The Ruwe Enquirer

Carol's Bridal Shower!

2011-10-15T10:31:00.000-07:00

Last night the Lutz aunts and cousins threw Carol a surprise bridal shower. Here she is getting surprised!!

Liam was the only boy that was allowed at this party and he sure did ham it up for the camera!! He looked so handsome all dressed up for the party.

Maddie had a great time spending time with Meredith! Can you tell from this picture that Meredith is her idol, she really looks up to her!

Carol got a cook book. She is determined to start cooking a little more. I don't know why she would, when Eli is a good cook!

So what is the consensus? Do we still look like twins? Or just cousins?

Picture with the auntsPicture with the cousins

Picture with the little cousins

Wishing Carol and Eli the best! I am so glad that we finally got to get together after 10 long years of not seeing one another.

Paddle Boat Fun!

2011-08-21T17:32:00.000-07:00

Tonight at grandma and grandpa's house, Liam got to go out on his first paddle boat ride! He had so much fun! he was standing between grandma's legs so every time she paddled, he would move his hips with the rhythm, so it looked like he was dancing. Maddie had a great time as always!!

Yard Work!

2011-08-20T18:01:00.000-07:00

Well...last Saturday while I was mowing the grass our trusty John Deere mower had a malfunction, so I got to use Grandpa's new Grasshopper lawn mower that is HUGE compared to our usual mower. His mower also doesn't have a steering wheel, so my days of running a skid steer came back to me pretty quickly! It was lots of fun and it only took me about 35 minutes to mow my yard compared to 1 hour with my mower. But today my dream of keeping the Grasshopper vanished, Grandpa came to get it back, but before he took it home he mowed my yard. (HOW NICE!)

This is Liam sitting in the front yard watching grandpa cut the grass. He was HILARIOUS! He would wave and say his version of Grandpa every round.

Maddie and Grandpa wanted to get their picture taken before they take the mower back. Maddie got to help him load it onto the trailer. She was so excited, she left her bike helmet on!

Water Table Fun

2011-07-19T12:14:00.000-07:00

Last night, Maddie and Liam had some water table fun. Mommy and Maddie were so proud of themselves...we put together the water table all by ourselves without any help from Daddy!

Maddie decided that when you play in the water table you also need to wear your rain boots....nothing like wearing rubber rain boots on a 100 degree evening! This picture is so fuzzy because my camera lense fogged out from being outside.

Maddie and Liam thank Aunt Heidi for this great birthday present! They LOVE IT!

LIAM IS ONE!!!

2011-07-19T11:28:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, July 14th, Liam turned ONE! We celebrated as a family on Friday evening because Maddie was at Bible School on Thursday evening. Maddie had picked out a Little People Train set for Liam all by herself at Toys R Us. She knows what Liam likes because he loved it.

Maddie was so proud of her toy when Liam opened it!

Liam got a Reds hat and outfit to wear next summer! He actually liked to wear his hat.On Saturday, we celebrated Liam's birthday with family. Here is the birthday boy enjoying his lunch of watermelon, cheese, and baked beans. Some of his favorite foods at one.

Liam received lots of gifts, but the helicopter from Great Aunt Marge and Great Uncle Loren was among one of his favorites.

By the time the last present came around from Aunt Heidi...Liam was getting really tired. So he looks so sad...but I have a feeling he will get hours of fun out of the water table!

So here comes his number ONE cake!!

He dug in with both hands. (Maddie's face during this was priceless! She didn't know what to think. She has never seen such a mess is all of her life.)

This went on..and on...and on...until the entire cakes was almost gone! Liam had to get a bath. He even sneezed icing out of his nose several times in the bathtub.

After his bath, he said thanks to all of the people at his party and went down for an afternoon nap. Then he was ready to get an hour of swimming in before dinner time. Maddie and Liam both liked chasing down Nemo in the swimming pool. Aunt Elaine got a swimming Nemo for Liam's birthday and it really worked. Nemo was all over that pool! Mommy's Message to Liam on his 1st birthday:

Liam, you have been my sweet, snuggly, lovable, smiling, and adorable boy for a year now. During your first year, you have changed so much, but these things have stayed the same. You are definitely unique! From your famous nose scrunch...to your giggle...to your sense of humor. We can't wait to see how much you change and mature during your next year...we have some much to experience together!! Love, Mommy

Widolff Campout 2011

2011-07-11T12:45:00.000-07:00

On Friday the Ruwe Family headed out to Brown County Park for the annual Widolff Family Camp out. The weather was hot, but dry. During the past couple of camp outs, we have gotten really wet, so being dry was nice.

We left on Friday at 1:00 and by 4:00, Liam was feeling at home. He thought he was such a big boy getting into Leah's lawn chair. He even started playing a game of Peek-a-Boo!

Where is Liam?

Here I am!

Maddie and Leah did some coloring before dinner.

Nana gave Liam some of his nighttime bottle and then the trouble started! Liam quickly became uninterested in his bottle, which is NOT like Liam. Nana handed Liam off to me so I could go and lay him down in the our tent, when I got covered in throw-up! Liam had a case of the pukes while on his first camping trip. It was so random. He would be fine and normal acting for so long and then all of a sudden get sick. He had no other symptoms, I don't know if the heat got to him or what. I am just glad I packed a couple of extra shirts.

On Saturday, we had a busy day. We ate breakfast, played at the campsite then went to a Widolff Family lunch, then swimming, and after dinner we threw Liam a mini-birthday party so the Moore Family could help us celebrate his approaching birthday. (They aren't going to make it to his party this weekend and he wanted to celebrate in some way with them.) So Leah, Brendan, and Maddie helped to decorate the cupcakes. Special thanks to Nana for bringing along all of the fixings!After the decorating was complete, we sang Happy Birthday to Liam, and then let him have a bite of a cupcake. (We didn't want to upset his stomach anymore.) He was so happy and excited! I can't wait to see what he does next weekend!

After the singing and cupcakes, he got to open his first birthday present with Aunt Aimee.

He really liked his gift, which included a pack of Taddooles that he would have loved to get out right away, but we will wait until we get home! Liam got sick again before bedtime. I was the victim again. Maddie enjoyed her evening playing with her bug catcher catching lightning bugs and her glow stick. (O the little things that they love.)

On Sunday morning we got up, had breakfast, and then started to pack up. Liam did not like having to play in the pack-n-play for awhile, but then Maddie and Leah came and played with him and he liked that.

Widolff Camp out 2011 was a great camp out. I wish Liam was sick at his first camp out, but hopefully he will have a better 2nd camp out. Maddie had the time of her life! I just hope that next year is a dry camp out like this one.

Happy 4th of July!

2011-07-04T13:48:00.000-07:00

For this 4th of July we headed for an afternoon of fun to celebrate Aunt Marge's 70th birthday! Aunt Elaine had a dessert bar that had some great new desserts for us to try.

Maddie played with Liam on a blanket outside. They look so cute in their 4th of July outfits!

Liam and Megan took turns putting their arms around one another. It was so cute! They are the best of friends already, just like Maddie and Jake.

Maddie really enjoyed playing with Meredith and Bryson. Meredith is getting really good at driving the golf cart so she can take Maddie and Jake for rides.

Liam's Lazy Morning!

2011-07-04T13:42:00.000-07:00

Liam started off Sunday, July 3rd with a lazy morning. He just laid on this pillow and watched the Wimbledon finals with mommy for a bit! He is such a silly, sweet boy!

Park Fun!

2011-06-30T11:26:00.001-07:00

Today Maddie, Liam, Gwen, and I packed up and headed to Miami Whitewater Park for some summer fun! We started off on the swings and slides and then headed over to the water park when it opened. We swam for awhile before eating lunch and then swam some more before changing and hitting up the playgrounds again. I think Liam fell asleep the minute he was in his car seat. I had to get a picture of Liam enjoying the swings in his hat. He actually left it on for awhile.

Both Liam and Maddie loved the water! Maddie played with Gwen while I helped Liam walk around the "baby" part. (That was what Maddie called it.) Maddie peeked out of the pirate ship so I could snap a quick picture of her.

Maddie and Liam both posed for me in the "Baby" part on the alligator for a picture. Something exciting must be going on off to the side because it looks like they are both focusing on the same thing. On the way home when I asked Maddie what she liked the best, she said, "Everything, Momma!"

4-H Fair 2011

2011-06-24T13:10:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday evening, the Ruwe Family headed down to the 2011 Dearborn County 4-H Fair to enter Liam in the baby contest. Liam kind-of froze up! He wouldn't smile or crinkle up his nose at the judges.

After the contest, we walked around to look at the animals. Maddie and Liam got to pet a bunny. Liam LOVED it!

After Maddie got some ice cream, Maddie wanted to go on a couple of rides. Maddie rode the big slide.

I just had to include this photo of Maddie putting her sunglasses back on after she got off of the slide. She kind-of just left daddy behind.

Maddie also got to ride on the Bumper Cars with daddy. She can't wait to go back and ride a few more rides on Friday evening after the Pork Chop dinner.

Madeleine Wearing Madeline!

2011-06-24T13:05:00.000-07:00

Madeleine Wearing Madeline!

Yesterday, Madeleine wore her Madeline shirt and I just had to take a picture of her wearing it. She was so excited when she found it in her drawer yesterday morning!

Liam is 11 Months Old!

2011-06-20T11:26:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, July 14, Liam turned 11 months old. During the past month, Liam has been a busy boy! He has been riding his bike.

Trying to get the hang of walking!

Even with the help of Uncle Kyle!

Liam's new favorite food this month, is spaghetti bake! He is so messy with it, I just take his clothes off before he starts eating lunch or dinner. I can't believe that in less than a month, we will be celebrating Liam's first birthday! I just hope he is walking by then, because he is such a load to carry around.

Madeleine's First ER Visit!

2011-06-20T11:06:00.000-07:00

Madeleine made her first visit to the ER on Sunday morning, and Scott and I weren't with her at all. She was visiting Leah and Brendan with Nana in Evansville this past weekend. Scott and I received a phone call at 7:00 am on Sunday morning saying that Maddie had fallen out of the twin bed she was sleeping in and her chin was bleeding. So Nana came to the rescue by taking Maddie to the ER.

This is a picture Nana sent to Scott's phone so we could see how she was doing at the hospital while waiting for the doctor to come. Good thing Maddie had Denver with her. Nana said that Denver, her deer, was right there with her through it all! Nana said she cried the hardest in the room because they didn't have "her cartoons" on the tv there.

Her diagnosis was that actually her bottom front teeth went through her chin when she fell out of bed. She needed three stitches in her chin. It was so hard for Scott and I to not be with her, but we knew she was being well taken care of. On the way home from Evansville, Nana took Maddie to get ice cream at Culvers in Cordyon. As you can see from the picture, her disposition seems to be good, because Nana got her "Cinderella Blue" sprinkles.

Here is a picture I took of Maddie's face on Sunday night before bedtime. Her lower lip was still really swollen. She was having a hard time eating and drinking and would drool sometimes, which she didn't like because she didn't have any control over it. She is currently a mouth-breather and it is severely drying out her lips. She gets to go visit Dr. Kick's office on Friday to get her stitches out so hopefully we can swim this weekend.

Scott and I were so glad to see Maddie when she got home yesterday evening. Through it all, I think Scott still had a good Father's Day.

Holiday World 2011

2011-06-14T13:11:00.001-07:00

This past weekend we made our first family trip to Holiday World. We will definitely go back because it was sooo much fun!

We stayed in a hotel for two nights and I was quickly reminded at 10:00 on Friday night, how much my children need normalcy or they don't cope well. Liam ended up sleeping in his pack-n-play in the bathroom for the first night. Maddie reminded Scott and I at 11:00 on Friday night that she needed her privacy because her couch bed was right next to our bed and Scott had a light on so he could read. We quickly fixed the problem on Saturday night by purchasing thumb tacks and hanging blankets from the ceilings for Maddie and Liam to each have their own "bedrooms" for the night.

Even though sleeping was scarce Friday night, everyone was chipper and ready for Holiday World on Saturday morning.

Maddie's first ride:Rudolph's Round up!Here is Liam's and mommy's first ride. Maddie was a pretty good driver for a first timer!

Maddie needed a little pushing, but she finally decided to ride on the canoe ride and she LOVED it!

Liam knows what ride he wants to ride next! He already has a great sense of direction!

Then Maddie rode the "hit boats."

Liam fell asleep as soon as he got into his car seat on Saturday. We had an AWESOME time on Saturday night! We went to Matt and Christa's house for dinner and met up with the Meunier Family and the Moore Family. It was nice for all of us to catch up with family and friends. We went back to the hotel at 7:30 for baths and bedtime. Due to having routine, being worn-out and "privacy" the kids went to sleep by 8:30.

Here is Maddie still curled up asleep at 8:30 on Sunday morning. She loved sleeping on her own little couch bed.

We spent an hour at the theme park side on Sunday morning while waiting for Splashin' Safari to open. We went on a train ride for Liam. He just LOVES trains! Maddie was proud of herself because she sat in the caboose all by herself.

Maddie survived her 1st roller coaster ride!

Liam hung out at the playground.

We spent the rest of our day at Splashin' Safari having a GREAT time. Liam and Maddie both got to ride lots of water slides and run / be carried though sprinklers. We can't wait to go back in the future and try more things. We made it home safely Sunday evening, but we did have to make an insurance claim on Monday morning due to a hail storm we drove though Friday evening left my windshield with many knicks. Overall, a GREAT vacation!

FISHING

2011-06-05T18:08:00.000-07:00

On Sunday night, we decided it was the perfect evening to go fishing, so Scott got out Maddie and Jake's fishing poles that Grandma had for them and off we went. Maddie did pretty well with her Barbie fishing pole. The very first time Scott cast it out, Maddie's Mickey Mouse bobber went down. So she seriously caught a fish her very first time fishing, pretty funny!

Here is Maddie's big catch! She caught a small bass. She did not want to touch it, but said "aaahh, he's so cute"!

She decided she would pose with Daddy to show off her catch, but she wouldn't stand to close to it, because it was flopping around. Meanwhile, Megan and Liam were playing on a blanket on the pond dam watching all of the action. This is Liam's shy look after he touched Megan. They are so cute together, they are going to be good friends just like Maddie and Jake.

Jake and Grandpa both caught fish at the same time. Uncle Randy was pretty proud of the size of Jake's bass. Here is Maddie's last catch of the day! A blue gill. It was interesting because this blue gill was electric blue in color around his mouth. None of us had ever seen a blue gill like that. Hopefully, we will have more summer Sunday evenings of fishing ahead of us at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

BIRD HOUSE CONSTRUCTION

2011-06-05T12:56:00.000-07:00

In late April, we began construction on Maddie and Liam's play set. Maddie quickly began calling it her bird house and the name has stuck.

Slowly, ever so slowly, construction happened on random weekends and week nights after dinner. This all depended on whether or not it was raining.

Phase 1: Initial structure and supports.

Due to the rain, we decided to tarp it between working times. We didn't want all of the labels to fall off of the pieces. So the "Blue Monster" stayed in our yard for a couple of weeks.

Phase 2: It finally started to look like the beginnings of a play house.

Liam liked watching us work on the bird house from his pack-n-play.

Phase 3 : Bird house constructed. Finally, Maddie got to stand inside her birdhouse. She was so excited!

Maddie wants to know how to get down from there. Should I jump or not?

Phase 4: HAVING FUN!!

Here is Liam swinging, but he just won't keep on his sunglasses!

Maddie on her swing!

Maddie on her "curvy" slide!

Maddie and Peter Rabbit getting a snack at the lemonade stand.

Phase 5: Landscaping/ Rock box

So the final and phase is another one for Scott and I. Getting the area under the Birdhouse to become a landscaped area with a rock box instead of a sandbox. So that is the next phase. I hope to have it done by Liam's birthday party in July.

Mother's Day 2011

2011-06-05T12:50:00.000-07:00

This is my official Mother's Day picture. Scott helped the kids to make me a special omelet. I got a really special gift. A personalized month-by-month desktop calendar, that has pictures of Maddie and Liam throughout the year. It will look great on my desk when I go back to school.

POOL FUN!

2011-06-01T15:41:00.000-07:00

On Memorial Day we got to take our first dip in our pool and we had a BLAST! Liam LOVED the water. He just floated around in his raft for about an hour before his afternoon nap. Liam just couldn't stop smiling!

Maddie enjoyed herself as well! She enjoyed herself just splashing. She said the water was a little cold for her, so she spent a lot of time on the ladder and throwing all of the pool toys into the pool. I can't wait to spend a lot of quality time together in the pool this summer!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-27T13:15:00.001-07:00

Happy Easter!

Here is Liam with his first Easter basket! He got some pool toys and some jeans and his favorite, a Curious George feely book.

Maddie got some new Tinkerbell pajamas, swim goggles for the pool, a Little Mermaid swimsuit and swim cover-up. She can't wait to get into the pool!

Here is the Ruwe family dressed up and ready for church!!

Even Liam got into the Easter egg hunting action.

I just really like this picture of Liam eating his Easter brunch at Nana and Grump's house with the Widolff relatives. He just looks so grown-up!

At Grandma's house, Liam decided he wanted to try to sit in a lawn chair!

Here are three of the Lutz Cousins after a busy Easter day! Maddie and Jake ran foot races out in the yard in rain boots. Yes, Maddie ran races in her white Easter dress. I went home immediately and put it in the washing machine. All mud and dirt is OUT! Notice, Jake is eating a candy cane.

Dying Easter Eggs

2011-04-27T13:08:00.000-07:00

On Good Friday, Grandma, Maddie and I decorated Easter eggs. Maddie really enjoyed doing this last year, so I was excited to see how much she would enjoy it this year. She really got into it. She wanted to help me dip the eggs, stir them, and take them out of the dye. She did a really good job of putting stickers on the eggs for specific people in our family. She only cracked a few eggs!

Here is my happy boy enjoying his first Easter egg dying experience!

Liam is 9 Months old!

2011-04-21T15:58:00.001-07:00

Liam is 9 months old! On Tuesday, he went for his 9 month check up. He weighs 21 pounds, 4 ounces (70th percentile) and is 29 inches long (95th percentile). Dr. Kick said that he weighs more at 9 months than Maddie did at one year old!

This is Liam playing with his favorite toys. He loves this crocodile block set. In the past month, he has really began to play with his toys and play independently for a long period of time. He can occupy himself really well.

Just this evening, Liam decided he could start climbing steps, so now the fun begins of having to watch him so he doesn't get hurt on the steps. (We have the top gated, but he can climb up five steps if he wants to.)Look at how strong I am! I can pull myself up pretty easily now! Even though I have only been crawling for two weeks. I don't think walking is far off.

This is where Liam pulled himself up for the first time on Sunday night, the side of the bathtub. That is how much he loves bath time!

I can't believe that Liam is going to be one year old before I know it! I already miss my baby!

Jake's Baseball Party!

2011-04-21T15:32:00.000-07:00

Happy Third Birthday Jake!

Jake turned 3 on Sunday, so we had a Cincinnati Reds themed party! Due to the theme Jake received lots of baseball gifts! He even modeled his batting helmet. He also got black baseball pants, baseball socks, and a Reds shirt. He also got a tee-ball set. Jake was one happy boy!

Liam just had to try on Jake's batting helmet also!

The birthday boy even had a baseball cake with baseball cupcakes!

I tried to get a picture of the four cousins all together in their Reds gear and these are the results! I guess this is what happens when you get two- 3 year olds and two-infants to cooperate! Maddie decided to make a fishy face instead of smiling, but everyone else is cooperating!

I love how Liam is getting Maddie's nose in this picture and Megan is like when is this photo session going to be over!

Carnival Time

2011-04-21T15:21:00.000-07:00

On April 8, Brookville Elementary held their annual school carnival. My mom brought the kids to school to meet me so we could do some games together before my shift at the pop toss.

First, Maddie got her face painted for the first time!! She loved it. Gina did a great job of painting an ice cream cone on her cheek complete with Cinderella Blue!

Liam got his first tatoo! Notice the baseball on his wrist! Maddie picked it out for him because "baseballs are his favorite!"

Maddie completed an obstacle course also. She got to walk across a balance beam.

And crawl though a tunnel. She even got to do her first back flip. Maddie can't wait to go back again next year.

Liam's First Haircut

2011-04-05T17:56:00.000-07:00

Tonight Liam got his first haircut! Even though he didn't need much cut off, he really needed a trim. It was just getting shaggy in the front and on the sides. I mean he was born with side burns, so now that he is 8 months old, he really needed a trim.

He didn't like Tina, the hairdresser, trimming around his ears at all!! Lots of crying was involved.

I hope Liam tolerates his next hair cut better than this one. I felt like there was LOTS of holding down and crying this time.

ROBOTS!

2011-04-05T17:38:00.000-07:00

Last week, my students had a homework assignment to create their own robot. They also wrote a short story to go along with the robot that described what the robot does for them, what they named their robot, and where their robot sleeps. Here are a few pictures of some of them. All of my students were super creative.

Cleopatra-bot

The Maid Robot

Kitty-Bot

I thought this was a cute robot also.

I can't wait to see what kind of robots I get next year. I LOVE the creativity of six and seven year olds!

GO RED LEGS!

2011-03-31T15:44:00.001-07:00

Today was opening day and even though no one from the Ruwe Family was in attendance, we were supporting our RED LEGS! Leave it to the Reds to clinch their first Opening Day win in three years in the bottom of the 9th inning with two outs! We hope the Reds have an even more exciting season than last year!Maybe a world series run??

Blasdel Fun

2011-03-26T13:45:00.000-07:00

On Friday evening we headed over to Blasdel's house for a fish fry and badminton. Maddie and Liam both LOVED being in the jumper. This was Liam's first time and he really enjoyed it.

Maddie, Kaylynn and Lainey played Ring Around the Rosie together.

And they all fall down!

Newport Aquarium

2011-03-26T12:47:00.000-07:00

On Friday, Scott, Maddie and I took our first trip to Newport Aquarium. We had LOTS of fun and can't wait to take Liam when he is a little bit older. Here is Maddie checking out some fish swimming over top her head.

Maddie has been intrigued by turtles ever since my mom caught one last summer at my grandma's house and put it in a bucket to take home to their lake. Whenever, she sees a turtle she equates that to her grandma having one in her minivan.
We all enjoyed watching the octopus go from room to room in his tank. We couldn't believe how such a large octopus could squeeze through such a little tube to get to the other side of his tank.

These were just two fish that Maddie liked.

Of course, she LOVED seeing the "Nemo" fish! Now, we just have to watch the movie sometime.

Maddie and I got to play in the jungle gym. She wouldn't go in by herself because there were lots of "Big" kids in there and it was pretty dark inside of the tubes.

Maddie is trying to keep one eye on the sea otters while daddy took her picture!

Maddie was so excited to see scuba divers. She especially liked the scuba diver that was teasing the fish by putting rocks on the fish's back.

How big of a shark is Maddie...

And she is a "Puffader Shyshark"!

Of course, she had to try to pet the sharks! She wasn't exactly successful, because her arms aren't long enough yet to get deep enough!

Maddie is going through a phase where she is afraid of things that look real, because they may not be fake. So after watching a few children posing by these penguins and mommy assuring her that these penguins are fake, this is about as close as she would get to them. She did pretty good for her, usually she will just scream, so maybe she is getting over her fears a bit.

Maddie enjoyed playing the penguin games.

After our aquarium visit, we went to Cold Stone Creamy to get an ice cream to split. As you can tell Maddie LIKE IT. Even though she has never had it before as Scott is paying for it, she told the cashier that this is her favorite!

It was a great day! I forgot what it was like to only take one child out for an outing. Scott and I agreed it was nice for Maddie to have the attention of both of us for a change.

Spring Break FUN??

2011-03-24T12:58:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday morning we took a quick trip to Bright Lions Park to get a little fresh air. Maddie was so excited because she got to play with Play-Doh. She has been waiting a long time to play with it, because I only let her play with it outside....I just can't stand the mess inside the house.

She also got to go down the tube slide a few times, before Liam got cranky.

On Monday afternoon after Liam's nap, he began to get this rash on his scalp and face. He was running a low grade fever. By the time he woke up Tuesday morning, he was covered in a bright red rash and still had a fever. So Liam had to see the doctor on Tuesday afternoon. His diagnosis was Roseola . I tried to get a picture of his rash on his face. Surprisingly, he is smiling in this picture! He is only contagious for 2 days when the rash is at its peak. As of Thursday, his rash is rapidly disappearing and may be gone by Friday morning. He is definitely feeling better, even though he didn't lose his appetite, he was extremely clingy and wanted to be held all day! This was extremely exhausting. Our doctor said that Maddie may get it, we aren't sure if she was exposed as a baby or not, but so far so good.

Puppy Time!

2011-03-21T11:20:00.000-07:00

On Saturday night, we headed to Aunt Emmi's house to celebrate her birthday and see her new puppies. When we saw the last litter last summer Maddie absolutely LOVED the puppies, so she was excited to meet the new puppies.

Here are the puppies waiting for us to go inside the pen to play with them!

Here is Maddie trying to hold/hug a puppy!

Liam enjoyed the puppies as well. I just love his expressions in these two pictures! He enjoyed petting one of the puppies and giving him kisses!

Maddie tried to call the puppies over to her, but they seemed tired!

Here is one of the TIRED puppies as the Ruwe Family left so they could get some sleep!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2011-03-17T17:10:00.000-07:00

Liam wanted to wish everyone a Happy St. Patrick's Day! He also wanted to let everyone know that he is a "lucky dog"!

The Little People Mini-Van

2011-03-16T17:25:00.000-07:00

This evening, Maddie got her Little People mini-van from the Moore Family. Of course, she had it loaded down with her Little People family. Mom, Dad, and her twin babies! She was so excited about getting the van that the neighbor boy was outside playing when she got home from Nana and Grump's house that she had to run over and show him her mini-van. Then she came to the door to show me. She told me right away that it came with a dog and groceries!

Here is an action shot of her playing with her mini-van and her dollhouse before bed!

Visiting Mommy's Classroom!

2011-03-16T16:30:00.001-07:00

Today Maddie and Liam got to visit me at work! Today was Literacy Day and my Dad volunteered to come in and challenge my students to a Tongue Twister Challenge. Well, I can honestly say my first graders had a great time along with Maddie and Liam. Here is Maddie and Liam sitting with me before they left with Grandma and Grandpa.

Here is Maddie trying to act like a first grader. When I was telling my family good bye, I told my students to sit at their desks for a minute before we get ready for lunch and Maddie decided to follow the crowd. I think she will do great in preschool!

Liam is 8 Months Old!

2011-03-16T16:06:00.000-07:00

On Monday, Liam turned 8 months old! It blows my mind that one week, Maddie turns 3 years old and this week, Liam turns 8 months old! I really don't know where the time goes! (I was sad that I had to work until 8:00 p.m. on his 8th month birthday due to parent-teacher conferences. So Mommy didn't see him at all that day, but daddy did a good job of taking care of him.)

I love this picture of Liam because it pretty much shows his personality at 8 months. He is ALWAYS happy, except when he is hungry or sleepy. So he is extra happy to be eating one of his new favorite foods, Gold Fish crackers!

Lately when Liam has toys laid out to play with, he will pick books. It is funny how he holds it correctly and really tries to look at the pictures. So far so good with his literacy skills!

Liam is an active baby! He can only crawl backwards right now, but I am sure he will begin crawling everywhere any day now. He can crawl himself into a corner in any room, it is soo funny!

He enjoys playing ball with Daddy. Daddy is trying to teach Liam how to roll and throw a ball already. He has a really good throwing motion, but he won't let go of the ball, he just holds onto it. It is really funny. He gets so excited though when he sees a ball being rolled at him.

Liam is working on getting his 5th tooth, so he will continue to try more and more foods! On Sunday he tried bites of cheese and he loved it, but he is obviously NOT a picky eater!

Happy Birthday Maddie!

2011-03-13T13:10:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, March 9th, Maddie officially turned 3 years old! She had a great birthday! Her birthday fell on Ash Wednesday this year, that tidbit is going in the Baby Book. I wonder how many times, if ever again her birthday will fall on Ash Wednesday. For dinner we had her favorite foods, pancakes and sausage. Then she got to blow out her Cinderella candle again.

Then came her favorite part, opening up her birthday presents! From Mommy and Daddy she got a Loving Family dollhouse with accessories. Right away she started organizing it! Right after she opened it she said, "Just what I have always wanted!" The funny part is she said the same thing after she opened up her next present! She is keeping her dollhouse in her bedroom so that Liam can't get into the little pieces very easily. So far, so good on not getting out of bed to play with dollhouse during nap or bedtime. But she does have to put the entire family to bed before bedtime and nap time.

Next, she opened up her Little People Zoo. Right away she started playing with her zoo and organizing her animals in typical Maddie fashion. In the picture you notice how she has all the animals lined up by size. She is definitely the queen of organization!

She thanked Liam for the gifts she got from him. Liam picked out a "school" book for her and a Cat in the Hat and a Corduroy book. She even told Liam that he is a good shopper!

Letter to Madeleine from Mommy on your 3rd Birthday:

Madeleine,

You have grown and changed so much this year! You matured SO much when Liam was born. You are such a caring, nurturing big sister. That is why Liam LOVES spending time with you. Your vocabulary sometimes stuns me, you are a very intelligent girl. You are extremely particular about how things are; very neat and organized is your way. I LOVE your budding personality! I can't wait to find out what the upcoming year brings for you.

Love, Mommy

Maddie's Princess Party!

2011-03-06T08:12:00.000-08:00

On Saturday evening, we celebrated Maddie's 3rd birthday with a Princess Party! She has been super excited and has been practically dieing with anticipation of this party! A couple of weeks ago she decided she wanted to be Cinderella for her party, so I ordered her a dress. As you can tell from the picture she looked just BEAUTIFUL! She was beaming!

Every princess needs a castle cake! This cake creation was made with LOTS of love by Grandma Rachel and myself. Maddie even helped with the M & Ms.

Not one, but two Cinderellas showed up at the Princess Party! Maddie's best gal pal, Leah likes Cinderella also.

Liam even got in on the party action, by playing the part of King Liam.

King Liam likes Queen Megan!

Queen Megan wasn't so sure about King Jake's grip.

Here is Princess Madeleine getting ready to blow out her Cinderella candle.

This is Princess Madeleine getting ready for some beauty sleep in her new princess pajamas from Grandma and Grandpa.

Liam the Cleaner

2011-03-06T08:04:00.000-08:00

On Monday night Maddie, Liam and I cleaned the upstairs while Scott did his weekly homework assignments. If I wanted to be ready for Maddie's birthday party on Saturday, I knew I had to get their bedrooms cleaned on Monday evening. The kids cooperated really well. When we were cleaning Maddie's closet, Liam figured out how to shut the door, which was funny. Then he decided to crawl backwards into a corner. That is his new thing right now, he doesn't crawl forwards, he just crawls backwards until he finds a corner.

So after Liam found the corner, he decided it was bed time. So I just had to snap these pictures of him "helping" us. He looked so peaceful despite a vacuum running!

Is Spring Here?

2011-03-06T04:57:00.001-08:00

About a week and a half ago, we had a sneak preview of spring time. So I took the kids for a wagon ride. This was Liam's first ride in his Christmas present from Grandma and Grandpa.

Maddie is such a good big sister, she let Liam lean on her and not complain about it. She thought is was silly how he would lay on her.

Every girl has to end a good wagon ride with a phone call to Nana to tell her about her day!

The Play Room Project

2011-03-06T04:39:00.000-08:00

During the middle of January, we decided to transform our "extra room" into a playroom for the kids. These pictures show it go from Blah to Wow. ("Wow" is the catch phrase Maddie uses to tell about anything new or different.) This is Maddie helping Daddy take down all the trim so he can start dry walling.

This room was our catch-all room. We were storing mattresses down here for my aunt, etc. So we had lots of pitching and sorting to do. (I am embarrassed of this picture.)

This is our "professional" dry waller, Daddy Scott, finishing the drywall. I am so glad he hung drywall in high school and college because it has come in handy several times since we became home owners.

Let the painting begin! Maddie has been waiting to paint since we started this project so we had to let her have a turn. She did a great job. She did it in typical Maddie fashion, exact and not messy at all!

Maddie helping Daddy paint the play room.

Here is the finished project! Maddie loves it! I am sure that Maddie and Liam are going to get many, many hours of fun out of this room plus there are not toys randomly laying around the house. I LOVE THAT!

This organization system started as a Pottery Barn catalog picture and I took it to a local wood worker and he formatted it to make it ours. If anyone needs any custom work done, please let me know because I have a good recommendation!

Liam is 7 Months!

2011-02-17T17:33:00.001-08:00

Liam is 7 Months!

Liam turned 7 months old on Valentine's Day! He waved at me for the first time during dinner on Monday night. Here he is waving at the camera. This is the new outfit he got from Grandma for Valentine's Day.

Liam loves to play with his Weeble-Wobble toy! It is funny how he is beginning to show preference for certain toys.

Maddie wanted to pose with Liam and as you can tell from this picture, he doesn't hardly take his eyes off of her. She is sporting her Valentine's Day shirt.

Liam decided it would be fun to try and lay down on the floor on his own. So he is giving it a try!

Once Liam got down to the floor, he got on his belly and instantly found a toy to chew on. He is going to be crawling before we know it.

Liam is posing for the camera, getting into his future crawling position. Being 7 months is so fun!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-17T17:15:00.000-08:00

Maddie and Liam had an enjoyable Valentine's Day weekend by spending Saturday night with Grandma and Grandpa and going to church and Sunday school with Grandma. This is Maddie and Liam with hanging out at Grandma's in their Valentine's Day shirts.

Here is a picture of Maddie and Jake holding their little sister and brother on their first Valentine's Day. Megan and Liam enjoyed their first Valentine's Day!

Maddie enjoyed stamping and drawing with her new robot stamps that she got for Valentine's Day from Mommy and Daddy. The stamps have been keeping her really busy this week.

I had to post this picture because this is the same face that Scott makes when he concentrates on something. I have noticed lately that Maddie makes the same face also.

SHREK SIGHTING!

2011-02-10T16:41:00.000-08:00

Last Friday, Wee Wonders started back up at the Logan Branch Library. Before library time, while picking out Valentine books, Jake discovered this Shrek corner. So Maddie and Jake had to pose in front of it.

Jake is a SHREK fanatic! Maddie and Jake took turns being Shrek.

Starring:

Maddie as Shrek and Jake as Donkey.

Now Starring: Jake as Shrek and Maddie as Donkey!

SICK DAYS!

2011-02-10T16:28:00.000-08:00

On Monday, when I went to pick the kids up from the baby sitter's house, I meet two sick kiddos! Chris had given Maddie Tylenol when she got up from nap because she had a fever. Liam was still sleeping when I got there at 4:15 and he had been sleeping since 2:00. Liam had this cough that sounded like a 70 year old man that smokes two packs a day. His whole body would shake after coughing.

When we got home, Liam just sat in his bouncy seat and was in a constant sleepy state.

He even fell asleep in the bathtub!

On Tuesday, Scott took the kids to the doctor with my mom. Maddie has a double ear infection. Liam has an upper respiratory infection. Both are beginning to feel better now that they are on antibiotics. I hope this is our one and only illness this winter. I am crossing my fingers right now!

Megan Marie's Baptism

2011-02-10T16:19:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, Megan Marie Lutz was baptized. Scott and I were the proud godparents. She didn't even cry when Father Bernie poured the holy water over her head. She just woke up, which made for good pictures because then she had her eyes open for the pictures.

We tried to get a group picture with everyone, but poor Jake was worn out from having a slumber party at Grandma and Grandpa's house and going to church with Grandma. Liam just can't keep his eyes off of baby Megan.

Maddie's line of the week

2011-02-06T13:05:00.000-08:00

We took a good ol' fashion family trip to the Home Depot on Friday night to pick up some toys for Daddy. On the way home Maddie was sitting in the back quiet and her breathing was heavier than normal since she has a cold. The following short conversation was just too funny to not share.

Mom: "Maddie, are you okay? I can hear you breathing."

Maddie: "I am?"...."YEAH, I DID IT!"

And she has never been more proud about any other accomplishment in life yet.

I just can't wait to hear what Liam says, or if Maddie will try to speak his funny lines too.

Weekend Fun!

2011-01-25T17:22:00.000-08:00

This past weekend we had LOTS of fun! Maddie got to go to an East Central basketball game on Friday night with Grandma, Grandpa, and Jake. She wants to be a cheerleader when she grows up. When grandpa dropped her off Friday night she said, "The Cheerleaders say Go Team!"

On Sunday morning, she got to take her bath in 'Mommy's bathtub'. She ended up being in the tub for 30 minutes before Scott had to drain the water and force her out of the tub. She enjoyed swimming in the bathtub.

Later on in the day, while Maddie was taking her nap, Liam decided he wanted to play with Maddie's toys. It was funny, because he just rolled over to them and started picking them up and holding them. Then he would put them down and try out another one. Good thing Maddie wasn't there when he did this, I don't how she would react to him moving her toys. I guess she will have to get used to this because he is going to be into all of her things before long!

After Maddie got up from her nap we headed over to Jake's house so we could do some sled riding while Liam stayed inside with Grandma. I only went down the hill one time with Maddie and then she was ready to do it on her own.

This is Jake in his helmet. He was wearing it while we were going sled riding because Jake is now the proud owner of his own Kitty Cat Snow Mobile. He was sooo excited to have Maddie over to go sled riding with him and to take a ride on his new snow mobile.

This is Maddie taking her turn on Jake's snow mobile. She didn't ride it by herself. Daddy took her for a ride. Of course, Mommy had to try it out, but I took a ride by myself.

Can't wait to see what kind of things we do next weekend!

Liam is 6 Months

2011-01-16T12:30:00.000-08:00

On Friday, January 14th, Liam turned 6 months old! I know I say this every month, but I can't believe that my baby boy is already 6 months old. Time is going entirely too fast for me!

In order to celebrate Liam's 6 month birthday we decided it was time to get out Liam's high chair. So here are a couple pictures of Liam being a big boy in his high chair.

He looks so proud of himself!

We even let him try to drink some water out of a sippy cup for the first time. He acted just like he knew what he needed to do.

He looked like such a big boy eating snacks off of the tray of his high chair all by himself!

On Tuesday, Liam went for his 6 month wellness check with Dr. Kick. He weighed 17 pounds 4 ounces (50 percentile) and is 17.5 inches long (75 percentile). After his appointment we stopped by the clinic and he got his shots, including his first flu shot.

At 6 months, Liam loves to play with his big sister Maddie. He likes to cuddle with his tag blankets at nap times and night time. Liam is a FOOD ADDICT! So far he has introduced to peas, bananas, carrots, sweet potatoes, peaches, Yo-Baby yogurt, and pears. Liam is rolling, rolling, rolling! He likes to get on his belly and practice his 'swimming' move, I am sure it will be no time until he is crawling. He still has his happy-go-lucky personality. Liam is always smiling!

At Christmas time he began saying, "Ma-Ma" and now he is saying "Da-Da." I bet Liam's third word will be Maddie. He just doesn't take his eyes off of her.

Big Sister...Little Brother

2011-01-12T11:26:00.000-08:00

For Christmas Maddie got a new Big Sister shirt and she wanted to wear it today. So then of course Liam had to wear his Little Brother shirt...and then a photo shoot broke out.

Here are some of the photos.

My smiley kids. Liam was giggling in this photo.

Liam is checking out what his big sis is up to.

Liam is getting his socks, his new trick.

One last smiley picture...I think this is my favorite!

PEAS!

2011-01-12T11:17:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday night, I decided that Liam was ready to try a new food, so he tried some peas. He LOVES all the foods he has tried so far. So far he loves bananas,pears, peaches, sweet potatoes, and carrots. It was funny, the first bite he took he made the funniest face, but he chowed down and finished them off.

Here is the funny face from Liam's first bite of peas!

Gotta love a pea mess!!

January Birthdays

2011-01-11T13:19:00.000-08:00

On Sunday night we celebrated Aunt Heidi's and Aunt Amanda's Birthdays. Here is Maddie helping Aunt Heidi open her gifts.

Jake helped Aunt Amanda open her gifts.

Here are the birthday girls blowing out their birthday candles.

This is Liam in his party hat. He borrowed it from the My Buddy doll at Grandma's house. It just fits him!

Jake's party hat was a Firefighter hat.

Tinkerbell Movie Night

2011-01-11T12:57:00.001-08:00

On Saturday night, we hosted a Tinkerbell Movie Night for Maddie. She got the movie for Christmas from Nana and Grumps.

Liam enjoyed eating his new snacks, banana puffs. I don't think that I have to tell you that he likes them...a lot! He seemed to like watching the movie also, even if it was a girl movie.

Maddie enjoyed her snacks. She chose to have Laughing cow cheese with Wheat Thins and apple slices with peanut butter. Later on, we took an intermission so that Maddie could help Daddy pop some popcorn.

I think she is looking forward to her next movie night. She also got Robots for Christmas so we will try to watch that some time in February!

Ruwe Christmas

2011-01-11T12:28:00.000-08:00

On New Year's Day we spend the day celebrating Ruwe Christmas.

Leah, Brendan, and Maddie were busy passing out the presents this year.

Leah got so excited when she unwrapped "toothpaste." It was so cute!

Brendan loved his Thomas umbrella!

Liam got really excited about getting diapers! Every baby's and parent's dream!!

Maddie loved her Tinkerbell umbrella from Aunt Emmi!

I just love this picture of classic Liam...drooling and happy!

I think that Liam is going to ask for a John Deere Excavator next Christmas. He just loved Brendan's.

Liam got so tired he took a snooze laying on the couch next to Nana.

Leah the Bow Princess!

Fun With Firestone Family!

2011-01-11T12:12:00.000-08:00

Before the new year, the Firestone Family paid a visit to Sunman so we got together one evening at my mom's house for dinner. Maddie had a great time playing with the girls. Here they are waiting for their dinner to be served.

Liam decided to start holding his own bottle that night also.

We had a great time catching up with the Firestone Family and hope to spend time with them again soon.

Liam's New Toy!

2010-12-29T12:33:00.001-08:00

Last night, Scott got out the exer-saucer for Liam and boy did he LOVE it. He instantly started playing with the toys and then he started turning himself in the seat.

I think his favorite toy was the star. He kept going after it. I just can't get over how fast my sweet boy is growing up....sniff, sniff.

Oehlman Christmas

2010-12-29T12:11:00.001-08:00

The night after Christmas, we celebrated Oehlman Christmas at GG's house.

Liam and Maddie are lounging together in GG's chair. I just love Liam's BIG smile in this picture!

Jake and Maddie love playing with Laura!

December 26th is Edward's 15th birthday! Happy Birthday Edward!

Maddie enjoyed eating Edward's birthday cake...her favorite vanilla with chocolate icing.

Aunt Amy and Gretchen helped teach Maddie and Jake how to play parts to the Charlie Brown Christmas song. They were getting pretty good at it after a couple of tries.

This is Maddie walking like a penguin. Out of nowhere she came and told Scott and I that she was a penguin...her imagination never stops!

Liam Loves Hats!

2010-12-28T13:57:00.000-08:00

On Christmas morning, Liam soon became obsessed with Aunt Heidi's IU hat. Scott captured some cute moments so I thought I would share them.

This is how it all started: Liam pulling at Aunt Heidi's hat strings!

This is right before Liam pulled the hat off of Aunt Heidi's head!

Then success...Aunt Heidi put it on Liam's head!

Last step: Check out how it tastes. Liam wants to get it nice and wet before giving it back to Aunt Heidi.

As you can tell from the pictures Aunt Heidi had to work on Christmas Eve night. So she was mighty tired and ready to go home to sleep after being up for like 16 hours!

Christmas Day!

2010-12-28T13:26:00.001-08:00

We started off our Christmas morning by heading over to Grandpa and Grandma's house for our Christmas breakfast! This is one of the few meals my dad cooks all year and he goes all out. This year we had bacon, sausage, eggs to order, toast, pancakes, and fruit. Needless to say our bellies were very full after that meal!

Grandpa, the cook, poses with the kiddos.

Now posing with just the babies, Megan and Liam!

Favorite Gifts include, but not limited to:

Jake got a Round baler!

Maddie got a Ladybug Pillow Pet! (Which she has slept with every night since!)

Maddie also got play food for her kitchen set from the Lutz Family!

Liam got tissue paper and gift bags...while maybe not, but that is what he wanted to play with.

Liam also liked his Crocodile block toy from the Howe's.

Maddie and Jake also got a special gift from Grandpa. Their very own flashlights! Whenever they go to Grandma and Grandpa's house they have to get out Grandpa's flashlights, so now they have their own.

After Christmas at Grandpa and Grandma's house, we headed to Widolff Christmas at Whitey and Sue's house. We finished off the day at my Grandma Oehlman's house. It was a great Christmas Day spending time with family.

Christmas Eve

2010-12-28T13:11:00.000-08:00

On Christmas Eve, the kids took their naps at Grandma and Grandpa's house so that Scott and I could enjoy Christmas Eve mass. For the time being our children are just too young to sit through 2.5 hours of church and for Scott and I to get anything out of it, except stressed out. So here is our family Christmas picture at Grandma and Grandpa's house before leaving to go to Nana and Grump's house for dinner.

Here is Liam hanging out with Grumps.

Aunt Emily LOVED her present from the Ruwe's...a slightly used bowling ball and shoes!! It was a Lutz Auction Center Special!

Maddie got to open one present from Nana and Grumps on Christmas Eve. (The Moore's will be joining us on New Year's Day, so she has to wait until then.) When she opened it she said, "This is exactly what I wanted." It was the cutest thing!

Liam got a bib with his name on it. Nana said she found it at Metamora. I now believe you can find anything at Metamora because I would never have thought I would see a personalized bib for Liam.

We had a great Christmas Eve!

Sing Along

2010-12-27T05:15:00.000-08:00

On Christmas Eve morning Maddie and Liam decided to play sing along together. This is Maddie's new thing. Everyone gets a microphone and we sing Christmas songs together. Liam got included in this game and he just looked too cute holding onto his microphone and the way Scott had him positioned it looked like he was actually standing up.

What a cute singer!

Here is Maddie getting her megaphone out from under her picnic table. She was using her megaphone as her microphone.

Lutz Christmas

2010-12-27T04:53:00.000-08:00

Here is Liam with the hostess, Aunt Heidi!

On Thursday, December 23, we had Lutz Christmas at Aunt Heidi and Uncle Kyle's house. The food was great, the company was better! We switched things up this year and instead of bringing a few prizes for BINGO games, we did our first ever White Elephant exchange. It was lots of fun.

Here is Maddie having fun at the party!

Jake found a seat sitting in Liam's Bumbo seat.

Liam wanted to hold Baby Megan's hand sooo bad! He also liked to touch the little Santa's on her feet. I know they are going to be best buddies, just like Maddie and Jake.

Aunt Heidi and Grandma and hanging out with the babies! Megan looked so adorable in her 'Babies First Christmas' outfit.

Jake is having some chips and a drink before heading home.

Maddie ate chips with Bryson and Meredith before she headed home for the night.

We had a great time spending time with family and can't wait to do it all over again next year!

Merry Christmas Lutz Family!!

Tea Party!

2010-12-21T07:06:00.000-08:00

This morning Maddie was playing tea party like she often does, but today she included Liam. I quickly ran and got the camera and luckily captured a couple of pictures to capture the moment. In this picture Maddie gave Liam his own tea cup and asked him not to spill it. He is trying to hold his cup up right while she pours him a cup.

Oh, No! Liam spilled his tea cup. Don't worry, Maddie will just fill him up again. Maddie is such a good big sister! She is really starting to try to interact and include Liam in her play, which is just the cutest thing!

Christmas Program

2010-12-21T06:59:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, we went to church with Grandma and Grandpa so we could watch their church Christmas program. The program was super cute. The pastor asked a few questions to the children during the program and their responses were hilarious. Mary admitted that she really didn't want to marry Joseph. (In fact, they weren't even dating.) After church we decided to snap a few pictures of us all dressed up in our Christmas clothes in front of their church tree.

SNOW FUN!

2010-12-21T06:45:00.000-08:00

After many days of having to just look at all that snow, Maddie got to have some fun in the snow with Daddy on Saturday afternoon. After Scott got her all bundled up, they played out side for over an hour.

The outside fun was complete with an attempt to build a snowman. Here is Maddie putting the carrot nose on the snowman.

While all this fun was going on outside...Liam was taking his afternoon nap. Next winter...he will have his chance to play outside with Maddie.

Liam is 5 Months Old

2010-12-16T07:09:00.000-08:00

Liam is doing well sitting up with the support from the boppy pillow. Soon he will be able to do this all on his own.

I honestly don't know where the past 5 months have gone! Liam turned 5 months old on Tuesday. He has adjusted well to me going back to work. He has consistently slept though the night for the past week and a half. He goes to bed by 8:00 and Scott gets him up at 7:15 in the morning.

So far he loves apple sauce, bananas, and carrots. I bought fresh sweet potatoes last night so that I can cook some for him. So we will find out tonight what he thinks of sweet potatoes. He is such a happy -go-lucky baby. I hope he doesn't lose his smiley disposition.

On Tuesday night Maddie wanted to try to feed Liam "all by herself" so here is a picture of her trying it out with Scott's help.

As you can tell from the pictures, Liam LOVES to eat!!

Introducing Megan Marie Lutz!

2010-12-16T06:55:00.000-08:00

Megan Marie Lutz was born on Wednesday, December 8, 2010. She was over 8 pounds and is a beautiful baby. She looks completely different than Jake. She has thick black hair and has a nice "tan" like complexion.

I went to the hospital last Wednesday to meet her while Scott and the kids were at Nana and Grump's house. So on Monday night we all went to Grandma and Grandpa's house so we would have a chance to meet her.

Here is big brother Jake snuggling with her on Monday night.

Here are all of the cousins together.

Here is Grandpa rocking his babies!

Operation: Christmas Tree

2010-12-05T12:27:00.000-08:00

For the past 5 holiday seasons, Scott and I have had the tradition of going to Home Depot to pick out our Christmas tree. I know that sounds funny. Every year, when we get compliments on our tree we always say...it came from Home Depot. We always get a chuckle out of people. So on Saturday morning we loaded up Maddie and Liam and headed down to Home Depot. When we arrived it was snowing pretty hard so Liam hung out in the hot house with the nice Home Depot worker.

Here is Maddie hugging the Christmas tree that she helped us pick out. I guess she loved it so much because when I asked her to stand by the tree so I can take her picture she asked me if she could hug the tree. It just so happened that the very first Scotch Pine that we saw was the perfect tree for us.

This is the finished product...I can't wait to hang out in the family room tonight and enjoy the Christmas lights. (And the lights are scarce this year because 3 of our strands didn't work when Scott plugged them in.)

Back to Work

2010-12-03T17:40:00.000-08:00

Well....we have survived the last 3 days. They were long days for me and the kids, but we have survived. Wednesday was my first day back to work in about 6 months due to summer break and my maternity leave so I had a lot of adjusting to do.

The past three days have been a challenge at work because I have felt like a sub in my own classroom. Each day got better and I think I am settled back in to the routine of things. Today was crazy. The electric went out for about an hour this morning so the kids were wound up about that, but we made life sized Santa to hold their Letters to Santa for the hallway so I think that helped to add to their holiday spirit. I have a really good class this year, with 22 energetic, creative and humorous first graders.

Some of my favorite quotes of the week include:

"But Mrs. Ruwe...it's the first snow....I just can't stop looking at the snow." (This came after I asked a student to sit down in her seat because I couldn't keep her away from the window on Wednesday.)

"Mrs. Ruwe you are so creative." (This made me feel good, but I don't really what I did to be called creative."

Did you know that mistletoe is "something that you shoot out of a big gun?" Or "something that you stand under with someone and I'm not allowed to tell you what you do under it." And then another student piped up and said, "Oh, yeah my mom and dad kiss under it." (This conversation started with me asking the class if they knew what mistletoe was before we started reading a book that made a play on the word mistletoe.

This is only my top three quotes from the past three days....you just never know what you are going to get in the first grade. This is the best part about my job...the one liners that the kids drop that they don't even know they are one liners.

Maddie and Liam are adjusting well. They both are behaving and napping well for grandma and Chris.

Only 2 and a half weeks until Christmas break!

Like Sister, Like Brother

2010-11-30T13:26:00.000-08:00

Like Sister, Like Brother....now has all new meaning to me! When Maddie was a baby she decided to roll over the day before I went back to work. Well at 4:30 this afternoon...Liam decided to begin to really go to town rolling over. He was playing on his play mat and then rolled over from his back. It was the funniest thing...he just laid there laughing and smiling at me. I think he was saying, "Look at me mom! I am soo proud of myself, good luck trying to keep up with me now. Soon I will be crawling and then walking and running!"

I am so glad me kids choose to meet this milestone so I can see it before I go back to work!

Happy 29th Birthday, Daddy!

2010-11-30T12:36:00.000-08:00

Here is Maddie singing Happy Birthday to her Daddy.

Monday was Scott's 29th birthday. We started the celebration on Sunday night by having a steak dinner at my parent's house. On Monday when Scott got home from work the kids and I took him to dinner at his favorite restaurant, Penn Station. Then he picked out some ice cream at UDF. Once we were home Scott opened up his cards and present, while eating some ice cream.

On Wednesday night Scott is going to celebrate with his family. He is excited becasuse he mom called last night to let him know she made Oreo Balls for him (his favorite dessert.) On Saturday night I am taking him out and Liam will be doing his first overnight stay at Nana and Grumps. So we are going to have the WHOLE night to ourselves.

Maddie wanted to hold Daddy...so this is her holding Daddy on her lap.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-29T10:57:00.001-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

This Thanksgiving was Liam's first Thanksgiving and I think he had a great holiday! Here is Liam in his Thanksgiving outfit. (This is the same outfit Maddie wore for her first Thanksgiving and she was 9 months old. Liam is only 4 months old. He is such a big boy!)

We started out at Aunt Jan's house. Maddie enjoyed eating lunch with her Widolff cousins, especially Leo. He just adores her.

After an afternoon of fun, we headed to GG's house for a dinner Thanksgiving meal with the Oehlman's. We had a great time. Maddie even got to help with family tradition! Every Thanksgiving we complete a puzzle and Maddie got to help and Grandma even had a special puzzle for her to help complete. After a day of no naps for both kids, we were ready to head home at 8:30.

Here is Liam getting ready to get his night time bottle from GG. He snuggles right up to her and went to sleep before we left.

On Friday morning we had some more Thanksgiving fun by going to the Oehlman's house to play Rock Band for a couple of hours before heading back to Grandma's house for lunch. Here are a couple of pictures of our band members. In this picture Laura is on vocals and Heidi is on guitar.

In this picture Scott is on guitar and Edward is on drums. We had a TON of fun and can't wait to do this again! We can't wait for the Christmas season to come so we have to opportunity to make more memories with our families!

Test Run

2010-11-24T18:07:00.000-08:00

Today I had a dentist appointment and wanted to go to school to try to get reacquainted with my class room a bit before I go back to work next Wednesday so Liam and Maddie went to Chris' house. We did a test run of Scott getting the kids up and loading them up to take them to Chris. Maddie was super excited to see her friends. They ended up being at Chris' house longer that I anticipated because I did not pick them up until 4:45. So they had a full day of fun! Maddie likes being at Chris' house so much I had to physically remove her from their house.

On the ride home she told me the quote of the day...
When I asked her if she took a nap today she said, "Yes, I do. I slept in Chris' bed with Macy, Jakie, and Daniel." When I asked her if Liam slept with her and the other kids she said, "No, Silly Mommy, babies sleep in the living room. There is no room for babies in the bed." I just thought this was super cute.

Next Thursday the kids will start going to Chris' house three days a week again and then spend two days with my mom. Chris reported that Liam is just the best baby...so that is good. He is going to be spoiled because her four girls took turns holding him after they got home from school until I picked him up. Knowing that my kids are happy and loved while I am at work makes me feel better about going back to work...I guess we will see how next Wednesday goes!

Liam...A Screamer??

2010-11-23T11:30:00.000-08:00

On Sunday night Liam went to sleep as easily as usual, but at 2:45, he was screaming! I soothed him back to sleep and I was just about back to sleep myself when he was up at 3:30 again screaming. This cycle went on until at 5:45, Scott gave him a bottle and put him back to bed. He seemed to be asleep again until 6:30 when he was up and screaming again. So I gave up and brought him to sleep with me. I don't know what the magical power is of Mommy and Daddy's bed, but I slept until 8:00 and he slept until 8:45.

Luckily, everything was back to normal last night. He slept from 8:15 until 7:15, his usual, so I think that teething may have been the culprit.

When I got up on Monday morning I snapped a picture of him sleeping sound in our bed.

Finally at peace!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

2010-11-23T11:25:00.000-08:00

On Sunday evening we celebrated Grandma's 52nd birthday. Maddie and Jake enjoyed helping Grandma open up her presents and cards.

Gotta love their outfits...Jake the firebiter (that is how Maddie says firefighter) and Maddie has a plastic green horseshoe around her neck.

Fall Fun

2010-11-23T11:05:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, Scott, Maddie, and I worked on getting our yard winterized. First, I have to post a picture of Scott using his leaf blower for the first time which is a birthday present from my parents. He LOVES it! I can't wait to get a turn to use it sometime.

Maddie had a great time playing in the leaves this year. It was funny to see how much more fun she had this year than last fall due to being more balanced. She loved hiding in the pile of leaves...

and jumping in to the pile!

This is what Liam did while we were having fun out in the leaves...taking his morning nap. I can't wait to see how much fun he will have playing in the leaves with Maddie next fall.

Scott let Maddie have a turn taking pictures. And these are a couple of here pictures...I don't think they were too bad.

This is a pretty good ground shot.

Snuggle Bunny

2010-11-23T11:01:00.001-08:00

I just had to post this picture of Liam and I snuggling before he got his night time bottle on Friday night. I feel as though these snuggling moments are becoming fewer and fewer already!! My baby boy is growing up too fast!!

Bee Active

2010-11-23T10:50:00.000-08:00

Last Wednesday afternoon Maddie and I had a play date with our MOPS group at Bee Active Gym in Batesville. Maddie had a blast! They had these HUGE areas that were filled with foam cubes. Maddie would run on a long trampoline and then she would jump into the pit.

She also enjoyed hanging from a set of rings but I couldn't get a picture of it because I was spotting her. So I got a picture of her on the bar.

Maddie told me on the way home she would like to have her birthday party there. I think she overheard me talking to another mom who had held her daughter's birthday party there this year. We can't wait to go back and hopefully take Liam and Daddy next time!

Liam is 4 Months Old!

2010-11-17T12:16:00.000-08:00

My little man is already 4 months old! Today at his wellness check he weighed in at 15 pounds (50th percentile) and is 26 inches long (95th percentile). Dr. Kick agreed that he is working on getting his teeth. He is always chewing on his fists and drools sooo much. It was so cute when Dr. Kick asked Maddie how her brother is doing. Maddie replied, "He is talking. We laugh at him. He is a silly boy." Then she began singing Row, Row, Row Your Boat and Liam started laughing like always.

She said that everything looks good. She commented again on how strong he is for having such a long torso. I told her I think he is going to be a mover and a shaker as soon as he can. He is doing well sleeping this week. He has been sleeping anywhere from 6:00 to 8:00. It still varies everyday. As of today, he is fully weaned from nursing and he now gets soo excited when he sees a bottle. He starts squealing. It is funny to watch. We are still trying to give him rice cereal every night after we eat dinner. He is still trying to learn how to get the cereal off of the spoon without spitting it all back out.

This picture is Liam doing his favorite move. He gets on his hip, cocks his neck all the way back to watch Maddie playing with her toys behind him.

The Ruwe's Meet Cohen Spencer

2010-11-12T11:34:00.000-08:00

Big Brother Cooper holding Cohen & Big Sister Maddie holding Liam

Last night the Ruwe's took pizza and cookies to the Spencer family. We got the opportunity to meet and greet Cohen. It was funny to see how little a 2 week old is...Liam is only 4 months old and I already don't remember him being that tiny. Cohen seems to be a good baby. He slept almost the entire time we were there. Maddie and Cooper had a great time playing together. It will be nice that Cohen and Liam are about the same age so they will be able to play together like Cooper and Maddie do.

Madeleine the Pisces!

2010-11-11T13:18:00.001-08:00

Today Maddie wore her zodiac sign shirt and it made me curious to see if her personality traits match those of her zodiac sign.

Madeleine the Pisces!

Surprisingly, her emerging personality is pretty much in line with the Pisces description. I took the description from a website and the words in bold were the words used on the website and I put a note about Madeleine to the side.

Madeleine Likes:

Nature (LOVES)
Music (Is always singing/humming a tune)
Mystical settings (Very Imaginative)
Being loved / wanted (She craves to have a sense of purpose: e.i. she strong duty to be a people-pleaser/helper)
Freedom (She likes to try new things & be on her own)
Privacy (Her bedroom is her own space)

Madeleine Dislikes:

Noise (She can only sleep in a silent setting & even as a baby would get overwhelmed in noisy settings)
Crowds (This kind of goes hand in hand with noise for her)
Dirt & ugliness (Her infamous line right now is "That is dirty." She has said this about Nana's bathroom and Grandma's house when putting out fall decorations. She definitely likes neat & orderly)
Being reminded (Miss Independent will say, "OK, OK, OK" in her leave me alone voice when reminded to do something)
Tight spaces (Not sure)
Authority (Not sure, but she definitely has her own opinions and thoughts)
Revealing private life (Not sure)

I just thought it was funny how many similarities there were between the Pisces characteristics and Madeleine's emerging personality. Not that I think people "are their zodiac signs" I just thought it was interesting how many characteristics there were in common with her personality. I am curious to do this for Liam once he displays more of his personality type.

Indian Summer Day #2

2010-11-11T11:50:00.000-08:00

The Ruwe Family is still so thankful for these Indian Summer days! Today, Maddie and I decided that we should take advantage of this weather and have a picnic lunch on the deck. So I snapped a couple of pictures of her enjoying her lunch.

Thankful for this Indian Summer

2010-11-10T12:22:00.001-08:00

With Thanksgiving around the corner, I would definitely say that I am thankful for this Indian Summer. So, with this Indian Summer in full swing, I decided that we needed to this glorious weather while we still can. So I packed a picnic lunch and we headed to Miami-Whitewater park for some playtime. I am SO THANKFUL that I got to have this experience with Maddie and Liam before I go back to work!

This is Liam enjoying the sunny weather from his stroller. I thought for sure he would take his morning nap at the park, but he was too busy being nosy. He wanted to hear and see what all of the other kiddos were up to.

When we got to the playground Maddie said she was sad and when I asked her why she said, "Because Kaylynn and Nora are not here." So I guess next spring and or summer we will have to have a play date at the park with Nora and Kaylynn. She remembers everything!

Maddie quickly made friends with a few other girls that were playing in the sand. She just invited herself into their playgroup. She did ask them if they would share their buckets with her.

After about an hour of playing it was time for lunch. We found a great spot by the lake. Maddie loves this spot because she saw lots of "Daddy ducks, Mommy ducks, Liam ducks, and Maddie ducks." I think this is her way of spotting a duck family.

I can't wait to go back to the park next summer when Liam will be able to play with Maddie...or maybe not, then I will have to closely watch two kiddos that could decide to dart in opposite directions. I guess I will adapt to that next summer!

Rice Cereal is Yummy!!

2010-11-10T12:11:00.001-08:00

On Tuesday, November 2nd, after dinner we decided it was the perfect time for Liam to try to eat some rice cereal. At first bite he did NOT have a "Ummm...Yummy" face as you can see in the picture.

Later on after I got him to open his mouth so I could get the spoon in he seemed OK with it. We have not tried again since last week, but I think he will catch on to eating fast.

I think he got more cereal on his face then he did in his tummy!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

2010-11-01T13:00:00.000-07:00

I can't believe this is already Maddie's third Halloween. So far she has been a Tootsie Roll and a Ladybug Princess. This year Maddie was old enough to choose what she wanted to be and from October 1st on she consisted said she wanted to be a GHOST, so she could scare Jakie. She was a pretty scary ghost. She enjoyed saying BOO to everyone all night long.

She wanted to put tattoos on her face along with the word BOO on her cheeks. So here I am painting her face white. She did a really good job of not touching her face paint.

Here is my little pumpkin and my scary ghost trick-or-treating at Uncle Loren's and Aunt Marge's house. At least at their house Maddie waited to say trick-or-treat until someone answered the door. They enjoyed her saying,"Trick or Treat give me something good to eat."

Next stop was Grandma Bert's house.

Here are the trick or treaters with GG Oehlman!

Nana with the trick or treaters!

We had a great time on Halloween...Maddie and Liam got loads of treats for Halloween. Maddie is already thinking about what she wants to be next year. I wonder what Liam will want to be next year!

Halloween Shirts

2010-10-29T10:30:00.000-07:00

This morning when we were playing in the family room, I just had to snap a couple of pics of Maddie and Liam in their Halloween shirts. Maddie's shirt says, "I want candy" and Liam's says, "I love Mummy".

Then Maddie started snuggling on her little brother and I had to get a picture of that also! She loves her brother so much!

LIAM IS SITTING UP!

2010-10-29T10:21:00.000-07:00

This morning while I was trying to get Maddie dressed and packed to go to Evansville, Liam was kind of fussing because it was like he wanted to sit up to see what Maddie and I were doing. So I got the idea to try and see if he could sit up in his Bumbo seat or not....well, here are the results.

He says, I think I am ready to eat Rice Cereal and play some sitting up! I just can't believe how much earlier he is doing things than Maddie did. He just turned 15 weeks old on Wednesday.

As you can see from the picture, Maddie let Liam play with two of her most prized things, Prayer Bunny and Chewy-Chewy.

PUMPKIN SEED ART

2010-10-28T11:11:00.000-07:00

When we carved pumpkins last Friday, I saved the seeds so that Maddie and I could make some pumpkin seed art.

On Sunday, I cleaned the seeds and laid them on cookie sheets to dry them in the sun. On Tuesday, Maddie and I mixed 1 cup of water with 1 tablespoon of white vinegar, and mixed food coloring in cups to make the colors she wanted. We left them soaking in the cups for about an hour and then removed them with a fork. Then placed them on cookie sheets on wax paper and then placed them back out in the sunlight for the afternoon.

We had to wait to let them dry outside until Wednesday due to the storms on Tuesday, but Maddie has been waiting patiently for the seeds to get ready so she can make her name with them. So on Wednesday she helped me print out her and Liam's name so that part would be ready for today.

So here are some pictures of the final product. I couldn't believe how fast Maddie could do the names. I just put down a strip of glue on one letter at a time and she put the seeds down.

Here is Maddie starting on Liam's name.

Maddie wanted to do more after finishing up her and Liam's names so we made a pumpkin too.

Pumpkin Seed art was LOTS of fun...I can't wait to try out some new creations next year!

My 29th Birthday!

2010-10-26T16:11:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to Me!

Monday was my 29th birthday! On Sunday evening my family celebrated. Mom made one of my favorite foods, meat loaf, baked potatoes, lima beans & corn. For my birthday cake she made my favorite: yellow cake with chocolate icing! As you can see from the picture even Firefighter Maddie was able to make it to my party!

As Heidi & Mom were lighting the candles, I kept thinking that is a lot of candles...but with a big breath I blew them all out but 1.

Had to post the picture of Maddie helping to lick the icing off the bottom of the candles. It almost looks like Liam is laughing/smiling at Maddie.

Finally, we posed for a family picture before the evening was over. Liam was taking a quick snooze. Overall, I had a great birthday. Scott and I got to spend the evening together on Saturday night before we picked up Liam at my mom's house. I am looking forward to going to Ertel's Winery on Wednesday night. I am excited because I am finally going to get to do the wine tasting there. I have only been there a few other times, but every time I go there, I am pregnant. So wine tasting ...here I come!!

Pumpkin Carving!

2010-10-26T08:20:00.000-07:00

On Friday night we decided to do our annual pumpkin carving. Scott carved two pumpkins this year, one for Maddie and one for Liam. Maddie said she wanted a 'silly' face and she decided that Liam wanted a "scary" face. She did not like the feeling of the "ooey gooeys" as much as she did last year. Last year, she went to town pulling out the pulp, but this year she only did a little bit.

Liam enjoyed watching Scott carve the pumpkins from the front seat of the stroller.

Maddie preferred to use a spoon to help her clean out the pumpkin.

A picture of the finished product! Both of them are sitting by their pumpkin.

Scott snapped a picture of the pumpkins in the dark. Liam's scary pumpkin and Maddie's silly pumpkin turned out pretty good. Can't wait to see what kind of pumpkin Liam really wants next Halloween!

A Boo-ific Dessert

2010-10-20T18:43:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday night, Maddie helped me make a Boo-ific Dessert for dinner. We surprised or as Maddie said "scared" Daddy with it.

This dessert is super easy and fun! While Maddie took her nap I mixed up the Jell-O so it would be set and later on she helped me with the Cool-Whip and Chocolate chips. (Maddie calls Chocolate Chips, "Chocolate Chip Cookies").

This is the recipe for this Boo-ific Dessert...hope you enjoy!

What You Need:

3/4 cup boiling water

1 pkg. (3 oz.) Jell-O Orange Flavor Gelatin

2 Cups ice cubes

2/3 Cup thawed Cool Whip Whipped Topping, divided

8 Miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips

Make It

Add boiling water to gelatin mix in large bowl: stir 2 minutes until completely dissolved. Add ice: stir 3 to 5 minutes or until gelatin is thickened. Remove any unmelted ice. Whisk in 1/3 cup Cool Whip until well blended. Pour into 4 dessert dishes.

Refrigerate 30 minutes or until firm.

Drop remaining Cool Whip by spoonfuls onto desserts to resemble ghosts. Add chocolate chips for the eyes.

Wendel's Farm

2010-10-20T18:27:00.000-07:00

On Monday, Maddie and I tagged along with my class on their field trip to Wendel's Farm. I was so proud of Maddie, she was very well behaved and followed along with the first graders. She got to experience lots of things. She was a farmer, got to see lots of animals, rode a wagon pulled by a tractor to the pumpkin patch, ate a picnic lunch with the kiddos and got to play in a giant corn box (like a sand box, put with corn instead.)

Here she is being a vegetable farmer. She had to dig up a carrot and a potato.

Maddie even got to try to milk a cow. There are containers filled with water that have a nipple on them, but it is a good simulation of milking a real cow.

Maddie knew right away which pumpkin she wanted. She knew she wanted one that she could carry to the wagon by herself. She also helped me pick one out for Liam.

Maddie enjoyed eating lunch with three girls from my class. She liked their food better than hers, so luckily they thought it was cute to trade food with her.

The last activity of the day was Maddie's favorite...playing in the corn box!

Happy 4th Birthday Leah & Brendan!

2010-10-20T18:14:00.000-07:00

Here is Leah and Brendan on their 1st Birthday! They have both changed so much!! Leah is a girly-girl who loves to dress up, wear princess lip gloss, and play with her kitchen set. Her little cousin Maddie loves to follow her around. Brendan has changed so much in the last year. He used to love to play by himself, well, now he loves to play with Maddie also. He still LOVES Thomas the Train and Maddie enjoyed playing 'Thomas' with him all weekend.

The Ruwe Family has enjoyed sharing the first 4 years of your life with the both of you and can't wait to see what the future holds for both of you! We LOVE how unique the both of you are!

We had a great time at Leah and Brendan's 4th birthday party! We tried to get the kids to cooperate so we could snap a picture of the four of them together...well, this is the best we could come up with.

Leah, Brendan, and Maddie started out the birthday meal sitting together, but then Brendan wanted to sit by his grandma, Maddie spilled her milk and had a melt-down over making a mess, while Leah remained calm, cool, and collected!

I had to get a picture of Maddie enjoying her cupcake at the party. She had chocolate icing on her nose. She chose to eat one of Leah's princess cupcakes.

Our Evansville Adventure

2010-10-19T11:54:00.001-07:00

This weekend we ventured to Evansville to celebrate Leah and Brendan's 4th birthday! On Friday we left our house at 1:00. The trip to Ferdinand, IN went well. Maddie watched Sleeping Beauty, while Liam slept the entire time. We stopped in Ferdinand to visit my college roommate, Erika and her family. We got a tour of their new house, which is beautiful. Maddie got to stretch out and play with Kaden and Luke for a little bit. Liam got his belly full again and we were off to check-in at our hotel in Evansville.

So 45 minutes later we arrived at our hotel. When we have to stay in a hotel, I always get a suite so that Maddie would have a place to sleep that is quiet. Well, when I went to check-in they had upgraded me for free to a 2 bedroom suite. It was like staying in a 2 bedroom condo. We had 2 bathrooms, a full kitchen, and a living room/dining room. So needless to say we had plenty of room.

After checking in, we headed over to Aunt Aimee's house to have some dinner and drop Nana off. Plus, Maddie wanted to have some play time with Leah and Brendan. They decided they would play dress-up first.

On Saturday morning we snapped a picture of Maddie and Liam watching cartoons together. This is Liam's first hotel visit. Maddie looks pretty well rested in this picture even though she fell out of bed at 12:30 on Friday night.

After breakfast Saturday morning, it was bath time. Nothing like taking a bath in the kitchen sink! Liam fit perfectly!!

On Sunday morning, I snapped pictures of the kids sleeping. Besides Maddie falling out of her bed Friday night, the kids slept really well. at the hotel.

Liam is 3 Months Old!

2010-10-19T11:40:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it, my sweet little baby is already 3 months old! I honestly don't know where the time has gone! He has a really sweet, laid back personality type and he is the SMILIEST bay (as you can see in the picture.) At three months, he is rolling over from his belly to back. In no time he will be rolling over from his back to belly as you can see in the pictures. Liam can get up on his side and stretch his neck out...he is just inches away from rolling over.

He is sleeping well at night. He goes to bed between 8:30-9:00 and then sleeps until anywhere from 4:39-6:30. He sleeps for several hours at night, but he is not consistent at all.

He is super strong! He can hold his head up very well.

Liam the Laundry Sorter

2010-10-19T11:31:00.000-07:00

Last week, Liam was awake during my laundry afternoon so I decided to put him to work. His job was to help me sort Scott's work socks. By the time I started folding the socks he was absolutely covered in SOCKS!

He was a great helper, but hopefully he will be sleeping during next week's laundry afternoon!

Ready For Winter?

2010-10-07T11:38:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, there were a couple of garage sales on our street and Scott was working at an auction in Yorkville so the kids and I decided to visit these places. It was really cold on Saturday morning, so we had to find Maddie's hat and gloves and make sure they fit before we headed out for the morning. Well, we found them and they still fit. Maddie looked so cute modeling them that I had to snap a picture. On Saturday, Tigger was the pet animal of the day as you can see in the picture.

Cars Movie Night

2010-10-07T10:44:00.000-07:00

This summer, before Liam arrived, we treated Maddie to a movie night. Scott and I decided that last Friday night was the perfect time to host another movie night for her. She chose the movie, Cars. She really enjoyed watching it, but the movie was about 20 minutes too long for her. I think her favorite part was picking out snacks to eat. She chose a cheese stick, Cheez-its, peanuts, apple slices, and of course, popcorn. Liam had fun at his first movie night also. I think he enjoyed staring at all of the movement on the screen.

Here is Maddie getting ready to dig into the popcorn Daddy made for her.

Feeding Sadie

2010-10-05T11:13:00.000-07:00

Last night, the family went out to feed Sadie after dinner and it was about a 30 minute adventure. First, Maddie had to get her pants and shoes on. Then, I went to put Liam in his coat because it was so cold outside. Well, I discovered he had pooped...a BIG poop, right through his onesie and pants. So Scott and I, yes this was a two person poop, had to change him, clean him up, get him new clothes, and then put him in his coat. Then Maddie wanted a hat because Liam had a hat. Finally...20 minutes later, we were out the door to feed Sadie. Before we headed out the door we decided to snap a picture of the kids finally ready to go outside to feed Sadie. These are the moments in time, that Scott and I will remember and talk about when our kids are grown up.

Liam is 10 weeks!

2010-10-05T11:07:00.000-07:00

At 10 weeks old, Liam DOES NOT fit in his bathtub anymore, so we decided to move him to his bathmat. He absolutely LOVES it! As soon as Scott laid him on it, he began to kick and splash. I think he is going to be a swimmer like Maddie. I can't wait to take him swimming next summer. Note to Liam...I will from now on cover you up when I take pictures of you. I did not realize how exposed you were until I viewed pictures today, Sorry.

No Clothes Day!

2010-10-05T10:57:00.000-07:00

On Sunday morning, I decided that I needed to do some major grocery shopping, so Scott was going to play with Maddie and Liam. Maddie was so excited that she decided to just play in her panties. She finally got fully dressed before we left Sunday night to eat dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house. I thought these pictures were pretty funny because Scott said he tried to convince her to get dressed so she put her pants on her head! And of course she couldn't leave her Little People Village to long enough to get fully dressed!

Finger Play Fun

2010-09-28T17:24:00.000-07:00

Maddie loves practicing the finger-plays that she is learning at library time. If you notice I was doing them with Liam, so Maddie had to get her baby out and lay her beside Liam. She practiced them with her baby also.