Why?

It's here...the dreaded "why?" question.

Where we going, Mommy?
To the park.
Why?
To exercise with Maggie and Jessica.
Why you exercise, Mommy?
Because it's good for you.
Why it good for you, Mommy?
It gets your heart pumping.
Why, Mommy?
It gets your blood flowing.
Why, Mommy?
Because.
Oh, okay. (brief pause) Where we going, Mommy?

Such a lazy blogger

Each day I tell myself that I'm going to update the blog and obviously it hasn't happened. We've had a busy few months, so I'll try to recap. WARNING: LONG BLOG WITH LOTS OF PICTURES.

Back to April. Mark turned 30, as did our friend Craig. We wives threw a party at a bar down the road. Good times.


Mark and I had a great opportunity to go to Churchill Downs for Oaks Day this year (day before Derby, for those unfamiliar). We got to get all gussied up and I even bought a hat for the occasion.




Liam enjoyed my hat as much as I did.



The next day we partied Derby-style at our friend Bob's farm. More good times.



Somewhere in the midst of all this madness, Liam and I had a date at Coco's Chocolate Cafe down the street, where he got to use colored cocoa powder to paint chocolates and make his own chocoloate popsicles.


We had leftover chocolate from the popsicle making adventure, so Liam drank it.



For Mother's Day, Mark arranged a morning out for my girlfriends Maggie, Jessica, and I. We went to get pedicures and a little shopping on Bardstown Road while the husbands hung out at our house with the six kids (three 2 year olds and three 6-8 month olds) and made us lunch. Well, sort of. We ended up making most of the lunch when we returned, but it was still a nice gesture.


Here is Liam with buddies Will and Savannah.

And our lovely toes.

At some point in May, the Goans came for the day and we hit the Science Center. Liam loves the goggles at the new and improved splash table.

Not to forget Grady, who is a bundle of smiles and laughter. He's sitting up, scooting around, and eating like crazy. And he's got 5 teeth, working on number 6.

The boys just love each other. The best is when Liam makes Grady roar with laughter. It's awesome.

We just wrapped up a great visit with Aunt Allie, who was visiting from her new home base in Portland, Oregon. The boys adore her and we had a wonderful time.

We had a little gathering to celebrate Allie's visit. Here's one of her and Ray, Liam's godfather, and a cute one of Mark and Grady.

We also had a fun visit with Molly, Julian, and Roman from Iowa, but I don't have any photos! I think Molly took some so I'll post them in December when I get around to updating the blog again. Just kidding. I've learned my lesson with this long hiatus! :)

Finally, Liam went to the Louisville Riverbats (Minor League Baseball) last night with Mark and his dad for Father's Day. He was so excited to go, he sat and waited in the window for almost 20 minutes for Paul to get here. Mark said he kept asking when the game was going to start, anticipating the first pitch with a great deal of fervor. And then when the game finally started, he said, "I want to go to the playground now". Classic. He's a mess of words and funniness these days.

Thanks for tuning in. I hope I'll do better in the blogosphere now that Mark's home for the summer!

New photos

Here are some recent pictures of the boys taken while we were in Florida visiting my dad in Pensacola, then my mom and grandparents in Naples. 4 twelve hour legs...and I'm pleased to say it went pretty well. Leg 4 home from Pensacola was a bit rough because we forgot the portable DVD player, which has been the saving grace for Liam. He does okay for a couple hours without it, but then he needs something to focus his attention upon. It's almost scary how it mesmerizes him, his eyes wide and not listening to a word anyone says. But it's a necessary evil.

Now that we are back on the homefront, Liam is a two year old in full force. As I'm writing this post, he keeps climbing out of bed and saying "It's 6 o'clock, not time for night night". Where he learned "6 o'clock" is a mystery to me. Plus, it's nine o'clock, so it isn't even a relevant observation. And he always looks at his wrist, like he's looking at a watch when he says it. Funny kid. He's also become pretty sassy, repeating what I say in a mocking voice when I discipline him. Today he was in time out and kept standing up, and I'd say, "Liam, sit down on your bottom", and then he'd say, "Liam, sit down on your bottom" and giggle. Again, I'm faced with the most difficult part of parenting thus far...not laughing at inopportune times. In case you wondered, he earned the time out by being overly affectionate with Grady for the thousandth time today. He has a habit of laying directly on top of him, and I fear that he will squash him.

Unlikely, since my little Grady is 21 pounds. I had to buy a new carseat for him today because he's about to outgrow his infant carrier. He tried bananas mixed with his cereal tonight and loved it. He cried when it was gone, like "Mom, what do you mean there isn't any more?". Until now, Grady has been a peaceful, quiet baby. And he's still pretty chill, but he's learning that if he cries, he'll get what he wants. You do the math.

All in all, good times. These boys are keeping me on my toes. Up next...my trials and tribulations with motherhood and wifedom as I try to tackle my latest project...One Year to an Organized Life. Wish me luck.

I'm pretty sure that Liam took this with Allison's camera.



At Jazzfest in Pensacola.

In Naples at Nana and Bob's.

Ooh that makes me mad!

Back from 11 day trek through Florida. I have pictures that I will eventually upload and hopefully share with you, my loyal blog followers, but not today.

I met Maggie and Jessica and their kids at the mall today for the "trifecta"...the boat/playground, train table at Von Maur, and toys at Pottery Barn Kids. It's rainy and cool here today, not to mention that it's Good Friday, so most of the catholic schools are out today. Thus, busy mall. We went to Panera for lunch, and I'm sure we deserved some of the looks we got. But all in all, the toddlers were well behaved, and the babies didn't even cry. When we were leaving, we passed a group of women, one of whom was pregnant, for goodness sakes, and I overheard them say, "people with that many children shouldn't take them out". We each have TWO children, not 4 or 5. And even if we did, does that mean we should stay at home all day long? It really ticked me off. Other than retired people, who else really goes to the mall on weekday mornings besides moms and babies? We probably keep the mall open with our patronage.

Clearly, the group of women with flappy gums don't have children. I'd bet what's left of my 401(k) that the pregnant one is having her first. Because most of us moms stick together, even those with older kids, because they remember what it was like to have a bunch of rowdy toddlers or have nightmares about trying to pry open the door to the mall and fit a double stroller through at the same time, all the while fishing in the bottom of the diaper bag for a sippy cup of juice and a kleenex to wipe the baby's nose.

I'm sure the pregnant woman will understand one day. And maybe she'll even remember us and feel bad. I hope so.

Spring Cleaning

New season, new blog template, new title. Time to get this house/family in shape!

Our basement is a mess. Well, was a mess. We had boxes of crap that we hadn't touch since we moved our stuff to storage in August 2007, when we moved to Louisville and stayed with Mark's parents. They moved, untouched and unopened, with us to this house 14 months ago. It was time to tackle them.

My aunt Ginny generously offered to spend the weekend and help us sort through the mess. And did we ever sort. The result? An organized basement. Everything's labeled and tucked nicely away, and there' s a huge yard sale pile for our courtwide yard sale in May, as well as a large Craig's List/Ebay pile. Time for me to get busy!

Here's a few before photos of the mess:

And now, the beautiful organization (keep in mind the piles will be gone in a couple months):

Liam and his godmother (and saint) Ginny at the skate park in downtown Louisville. My uncle, Civil Engineer and Town Planner, is thinking about creating one in their hometown, so we went to visit. Liam was fascinated. Future skateboarder, maybe?

The boys. They sure do love each other. They crack each other up, and it's the best thing ever. I now understand what "heartwarming" means.