Zoo Night

Tonight was the annual members only night at the zoo. We were expecting a crowd, but it wasn't that busy this year. Which was pretty nice, because we were able to enjoy the rides and animals better. Our first stop was a bouncy-house. Liam was hesitant at first, as he was the only child there, but daddy talked me into getting in too and soon Liam was having a ball. We next headed to the ponies, who were offering free rides today. Liam was so, so excited to ride a pony. We hadn't tried it yet, mostly because we weren't sure he was ready to do it...he is afraid of the mechanical horses at Meijer. But he wasn't at all afraid of the the real, live horse. He loved his pony, called Fox, so well that he cried when it was time to leave him and let another child ride.

But he was soon distracted by petting goats and chasing chickens in the farmyard. After that, we checked out the big cats. Soon we were at the picnic area, where they were serving hot dogs, chips, and juice. Liam didn't care for the hog dog, but gobbled down chips - we never eat those in our house. Once we ate our grub, we headed over to the bird and reptile house. Liam likes the snakes and spent most of his time looking at them. We also went to see the penguins up close. Liam was very excited and wanted to pet them. On our way out, we stopped by to see the ponies once more. Liam got to take another ride on Fox. We also stopped at the zoo shop, which was offering a discount to members. Liam picked out a little penguin stuffed animal to take home. We love our zoo, even of it is small.

In a Jam

I just wanted to share my latest peach preserves. I made them with organic cane sugar and locally grown Michigan peaches from the farmers market. Don't they look yummy!

Liam took an unusually long nap yesterday and today. This afternoon, he felt a little hot after his nap. At dinner, he picked at his meal and then told us "belly hurt". Poor little guy. :( I think he might have the flu. We snuggled on the couch a lot.

Peddle Pusher

We have just been zoo crazy lately. Today we went to the Potter Park Zoo in the afternoon. Before we went, Liam talked about seeing the tiger and wanted to bring his toy tiger along with him. Little did Liam know that he was going to get such an up-close view of the tiger. We also saw the Lioness roar and the snow leopards chasing each other! He is so much fun at the zoo. He got excited to see the fish, goats, ducks, and monkeys - all some of his favorites! It is so neat to see him recognize the various animals and say their names or make animal sounds.

After the zoo, daddy and I decided to treat Liam to dinner at Clara's. This restaurant is located in an old train depot and has a train car that you can dine in. We thought that Liam would get areal kick out of being on the train, and we were right.

After we came home, Liam worked on learning how to peddle his tricycle. Daddy helped him in the driveway. He is starting to get it...maybe in another month he might be peddling his way around.

Life is Good.

I just want to take a moment to acknowledge the good (even great) things in life. This morning Liam didn't fuss when it was time to go. He didn't cling *much* when I had to leave him at daycare. I had a good, productive day at work and when I came to pick Liam up, he ran to me with smiles. After picking up our fresh farmer's milk, we went home and played in the yard. Well...Liam played, I weeded. Nonetheless, it was beautiful weather and a joy to be outside. Once daddy was finished preparing his famous pizza for dinner, he joined Liam in the sand box. I love to hear them playing together! Liam ate his dinner, rather boisterously. The elderly neighbor, two doors down even took note of it. After chatting with the next-door neighbor and procuring a cup of sugar, I made some vanilla pudding for us and her. Liam played well with his playdough and his trains. But once he started getting *fast* (as his teacher calls it), I know it was time for a bath. Daddy got Liam dressed after his bath and then read a book. Just as we snuggled in bed to go to sleep, Liam asked to got potty. I was skeptical, thinking it was a ploy to play, but he did go potty and then went to his bed without a fuss. After Liam went to bed, I did some yoga for the first time in over a year. I didn't realize how much I miss it! What a day, life is good.

PS-I am quite behind on my posts...I am still in the process of writing up our vacation posts, which may eventually appear, as well as a bunch of photos from Liam's birthday.

Vacation Wrap

Sunday morning we all headed north to Fort Wayne. We were not however, all in the same car. Instead we were a convoy composed of two motorcycles (daddy and grandpa), one mini van (grandma), and one car (Liam and mommy). It was a crazy situation, but the only way that grandpa could transport his motor cycle to his new house and Sean could transport the motorcycle that his dad gave him back to our house. Except for the first part of the drive as we left Indy, Liam did pretty well in the car all that time. He also managed to get a nap in.

When we arrived in Fort Wayne, we went to see grandma and grandpa's new house. Aunt Rae met us there too. After we got the full tour of there new home, Rae, Liam, Sean & I went to the Fort Wayne zoo for the afternoon. We started out at the farmyard area first. Liam was so excited to see a horse up close. He calls horses "giddy-ups". He also petted the goats and "baaaed" with them. Liam was beside himself when he saw the little train. There was a long line, and quite a wait, but Liam did very well. I think the train ride lived up to his expectations! He just giggled and squealed the whole time! In fact, he cried when it was time to get off the train...it was tough to say "goodbye train".

Next we went to the Australian outback exhibit. The fish aquariums were so much fun to watch - those jelly fish can put you in a trance. Liam learned the word "dingo" too and had fun saying it along with "roo". In the Indonesian rain forest exhibit, Liam and Aunt Rae discovered that there were mice living in the dome with the rain forest birds. Liam liked looking at the gibbons swinging. Although Liam looks kind of forlorn in this picture of him in the Tree House, he actually played in there for a while and did not want to leave. Liam was also spoiled when Aunt Rae took him on a bear ride - on the meri-go-round that is. :)

There was so much to see at the zoo - we didn't have energy to see it all! Before we left, Liam played in the frog fountains for a while. He had fund splashing about with the other toddlers. After getting a quick dinner, we went to grandma Kathie's house and watched cartoons with Aunt Rae. What a busy weekend!

On Monday we headed home - daddy on his cycle and Liam and I in the car. Today was a pretty boring day after so much excitement, but it was nice to have a somewhat leisure day around the house.

Hurt not the Earth

On Thursday we packed up the car and headed south to Indiana. For our long-weekend vacation, we are visiting Sean's parents in Indianapolis, before they move.

Before we left town, we stopped at the pottery studio to get Liam's plate. While I was in the store, Liam decided to pour his grape juice all over himself...Ack! Needless to say, we were a little late getting out of town. I was none too please with Liam's behavior, but I was pleased with how the plate turned out. On the drive to Indiana, Liam and I doodled together to pass the time. I would draw something and ask him what it was, then later he would draw and tell me what it was. We stayed at my mom's house on Thursday night. Liam enjoyed looking for her kitty cats. He would walk around the house calling, "ki-tty, here kitty". Occasionally a cat would be brave and come to him - he's pretty good with animals, but can still be a little rough too. He was rather wound up from our journey, but I am very proud of him for going to bed with very little fuss.

Friday morning we continued our travels and after a brief stop to eat (and pet a plastic horse) at Huddle House. When we arrived at Indy we picked up Grandpa John and headed for the zoo. It was a beautiful day and the zoo was very busy, especially for a weekday. But we enjoyed ourselves very much. Some of the highlights of our visit were: watching an elephant show, petting sharks, goats, and ferrets, and watching dolphins swim around us in the dolphin dome. Our energy was fading, but we took a stroll to the White River gardens after the zoo. Liam really enjoyed watching the butterflies flit around us in the big greenhouse. We were disappointed that the model train wasn't running in the garden outside, but Liam had fun splashing in all the various water fountains. After picking up grandma, we went out to dinner. Our evening was rather strange, however, because when we returned, the people buying grandma and grandpa's house, were still there with the inspector. Liam and I went in the house and got ready for bed - he was a very tired boy - but everyone else had to stay out of the house.



Saturday was another fun-filled day. After a good breakfast, we went downtown to the museum district. It was a cool morning, so we walked around the canal and looked at the gardens and sculptures around the Indiana history museum - including life-sized bronze statues of two mastodons! We all had a great time in the museum. It is strange to see so many people and places that I have worked with or at on display at the museum...I have a lot of connections to Indiana history I guess. By the time we left the museum, we were all pretty hungry. Grandma Bev drove us to the Mug and Bun for hot dogs and home made root beer. Yum! Liam was a little pistol while we were there though, too much stimulation and too little sleep makes him wound-up!

Over lunch we decided to go to the Indianapolis Art Museum next. Liam snoozed in the car while went there. He was still sleeping when we arrived, so I carefully strapped him in the Ergo on my back and we headed in the museum. It was actually perfect timing for his nap, because I don't think he would have been very interested in the artwork and we were able to enjoy it in peace. That is until the museum guards started pestering me to take him off my back. :-/ Apparently, they have a policy that babies cannot be worn on the back. But no one said anything to me when I checked in at the front desk and got a map. The first guard I spoke to was nice enough and told me that I could keep Liam on my back as long as he was asleep. Ok...that's fair enough. But then every guard we encountered along the way had to comment about it. Finally, as I was just entering the room of pre-Columbian art (the stuff I really wanted to see), a guard told me I had to move Liam even though he was asleep. That was the last straw for me. I told him that I was not disturbing my child from his sleep and that I was going to leave. The whole thing was pretty upsetting. I had to share this picture, which was titled something like "The joys of motherhood"...the title and the image seemed ironicly out of sync.

We decided to go outside and enjoy the gardens on the grounds. Liam woke up and was happy to have had a good nap. He enjoyed running around in the beautiful gardens around the Lily mansion. It was a very lovely place. We took a brief walk through the greenhouse and mansion too. It was a lot of walking though, and we were pretty beat by the end of it.

Time to go home...On our way back to the house, we stopped to get some meat to make taco salad. While grandpa was in the store, a very careless young lady threw some trash out of her car window right next to us. I opened my car door and handed her the trash, telling her to "dispose of it properly". Some people are just gross! Once we got back home, Liam played trains with grandpa most of the evening. It was good to relax.

Can-Can

This evening I decided to try my hand at canning. Rather than making jam, I canned the fresh berries in syrup. I thought this would be a good way to preserve them for baking during the winter. Plus it was far less time consuming for a busy work-night. Even though I am a complete novice, all of the jars appear to have seal properly. Perhaps I should run with this success...pickles anyone?

Voted the MacGyver of Housewives.

There is a long story behind the title of this post. Mt sister decided to stay with us for the weekend and into the week. She was having fun playing with our cat, Dozer, and asked me if we had any cat toys. I produced a rather silly looking handmade toy that Sean calls "the worlds ugliest cat toy" (let's face it, cat's don't care). I told her that I made it from scraps of fabric. She laughed at said "Fabric scraps and a stick of bubble gum, right?! You're the MacGyver of housewives." Considering the guest at Liam's birthday party were chuckling about my hand-made goodie bags and playdough, I think this title is fitting. I am always trying to make something out of next to nothing - I consider it one of my greatest gifts and I enjoy the challenge.

Take me riden in the car-car.

Liam napped once we returned home from the berry patch. While he was napping, Rae and I went to the pottery studio to finish the plate from Liam's birthday party. I had everyone who attended put their fingerprints around the edge of the plate. Then I painted in train tracks and wheels to make the fingerprints look like train cars. I also added a few other embellishments. Once it is fired, I will have the studio glue the train that Liam painted onto the plate in front of the cars. It will look very cute hanging in his room.

Liam took a long nap and it was nearly dinner time by the time he woke. We surprised him with his last birthday gift - a cosy coope play car. He had a lot of fun driving it around in the backyard and in the driveway. I was able to get it used for a steal. He loves to play with those types of car riding toys at school and when we visit friend's houses. So I am glad we were able to find one for him at a good price.

Even though we had a lot of left-overs, we decided to go out for dinner because Rae was visiting us. We all had a big meal at the Chinese buffet. Liam ate quite a lot - I am worried that they will started charging us for him. After dinner, we played in the yard some more. Liam drove his car around and then decided to wade in the pool once I put my feet in it. He had a good time splashing (which he didn't have time for at his party). Then he helped empty it by scooping out the water and watering the plants (and they really needed it) or "washing" his car. He was a muddy mess by the time we were done. I managed to convince him to come in and get a bath with the promise of watching the batman cartoon. He kept saying "batman" over and over again...it was too cute.

I can't believe my baby is already two years old!

Berry Birthday

This morning at 8:46am, Liam turned 2 years old. We did most of our celebrating yesterday with family and friends. But I had planned a blueberry picking excursion for him today. My sister joined Alissa and I, with the kiddos on a trip to Leslie, Michigan. The weather way beautiful and the kids cooperated pretty well as we picked. Of course most of what we picked ended up going into their growing stomachs! We finished the first row and moved on to the next - I spotted a mantis and called Liam over to look at it. As I was showing him the mantis among the leaves, he decided to eat a small red berry that was growing with the blueberries. He swallowed the thing before I could even get my hand to his mouth.

Then ensued frantic calls by myself, my friend, and the farmer who owned the patch, to poison control. All I could think was - "I've poisoned my son on his second birthday!" After all three of us inundated poison control's call center, we learned that it was honey suckle and was not deadly. Thank goodness!

The worse thing was that after all that craziness, we had crying toddlers and very few berries. At least the farmer let us take what we picked without paying. A small consolation for yet another grand outing gone wrong. :-/

My sister, who kept picking during the red-berry incident - knowing full-well that we had the problem covered - managed to get a couple pints worth, so I might have enough to make one batch of jam. At least my first attempt at canning will be a memorable one, though I sometimes wish life didn't have to be such a soap opera.

It's My Party!

After many weeks of planning and several months of patio-building and yard work, we celebrated Liam's second birthday in our backyard on Saturday. The weather couldn't have been more perfect and there were no major hitches (aside from the kiddie pool springing a leak - Alissa came to the rescue with a backup pool). All of the food turned out great and the Thomas birthday cake was lovely. The kids played well together and I think Liam had a really great time. He was a little overwhelmed when he woke up from his long nap to find 14 people had arrived, but after a few minutes he was his boisterous self again! He was so excited at opening his gifts that he could hardly contain himself. Many, many thanks for everyone who came and for all the wonderful gifts.


View of backyard party.


The pool goers.


Liam's cake - daddy is lighting the candles.


Yum, icing is even better when licked off a train!


Hannah and her mommy, Eva.


Miss sweet cheeks, aka. Ellie.


Liam sure loves his cars!


Party goers: Alissa, Ashtyn, Hannah, Aidan & Dan.

Beat the Heat.

Today was a scorcher...at least for Michigan. I biked to work and ended up beating the guys home by about a half hour. When daddy and Liam arrived, I took Liam to the paint-your-own pottery studio down the street while daddy made dinner. I wanted to pick up an item for guests to decorate/sign at Liam's up-coming birthday party. Liam found a small train, big surprise, and I let him paint it while I made arrangements to take a plate & paints home with us. I watched him paint. He has pretty amazing control of a paint brush. He would dip in the paint and daub paint here and there with some precision. He chose the paint colors - green, blue, and orange. I am thinking of incorporating his bas relief train into the decorative plate somehow....hmmmm

After dinner, we went back outside. It was very hot, inside and out. But outside we had the advantage of filling the kiddie pool. Liam was very excited to play in the water. He helped us fill it with the hose and then had a blast stomping, splashing, and pouring water. When I brought him a small watering can, he scooped water and took it over to water the plants in the garden. It was very cute! But after a while, it started to get messy when he began pouring the water all over the yard and making mud. Oh, well...thank goodness it was bath night!

Daddy gave Liam a bubbly bath. When he was done, Liam and mommy snuggle on the couch for a while. Then we read a bedtime story. After the story, Liam started humming. Then he asked for a "song". He wanted me to sing my usual lullaby. It was so sweet that he asked. Now I know that he does appreciate it, even if I'm not that great of a signer.

Road Trip

Friday and Saturday were pretty much taken up by a yard sale and various chores. But Liam was ecstatic to see his grandma pull into the driveway on Saturday morning. She hung out with us during the yard sale and then helped us take what was left to be donated. Afterwards, Mommy made a picnic dinner to take to Potter Park. The weather was beautiful and Liam could hardly wait to play on the playground in the picnic area. He could climb up to the big tornado slide just like the older kids...but it was more fun to have grandma pick him up! Liam played for a little while and then we walked over to the zoo entrance. We had planned to go to the zoo after dinner, but they closed just as we came to the gates. Bummer, we went home instead. We were all pretty tired from a day of hard work anyway.

On Sunday we decided to take a road trip to Grand Rapids and go to the John Ball Zoo. It is our favorite zoo in Michigan. Even though it isn't very big, it has great exhibits and a beautiful, parklike setting. We took a slightly different path than usual and started out at the Australian animals exhibit. Liam spent much of him time playing on the wooden train (big surprise). Eventually we persuaded him to go pet some goats and sheep. We also found a chicken who was willing to let us hold her. Liam got to feed a budgie in the aviary. He also put his hands in the water with baby stingrays. Liam had a potty break while we were in the aquarium building - that was only the second time he used a public toilet and he did very well! We got a small glimpse of the Lions in the new African exhibit area. And petted some more goats; this time, noisy African pygmy goats. Mommy's back was hurting and the day was getting pretty hot, so we decided to head home before we saw all of the zoo. We'll just have to come back again some time! What a fun road trip with grandma!

Thank you, thank you!

Our boy finally started saying thank you! He said it once our twice last week, but now he says it all the time (with some reminding of course!).

I also wanted to post a picture of the teepee that I made for Liam's birthday. I wanted him to have a "play house" sort of structure, but I also wanted it to be portable and easily stored. I made it so that it could be folded up and washed. The posts are removable. I put a floor in because I needed it to stand up without putting the posts into the ground - that way he can play with it outside or inside.

On the back of the teepee is a fun train appliqué that I found at the fabric store. I am please with the finished product. Hopefully he will enjoy it!

Sandy Boxy.

We finally finished this project. As usual, it required no less than three additional trips to the hardware store to complete, but at least it's done. Poor Liam only got about 5 minutes of play in before we left for dinner. :) But it was still a big hit!

Geocache for Dad.

This morning the rain was still falling and Liam was still chasing the cat. Thankfully the rain dissipated around mid morning and we were able to go out for a while. One of the things that we did to commemorate my father was to "hide" a geocache in is honor. Earlier in the week I had checked out a potential spot to hide it, but when we tried to put it there this morning, we were disappointed to discover that the container that I had was too big to fit. So we decided to try another location and were successful. Later in the day I logged in the cache - when I last checked, two people had already found the cache!

Hair Scare

Liam's hair has been getting more and more unruly as of late (much like Liam himself!), so Sean finally took him to the barber today. Before they went, I asked Liam if he wanted to go to the barber to get his hair cut? He said "Barber?". I told him that the barber would got "snip-snip" and cut his hair. He said "barber go snip-snip". It was the cutest thing ever to hear him say "barber"! You can see the before picture of Liam's hair - he looks like David Tennant as Doctor Who!

Here is Liam after the barber did her magic! He might actually look respectable if he'd keep is tongue in his mouth! :)

Other than a short trip out to run errands and stopping at a few yard sales, we were pretty much stuck inside today. Liam loved the pajamas that we found at the yard sale so much, that he wanted to put them on over his clothes (and mind you, it was a very hot a muggy day! Liam went a little stir-crazy being stuck in the house. He cashed the cat around and clambered through his tunnel for a while, but still had too much energy to be inside.

The Fountain

This past Sunday I watched a movie called "The Fountain". It was serendipity that I happened to check this particular movie out of the library and watch it the day before my deceased father's birthday. The movie was breathtakingly beautiful. It was about death and rebirth - how in many ways these things are interconnected. While this week has been a difficult one for me personally, as the first anniversary of my father's death approaches, Liam has been quite a godsend through it all.

Liam has been exceptionally chatty. He is trying out all sorts of new words now. Sometimes he parrots them back at us, other times he tries using them on his own. He has been particularly fond of the word "no" lately. He started saying it for the first time about two weeks ago. But now he is using it to assert his independence and will. He has also been signing a lot. He signs a song that includes the words "car", "beep-beep", and "go"...I'm not quite sure if this is a song that he learned at school or one that he made up himself. Whenever I complement him on his singing he laughs and gives me a great big smile.

The weather has been brutally hot the past few days, so Wednesday night we decided to go to the water park with dinner. I made a few things at home and we picked up some more grub at the neighborhood market. Of course Liam was too excited about playing in the splash pad to eat his dinner...so off we went to get wet. I called our friends Alissa and Ashtyn and they were able to join us there. We also ran into Caden and his mommy and daddy. We knew Caden from the Great Start play groups that we used to go to before I started working full time. After Liam got his fill of playing in the water, he shared part of Ashtyn's burrito. By the time we left it was getting quite cloudy and looked like it would storm. Thankfully for mommy and daddy Liam fell asleep before the bad weather arrived.

Birth-Days

The family had a pretty low-key weekend. After the usual chores and gardening, we invited our friends Alissa and Ashtyn over for lasagna dinner on Saturday. Once dinner was over, we went outside to enjoy the patio. The kiddos took turns riding the tricycle and scribbled with chalk. It was very gratifying to finally enjoy the fruit of all our labors - we have truly transformed the yard!

On Sunday we joined Dan, Annie, and Aidan for Aidan's 2nd birthday at a local park. Even though it had been a while since Liam had seen Aidan, they played very well together. When I asked Liam if he remembered Aidan he shook his head "yes". The funny thing about the party was that nearly all the women attending were very pregnant!

Liam knows all about parties now. I told him that he would soon have a birthday party too. This morning I told Liam that it was grandpa Michael's birthday (he would have been 58 today). We sang "Happy Birthday" together and looked at grandpa's picture to remember him.

The Wheels on the Bus

Today Liam went on a "field trip" at school. He and his classmates got to ride a city bus through town and back to school. Since his class is nearly all boys, they are currently obsessed with wheeled things. The kiddos had a real blast! I am told that Liam was all smiles and pointed out all the cars, bikes, and trucks that he saw on the bus. I am glad that his teachers had such a good idea and that Liam had such a great time. Eventually I might get a copy of some of the photos they took on the bus ride and I will post them to share.

Today is the first day that I felt somewhat human in quite some time. Liam and I both caught bacterial meningitis. I was really hit hard because I wasn't able to get to the doctor right away. Now that I finally have some antibiotics I am slowly recuperating.

Liam has been very talkative lately. He comes out with new words every day. One of his word today: satellite. He's also started counting with me. While I was counting to ten, he said "four" and "six" before I said them.