I am Lutheran

Danielle's current favorite books include The Lutheran Worship (the hymnal) and her devotion book. She will spend a lot of time sitting in her rocker paging through these two books.

I am 15 months old TODAY!

Today is Danielle's 15 month birthday! She has many new tricks for which she is very proud. She climbs on anything that is off the ground more than an inch. Our challenge is to help her know what is not supposed to be climbed upon (certain toys, buckets, ziplock containers, etc.) and what is dangerous to climb (stairs, things that roll, etc.). She has no fear, so those things we deem dangerous she is starting to master! She is talking more and more, saying things like "Yo Yo Yo" for yogart, "zzzz" for zoo, "oh yea" when things are delicious, and more fun things. We have been teaching her baby sign language and has mastered the words please, thank you, more, eat, and milk. She continues to light up our world and others as she blows kisses, waves to everyone, and truly showers us and others with love. What a blessing-filled 15months this has been!

Our little reader

Danielle is really into books right now. It is exciting to watch her throughout the day pick up different books, find a chair that she wants to climb (yes...she climbs everything these days), and sits in her chair with books surrounding here. She will spend a significant amount of time "reading" on her own and then she will come and sit on my lap to have some different books read to her. It is very fun. Danielle is finding many and unique places in our home that are comfy for curling up with a good book.

Estes Park Vacation

Last week, Nate, Danielle and I went to Estes Park for a few days of R & R. Grandma and Grandpa Christian were there for the first part of our vacation, so we were able to enjoy a lot of fun times with Gma & Gpa! Danielle and Nate hiked the mountains for the first time while I was feeling "back at home" after not being on the trails of Colorado for almost 11 years. It brought back great memories for me from my Adventure Staff days at LVR. We are already making plans for our next visit...hopefully to hike a 14eener. :) We are going to start training for that adventure!

Animals and all that Jazz

Through the summer, the Indianapolis Zoo presents "Animals and All That Jazz." Every Thursday throughout the summer, a variety of jazz musicians come to the zoo and provide music. You can come and listen to the music, eat some food, and visit the animals. We took advantage of this experience a couple times throughout the summer. It was nice because the animals were active, there were fewer people roaming the zoo, and we could let Danielle really explore the pathways to the animals. I think this could become a summer experience for our family.

Baptismal Birthday

Today is Danielle's Baptismal Birthday...the day she became God's child...a precious, chosen child of God! We give him thanks for the gift she has been in our lives and pray that the Holy Spirit continues to grow her in faith.

Blitz Indy 2009

July 31, 2009 began our 2nd Annual Blitz Indy. This year was particularly exciting because almost 500 disciples of Carmel Lutheran Church were out in the community "Blitzing"...using their hands and feet to serve others and serve the Lord. It was awesome! Our family was a part of the Youth Blitz at St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Indianapolis. We were focused on community events, but Nate and I were able to do some of our favorite things, too, as we served (I painted and Nate did landscaping work. We were in our elements!) Danielle did her favorite thing, too...she was cute! :)

Looking forward to the 2010 Blitz!!

LuHi Pool

A relaxing day at the LuHi pool. All the cousins had fun together and all seemed to enjoy the pool (and poolside). Maeta was the adventurous one of the group, jumping off the low and medium diving board. Aunts and uncles became tow boats. Everyone enjoyed the day together.

The Bronx Zoo

One of our New York days was to the Bronx Zoo. It is a fabulous zoo with a wonderful Children's Zoo inside of it. Danielle loved it! Auntie Erica took her to live the life of a Prairie Dog. Danielle burrowed through a tree trunk, climbed around, went down a slide, fed some goats, and road a carousel. She was zonked all the way home! What a fabulous day.

A day at the beach on Long Island, NY

Danielle's first trip to the beach was great. She loved the sand and would have sat in the sand for hours. She was very sad when we left the beach. Danielle would fill both of her hands with sand and then brush it off. After she figured out how it felt, she decided to see how it would be inside of her swim suit. She would grab a handful and with her other hand, pull her suit out and proceed to pour the sand into her suit. It was so funny!

We loved watching her experience the beach...a new adventure and it was fantastic.

Clear Lake

Danielle had her first dip into Clear Lake last week. She loved it. She tried to high step it over the water and settled right into swimming around with mom and dad. It is going to be great to swim with her, boat with her, float with her, and fish with her (although I will need someone else to bait, remove and clean the fish...I'll just cast and catch, thank you very much. )

Look Who's One!

We celebrated Danielle's first birthday last weekend! It was AWESOME! We can't begin to express how blessed we are to have this wonderful baby girl and family and friends who surround us to multiply our joys.

This was to be Danielle's first experience with sweets - chocolate, cake, etc. We are now questioning if there was an accidental switch in the hospital :) because Danielle cried when we tried to give her a cupcake on her birthday. Round two was the following day at her party. She was completely uniterested in the massive cupcake sitting before her. Day three, we tried ice cream. Ahh, yes, she is a Christian-Luepke after all! She loved that! :)

In these pictures, you will see Danielle next to the tree that was planted on her Baptismal Birthday, her sitting on her new fire engine, crying at the trauma over the cupcake, uniterested in her massive cupcake, and mommy and daughter.