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!