Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Matt and I both had to go back to work today. We actually have to go back to the "real world"! It was difficult after having 2 weeks off to play and relax.

Our vacation started on December 23rd. We just missed a bad ice storm in Kansas City. We were prepared for a long trip, but found the weather to be great after we left Kansas. We arrived in Fullerton that evening and enjoyed 3 whole days with my family. My Grandma and Grandpa Holm came from Iowa also, so it was a full house! Christmas Eve we ate a wonderful dinner and opened presents. We had a fun time watching Luke eat the wrapping paper! We all got some wonderful gifts.

Friday, December 26th we went on to York where we were able to spend some time with Matt's friend Gabe, who was back from San Diego with his new fiancee, Gaby. Saturday was the Holthe family Christmas. Matt's cousin Debbie and her husband John got to join us this year. We opened presents and played Bingo. We got a lot of nice gifts there, too.

On Sunday night we drove to Lincoln to have dinner with Matt's college roommates and the wives. We had a great time catching up! Our trip to Nebraska came to an end Monday morning as we stuffed our car with all our new stuff and make the trek back to Kansas City.

We enjoyed the whole rest of the week at home as a family! We spent lots of quality time playing with Luke and getting the house ready for him to be mobile. Some of the things Luke started doing this week are: talking a whole lot more, clapping, and blowing.

We "Drank in the New Year" with our neighbors, including 4 babies! The babies drank formula of course! :) They all tried their hardest to make it to midnight. Luke lasted the longest, and went to bed about 11:30. We were very sad to see our vacation end, but had a fantastic 2 weeks visiting friends and family and having some quality family time. Here are some pictures of our break!

November

We have been so busy lately that we have hardly had time to write about what we've been doing! November flew by, and we are already half way through December. Here is the last month in review:

Grandma and Grandpa Holthe came to visit us the weekend of November 15th and 16th. We watched the Husker game and played with Luke. It was lots of fun to have them stay with us.

The next weekend Luke and I made a trip to Omaha to go shopping with my Mom and Grandma. It was our annual Christmas shopping weekend. We did lots of shopping and had lots of fun in the hotel room.

After that was Thanksgiving. On Wednesday afternoon we drove to Fullerton to Grandma and Grandpa Krings' house. On Thanksgiving Day, Grandma and Grandpa Holthe joined us for lunch and an afternoon of football and Wii Sports. Everyone had a lot of fun! The next day we watched the Husker game with Grandma and Grandpa Krings, then drove to York to spend Saturday with the Holthes. Aunt Becky and Uncle Paul came from Lincoln for lunch and to see Luke and all his new tricks.

Since we got back from Thanksgiving, Matt and I have been trying to catch up on mountains of laundry, homework, and lots of spending time with Luke. We are also preparing for Christmas! The tree is up and decorated, presents are wrapped, and we have told Santa what we want for Christmas. (Santa came to daycare on Dec. 5th to see all the kids there.) We even had our first snow on the ground for this year! (No days off of school yet though.) We are getting very excited to spend Christmas with family and friends!

We have also had another new baby on our block. That makes 7 since March!! Addison joined us on November 12th.

Luke is now able to sit up on his own and can giggle! He loves to jump in his activity center and play with his toys. He has started to eat veggies - he loves the carrots and sweet potatoes that he has tried so far. We still have a few more to try, but so far he's eating really well. He will be 6 months old on the 12th!

Here are some pictures from the last month!

Grandma and Grandpa Krings came to visit!

This weekend Grandma and Grandpa Krings came all the way to Kansas City to visit! We tried as hard as we could to wait up for them on Friday night, but Luke didn't make it. He did wake up bright and early (4:30 am) to spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa on Saturday morning. My Grandma and Grandpa also came for the afternoon from Iowa. Luke had a great time, and kept everyone entertained by big smiles and showing off new skills. We also enjoyed a Husker win!! Go Big Red!!

Unfortunately the weekend was way too short and Grandma and Grandpa had to leave, but we are looking forward to a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Holthe next weekend.

The Holthes have enjoyed the past few weekends at home. Luke is getting bigger by the day! Our fun new toy is an activity bouncer with lots of fun things to play with - Luke loves it! Luke has also started eating cereal at supper time, and is finally getting the hang of it. Most of it actually gets eaten now, although a lot of it still ends up on his bib, the floor, and mom and dad!

Here's a few pictures of the last few weeks.

Charlie Brown's 1st Halloween

Luke had his first Halloween - he went as Charlie Brown! He got to wear his costume to daycare for a big parade and party. After that, we came home and handed out candy to trick-or-treaters in our neighborhood, then went across the street to a party! We had a fun night - here are the pictures from our day!

Luke and Olivia at daycare Halloween party.

Luke and Liam. Liam is dressed as Frankenstein.

We caught him!

We finally caught Luke rolling over on video today! He makes it look so easy now, although he only does it when he chooses to. Enjoy the video!

Today Luke is 4 months old. I can't believe it's going so fast!

The Holthe family enjoyed a weekend at home this week. We went shopping, watched Nebraska almost win, and spent lots of time playing. We had a great time!





Here is a cute picture of Luke enjoying the Husker game.

The weekend after Uncle Tommy came up, the Holthes traveled to Red Oak, IA to see Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Holm to celebrate Great Grandpa's birthday. It's difficult to get everyone together, especially when working around Luke's schedule. :) We all had a good time and Luke got to meet more family.

The last two weekends we spent in Kansas City! It was a nice change to spend some time at home. Luke was able to get on a schedule and has slept through the night several times! Lately, it's been a 50/50 chance of a full night sleep. What tonight will bring, no one knows!

We had a chance to hang out with Travis, Jen, & Olivia Fucich for a nice evening of burgers and football at their house in Olathe during the Husker's off week. Travis had been out of town for work for quite some time. It was nice to catch up with them. We invited them to our house the following weekend for the Nebraska/Virginia Tech game. The game didn't turn out in the way we wanted, but at least the taco dip was good!

This weekend, the Holthes travel back to Nebraska. Sarah & I are going to take in the Nebraska/Missouri game. There are 2 piece of Valentino's pizza that don't stand a chance...hopefully, the Huskers do! Luke is going to spend the evening (and possibly the early morning) with Grandma & Grandpa Holthe. That's what happens when the game STARTS at 8!

That's all for now. Below is the most recent gallery of Luke's pictures. Enjoy!