Luke's top 3 toys he loves playing with:

1. choo-choo's (his trains)

2. any type of car

3. throwing or shooting around a ball

Here Luke is playing with his Dad's old beloved car map that he played with when he was Luke's age.

All of us at the Palace watching a Piston's practice! Luke loved watching them throw the ball aound! And yes, I do beleive he is sucking on that dirty, germy pole as I took this picture.

My baby looking all cute after just waking up.

Putting up the ornaments this year! Luke will go around and point to them saying, " Ball. Ball." We have only broken one so far!

Luke is going to be a ring bearer in a few weeks and so we bought Luke a tux for the big day. When we received it in the mail we knew we had to try it on him to see how it fit. He looked so gosh, darn cute that we had to snap some pics to use for our Christmas card this year!

We went to a Polar Express reading at our Barnes and Noble. Besides litstening to the story, Luke got to make a jingle bell necklace, eat a cookie, and play with the "choo-choo"!

We stopped by to see Santa but Luke was not that enthused. :)

Enjoying the downtown light show! (It was very rainy out!)

Lukie looking all grown up sitting with his legs crossed.

Grandma Cooley took us all out to Rainforest Cafe and Luke loved watching all of the animals and the bubbles. Although he wasn't so sure about the elephant...I think he thought he was going to walk right over to him and snatch him up. Below Luke is drinking out of his Rainforest cup. :)

Luke is feeling a little sad that he only made it to the 26 lb. mark.

Happy Halloween!

Ben has been our using our neighbor's rider to mow the grass and pick up the leaves. This is the BEST invention ever in my book! Ben was done with the whole yard (leaves included!) in 2 hours! Bonus: Luke thought Dad riding on the "big" mower was pretty cool. :)

Lukie having fun playing in the leaves!
Halloween 2011 was great! We all gathered at our neighbor's house for a pot-luck, trick-or-treating, and to count our candy afterwards. I think we had 9 trick-or-treaters in all. Luke had so much fun this year too! He made it up to 10 houses. The first couple he was a little shy with his please, thank you, and bye-bye but by the end he was asking for "more". :)

Luke with mom and dad before heading over to the Seidell's. He's one cute puppy dog!

Disclaimer: Pictures are out of order.

At home, looking over Luke's loot! Not bad buddy!

This was most of the group after we were done trick-or-treating. Luke is just starting to wake up in his stroller. I LOVE these kids!

Below Luke is pooped after trick-or-treating. Being cute and getting candy is pretty tough stuff!

Luke loved carrying his pumpkin of candy. Once Luke got in his stroller, Ben tried to take it for him but Luke held on tight and let Dad know he wanted to be in charge of it!

Lukie walking up to one of the houses.

Some of the group before trick-or-treating!

Luke had so much fun at his Halloween party at school! Below he's with his buddy Mason. :)

Looking all cute before leaving for school!

Helping Dad pull out all the slimers inside the pumpkin!

" Pum, Pum!"

Before leaving for Luke's first day back at school! Poor fella showed up with a bum eye but besides that LOVED being back to see all of his buddies! He loves being there and when we ask him about each of his buddies after we pick him up, he'll grin and laugh after each of their names. :)

We are living the "uh-oh" phase ALL of the time! Luke is "Uh-oh" this and "uh-oh" that. So imagine what he is saying in the above pic. We love him and all of his "uh-ohs!!!"

I tired to warn him...I think he learned that dirt isn't so delish.

Just cute.

Luke smells all flowers and then exclaims, "Hmmm." I didn't have the heart to tell him that these flowers don't smell...I hope that he always takes time to smell the flowers and find the sweet smells of them even when others can't.

"Well, hello there!"

A special bond.

Our annual visit to Yates Cider Mill! We were down at the water and Ben was taking pics. All of the other parents were staying back with their kids by Ben. I was curious why they weren't letting their kids go down by the water. Then 0.5 seconds after that thought Luke slipped into the mud, I'm learning...

Here is Luke with his "pum pums"! Notice the 'ol sweatpants that we thankfully had in his diaper bag!

Below, Luke is enjoying his first cup of cider and sugar donut! YUMMO!

Luke loves his Auntie Nae Nae!

We did it! We had a fun-filled weekend downtown in the D! We stayed a the MGM Grand and Grandma and Grandpa Uitti watched Lukie back at home and brought him downtown the morning of the race. Mom and Dad completed the 5K, Uncle Tom, Aunt Cathy and I ran the 5k, Auntie Janae killed the 1/2 marathon, and Uncle Matt conquered the marathon! Stan, Mom, and Lukie cheered from the sidelines and Ben...Ben earned the biggest heart award for supporting ALL of us even hobbling around on one foot. He was our coach and because of him we all got through it. xoxo

Three of my favorite guys.

Lukie, you are so handsome. Love, mom

Lukie carrying around his Bible! He loves to read it and look at the brightly, colored pictures. He also loves to pray before meal time. He will fold his hands and wait for the prayer to be over. After we all say Amen he'll fold his hands and want to do it again. :)

Love.

We will not forget you summer....

The Morin family had a GREAT summer together and we loved every minute of it! We will cherrish all of Luke's new discoveries and wonderments and hold onto these precious memories for a lifetime. Who knew that being a parent would be SO awesome. As Ben puts it, "This summer was a 10 out of 10!"

My boy just looking so cute and so big.
Mr. TrOuBlE

Luke loves his new Elmo chair! Luke loves pretty much anything Elmo. :) Ben and I will be on the couch watching TV and Luke has no problem making himself comfy too. :)
Having fun with Grandpa and Grandma Uitti! Grandpa bought Lukie his very first basketball hoop. Luke is still a 100% shooter on it!
So fun with Grandpa and Grandma around!
Lukie and Ben enjoyed a guys day together at the races in St. Clare. Ben's buddy was in car race and the guys had fun cheering him on!

Yup. I think Lukie even surprised himself.

Luke loved seeing the big moving truck pull into our driveway with Dad behind the wheel! While Ben was packing up my teaching stuff that I stored at home over the summer (due to school renovation) Luke had a blast being a driver of such a big truck!

Now behind a set of wheels that fits Luke a little better...for now. :)

While I was taking pics of Luke he posed for me in the position! I was dying laughing!

Lukie hanging out with Lauren Moore and her FIANCE Masoon! They are getting married on New Years Eve this year and they asked Lukie to be their ring bearer!!! We are so excited for them to get married and to have Lukie be apart of their special day. Hopefully, Luke will make it down the aisle...either way, we couldn't be more happier for our Lauren!

Luke enjoying the last bit of his very first Cook's Dairy Farm ice cream cone (of course, in chocolate)!
Living large with Grandpa and Grandma. "Hmmm, let's see....I'll have a little bit of this...and a little bit of that..."

Luke loved seeing all of the animals and he even petted the baby calfs. :) Luke loves to look at animal books and have us name the animals. Then he'll say the sound the animal makes. He says moo, bah, oink, neigh, and rarrr for lions. (GO Lions, by the way!)

Luke's favorite part of the play-scape is this little house underneath one of the slides. He can open the little door, shut the door, sit on the little bench, and peek at you through the door's window.

Luke's first (of many!) picnic lunches at Bloomer Park. We enjoyed the afternoon of our last summer day together as a family. Luke loved eating at the picnic table and enjoyed a PB&J (on a hamburger bun!), tortilla chips, pickle, and blueberries and raspeberries. He ate it all!

We enjoy going to Dad's Lakeview JV soccer games! So far Ben is undefeated with a

7-0 season! Below are the Coach's biggest fans!

A little water break with Dad.

Watching the team with Dad and making sure everone is doing what they are supposed to.

Lukie was a little hesitant about going down his new slide at first, but that didn't last long! He loves going down it now!

Luke's 15 month check-up went great! Dr. Antone was even impressed when Luke grabbed his stethascope and put it to his own chest.
Here are Luke's stats at 15 mos...

Height: 33 inches (90th percentile)

Weight: 24 lbs. 8 oz. (50th percentile)

Head Circumference 18 3/4 inches (75th percentile)

Luke's FIRST Tigers Game! All Grandpa wanted for his birthday this year was a chance to take his grandson to the ballpark for a game...and Grandpa's birthday wish came true! Luke loved being around all of the people, watching the game, walking around the stadium, riding the Tiger carousel, and nibbling on some yummy treats. Here is our little Verlander tuckered out after lasting 8 innings!!!

One of Luke's absoulte favorite things to do is "drive" one of our cars. He will press every single button in the car. He has even taught his mama a few things on how some things work in her new car!

The Cottage: Summer 2011
We LOVE staying at Uncle Tom and Aunt Cathy's cottage every year. We usually stay the week before Ben begins his soccer try-outs for the season, we call it our last hurrah of the summer. This summer was so fun with Luke being a little older and being able to enjoy the outdoors. We took a trip to the springs, to Lumberman's Monument, to the pizza place, to the Cove for ice cream, spent time with Uncle Tom and Aunt Cathy, went on lots of runs and walks, swam everyday and had fun being together as a family!

The sweetest little beach bum...

Heavenly.

Luke and Ben went on a kayak ride to find the old shipwreck...they found it!

The Morin Family!

Luke at the beginning on his stairway of life...deep.

Enjoying the fresh water springs .

Even though Luke isn't talking fluently yet his non-verbals are clear...to the beach!

Luke was very entertained with a pail filled with water, a shovel and sand. Ahhh, the little things... Lukie just a little excited to play in the rain at Lumberman's Monument. I also think he likes his new Smokey the Bear sticker.

According to Dad...you can never start 'em too young. :) Here they are hitting golf balls into the lake.

My boys are feeling tuckered after a fun filled day!

Enjoying the water with NO one else around. Shark Week was on the week we were at the cottage. We'd watch it at night and be in the water all the next day. We were feeling VERY thankful for the fresh water Great Lakes!!

Loving spending time at Uncle Tom & Aunt Cathy's cottage!

Kayaking on beautiful Lake Huron with Uncle Tom!

Luke getting camera shy while going potty (sorry buddy!). Luke is doing a great job going potty each night before he takes a bath. He is able to go most nights and he gets very proud of himself. :)