A Tractor Kind of Christmas.

We celebrated Christmas early with Phil's parents at their mountain house this year, and it was possibly the highlight of Luke's year. PopPop has so many motorized toys that Luke thought he had died and gone to heaven. He was SOOOOOO excited. A few days before we left Indy, we told Luke that we were going to go see Grammy and PopPop soon and that he was going to get to drive PopPop's tractor when we got to their house. Well, he has the memory of an elephant and talked about this for days. The morning before we left, this was how he greeted me when I went to get him out of bed:

Me (opening door, walking into his room): "Hey, sweet boy..."
Luke: "Grammy PopPop soon!"
Me: "Yep, we're going to see Grammy and PopPop soon."
Luke: "Ride tractor!"
Me: "Yes, you're going to ride the tractor with PopPop."
Luke: "Two days!!"
Me: "No, now it's only one day. We're going tomorrow!"

He never quite understood the countdown of days, but he understood very well that we were on our way to PopPop's as we made the TEN hour drive on Friday. He must have said "PopPop!!" at least 400 times during the drive and "ride tractor" 300 times. We spent the entire time reassuring him that yes, we were still headed to see PopPop, and yes, he was going to ride the tractor. It was a very long drive.... Once we got to the mountain house, we parked in the garage where the regular riding lawnmower (mowing is another obsession), the John Deere riding mower, and the 4-wheeler live. He was so excited to see them and immediately climbed up on the John Deere. Later as we were unpacking, he disappeared for a few minutes, and we found him out in the garage back on the John Deere. He run down the hall, through the laundry room, and let himself out into the garage. Needless to say, we were vigilant about dead bolting the doors after that. The next day Luke finally got to go for a ride. In typical fashion, he wanted to DRIVE, so PopPop got the John Deere going and let Luke stand in between his legs and steer. They just kept going in circles. It's a wonder PopPop didn't get sick. Later PopPop got out the big, refurbished Massey Ferguson. He drove Luke on the road all the way down the mountain and back up. It was the cutest thing and Luke absolutely loved it. When it was time to put the tractor up, he started to pitch a fit, but we told him that the tractor had to go nigh-night, and he was okay with that. The next day he got to ride on the 4-wheeler once with PopPop and once with Daddy and kept calling it a motorcycle. I guess it does kind of look like a big, fat motorcycle. By this time we had opened Christmas presents and Luke had received some lovely camouflage overalls and a hoodie from PopPop. Perfect 4-wheeler riding attire. We had a great time celebrating Christmas with the whole family (minus JoJo and Brian--boo hoo), but you'd never know to look at our pictures. They are all of Luke on some sort of machine. Oh well. Those are the only pictures he'll care about when he's older anyway.

I wasn't there for this and am wondering if PopPop really let him drive the John Deere out of the garage. Surely not.


He did let him steer, though!
Here is circle #374. And he only turned left, like a true race car driver. If this is a glimpse into his future, I'm in big trouble....


He insisted on "mowing" with this fertilizer thingy.


Overall-ed and 4-wheelin'. Yeehaw!


Headed down the mountain with PopPop.
(Luke absolutely had to have his hoodie up, even though it covered half his face.)


It was a long way down....


And they're back!


Riding the tractor is serious business.
Two hands on the wheel, and get out of my way!

Watching begrudgingly as the tractor goes nigh-night.

Thanks, PopPop and Grammy for making Luke's Christmas so special. He won't soon forget, which means neither will we!!

Atlanter.

As you know from the last post, we were in Atlanta visiting Phil's family just a little while ago. Phil and I had a great time, but Luke had a BLAST.

Grammy bought him this awesome bike and let him ride it all over her house.

When we went to visit Madison and the Del Angels, he spent 99.9% of his time on Madison's cute little car.


He forced his way into Madison's favorite basket, paying absolutely no heed to the look on her face that said, "You better back off, buddy. This is my basket."

He got to play with cars, trucks, buses, and airplanes (and Jorge!) even though he was at a girl's house!


Then he got to visit his other Atlanta girlfriend, Mary Beth (pictured with her sweet mommy, Betsy).

Being waaaaay bigger than Mary Beth (but just 2 months older), he was able to use intimidation to commandeer her ride.


He ran around Mary Beth's house in this really sweet hat.


(Meanwhile, I was hoping Mary Beth would let me wear her adorable necklace.)


He played a mad tune of chopsticks with his girl.


He tossed Mary Beth's baby doll on the floor and took a stroll through the living room.

And lastly, he visited Grammy at work and showed all the doctors and nurses who's boss.

We heart our fam and friends in Atlanter!
Thanks for such a great visit.

Guest Blogger...

We have been so busy lately. While Phil's been traveling like a nomad for work, I've been doing my best as a single mom, counting down the days and minutes till he gets home. Thankfully this past weekend we got to go with Phil to Atlanta for a quick visit. We didn't get to see Phil much, but we had some great times with his family and with friends. We FINALLY got to see our good friends, the Del Angels, and meet sweet Madison. Since I only have a second, I am going to let Tiffany (Madison's mom) be a surprise guest blogger on the TatumTot today.
Go HERE to see the fun we had with our friends!

Aunt Jo Jo's Wedding!

Two weekends ago, we went to Atlanta for Phil's sister, Joanna's, wedding.

We drove.
The whole way.
With a 1 year old.
Who DOES NOT sleep in the car.

Amazingly enough, we survived the 9 hour trip there AND the 10 hour trip back. I can't say that it was much fun, but it wasn't as miserable as I had imagined it might be. On the way down, Luke slept for 30 minutes exactly in the morning and 1 hour (an all-time record) in the afternoon . He cried/screamed on and off through most of Tennessee, but other than that, he did okay. On the way back up to Indy he slept for 20 minutes in the morning and almost 30 minutes in the afternoon. I mean, seriously. How do you sit strapped into a comfy seat for 10 hours and not even sleep for an hour? If it hadn't been for Luke, I would have been struggling to stay awake for an entire hour of our 10 hour trip.....It was all worth it though, because we had a great time once we got to Atlanta, and we also got to be a part of Joanna and Brian's special day. As an added bonus my parents drove up from Tampa, so that was extra-special having both sets of Luke's grandparents there to enjoy him. The wedding was so much fun and Joanna was GORGEOUS and so, so happy. Seriously, we couldn't have asked for a better trip. Well...maybe we could have with the whole car ride thing, but you know what I mean. Anyway, prepare yourself for the world's longest blog post ever dedicated to just one weekend. In fact I was beginning to doubt I'd get it all done before Joanna & Brian's first anniversary. If you can't make it through the whole thing, that's okay. I'll still be your friend.


We left Indy right after breakfast and were happy to be on the road by 7:30 am. So was Luke.



Guess what Lukie Lu? We're going to Atlanta!!


SWEEEEEEEEET!

Grammy & Papa T. and Flipper & Pops all are gonna be there and they're going to eat you up.
You're their favorite.


"Aw shucks. Now you're making me blush."

Nine hours later we were in Atlanta just in time for Luke's bed time. The next day Flipper & Pops came over to Grammy & Papa T.'s to see us.


2 grandpas, 1 daddy, 1 Lukie, and tons of Legos = tons of FUN!


Luke's favorite thing was pushing them all around and making lots of really loud noise on the wood floors. Can you tell?


Sharing a few good stories with his grandmothers.


The apple of their eyes....G-parent LOVE.


3 generations of Tatum men.
Next time we'll get them to actually look at the camera for this pic.


Not only was there an abundance of attention for the Big Man, there was also an abundance of new toys for him to choose from.


And speaking of attention, he loved having some tickle time with Pops.

The next day was the wedding day... We didn't get to take any pics at the rehearsal dinner the night before, b/c we were too busy chasing Luke all over the place and trying to keep him from pouring ranch dressing all over people. Oh wait. He did that....Anyway, the wedding was so sweet and Joanna was the happiest, most fabulous bride. Brian was beaming as he watched her walk down the aisle, and their exchange of vows made us all cry.
Luke joined us at the ceremony and did pretty well. He loved the organ music in the beginning and ate Cheerios through about half of the ceremony. Then when he started making noise, my dad grabbed him and escorted him out. They played in the vestibule for about 10 minutes until it was over. THANK YOU, DAD!!


Luke wondering why we interrupted his play time with Pops...


Since Brian is in the Army, the bride and groom were given the honor of leaving the church under the "Arch of the Sabers".


The best part was that as they walked out from under it, one of the Army guys slapped Joanna on the booty with his saber and said, "Welcome to the Army!" Apparently it's a right of passage. Not just a frisky Army dude.


Off to the reception!
(Not really. They went around the block and then came back for pictures. Ha!)


Stinker was so tired, this is the only way he'd take a picture.

So this pic of Jo and Brian with their niece/nephews is kinda fuzzy (it's hard to take a good picture of things in motion), but it's still cute.

Luke with Grammy and cousins, Matthew and Chandler.
Doesn't Phil's mom look SO pretty?!!!


The wedding started at 6 pm, so by the end it was already Luke's bedtime and the handsome man was soooo tired.


Seriously, Mom? Another picture?


Stud muffin with the parents of the bride, a.k.a Grammy and Papa T.


Uncle Brandon and sleepy punkin.


Flipper and Pops with their favorite grandson.


Ummm...how insanely gorgeous was Joanna?? And Brian didn't look half bad himself.


I love me some tuxedo-ed hubby!!


Hubby and me with Phil's parents at the reception.
(Oh how I wish I'd gotten my hair done with the girls...I certainly could have used it!)


My mama and me!


This is how Luke spent the reception...
upstairs in our hotel room with Pops manning the monitor in another room.

The next morning there was a yummy breakfast downstairs with the bride and groom. Since we were staying in the Georgia Tech Hotel, they had the Ramblin' Wreck in the lobby. It was begging us to take some pictures with it. Luke, being in LOVE with cars these days, was loving playing in the Wreck.


"Laid back...with my mind on my money and my money on my mind..."


So maybe he wasn't lovin' it when we closed the door.


Mommy and Lukie at the wheel. To heck with 10 and 2. He's already a one-handed driver.


What's the good word, y'all?


The fam.


The fam with the bride the morning after. Notice how happy she is!!


Lukie and Aunt Jo Jo. Love this pic!

After stuffing our faces at the breakfast, we went to lunch with my parents and our family friends, Skip and Margaret Laney. Mom and Dad were staying with the Laneys in their gorgeous condo in Buckhead, so we also got to visit with them on Saturday before the wedding. Luke had so much fun playing there.


Every time we walked in the condo, Luke had to pet the zebra and swat at his mane a few times.


And then he would be off, running down the hall, on his way to destroy a bedroom.


Thankfully Margaret had a few of her grandkids' toys, so that kept Luke's attention for about a minute.


Daddy came up with all sorts of ways to keep Luke from breaking things.


Finally, we headed out with Flipper and Pops. Unfortunately we were too busy trying to save the condo to think to get a picture of Luke with the Laneys.


While waiting on the elevator, Luke got to play with Daddy in the humongous mirror in the hall.


Then he learned how to push buttons in the elevator...and was mighty upset to find out that you're not allowed to push them all.

After our lunch at Flip Burger Boutique (such a cool place...Krispy Kreme milkshake = H.E.A.V.E.N), we headed up to Cartersville to stay with Phil's sister and bro-in-law for the night to get a head start on our LONG trip back the next day. After such a busy morning, Luke passed out in the car for 45 whole minutes!


My sleepyhead chunker man.


Luke had so much fun playing at Auntie Em's house. Here he is playing with dominos and his Auntie Em.


Then he played the keyboard with his feet...


...and then enjoyed the vista from the guest room.


I guess he got a little carried away.


Lastly, Auntie Em read Luke a bunch of books and stole herself lots o' sugar!

Aunt Jo Jo and Uncle Brian, thanks for getting married and having such a fun wedding. We had a blast and are so glad we could be there to celebrate with you. We love you and wish you a lifetime of happiness together!!