Sunday, May 28, 2006

Holiday Weekend

What a great day we had! Our friends the Tierneys, who are fellow transplants (they moved here from Houston, so they have the "Texas" thing in common with Nick) had a wonderful party today and we were lucky enough to attend! Nick just knew he was going to have a great time when we pulled up and the Texas and US flags were proudly waving in a warm breeze under a beautiful blue sky! We all enjoyed meeting some of the Tierney Clan's friends, family, and co-workers. Katie Tierney put on quite a party - even more impressive given the fact that she just had a baby TWO WEEKS ago! The food was phenom - with brisket, BBQ, and Tres Leche cake and Nick's fave - Pecan Pie. My post-partum diet was on hiatus today by the way.

It really was a lovely afternoon with great people. Best of all was Kate, though. She went absolutely NUTS in the Tierney yard. They had a pool set up and all the kids were playing in the pool, the yard and on the swingset. She was in heaven. She played so sweetly with all the kids and was totally unafraid of the water. A huge difference from this time last year. Scroll down in our blog to see pics and story of Kate-the-Terrified last swim season! :) She played non-stop for three hours. It was HOT here in Minnesota today with temps well into the 90s. My little translucent child was slathered in sunscreen. Five minutes in the sun without it and she turns pink.

She is now completely crashed upstairs, of course. Liam had a great time too. He was such a good baby - just as happy as can be. So Nick and I are seriously stuffed on some down home grub and the kids are truly tuckered out. What a nice day. Here are some pics!




Kate in the new suit she chose at the store! She loved the pool!




Not afraid of splashing at all!




Sleepy in the car after a long day of fun and sun.




Sweet Liam

Saturday, May 27, 2006

Hoops


Liam likes to watch the NBA playoffs with his Dad and me. Yesterday he watched it with a totally enthralled expression on his face. So cute. Of course we are rooting for the Mavericks. We'll see what happens, but regardless, Nick is thrilled to have a basketball buddy.

Friday, May 19, 2006

In our future.....songwriting royalty checks????

Kate made up a song today that just froze me with love. Maybe it's not a grammy winner, but she came up with it ALL on her own. Well, the words anyway...she stole the melody! :)

As we were driving in the car today, Kate decided to entertain herself, and me, with some impromptu made up tunes. My fave, though, was when to the tune of "Where is Thumbkin" she sang:
"Mommy and Daddy, Mommy and Daddy.
Kate and Liam. Kate and Liam.
Weee are a famwee. Weee are a famwee.
Fam-i-wee. Fam-i-wee."

Call Clive Davis. Call Simon Cowell. Get me Tommy Motolla on the phone. It's catchy, it's heartwarming - what more could you want in a song? :)

And the girl can sing, too.....

:)

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

More Pics of the Kiddos 2


Pics of the kiddos






Here are a bunch of pics from the past couple of weeks. Liam is terrific! He is sleeping through the night, bless his baby heart! He goes down for his long stretch of sleep between 10 and 11 and sleeps until somewhere between 5:30-8am!!!! It is wonderful! (KNOCK ON WOOD!) He is such a smiley, happy guy - and huge. At 10 weeks he is weighing in at over 14 pounds. He is such a charmer, though....when I drop them at the child care room at the gym the ladies fight over who gets to snuggle him! :)

Kate is fab. The pics here are of her "helping to cook". This was at breakfast time on a weekend - hence the PJs and Apron! She insists on wearing the apron whenever she "cooks". It involves a slew of tupperware containers, some form of dried good that she can pour and sort (for instance pasta....here it is cheerios) and a number of spices that she "shakes". Oh! And I cannot forget the selection of spoons that has to be present! She looooves to "cook".

Monday, May 08, 2006

Kate Celebrating



This weekend we attended the wedding of a dear family friend. Kate had an absolute BLAST! She danced the night away. Here she is toasting with an empty coffee cup and being the life of the party at the dinner table.

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

“Come with me and you’ll be in a world of pure imagination”

How true the above words are when it comes to having kids! We get a peek into this whole world that they see and it makes me remember what it was like to be a child and truly be able to come up with the most vivid scenarios in my mind and go there with complete ease. It was so fun! I see Kate’s imagination at work most often when she does not realize I am around/watching/listening. Yesterday was a perfect example. She was playing upstairs, going from her playroom to her room etc. I could hear her talking to her dolls and animals, coming up with different funny voices to make them talk and sing. At one point, I heard her saying in a very insistent and somewhat urgent voice “Don’t worry, bear. Don’t worry! I’m coming to rescue you!” I crept upstairs and peeked around her door into her room. Kate was on her bed, leaning over the guard rail on her bed, stretching out the handle of a toy broom towards her stuffed bear (creatively named “Bear”), who was sitting on top of a chest under the window. She was yelling “grab it! Grab the bwoom! I am going to rescue you. Don’t worry, you won’t fall in the river! Grab it!” (I later learned that the chasm between the bed and the chest was actually a swirling river and Bear could not swim). I just stood there watching my little girl play and it was all I could do not to laugh and disturb her or go in and grab her up and squeeeeeeeze her in a big hug. I did both later after her little drama played out – bear safely on the bed, Kate hugging him and telling him “Good job, bear. It’s awight now!”

On top of her increasing imaginary play, Kate exhibits shades of me as a child in her love of books. Some people know that I was the epitome of bookworm as a child. I read so much – at the dinner table, in moving vehicles, instead of chores – that I got into trouble from reading. I would stash a flashlight in my bed so I could continue reading the tales of Laura Ingalls Wilder well after “lights out”, with multiple warnings by Mom and Dad to “close the book and get to bed”. One of my favorite xmas gifts ever was one of those "itty bitty booklights" that you can clip onto a book so you can read in the dark! I was supposed to just use it on airplanes etc. but BOLDY disobeyed! What a rebel! I even caused my parents a lot of financial damage from my reading! This is in reference to the time I was reading WHILE I was walking to school and I was so engrossed that I actually walked into a utility pole and knocked out my front teeth. To this day I sport partially fake front teeth. I cannot believe I am telling that story, actually – it has taken me Twenty Years to get over the embarrassment and be able to laugh about it – so laugh away! In short, I was a huge booknerd, earning the nickname “Nibs” which stood for “Nose In Books”….I still have books from childhood with the “To Nibs” inscription written in there.

I DIGRESS. Kate is Nibs2. Last night we put her to bed and heard her ‘reading’ out loud for HOURS. I think it was over two hours. She stayed in bed, and was just narrating all kinds of imaginary adventures out loud while we heard pages turning over the baby monitor. This went on and on and, for now, I did not have the heart to interrupt. I know what it is like to NEED that flashlight so I could continue the latest tale. So we let her go on, listening to the songs and voices and giggles with full hearts. When it was time for my own “lights out”, I went and checked on the then quiet Kate. There she was in her footed jammies, lying sideways on her bed surrounded by books, lights blazing, totally crashed clutching Bear. What a long day of animal rescues and raging rivers, princesses and unicorns.

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Monday, May 01, 2006

Smiling Children


Sleepy Liam



Liam post-bottle on his Dad's lap, with some help from the boppy pillow!