Crazy Californians

We all know Californians have some crazy ideas; fortunately, we have Megan to straighten things out with our visitors from the south.

Mac's mom and Aunt Minnie came up Tuesday to visit for a few days and to watch the kids on Friday, while Mac joined his Y-chromosome laden relatives for some manly activities in Arizona (namely dove hunting and beer drinking, and perhaps some swearing and gas passing too).

Wednesday we ate dinner out on the deck. being ravenous after a hard day of work, I quickly cleared my plate.

Mac's Mom: Do you want some more?
Pam (handing over plate): Sure, I'll have some more salad, please.
Megan: (seeing me hand over plate) Are you all done?
Pam: No, Mamaw (grandma) is getting me more.
Minnie (to Megan): She's having seconds.
Megan (to Minnie): No! She's having SALAD!

Duh!

FOOOOD!

Mr. Liam got his first taste of solid food today. Ok, it was really a semi-solid bit of gloopy infant rice cereal that probably shouldn't be classified as food, but nonetheless, it wasn't nutrition from a bottle. We got a couple of good shots of the little booger in his high chair, but Mac's computer crashed completely so I can't upload them to the blog. But don't worry this has caused much elation in Mac, who spent the day of the computer crash practically dancing around the house, chanting, 'I get a new computer! I get a new computer!"

Deja-blue

A very rare baby garment of Megan's has made in into Liam's wardrobe. But since when does Make Way For Ducklings (the picture on the front) have a gender?

Liam, 6 months

Beware of the Silence

Megan is normally a wall flower when it comes to socializing (hmmm, I wonder where she got that??), but she has a great relationship with her friend Kate. The two of them are able to entertain themselves for unbelievable amounts of time (at least for 2 year olds). Aaah, but silence isn't always golden. Like when the two kids are using your toothbrush to rub toothpaste into the bathroom floor.

Cat Lover

Fortunately, the cats still have someone to love them!

They could use it too. Dante suffered a mysterious accident that resulted in a huge laceration on his back thigh (exposed tendons and muscle) and a dislocated hip. Prevailing theory is that it was a fall or a barbed wire run-in, but who knows? He is spending 6-8 weeks on cage rest to let it heel. He's not keen on the confinement and it doesn't help that Zeus now hisses at him in the cage.

Auntie Sarah turns 30!

Sure makes me feel old to have my little sister turn 30! - just tell 'em it's your second annual 29th birthday!

Happy birthday, Sash!

My Little Artist

Photogenic

Megan:"Can you get the camera to take a picture for my hug for Liam?"

More milestones

Ok, cussing and lying aren't the only milestaones going on around here.

Liam is a whiz at rolling (mostly back to front, though he can go the other way), but most importantly, the kid is sleeping through the night. No, I don't mean that moron definition of five hours; I mean the we-may-regain-our-sanity type of sleeping through the night. He's doing a good ten hours now pretty routinely, and even gets in a full twelve every now and then. It took a week of tough love to get him there, but it was pretty easy to do once we realized he was getting up to socialize and not to eat. It was also pretty easy to do once we started seeing results.

And in other big news, some of the chickens have started to lay! Now this place is starting to feel like the country!

The eggs are a little on the small side (I call them grade B-), but they taste great. (The white egg is a store-bought for comparison). I am hoping they get a bit bigger as the chickens mature.

Roar and Snore

We decided to take advantage of the "Roar and Snore" package offered by some of the hotels near the zoo for an overnight trip to Portland. We had a great night swimming in the heated pool. And then Saturday we went to the zoo; Megan was a lot more excited this time, although she still didn't want anything to do with the Lorikeets.

Sibling bonding

"Are you sure we should pet this goat??"

Little ears

Mac and Megan were playing with blocks, when Mac suffered a set back in his construction. He mumbled something under his breath which Magan couldn't quite make out.

Megan: Do you say dammit?
Mac: No, I say darn it. Who says dammit?
Megan: Mommy says dammit when she is building a tower.


Dammit! she wasn't supposed to hear that!

Liar, liar

Megan has hit a new milestone, and not necessarily a good one: she has learned to lie.

Things go something like this:
Meg: I want milk in bed.
Mac: We don't have milk in bed.
Meg: Mom told me so.

The bottom line is the exact quote. Megan always says "mom told me so" or "Dad told me so" as the situation fits, she recently even added, "Jessica (the babysitter) told me so." The problem is nobody ever told her these things.

This confused us the first couple of times, before we realized our sweet and innocent little girl could be so deceptive. Mac would call me at work and ask, "Did you tell Megan she didn't have to nap today?" or "Did you tell Megan she could eat breakfast in the TV room?" But now we are wise to her lying ways.