King Dad, Queen Mom, our subjects

More preparing for Back 40.
(Crowns courtesy of Luke and Auntie Lissa.)

I love my job!

Getting ready

My guinea pig for Back Forty prep was convinced to put himself in the limelight by some awesome slinky eyeglasses.  Back Forty is coming up in the Morden Bowl this Sunday!  If you don't see me there, it's probably because I took a turn with the slinky glasses.  Come find us and have your photos taken!

Black and Whites: Baby in a Ballcap

Baby fell over while he was trying to put his hat back on and Daddy got down on the floor, gave a good hug, and got all the best smiles for himself.

Luke says

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleventeen, seventeen, . . . what comes after eleventeen dad?

The sound of sprinklers

Sprinklers sound like summer to me.  And yesterday it truly felt like Summer with all the windows open, the sprinkler on, sitting on the deck, watching this:

(please forgive the lack of photos of Seamus in this series.  He was feeling particularly grumpy yesterday and didn't want to participate in the water fun.  This morning when we saw his second tooth, we understood why.)

 

Tears and a face scrunch

Luke says; Mom says

Mom (me):  Even Batman wears nicer pants than those to church.
Luke:  But these are fancy if you wear them with a cape!

(after I cracked an egg and had it splash in my eye!)  I have never had egg in my eye when I was a baby and I never will.

A holiday is for hauling.

(while eating cranberries)  Branberries take away our sickness because they have fiber in them.

 Luke had his last day of his first year of preschool yesterday.  He passed with straight A's!  I didn't even realize it was the last day until just before he walked into the classroom, so I didn't get to really prepare him. But with the weather as nice as it is, and kid's soccer coming up in a few days, I think we won't have much trouble finding ways to spend our time!

This quiet moment

The party party

 

 

The birthday boy:  Seamus
The birthday:  first
The weather:  perfect
The food: hot dogs
The cake:  chocolate
The friends:  talkative
The children:  sandy
The dog:  stealing food
The party:  the best

The new John Deere

"The new John Deere" is the most popular toy around here lately.  Thanks, grammy and grandpa!

The box it came in is pretty popular too.

One-year-old Seamus

One year ago today, Seamus, who we thought was going to be Penelope, was born.  He came in his own time...only a week or ten days overdue!  I was happy when my contractions started on their own, and even more happy when I got the go-ahead to push after only seven hours of labor! 

After one year Seamus has grown so much!  He has gained 20 pounds.  He is crawling on all fours and pulling himself up on furniture, and "cruising".  He likes to stand on his head in downward facing dog sometimes too.  He's still rear-facing in the car seat, but he's in the bigger car seat now.  Seamus eats meals with the family in his high chair, and he eats all kinds of things!  His favorite this week was pulled pork, last week it was raisin bran.  Mostly he just likes to eat things on his own (give me that spoon!!). Seamus is nursing two or three times a day now, and having much less attention for that activity.  He'd rather drink from a sippy-cup, on the go.  He is learning sign language and knows how to say Dog, More, All Done, and Milk.  He can say Yeah, Dog, Ball and Mama vocally. 

Seamus is a really relaxed guy.  He will just sit happily in my lap and watch Luke play for several minutes - sometimes as long as half an hour, before he wants to get in on the action.  He enjoys snuggling and hugs, and recently really loves his Mommy.  Only in the last few days he has started making strange, but he gets over it pretty fast.  I wouldn't say Seamus is super-cheerful, but he's a content little guy - certainly not grumpy, and we are so so happy to have Seamus in our family (even though yesterday Luke suggested we sell him at a garage sale so that Seamus wouldn't damage anymore of his toys).  You're worth any damage you author Seamus. Your smile brings the sunshine, baby.  Your hugs bring the smell of Summer.  Happy First Birthday!

 

This is how we roll on birthdays:  Beatles style.
(Luke says, "Can we dance and listen to the ant's birthday song again?"
He remembered the band shared the name of an insect, just not which one!)

More photos to come, after the party, party.

Yes we're goin' to a party party!

Breakfast Faces: