LUKE THE BOY: It's Not All Birthday Parties and Road Trips

Mama cleaned out her photos on her iPod this week and realized that life this winter has been about more than birthday parties and road trips and Lion and Giraffe (Harper might disagree on that last point).

Sometimes, it's nice to snuggle up in your jammies with a good book

(Luke does a great job sight-reading the words in the book and is even starting to be able to recount the plot, much to Grandma Casey's Scholarly Delight!)

Sometimes you find amusement in saying "I'm Grandpa!" with a bubble beard on your chin

Maybe there's an adorable Thanksgiving Breakfast Party at school...with a turkey hat

And a fortune-crescent-roll for Mommy and Daddy

And you go to your friends' house for Thanksgiving dinner and you get to help make the sweet potatoes

And you play with the big kids

And you are SO EXCITED to be with your friends

Or Daddy goes away on business, and a guy comes to do a home repair and you must be ever vigilant in protecting your home, keeping a watchful eye on things and reporting Mama's offer of coffee to said handyman to Daddy forthwith

Maybe there were new Santa Jams to model

Or a later bedtime was successfully achieved by offering to clean the floors

There were fun times at school parties - when your brother got to come to your class

On a particularly frigid Sunday, your parents bundled you in your snow gear and took you to the park

You rocked it

Both of you

Towers were built from recycling

Barracks were built for superheroes

Gumby and Pokey were given a brick castle

Meetings (?) were held

Lucky jammies did not positively affect the NFL playoffs for the Green Bay Packers

You did not lose sleep over it

Troops were aligned

Meals were made

Babies were tended to (and given a vocabulary lesson?)

You were "jus' makin' this little thing I'm makin'"

Swimming!

"Horsies [were] lining up for milk!"

Uncle Joe's birthday largesse enabled the purchase of many ninjas and samurai to go with your superheroes. You renamed the Batcave the "Ninja Batcave," as it provides room for "Batman and ALL of his friends"