The Weather

I know talking about the weather usually means you don't have much to say but, in this case, I have a whole lot to say. I feel amazing right now! The whole family is in shorts and we spent the morning at the park until the sun became too much for our pasty winter skin and we were forced to seek shelter. It's crazy to me that I was planning on blogging about our zoo trip over the weekend when we are wearing our coats in all the pictures. Just a mere five days ago! But it was so much fun that I'm not going to deviate from the plan.

Paul's shift changed to make him work weekends again which is no fun for anyone. Especially since the shift changing this week meant that he worked all week then all weekend. Of course he was exhausted but the downside for me (other than not seeing him) is that I'm not used to having a weekend sitting before me with nothing to do with Liam. Luckily, a trusty MOMS Club friend was in the same boat so we headed to the Hesperia Zoo with our strollers in tow. I had never been there before so I wasn't aware that it's a zoo that uses their trained animals for movies and commercials and whatnot. We met some pretty famous animals and were quite star struck. We got to feed some sheep in the petting zoo portion that were in a commercial with Ellen Degeneres and we even saw the lion that was the basis for Aslan in the Chronicles of Narnia. They apparently made all of the animation from this lion and it's his roar in the movie and everything... except they made him three times bigger. Anyway, it's a great zoo with lots of rescued animals and the admission was only $6 which made it that much better.

They also had a very tame deer running around and he kept coming up to Liam's stroller and licking his hands in hopes of being fed.

It was very windy and cold that day though the sun was shining. Luckily the tour only takes about an hour so it wasn't too bad. But wouldn't you know it, two days later I met some friends at the park for a playdate and it was hotter than Hades. I was regretting putting Liam in long sleeves but he didn't seem to mind it. He just smiled and swung on the swings for a VERY long time.

Then he moved on to riding the dinosaurs and trying to get me to ride the one behind him. It wasn't going to happen.

P.S. I won't be participating in Flashback Friday this week because I won't have time to write another post. I guess I could have been doing it now but I wanted to talk about the weather instead.

Liam's Friends

Liam with my friend Brittany's son, Noah

I've always said how thankful I am to have such amazing friends. I feel really lucky that I fell into such a good group of friends as a young kid and throughout high school, and even in my college years on into adulthood. The people I am aquainted with are truly good people. They kept me innocent and out of trouble when I was young, encouraged me to be wild when the time came, cautioned me when I was a bit too wild, and grew up and started families alongside me. My thankfulness for them has been renewed in recent days as I realize that Liam is now benefitting from their association. These people are now the parents of Liam's friends and I couldn't ask for more moral, trustworthy people to set an example for my child. Their children are absolutely adorable little kids who are so lucky to have such supportive and involved parents. Liam had a couple of opportunities to play with some of these kids this last week and I felt overwhelmed with joy that, not only are these amazing people part of my life, but they (and their children) are also part of Liam's.

Home



Signing our final paperwork

April marks three years that we have lived in our house. These pictures are from when it was being built. We would drive up the hill every weekend to take a look at its progress and we were constantly surprised at how quick a home can be built. I love my house and the memories we have put into it. It really has become home, and though I often take it for granted (or complain about cleaning it), I am extremely thankful to have a place to call my own.



our treehouse




hardhat zone



St. Patrick's Day Festivities

Our St. Patty's week started out with a celebratory Shamrock Shake and only got better from there.

I introduced markers to Liam for the first time and was pleasantly surprised at how neat he was and how calm I felt as he colored pictures of Leprechauns and pots of gold.

Then on St. Patrick's Day we ate some amazing food and partied with Liam's twin cousin. They drank Limeaid out of their sippy cups,

greeted each other formally,

boogied with their grandma,

made dandelion wishes (and possibly ingested some),

and gave some of the sweetest hugs you've ever seen. I can't wait to get them together again.

Gymnastics

Liam takes a Mommy and Me gymnastics class on Wednesday afternoons and it is seriously so much fun. Liam loves going and I'm always so surprised at how much he learns and remembers. It has been really good for him to learn basics like waiting in line and following directions. It's also good for him to be around other children and to interact with other adults he isn't familiar with. Not to mention how helpful gymnasics is for developing motor skills. Anyway, I haven't been able to take pictures because I'm running around with him (and sweating more than him) the whole time. So I went to the Monday class instead of the Wednesday class last week so that Paul can come watch and snap a few pictures for the scrapbooks. The lighting is pretty bad in the gym and he was trying to take pictures of a fast moving object (Liam) so some of them are blurry but you get the picture.

He starts by stretching his legs.

And his wrists

He does the splits. (Makes me laugh every time.)

Then he usually wanders off while they take roll.

Then they do stations that include bars (or beam sometimes),

forward rolls down the wedge,

(I usually have to restrain him from running head first into the next station when there is another kid at it.)

back walkovers,

spring board, then the vault (not pictured).

It's so much fun and oh so very cute.



St. Patty's Flashback

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I'm flashing back to this time last year on Liam's first ever St. Pat's Day. What a difference a year makes. He wasn't crawling, let alone walking, wasn't talking, though he was probably babbling, and he was depending mostly on milk to sustain his existence. In a year he has learned how to talk, run, climb, march, tell a joke, pretend, make animal and car noises, eat pizza, use utensils, drink from a cup, call people by name, follow instructions... you name it. Child development never ceases to amaze me.

I hope you all had a wonderful day and celebrated the Irish way!

More faces

Here are some ipod face making photos for your viewing pleasure. As you can see, this is Liam's new favorite thing.

This one is my favorite because of the lady's face in the background. Classic.

Parachute

Last weekend when Paul and I were on our "date," we picked up a little toy for Liam from the party store. It was a parachuting Goofy and it made for some pretty great entertainment. We began by throwing it dowstairs from the loft but it didn't have the desired effect so we took it outside. Paul and I were still in our pajamas and Liam was, obviously, having a bad hair day but the weather was incredible and the pictures came out pretty cute.

Later in the day, we went back outside and spent the afternoon riding Liam's bike in the driveway. All of us.

(Sidenote: With toddlers, you should never start something you can't finish. It was all fun and games letting Liam push me on his bike while Paul was home but, now, everytime we go outside he wants me to get on... even when our neighbors are out. I respectfully declined one day explaining that mommy was too big to ride his bike and she didn't want to break it and it turned into a meltdown. When will I ever learn?)

Then, the afternoon that made us yearn for summer was concluded with a popsicle. Not a bad day.