Taking a Break

Max's newest phrase is "MEEEE SOMMMMMME!" This means he is hungry and he would like you to share whatever you might be eating with him! It's pretty cute!

I don't have much to report, mostly because I've been working my butt off and have now caught a nasty cold. Both boys are also sick, and Aaron isn't feeling well either. Great. At least we'll be over the worst of it before our vacation starts on Friday! I hope!

Aaron and I are dropping the boys off at my parents' house and then heading to Sault Sainte Marie for Finn Grand Fest 2010! My grandparents will be there, so they're going to show us around and teach us all about being Finnish! It is also our 5 year anniversary next week, so we're heading to a little bed and breakfast on the Lake Superior shore for a night! I will be spending all next week at camp with my family as well. It's going to be a great week to relax after all the craziness of our lives the past few months!

The Teddy Bear Picnic

I took the boys to the library a few days ago for the "Teddy Bear Picnic." We brought our teddy bears and read books about them, sang songs about them, did dances with them and then ate them. Well, we ate teddy graham crackers. The boys were excited to be there, and right after I snapped this picture Liam went to sit nicely on the reading rug while Max ran off to tear apart the meticulously organized bookshelves. Liam listened to the storyteller and participated in all the activities. Max screamed, wriggled away and ran amok. I chased him, gave him his teddy bear and tried to get him to listen to the song. He threw his bear on the ground, arched his back and ran away. I was sweating by the time the event was over, but it seemed like Liam had a good time so it was worth it! It was nearing Max's naptime, so some of his craziness was to be expected, but I'm hoping his behavior improves next time. If not...baby obedience school.

The Shirt Off His Back...

Liam has quite the little mischievous streak lately! He says and does some pretty cute things. He likes to read before going to bed now, so we let him get books off his bookshelf and read them in bed until he gets tired. Aaron and I want to encourage his love of books, but Liam occassionally has other ideas of how to pass the time before bed. We hear him running around upstairs and have to go up and remind him to get back into bed. I heard him up there tonight and went to check on him after awhile. I opened the door to the stairs and saw something curious at the top:

A few shirts seemed to be hanging on the knob of the closet door and the window ledge. Liam's stencils were also ceremoniously wedged into the sliver of space in the closed closet door!

I climb the stairs and see more shirts hung from a nail in the wall, a chair...

The knobs to the attic crawl space...

The knobs on the dresser and armoire have space for double and triple hangings!

Here's my favorite: multiple shirts hung from his Little Tykes desk, his bookshelf, the pirate ship on top of the TV, and flapping in the breeze of his fan!

Another shirt on his bed rail, and a little boy fast asleep!

He hung one on his baby picture for good measure. The empty rack there was the former home of all of Liam's shirts, but apparently they weren't quite visible enough for his taste!

I can't wait to ask him all about his decorating in the morning!

Snapshots

We've been busy tip-toeing through the tulips...

Playing Extreme Dodgeball...

Waging epic backyard battles...

And cleaning up after muddy little boys!

What have you been up to?

On the Wing

Flower Child

Liam - just spending some time watering the flowers...in his underwear.

Pool Party!

Max has been afraid of this pool since we bought it last summer. He loves the bathtub, but the pool he's not so sure about. It could be the gigantic googley frog eyes...but this weekend he decided to give it a try!

While the builders worked on the fort, the boys stripped down and splashed in the pool for awhile!

I think we need a bigger pool...

Max started off with some conservative splashing before moving on to full-body splash down.

He was squealing so loudly that this picture makes me smile, but also makes my ears ring with the memory...

Then his diaper exploded and he was better off naked than tied down by a forty pound diaper. Plus, that is a cute baby butt!

Bee Happy

Fort Renquin

We were given the pieces of a wooden playset last summer and finally put it together this weekend! Liam has been waiting and waiting for this day, and he had trouble falling asleep the night before the big day! "I am so excited!" he said. "I can't go to sleep because I have so much energy!" He was up very early on the day of the fort raising. He and Aaron were out quite early setting things up before all the helpers arrived.

Liam was very eager to help and ran right over whenever the builders needed him!

His main job was to fetch screws, and he took this responsibility qute seriously.

"Umm, hey, do you guys need any SCREWS YET?" he'd yell.

He only asked when the fort was "going to be done" a few times.

The rest of the time he played and waited very patiently.

He also got one million mosquito bites, evidence of which can be seen on his cute head below.

Here he is helping to "measure" the sides of the fort so he can see over them  to steer his ship.

Uncle Justin, Uncle Gerad, "Uncle" John and Daddy worked all day long to get this thing together!

Liam was so excited to finally be able to play that I think he would have slept out there if I told him he could!

He got up the next morning, ran into my room at 6am and said, "Mom! It's morning now! Can I go out and play on my fort?!"

Thanks for all your hard work, daddy and uncles!

The boys are loving their new fort!

Nick Jr. vs Theology

Liam has been asking lots of questions about dying and heaven lately. He told me last night that he doesn't want to go to heaven and is happy here on earth. It seemed like he was afraid, so I tried to reassure him. We talked about it a little bit and I thought he was feeling better about it. After he went to sleep I was discussing it with Aaron. Turns out Liam went into a little more detail having a similar conversation with Aaron. He told his dad that he doesn't want to go to heaven because he can't watch his favorite shows there!

In Garments Green

The murmuring pines and the hemlocks,

Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight,

Stand like Druids of eld...

H.W. Longfellow

(Grandma Pammy's front yard, June 2010)

Max Ignores Me...

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree

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

It is a period of great curiosity and amazement in the life of a young boy.  A brief viewing of a Cartoon Network episode of "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" (pronounced Stah Wars: The Clown Wars) has captured the wonder of young Liam Renquin.  During the viewing he sees lightsabers, blasters, and Jedi Knights.

It is not long before this child is turning every object a foot long or larger into a lightsaber.  Little does Liam know that he has been guided into his new-found love by his father.  Together they viewed episodes of the Clown Wars, played with a growing collection of Stah Wars toys, and even watched parts of the movies.  Last Saturday (not so long ago, I guess) Master and Padawan attended a concert celebrating the music and magic of these movies.  Together, they went to see . . .

Stah Wars in Concert 

You may or may not have guessed that Jen has asked me (Aaron) to write today's blog.  I don't get anywhere near as much time with the boys that Jen does, and I try to do as many quality things with them as I can.  When we heard that a full-sized symphony and choir would be performing the music of Star Wars in time to images shown on a three-story tall screen, I knew that I had to take Liam.  He and I headed over to the Resch Center on Saturday, ready to take in the spectacle.

Let me pause to say that it means the world to me that Liam has latched on to Star Wars.  Every dad hopes that his kids will take an interest in the things that interest him.  Some dads hunt, some dads like sports.  This dad loves Star Wars.  I got my first Star Wars toy when I was five, and I still have it.  The first time I got to stay up late was in 1983 (*Note from Jen: The year I was born...), when CBS broadcast the first movie for the first time.  I have Star Wars tattoos.  I have four dozen rubbermaid containers in the basement containing my Star Wars collection.  That being said, I have not forced Star Wars on my boys.  It's in the house, but I wasn't putting lightsabers into their cribs after they were born.

The trip on Saturday was as much a joy for me as a father as it was for me as a Star Wars fan.  I got as much joy from watching Liam as I did from watching the big screen and listening to the orchestra.  It was also a lesson in patience for me as a father.  Liam was as blown away by the light-up lightsaber keychain as he was by the laser show overhead.  He wanted to go home after the first three songs were played.  He wanted to get a drink right after the lights went out.  He took apart his lightsaber keychain and lost all the parts that made it light up. As time goes on, I'll forget about those things and remember the way he smiled when he saw R2-D2 rolling down the hallway towards us and how much he clapped when the words "A long time ago" came up on the screen.  Here's hoping for more adventures for the two of us in this galaxy and the one far, far away.  

Project Parade!

We've been busy crafting at our house these past few weeks! Our family consumes large quantities of eggs, so we had a surplus of egg crate containers lying around. Liam and I created egg crate caterpillars with them!

Liam also loves to play "swords" and was carrying around the top to my electric fry pan to use as a shield. We made him a cardboard shield instead, personalizing it with the words "Sir Liam, loyal and brave".

Little art projects are my favorite thing to do with the boys. Maybe we'll work on something 4th of July themed tomorrow. We were at grandma's for most of the day today, so no projecting was done. It was a great relaxing time, though! Hope you all have a safe 4th!

S.O.S.

Hello, Grammy?

Can you come and get me?

Mom won't let us eat ice cream for breakfast or stay up until 9pm...

It's good to have the kids back, but it's much...busier around here! We've already painted rock pets, made egg crate caterpillars, read millions of books and generally just sullied the house up and it's not even 10am! At least we're having fun!