Balloon Fest!

We finally got to go to the Balloon Festival in Howell this year. We almost missed it again, but I happend to see something for it the day that we went (Sunday), which was the last day of the festival. It was fun to get to see the balloons taking off, and Liam had a blast on this roller coaster (but he only got to ride it once, because it was $5 each time- yikes!

A boy and his Dog

Josh and I have been discussing when the right time to get a dog would be. Mostly because Liam asks for one all the time, and when we take him to do something fun (like play at the park) he is only interested in the dogs if they are around. He LOVES dogs. We knew that we would eventually get him one, but the plan was to wait until after Josh's fellowship. Josh, for some reason, changed his mind, and thought maybe we should get one now. We talked and talked about it, and decided to go for it. Mostly because the timing is good (the weather was mildly warm), we have a great fenced back yard for her, and I am home with the kids during the day, so she would rarely be left along for full days. We researched breeds and were deciding between a boxer and and English Bulldog, but we didn't want to pay English Bulldog prices. Then we found out about a hybird breed...a "mini bulldog" that is 1/4 pug and 3/4 English bulldog. The don't cost nearly as much and are supposed to have a lot fewer health problems and be much lower maintenance. We found one in Ohio, about 4 hours away, and went to pick her up right away. We didn't tell Liam, just in case we decided not to go through with it at the last minute, or if she didn't look healthy and ready to go home. When Liam first saw her he was SO exited. Now he loves her most of the time, but says that we really need to teach her not to bite. When she does bite him, he says he wants her to "Go to Seattle". Does that surprise any of you who have been around Liam lately? I think once we get her trained a little better, they will be the best of buddies, as they were intended to be :) Here are some photos of Paisley

Our New House

Thought I would post some pics of the house, although Blogger is not cooperating with me tonight, so they are all out of order. I am missing pics of the back yard (one of my favorite places here!) and London's room, because she seems to be sleeping every time I think to take a picture.

Here is a view of the basement when you first walk down. You see part of the kids toy area and the entertainment space. That exposed brick on the walls is painted. Very classy :) Basement Entertainment area:

Kids play area of the basement. The doorway you see is to an "extra bedroom", which is completely empty except for a bed. It has a nice walk in closet for storage though, and there is also a storage room off of this room. The stairwell is also right there.

The office/computer area and part of Josh's weight lifting/fitness area, also in the basement.

Liam's Room- he has a nice walk in closet to store more of his toys in.

Living room view from the kitchen- that's the kitchen island right there, and the stairway leads upstairs to the kids rooms and bathroom (not pictured!)

The kitchen. This photo was taken from the stairwell. Lots of cabinet space and a walk in pantry- Love it!

Dining room, complete with two kids enjoying their breakfast.

Outside Front View.

I'll get the pics up of London's room, our room, and the backyard soon- I'll leave out the bathrooms :)

Goodbye Friends!

Well, we have moved...again. This time back to MI. There were some things that I was looking forward to getting back to (mostly friends!) and some things that were hard to leave (again, mostly friends). I was given a surprise going away party by my friends in Iowa, which was so nice! It gave me a chance to say goodbye to everyone. Also, a lot of my friends there offered to watch the kids while I packed, which was super helpful, as you can imagine packing is difficult with two kids who are into everything!

This move was kind of eventful- I hurt my back about a week before the truck was to be loaded, got a stomach virus two days before the truck was to be loaded, and the day we were loading the truck, I was doing some of the light stuff myself and Liam fell off the back of the truck, requiring a trip to the ER- thankfully my fried Molly was there and followed me to help take care of London- she also helped calm me down. So I had to say goodbye to Molly in the ER. Thankfully, Liam was okay- I will NEVER forget the sound his head made when he hit the concrete- think of a Cantelope being thrown at the concrete and not busting open. THUNK. Ick. It makes me sick just to think of. So we finally got everything loaded, and my mom and dad were there to get us there (Josh had to stay behind one more week to finish up his work). So my dad drove the moving truck, my mom took their truck with Liam in it, and London and I drove my car. We were about 4 hours into our trip when the movers called and said they would be "a little late". I asked how late a little late is, and he told me he would be there at 8:30. That was two hours late, not a little, but I didn't have much choice. Two hours later, he called me again and said "Never Mind. We're not going to make it at all." Great. So now we have a truck to unload. My mom, dad and I were up late unloading everything so the truck could be returned the next morning (my dad did most of the work!), but we got it all unloaded. All of the boxes were unpacked and everything was put away in just two days- a new record!

Here are a couple of pics from our last day in Iowa City:
We met a couple of friends at the park for one last play date.

On the merry go round with friends. I know that Liam is missing these guys- he still asks to play with them sometimes, even though he knows they are far away :(

Lake Days

We had some sweltering hot days here last week, so Molly and I decided to take the kids to the "lake". We were going to go to the pool, but it had been packed, and she wasn't really comfortable with it as a first trip by herself with two kids, and I wasn't as my first trip by myeself with two MOBILE kids. So we decided on the lake so they could play in the sand, it was less crowded, and it was free, just in case we didn't last long.

The kids did great. I got there a little early, which was good, because it took me 10 minutes to convince Liam that the water wasn't dirty, and that he could, in fact, get in it. He finally got in and really loved it! He did great at staying near me (when he didn't, I just told him there were fish where he was going, and he should come back- hey, you tell them what you have to to keep them safe, right? And there WERE fish in there!) and London was perfectly happy to sit on the shore and play in the sand the whole time.

Here is a photo of London getting kisses from Lily- she loves Lily and is starting to kiss her back now :) This is the only pic we got of Liam- he was too busy to sit still and pose :)

And here's London playing in the sand (with Lily's toys). I stole these pics off of Molly's blog, since I forgot my camera- thanks Molly :)

Happy Birthday to Lily!

My friend Molly's little girl just turned two. I can't believe it! We met them a year ago, when we first got to Iowa City, so Lily was about the same age that London is now. Here is a photo of London at her party, and the cake that I made for her: (By the way, London is walking All OVER the place now!)

Congrats to my Baby Brother on his Graduation!

I made a quick trip home at the end of May to watch my brother graduate from High School. I know it's cliche, but it really doesn't seem like he's old enough to be graduating yet! It seems like it wasn't very long ago when they were dropping me off at college- he started kindergarten the same year I started college! We had a little party for him and my cousin who also graduated, so I got to see a lot of my family. The kids did pretty well through the ceremony, which is great since it was 2 hours long and didn't start until 8:00! Here is a pic of Matt and Kelsey together with their cake and respective school balloons:
And here is a close up of their cake that I made. This was a fun one for me, because I got to try a new technique- the people, numbers and hats are made out of color flow icing.

Popsicles

It was a warm night a couple of nights ago, and I sent the kids out on the deck just before baths to eat popsicles. It was a big hit, except Liam was very concerned about the mess that London was making, and the fact that she was holding on to the middle of the popsicle instead of the stick. You can tell by her face that she was very concerned too :)

At the Dentist

Just wanted to share this pic of Liam at the dentist a few weeks ago. He did great- I love that he wears sunglasses to keep the bright light out of his eyes :)

When we moved into our condo, I was really excited to have a deck on the back with no stairs- essentially an outdoor "playpen" if you will. We ate a few dinners out there last year, but didn't get a lot of play use out of it, as it was black and moldy, and if you went out there with no shoes on, your feet would be black when you came in. Our landlord recently powerwashed it though, so the old was made new again! Now that the weather is nicer, we just leave the sliding glass door open and let the kids come and go as they please. They LOVE it out there- here they are just before bed the other night- That's why Liam is in a pull-up, and London is wearing her PJs in one pic and her PJ shirt in another (they were falling down, so Josh just took them off :)

Here is a pic of London's "Deck-Crawl" method. It hurts her knees to crawl on them, so she just pics them up and does a bear-crawl of sorts. Liam thinks it's hilarious, and had to give it a try himself:



One of London's favorite games is Peek-a-boo with Liam! This is about the time she lost her pants!

Late Easter Fun!

Here is a pic of Liam hunting eggs at the park- he had so much fun, but the age group he was in was 3-5, so he was the youngest, and some of those 5 year olds are fast! He didn't care though, and got plenty of eggs to make him happy- London picked up two in her age group, and was happy just to bang those two together :)