Luke Leahy & the Chocolate Factory.

Today we hosted a Willy Wonka / Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Party for Luke's 3rd birthday! Luke and his pals enjoyed jumping on the trampoline, watching a bit of the movie, and munching on Oregano's pizza and checkerboard cake. The kids had a blast and left with some chocolate goodies in hand!
Make a wish! Luke blows out his three candles on the cake.

Jami found these shirts for the boys online. What perfect attire for the big party!

You say it's your BIRTHDAY!

Luke celebrated the Big 3 today with a little pizza and lots of smiles. We enjoyed a birthday lunch at NYPD Pizza and opened up some super fun gifts from the family.

I wanna hold your hand.

Last night Luke joined his friend Lexi to celebrate her birthday at the Disney on Ice show. Here's a picture of Luke holding hands with the birthday girl all dressed up for an evening out.

A hiking we will go.

Jami and the boys took off for a hike at South Mountain today. Luke loves to hike and does pretty well for a little guy. Reid enjoyed the trek, too, and slept most of the time in the Baby Bjorn. The weather was perfect! We had a rainy weekend so we were ready for some fresh air and sunshine.

Ivy League.

As you can see, Reid has begun to study up for his Ivy League education. Or maybe he was just dressed in these preppy clothes so Mom had to stage a fun photo opp! He takes his scholastic endeavors very seriously.

Hey, bro!

Whoa ... the big 3-0.

Jami celebrated the Big 3-0 on Saturday, and it was just one birthday surprise after another! The first surprise arrived on Friday morning as Jami's best friend Kellie Jensen flew in from Oklahoma to surprise her. She was so excited to spend time with Kellie since it had been 2+ years since they'd last seen each other. We had a blast shopping, dining out, and playing with Luke and Reid!
What better birthday gift than to spend the big 3-0 with our dear friend Kellie!

But the good times kept on rollin' through Saturday night. After returning home from an afternoon shopping trip to Chandler Mall, another surprise was waiting in the Leahy kitchen ... a cooking class with Chef Rachel from the Garden of Eating. She is a whole foods chef who fixed an amazing dinner and shared some wonderful healthy eating tips. Several of Jami's friends had gathered to surprise her and share in the celebration. We dined on baked Wild Alaskan salmon, parboiled vegetables with a duo of dips, dark chocolate-dipped date-nut truffles, and several other savory favorites. To top off the evening, Scott hosted a round of toasts that left the birthday girl absolutely speechless. It was a 30th birthday weekend perfectly planned. Scott orchestrated so many surprises, and Jami had absolutely no clue ... the best part! Here's to a great decade ahead. May our thirties be as good as our twenties!
Cheers! A toast to 30!

Scientific findings.

Tonight we enjoyed an evening out with Eric and Charity to the Arizona Science Center. Eric's company General Dynamics hosted a special family night out at the Science Center for its employees. We checked out some exhibits and then enjoyed the planetarium show. We are quite up-to-speed on our galaxies and constellations now! What a fun night out with the fam!

In the news...

Last semester, Jami served as a mentor for several students in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at K-State. Most of the mentoring was via email or over the phone and related to job interviewing, writing resumes, and starting out in a communications career. The JMC School has an alumni publication and this article was featured in the latest issue. You'll see a familiar face at the bottom of the article!(You can click on the image to enlarge it.)

Father/son smiles.

Scott had Monday off for Martin Luther King Day, so he and Reid enjoyed some quality father-son time. Reid is showing off his strong neck here. Whenever he does tummy time now, he never wants to lay his head down ... he's too busy lifting his head up and looking all around. There's too much action he doesn't want to miss!

White out.

Today Jami walked into the family room to discover there was a "white out." Luke decided to conduct a test to see how much baby powder is necessary to cover your legs. The results are published below...

Clap on. Clap off. The Clapper.

For Christmas, Scott received a Clapper -- that device you've seen advertised on TV that turns lights on and off by simply clapping your hands. While it's very useful, we've found it to have a few issues not stated in the instructions. Perhaps these things should also be noted about this handy dandy device, based on testing performed by the Leahy family.

1. Small children may try to activate the device to wake up parents in the morning. Luke often comes downstairs and wakes his dear mother and father up in the morning. If at first you don't succeed ... well, then Luke turns to the Clapper. Nothing like a bright light to get your parents up! One morning, he walked over in front of the outlet where it was plugged in and very deliberately clapped and said, "One, two." Sure enough, the light beamed on followed by the joyful squeals of a 3-year-old shouting, "I DID IT!"

2. Infants crying may result in a disco-like strobe light effect. If Reid is resting on our bed and begins to get a little irritated, his crying can activate the Clapper. While trying to calm him down, we have witnessed the light turn on, off, on, off continuously. We have joked that the disco light makes him even more upset!

3. The Clapper may be sensitive to certain side effects of respiratory illnesses. Jami had a very bad cough/cold a few weeks back. When coughing ... yes, you guessed it ... the Clapper turns on. Nothing like a bad coughing spell in the middle of the night to trigger a bright light that jolts you awake when you already feel crummy and need extra rest!

A preposition for you...

The English language can be difficult to master, especially when it comes to prepositions. Luke has a few funny quirks when he talks that get us chuckling every time. I italicized the way Luke twists the phrase around.

"Daddy, don't go FOR work." Every morning when Scott is getting ready to go to work, Luke will emphatically say this phrase followed by "You take your shoes off." Having your shoes on means going for (or "to" ... however you prefer to say it) work.

"You take my coat ON?" If you take a coat off, why don't you take it on, too? Luke thinks you do.

To, for, 6, 8 ... Luke-isms we appreciate!

Reid's First Haircut.

Since he was born, Reid's hair has drawn numerous comments. Most of the time, people comment, "Wow, he has so much hair!" Well, we decided he had a little too much hair and that it was getting too long and crazy and unruly. So Reid had his first haircut today, courtesy of Mom. The Bumbo makes a great barber chair. Below are some photos from this milestone event.

A trio of celebrations.

Catalog Card Generator

Class act.

Today was a small milestone in the Leahy household. Luke started a new Rolly Pollies class called Gymbug Jam that's a kids only program ... meaning he goes solo without mom or dad there. He goes on Mondays from about 1-3 p.m., and the class is a combination of motor skill development, art time, and singing. There are 4 kids total in his class ... 2 boys and 2 girls. When Jami came to pick up Luke, he had his hands full of art projects and was talking a mile a minute about all they'd done in class. The teachers Kyna and Kyle (who are also the owners) gave Luke a great report today. When Jami asked Luke what his favorite part was, he said, "All of it!" He also had to report that he learned the Chicken Dance. Now he's ready to boogie at any wedding reception! This is a great first step toward school, which he'll start in the fall.

The Giggler.

Reid is starting to giggle more and more and show a range of expression. Here's a fun photo from this past week!

All-Star Luke.

Luke loves to play baseball. He throws lefty, but he can bat either right or left (although right seems a little smoother). Here's a clip of Luke and Scott playing tee ball after our lunch today at the Farm at South Mountain.

A train for two.

Luke and his buddy Alec enjoyed playing together after a holiday hiatus from KidSwap. Luke loved checking out all of Alec's new toys, especially this super cool Thomas train. Guess they both wanted a window seat!

Hop N Pop 'til you drop.

Reid has been showing an increased interest in being upright and up where the action is. (Guess lying down on his back is too boring for him!) Luke loved this Hop N Pop toy in his younger years, so we thought we'd give it a try with Reid. We figured it might be a little too early yet, but guess who proved us wrong! Little Reid loves it! Hop N Pop 'til you drop, baby!