misc

Sean is pretty good about entertaining himself without getting into trouble while I am making dinner. This day, he chose to get out all of our plastic bags and spread them out all over the kitchen floor. Then he started putting things in them. I thought he was just putting his toys in them, until later Dada was looking for his wallet. Oops! Well Sean impressed us all by remembering which bag he had put it in!

There was a little fair at a local park recently, so we went to check it out. Sean got to sit on a police horse.

He loved this super-high slide!

He was a little tentative about the bouncy house, since the last time he was in one he landed wrong on his back and hurt it a little bit. But once he was in, he was fine.

We finished it all off with a cupcake.

Here are a couple of shots from playing outside on the sidewalk at our house.

Happy birthday!

Sean turned 3 a couple of weeks ago. We had a family party to celebrate. Sean's playhouse finally got put together. Thanks to our detour to California, the Christmas present from 1.5 years ago turned into a birthday present.

I made a train cake for Sean, and he helped me decorate it with sprinkles.

He just likes to eat the "extra" ones.

The finished product. (Nobody should expect anything close to this next year! This took WAY too long to make!)

Sean got a new sandbox,

scissors,

and more trains, among a bunch of other great toys. Thanks everyone!

Ready for cake!

Happy birthday, Sean!

various photos

Just a few pics from this past month.

Sean likes to sleep with lots of "critters."

We went to the Butler County Safety Fair. Sean got a pinwheel, which was very exciting. He now has a large collection of them in the backyard.

There was also some sort of horse rescue demonstration, but we missed it except for this part. It seemed funny because it took them a LONG time to get to this point.

Sean is somewhat helpful around the house. Lately he has been putting the clean silverware away for me. It's all about how the job is presented. He likes puzzles, so I called this the "silverware puzzle," and he was very excited to do it. That has worn off after a couple of weeks, but it did work for a while.

In our eat-in kitchen, there was a built-in buffet type of cabinet that the previous owner had taken down and put in one of the bedrooms. We worked on getting it back to its rightful place, and in the process Sean busied himself with some scrap wood with holes, screws, and a screwdriver. Great toy! This occupied him for quite a while so we could get the cabinet up.

We also planted a couple of cherry trees in our front yard. This one is currently about the height of Sean. Hopefully it will grow quickly so we can have some fruit within a couple of years!

Easter and busyness

Sean enjoyed many egg hunts over Easter. He gots lots of nice presents, money, and candy. Here, he is amazed to find some paper money in an egg! Also any time he opened one that contained a mini candy bar (such as Snickers) he would yell, "NOUGAT!"

In the woods on the side of our house.

The spaceship. Oops, I mean the doctor's office. Oh wait, that's our house! I really should update this picture - it looks much better now that everything is green.

Still loving the bike. (Notice he has taken apart the bell. Too bad he is not good at keeping track of things - it is now missing some gears and doesn't work anymore. He does not seem to mind though.)

Starting the garden inside....

... and out. We decided to put up a fence to keep the deer out. That put the garden in the far corner of the yard, so we wouldn't have to look at an ugly fence from the family room and kitchen. The only problem is it's the part of the yard with lots of trees. We did some pruning, which hopefully will help it get enough sun.

There was a fundraiser carnival at a local park. It was not very crowded, as you can tell by the pictures. That meant Sean got some rides all to himself!

In the middle of the train ride, as he went by us he kept saying he wanted to go in the middle and see how it worked. So the operator was kind enough to explain the motor to Sean.

Then came the observation of the wheels when the next boy got on.

Sean got his first ferris wheel ride. He was excited, then nervous as the ride started moving....

and then came over the top with a giant smile. That was a relief!

On our way out we got a funnel cake and lemonade. We stopped to eat it in the park shelter. Jeff just had to take this picture. Yes, we live in Ohio!

misc.

Sean likes to help out in the kitchen. Here he is enjoying some leftover chocolate frosting from cupcakes.

Looking especially colorful with the famous tie-dyed shirt, beads, and a lei. (I guess he's just staying prepared in case we had gone to a hippie fest, mardi gras, or a luau.)

Sean got all of my belts out one morning and Dada helped him to string them together into what is now known as the Uber Belt.

Haircut time. I have always cut Sean's hair from the beginning. When he was a baby he just didn't have enough hair to justify taking him somewhere professional, since I could easily trim it myself. Now I have almost 3 years of experience so I think I do an acceptable job. (We'll see what he says when he gets a little older and has more of an opinion about it.) As for now, we have plenty of other things we can use that money for. (Like saving giant wads of money to be able to afford to send him to ND someday ;) )

Spring must be here! Sean found this flower outside. We are SO ready for the cold to be over for the season!!!

Here is a deer (the fourth one I had seen that day) making himself at home a few feet from a bedroom window. I am a little concerned that my gardening efforts for this year will end up being wildlife food. I wish there were some nonhuman deer predators left to keep these guys in check....

*****

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We went to the only Irish pub in town for dinner, but then changed our minds once we found out there was a 3-hour wait to be seated to eat. We ended up at the Mexican restaurant, which was in fact serving green beer and had lots of other patrons wearing green. After dinner, we stopped by Flub's for our first ice cream of the season.

Sean abandoned his cone after a few bites - those railroad tracks are much too interesting!

Seriously, there is a lot to talk about when it comes to railroad tracks.