Lucas' Baptism

Lucas was baptized Oct. 14 during the 8:00 Mass, we usually attend.  It went very well. He cooperated and was quiet for the ceremony.  Here's godfather, Eric Shook (Randy's littlest sister's husband), and godmother, Coco Jensen (Randy's sister, she's #8) and Randy holding Lucas and Kara. 

Here's our crew after the ceremony.  Alex, Kara holding Lucas, Randy, Timmy (in front of Kara), Henry, Max, and Sophia

Lucas with his cake.

Lucas

Holding babies after the baptism.  Sophia with Julia, Coco with Lucas, and Kelli.

Randy holding his god daughter.

Big brother, Alex, having his turn with baby Luke.

Even Timmy had a turn holding Julia.

What we've been up to

Aunt Coco and her daugher Kelli were Lucas' first out of state visitors. They got to NY Mon. (Oct 8) night. Coco kept very busy!  Taking the older kids out for haircuts, getting groceries, helping with Lucas' and the house!

My Aunt Eileen and Uncle Pat were the next to arrive, the very next day, which happened to be my birthday! We had a great visit, just hanging out and talking the day away.

Timmy and Uncle Eric.  Eric, Sara, Oliver, Parker, Julia,Grandma Steffen, and Aunt Kathy got to NY late Friday night. We all had breakfast together the next day.

Aunt Coco holding Julia, Grandma holding Lucas

Julia and Lucas in coordinating outfits saying "hello".

Oliver, Parker, Sophia, Henry, Max, Alex, Kelli, and Timmy eating breakfast.

About the post

Be patient with the videos, they took awhile to appear on my computer. And when you're watching Sophia - she's the one in the leotard, 3rd from the left.

Sophia's 1st Ballet class & my bd

I had to show you all my blazing birthday cake, with 37 burning candles.  I had a great birthday with my Aunt Eileen, Uncle Pat and Coco here to celebrate with the 8 of us, it was a great day. And I was spoiled beyond belief! It was  relaxing day and we got Panera for lunch, I was showered with gifts and Randy even got to come home for dinner (he was suppose to be at work) and of course all the kidos were excited to celebrate.

Today (Oct. 10), Sophia had her first ballet class! She was so excited. Aunt Coco was nice enough to take her today. She LOVED it! It's at her school, but not part of the school day.  It's a half hour each Wednesday, Oct. - April.

We brought Lucas home on Saturday, September 29. It was a sunny fall day. The leaves on the trees were all still green Thursday but by Saturday they had all become yellow and brown and orange, a nice welcome home for our little guy.

Max, Henry, and Sophia getting a good look at their new brother we just brought home.

Timmy wants a look too. (Alex was still at a weekend camp out with boy scouts and didn't get home until the next day.)

Napping beside an awake baby.

Lucas Matthew

Saturday night before bed Henry finally holds his newest little brother. He's now hooked and wants to hold him all the time. Really, everyone loves to hold the little guy.

Lucas's first sponge bath with big brothers, Henry and Timmy looking on.

Here are some pictures from yesterday afternoon when the older kids had their first visit with Lucas

The first family photo with Lucas.

The most experienced big brother holding Lucas

Max was very proud. He took many turns holding his new brother.

Sophia thought he was very cute, but was considerably less careful than her older brothers when holding him. We'll need to work on that.

We couldn't talk Henry into holding Lucas. He was, however, very into the idea of giving Kara all the presents that aunt Kathy had so generously helped the kids pick out for the new baby. Henry did think it was hilarious that we are going to spend the night in the hospital. "You gonna sleep here!?!?" he said while laughing.

Tim was happy to hold Lucas with some assistance. I'm not sure if he know what to think about the little guy.

And a couple bonus pictures of just Lucas. He was feeling cooperative and had his eyes open for these. We will be coming home sometime Saturday. Kara is feeling good. Lucas is doing good. All is as expected with his single kidney: it is there and functioning, so nothing to worry about. He is starting to be a little more awake today.

As promised, here are a few more pictures of Lucas. His brothers and sisters will be visiting this afternoon.

Timmy 2nd Birthday!

Timmy's birthday is actually today and so we celebrated, of course. We had a little party with all of us plus Aunt Kathy and Uncle Dale.
Then later tonight the 7 of us went out for dinner to continue the celebration.




Here are a few pictures of Timmy opening his gifts. I tried to get him to look up and smile at me, but he wouldn't look away from his new toys until I put the camera down. He and his brothers and sister all enjoyed the new gifts.


Timmy's Blue's Clues cake.

Alex completed his 50 mile bike ride! (Randy too)

Some of you already know Alex has been working on his cycling merit badge for Boy Scouts. There is some written work on first aid he needed to do and then complete 2- 10 mile, 2- 15 mile, 2- 25 mile bike rides, which he has done. He also needed to plan a 50 mile bike ride and complete it within 8 hours for the badge. Today, he (and Randy) completed the 50 mile bike ride in 6 hours and 35 min.!! Yea Alex!!!

Sophia's First Day of School

Finally, the day Sophia has been waiting for since the day after Christmas - her first day of school!! From the sounds of all she had to say it went very well. I have told some other people I think I heard more about Sophia's first day than I have ever heard about the boys' days at school ever. She made a friend named Samantha, had gym, listened to the story The Kissing Hand, and had recess where she and Samantha played. She has been bemoaning the fact she has to have 2 whole days off before her next day of school, since she got home - so it seems school met her expectations.





Here's Sophia with her brothers, ready to go.


Here's silly faces for Sophia!

Boys 1st Day of School

Today was the 1st day of school for Alex and Max. Here they are before school, the last one is silly faces requested by Max. :)

Both boys seemed to have a good first day. Sophia's first day is actually tomorrow. She sang all day about it being the last day of summer vacation, she also asked more than once how long until bed time so she could wake up for school. So she is excited to say the least.





This is our school of fish we made for the first day of school. The first vertical line of 3 fish top to bottom were made by:#1 Alex, 2 Alex, 3 Me (I wasn't going to include mine, but the kids thought I should). The 2 line is 1 - Henry, 2 Henry, 3 Me. Line 3 is 1- Sophia, 2- Max. Line 4 is 1 Sophia, 2 Max. (I thought someday I may want to look back and remember who did which fish.) Our little tail fins didn't work as well as they looked on the example we had, I'm guessing we just used the wrong candy, but they were tasty just the same.



The kids thought they really needed to be arranged in the shape of a bus. With one little fish (bottom right) waiting to get on the bus.