Seamus in the Snow

 

Seamus Plays: in the crib

Seamus has smiled at himself in the mirror for a long time already, but recently he has started putting his face right up to the mirror and cooing to himself, or trying to kiss his reflection...heaven knows we like to kiss that lovely face, it's no wonder he's attracted to it.

Luke says:

Look at all the angels in my yard.  We have the most angelic yard on the block.

I want a shirt with up sleeves, and pants with up legs.

(feeding Seamus rice krispies)
Laura: Do you think he likes them?
Luke: Yeah, but his eyes are a little shocky.

I am just thinking I want to blue-skadoo into my Tangled movie and save Tangled (he calls Rapunzel, Tangled).

I am just thinking I want to be in that story, and how do I get into that story?

When the hockey players are hungry they know just where to go because there's a sign right there - McDonald's!

God told me that I have to drink cold coffee once a day because I don't want to grow up.
Derek: When did God tell you that?
Luke: When he made me.

That girl had bras so she could feed babies, but I have nipples; only I don't have any milk for babies.  So we just have to do teamwork and the Mommy will give the warm milk and I will warm up the food for the baby.

The news.

Dear Mom, Thanks for leaving me some money on the Northern Reflections card.  It came in handy the other day when I found myself giving into a 60% off sale on this hat.  And isn't it adorable?

Sand toys work just as well in snow, we have discovered.

Playing hockey with Madelyn.  It was amazing how Luke (who has only been skating once before - a year ago!), improved in just half an hour of skating!  He went from crying face-down on the ice, unable to pick himself up, to picking himself up on his own, and even being able to hit the puck with the hockey stick without ending up on his bum!  Kids are remarkable learners.  Leaps and bounds.  Thanks to Karen and Madelyn for teaching Luke a few skills on the ice!

Oh and Seamus had a good time too...in his stroller.  Isn't it great that strollers are allowed on the ice during parent and tot skating?

Sitting up and Sippy Cups

 Seamus is sitting on his own lots these days.  He eventually tumbles down and ends up rolling all around on the floor.  He can get wherever he wants to be, just rolling, but he appreciates the perspective he gets sitting on his own.  Only, as you can see, he rarely sits alone.  Linus "has his back".  Literally.  That dog puts up with a lot of pulled hair just so he can sit beside this warm little floor-dweller.

Seamus's other recent skill is drinking from a sippy cup!  I am just thrilled about this one because we all have colds and this provides me one more way (besides nursing - neither of our boys ever took milk from a bottle; they just didn't like it) to get fluids into this poor congested baby.  He is so proud of himself, and so are we.  I think he feels like he fits in with the big boys, now.  He drank nearly 5 oz of water yesterday!

Luke says; Jekyll and Hyde

Jekyll:  Why don't I feed Seamus some of his dinner so that you can eat your own dinner, Mom?
Hyde:  I don't want you to be my parents! 
Jekyll:  I have a delightful surprise for you Mom: money! 
Hyde:  I WON'T do what you say!  Not ever!  Never!
Jekyll:  (singing to himself while spinning in circles) Jesus loves me, 'cause the Bible tells me so.  Little ones to Him belong, He is weak and we are strong.
Hyde:  You need to go home now, I'm not having fun with you anymore.

Luke says:

Let yourself read to me, Dad.

A boy at preschool was encouraging me to be unkind and that was my bad experience.

This is an unusual adult game; it's not for kids!

I'm so happy to see you, Linus!  I'm SO happy to see you!  How did you sleep?

If I go outside without my mittens, that's okay because I'm in charge of me.  But if I go outside without my mittens is that a responsible choice? 

oh what fun!

 We went to the Children's Museum in Winnipeg on Saturday afternoon with some of our dear friends: Carl and Kathy, and their children Joel, Kezia, Asha, and Elena.  It was SO FUN.  It was good for the kids to let off some steam, run, yell; and it was good for us parents to visit with each other, and watch the kids have fun (and I'll admit, I kind of dominated the suction tube game - that game rocks!).  Every now and then I have to sigh with contentment in my life.  I have a wonderful husband, two delightful sons, and friends - oh my friends! - they're the best anyone could ever ask for, and not least of all, we have opportunities to PLAY, together.  It's a good life.
No, it's a great life.
 

 

 

 

On a drifty day

With snowflakes as big as my thumb falling and a soft downy cover over my garden, I remember California.  People have been asking me excitedly, "SO.  How was your trip to California?!"  You'd think I'd have a lot to say.  We were there for an entire month!  We did so many fun things, visited interesting places, saw people we don't see very often.  But mostly my answer is, "It was good."  And somehow I feel like I should apologize for that brief answer.  So as an explanation . . .

We were in California long enough to get into a groove of our own; long enough to feel comfortable enough that we could daydream about living there.  We did fun things, and saw people we don't normally see, but mostly we just pretended like we lived there.  We took advantage of having my parents at our fingertips.  Dad made salads and BBQd, Mom went to work and we took evening trips to Bakersfield, I went out to the grocery store and left the baby with his grandpa, Luke and grandpa flew balsa wood airplanes and grandpa told the story of putting together a plane with his Dad and just when they tossed it into the air for the first time, a dust devil came by and the plane went up and up and up . . . and they never saw it again.  We held starfish and jumped rope with seaweed and painted our faces with wet stones and walked among the giant sequoias and fed the giraffes and played blocks and dinosaurs and marbles at great-grandma Judy's house.  We walked in the almond orchard and fed the neighbor's calf malva weeds through the fence.  We had a fire in the grotto, photographed old junk in the yard, mowed the lawn and ate cold chicken while sitting in the grass after a morning's yard work.  We picked cotton and got an ice cream cone and wrote words in the leaves piled on the grass and picked lemons and threw the rotten lemons at the pampas grass to see the birds shoot into the air. We had a slumber party with Auntie Lissa and danced to her rap music at Brookside over biscuits and gravy.  We walked to the park and walked to the museum and walked around the block to visit an old friend and walked around town to look at Christmas lights and when we heard the sheep braying down the way, we walked to find them.  We happened upon people we knew and met up with the old men at the donut shop.  We sang songs in the car and did yoga before bed and watched funny sitcoms in between conversations about theology and Life.  It was home again, for a while.  

And that is why I say "It was good."  Because there's not much more to say.  It was. So. Good.

Here are my favorite photos from our trip - sorry if it takes a long time to load; I didn't skimp out!  It's so hard for me to choose favorites from a file full of photos of my favorite people and places.