Multi-tasker

Liam is pretty athletically inclined, and is usually game for any kind of sport. He's much more coordinated than Aaron or I have ever been, so I foresee some kind of team sports in his future. Whatever he's interested in trying. Right now that includes baseball, soccer, basketball, frisbee, golf, and his own game which he calls "chase". To play the latter you simply chase after him while he runs screeching around the yard. Then he chases you, then you chase him...until you're both out of breath and lying on the ground.

Here, Liam is combining some of his favorite sports: basketball, soccer and...a bike helmet. Hey, this could catch on. Let's call it "Helmet Socketball".

N.E.W. Zoo

Aaron planned a trip to the N.E.W. Zoo on Saturday. Uncle Copter joined us, and we outran the rain long enough to see all of the animals! Since the forecast called for rain, not many people ventured to the zoo that day and we had most of it all to ourselves! The boys took their time checking it all out, Liam by running four miles ahead of us at any given time...

And Max by chilling in his stroller, all bundled up against the wind.

We got to feed the giraffes (the biggest one is 15 feet tall!) without a huge crowd of people, and Liam could pet him as much as he wanted!

We had a great time!

I had originally thought I had CNA training this weekend, but we had a week off! This was a great way to spend some unexpected time together.

I Taught Her All She Knows...

My sister Sarah is a sophomore at UW-Stout majoring in apparel design. She just coordinated their Student Apparel Society's annual spring fashion show, and submitted a piece for the finale. Their theme this year was "Street", with all student collections representing different streets around the world. Sarah was even interviewed for Stoutonia about the show!

Awards are presented afterwards in multiple categories, one of which is "Best Finale" piece. Sarah was one of the nominees for this award, and she won! This is the piece she created with her friend Ellen Johnson:

We're proud of you, sister/auntie!

Shoes

I had a dream that I showed up to my CNA training without shoes. The whole dream was about me trying to find shoes and trying to keep my instructor from finding out I didn't have shoes.

In other news, Max is chewing on Liam's shoe so I need to run...

A Bright Sunshiny Day

The Force is With Them

One of Liam's favorite things to do is go in and "check on" Max when he wakes up from a nap. Max waits for Liam to come in, and jumps up and down while holding on to the crib rail in excitement! Aaron caught them playing together the other day after Max woke up:

                   A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.

Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?

I want to learn the ways of the Force and become a Jedi like my father.

I've been waiting for you, Obi-Wan. We meet again, at last. The circle is now complete. When I left you, I was but the learner; now I am the master.

                         The Force is strong with this one.

A Very Merry Un-Birthday...

My sweet baby will be one year old in exactly one month! He's getting to be so grown up already! He can stand on his own now, and will be taking his first steps soon, I think! He is a stubbornly independent little guy even at 11 months...don't try to feed him, rock him or take anything away from him. He has his own ideas! He laughs about everything! He is such a happy baby. His favorite thing to do right now is string a bunch of babble and words together, look at you and bust out laughing. It's his own stand up comedy routine!

His hair has stayed very light and still has a red tint to it! This makes me extremely happy! Liam has red tints, but only in the sun. Max still has blueish eyes, but they're starting to turn darker. Liam had blue eyes until he was about a year old and then they turned brown. I don't know what Max's are going to do!

Max is sleeping very well lately, only getting up once at night and then sleeping until 6am or so. He also goes to bed later at night, so we are able to do more as a family after Aaron gets home from work. It's nice to have a little more flexibility in our schedule!

I'm sad to see Max grow up so fast, but I'm anxious to see the little boy he's becoming, too.

Sly Guy

I love this face that Max makes. He's such a little goof.

He is supposed to be eating a snack, but is occupying his time with a plastic dinosaur egg instead.

As you do.

Pre-Dawn Spider...

Liam climbed up the stairs to our bedroom this morning at the early hour of 5:45. I asked him what he needed and he said excitedly, "Mom! There was a big spider on the mailbox yesterday!" Ummm...thanks, buddy...but I would have enjoyed this story much more had you chosen to tell it at 7am instead...

Liam

"Mom, I had a dream today!" Liam said excitedly.

"I dreamed that I grew big grown up teeth!"

This is the first time he's actually remembered a dream and told me about it! Interestingly, I also dream about teeth quite often. Mostly that they are falling out. And then the diamond falls out of my wedding ring. I do a lot of looking for things in my dreams...

I said, "You're cute!" to Liam yesterday after he did something particularly endearing. "You're cute, too, Mom!" he said. :)

Heaven

There was a documentary on the weather channel the other day about the Challenger disaster. I was half watching it while doing laundry, and Liam came in and was excited to see a rocket ship so he hung around. He knows a lot about space (mostly that an asteroid killed the dinosaurs!) and that people can go to the moon. I told him that this rocket didn't make it into space and that it exploded. He asked some questions about why that happened, and then asked what happened to the people. I told him that when the rocket exploded the people died and went to heaven. He is starting to understand what it means to die, but he's so little yet that it's just not anything he can comprehend fully. I don't want him to dwell on it, but I don't want to pretend that it doesn't happen if he asks about it, either.

We were driving to the park yesterday, a full 24 hours after this conversation, and I watched him in my mirror as he looked out his window and up into the sky.

"How do they get back down, Mom?" he asked.

"Who, buddy?"

"The people that died on the rocket and went to heaven. Do they get down on a ladder?"

I could imagine what he was thinking so clearly. I tried to explain it as best as I could. I told him that when someone dies and goes to heaven, they can't come back again. They stay in heaven and wait for us to get there, too.

"How do you get to heaven, Mom?" he asked.

He knows about Jesus and Easter, but he wanted to know more than that. Where is it? I told him that we don't know the way to heaven, but that God will make sure that we get there.

Our Second Home: The Sanctuary

Liam's Take on The Big Event

I'm blowing bubbles!

I'm doing the baseballing!

I'm driving the truck! I think it was great!

I was reading a book with that guy! It was about the three owls and they did "aaaaaaaaaah!"

Here I am driving the crane, I think.

I am driving the truck again!

I am making a picture of the tiger. That's how I did it!

That's Max and Uncle Bird!

That's when Uncle Bird buyed me LOTS of things, and my microphone.

Max got tired.

Thanks for a great day, Grandma Meg and Uncle Bird!

Max is a tough kid to figure out sometimes...

He's been very whiny lately and we haven't been able to figure out why...

Today I looked in his mouth and saw a new tooth peeking out of his bottom gums!

Surprise! Just keeping you on your toes, parents...!

For a Laugh

My grandma has a very infectious laugh. We all try our hardest to get her to laugh whenever we have the chance. It's not very difficult...she's one of the happiest people I know! She actually made herself laugh uncontrollably at my parents' house the other night. My dad had one of his coyotes tanned, and the resulting hide looks very much like an oversized coyote stole! Since my grandmother stands around 4 feet tall, the stole practically engulfed her!

This is the infectious laugh face. I am laughing just looking at it! Love ya, Gram!

The boys and I went up north for another impromptu visit since my mom had spring break this week. My grandpa was in the hospital again for dehydration, so I wanted to visit with him, too. He was discharged on Tuesday and is feeling much better!

Max has a little separation anxiety right now, so no one can leave the room at any time without causing dramatic fits of crying. He was glued to Grammy Pammy!

Grandpa Howie decided that fishing sounded better than work on Tuesday (he's his own boss, so he can decide these things!). He went out and found a great place for crappie fishing and called to have Liam dropped off on the dock! They spent the next two hours fishing and caught 33 crappies! They even saw a big muskie swim through the school of crappies. Liam was very excited! He was a great fisherman, according to my dad, and never complained once. He set the hook on his own fish, and reeled in about 10 of the 33 they caught! "They're not biting here, I think we should move..." he told my dad after one minute of no bites! He's quite the outdoorsman!

Pajamas & Ice Cream

A Happy Easter

We were up at 6:15 (that's actually a decent hour!) to see what the Easter Bunny brought...

Dinosaur eggs, chocolate and a pbskids game for Liam...

A bead toy and...what are apparently very questionable veggie snacks for Max...

We went to mass (standing room only!) and then to Ron and Meg's...

Liam and Max posed so nicely for a portrait with their grandparents...

Liam got lots of Easter gifts, including this awesome coloring bag from our friend Sue!

Max ate a book with Grandpa...

It was a wonderful day!

P.S. We also spent the afternoon at Uncle Copter and Auntie Annie's house, but you'll just have to trust me on that because I have no photographic proof!