The Many Faces of Luke

Luke's been wearing glasses since he was twenty months old and he is now on his fourth pair of glasses. Check out the many faces of Luke:)

First day with his glasses, 20 months old

The first pair: Worn from 20 months - Nearly 3 years

These glasses finally just wore out and got too small for his face.

(Photo credit to Kristin Knudson)

January 2010, nearly 4 years old

Second pair: worn from 3-4 years

These glasses were a fun replacement for the first pair. I thought they brought a different personality to his face with the rectangular frames:) But, when we saw the doctor last year he recommended larger frames so Luke had a larger range of vision.

June 2010, 4.5 years old

Third pair: worn from 4- nearly 5 years

These were the larger frames we chose that seemed to fit his face better. But, this month, the doctor recommended rounder glasses, again to provide a larger range of vision through the lenses.

January 28, 2011

Fourth Pair

We went with Silhouettes this time. You choose the shape of the lens and the color for the nose and ear piece. The lens are rimless so the glasses should "grow" with Luke by simply replacing larger/wider lenses as his face grows. One very nice feature of these glasses is the flexibility of the ear pieces. I can't remember what material they are made of, but they can be bent and go right back to their intended shape!

Now, to adjust to another new face of Luke:)

Quotes of the Day

I've been really enjoying Luke thoughts today so I thought I'd share a few quotes:

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"I love hot pants" (After I gave him some pants to wear right after they came out of the dryer.)

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Luke: "Mom, I'm doing a great job making my bed."

Me: "Awesome" (from the other room)

Luke: "Mom, you should come in here when I'm done to see how awesome it is"

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Luke and I were chatting about something from Brent's basketball game and he started walking away toward the bathroom while we were still talking. He then said, from the bathroom, "Mommy, we'll discuss it later." Pause. "That means we'll talk about it later. I need to go to the bathroom now."

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I realize this isn't a quote, but I also caught him dancing all over his room to a Taylor Swift song on the radio. He loves Miss Taylor Swift:)

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These are the days:)

A Healthy Treat!

One of my goals of meal planning was to create a book of recipes that were approved by our family so I would remember to return to those recipes. I had always remembered that I loved this Orange-Cranberry Scone recipe from my Betty Crocker Eat & Lose Weight cookbook (a hand me down from a woman I used to nanny for). So, this month, I planned a few breakfast treats into my meal plan so that I would have easy breakfast items to grab on the way out the door (friends, you know I'm not a morning person:)). I made the Orange-Cranberry Scones again tonight, two batches I might add, and they were delicious as I remembered!!!


Check out these tasty treats...

I only make 8 scones per batch...but I just had to try one before taking pictures:)

I don't typically share recipes on here, but I love this one so much I think you might enjoy it too.

Ingredients

2 cups Basic 4 cereal or other whole wheat flake cereal with cranberries, slightly crushed (I used Post Great Grains Cranberry Almond Crunch)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon grated orange peel

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup firm margarine or butter

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup fat free cholesterol free egg product or 1 egg, slightly beaten

1/4 cup orange low fat yogurt

Orange Glaze Ingredients

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon grated orange peel

2-3 teaspoons orange juice

Heat oven to 400. Slightly crush cereal; set aside.

Mix flour, brown sugar, baking powder, orange peel, and salt in medium bowl. Cut in margarine, using pastry blender or crisscrossing 2 knives, until mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Stir in cereal, cranberries, egg product, and yogurt until dough forms.

Place dough on lightly floured surface. Gently roll in flour to coat; shape into ball. Pat dough into 8 inch circle with floured hands. Cut circle into 12 wedges with sharp knife dipped in flour. Place wedges about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 7-9 minutes or until edges are light brown. Meanwhile, mix all Orange Glaze ingredients until thin enough to drizzle. Immediately remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool 5 minutes; drizzle with Orange Glaze. After glaze is set, store tightly covered.

Calories 170, Fat 5g, Cholesterol 30mg, Sodium 220mg, Fiber 3g, Protein 3g

The recipe is quite quick, but it is a little messy to make. At least when I make it...

I had extra fun making the scones tonight because I got to try out my new heavy-duty pastry blender and wooden spatulas that I got at the kitchen store at Medford Outlet this weekend:)

Here's to scones for breakfast for the rest of the week!

Winter

Brent and I were just discussing today how we are nearly at the downward slope of winter. We generally think that once January is over, we are at least half way through winter. Now, I don't hate winter by any stretch of the imagination, I'm a Minnesota girl at heart:). But, I do get a little worn down by the cold after a while. My antidote to the cold weather blues this winter is to remember all that I love about winter. Here goes:

• Cozy sweaters and sweatshirts
• Adding scarves to outfits
• Bringing out the winter wardrobe, it's almost like "new" clothes after not wearing it all spring and summer:)
• Winter hats, scarves, and mittens...not sure why, but I love em!
• Having our electric fireplace on in the basement, it just makes the room feel more cozy:)
• Cuddling in blankets on the couch with my boys
• The beauty of a snowfall
• A built in workout in the driveway after a snowfall:)
• Celebrating Christmas and several family birthdays
• Snow days...these don't happen much as an adult, but we did have one snowed in weekend in December 2010
• My fleece, full-length robe with a hood
• The winter landscape
• Good excuse to make lots of soups
• Hot baths
• Burning candles (I'm only motivated to burn candles when it's cold outside, is that weird?)
• Snowflake decorations around the house

All in all, I just love the variety of weather we get in Minnesota. I love the anticipation of the next season coming and all the great things that come with each season.

I hope this finds you enjoying winter, where ever you are:)

Letting Go

Tonight, I let go.
I let go of my son's hand as he walked into Awana for the first time.
I let go of our dog, Kobe, as he left with his new family and his life ahead.
Both were hard to do.



Letting go of Luke...

Luke's been asking for a few weeks if he could go to Awana at his daycare friends' church. He hears his daycare friends talking about Awana and the fun they have there and he wanted to find out for himself. So, I looked into it, and, with the help of a fellow daycare mom, got Luke signed up and ready to begin. Tonight was the first meeting after Christmas break and Luke was ecstatic to get started! He talked about it last night, this morning, and first thing when we picked him up from daycare. He was ready for the adventure. I, however, was feeling strange the whole thing. I needed to let go. This was the first event/activity that I've signed Luke up for by himself, that neither Brent or I would be a part of. Luke was going to Awana, not us. Was he ready? You bet he was! I got him to the right class, he spotted his friends and his friend's mom and he was off into the room without hesitation. Thankfully, for this poor mom's sake, he turned to give me a quick hug and kiss before he disappeared into the class with his friends. I got the details I needed and I left. By myself. Not because I had something that I needed to do without Luke, but rather, Luke had something to do without me. This was a first and I'm not sure I like it. But, I'm learning to let go...



Letting go of Kobe...

After many heartfelt discussions between Brent and I, we made the difficult decision to find Kobe another home. And, tonight was the night. A few weeks ago we decided it was time to begin our search. We got the ball rolling by talking with the breeder we got Kobe from and posting an ad on petfinder.com. But, an everyday conversation with our daycare provider last week turned into the answer we were looking for. Our daycare provider's parents had owned a german shepherd in the past and were interested in meeting Kobe. All the details fell into place and they were able to come to Rochester tonight. We talked, asked each other questions about Kobe and his potential new home, and it sounded perfect for him. Kobe's new home will be on an acreage in Wisconsin with a caring, dog-loving couple who work from home and can give him what he needs...space to run, time to give, love to share, and new adventures in the country everyday I'm sure:) So, tonight, I hugged him goodbye. And, I'm not ashamed to say that I'm crying now writing about him. I will miss many things about him...his warm, sleepy body lying at our feet while we sit on the couch, seeing him lying in the living room in the night when I get up to check on Luke or use the bathroom, our runs on the douglas trail, our walks through the quiet neighborhood after dark, his gentleness with Luke and his reverence of Brent... But I know his new home will be for the best for him and for us. He will get what he needs and will no doubt enjoy his new home and family. We're also blessed by the opportunity to see pictures and keep in touch with his new owners on Facebook and through our daycare family when they visit Wisconsin.


Having something to let go means a blessing was mine to begin with. For that I am thankful.

We'll miss you Kobe

"Letting go doesn't mean giving up, but rather accepting that there are things that cannot be."

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I look forward to it every year...and...every year it has to come to an end. The Most Wonderful Time of the Year to me is the week between Christmas and the New Year. I may be 10 years out of high school, but I still march to the tune of the school calendar. And, the school calendar is on winter break between Christmas and the New Year:) This year I was blessed with the opportunity to be off work beginning at 5pm on 12/21, returning for one day on 12/27, and then off again until 1/3! It was wonderful!

We celebrated Christmas and my Grandpa's birthday in Albert Lea the evening of Christmas Eve with my mom's extended family. It was especially fun this year because everyone was able to be together for the first time in years:)

Christmas morning we headed back to Rochester to host the Picker family Christmas celebration. It was our first year hosting and we had a lot of fun! The cousins wore each other out with lots of playing and wrestling as usual. And, it was fun to have another little one joining the crew now that Annalise is walking every where:) Greg, Cally, Brent, and I even got time to play a new game Greg got for Christmas after the kiddos were in bed!

Sunday, we headed to my Grandpa's farm outside Wells, MN for my dad's extended family Christmas celebration. It was nice chatting with Grandpa and having four generations gathered together.

The week between Christmas and the New Year was also filled with family time!

Monday, Luke spent the morning with Greg, Cally, Mekhi, and Annalise and the afternoon with Grandma Nancy while Brent and I worked for the day. Luke even got Mr Pizza for lunch (one of his favorites) thanks to Greg and Cally:)

Tuesday, I began the remainder of my "Christmas Break":) We spent the day with my Grandma, Uncle Larry, and Cousin Jamie who came from Albert Lea for some shopping and lunch at Michael's. It was great to have them in Rochester and to get even more time together after the holiday:)

Wednesday was Luke day of dates. He and I had lunch together at Panera and he and Daddy went to the Rotary basketball tournament to watch a couple games that evening. Luke loved watching the games with Daddy since he's used to sitting with me watching Daddy play; and Brent got to experience Luke's many questions through out the game:)

Thursday began with great intentions...but then I locked my keys in the car while parked in the mall parking lot...nice, I know. Many thanks to Ruth for bringing us home, then Luke and I shared an afternoon relaxing and watching Home Alone 2. Luke saw the Home Alone movies for the first time this Christmas and he thinks they are great! Once Brent got home, we headed to Riggin's (aka Evan and Eli's house according to Luke). The boys ran, wrestled, and played the night away while we got to chat and relax after a wonderful dinner.

Friday, we were supposed to head to Faribault for the Kester family Christmas, but the weather called for freezing rain and sleet. Brent asked that we stay in town instead of chancing the drive home in the weather expected later in the day. We didn't end up getting as much ice as expected, but I was still grateful not to drive on the ice we did get. Since Luke and I were staying in Rochester, we had Chinese (another one of Luke's favorites) for lunch with Grandma, Grandpa, and Bridget; then we came home and slept it off with an afternoon nap:) We had a quiet New Years Eve together once Brent got off work. We had Panera for dinner (yeah, not much cooking going on this week either), played Life (Luke's first time and he won!), and Brent and I watched The Other Guys (truthfully, I watched it since Brent fell asleep). I was expecting to ring in the new year alone, but was surprised to find my peanut still awake in his bed at midnight! I wasn't complaining, it was nice to start off the new year together! I guess that afternoon nap really refreshed him:)

Saturday was our Beckmann family Christmas celebration at my parent's house. Unfortunately Luke woke up with a sore neck and an upset stomach. He spent the day on the couch at Grandma and Grandpa's while we played games and he occasionally got sick:( We really were a sorry crew...my dad felt a migraine coming on, Luke's stomach was sick, and my sister was on crutches after a sledding accident the week before. Despite all of the issues, we really had a nice day together playing games, eating, and opening gifts. Luke was a sorry sight as the gift opening progressed. He started out pretty excited and into opening gifts (though only a glimmer of his healthy self), but as the event went on, he gradually lost energy and enthusiasm. By the end, he was pulling on the paper while Brent held the gifts for him:( Poor guy!

During the night I had a paranoid-Mommy-moment and called the nurse-line to be sure Luke wasn't showing signs of meningitis or something horrible with his symptoms. The nurse recommended he see a doctor on Sunday to get a strep culture. I then had my ah-ha-Mommy-moment as I remembered that the last time Luke had strep, he also threw up!

Sunday morning Luke and I slept in then we all headed to the Mayo Express Care for Luke's throat culture. The nurse was pretty confident it was strep, but we had to wait until Monday morning to confirm. We spent the day at home relaxing before heading back to the real world on Monday. The day may have been "forced" relaxing time with Luke sick, but a day of snuggles never goes without gratitude in this house:)

So, I write to you now in the aftermath of The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, but I don't say that begrudgingly. The Christmas celebrations were the perfect end to a blessed 2010 and we eagerly anticipate many things in 2011: Luke turning 5, Luke starting kindergarten, Bridget and Ross's wedding, family visiting from out of state for the wedding, Brent finishing his MBA, and who knows what else! We also have some immediate changes beginning this week: Brent beginning his new job as a manager at the Think corporte office in Rochester and me training a new job share (who works the second half of each week while I am off)!

A new year always gets me thinking of the possibilities too...Could this be the year that we add another sweet little one to our family? What does the year hold for our family and what awaits us in 2011 that we have not even considered?

It's easy for me to start to wonder, and even worry sometimes about the year to come, but then I remind myself that the One whose birth we just celebrated is with us through it all and preparing us for what we see as the unknown future. He is loving us, guiding us, encouraging us, and waiting with us every step of the way. For this I am eternally grateful, this year and for years to come!