer). My dad received this train as a gift when he was a kid, and now many moons later, it's still chugging along. Each child had their own personalized boxed lunch (with fun names like "Chauffeur Luke" and "Engineer Alec") with some special goodies like stickers and a matchbox car inside. Rather than cake, we made car/train/plane sugar cookies with homemade cookies-and-creme ice cream. We had all the "go-mobiles" out in the garage for kids to pedal and ride: scooter, bike, trike, wagon, etc. Luke really got into the action of blowing out the candles ... three times actually ... twice before we sang "Happy Birthday" even! We waited until after we were done with singing before lighting it again since "Windy Leahy" was ready to go!

1, 2, 3 January birthdays!

January is a special month because several family birthdays are right in a row!

Grandpa Jim: Jan. 14
Jami: Jan. 20
Luke: Jan. 24

So what better way to celebrate than all together! My parents returned to the warm AZ sun this week to celebrate this trio of birthdays. Here's a pic of the birthday bunch.

A picture-perfect moment.

I have been updating the photo albums, and Luke has been my chief assistant by identifying the people and objects in the pictures. We came across a very old photograph in a box from when I was a kid. It was a family picture with my parents and sister. Luke correctly identified everyone in the picture, except for the youngest member of the family. Luke studied the picture and then pointed to the picture of me and said with confidence, "Luke!" (Now some of you may remember as a child I had very short hair and was sort of a tomboy ... so it's easy to understand why he thought this.) We got a good chuckle out of it, and then explained it was Mama with short hair. I'm still not sure Luke was convinced! Too funny! Guess Luke thinks he looks like Mom ... even though most people these days say he's looking more like Dad!

England & the Engineer

Scott just returned from a 10-day trip to England for work. This was his 2nd trip in 6 months to the Motorola plant in Swindon, which is about 1 hour outside of London. Swindon is about 7 hours ahead of AZ time, so we enjoyed our daily morning chat with Scott when it was the afternoon there -- probably when Scott was enjoying tea time! Ha! A highlight of his trip was going to Bath, England, on the weekend to take in the sights and tour around a bit.

Luke was so glad to see Dad that he made him a sign for when we met Scott at the airport. (While we were waiting, Luke had to have a little snack, too!)

Boo!

Luke has a funny new habit when he wakes up ... whether it's in the morning or from a nap. When you open the door to go get him up, he shouts out, "Boo!" as if to scare us! Usually, he laughs afterward so he thinks it's a pretty funny joke. Spooky Lukie will be well prepared for Halloween next year.

I'm turning 2 ... choo-choo!

Luke is quite excited to turn 2 in a few weeks. Here's a pic from his recent 2-year photo shoot!

Just say no.

Like all children approaching the age of 2, Luke enjoys exercising his right to say "no" when asked a question. It's that whole "expressing independence" phase. He doesn't really get too sassy when he replies "no" but it is very matter-of-fact. He has developed two funny habits though related to this...

1. The Denial "No" - This is usually used when the answer is obviously yes, but he's in denial about it. The most common example is related to diaper changes. He thinks he can keep on playing and avoid the diaper change all together if he just looks and acts really busy and ignores the obvious. Usually, this "no" is accompanied by the action of running away as fast as possible.

2. The Fake-Out "No" - This version involves the standard "no" soon followed by a mischievous grin and "yes" as if to say "Ha - I tricked you with my first answer!" This one is utilized when asked if he's tired or sleepy (and then he really is and answers "yes").

All aboard the Little Steamers!

One tiny train ... one big afternoon of fun! This afternoon we headed up to the train park in Scottsdale to check out these tiny trains called Little Steamers. You can hitch a ride on them, but extra leg room is not a luxury on this train! Luke loved every minute of this railway adventure, and he served as the tour guide pointing out things along the way to Eric and Charity.

Crocs Club

Now both Jami and Luke are proud to own a pair of Crocs. While these shoes may not score high among fashion critics, they do get bonus points for comfort! Jami got her Crocs last year for her birthday, and Luke received a pair for Christmas from Grandma and Grandpa Nelson. (Grandma Dixie is also in the Crocs Club with a bright red pair!) Luke is still getting used to walking in his Crocs since they fit a little differently than tennis shoes. He calls them his "blue shoes."

Scootin' around...

Now Luke can keep up with the older kids on the block as he zips around on his new scooter he got for Christmas. Within minutes of waking up on Christmas morning, he had mastered riding it. It has 2 rear wheels for easier balancing! Luke has been eyeing the skateboard of a boy down the street ... he'll have to wait on that one!

Lukie, the Red-Nosed Reindeer

You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen ... Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen. But do you recall ... the most famous reindeer of all?

Hot tamale!

In Mexico it's a tradition for families to eat tamales on Christmas Eve. So this tradition crossed the border into the Leahy household for a 2nd Christmas. What a feast with 3 kinds of tamales -- beef, pork, and sweet pumpkin -- as well as rice, beans, salad, and the special treat of cactus. Yes, that's right. Scott found it in the grocery store so we thought we'd give it a try. The cactus (minus any prickly portions) was sort of pickled in a pretty salty juice. There's a first time for everything, right?!

What a way to spend Christmas Eve day!

What better way to show the family the joys of celebrating Christmas in Arizona than to take them hiking on Christmas Eve day (especially when Jami's parents have been freezing in the Colorado snow)! We enjoyed a hike at South Mountain ... and Luke enjoyed being the tour guide with his ever-expanding vocabulary. It's funny that one of his common words is "cactus." He also says "snow," but only in reference to a snowman.

Merry, Merry Christmas to all!

Those Ruby Slippers are clickin'!

The last few weeks have been booming for Jami's graphic design business with everything from holiday photo cards and newsletters to wedding invitations for the spring. Since we returned from our trip to KC at Thanksgiving, Jami has had a steady flow of projects come in. Watch for a new line of products to roll out on the website at the end of January!

Many apologies that the blog has been a little slower lately. It's getting dusted off now ... so stay tuned!

So... what is Christmas like in Arizona?

Luke thinks it only snows inside. We went to a nearby mall this week where they had a snow machine inside rigged to the rafters of the ceiling (and conveniently located near Dillards, too!) Every night at 7 p.m. it "snows" and Mrs. Claus leads the kiddos in a song and dance. Luke was so amazed at the snow falling from the ceiling. It was actually kind of a bubble-like flake and just absorbed into the strategicallly placed mat on the floor below. I guess someday we'll have a lot of explaining to do about why snow falls inside at the mall. Only in Arizona...

It is the week before Christmas, and we've only had to bust out the coats a handful of times so far. Nothing like enjoying 65 degree weather while Christmas shopping rather than sliding around in the ice and snow!

Because it is so warm here, people tend to go a bit overboard with the exterior holiday lights ... we're talking a Clark Griswold-type house on every block. Today I saw one that had at least 5 large inflatable critters to adorn their front yard, roof, driveway, etc. Hope they don't scare Santa away!

Our new subdivision has 3 lakes (manmade of course). Every year at Christmas they have a boat parade where people spread a bit of holiday cheer by throwing a string of lights (or 12) onto their paddle and pontoon boats and parade around the lake. Quite festive!

So that's what makes Christmas so special in Arizona!

Family Foto

Here's a recent photo of the Leahy family. This was taken at the base of Camelback Mountain.

Santa sighting

On a recent trip to the mall, we decided to stop and see Santa. We weren't sure how Luke would react, but we thought we'd give it a try. Hesitation ... looks of concern ... and overall anxiety followed. Luke has lumped Santa into the same category as "men with long hair" because he is scared of Santa because of his beard. So while he may be jolly Ol' St. Nick, Luke still has Santa on the "not so sure he's nice" list. Luke and Dad the Elf ended up sitting on Santa's lap!

To Kansas for a week...

What better way to celebrate Thanksgiving than to spend a week in Kansas City with our friends and family! We spent 6 days in the "colder than we're used to" climate of Kansas. Luke kept wanting to go outside to play ... only to return within a mere 2 minutes with a red nose and chilly cheeks to report that it was "brr, brr" outside.

Here are a few highlights from our trip...
- Lots of playtime with the boys! Luke enjoyed checking out Cousin Sawyer's toys and playing in the basement with all the trucks and trains. We stayed with Juli, Paul, and Sawyer, so the playtime was maximized from sunrise to sunset. In fact, Luke wanted to extend his playtime a bit one day by not wanting to nap and scheming a way to crawl out of the Pak'N'Play where he was supposed to be sleeping. Mission accomplished unfortunately ... he escaped.
- An evening out at Power Play. This evening proved to be fun for all ages as we took the young (and young-at-heart) to this huge indoor arcade/entertainment mecca. The evening was complete with several go-kart races featuring a high-speed crash by Jami head-on into the barrier (she was fine but suffered some major embarrassment) and a heated race between the 3 Leahy brothers.
- A visit to Horton. We trekked up to Horton to visit Grandma Eleanor and meet up with Briana and Craig for dinner. We had a great time catching up with Jami's side of the family, and Great Grandma Eleanor just giggled at all of Luke's antics!
- Special celebrations with the Kearys. We enjoyed a delicious turkey dinner with all the fixins' at Margie and Ted's lovely new home. We even spotted a few deer in their wooded backyard. Luke loved exploring his grandparents' house and playing with the GI Joe guys that his dad and uncles treasured growing up! Margie and Ted also had a special vow ceremony that we were fortunate to attend.

It was a wonderful week-long vacation and time well spent with our family!

Pizza!

Scott and Luke share many special moments -- and meals -- when it comes to pizza! They both love to celebrate their Italian heritage by chowing down on pizza. Like father, like son ... just hold the anchovies and pile on the pepperoni!

Hoops and Bikes

HOOPS: Scott and Eric play in a city basketball league on Sunday nights. They've been playing for about a year. The team finished in 1st place in the least competitive division the city had to offer, then moved up to the most competitive league (meant for college and very good high school level players) where they were in over their heads. This season, they're playing in one of the intermediate leagues, which seems to be about the right pace. Scott had a 5 point play in their last game (fouled on a 3-pointer, made the first two free throws, missed the 3rd, but got the rebound and made a 3-pointer) in the final minute to put his team up by 3 to win the game.

BIKES: Jami has gotten back on her bicycle recently now that the weather has cooled down a bit here. She likes to hit the roads around the new neighborhood for some fast-paced cycling. We also recently purchased a bike trailer that Luke can ride in, so now we can also take rides as a family. Luke's cue that he's ready to roll is to hop in the trailer and say, "Need a ride!" So much fun!

Luke's first dentist visit.

For the last 3 days, Luke has had something stuck between his 2 front teeth. Every attempt was made to remove it, but with no luck. Actually, Luke took it on as his biggest challenge to keep us from looking in his mouth -- screaming, kicking, biting, etc. It was like wrestling with the tazmanian devil.

So today Jami decided to drop by her dentist's office to see if they could help. Upon first examining the tooth issue, the dental hygienist said, "It looks like a cavity." Gasp. Jami nearly fainted.

Then Amy, the hygienist, got out the "hook scraper" (there's probably a much better term for this but you know the tool). Luke sat perfectly still without a single peep while she checked out his front teeth. When she turned on the overhead light, he just looked up and gave her a big ol' grin. Great Luke ... why couldn't he have been more cooperative with his parents! With one attempt she slipped out the lodged food particle, which looked like part of an oat perhaps from a granola bar.

Luke's first visit to the dentist took less than 5 minutes, involved no tears, and was an all-around happy experience. Let's hope that future visits to the tooth doctor are just like this one! Yeah right...

Elmo's Adventures on Halloween

Luke really enjoyed the Halloween festivities tonight. Jami and Luke hit a few houses in the neighborhood for Luke to try out his newly expanded vocabulary: "Trick or Treat" and "I'm Elmo!" Dad stayed home and manned the candy distribution for the Leahy household.

All was well until we encountered a man with a scary mask and long black robe handing out candy at his house. Luke started wailing when he spotted the guy 10 ft. away. We quickly walked off, despite the man yelling behind us, "You sure you don't want any candy?" No thanks, buddy.

Then we drove over to see some friends who live nearby. Luke started taking the candy out of his bag and giving it to them ... reverse trick-or-treating!

Colorado Visitors

Grandma and Grandpa Nelson came to Arizona for a 5-day visit. Here's a glimpse of our fun itinerary while they were here.

Taking bike rides. We got a new trailer (AKA burley) to pull behind the bike. Luke loves to go for rides. He climbs in and matter-of-factly states "Need a ride!"
House projects. Jim and Dixie helped with some house projects like repairing a sink, hemming curtains, etc. All in a day's work!
Rest and relaxation. Luke (and his grandparents) had to take a little afternoon siesta each day. Perhaps Luke's youthful energy wore them out!
Pumpkin farm. We paid a visit to the pumpkin farm to check out the latest crop of pumpkins and see some farm animals.
Time outdoors. Now that the weather has cooled off, we are spending tons of time outdoors. We had a BBQ one afternoon ... nothing beats grilling salmon, playing badminton, and carving pumpkins!

From the trike to the bike...

Luke is movin' on up from the trike to the bike. The two-wheeler (oh yeah, plus the training wheels) is Luke's latest favorite mode of transportation. However, it wasn't until this week when he finally grasped the concept of pedaling. He's still got a long way to go before he'll be riding off into the sunset, but he pedaled a few times on his own! Grandpa Nelson has been conducting bike-riding lessons for Luke this week. Now if he can just teach Luke to pay attention so he doesn't veer off the sidewalk when he's gawking at something else!

Elmo

Some kids love to dress up for Halloween. Luke does not ... yet anyway. This year for Halloween he is sporting the costume of Elmo from Sesame Street. Today we had a Halloween party with Luke's playgroup friends. Although he did wear the costume for about 20 minutes, he maxed out soonafter -- probably from heat exhaustion in the furry little suit! We'll see how he does on the big official day of Halloween!

Down home on the farm

This week for our playgroup we went to a pumpkin patch for a little fall fun, complete with a hayrack ride and frolicking among the pumpkins. We took a moment to also photograph these farm animals. The sheep may look a little familiar!

Say what?!

Luke is really chatting up a storm these days. With the increase in vocab, he's also starting to say some pretty funny things.

"Not dirty." The other evening in preparation for bathtime, Scott asked Luke,"Ready for your bath?" Luke's reply ... "Not dirty." Scott pushed the issue a little more, "Not dirty, huh?" Luke very matter of factly replied, "Noooo."

"Green light go." Luke has a little phrase he likes to use to describe things in motion ... "green light go." It originated with waiting for the stop light to turn green, but now applies to anything transportation related ... or when Luke is running full speed ahead.

"Baa. Moo. Woof. Hoot. Meow. Grrr." One of Luke's new tricks is to make animal sounds. He has quite a repertoire of sounds ranging from man's best friend to fine feathered fowl.

"E." We've been trying to teach Luke names of friends and family members, whether in person or with photos. It was seeming a little difficult for Luke to say "Uncle Eric" so we shortened it just to "E" so now whenever we mention Uncle Eric or ask Luke about him, he starts saying "E! E!"

PLEASE!

A preface to this story: We've been working over the last several months to teach Luke some basic sign language to help in the phase when he wants to express his opinions but can't fully verbalize them yet. He has learned several signs, one of them being "please" (the sign is made by rubbing in a circular motion on the upper chest, like asking earnestly).

Scott was putting Luke to bed the other night, and Luke was a little resistant since he LOVES his time with Daddy! They had done the normal bed time ritual (bath, reading books, etc.) and were just rocking with the lights off. In the dark, Scott could see Luke moving his arms but couldn't figure out what he was doing. Then it registered ... he was making the sign for "please" as if to say, "PLEASE let me stay up and hang out more with you Dad!" It was so sweet. Scott got Luke a bit more to drink and let him stay up for a few minutes longer ... after all, Luke asked so nicely!

Here's a toast!

Scott has been involved with a Toastmaster public speaking group at Motorola for the past 2 years, as one of the founding members and serving as president at one time. This past week, Scott was selected from his chapter to attend an area competition. He competed as an evaluator ... meaning that he was being judged on how well he evaluated the other presenters! He ended up placing 2nd and taking home a trophy. So here's a toast ... to the Toastmaster!

Sport Clips

Luke had his first professional haircut this week. To this point, Luke and Scott had a 2-for-1 deal with the family barber (AKA Jami). However, Luke had been a little too squirmy the last few times to really achieve any decent amount of haircutting, so his hair was getting a little unruly and uneven.

Luke's first "real" haircut was at a place called Sport Clips. They specialize in haircuts for men with the added entertainment of non-stop sports on TV. Luke was doing fine until she put the cape on ... at which time Luke realized that it was limiting his arm movement and he couldn't flap around as much as he usually does. So being confined to the barber chair and wearing the cape were more than he could tolerate ... and the screaming and wailing began. This subsided briefly with a lollipop as a temporary cure and distraction, allowing a majority of the cut to be completed.

We were on the homestretch when she had to do the final trimming around his neckline and ears. Luke had some major issues with that portion of the process! He decided he'd really make her work for her money by dodging and swaying away from her every move. But in the end, the hair stylist was able to add her finishing touches (with a little help from mom) ... and Luke was able to add his final "comments!"

When it was all said and done, the finished masterpiece was nothing short of a miracle considering that the poor woman cutting his hair had a loud, moving target most of the time. But the final result was a little boy with a grown-up haircut ... see for yourself!

You say it's your birthday...

October is a big birthday month for our family. We celebrated 2 birthdays this past week with Eric's birthday on the 13th and Scott's on the 14th ... and what better way to party it up than with Maggie Moo's ice cream as seen above!

Scott celebrated his 29th birthday on Friday. His closet had a major overhaul with most of his gifts being new work clothes. He's sure to be voted "Best Dressed Engineer" at Motorola this season! Luke's treat was to take Dear Ol' Dad out for pizza.

A Mass to Remember

We usually go to Mass on Sunday morning because they provide a nursery at the 9:30 and 11 a.m. services. Luke enjoys the hour in the nursery playing with the other kids, and we are able to focus our full attention on the Mass (rather than on keeping Luke quiet and out of trouble).

We decided to go to Saturday evening Mass this week. We knew it might be a little challenging because Luke usually gets fidgety once the homily starts, but we decided to give it a try. We even decided to bypass the cry room and sit in the regular sanctuary. And as luck would have it, we ended up sitting in the middle of a long pew. So there we were ... sardined in ... with a ticking time bomb who we just knew might create a ruckus in the middle of Mass.

Much to our amazement, Luke was so well behaved. We made it past the homily with no loud outbursts. When it was time to receive the Eucharist, the row in front of us stood up to file out of the pew to go up front. With a hearty wave, Luke bid them farewell saying, "Bye, bye. Bye, bye." Snickers all around us. We got the flapping and waving and bye-byeing controlled, but yes, we too were chuckling at his innocent gesture.

After returning to our seats, we were kneeling and trying to keep Luke somewhat still. A man near us sneezed. In the midst of quiet prayer, a tiny little Luke voice rang out, "Ahhh-choo." Again, chuckling amidst the pews.

This is sure to be a Mass we will remember for a while, not only because Luke hung in there for the duration of the hour-long Mass, but he also cracked a few smiles in church.

The Great Pumpkin

We went to Dewey, Arizona, today to Young's Farm to enjoy a fall festival. It's a tradition of Eric's girlfriend Charity's family to go there every fall, so they invited us to go along this year ... and what a great time we had! Luke was a little afraid of the pony rides, but he did brave the big inflatable bouncy with his dad and Uncle Eric. We stocked up on some apple butter, sampled some cider, and picked out the biggest pumpkin we could! It's still in the 90s in Phoenix, but this spot about 1 1/2 hours north of Phoenix near Prescott was a nice breath of autumn air!