Summer Blog Ketchup Part Deux!

After all of the birthday madness we decided that instead of taking some time to relax it would be better to pack a bunch of stuff in the car and drive to Columbus for two days of fun!  The Columbus Zoo is pretty great and Liam really enjoyed everything at COSI.  The hotel pool was a big hit too because Normandy had not opened yet.

The boys came to town and June and made things very exciting.  Mark and Jack were in town for the better part of a month and the days that it rained we headed to the museum center and the zoo.  It was some serious work to keep up with three boys and a toddler with a new found sense of freedom!

Another fun summer cloudy day past time is building tents on what used to be my nice chair out of the one crocheted item I ever made for myself (and which took me months!), but I'm happy as long as the kids are amused:

Summer Blog Ketchup!

We've had a very awesome and very busy summer!  I've spent most of it packing and unpacking bags.  I can't leave the house without gym bag, diaper bag, purse, swim bag, swim toy bag...you get the picture.  So I spend every morning or afternoon packing bags, and I should be good at it by now, but somehow there is always something I forget.  May was packed with birthday parties and then the pool opened and Charlotte has been walking for all of it so I have been very busy on defense trying to keep her pretty head "boo boo free".  Especially with Bill travelling for a good part of the time this is seems like a never ending job.  After sending Bill off to Illinois and putting the kids to bed I decided to sit and catch up on my favorite blogs.  This made me increasingly guilty for my lack of updates so I'm going to try and do a blog blitz to catch up on the whole summer.

May = Birthdays

Bill, Liam and Charlotte all in one month.  Lots of invites and planning and food preparation made for a tired momma.  Did I mention Liam's birthday was also Mother's Day this year?  Lots of present buying and celebrating all around.  Liam's theme of choice for birthday #4?  Pirates!

We went to Red Robin for our annual birthday party eve dinner and the boys get their birthday sundaes:

My grandparents treated Liam to Build-a-Bear for his birthday and here he is with Chick making his very own Gapper:

Charlotte's birthday didn't have a theme but involved lots of people and generous gift giving.  Charlotte showed off her amazing mobility and even managed to eat some of her birthday cake.  She did turn one so all in all a successful event.

I only have video of her birthday because I couldn't find my camera and all the people that promised to give/send me their pictures have failed to do so.  This is why I can only have two kids - the second one is already getting the short end of the stick!

Soccer Disaster!

Some days are tougher than others in terms of being Liam's mom.  Today is one of those trying days when I wonder why on earth my kid is wired so differently from others.  We went to soccer practice which is always entertaining with three year olds.  Liam insisted on playing goalie and yelling out "Not Today!" as he blocked the other kids attempts.  Then when they practiced dribbling the ball around the field he would race back to the starting line and scream "I Win" over and over again.
The most amazing moment came at the end when they decided to have the kids play a little 3 on 3.  All Liam heard was take the ball away from the other team and score a goal.  In his head this translated to take it at all costs.  He ran over to this little boy and grabbed his jersey with both hands, threw the kid out of the way and took the ball down field to the goal.  The other little boy just sat down and cried.  His dad came over and I ran to apologize and to have a little talk with Liam about the rules.   I could not get Liam to apologize.  His dad told me that it was okay and that his kid needed to toughen up.  I was mortified!
I know that the next 15 years are going to be quite an adventure with my crazy kid.  Based on his behavior you would think that I spend everyday teaching him to talk trash and that there are no points for second place, but I swear that I am not that parent!  Please excuse me while I go read some more parenting books...

An Exciting Trip to Exotic...wait for it...Louisville!

 So a week ago I came home from an hour of kickboxing on a Saturday morning to find Bill preparing us to drive to Louisville.  He had concocted a scheme with his buddy Mike to take our families down to the science museum and to spend the night.  We found a last minute hotel deal and two hours later we were on the road.

Liam enjoyed the ride with the fabulous new DVD player I received for Christmas:

We had a great time at the Science Center.  Liam spend a lot of time driving the bus:

Charlotte had a good time in the "Baby Crater":

We headed out to dinner for pizza and then back to the hotel for swimming.  Unfortunately the hotel pool was cold.  Never have I been to an indoor hotel pool that was cold.  Swimming wrapped up quickly and Liam and little Michael watched Finding Nemo in our room.  So cute!

The next day was a little rainy so we headed to Puzzle's Fun Dome.  There was a little kid indoor play area for Charlotte and Reagan:

The boys had fun jumping in the bounce house and playing cosmic bowling until we finally made the trek back to Cincinnati.  All in all a successful weekend and we will have to do it again sometime!

Moving and Playing

My friend Leslie is in town with her two little boys Kent and Davi.  It has been such a great visit.  If they lived in town I know Liam and Kent would be great friends.  Its so fun to watch them play together and think about all the fun their mommas have had together over the years.  Here's a picture I took of them all sitting and playing with the baby toys.  So many toys in the house and they all wanted to play with Charlotte's little toys!  This moment of calm didn't last for long and soon the boys were riding in spaceships and finding aliens.

  Charlotte has really started moving now.  I finally bought a new rug for the family room and that little bit of added traction was all she needed to gain confidence and speed.  In the past two weeks she's gone from slow crawling and swimming across the hard floors to speedy crawling, standing and the beginnings of cruising!  

Let's See How Far We've Come

To make up for the fact that I am a very negligent blogger I am going to employ the Hollywood trick of using a montage to catch my blog up to present.

At home with Liam and Dad on day 6.

Charlotte's first bath at home when she was nine days old.

Eight weeks old

9 weeks.  Chillin' in my bouncy seat.

10 weeks.  Sunning at the pool.

11 weeks.  A bath in Grandma's sink.

3 months.  Just jumping around.

13 weeks.  Why does Mom always put these toys so far away?

14 weeks.  Happy as a daisy.

4 months.  Here I am with Opa at my first wedding.  I tried to be happy for Valerie and David but it was past my bedtime.

4.5 months.  My first time in a restaurant high chair.

5 months.  I'm a pumpkin!

5.5 months.  I love food.  Spoons are kinda my favorite thing.

 

 

 

 

6 months.  Ready to meet Santa.

7 months.  What am I doing?!

7 months.  These are my people!

The day after Christmas playing with all my new toys!

Playing with Dad.

I'm so happy all the time now!

7.5 months.  Now I'm getting somewhere!

Here she is now - a talented pianist. She is eating finger foods and starting to crawl with her tummy off of the ground.  This week she is working on pulling herself up on things.  When she starts cruising I may never have time to post again until she is three!

Another Snow Day, Ugh!

I woke up to find that preschool was canceled and the outside world looked like this:

So I decided to start our snow day off right.  I baked some lemon poppy seed muffins and made eggs and bacon.  Liam did drink he cup of hot cocoa (translate to warm ovaltine) but would not eat anything.  He finally settled on a handful of blueberries and some yogurt.  Apparently he can go all day on a solid hundred and fifty calories.

Did I mention that he dressed himself?  Yellow pirate shirt with red pants, check!