happy birthday, ben!!

hi to all, it's me, luke! well, ben is now three years old. :) his birthday was last week (jan20) and we had a great day celebrating with him.


ben was old enough this year to choose the things he got to do on his birthday. he first chose to wear "the birthday hat" (as seen above) almost the entire day. hilarious. and he wanted to go to "the jumpy place" again, which we did last year on his bday but only maybe one other time since then. momma was having a lot of fun jumping with him and didn't get many pictures, but the lighting is no good in there anyway and you get the idea...


for some reason, i did NOT enjoy the jumpy place. momma tried jumping with me in some of the smaller ones, but i didn't like that very much. the baby play area didn't cheer me up either - this wooden play thing tried to eat me - rude!!

although i was fussy, ben (and momma!) still had a great time and got a head start burning off the sugar he would later consume.

he also chose to ride the bus again, which momma hopes is an annual birthday tradition. last year and this year we just rode it around our part of austin, but it would be fun to take longer and/or more adventurous bus rides in the future as ben gets older...

we all had fun on the bus! not sure what this funny face is about though...

ben chose to eat dinner at mama fu's, which is a chain chinese restaurant we've eaten at maybe three times, but not at all in the last several months. momma couldn't figure out why ben wanted to eat there, but once it got in his head, that was it and so we went. the day before, momma was asking ben about different food they had to make sure it really did sound good to him. he said he would like chicken, veggies, and rice. when she asked him about the eggrolls, this is how it went. momma: "i can't remember, do you like eggrolls?" ben: "i actually don't like eggs plain. i just like eggs cooked in cookies." what a goofball. but anyway, he actually ate a ton at mama fu's (including eggrolls!). then back to our house we went for cake...

and check this out! momma let ben take several bites out of the cake like this - even daddy was surprised! momma says you get to go all out on your birthday... (also, the cake is from h.e.b., which has super yummy frosting. momma wanted to make the cake, but then realized that since she makes baked goods all the time, it would actually be more special and out of the ordinary to buy one - with yummy frosting!)...

mint chocolate chip ice cream too!

here's ben asking to have his hands wiped. what three year old cares about being dirty in the middle of eating birthday cake and ice cream? that would be ben. momma is thankful for this, though, because cleaning up after his meals is much easier than the norm...

there were gifts too, and ben liked everything he got and wanted to say thank you for everything he received from relatives and friends. :) and his favorite gift from momma and daddy is a playmobil street sweeper - yea!! the street sweeper comes around our neighborhood about once a month, and it's always a huge hit when it does. we usually try to rig up a sweeper from whatever supplies and push-toys we have handy, which definitely is fun, but he really likes this one too (it has working, miniature brooms that sweep up tiny "debris"!)...

all in all, it was a great day and ben is no longer allowed to be a terrible two. :)

we enjoyed celebrating his special day and will try to report again soon on other things going on (no major house news, yet, sigh). bye!!!!!!!!!!! :)

merry christmas, part two...

as promised, here are some more pictures from our christmas trip to indiana. :)


we had an unexpectedly long lay-over in chicago on the way there, but luke and i managed to stay pretty happy at the airport...

i LOVE airplanes. here i am showing one to blankie...

we got to beamee and grampee's house pretty late on christmas eve night. then on christmas day we went to SELT's in lafayette. let me just say, that rocked. there was snow everywhere, and i got to play in it with lauren and taylor and had a great time!! check out this beautiful, sunny day (although definitely cold) with white snow everywhere! here we are sledding down the hill in their backyard...

now it may not look like much of a hill in pictures, but it actually was perfect for us. the girls even did some snowboarding down it, and we really did get some speed on this sled. the pictures don't do it justice, but our smiles do...

i'm pretty crafty. i even managed to get them to push me up the hill in the sled so that i didn't have to walk...

and lauren even carried me back inside too!! that snow was cold, and although i was clearly bundled up, i wasn't a huge fan of getting cold...

but back inside, aunt elaine warmed me up with my first ever cup of hot chocolate - uh, yum!! :)

back at beamee's house, this is what the backyard looked like pretty much the whole week. i really did love the snow, although i was feeling a little self-conscious about momma taking my picture in my snowsuit since i look like a chub-kin. :) momma's discounted old navy snowsuit purchase and weeks of praying for snow came through! and so did the purple boots borrowed from taylor. yes!!

here's a closer shot of me bundled up. i really am a fan of a kitchen utensil no matter where i go. i used this one of beamee's as a snow scoop outside!

back inside, luke stayed warm in the comfort of various arms that held him. lauren's were clearly a favorite...

he also got to have a friend come over and play! this is isaac, son of momma's childhood friend, brent. brent and momma grew up together (and now brent lives with his wife, jen in indy) and luke and isaac were born three days apart - so neat!! please excuse the expressions (or lack of) on their faces - there were a lot of pictures being taken!!

daddy had a great time too. grampee has an "egg" (type of awesome grill) and daddy is the one that gets to cook on it while we're there. brisket is the crowd favorite. daddy started working on it at 7:30a (with his very official chef's jacket - cool!)...

here are some parting shots of us in front of one of beamee's 73 christmas trees. all the grandkids first... (please disregard the fact that all the girls are smiling while luke and i look like we're either stoned or ready to get out of that place!)...

oh, mom did actually get one with me smiling - yes!! luke, still not so much, though, which is a bummer because he sure does smile a lot in real life...

with beamee and grampee...

and finally our little family, two photos which are pretty good representations of how things go... luke is hanging off of momma and chewing on his hands; momma is trying to look presentable but had to take a break from that to reign me in; i'm determined to not smile, since it wasn't my idea, and instead just trying to move on to the next thing i want to play with, while sticking out my tongue of course; and daddy looks almost the exact same in both pictures with a perfect smile, good hair day, nice outfit, positive outlook on life in general. :) we're cute, folks...

anyway, we really did have a great time in indiana. it was fun to see some of momma's friends, but we are bummed we didn't get to see all of them this time. and it's always great to just hang out and play with everybody. i really love gabrielle, lauren, and taylor and they played with me and luke so much, which was awesome. i can't wait to see them again! and we also went to grandma suever's in michigan, in the same white van/bus we took to the lodge - fun! - but sadly there are no pictures of that.

and now since we've been back we've been to mimsie and grandpa's to celebrate with them, and i'll post about that soon, along with some updates on moving to houston (which is that there really aren't any updates yet... anyone want to buy our house? wallpaper-free!! come and get it!). christmas is a wonderful time of year. snow is cold, but super cool. life is good. happy 2011!!! bye. :)

merry christmas, part one...

hi! here's what we looked like on christmas morning at the matthys house! sleepy, but cute. :)

we're back from all our travels celebrating the holidays on both sides of the family, and we're now getting back into the swing of things at home. we're trying to not feel guilty about not keeping up with the blog lately. partly it's momma's fault for slacking in the picture-taking department (she's just temporarily out of the groove lately but is sure to bounce back soon) and partly it's our fault for just not feeling very chatty, i guess. anyway, we have a couple christmas installments coming, so here we go...

but actually, we have two photos from a couple days before christmas - playing on the deck in shorts and no socks!! we love texas. and luke loves when i run around in circles around him. for whatever reason, he gets a big kick out of it every time, whether we're inside or outside... it's the little things that keep us happy...

and here's more christmas morning photos in my bed. i was really excited about the day, but was just playing it cool here at first... and actually, i just remembered it actually was christmas eve morning, because that's the day we flew to indiana. it's the day we celebrated christmas here at home...

here's daddy opening the coffee mug i decorated for him...

...while luke enjoys his favorite part of christmas - wrapping paper, of course...

me opening a gift....

luke having more paper...

and finally me having a twix for breakfast...

what?!?! a twix for breakfast!!! yep, momma may be strict at times, but she also knows when to live it up. :)

and that's all for installment one about christmas. next up will be photos from our trip to indiana, including lots and lots of snow. :) and now, i will also take this opportunity to break the news to anyone who doesn't know yet - daddy got a promotion within his company and we are moving to houston. our house is for sale and we are looking for a new home in a rural-ish area north of the city. we all love austin (a lot) and love our home here, but we're excited about a change and look forward to new things to come. and mostly we're proud of daddy. i'll keep you posted as things progress on that front, but otherwise stay tuned for more on christmas and other general happenings around here. bye! :)