a not-so-quiet life

chicken drama

2011-06-11T22:40:00.000-07:00

Life is a string of decisions, one leading to another, with unpredictable variables thrown in. That's my explanation for how I ended up living in South Korea (twice), why I've been living with my in-laws for over a year now, and how we went from five chickens to eight in less than 12 hours.

It all started when two of our hens (Cordelia the Speckled Sussex and Ophelia the Welsummer) went broody -- meaning they stopped laying eggs and tried to sit on any that they could find, all in hopes of becoming mamas. Considering that we don't have a rooster to fertilize the eggs, this was only going to lead to frustration. Matthew found a local farmer selling fertilized eggs and bought a dozen. Over the next three weeks (the incubation period for chicken eggs), through various craziness (most likely the result of hen jealousy -- one of those unpredictable variables), at least half of those eggs ended up broken. Cordelia proved that she didn't have the attention span for motherhood, so her eggs weren't viable, but on Day 21, Ophelia hatched two chicks: a Barred Rock and another that hatched from a blue egg -- either an Auracana or simply an Easter Egger.

Within a few hours, another unpredictable variable named Bianca (our Buff Orpington) reared her nasty head. She got into the nesting box with the chicks and managed to smother the Barred Rock chick and was intent on taking out the other chick, too. We isolated her and weighed our options. We could let things run their course, which would almost definitely result in another dead chick and a distraught Ophelia. We could raise the chick ourselves, which is a pain in the butt and, again, probably wouldn't go over well with Mama Ophelia. Or we could take out Bianca, who was definitely at the top of the flock pecking order, and becoming quite the bully (although another B word was more often used in reference to her). We decided to go with the puppet coup d'état (or coop d'état).

To further tamper with the natural order of things, we bought some additional chicks for Ophelia. The youngest-looking chicks at the feed store were Silver-laced Cochins -- which it turns out are gorgeous bantam (miniature) chickens. When we put them in the chicken coop, Ophelia immediately started clucking her protective mama song to them, seemingly undisturbed by the appearance of three new chicks. She's been doing an amazing job taking care of them and they're all thriving, running around the chicken yard, eating everything their mama eats. Ophelia has become the top of the pecking order and runs off the other chickens if they get too close to her babies.

Rowan with "Brownie" the mystery-gender, somewhat mystery-breed little guy that hatched from a blue egg:

Liam with "Blondie," an unusually colored Silver-laced Cochin chick:

Rowan & Liam each holding another SLC chick, named "Cave" and "Black Cat" by Liam, after being asked what he could think of that is black. (Prior to that, they were temporarily named "Blackie 1" and Blackie 2.")

The Cochins have the coolest feathered legs:

And Bianca -- well, Matthew took her out of this world, with some help from a friend. We explained to the boys (although Liam is the one who really understood) in advance what we were going to do and why. We also explained that Bianca had a much longer, happier life than the chickens that we buy from the grocery store. Speaking of which, she ended up being a tough old bird. Apparently, a year is old for a bird and we should have stewed her instead of roasting her.

Bianca before:

Bianca after:

Side note: All of this craziness has led to some conclusions about coop design. If we (by which I mean Matthew) ever build another coop...

(1) it will have flap doors into the nesting boxes. Having to reach through the main coop door and then under feisty chickens to check for eggs has been a serious pain.

(2) it will be on the ground to facilitate chicks getting in and out by themselves. Brownie is now able to follow Ophelia up the ramp into the coop at night, but the Cochins (already smaller than Brownie at about two weeks old) aren't. After spending too many nights crawling on my knees in dirt and chicken poop under the coop, cursing at the stupid chicks who won't accept my help, I've finally discovered that enlisting the help of a munchkin (AKA Liam), who fits better under the coop and can chase the chicks toward me, works much better.

(3) it will have an overhanging roof to form a rain patio for the chickens. This would compensate for the loss of covered area with the lowered coop.

better in theory than in practice

2011-04-28T10:23:00.000-07:00

I have an ever-expanding list in my head of things that are much better in theory than in practice. For example, making cute little sandwiches with cookie cutter shapes sounded like a great idea. In reality, it was a messy pain-in-the-butt. Gingerbread houses are another entry on the list.

My latest addition to the list is Crayola Washable Colored Bubbles. I wouldn't normally pay $3 for a little container of bubbles, but Liam saw them at the store and begged for them, so I thought they'd make a good addition to the boys' Easter baskets. Wrong.

My first clue came when Rowan managed to open his bottle (orange) without ripping off the plastic seal. Instead of the lightly colored liquid I was expecting, a bright orange ooze came out of the "spill resistant" bottle.

When we got home that afternoon, the April showers had let up enough for them to play outside and they had a blast.

The clean-up afterward was a little excessive, though. I had to hose off the patio and everything on it, because where the bubbles didn't land, huge drips did. The sliding glass door also had to be cleaned because my little darlings finger-painted on it. I put a towel down for the boys to wipe their feet on when they came in, but Liam's green bottle tipped over and the solution soaked through onto the rug underneath. I put the boys clothes through a rinse cycle first, then applied stain remover before washing them. Everything came clean except Liam's white polo shirt, but I can bleach that. (Note: Moms do not buy white polo shirts for 4-year-old boys. Grandmas do.) Also, I didn't take off his hand-knit (by me) dinosaur sweater soon enough and he got green drips on the green sweater. I have to handwash said sweater and the baby shampoo I use for that was not able to get the bubble dye out, so now his sweater is a bit speckled.

I let the boys take the bubbles in the bathtub, where the orange and green mixed to form a swampy brown. After I confiscated the bubbles, I had to rinse the bathtub and them before refilling the tub with clean water.

To be fair, the product website clearly spells out that these bubbles are messy and everything did pretty much wash clean. (There are plenty of accounts online from parents with much worse experiences than mine.) The boys loved the bubbles and Liam was especially upset when I told him that was a one-time deal. As another mom wrote in a blog entry about these bubbles (that I can't find now), every parent has their own breaking point of when the mess just isn't worth it. This is mine. Playdough: okay, especially since there isn't any carpet in the house. Fingerpainting: also fine at the table. Riding bikes and running through puddles: messy, but free and easily remedied by a trip through the bathtub. Colored bubbles: not the worth the expense and extensive clean-up after.

march in photos

2011-04-05T21:10:00.001-07:00

Now that Liam can spell and write his own name, he needed to see it in lights.

An unexpected snow calls for a spontaneous outdoor pajama party.

Liam and a caracal, which he knows all about thanks to his new favorite show Wild Kratts.

Rowan watches one of his favorite animals.

This is what he'd love to do with the real lion, but Mom says no.

Another one of Rowan's favorites: the bear in front of the zoo gift shop and his new constant companion, BlackBeary.

Liam with a polyphemus moth that Matthew hatched in his classroom and then brought home.

Sadly, since it's still too cold for the moth outdoors, it lived the rest of it's short life hanging on an indoor plant.

At the Children's Museum, Liam plays with two of his favorite animals, which he will gladly tell you are VERY different. Dolphins are mammals and sharks are fish. I've started calling him Professor Liam, as he will lecture anyone who will listen about sea creatures, butterflies, etc.

The boys share a cut-out in the train table at the Children's Museum.

Rowan does what Rowan does best: ham it up.

a hoppin' valentine's day

2011-04-02T11:01:00.001-07:00

I really don't like sewing, but every now and then, I come across a project that I just can't resist. Every time we go to a certain kids' play area, Liam plays with a stuffed frog with a mouth that zips open. A little internet research revealed that it's a discontinued item from IKEA that originally retailed for less than $10, but some enterprising individuals are auctioning USED for around $30. So I decided to create my own pattern and make some for the boys for Valentine's Day. While I was at it, I made a third, but this one with a princess hat, as a birthday present for a friend's daughter. All three are different combinations of skin color and mouth color. I used plush fabric that's often used for baby blankets -- including bumpy skin for the back (instead of the custom printed plush used in the IKEA product) and for the princess mouth, because I couldn't find smooth pink fabric.

I drew out my pattern on paper stolen from the boys' art easel, guesstimating how the finished product would look, adding darts to shape the frog's face and butt. The eyes are made from felt.

The princess hat, was just a half circle of gold fabric with really stiff interfacing inside, stitched up one side, with a circle of pink tulle tucked in at one end.

The tongue is sewn over the original zipper pull and I used bee buttons inside the mouths, instead of the embroidered fly in the original version.

Rowan's frog with a bobbled scarf:

Liam's frog with a "ziggy-zaggy" scarf, as per his request:

Each boy also got a little box of chocolates decorated with one of his favorite animals, conveniently zipped into the frog's mouth.

decembermonth part 4: bionic bébé turns two and starts the new year off with a bang

2011-03-31T19:19:00.000-07:00

On Rowan's actual birthday, we took him to do one of his favorite things: throwing rocks into water.

Although, he probably would have been happy with that, we followed it with an early pizza dinner, and a trip (finally a dryish night!) to Zoo Lights, where my camera batteries died while we waited for the train to take off.

On New Year's Eve, we had a family shindig for him, with a Dog Train birthday cake. Rowan loves dogs and trains (and the song itself), I love Sandra Boynton (scroll down and you can listen to the song or you can read the lyrics here) and Blues Traveler, so it was pretty much the perfect theme all around.

I color-copied pictures from the Dog Train book, then affixed them to the train. The engine was funfetti for the kids...

...and the passenger car was carrot cake for the adults, both with homemade cream cheese frosting. I used halved marshmallows for wheels with black decorating gel for the pistons and red licorice for decoration.

Rowan was happy (especially since he also received two big dogs as presents) and blew out the candle with style.

This boy loves cake! It's amazing how much he's grown up this last year. I definitely can't call him a baby anymore, although he'll always be my baby boy.

The boys didn't make it until midnight, although they were up later than normal. Rowan's monkey pajamas were another birthday gift, so I rummaged in a bin of hand-me-downs and found a pair of blanket pajamas for Liam, too.

And then the bang:
About 2 a.m., I was still up. (Should I actually admit that I was watching episodes of Pretty Little Liars on Hulu? Why not? Go for the full disclosure.) I heard a thump in the boys' room and a startled little cry. Rowan had fallen out of his toddler bed. He was understandably upset, but I soothed him back to sleep. A few minutes later, he was crying again. I ended up giving up on PLL and taking him to bed with me. He woke up a few more times during the night and said that he hurt. I thought he was pointing at his throat, suspected a sore throat, and gave him acetaminophen and juice. (In hindsight, it seems obvious that he hurt himself falling out of bed, but when I was half-asleep in the middle of the night, I didn't even think about that.) In the morning, I realized that he was favoring his left shoulder and was obviously in some pain. We took him to the ER, because who else is open on New Year's Day? Sure enough, he had a greenstick fracture of his left clavicle. Basically, all we could do is give him pain medication and wait for it to heal on its own, which it did. (The ER doctor offered us a sling for his arm, and our pediatrician later gave us a brace, but neither really worked for an active two-year-old.) We had a follow-up x-ray about three weeks later, along with a visit to his pediatrician, that confirmed everything had healed fine.

I feel like I've hit another rite-of-passage as a mom of boys: first emergency room visit, first broken bone. It could definitely have been worse, but what a way to kick off 2011!

decembermonth part 3: that one holiday

2011-03-30T10:25:00.000-07:00

I like to call this one "Even Gingerbread Men Need Homeowner's Insurance." My one and probably only attempt at making a gingerbread house leaves me thinking that they are highly over-rated.

Christmas Eve Eve = cousin love (Matthew's side)

Christmas Eve = movie night

Christmas morning = happy boys with a rapidly expanding Geotrax collection

Day after = more cousin love (my side)

decembermonth part 2: adults get older & holiday hoopla

2011-03-29T09:40:00.000-07:00

For my birthday, the day after Liam's, my original request was sushi & Harry Potter, but due to time constraints, we ended up stopping at our favorite pub after the movie instead. Matthew's birthday comes mid-December, but if you know my husband very well, you know that he doesn't like to make a big deal out of his birthday. He doesn't even like to tell people when it is. Also, it fell on a weekday this year, so I made him a special birthday dinner and a cake: vanilla cake with lemon cream cheese frosting and raspberry filling, as per his request.

Since I grew up celebrating birthdays and Christmas, but Matthew didn't, we play by my rules: no tree or decorations until after my birthday. The new rule since Rowan was born is that everything has to be down by his birthday at the end of the month. (If we tried to squeeze it all in between Matthew & Rowan's birthday, we'd only have a two week window.) So the Monday after Liam & my birthdays, we went tree-hunting with my parents at their friend's tree farm.

Liam liked this tree. After walking around a bit more, I overruled him and selected a tree that wasn't quite so pokey at the top.

Rowan following Grandpa back to the truck, post tree-selection

Decorated tree, with all the lights working, which didn't last very long, not really a bad thing, since my "indoor/outdoor" lights were so hot that they toasted the needles. Note to self: buy new indoor lights next year.

That same week, we went for a holiday train ride, this year with their other grandpa and on a fancier BNSF train. We even got to walk through Warren Buffet's private car (sans owner) and they could have had their pictures taken with "Santa." (Liam had no interest at all. Rowan said okay, but then balked when we got close.)

The boys walking past the train with my father-in-law (with Rowan in the foreground; Liam squatting to check out the wheels)

The boys & I, enjoying our boxed lunches (CHIPS!) and watching the train yard, while we waited for the train to depart. (The ride was about 30 minutes each way, with a stop for meeting "Santa.")

decembermonth part 1: monkeyboy turns 4

2011-03-26T11:09:00.000-07:00

Four months since my last entry? Where has time gone? I think the whirlwind that people call December left me procrastinating all the entries that I could post. I'll make it my goal to get caught up in the next week or two then not procrastinate (so much) in the (near) future.

For Liam's fourth birthday, I was finally ready to tackle the ritual known as a "kid party." Luckily, his list was short: five friends and their two younger siblings, all offspring of my friends, because at this point, all his friends are my friends' children. I had originally wanted to do a pirate theme. I found felt pirate hats in the $1 spot at Target, had ideas for a pirate ship cake and a treasure hunt, but then 5 weeks before, we attended his friend's pirate birthday party. Afterwards, Liam informed me that he didn't want a pirate party because "pirates are kind of scary." Point taken. He wanted a Lightning McQueen party. Sigh.

I found some printable signs on another blog that I was able to appropriate in a much more low-key setting. (Note my Leaning Tower of Apple Slice Tires. Classy, no? I served that with dip -- 8 oz cream cheese, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla -- the kids just wanted to eat with a spoon.)

Stealing the color block cards from the boys' Candyland game, I created CarsLand with two pieces of poster board, a pack of Sharpies, and some Cars stickers (using one of Liam's books for reference).

The attention span of six 3- and 4-year-olds at a birthday party is not compatible with such a game, however. After about two turns each, I gave up and just let the kids race their cars around the track.

After viewing pictures of other people's crazy-complicated Lightning McQueen birthday cakes, I came up with a reasonably simple design for a cake with die-cast cars. The bottom layer was vanilla cake with milk chocolate cream cheese frosting. The top two layers were chocolate cake with white chocolate cream cheese frosting, most of which was tinted light blue. I found chocolate rocks at Walmart, of all places. Liam had requested that Lightning McQueen and Sally be on the cake, which led to a bit of a panic when I realized that Sally is fairly rare these days, but then I tracked one down at Kmart. (Nothing but the best for my little darling!) Reusing the cars and candle, I recreated the same cake two days later for the family birthday party, which also celebrated my birthday. I saved time and energy by baking all the layers and making the frosting at the same time, then just assembled the second cake before the second party.

Goody bags were also low-key: paper bags with printed decorations, a balloon, a Hot Wheels car, some Cars stickers, and a few treats.

I'm probably overly proud of my cheesy "Fruit Road" blueberry fruit leather idea.

I totally cheated and used premade Rice Krispy Treats (along with M&Ms) to make traffic lights. (Matthew said the holiday colored treats were the only ones he could find. Oh, well.)

The kids got along great and had fantastic time, including a spontaneous dance party.

Liam got in a little love with his "girlfriend" at the end.

giving thanks

2010-11-24T10:40:00.000-08:00

Things I am thankful for this year:
*our family being together (unlike last year) and having a roof over our heads
*two happy, healthy, intelligent, hilarious little boys
*great friends & family around the world
*Rowan pooping in the toilet TWICE!
*pumpkin everything (ever since I was pregnant with Liam, I can't get enough of it)
*GLEE getting better again
*having at least half of my holiday shopping done and FREE! holiday cards ordered before Thanksgiving
*coffee

This is what I got when I asked them to show me their turkeys:

proof of craziness

2010-11-23T21:01:00.000-08:00

As I was typing the previous post, Liam called me into his room where he is supposed to be going to sleep.

Liam: I don't love these pajamas anymore. (That's one of his favorite phrases lately. In tears, he tells me, "I don't love the train tracks I built.")
Me: What do you mean? You wore them last night. I washed the top today and the bottoms are still clean.
Liam: I don't love them anymore. I don't want to wear them anymore.
Me: What's wrong with them?
Liam: I want to wear different pajamas. I want to wear fire truck pajamas.
Me (only able to think of Rowan's two pairs of fire truck pajamas): You don't have fire truck pajamas. Oh, wait, you do, but they're short sleeve.
Liam: I want to wear them.
Me: If you want to wear them, you'll have to put them on yourself. I already got you dressed once.

I dig around in his drawer, tossing the bottoms at him, which he hangs around his neck like a scarf.

Me (still digging for top): Put them on.
Liam (tugging at his pajama pants while sitting down): I can't get them off.
Me: Stand up and take them off.

I finally find the top and toss that at him.

Liam (lying back down, still wearing the offensive pajamas): I really love these pajamas.
Me (incredulously): You really love those pajamas. Fine, you can wear the fire truck pajamas tomorrow night.
Liam: I want to wear these pajamas every night.
Me: Fine, as long as you don't have an accident in them or spill food on them, you can wear them every night. Good night.

He is completely nuts.

pumpkin madness: part 3 (on the streets)

2010-11-23T20:34:00.001-08:00

My shaggy boys display their jack-o-lanterns. (No haircuts for either of them since July so they could have crazy Thing hair (see below). They got haircuts the day after Halloween!)

My dad & my mischievous things

This may be my last chance to get the boys to do cutesy, matching costumes. As it is, Liam (who chose to be Thing 2, maybe because 2 is more than 1) told me a few days before Halloween that he wanted to be a shark instead. No deal. Too late. Maybe next year. (Actually, a shark and a pirate would be cute together...)

At the beginning of September, I was perusing Etsy, looking for costume ideas and saw several Thing 1 & Thing 2 costumes. I bought matching red turtlenecks, found red sweats at a consignment shop (difficult to find for boys!), ironed the numbers & letters onto felt and loosely sewed the patches onto the shirts. After Halloween, I removed the patches and added the shirts & sweats into their normal wardrobe. Woohoo!

post-trick-or-treating (Rowan rode the second half of the route)

Liam loved his spiky hair (colored gel)

The boys made a pretty decent haul just going through part of my parents neighborhood. After they went to bed, I dumped everything in a pile, took out suckers (except a few tootsiepops for Liam), all hard candy, and Smarties (because they're pure sugar & bound to end up all over the floor). I put an equal number of treats in each boy's bucket, with anything containing nuts going in Liam's. They've been getting one or two treats per day, after meals, and...I think we'll be done by Thanksgiving. There are just a few left in each bucket.

pumpkin madness: part 2 (in the field)

2010-11-21T07:53:00.000-08:00

This year, we decided to make the trip up to Pomeroy Farm to check out their pumpkin patch. We met up with friends whose girls are around the same age as ours. The older one (above left) is one of Liam's favorite friends and -- we like to joke -- his future wife.

A little play area near the "Farm Cafe" has wheat grains instead of the usual sand, bark chips, etc.

Beside the historical aspect, Pomeroy has a petting farm, hay bale maze, tractor-pulled hay rides, and "Pumpkin Lane," lined with pumpkin versions of characters from books, movies, etc. Unlike a lot of Halloween-related activities, none of this is scary for young children. For example, the walls of the maze are low enough that kids and parents can see each other.

That's the hay bale maze and beyond it the petting zoo area with pigs, sheep, goats, chickens, etc

Rowan & friend check out Grandma Pumpkin & her giant cookie.

The hay ride first makes a stop at the pumpkin patch, where Rowan finds a pumpkin that is just his size...

...and manages to tame it.

Rowan makes another friend.

Then we're back on the hay ride to cruise through Pumpkin Lane.

I'm not the world's best photographer in the first place (evidence of that is all over this blog), and trying to shoot pictures of pumpkin people from a moving wagon proved beyond my abilities. There's the tractor pulling us, and a pirate boy & girl on the path ahead.

The train was probably the boys' favorite.

These pumpkin-folk bid us farewell at the end of the ride.

We took home four pumpkins, which (the next weekend) became Kid Pumpkin, Scary Pumpkin, Angry Pumpkin & Pumpkin Owl:

pumpkin madness: part 1 (in the kitchen)

2010-11-17T18:49:00.001-08:00

After his dad grew the pumpkins, Liam (with adult assistance and supervision), cut open the pumpkin...

...gutted the pumpkin...

...steamed the pumpkin...

...pureed the pumpkin...

...mixed it with some other yummy ingredients...

...put it in a pie shell...

...and took the finished product to his grandparents' house.

We used this recipe from the Moms Who Think website, selected because it uses fresh dairy, rather than canned milk products.

Also using our mini-pumpkin puree, I made cupcakes for a Halloween-themed play date.

I used the pumpkin bar recipe from my friend Jen's blog, but halved the ingredient list. (That made about 18 cupcakes.) Instead of the vanilla cream cheese frosting recipe she used, I combined 4 oz of cream cheese, 1 tsp. of vanilla extract, the zest & juice from one orange, and about 2/3 cup powdered sugar. The result was a tangy, not-too-sweet frosting with a slight orange tint. Then I used black decorating gel and spider rings (just on the kids' cupcakes -- mostly because I cleaned out the last two packages of rings at my local Target) following these directions for spider web cupcakes. The results were very cute & very delicious.

With the fancy French musque de Provence pumpkins that Matthew grew, I made this Jamie Oliver recipe. I screwed up the croutons because I didn't read the part about using a non-stick skillet, but they still tasted great dipped in the soup. I made a half batch that was plenty for a light supper plus leftovers. (I didn't take any pictures, because we gobbled it up too fast & because mine just wasn't as pretty as Jamie's.)

picture this

2010-11-13T21:48:00.000-08:00

Somehow or other, the end of the year is rolling around again. I've been making my list and checking it twice, because in our family Mom is the one who buys the Christmas presents, not some jolly fat guy and his oddly childlike assistants. (Don't get me started on Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and other weird stuff I refuse to lie about to my children.) And it's also time to put together holiday greeting cards. I'm a big fan of photo cards, especially since having children.

The year Liam was born, we doubled up on birth announcement and holiday greetings using Shutterfly, although they also have adorable birth announcements.

At one year old, I let my child play with lit Christmas bulbs. Luckily, none of our friends or family reported me.

In 2008, we were in Korea and awaiting Rowan's birth, so I didn't do holiday cards. Instead we waited to send out birth announcements in January.

Last year, I actually designed three different folded cards on Shutterfly:

In retrospect, I'm surprised that I went with the first one, because I actually like the other two (which are available again this year) more. Isn't it strange how our tastes change so quickly?

This year's collection of holiday cards is even better. These are some of my favorites out of the ones which can feature three or more photos. I love that you can easily sort through the designs based on how many photos you want to use, format, card size, color, etc. Seriously, the website gets better every year.

If I don't get my act together in time, I can just send out a New Years card like this one:

I love how easy it is to play around with different cards, simply dropping my pictures in, cropping, zooming, switching order, fixing red eye (which my boys always seem to have), even changing color photos to black & white, sepia, soft focus, etc.

As if I didn't already love Shutterfly enough, this year they're offering their beautiful cards for free. (See below for more details.)

That's especially great, because I need to catch up on the boys' photo books. I finished Liam's first year book within a month of his first birthday. Rowan will be TWO next month and I'm still working on his. (I feel especially bad because both boys love to look at the pictures of "Baby Liam.") And then I want to make Liam's toddler years book, after which I'll need to start Rowan's toddler book, then Liam's preschool book. And by then, it will be then end of 2011 and I'll need to think about holiday cards again!

Do you want 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly? Click here to go to Shutterfly for information on how you can get 50 free cards this holiday season, and make sure to select Clever 1000 as the referral source. This post is part of a series sponsored by Shutterfly.

oh, soccer

2010-10-04T21:49:00.000-07:00

After nearly 2 1/2 years of watching Liam kick balls around, he's finally playing soccer...or at least the preschool equivalent. Three kids and a coach from each team are on the field at a time, but no goalie. Seriously, these kids have a hard enough time getting the ball into the right goal without having an obstacles in their way.

His first two pre-game practices went well enough, although Liam has the attention span of a gnat when he's outside, free to run. So I was a bit surprised at how badly his first game went. He cried. A lot. Ran off the field. Didn't want to go back. I tried to balance between being nurturing mommy and making him stick with it. All the kids were pretty clueless, but he was definitely the most emotional.

At home that afternoon, we played a game of soccer on a 8 1/2 x 11" paper field: dinosaurs vs. farm animals. Super Grover was the referee; Liam and I were the coaches. He seemed to get it. Kind of.

My dad, who came to the game, pointed out that he's been told his whole life to share, now suddenly he doesn't have to and neither do the other kids. So we had a talk about that.

At his next practice, the coach asked who had fun at the game. He was as surprised as I was when Liam enthusiastically said, "Me!" Really?

The second game went better, but there were still some tears. Some "he didn't share" moments. But it was easier to talk him through them.

On our way to the following practice, he asked "which game of soccer" he would be playing that afternoon. Which game? Suddenly I realized another part of his confusion. At the soccer camp this summer and at practice, they played all kinds of different games to learn basic soccer skills. As far as Liam was concerned, they were all soccer. And suddenly on game days, he was supposed to play something entirely different. Poor kid.

We've now finished four of the seven season games. We're down to about one crying episode per game. I think he enjoys kicking the ball around with his teammates and their older siblings off the field more than the actual game. Whatever. The coach's wife told me their older son didn't really get it until he was about 5 1/2. Liam says that he likes soccer, which is all I care about.

Before game stretches...with Liam wandering off on the left

Liam is raring to go...just where is the question.

"Can I score a goal with my head?"

camping with savages

2010-09-03T22:20:00.000-07:00

I've been a very negligent blogger this summer, for which I apologize to the few of you who actually read what I write. I could blame it on being really busy, which we sort of have been, but mostly it's been that these longer summer days have been kicking my arse. The boys have been staying up later, so by the time they finally go to bed, all I want to do is veg out with a book or some wonderfully horrible reality television (because that's all that's on in the summer).

Our two weeks of serious busyness occured during Matthew's two-week break from university courses. Crazy people that we are, we decided to take not one, but two (dos, 두 개, zwei, deux) camping trips...when we haven't taken any since I was pregnant with Liam (and that was yurting it up, because I'm not that hardcore that I was willing to sleep on the ground on the Oregon coast in September when I was 6 months pregnant).

The first trip was on the northern Oregon coast with family: father-in-law, sister-in-law, nephew, and sister-in-law's niece & nephew. (That's two seven-year-old boys and a ten-year-old girl in addition to my 1.5 & 3.5 year olds.) It was fun, but with all those kids, there was constant motion: lots of tree climbing, sand digging, etc.

Rowan tries to escape snuggle time with his honorary cousin (cousin's cousin)

Liam & his cousin doing a Junior Ranger craft activity. What? You've never seen a fluorescent green whale?

Liam is a monkey. Yes, he is really up as high as he looks.

Rowan getting down to bidness at the beach

Liam burying his cousin

The second trip was just our family of four. We spent a night with our friends Sue and Dean in eastern/central Oregon, then spent two nights on the Deschutes River (actually on an off-shoot) near Bend. It was a much more laid-back trip, with the boys playing in our campsite (instead of running back & forth between two) or on the lazy little cul-de-sac where our site was located. Liam brought his scooter and Rowan was happy to chase after him.

Now, my idea of camping is pretty dirty. That's the point. You're out in nature. You smell like a freaking campfire, because even after you take a shower, you come right back to the campsite and sit in front of the fire again. You cook your food on the fire or the campstove. You sleep in a tent (albeit with an air mattress...a leaky one on the first trip). And kids are going to get REALLY DIRTY. Again, that's the point. You can let go and not worry about whether they're going to get the furniture, etc. dirty, because the furniture is a picnic table and whatever camping chairs you bring. Not everyone apparently shares my sentiments.

When we first checked in to our campsite near Bend, we saw a child's chair in the site next to ours. "Oh, look, they must have a kid." Then we noticed that they had a gated area set up, something like this. We wondered if they had a dog, too, or if that was for the kid(s). Now, for some people maybe that's just a normal thing to have. I'm the crazy, hippie mama who never put my kids in a pack and play, didn't put up baby gates (although I have moved plenty of furniture and put locks on cabinet doors), didn't force Liam to sleep in his crib when he didn't want to, and never used a crib for Rowan at all. So, we were hoping that it was for a dog. It wasn't.

When our neighbors got back to their site that evening, it turned out they had two little boys: one halfway between our boys in age, the other a bit younger than Rowan, but old enough to be walking. At least 90% of the time they were at their site, the boys were confined to either the tent or the, um, "superyard" with a tarp underneath so they wouldn't get dirty. Liam wanted to play with the older toddler constantly, but it quickly became obvious that wasn't his parents idea of fun, so I tried to keep my boys contained to our site as much as possible when they were around...which actually wasn't much of the time. They had friends renting a vacation house in Bend, so they spent most of their time there. I couldn't really figure out why they didn't just rent a house or cheap hotel room themselves, because it didn't seem like they were enjoying any of the aspects of camping I mentioned above. To each their own, but it did make me feel like my boys were dirty little savages running around with dust all over their hands and marshmallow smeared on their faces.

Luckily, I love my little savages just the way they are and I'm looking forward to camping more with them in the future.

(I was horrible about taking photos on the second trip, even worse than on the first trip, so all we have are pictures from a stops at Wildwood, an alpaca farm near Sue & Dean's, and the really cool water feature in downtown Redmond.

Random pictures commence:

Matthew caught some random ugly fish (apparently an old sickly one that couldn't swim away fast enough) with his bare hands. This is Liam holding it. Then he dropped it trying to let me take a picture. And caught it again. And dropped it. Finally we told him to leave the poor fish alone already.

Rowan & friends, because he almost never leaves home without at least one. The infamous "Dog" is still a favorite, along with Horton, who he just calls "Elepunt."

Nope, didn't take any photos of our first visit to Sue & Dean's in the five years since they moved to Oregon. Duh.

Been spendin' most our lives livin' in alpaca paradise...

Rowan woke up mid-visit and wasn't sure if fascination or fear was the proper reaction.

And here's where all the camping took place with no photographic evidence at all.

Boys getting wet.

The stop in Redmond was an attempt to wear them out so they would sleep on the long ride home. Of course, it worked on Liam who hasn't napped on a regular basis since he was Rowan's age. Rowan refused to sleep, and instead cried and screamed most of the way over the mountains...and woke up Liam. Stopping for ice cream and reciting some of their favorite books from memory made the last part of the trip bearable for everyone. Who doesn't love a little Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? or Bear Snores On with Mom & Dad mumbling their way through parts and everyone (including Rowan) chanting the titular refrain?

Like I said, I'm looking forward to future camping trips with the boys...next summer...when maybe Rowan can better entertain himself in the car.

first taste of soccer

2010-07-02T21:22:00.000-07:00

This week, Liam participated in a "soccer mini camp" for 3 and 4 year olds. Although his attention span is pretty darn short, he enjoyed himself and is excited to play in a league this fall. He's been running and kicking the ball since he was 18 months or younger, so it seems like a natural fit.

Basically, the kids did a lot of drills, mostly in the form of games. The teenagers who taught the class did a great job of making it fun, while actually teaching some basic skills.

Here's the group cheer from day 2 or 3:

Individual cheer, "I love soccer!":

Unfortunately, we had a hard summer rain the last day of class. Easily half the class didn't even show, some of those opted not to play in the rain, and kids slowly dropped out from there.

Rowan trying to do what big brother does, as usual:

Liam lasted most of the way through. He wanted to quit several times, but I managed to talk him into sticking it out longer. We finally packed it up about 10 minutes before the end of class because both boys were cold and wet. It was a bummer ending, but I think it also taught him an important lesson about the game going on in inclement weather.

bits & bobs

2010-06-24T21:13:00.000-07:00

Liam's first joke:

He tells it much better when the camera is NOT on him. It goes something like this: "A peanut was walking on the train tracks. Train was coming! Train was coming! Uh-oh, peanut butter!"
(I think he got it from this poem, which appears in this book.) He's since developed variations about all kinds of things walking on the train tracks, from grapes (uh-oh, grape jelly!) to Elmo (Train stops! Elmo gets on the train!)

And this is him just being silly, with little brother in the background, having closed himself in the house:

And who is that with him? That is "a dog," his constant companion for the last several weeks. I find this attachment really amusing, because Liam never had a security item...other than maybe my hair. Speaking of hair, this picture was taken before Rowan's latest haircuts. He looks much more grown-up now.

And speaking of growing up, he finally played with play dough. That's right, PLAYED, as opposed to trying to eat it.

And one more bit of craziness. This is what happens when Liam dresses himself. Note the different legwarmers. Rowan also has on legwarmers, because he has to do everything that big brother does, which is alternately adorable and frustrating.

why sunscreen is necessary

2010-06-22T12:32:00.001-07:00

alternate title: Yes, SPF 50 sunscreen really does work

During our one weekend of summer thus far, the boys spent most of two days running around the backyard just in their swim trunks. Sunday, after slathering the boys with sunscreen, we left them with their paternal grandparents and went off to do some much needed clothes shopping. Apparently, I missed a spot on Liam's arm. When my MIL saw the bright red mark developing, she quickly put sunscreen on it to prevent further burning.

This picture doesn't really do it justice, but it was a pretty dramatic illustration of what would happen to my little Northern European muttlets if I didn't slather on the SPF 50.

Rowan was sunscreened post-diapering. Apparently every time he squatted down, he exposed a strip that wasn't covered, hence the nice little line.

They took a bath mid-day (around the time we got back) and then I reapplied sunscreen, being careful to get EVERYTHING the second time around.

Now if the sun would just come back...

growing stuff

2010-06-05T08:07:00.001-07:00

The newspaper confirmed this morning that we have had 20 straight days of rain. This isn't to say that it rained all day, but it did rain every day, some more than others. At any rate, it's been a challenge to keep two very active little boys entertained mostly indoors.

The good news is that our garden has been getting plenty of rain. The even better news is that we're not going to have as much rain this week, as in there will actually be some days in which no precipitation falls from the sky.

After helping plant seeds and starts these last few months, Liam loves going out to collect salad greens and herbs for dinner. He's especially good at pointing out the "chocolate mint"and likes to munch on cilantro leaves. (My boy!) Rowan demands (in his limited vocabulary) shoulder rides to survey his domain in morning and evening. (Lots of "up" and turning his back with arms raised.)

Chicken coop, raspberries starting to ripen, salad greens & herbs, etc.

The pinwheels are my attempt to keep squirrels & birds from picking off the baby plants.

Matthew calls these (there are two) his "red neck topsy turvies," with tomatoes growing out the bottom and garlic (on this one) or dill (the other) on top.

Both boys are happy munching on the snow peas that have taken off this past week.

More salad greens & herbs coming up in the front yard

Blueberries lacking the requisite blue. Soon...soon...

More of the tomato plants. I think we're up to 14 now.

Tour guide Liam stops for a swing, taking advantage of a sunny morning. (It rained that afternoon.)

I've been reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver and getting excited about preparing our garden bounty fresh, as well as canning and freezing the extra for this winter. I'm also looking forward to next month when the hens will be old enough to start laying eggs.

I think the chickens are adorable when they roost at night.

Edit: Yesterday, Rowan started saying "chicken," although it sounds more like "diden." So now he asks to go see the chickens..still with back turned and arms raised. And once he gets outside, he points to the wheelbarrow and requests a "ride." The joys of having an early talker this time around...

dinosaurs!

2010-05-31T21:46:00.000-07:00

About a month ago, Liam & I received a post card from The Oregon Zoo, inviting us to the member preview of the new dinosaur exhibit, Prehistoric Predators, on a Friday about four weeks later. When the designated Friday finally rolled around, the weather was dismal and we had an invitation to a play date with friends we hadn't seen in a really long time. Instead, we went the following Monday, bringing Papa along. Note to self: member preview equals free admission. Note to readers: Admission to the Prehistoric Predators exhibit is $3.50 for all people (member or not) over the age of 2. It's a pretty cool exhibit, but at that price, we won't be visiting every time we go to the zoo.

Some of the dinosaurs (like this one) "spit." There are signs posted which warn visitors. Most of them are timed so that you can make it through and stay dry. Most of them. Rowan (on Papa's shoulders) wasn't so sure about seeing "real life" dinosaurs.

The boys aren't really sure if Mom can protect them from the Styracosaurus. "She SAYS he's not real, but he sure LOOKS real."

Liam compares his wingspan to that of a Pteranodon (which is the new name for a Pteradactyl, for those of us who went to school in the olden days).

I convinced Liam to walk around and stand behind this guy (Gigantosaurus, Allosaurus, not sure who he is), but he wasn't getting too close.

Dinosaurs poop! That's supposed to be fossilized dung to the right. I'm easily amused.

"You dinosaurs think you're so tough! We'll stomp on your bones!"

There's also a crazy-steep tube slide at the end of the exhibit. Liam went down several times and Rowan wanted to go, too, but it was a little steep for him to go on his own. We climbed up the stairs and I saw the sign advising, "Parents use the stairs to meet your children at the bottom of the slide." Did I follow this advice? Of course not. Warning: You cannot slow yourself down with your feet like on normal slides. I think I ended up a bit bruised from my very fast trip down the slide. Liam came down behind us, feet first as the sign advised, but on his belly. He ended up face down in the dirt, but -- because he's crazy like that -- he thought it was hilarious. Oh, to be three again.

In adding the link, I just realized that this exhibit is temporary. It's only there until September 6.

Edit: I forgot to upload this little video, which includes gratuitous roaring by dinosaurs and children:

a quiet moment

2010-05-31T21:39:00.000-07:00

For this one moment, the boys were quietly coloring together. You can see that Rowan is already starting to scoot down off his chair, though. In the minutes that followed, Rowan got a fleece throw out of the plastic bin behind him. To Liam, this meant it was time to the turn the table into a fort. Thus, the coloring books and crayons were stricken from the table, the chairs turned around, and the throw put over the table. Then, Liam decided that Lumpy and Roo (stuffed animal versions of characters from a Winnie the Pooh movie) must come live in the fort. When he tried to get them out of their drawer under the train table, he ran into the unexpected obstacle of his brother's feet. Tears ensued. Quiet moments do not last long in our house.

dozer day

2010-05-31T21:09:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, we took the boys to "Dozer Day" and they (of course) loved it, even though they're not old enough to do everything...like "drive" the bulldozers and other building machines.

Liam quickly figured out how to work the (very loud) horn on a small (not running) machine...

...then tried to help Rowan do it, too.

Rowan enjoyed crawling through a short section of pipe, while Liam was crawling through a much longer maze made of the same materials.

Liam was excited to "drive" a (not running) fire engine.

My sweet boys in a digger scoop near the event entrance/exit

And they're done!

I didn't get pictures of our ride in the back of a dump truck (filled with hay bales for seats) which took us from the main event back to the entrance, or the tractor-pulled trailer ride from the entrance back to our car.

Oh, well...maybe next year...

my little lion

2010-05-07T20:43:00.000-07:00

Back in March (when I recorded these videos), Rowan learned to roar. For little boys, roars are very important. Bears roar. Lions roar. Monsters roar. Dinosaurs roar. Everybody cool does it. Rowan's favorite seems to be the lions, though.

He stole the cover from a Smithsonian magazine and toted that around for a while.

Then he got a chance to test his roar on the lion statues at the zoo.

what not to wear

2010-04-29T20:40:00.000-07:00

Consider this a public service announcement.

On the spectrum of inappropriate attire, a MILF* sweatshirt ranks only slightly below shorts out of which the wearer's butt cheeks protrude.

Especially when worn at a cafe for children under the age of six (most of whom thankfully cannot read).

Especially when the wearer is accompanied by her toddler son. And husband.

*If you don't know what MILF means, feel free to google it, but you may not want to know. I learned it from my high school students. Enough said.

the sound of my own voice

2010-04-26T14:50:00.000-07:00

"You're right," I found myself saying aloud this morning...to myself. The only other person home was Rowan, and he was sleeping.

I talk to myself a lot. I always have. My mom says that when I was Liam's age, I made up little songs when I was playing by myself, which was most of the time, since my siblings were already in school when I was born. Somewhere along the line I seem to have fallen in love with the sound of my own voice.

What other explanation is there? I love to read out loud. That was one of my favorite parts of teaching. In my high school drama days, I loved performing monologues. I love karaoke and it's Korean counterpart, noraebang.

Even my blogs are an extension of my voice, which I started writing after I stopped teaching and singing in public. This was my little epiphany for the day, triggered by two little words.

Just in case you're wondering, the me that was right this morning was the one arguing that I should do some laundry before lying down next to Rowan to read.

the future

2010-04-15T20:32:00.001-07:00

Tonight while watching another of those horrible ads for the Your Baby Can Read system, I commented that I have doomed Liam to a life of mediocrity by wasting his toddler years. Here's the conversation, to the best of my memory.

Mom: Liam, have I doomed you to a life of mediocrity?
Liam: No.
Mom: Are you going to have an amazing life?
Liam: No.
Dad: Are you going to be more than amazing?
Liam: Yes.
Mom: Are you going to be famous?
Liam: Yes.
Mom: What are you going to be famous for?
Liam: OCTOPUS!
Mom: You're going to find a new species of octopus?
Liam: Yes.
Mom: Are you going to be a marine biologist?
Liam: Yes.
Dad: He'd better have a very special wife.
Mom: Maybe he won't have a wife.
Dad: Or a very special husband.
Mom: Maybe he won't have a husband either.
Dad: Liam, are you going to get married?
Liam: Yes.
Mom: To a girl or a boy?
Liam: A girl.
Mom: Are you going to have children?
Liam: Yes.
Dad: How many?
Liam: THREE!
Mom: How many girls are you going to have?
Liam: Two.
Mom: So you're going to have one boy?
Liam [thinks for a minute]: I going have three girls!
Mom: Are you going to have any cats or dogs?
Liam: Two!
Mom: Two what?
Liam: Two cats and dogs. [DUH!]
Mom: So one cat and one dog?
Liam: Yes.

Three-year-olds are awesome...and it will be interesting to see if any of his, um, predictions come true.

chick magnet

2010-03-17T22:07:00.000-07:00

(Liam with a Rhode Island Red chick -- approximately 1 week old)

Yikes, I can't believe it's been more than a month since I've posted on here.

About 3 weeks ago, we brought five little ladies into our family. They've quickly blossomed from fuzzy little chicks into, well, mini chickens. We just moved them from their brooder (read: pimped-out cardboard box...hmmm...which is what Rowan began his life sleeping in, too) out to their super-pimpin' coop, specially built by Matthew. They still have a heat lamp on at night, but they're adapting to their new digs quite well.

Liam LOVES the chickens. He actually says so, but then "I love..." is one of his new favorite statements, as in "I love playing outside." He's usually pretty good at listening to us, but the other night he got sent inside for five minutes because he could not stop trying to pick up the chicks. He just loves them so much. He loves holding them, petting them, feeding them tasty worms.

(Matthew holding the Speckled Sussex at about 3 weeks old)

When we first got them, he said the "yellow chick" was his favorite. That would be the Buff Orpington, now named Bianca. Then, his favorite switched to the two "chipmunk chicks," so called because their coloring did make them both look like chipmunks when we first brought them home. Those two, the Speckled Sussex (Ophelia) and Welsummer (Cordelia), now look very distinctive. Once he finally mastered the mouthful that is "Rhode Island Red," those two became his favorites. (We picked the two RIRs because they were the last two left in that brooder at The Urban Farm Store. At the owner's suggestion, we got one each of the three remaining breeds, since we had a good-sized list of breeds we were considering.) Although they look very similar, Juliet has a distinctive black feather on her back that Rosaline lacks. He can now say all the breeds, but now I've changed the game on him by giving them names. I think he's calling them all "Dea," like "idea" without the first syllable...his shortened version of "Cordelia," apparently. "Here, Dea... Eat this worm, Dea..."

From left: Juliet (I think), Bianca, Ophelia, Rosaline (maybe), & Cordelia

Everywhere we go, he tells people about his chickens: the grocery store clerk, kids at the playground, other moms at the coffee shop. "I have chickens." "Chickens have chicken coop." "Chickens have bones." (I need to write an entry about Liam's version of small talk.)

liam polar bear

2010-02-13T22:44:00.001-08:00

Liam demonstrates his best roar.

Thanks to our lovely zoo membership, we've been visiting the zoo frequently. The polar bears have always been a favorite stop, but after a recent -- particularly active -- visit, they've become part of Liam's play repertoire.

"Mommy Polar Bear, help Liam Polar Bear!" The bed is the ice and the floor is the water. I'm expected to repeatedly pull Liam Polar Bear to safety. Dad Polar Bear can be asked for help, too, but he has a tendency to try to eat Liam Polar Bear. Rowan Polar Bear finds this game quite hilarious, especially when the roaring begins.

We also do the Polar Bear dance, which the female bear at the zoo has done during several visits. This consists of taking about four steps forward, then about six smaller steps backward while swaying one's head from side to side. Obviously, she's been doing this for a while, since I was able to find several videos on-line. This one has the clearest video (but a lot of background noise):

RIP: baby mullet

2010-02-11T09:49:00.000-08:00

January 2010: Rowan's wings

my shaggy boys

Rowan made it through his first year without a haircut. The post-bath curls were too cute to cut. Until he developed a habit of wiping food in his hair, that is. Then the baby mullet had to go.

Obviously, Liam needed a haircut, too. He's actually old enough to sit still in a barber shop for a "real" hair cut.

Don't let the serious look fool you. He loved his new haircut and thought he was seriously cool stuff. (It didn't hurt that the barber shop has a popcorn machine AND he got a mini-back massage after the cut.)

snow day

2010-01-18T11:22:00.000-08:00

The day before Rowan's birthday was our 9th wedding anniversary. We were enjoying a quiet (meaning child-free) lunch at a restaurant on the Columbia River when it started snowing. We ended up with a decent amount of snow (enough to build a snowman, if one has a sufficient attention span, which the boys lack at this point), which of course "paralyzed" the city and took precedence on the evening news over any actual, y'know, news. The greater Portland metro area really is ridiculously inept when it comes to dealing with any amount of snow. Rush hour traffic turned into a parking lot. My sister's normal 45 minute commute stretched into hours. Seriously, people, learn how to drive in the snow.

Anyway...rant aside, this was Rowan's first opportunity to play in the snow. He wasn't sure what to make of the cold white stuff.

He did eventually let go of Matthew's hand and explore a bit on his own.

Liam is learning the art of making and throwing snowballs. Maybe next year we'll be ready for snowmen.

Side note: the snow stuck around long enough to provide more entertainment (supervised by Grandma) on Rowan's birthday while I cleaned up the daily aftermath of my little hurricanes and prepped the pizzas for his party.

my very hungry one-year-old

2010-01-17T17:10:00.000-08:00

It's now been several weeks since Rowan's first birthday, but I've been slow to get back into blogging. Since he's not old enough to understand the whole birthday concept, we kept it pretty low key, just a small party for immediate family with homemade pizza and a cupcake cake. (Oh, and of course "Mad Housewife" Cabernet Sauvignon for my SIL & I, just because the name made me laugh.) Don't be too impressed by the "Very Hungry Caterpillar" cake. I had the idea on my own, but basically copied the cake image I found here.

Here are the photo and video highlights:

Obviously, after that adventure with sugar and food coloring, Rowan went straight into the bath, along with big brother and cousin.

I love this photo! Hayden is shooting Rowan with a bath squirter, but Liam is the one who's about to get his hair pulled in retaliation.

Oh, the caterpillar carnage...

happy holidays!

2009-12-24T11:08:00.000-08:00

It's Christmas Eve and I'm waiting for Rowan to wake up from a nap so that we can take a carload of non-essentials over to my in-laws' house. Tomorrow we'll be moving from my parents' house to my in-laws' and...MATTHEW COMES HOME! It will be a very happy Christmas. I'll be back sometime after Christmas with pics of our reunited little family and (less than a week away now) Rowan's first birthday.

cookie baking

2009-12-21T20:48:00.001-08:00

cutting:

tasting:

frosting:

finished?

sugar fiend:

chocolate chipping:

sugar coma:

I know he totally rocked that apron, but it didn't really fit so well. I think Grandma's making one just his size for Christmas.

man in the mirror

2009-12-21T20:44:00.001-08:00

"What are you lookin' at?"

"I know you're in there somewhere."

"Hello?"

I just though I needed to add a little Bionic Bebe love since my entries have been a bit Liam-heavy.

tree fetching

2009-12-21T20:34:00.001-08:00

The boys with my parents at the tree farm:

Rowan showing off his walking skills:

Liam supervising the tree cutting. Have I mentioned that my children are rather loud? (I have NO IDEA where they get that from.)

I love this shot of the boys following the tree and my parents back to the truck:

Liam wasn't so sure about the tractor. He enjoyed the tree shaker, though, and after watching my dad turn it on a few times, decided he was qualified to operate it himself.

Christmas trees are exciting.

Very exciting.

Rowan had a little accident at the tree farm. He toppled, in slow motion, face-first into the gravel. It doesn't look too bad here, but there was a lot of blood at the time. My poor baby!

a tale of two $2 tuesdays

2009-12-21T19:38:00.000-08:00

The second Tuesday of each month, the Oregon Zoo has $2 Tuesday. The price of admission for anyone three years and older is just $2. (Children under 3 always get in for free.) Since I'm cheap and zoo admission is normally expensive, that's been the only time I take the boys to the zoo.

In November, that Tuesday was the one decent day amidst a week of rain. Over the course of about three hours, we made it through most of the exhibits. Liam's favorite was definitely "Lorikeet Landing," where he was able to feed the birds special juice in a little paper cup. Other favorites that he kept talking about were the polar bears, rhinos and elephants.

bald eagles in the Pacific Northwest exhibit:

Liam riding a lion (or some type of large cat):

sleepy zebra:

feeding the lorikeets (with a bandaid on his forehead):

I heard, "Liam go see rhinos; Liam go see polar bears; Liam go see elephants" so many times that when the second Tuesday of December rolled around, I knew that I had to take him again. That was the freakishly cold week when temperatures didn't get above freezing some days, but we toughed it out, bundled in coats, hat, mittens, leg warmers, etc. (According to the outdoor temperature gauge on the Subaru, it got up to a steamy 33 degrees Fahrenheit while we were there.)

Needless to say, only the hardcore $2 Tuesdayers were out that day. Only the membership services window was open and the woman who sold me our tickets warned me that the African animals were all hiding inside. We lasted two hours, but didn't get to see as many animals. The polar bears were hiding. Strange, but true. No rhinos. The Asian elephants have an indoor viewing area, but they were only offering a rear view, possibly in protest of the ridiculously cold temperature. In the PNW area, the duck pond was half-frozen. We did have a wonderful face-to-face with a cougar (a real one, not Courtney Cox).

Rowan during the last 30 minutes or so when he wasn't in the Ergo with his hands tucked in my armpits. His single mitten is not an homage to Michael Jackson, but rather an attempt to keep him mostly unfrozen while he enjoyed a snack. I kept switching the mittens so that the boys' hands wouldn't get too cold.

Liam munching and checking out the penguins:

I'm not sure why they were all lined up. According to the sign, lunch was still several hours away. Maybe they were waiting for the sauna.

Realizing that the $6 I paid for admission and parking now that Liam is three multiplied by 12 months would be $72 for the year, I've decided just to cough up the money in advance and buy a zoo membership. Then we can go whenever the whim strikes us, which will likely be more often than once a month.

christmas music

2009-12-12T23:11:00.000-08:00

I was singing "Blue Christmas" to Rowan this evening. Liam looked at me and said, "Mommy, no Christmas song!"

I decided to try "Deck the Halls" instead. That one he liked, possibly because the "fa la la la la" refrain is similar to the Elmo's World theme song that he loves so much. As Liam was trying to sing with me, Rowan was busy trying to mimic my tongue movements. He has (a) the longest baby tongue I think I've ever seen and (b) an obsession with it.

Other hits with the boys: "Jingle Bell Rock" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." Ballads are not welcome here.

train-tastic weekend (Liam turns 3: part 2)

2009-12-11T17:00:00.000-08:00

Like most little kids, Liam is crazy about trains. One of his little buddies gave him Thomas (he's the cheeky one) and Toby (well, let's say he's square) on his actual birthday.

He had to wait two days to go on an actual train, though. It wasn't strictly a birthday activity, but as it fell between birthday celebrations, I'm sure it felt like an extension of those. My dad, the boys and I took a ride on the Chelatchie Prairie Christmas Train.

In the train car:

Thomas and Toby came with us.

The train stopped at Moulton Falls for passengers to pick out precut Christmas trees (which we didn't do), meet Santa (which Liam wasn't interested in doing) and have refreshments. The boys were mostly interested in the train itself.

This is possibly the best photograph I'll be able to get of the boys in the owl hats I knitted for them.

The following day, we had immediate family over to celebrate. I made Liam a cake based on Dinosaur Train, the new Jim Henson PBS show.

It wasn't perfect, but it was good enough for a three-year-old.

And this is what was left when the hungry dinosaurs (including four kids) were done devouring it.

big red birthday (Liam turns 3: part 1)

2009-12-09T20:03:00.000-08:00

Guess who's three?

Yeah, it's the one above, not the one below, but Rowan was so cute hanging out with T-Bone (from Clifford the Big Red Dog).

On Liam's actual birthday, I took him to the Portland Children's Museum, where the featured exhibit was (and is through mid February) Clifford. Liam is in blue on the left. His little buddies who joined us (along with their moms -- I'm not crazy!) are in the camo and orange. They're working together to bring Clifford's bones up the conveyor belt and into his dish.

As you can tell, this is big fun for the toddler set.

Liam rollin' with his homeys...and one homey's baby sis.

Rowan especially enjoyed the water area. He found a water feature just his height and went to town.

Notice the water droplets all over his hair and face.

Back at the ranch (Grandma & Grandpa's ranch, that is), we celebrated simply with pizza for dinner and cupcakes.

This is how Liam (and Clifford) eat a cupcake. (The frosting IS the best part, right?)

And this is how baby brother eats a cupcake (sans frosting, of course):

Which shows why he's such a big boy. He takes his food very seriously.

Continuing the big red theme, Liam got the MegaBloks barn (because he LOVES "big red barns") and extra blocks to go with.

drunken cowboy

2009-11-21T23:16:00.000-08:00

Rowan has been busy these first 6 weeks back in the States. Besides popping out FOUR (count 'em, baby!) top teeth, he's been learning to walk. He's a little bow-legged, but getting around pretty well, and his next goal is running. He likes to "steal" things (like clean diapers and clothes that I've just taken off of the boys) and "run away" with them. He also tries to run from Liam...some day, little buddy, some day.

(You might notice that I'm happily borrowing my parents' spare camera which records audio. More videos to come...)

fun with leaves

2009-11-21T22:47:00.000-08:00

They may be the bane of my dad's existence, but the boys had a blast playing in the leaves that he raked up in the front yard.

A lesson from Grandpa:

More jumping and giggling & a little jet-spotting:

out of the mouths of babes

2009-11-06T22:06:00.000-08:00

A week or so ago, Liam was still in the bath tub after Rowan had gotten out. He was checking himself out in that way that little boys do.

Suddenly, he said, "Balls." Now, I am careful to use the correct anatomical labels for all his boy parts. We've never used that term.

"What?" I asked.

"Balls in there," he replied, very matter-of-fact.

I wanted to laugh, but I didn't...at least I don't think I did.

"Yes, it probably does feel like there are balls in there," I said, and then went on to use the correct terms...which I'm not going to use here because I don't want them to lead people to my blog via Google.

Add that to the list of conversations I never realized I'd have with a little person.

halloween: step 3 (trick-or-treating)

2009-11-02T19:49:00.001-08:00

We met up with my sister-in-law and nephew (that's Hayden in the scary skeleton costume) at the local shopping mall to trick-or-treat at participating stores. Pros: indoors and safe. Cons: crowded and somewhat lame treats. Some stores were just giving out coupons...and not even for anything that would interest kids. Baskin-Robbins handed out a coupon for a 31 cent kids scoop, so we'll have to use that next time we're at the mall.

Rowan wore the monkey costume that I bought for Liam two years ago, because (A) I'm cheap and (B) I LOOOOOOVE that costume. It's so soft and cute and fits my boys personalities so well. Of course, since Rowan at 10 months is quite a bit bigger than Liam was at 11 months, it just barely fit. I had to put Rowan's legwarmers on underneath it when we went out because the legs hitched up so much when he sat down or rode in the Ergo.

Liam was Bob the Builder for the second year in a row, because (again) I am that cheap. I made the felt tool belt last year, he already had the Bob construction hat, plus cute boots and overalls. I did buy him an inexpensive plaid shirt after I realized the one from last year doesn't fit anymore. It's something he can wear a lot, though.

Here I am containing the crazy-crazies.

This was Liam's first year trick-or-treating because the first year he was too young and last year we were in Korea. He quickly got the hang of saying "Trick or Treat?" and "Happy Halloween!" At first, it sounded more like "Hap Ha-ween," but he got his tongue around it eventually. He's also working on the art of scaring people, thanks to a kid a few streets over from my parents' who jumped out from behind his house and shouted, "Boo!" Liam hasn't quite grasped the element of surprise, so he just likes to shout, "Boo!" Rowan thinks it's hilarious.

Liam got a much better haul in my parents' neighborhood than he did at the mall. Since I'd like him to keep all his beautiful baby teeth until their replacements are ready, I took out all the hard candy, really chewy candy and stuff with too many nuts. (Okay, so I took out the Almond Joys because I wanted to eat them.) He had two items Halloween night and gets one per day until they're gone.

I was a little worried that Liam would want every day to be Halloween, but he hasn't tried to beg for candy again. Next year, I'll have two little beggars. Oh, my!

halloween: step 2 (carving pumpkins)

2009-10-27T08:37:00.001-07:00

Liam holding the pumpkinesque gourd that his cousin picked out for him. It looked like a pumpkin, except for being really bumpy...like a warty witch...but it was definitely not a pumpkin. Word to the wise: DO NOT TRY TO CARVE GOURDS! THEY ARE HARD AS ROCKS! My dad managed to cut the bottom off, but used a drill for the eyes and to start the mouth.

We set Liam to work scooping out the seeds and "guts." He did a great job!

One of the large pumpkins (from my father-in-law's garden) held the spirit of a surprised jack-o-lantern. I couldn't get Liam to imitate the face that I was trying to carve.

He was very happy about his puppy pumpkin that I made to go with the cat pumpkin my sister carved.

Liam and my sister with the pumpkin family: cat pumpkin, puppy pumpkin, surprised pumpkin, nerdy pumpkin and the hatless witch gourd.

And here is the whole pumpkin family after dark.

halloween: step 1 (pumpkin patch)

2009-10-27T08:32:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, it rained the day we went to the pumpkin patch (Joe's Place Farm), but I still took a few decent pictures.

Beside picking out pumpkins (and apples and pears), we went on a tractor-pulled hayride and the big boys (Liam and his 6-year-old cousin) played in a hay bale maze.

crack for little boys

2009-10-11T21:16:00.000-07:00

What is it about Thomas the Tank Engine that obsesses little boys around the world? He and his red, green and brown friends are just trains with faces. Liam spotted this Thomas trick-or-treat bucket at Target today. I consented, since it was just $4 and I'd rather buy him that than the cheaply made $20 Thomas costume. (He's going to be Bob the Builder again this year because it doesn't require buying anything special.) He loves it so much that he insisted on taking it to bed with him, and actually fell asleep with it. (Once he relaxed his grip, I moved it to the foot of the bed.) And, yes, he's also wearing Thomas pajamas, one of four hand-me-down sets from his cousin.

Speaking of Thomas...Unconditional love is letting your sick toddler watch "Thomas and the Railroad" twice in a row. As if people needed another reason to hate Alec Baldwin.

the pimp crawl

2009-10-03T15:42:00.000-07:00

Both boys do it. Their dad's brother did it and his son did it. Therefore I can only conclude that it's some weird genetic mutation that causes my boys to use one foot and one knee to crawl. They're mirror images of each other, though. Liam crawled with his left foot and right knee, but Rowan does right foot, left knee. They're actually pretty fast, as evidenced by the video of Liam at 7 1/2 months. The second video is of Rowan at 9 months, which shows he's more of a thinker, with a bit longer attention span...and no cat to chase.

There's no sound on the video of Rowan because a few months ago, I killed our newer camera (sand at the beach) and the older one doesn't have audio.

armpits

2009-09-22T20:33:00.001-07:00

What is this?

According to Liam, it's an "armpit." At least, that's what it sounds like to me, as in "a big armpit! a big one!"

Me: el-e-phant
Liam: armpit!
Me: ellll-eeee-phaaant
Liam: arrrrrm-pit!

Other Liamisms:

hot-top-o:

rocky-eye: