We Have The Tree And Now To Trim It

This was Little Man's first year to actually put ornaments on the tree.

How do you think that went? The answer is FABULOUS...



for about 4 ornaments and then the thrill wore off. The ornaments are all hung very low and clumped together but we like it that way :)

O Tannenbaum

Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night....could stop us from cutting down their Christmas tree. OK, so maybe it was just rain, but we still did it. The trip was quick and the decision on which tree did not take long.


Looking and looking for the perfect tree...not too big, not too small.

Headed in the right direction, here we come tree!

BEFORE

and AFTER!

My Heart Melted This Morning (despite the 14 degree temperature outside)

This morning I was sitting on Liam's bed, rubbing his back, waking him up as I usually do. He moved my shirt aside, lifted the shirt underneath, looked at my bare belly and said, "Hi baby". *sigh*

Polar Express (kinda)

What a fantastic, wonderful, perfect weekend!!!! Saturday night we met up with The Brislin's at a very kid friendly restaurant. Their daughter Ava goes to Patti's also so the kiddos get along like brother and sister. After dinner we bundled up and headed to Oaks Park for THE HOLIDAY EXPRESS!!!! The train was a Baldwin locomotive from the 1930's, decorated with lights and wreaths and was SO cool.

They pulled us aside when we boarded because they were bumping us to First Class, I am thinking of playing this pregnancy thing to the hilt ;)

Santa made an appearance early in the trip and fortunately Liam and Ava decided to go with the flow, they loved him, maybe the candy cane he gave each one of them had something to do with it? This encounter gave me hope for our Christmas photo op with Santa. After the trip we took some great photos of the train and decided to wait around for it take off on its next adventure.

Did I mention that it was a steam locomotive? Did I mention that we were standing next to it when it took off? Did I mention how loud that thing was? Once again, the kiddos were shocked at first and then decided that it was pretty fun to watch.

The house is in the early stages of looking like Christmas, the nursery is not set up, at all, in the least, we can't wait to see the Taylors for Christmas and Oh My Gosh ~ we're having a baby this month!!!!!!!

Somewhere in Time

Pumpkin Express

It was a nice autumn weekend and the Taylors found another pumpkin patch but this time there was no hayride to cart the pumpkin prospectors around. We took the TRAIN!!!

Liam with Mommy

Out of the Crib and Into a Bed

Liam will be changing bedrooms this month so that his sister can take his old room when she graces us with her arrival. Father and son took it upon themselves to assemble said bed and with hard work, determination and resolve, we did it (in under an hour)!

I Had to Share These

The email I received read:

Here are a couple cute pics for you. I was taking a couple to send to Audrey while she is away and Liam wanted in on the action. :)
~Patti

Pumpkin Patch 09

Today was the big pumpkin patch day. The weatherman said we had a good chance of a dry day and that is exactly what happened. We met our friends Kosta and Laura with their twins Teddy and Mayla.

Liam got to pick out his own pumpkin this year!!!

Fall is Here!!

Pumpkin patch this weekend with good friends and their twins! We can't wait. I am super excited about the warm donuts, they remind me of MI cider mills. I am sure Liam will share a bunch of "super cool"s when he sees the tractor pulling the hayride.

Work is coming around nicely for Liam's new big boy room. Sean will touch up the paint on Friday, furniture goes in on Sunday, I will decorate Mon/Tues and viola! Let's just hope he takes to it like we hope he will. I won't mention that my fingers and toes are crossed, I'm considering braiding my hair if I think it will help.

TEASER ALERT:
Sean and I settled on a name for baby girl. Stay tuned and find out on Dec 28th!!

Giggles

Quarantine

We are on a temporary hiatus due to a wicked cold, sinus infection, what ever you want to call it, currently running through our house. We should be back up to speed in a few days. Hopefully with something fun to post!

Polish Festival

Last night, the four of us went to the 16th annual Polish Festival in North Portland sponsored by
the St. Stanislaus Parish. This is the largest Polish festival on the west coast. I don't know if it was just word of mouth from previous years or the fact that the locals were in a partying mood but this place was packed! Some of us were not happy with the fact that there were separate tents and lines for tokens, food and beer (very tempted to craft a joke there) but the wait was minimal. We feasted on their combination plate (pierogi, golabki, kielbasa and bigos). They also imported all of their Polish beer which was very good.




There were some amazing dance groups and great traditional music.



Liam was mesmerized by the accordion and all of the colorful costumes swirling about!



On the way out we grabbed a couple of paczki (raspberry) with our last few Zlotys and headed home.


Na zdrowie (good health)!

BubbleHawk

It's rare that we can even get soap into this boy's hair let alone craft our own 80's faux mohawk styling.

We Are In For It

Patti (Liam's daycare provider and friend) just called me with a funny Liam story.

I let Patti know that Liam barely ate anything, at all (no exaggeration) over the weekend, kind of par for the course right now. So breakfast rolls around and now that he is a big boy he no longer has to use the booster seat and gets to sit with the big kids! Only downside is that he will get down when he feels like it.

Today was toast and fruit for breakfast. Story goes that he was fighting Patti on eating. He would get down from his seat whenever Patti was distracted or when a parent showed up. Patti would put him back on the chair and let him know he had to eat his breakfast. Of course, he does not pull out the NO on Patti but was giving her a hard time. As he continues to push back Patti asked him if she was going to have to pull out his bed (cute little blankets they use for nap time) and have him sit for a couple minutes. With that being said, cue the next parent distraction. Patti hears the pitter patter of little feet. Thinking Liam was making a break for it she goes to deal with the situation. Low and behold, Liam did make a break for it ~ a break to the closet, pulled out his bed and sat down. Breakfast still sitting untouched.

Buckle up, I have a feeling it is going to be a bumpy ride!!!!

I Said No!

The new saying in our house is, "I said no!" and this is not coming from Sean or me! Sometimes he even includes the pointed index finger for visual emphasis. Let's just say that Master Liam is flexing his little muscles and testing his boundaries. (sigh)

Papa and Nana With Most of Their Grandchildren

We are missing one and a half. Sorry you weren't there John!

Long Time No Blog

Time flies when you're having fun! or maybe just plain lazy? So let's think about recent events...

• Gigi came to visit over Labor Day weekend and that was wonderful. We love having her here and Liam warmed right up to her no questions asked.
  
• We watched MICHIGAN beat ND with the UM Alum Club downtown Portland
• We had our annual block party with our neighbors
• Annie has been exhausted at night, but my energy is pretty good up until about 8:00.
• Shrams discovered a lump in her breast early and had it removed and is feeling good ~ Thank You Jesus! Be sure to check your boobies weekly ladies!!!!!
• We have decided to cloth diaper Baby Girl and are very excited about this endeavor. We have wonderful support and pep talks from close friends who use cloth on their kiddos. Plus, those little cloth diaper covers are SO cute!
• Liam is repeating everything! The words are coming at a rapid pace, not to mention full sentences. Sentences like, "No mama, I said No!"
• Liam LOVES babies!! He points out babies at restaurants, pats babies (gently) on the head and tries to kiss them. Let's hope he is as fascinated with his baby sister
• We are down to 2 names for Baby Girl!!

Here are some random pictures of Master Liam:

GO BLUE !!!

ZOO RAIL

Many zoos have a train that takes a short journey around the exhibits. We found out last Sunday that the Oregon Zoo has two trains - one that tours the zoo and one that explores the outer area of the grounds and makes a stop at a children's park and the Portland Rose Garden. Liam was joined by three little women: Aayla, Ava and his soon-to-be-sister.

It was a great day for a train ride.

GIRL ~ GIRL ~ GIRL ~ GIRL ~ GIRL

Hot Time in the City

There is nothing greater on God's green earth than sitting on my back patio on a hot Portland evening, watching my naked two-year old son splash around in his pool. Watching him run around the pool with his Dad, watching him splash the dog as it runs by the pool. Just sitting and taking in every belly laugh he let out. OK, maybe if I had a frozen margarita in my hand but seeing as that isn't happening....

4 MORE DAYS UNTIL WE FIND OUT THE GENDER OF T2 !!!

Beach baby, beach baby, there on the sand.

We were, once again, packed up and headed out of town last weekend. A simple, quick (some ~like me~ say too quick) trip to the Oregon Coast, Agate Beach to be exact.

It is official, we have a beach baby on our hands!! He was happy to plop himself down once we hit the sand to start digging. He was running up and down the little sand dunes just laughing and laughing. He didn't care if it was windy, you can still dig in the wind. Plus, if you kick sand off the top of a little sand dune, man the sand goes far and gave him something to laugh about. As long as there was sand for filling buckets this kid was a happy camper.

A Day at the Circvs

Cut to the first night that all three boys (Ian -4, Ryan -2, Liam-2) are all together and this breaks out!

This Boy Gets Around

Can you say best family vacation ever? We are, because that is exactly what we had!!! Steve, Clarita, Ian (4) and Lily (1) drove in from Chicago, Michael and Sheri were there at the beginning and had to get back home after a long weekend. Kevin and Jenny packed up their three, Maddy (9), Nick (6), and Ryan (2) and make the trek up state. Thankfully Mary Beth moved some stuff around and drove up, and then let us know Caitlin (21) will drive over from Central Michigan University for the weekend! Talk about a full house, and that isn't even all of us. Ken wasn't able to come up this time :( so I hope he enjoys the video. It is mostly of Liam driving the boat, his favorite part of the whole trip. Uncle Mike took him out one afternoon and after that is was all about the boat. Papa took the 3 boys (Ian, Ryan, Liam) out for an afternoon and they all took turns; after a very long discussion with each about taking turns and sharing :)

Sean neglected to give himself directing, producing and editing credits so props to Sean!

I will continue to go through our 300+ photos and post some more of family :)

In Case You Haven't Heard

Liam's little brother or sister will arrive some time mid January 2010!!!

***** Happy Birthday USA 2009 *****

We had an incredible, amazing weekend as a family :)

Saturday we ventured into Lake Oswego for their Farmer's Market and their Fourth of July Parade. Good luck finding shade along the parade route, but some how we managed too! All in thanks to Annie saying 'let me lead' and Sean reluctantly following. I get that from my Dad, thanks Papa Joe, wink-wink.

This was your typical, small town, everyone get involved kind of parade so there was an old fire engine,

and cool old cars.

Liam providing a rebel yell when he saw something he liked, like a tractor for instance

At one point we actually jumped in and JOINED the parade. "Look at us! We're in a parade!!"

and then a little snack in the back of the car to stay 'cool' before we headed home.

Sunday was still hot so water was our only relief. The great thing about Portland are all the family friendly spots you can find, Jamison Park is favorite in the summer. The fountain there is perfect for the little ones, there are trees in the park to make for good shade, and the park is in one of the best districts in Downtown Portland, the Pearl. Needless to say Liam had a BLAST!