Liam's 2

Liam is two years old today.

Here are some things about him:
blond curly hair . loves to cuddle and kiss . in bed by 8:30, stays awake until 10:30 . loves riding his trike to church, the park and around the driveway . good eater- beginning to wean him off the bib . loves trains, cars (anything with wheels) . plays with his trucks and trains by himself for long periods of time . talks a lot (lots of babbling and lots of articulate words), puts together small sentences . loves books and the library . loves baths . hates the pool . gets excited easily . gets fussy and throws fits easily (but getting better little by little) . possessive of his toys . likes car rides . gets shoes for me when I'm not getting ready to go fast enough . sweet tooth . always wants to be included .

We had the train set up last night so he would find it, along with other wrapped gifts, when he woke up this morning.  

Playing with his new crane.  He affectionately calls it "Cranky" the name of the crane from the Thomas and Friends series.

Playing with his train and pointing to the stickers Reese put on his feet in honor of his birthday.

And I have to brag for a moment about the cake.  I wasn't going to do one because this is the last birthday he'll have that he doesn't really know or care about it, but then Will convinced me that we needed to have a little celebration.  So this is a last-minute cake idea I came up with, complete with homemade marshmallow trains. So, not the fanciest or best executed cake I've ever done, but for a last-minute cake I'm pretty happy with it.  I hope he is, too.  Happy Birthday, Liam!

Totem Poles

In anticipation of an upcoming trip to Alaska, we've been reading up on totem poles.  We've talked about why they're made (to tell stories, show status and keep record of families, clans and tribes) What they're made of (generally red cedar) How they're put up (with great fanfare and strong men) and read some of the stories behind these Native Pacific Northwesterner's works of art.

Then, of course, we had to make some of our own. (Fun size!)

 Reese picked out her favorite animals from the stories we read.  We Googled some totem versions of the animals, then I drew them, Reese colored them, we cut them out and glued them on paper rolls.

Then we made up stories about the animals on our totem poles.  Well, I made up stories because Reese isn't comfortable showing off her ideas yet.  She gets timid like she's afraid I might think her ideas are silly or something. It's too bad because I would love to hear her make up stories. 

Liam wasn't terribly interested in the drawing and coloring of totems, but he was very interested in the gluing them on to the poles and wanted his picture taken even though he didn't make one.

 

Reese's pole (left): Thunderbird, squirrel, chipmunk.  Mama's Pole (right) Bear, frog, salmon (with fly showing in tummy)

Art Gallery

Reese LOVES art.  She could spend half the day (and does frequently) coloring and cutting out paper.  I've decided that, for my own sanity, I simply cannot keep or put on the the fridge every piece of art she does.  So I hope you don't mind my solution: To scan select pieces and post them so we'll have them in non-messy digital form.  (I guess if you do mind then too bad for you, anyway.  Because your opinion doesn't matter in this.  I'm going to post it anyway.)

Here's our first "gallery"

Trees, sun, sky, ground, flower, "Reeze" I love this one.

 Hand Prints with words in them.  I don't think she realizes that one says "Hi!"  Or maybe thats "HIL".  

I don't remember who this is, but I think it's a family member.

This may look like random squiggles, but it is actually a map of an imagined indoor playplace, complete with entrance, different sections to play in and restrooms for boys and girls.  I was super impressed when Reese pointed this all out to me.

 

This is me! (Mama) Look how she got me from the side, in a profile shot.  I don't think I've seen many kids her age do that.

The tree theme became popular after I painted some watercolor trees on some greeting cards, but Reese loves to add other elements of the environment, too.

Wardrobe

Fixing up my closet to save some money on new summer clothes.  Trying to make everything I don't wear into something wearable.

Exhibit A:

 

Thin cheapie t-shirts:

Scrunchie drawstring shrug

Exhibit B:

 Long sleeve pink collard shirt plus:

 

Cute but ill-fitting and way too short purple dress equals:

  skirt/button-up combo dress

 Maybe I'll remember to take more pictures.  I'm wearing a pair of hole-knee jeans turned cuff-hem long shorts, but I forgot to take a before picture. And I've turned a few more under-used tees into this scrunchie shrug, but didn't take before pics of those either.  Sorry!


Update: here are some pics to make up for it:

 

The cuff-hem shorts with the hole-knee part cut off, since there's no before pic:

Outside Play

Playing in the sprinklers, the new outside play set and also some cookie-making thrown in:

 

 

Reading Time, Friends And New Jammas

Will couldn't resist snapping a photo when me and the kiddos were all spending some quality time together- with a book.

My bestest friend, Britt came to town from Spokane and brought her two little ones.  Reese was coloring cards for Olivia for the next couple of days.  I hated to tell her that we wouldn't see Olivia again in the near future.

Wal-mart had their long-sleeve jammies on sale.  It's getting hot, but since the fabric is so thin, I figured the long sleeves won't be a problem.  

Plus it's fun to do something that completely makes their day.  Reese kept asking if it was getting dark, because she knows that's the cue to get jammas on.  Liam got Thomas the tank engine and Reese got Dora the explorer, current favorites in our household.

Photo Dump

Here are some photos of some things.

Reese and Liam.

We've been learning different ways to clean Reese's room.  Here she is practicing the method where we scoop all the toys into a pile to see how tall the pile is before putting the toys away.  Liam hasn't been much help.

The clean room.  One time, I put her down to bed in a messy room and later that night when I went to check on her the room was clean.  Maybe this teaching her to clean up isn't as futile as other moms would have me believe....

Reese playing (and posing) in the yard.

Reese sets up her cubicle in a book case.

Liam helps clean up

He loves sweeping.

Reese wears a necklace crown

Liam graduates from the crib to the toddler bed.  Then quickly from the toddler bed to the bottom bunk.

We have tons of ivy in our yard

Reese and Liam love playing outside.

A tree getting cut down.  Only 7 more to go, give or take.

We read a lift-the-flap book with animal sounds.