Family Filled Weekend

Wow, it has been a busy weekend. We saw everyone in our [1st degree] extended family this weekend(if you count Monday since it was a holiday weekend). My parents came up to visit this weekend. They happened to be here for their 30th anniversary Sunday. Happy Anniversary again mom and dad! Thanks for being a good example of marriage for me:-) Okay, back to the weekend... Saturday we dropped by Jay's sister's house and then his parents' house. Sunday my brother, TJ, came up and watched football with us. Then Monday Jay's brother came over (he had fall break this weekend) and we watched more football. I'm not sure what is up with the football lately, but Jay has watched 4 games in the past 2 weekends. Maybe because he an watch them in high def? He knows a lot about what's going on behind the scenes too. I think he has been studying up on the internet. If he is going to want to watch football again next weekend maybe I can talk Erin into bringing her family up here so Tom and Jay can watch the game in high def and she and I can hang out:-)

Leaf Soup

I think the best leaf soup is made in Autumn.


Leaf soup is something we got from my mother-in-law. I'm not sure if she invented it, but I know Jay made leaf soup as a kid. As I understand it you just take a bucket on a walk and collect leaves (and if Ryan has his way sticks)there may be some stirring involved. I have never made leaf soup before, but with the leaves starting to change it seemed like a good time to start. It's amazing how into it Ryan was! We got some leaves because they were pretty, some because they were unique and some (Ryan's) just because they were there. Ryan also added some grass, but we decided that we should only pick up things that had fallen on their own. In my opinion the coolest addition was the acorns that had fallen from our neighbor's tree. We spent about 45 minutes filling our bucket just on our street! During our adventure I saw a black and white striped feather. It was really cool looking. We carried our bucket to the back yard where I saw something come blazing down and bump into the birdfeeder next door. It was strange and I only saw it from the corner of my eye. I found it curious though so I tried to see past the bush. Then a hawk (or falcon I didn't get a very good look) that was probably the source of the feather we saw flew away. Those birds are so beautiful, almost majestic. Now if I can just get the picture out of my mind of what he must have been doing to slam into the bird feeder next door I might be able to get rid of the sick feeling in my stomach and enjoy having seen such a beautiful bird.

7 Months Old

As usual things conspired against me on Lily's monthday and since to prevent her monthday picture post. I bring it to you now. I couldn't choose just one pic, so you get several:-)

Here is my happy girl in her monthday chair.

See?! Look how happy!

This is how you are more likely to find her on her chair.

I couldn't resist a few face shots. Look at that mug!

I just love this shot. Such a sweet face:-)
Click on the picture for a better view. It makes a big difference.

Frustration...

and it's not even mine! Lily has been getting frustrated with her inability to make her body do what she wants it to recently. This usually means she is on the verge of a new feat. The first time I noticed the frustration cry she wanted to get places. The next thing I knew she was on the move. It was a bit awkward, but she could go. The crying stopped until just before she sat up. Before the pulling up there was a lot of grunting, but not much crying. Now the crying is back. Today she was holding on to a chair in the dining room when I heard "the cry", so I went over. As soon as I got there she stopped the crying and grabbed on to my pant leg. She lifted her little leg and started turning toward me and...boom, down on her bum. A little more frustration cry followed and I decided to distract her with some lunch. I sit here now wondering if she is on the verge of some new baby feat or if the frustration cry is going to be around for a while. Because really it's way to early to walk, but maybe walking holding on to furniture. Should I get the walkers out to sooth the frustration or is that just asking for trouble?

Ryan-isms

(Yes, I stole this idea from Erin)

Mommy: Ryan we're going out to dinner tonight. Where do you want to go?
Ryan: Old MacDonalds!

Mommy: Ryan, you're totally awesome!
Ryan: Yeah. I am totawy awesome! ::Big grin::
I think this is totally cute, but I recently started worrying about what other people will think if he responds to their compliments like that. Now we are working on saying 'Thank you' to compliments. Hopefully it won't be "Thank you. Do I get a smiley face? Did you rebind me?" You see Ryan gets smiley faces on his chart when he uses his manners without being reminded. This is a common refrain after uses manners. At least the chart is working...sort of.

**In case you were wondering 'rebind' was not a typo. That's how he says it.**