An Early Christmas Gift

Uncle Paul was generous enough to send Sean an awesome red Schwinn bike for Christmas! The box was under our tree for a week, and we opened it up today since we had a bit of free time. Sean was very excited.



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And here is it all put together!



Thanks Uncle Paul! We will see you and the rest of the Spoons next week.

Last week we drove to see the lights on Pyramid Hill. Unfortunately they couldn't make change for us, so we just had to go back home. We'll return and see the whole thing soon. Sean loves lightbulbs, after all.

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Last weekend we drove to Champaign to visit our good friends, Ev, Erica, and their daughter Elana. We had a great time! It was strange to drive by our old house (in their neighborhood) but for it to not be our house. Also we missed some of our other friends (Kenny and Amy) who don't live there anymore.

Here's our old house. I took this picture to show off my pride and joy, the tree that I planted in 2006. I bought it for about $1.20 from the Saint Joseph County Soil and Water Conservation District. When I planted it it was about 18" tall and was constantly referred to as a "stick" by Jeff. Well, look at it now! It's a hybrid poplar, a fast-growing species. I was unhappy to see that the new owners killed all of my native plants and strawberries (why would you get rid of delicious strawberries?) that I put in around the front porch, but at least they kept a few things - this poplar, a pussy willow, a sycamore, a couple of juniper shrubs, and some lilacs.

Elana had a pair of cymbals that Sean played almost constantly as soon as he found them. He will be delighted on Christmas to find out that St. Nick picked up a pair for him this morning.

This is the new library in Champaign. It was amazing. They built a whole new building that was finished this year, I think. It was incredible! We spent a lot of time at the old library and loved it. The new one looks even better! To me its exterior is not architecturally impressive, but the inside is really nice and open.

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Here's one last picture from yesterday at home. Sean likes to stack the "donuts" on his arm. If anyone has suggestions on how I can get Sean to stop sitting like this, please let me know! I am constantly rearranging his legs so that he sits properly, but he continues to "kneel" like this which I've heard is bad for the knees.

I think I have some more photos from Champaign. Stay tuned.

November

So, November turned out to be a month of blog-slacking.

Here are some highlights of what we did.

The people who live across the street had a tree cut down one day.

It was very exciting to have so many trucks and wheels in our street!

Later we went outside for a while, but then all the trucks were gone.... This photo was taken by Dad who was inside staying warm!

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We went to the Christmas tree lighting in downtown Hamilton. It was extremely cold. We had Sean bundled up just fine but we forgot our own hats and gloves! It was about 23 degrees I think. I managed a smile after we found some hot cider at the Cappucino Depot.

The city also offered free horse-drawn cart rides. We had to wait a long time (well it seemed like a long time because it was so cold, and nearing bedtime) but it was worth it. Even now every time we drive through downtown, Sean says "Horse! Horse!" so I know he remembers how much fun we had. In this picture Sean is loitering in a dark corner outside the courthouse, waiting for our turn on the wagon.

Finally! On the wagon! They even had some nice heavy blankets for us.

After the ride we saw the horses up close. Sean stuck his tongue out just like the horses did.

Isn't the horse's eye interesting?

Toilet! Toilet!

This evening as I was changing Sean into his pajamas, he squeezed out a little toot, laughed, then made the sign for toilet. I thought for sure we were going to get our first solid catch (we've been trying this for a little while now, encouraging him to let us know when he needs to use the toilet, and explaining that instead of pooping in his diaper - which requires the dreaded diaper change - he can poop on the toilet). There was no #2 but we did get our first #1 catch in the toilet! Woo-hoo Sean! You make your Mom and Dad proud! :)

ND vs. Pitt

Here are some photos from this past weekend. We had a great time hanging out with Aunt Elizabeth!

On Friday we had dinner at Senior Bar (I still can't call it Legends, sorry), courtesy of the iNDustry Alliance.

On Saturday we walked around campus for a while. Sean was all seriousness in the new science building.

In front of the stadium. He wouldn't stand still any longer to get one with the field in the background - there were way too many souvenir and food trailers (WHEELS!) to check out.

Father Joyce has HUGE hands!

I bought this bottle of milk for Sean from a vending machine in the library. Of course when I wasn't looking for two seconds while talking with some old friends, he opened it and tried to drink out of it, spilling it all over himself. Then we had to go back to the library to dry off under the hand dryers, but he didn't like that because they were so loud. What's a mom to do? Obviously the answer is, don't have a conversation in the first place! Well I must add that Aunt Elizabeth was most helpful in allowing Mom and Dad to have some conversations this weekend. It was nice!

Mom and Sean watching the band march by on their way to the stadium. He was very tired at this point, unfortunately. I know he really would have enjoyed it if he had had any energy left.

He really did not enjoy the cymbals being so close. It was loud.

My sweet pie. (Just ignore my non-photogenic blinking here.)

On Sunday morning, Sean fed some pretzels to the swans and ducks. He also ate some himself (pretzels, that is - not swans and ducks). He tried to eat one off of the ground but I quickly tossed it into the lake.

That's it for now....