The Minor Family

Happy 4th of July

2009-07-05T20:17:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! We are alive! I have decided a blog is impossible to keep up with but will try my best. I actually forgot that I even had a blog for a while. This is a pic of Andrew and Luke at the July 3rd City of Norcross fireworks. Andrew loved them and Luke fell asleep about 15 minutes before they began. Hope to update again soon.

Let it snow!

2009-03-01T13:20:00.000-08:00

March 1st and it's snowing. Luke's first snow!

Mom, Nana and Luke in the snow! Check out Luke's puppy dog outfit. It was snuggly warm.

The family goofing off after the snow.

Watch out Dad! Snowball fight!

Catching the snow. Yum?

My cute puppy dog!

Alive and well (at least for now)

2009-01-17T18:49:00.000-08:00

This post is for my friend Tessa! Actually I am so thankful that she reminded me to take 5 minutes and update everyone. The last post coincided with my first day back to work. Go figure? We've had a fun couple of months. The latter part of November was full of us trying to get on a schedule. Nana was here a week for Thanksgiving and we were VERY thankful for her. December was mainly spent in ERs and doctor offices. Everyone is good now at least for a little while... We had a wonderful Christmas and having a great start to the New Year.

Here are a couple of pictures I snapped today practicing for Valentines Day. Nana, the boys love their pillows. There is still a box of Christmas decor in the dining room but Valentine's Day is making it's way into the house. I'll post some holiday pictures at some point. It might be Easter before I do it but you need to see how Luke is growing. He's so wonderful. God is VERY good.

Here's Luke. He's 4 months old - only a few days from 5 months.

Andrew wanted in the picture so bad! He was sweet though. Here are my wonderful boys! Luke is waving to everyone.

And here is silly Andrew. After Luke wasn't in the picture (and the focus), Andrew was no longer interested. Funny how that happened...

Luke's first day of school

2008-11-12T21:29:00.000-08:00

As I suspected, I don't have a lot of extra time to update the blog. We are slowly getting into a routine. I have been getting to work by 8:30am. I need to get that closer to 8:00 but hopefully over time that will occur.

Luke went to school on Tuesday, November 11th for the first time. I took him in around 9:30am and picked him up around 4:00pm. I didn't cry too much during the drop off. At least I took him! Scott had to take Andrew to school on his first day as I was an emotional wreck. Luke is at Primrose with Andrew. I truly believe Andrew thought Luke would be in the same class as he. That was pretty funny.

Here we are at drop off. Can you see that my eyes are red?

This is Ms. Stacy. She is the lead teacher and my savior in that class right now.

New camera

2008-11-12T18:44:00.000-08:00

So, we "bit the bullet" and bought a nice camera. I admit it but I was SO jealous of how fabulous my friend' pictures were. What I didn't realize was that you have to take one million pictures to get one that is fabulous but we try really hard.

Scott took Andrew and Bailey to an area near our house for a nature walk and photo shoot. He captured some great moments. Enjoy!

I thought the dog would be chasing Andrew or the balls.

Andrew isn't giving up the tennis balls.

Look the excitement on his face and check out that vertical leap!

Is he having fun or what?

Sweet pictures of my baby!

Luke's Parent Dedication

2008-11-11T05:45:00.000-08:00

Luke's parents (that would be us) were dedicated on Sunday, November 9th. There were a total of 6 couples with 7 children. Yes, one couple had twins (a boy and a girl). It was special as we were dedicated along with the Fosters and Yorks (baby Audrey and Ashton's parenets) who have become very special to us over the last 3 months. It was a very sweet service.

This is before the service hence the bib and burp cloth. Trying to avoid any accidents.
Here are the "better halves". Wes York (Ashton), Jeff Foster (Audrey) and Scott (with Luke). Like all the burp cloths and bibs? That was definitely the scene before the event.
A quick photo during the service. Yes, everyone was praying and we're trying to sneak a pic. Scott was faking it pretty well.

Mom and her boys! I have to learn how to hold Luke up for the pictures but he is looking at all of the lights.

with Nana
Family shot. Is it good enough for a Christmas card?

Really wanted you to see Luke's sweet outfit.

Look at that sweet boy!

I tell everyone that it looks like Luke is storing up for the winter with those cheeks! He is just the best and cutest baby! :-)

Luke loves watching Andrew!

Awh!!!

This is Andrew telling us that he wanted a group hug around Luke. It was a really cute moment.

Another family shot. By this point, Andrew was done with the photo shoot (as you can tell).

Blakely, Ashton, Luke and me

Trip to the Zoo

2008-11-09T20:57:00.000-08:00

Nana came in town Thursday night for Luke's dedication and to visit. She had not seen Luke since early the morning of September 3rd. This might have been her longest stint away. Obviously, Luke had changed so much and Andrew was SO excited to see her. He kept asking her if she was leaving. Not in a bad way but he now knows that she leaves to go home. It was sad.

Anyway, the rain stayed away long enough for us to go to the Atlanta Zoo on Friday. We had a lot of fun and here are some pictures!

Awh....

Andrew actually wasn't too thrilled to take this picture with Luke in it. If I remember correctly, I had to bribe him to get a smile. He wanted to be in the picture by himself. This is just the beginning.

Pictures of a few of the animals....

Luke actually woke up while we were out and about. I couldn't believe it.

Andrew with kangaroos

Luke and I with kangaroos

Andrew in the petting zoo. He was pretty hesitant to pet the animals.

I had to ask Andrew to take one step closer about 3 times to get this shot. He would take baby steps toward the goat each time. It was funny!

Andrew finally rode one of the animals on the merry-go-'round! See the Boo at the Zoo pics where we had to sit in one of the stationery seats. I promised him I would hold on to him. Before the ride was over he was saying "Let go of me, mommy." Yea!

Luke and Nana had to ride the second time.

We had so much fun! It began raining soon after we left this area. Can't wait to go back again!

Last lunch with the girls

2008-11-05T20:48:00.001-08:00

I have written about this before but two of my friends at church had babies in the same week as I had Luke. Luke and I were last in the order. We have been meeting for lunch during our maternity leaves. Well, the time has come for Blakely and I to return to work. We both will go back on Tuesday, November 11th. Scary but we can do it. These lunches have been such a blessing for me over the past 3 months. They have made me get out of the house with Luke and I have gotten to know two amazing ladies.

Here are some pics from our last lunch today.

Luke wearing his "An Alpha Chi Loves Me" t-shirt. Come to find out Meg is an AXO as well. She went to Northwestern. You'll see in a minute why Luke wore this shirt.

Me and Luke, Meg and Audrey, and Blakely and Ashton. I cannot believe how big the babies are compared to our first lunch.
Meg had the great idea to take a picture to submit for AXO's Lyre magazine. Notice Meg's AXO sweatshirt. I wore an AXO t-shirt but then was smart enough to put Luke in front of the logo. We'll let you know if our babies are famous magazine models soon.

If you are wondering, Luke and Audrey are both staring at a ceiling fan and light. Isn't that funny?

Election Day!

2008-11-05T20:39:00.000-08:00

I am so proud of my boys. They were so involved in the Presidential election this week.

As you can see by Andrew's shirt, he wasn't too keen on either of the candidates so he was campaigning for a write in.

Superman for President!

Luke went to vote with mom and dad. If we were in some states, we could have passed him as a registered voter. Maybe McCain needed that. We waited in line for just over 1 1/2 hours! I thought for sure having Luke with us would be our ticket to the front of the line but no such luck.

Luke's first election.

This is the line when we arrived and it stayed pretty consistent the whole time we were there.

Scott and I are very concerned over the election outcome but know that God has a plan.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

2008-10-31T11:27:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween everyone! It all started with both of the boys waking up at 6:00 AM! Well, time to get rolling on a busy day!

Andrew had a costume parade at school Friday morning. Now, I know why he likes spiderman, superman, power rangers, etc etc. They were everywhere! He's never seen one show with these characters but talks about them all of the time. Here are a few pics.

Andrew's class

Superheros to the rescue! Superman and Spiderman

Andrew and a classmate are very curious about baby Luke.

Lots of parents came to watch the parade.

That afternoon we had a costume parade in our neighborhood and even Luke participated! Andrew was Superman, Luke was a pumpkin, Mommy was a witch and Daddy was a redneck (not too much of a stretch there). Andrew did NOT like the fake teeth Scott wore. He cried and yelled "take those out". Wish we had a picture or video of that.

We ate pizza and other yummy goodies. There was a costume contest and there are some really creative people in our neighborhood. Then it was FINALLY off for trick or treating. Andrew was so excited! He really "got it" this year. He would say "trick or treat", get the candy, say "thank you" and then turn to me and say "Mommy, let's get more!". Then we were off to the next house. He walked (or ran) the entire time but he finally pooped out near our house. I had to carry him back 3 houses.

After that, he was waiting at the door for kids to come to our door. He had to give out the candy. It was SO fun and exciting to know that this is the start of many fun Halloweens!

Andrew and Will waiting for the parade to begin. Will is a bat.

Group picture before the parade.

Here we are walking in the costume parade.

Obama and McCain made an appearance at our wonderful event.

The Pirates of Capers Crossing. This is a family that lives on Capers Crossing. They even had their golf cart decorated like a pirate ship.

Family shot. Can you see the expression on Luke's face? It's so funny! We only took about 20 pictures to get one that looked ok and wasn't of the back of Andrew's head.

Me and my little pumpkin.

Superman and Superpup!

FINALLY, we are trick-or-treating! Andrew absolutely loved it. He didn't care what scary decorations were in front of the houses, he was getting his treats.

His favorite part was ringing the doorbell. No matter how many times I told him to push it once, I swear he pushed the button at least 3 times at each house.

TREATS!

"Come on, mom! Let's go. Let's get more!" Andrew's standard phrase as he was running to the next house.

Andrew's treats. It doesn't look like a lot but it was (especially for a 3 year old). He only really wanted the lollipops and the fruit snacks. YEA! More chocolate for mom and dad.

Let me summarize by saying that we cannot wait until Halloween 2009. Andrew is hooked and it will be so much fun.

Andrew's First Pumpkin Carving

2008-10-30T19:09:00.000-07:00

We had not tried carving a "punkin" (aka pumpkin) with Andrew yet. We thought this would be the year. As you can tell from the posts, we've had a busy October and it wouldn't be one of my activities if it wasn't the last minute. Maybe a new tradition "Halloween eve pumpkin carving".

Scott and Andrew decided they wanted a scary pumpkin. Andrew lasted for a little while and we heard a lot of "ewhs" as Scott was taking out the "guts". Andrew did help with that and loved it. But once the knife came out to carve the design, Andrew's attention span was gone. The cool part was over and he was on to something else.

Scott finished the pumpkin by himself - actually with Bailey, the dog, keeping him company. Of course, also in true Michelle form, I forgot we needed a candle and had to drive to the store quickly!

The guys and Bailey before their project.

Andrew's digging in!

Please look at the expression on Andrew's face. He is really telling Mommy and Luke all about "punkin" carving.

The finished product - after I bought the candle. :-)

Wish you were here Friday night to see it! Andrew is VERY proud of his jack-o-lantern.

Andrew's last soccer class

2008-10-30T11:58:00.001-07:00

This is a little late but Andrew's last soccer class was October 20th. Of course, my camera's battery died after about 5 pictures but here are a few. He did well. We hope there is another class in the spring. Andrew can't wait to show you his "moves" and tell you about Coach Vince.

Andrew in action.

Andrew being silly. Go figure...
Listening to Coach Vince. Maybe Mom and Dad need "coach" in front of their name...

Luke enjoyed the class as well. Ha!

Forrest and Will's birthday

2008-10-29T08:11:00.001-07:00

Saturday, we went to the Train Museum for Forrest (5) and Will's (3) birthday party. Georgia had the big game that day against LSU and Forrest and Will's dad went to LSU. With that, Andrew HAD to wear is Georgia football jersery.

Andrew had a great time running through and around all of the trains. We took a ton of pictures but here are a few.

The birthday boys! Forrest is on the left and Will is in the middle.

Look at me!

Think he's a momma's boy? We do have the same smile.This is the train we rode.

Andrew says the horn is TOO loud! Choo! Choo!

Doesn't Andrew look Presidential?

Look who's driving the train!

Luke really did attend the party - his first birthday party! He slept most of the party. Go figure!

Sunday, we all went to church. Luke sat through "big church" and never woke up - even with a lady singing VERY loud. I couldn't believe it. This coming Sunday will be his first in the nursery at church. Fun times. I'm sure we'll have a picture! :-)

Georgia Acquarium

2008-10-26T20:11:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, we had a family fun day at the Georgia Acquarium. That place is amazing! We were bummed that the penguins were "on vacation" but apparently they are constructing an amazing dolphin exhibit that will open in 2010. Should be something! Andrew will tell you all about the sharks he saw (Bruce from Finding Nemo) and the stingrays (Mr. Ray again from Finding Nemo). There was a diver cleaning a tank. Andrew now says "when I get big, I want to be a diver." This is the first time he's said something like that. We'll see... Here are some pictures from our fun day.

This was Andrew when he wasn't running around. He spent most of the day yelling "Look Daddy!" I'm glad he saw Finding Nemo. He could identify so many of the fish from that movie.

Finally! A family shot with mom in it. One day we'll get all 4 of us.
Scott and Andrew touching sea otter skin (at least I think that is what that was).

Hello, Mr. Beluga Whale!
Wow! Look at all of the fish.
Look, it's Alex! We ran into one of Andrew's friends from school and church - Alex!

Giving Deepo a High Five!

The family with Deepo. Don't ask me what Andrew's face is all about.

We have more from the weekend but I'll post separately. Too many pictures!!!

Michelle

Luke is 2 months old!

2008-10-21T11:20:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe that it's been 2 months since Luke was born! He's such a sweet baby. Here is his "birthday hat" picture from today. I was not successful in getting him to smile. Maybe he doesn't like the hat. Oh well - he has 10 more months of it (at least).

Lots of "firsts"

2008-10-19T19:32:00.001-07:00

This past weekend was very busy for the Minor family. I actually canceled a few things so that we could relax a little. Saturday morning, Andrew and Scott went to the driving range with Scott's dad for the first time while Luke and I stayed home to do chores (unfortunately that was not the first time). I never left the kitchen and laundry room! How much fun does that sound? We did fit in another bath for Luke though.

Looking good...

Look at that form - Phil Mickelson, watch out!

Gramps giving Andrew his first lesson. I'm sure Andrew listened to every word. Ha!

Saturday night Andrew, Luke and I went to Boo at the Zoo for the first time with Ellen, Molly and Riley. The kids dress up in their costumes and trick-or-treat at the zoo. There are a few animals out and we rode the train and merry-go-round. Andrew would NOT get on one of the horses that move up and down. We had to sit in one of the seats. Luke was our excuse. It's now my mission to get Andrew on one of those horses. We will be going back!

Luke's 1st Halloween shirt

Andrew and Molly (she is Mulan)

Andrew and Riley (I think she is Belle? I dont' know princesses - I have boys!)

What a cute Superman!

Sitting on the merry-go-round. Luke's first ride.

Sunday was Luke's first time to church. Look at the cute outfit he is wearing from Mrs. Penny! We received MANY compliments. He slept through Sunday School and Scott brought him home after that. I taught in Andrew's class that day so we stayed. That's another story for another day.

My sweet baby! I love this picture. It's my favorite so far!

My sweet boys going to church!

I had a sorority alumnae event Sunday afternoon - no pics but it was fun. Then I took Andrew to a birthday party. It was so funny! He was one of only 2 boys at the princess-themed party - Andrew's first Cinderella party. Honestly, I don't think he even noticed. He kicked the soccer balls and threw the football almost the entire time. He was checking out Cinderella though.

Andrew playing football. That's my boy!

Andrew did let Cinderella paint his face. He asked her if she had any "boy pictures". He chose a basketball. He told Cinderella that rainbows were for girls.

Andrew and Gibbs (the other boy at the party) checking out Cinderella from afar. Look at all of the princesses!

Lauryn (the birthday girl and dressed as Cinderella) sat with Andrew rather than the other princesses. That was pretty funny. I guess Andrew was her prince charming!

If anyone is looking at this, Andrew would like one of these for Christmas!

What a great weekend! Andrew had so much fun. Not much going on this week but Andrew does have his last soccer class. Next weekend we have another birthday party but not much else. Yea! Maybe we can relax some and prepare for Halloween!

Craig and Aunt Kayla come to visit

2008-10-17T19:23:00.001-07:00

We had visitors tonight for dinner - Aunt Kayla and "Uncle" Craig! Andrew loves their visits and Luke was pretty much indifferent. I'm sure that will change quickly though. We had a very healthy meal consisting of pizza, garlic rolls and double-stuffed oreos (because one stuffing is just NOT enough). Andrew did drink his milk - that has vitamins!

I won't say that Kayla and Craig left running but I can tell you they were happy to be leaving without kids. We can't wait until their next visit!

Luke chilling with Aunt Kayla.

Andrew and Uncle Craig putting together a Halloween puzzle.

Andrew introducing Craig and Kayla to the Backyardigans!

That was an exciting Friday night for the Minor house. Fun, fun!

Pumpkin-filled weekend

2008-10-12T22:33:00.000-07:00

Poor Andrew was sick all weekend and had a 102 degree fever Sunday afternoon! With that, we stayed close to home all weekend but stretched out our pumpkin fun over a few days. It's hard to think of fun things to do without watching tv all weekend!

It's a bird, it's a plane, NO! it's Superman! Here is Andrew's Halloween costume. Doesn't he look thrilled. Yet again, I am WAY more excited than Andrew and he picked out this costume.

Here we are painting our pumpkins. Fun times! Little Van Gogh...

Andrew and dad made a pirate pumpkin. It is like a Mr. Potato Head and is super cute.

Andrew will be home with mom and Luke on Monday since he still has a fever. Even more hours for mom to be creative!

Have a great week and pray for Andrew! He really doesn't feel well.

Fun-filled Day!

2008-10-10T20:00:00.000-07:00

What a day! First, Luke was actually awake this morning and played on his activity mat. The weekly email said that at 7 weeks they should be able to "bat" at objects. Well, we gave it a try. He actually did hit at the red bird several times. Now, I must admit that I don't know if that was just the luck of his stretching in the right direction but he did it a lot. Here's a picture for proof.

Next, Luke and I had lunch with our friends Blakely (and her son Ashton) and Meg (and her daughter Audrey). A little background here.... Blakely, Meg and I go to church together and Ashton, Audrey and Luke were born within 5 days of each other. And we were all at the same hospital! Crazy huh? Anyway, we are all on maternity leave together so we have been trying to meet for lunch and ask each other questions once a week. It's been a blast and I look forward to the lunch each week. Here is a pic of the babies.

Ashton is first, then Audrey and the chubby one on the end is Luke - and they thought he had a weight problem! :-) Please notice that Ashton and Audrey both have toys in their car seats. They are both first children. Poor, poor Luke! I had the "bugs" on his car seat but Andrew just about broke all of them.

Lastly, and the really fun part, we went to the pumpkin patch at a local church to pick out pumpkins. Andrew was SO excited. He promised me he would look at the camera and say cheese - WHATEVER! Be happy that I got these pics. He looks at the camera for a split second and by the time the flash finishes, he has looked away. We try our best! But he had SO much fun and that is all that matters.

You have no idea how painful this was but it turned out ok.

You know Andrew, he's just a talking in this picture. I'm sure bossing us around. These aren't our pumpkins but we bought about that many!

Look at my new little pumpkin!

What an eventful day and it was a Friday! Can't wait to see what the weekend holds.... I think we are decorating outside for Halloween and showing Andrew his Superman outfit! Should make for some great pictures!

Get me something to read!

2008-10-09T20:34:00.001-07:00

OK - I cannot believe I am posting this picture of my son but I have had so many requests to see it - Here it is! The story goes like this....

Andrew had to go to the bathroom. He was in the guest bathroom next to the kitchen. I was in the kitchen feeding Luke. Scott was helping Andrew. Out of nowhere, Andrew yells to Scott "Daddy! Get me something to read!" Scott and I looked at each other for a second and then laughed hysterically. Scott gave him the Costume Express magazine. Then Scott tells me to put Luke down and get the camera. I cannot believe the picture isn't blury - I was laughing so hard! You can see that he was seriously studying that magazine!

I can't believe Andrew is getting so big! It's something new every day!

Luke is 7 weeks old!

2008-10-09T20:04:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe that Luke is 7 weeks old today! This picture is in his favorite spot - the swing! Andrew loved the swing as well but I think Luke "takes the cake".

Luke will smile at you now when he is focused on your face and sees you smiling. That is fun and something Andrew has been waiting on. Luke was at the end of a big smile in this picture. I wasn't quick enough with the camera. Luke will follow the fish some going around above the swing. Not batting at objects yet but he would need to be awake more during the day to play like that. I'm not complaining! We are using the miracle blanket at night now and he is sleeping at least 6 hours now. YEA for Luke!

These 7 weeks have gone by so fast. Only 5 more weeks until I am back to work. :-(

Luke FINALLY gets a bath!

2008-10-07T12:16:00.000-07:00

So, I am a horrible mom and it's been over 2 weeks since Luke had a bath! I know he's the second child but COME ONE, surely I can make time for a bath. He's getting SO big. Notice those plump cheeks and round belly. Maybe he'll be Santa Claus for Halloween. Ha!

Happy Birthday Payton!

2008-10-07T12:10:00.001-07:00

Andrew went to his friend Payton's 4th birthday party this past weekend. It was at the Duluth Train Museum. It was the coolest party and definitely something we will consider for Andrew's next year. We road a train and walked through old train cars. The party was inside a train car. There were tatoos (temporary, of course) and crafts for the kids as well. What a neat place! Santa will be arriving there in November. I'm sure we'll go back and have new pictures.

Molly's Birthday

2008-04-26T13:16:00.000-07:00

My friend, Molly, just turned 4 years old. She wanted "girls only" at her party so Andrew had a party for her at our house. It's always fun having Molly and Riley (and Ms Ellen) over to play.

Andrew's Big Announcement

2008-04-14T16:10:00.000-07:00

Andrew wants to tell everyone his BIG news!

He will be a big brother in August.

Mommy is having a baby boy!