On the Farm

Liam has always loved animals. One of his first words was "Moooo" in Africa. We do not have pets, but he reads about animals all the time and watches the neighbor's cat.

He has one book that categorizes animals like "In the backyard", "In the water", etc. His favorite page is "On the Farm." By the way, I had to laugh because the page with Zebras, Giraffes, etc is titled "At the Zoo." How neat is it that Liam has seen those wild animals in their native habitat while we went on Safari at Masai Mara!

Anyways, we recently took Liam to the Rutledge-Wilson Farm, which is a farm that is part of the Parks system here in Springfield. Kids can look at the animals and then play on the playground that looks like a barn. He had a blast!!

Here are the highlights below. I won't comment on every picture because several are just of Liam! If you have a toddler, you know it can be difficult to get a picture of your child's face, much less a clear one! So here is our fun day "On the Farm!"
The stare-down.

Just can't get close enough!

This one is for Uncle Levi: Turkeys and Tigers!




Trying to climb the ladder. Mommy had to help a little.
Here he sits in denial that the park is closing and he has to go home. Hopefully it will warm up again soon and we can go back!!

Liam is TWO!

Party time!

Can you believe it? Liam is 2! Well, in some sense it feels like Liam already was a two year old. People have always been surprised how young he is, based on what he is doing and saying. He has been like that his whole life! Walking at 9 months, speaking 40 words by 12 months, counting to 10 by 18 months, saying the ABC's by 20 months, etc.

He surprises us every day with new words or phrases. Just last night Liam raised the two arms on his C3PO doll and said "Praise the Lord!" He can color purposefully with a crayon. By that I mean if I say "Liam, color this foot red", he can do it! Not inside the lines or anything, but right on the foot area at least. He stacks 10 blocks, but the 11th always seems to fall! He loves to run, jump, walk backwards, wrestle with Logan, roll (or crash) anything with wheels, throw balls, read books, and watch Duck Tales.

We got his hair cut this week so he would be all fresh for his party!
Last year we were in Kenya for his first birthday. We celebrated with the Kenyan children in our neighborhood and had a party with the other missionary kids. Luke and Riley were there, but no Grandparents. So this year we had a party just for the Grandparents! And Auntie Clarice, who has kind of adopted Liam as her boy! Can I just say up front that Liam did amazingly well at his party. As well as you could ask a two year old to do at least.

He was so excited to have balloons in his house! He would jump up and down and say "look at all the balloons!"

Logan tied a big bundle to the stairwell and next thing we know, the little guy some how knocked them loose and they were floating to the ceiling!

He just stood on the stairs looking up saying, "oh no what happened?" Daddy to the rescue. He got them down and the party could continue!

His cake was a chocolate #2 decorated like a road with cars on it! He was much more interested in the cars than the cake that is for sure! I think he took one bite and then ate the grapes on his plate instead. Then off to play with his new cars! I wish I ate more grapes than cake! Same with the car shaped cookies: he just drove them around until they crumbled!

He sat at his new table from Mommy and Daddy and opened his presents one by one taking time to enjoy each gift. It was so precious. His very first present was a stack of Dr. Seuss books from Aunt Kari and Uncle John. He plopped right down on the floor among all of his unopened presents and started "reading" his new book!

He played with each train he got, read each book, rode the motorcyle/tricycle from Mimi and Papaw, and shot some hoops in his new goal from Granny and Grandpa!
It was a fun day for everyone! Even Zeke!

Snow Days!

Logan sure has gotten good use of his Christmas present mega-shovel this week!

He shoveled our drive, walkway, and porch with his new toy. Liam watched from inside saying, "Daddy working so hard!" Of course he wanted to join him out there.

It seemed like it took forever for me to dress him! Not to mention Zeke was screaming while I was trying to get a squirmy 23 month old into a snow suit! I breathed a sigh of relief after I sent him out the door.

Daddy was left to deal with the troublesome mitten for the next little while! I was watching from inside the warm house!



The guys tromped around the yard in the snow that was much deeper for the little one than it was for Logan!

But Liam loved it of course!


Sometimes he said, "Daddy hold you" when he wanted to be carried.


They wanted to build a snowman, but at that time it was just too powdery to do it. Maybe later! For now, just marching in the deep snow was good enough for Liam!

My Boys

Well, I am sitting here watching another beautiful snow fall. This one is supposed to be bad, so I am assuming Logan's day will be even longer than usual because, unfortunately, hospitals are very busy in winter storms like these. We pray for his safety and the safety of all who are out in the weather across the Midwest.

Liam is sipping on his milk, nestled in his favorite little rocking chair watching Bugs Bunny. I love watching him do whatever it is he is doing - he is just so precious!

Sometimes it is hard to think of him as the big boy, and not still my little baby! He is growing up, but he still likes to suck his thumb and tickle his ear with "fluffy," or play with Mommy's hair when I hold him.

I am trying to teach him some skills to help him be more independent now that Zeke is here. For instance: eating a banana without help. Previously I would cut it up into little bit sized pieces for him. But recently, I have begun teaching him how to take a bite right off the banana so i do not have to do everything for him. I began by holding the banana for him and he did great, but just took huge bites! With a mouth he could barely close, he would still get out, "more banana!"

So, I set the banana down on the plate and said he could eat it. I guess I didn't explain enough or something because he missed one step: picking it up!

Maybe that is just the "Banks" in him that he does not want to get his hands dirty!

One of the first questions people ask is, "How is Liam doing with Zeke?" I say he is doing as well as we could ask! He was unsure at first, but he really loves him now. He says, "Liam hold little baby Zeke again." Only he puts his hands on top of the baby, not under him. So I can not really let him "hold" his brother completely yet!

They both have jammies that have a lion on them and Liam loves to wear the Lion pajamas, especially if Zeke has his on! Here he is pointing to Zeke's lion for you to see.

His only offenses toward his brother are not mean spirited, but in fun. Nevertheless, he does have to get punished because Zeke should not fly to the moon in his baby swing, Zeke can not catch a soccer ball yet, and Zeke does not want applesauce or cheese for a snack. Liam is ready for him to play and stop just lying around!!

Because Zeke does sleep quite a bit, Liam still gets plenty of Mommy's attention, and more importantly, Daddy's attention! He loves to go upstairs and play the guitar with Logan, ride horsey, and throw his balls around.

This past weekend was gorgeous weather, like in the 50's! So all four of us went to the park. Ezekiel slept in the stroller while Liam played, ran, and did his favorite thing: SWING! He just swings and watches all the kids playing in the park. This picture doesn't capture the joy, but trust me, he loves to swing!

All in all, the transition is going well. I love my boys!! There are more friends and family who have not gotten to meet Zeke, than have, so I will really try to update the blog. Christopher and Lindsey got to come up from Arkansas to hold the little guy!

But many others (i.e. my sister!) have not. So, here is what he looks like sleeping in your arms if you hold Ezekiel. What a brave little man in the making, huh!

Granny and Grandpa

Last week Logan's parents came to visit the boys and stay at our new house for the first time! They were our first overnight guests, which I loved, and the boys had a great time too!

Liam really took to Grandpa being at his house. He constantly wanted to play with him!

He liked his white beard, his low voice, and his hat!

We had a beautiful snow while they were here and got "snowed in" for a couple days.

It was a chance to watch the snow fall, sit by the fire, and take turns napping!


Liam took a lot of energy of course, but with four adults we all got some play time...

...and some rest time.

Zeke was constantly being held for a whole week, so now all I have to do is break him of his "I won't sleep unless I am being held" habit!

So we all miss having the extra help here at the house! Come back Granny and Grandpa!