august is coming up dinosaurs!

not so many notes this month.... liam is speaking more fluently and also having more tantrums... a lot. more it feels. am i less inspired to keep notes because i am being more challenged?  what happens when your kid stops being less cute? this month was a toughy with more aggressive behavior. nothing really bad really, and not all of the time but more resistant and illogical and.. just testing.
all normal i know but liam's always been pretty darn easy. i am spoiled ;) he's growing up.

shades of things to come?

 do you see that little boy body taking over the little toddler body.... eep...




















August was a month of good times with little friends culminating in friends celebrating liam, now a little less little.

applying first ever cake sprinkles

thanks to lucy and pal gregory

the zoo will never get old

liam really likes to help me in the kitchen. here we are making mules mariniers at liam's request- the mussles, not the wine sauce-  it's hard to say but sometimes he wants to help me more than i want him to. it is true that you have to sacrifice your adjenda to get kids involved in these tasks... it will take longer, be less perfect and more messy but really.... does that matter? it'd a tough one for me sometimes but i know the benefits of getting liam involved so anytime he wants to i take a deep breath and make it happen ;)

 

here's a good low impact activity.         

sunday family brunch and dinosaurs. always a great combination. @
http://www.thecross.co.nz/about/about-us

rawr

fun times with gregory's kid magnet papa geoffroy. and yes we are hanging out in a pub. on a sunday afternoon. have to love french and british friends!

and a fun family dinner out. oh yeah. liam is actually pulling dad's hair there. it was a bit nutso with little baby and 2 tired boys flailing all over the place but we can handle it.

and here we had a fun alternative for our petits francais french playgroup. a trip to the zoo! and we spent at least half of the visit actually speaking in french... yay us :D

 liam and lois are friends from playgroup but when they started sharing a day at crossways creche a few months agao they really became fast friends. she is several months younger than liam... and so tall!

can you tell how much he likes her? ;)










OH YES SOMEBODY"S GETTING EXCITED TO PARTY!

mama preppin' for the big day

dino deviled egg anyone?

birthday morning! liam helped me to make his cake.
chocolate miette cake. DA BOMB and easy
with cream cheese frosting of course :)

http://www.bakerella.com/miettes-double-chocolate-cake/

dino madness begins in the morning with prezzies from nana.  dino backpack is a big hit
and obviously word has spread of this singular passion :)








friends large and small gather for the original puppet show "we're off to liam's birthday" written by talented play write and lovely friend lucy ( mum of gregory. i have noticed that the shuter/giverny family figure largely in this entry. we have a good time :)

the play featured a wombat, an owl, a lion, and an octopus who are looking for the mischievous dinos who have stolen liam's birthday cake! these characters happen to comprise liam's puppet collection how convenient ;) the play also featured orginal music by lucy including the theme song " oh we are off to liam's birthday (oh liam is 3 today)."

our story culminated with the characters catching up with the dinos who were taking the cake to liam's birthday! and we all know what you do at birthday parties... sing happy birthday! and that is how the play ended. genius :)

the dinos were very excited to blow out the candles

plastic dino figures saved the cake from lots of gross colored edible stuff going all over it.... yay
those are lollies on there tho! (for rocks!) yep, i went totally mainstream for #3. oh well.

see the eggs and crudite in the background there? tried to redeem myself

i think i might have helped liam blow those candles out. lame mama! oh well ;)

the most incredible bday present ever from the very talented imery ( idea by jenn :) liam has had a huge blank wall since we have lived here and now he has the perfect thing for it. and he can write on it! on the wall! how genius is that.


some more fun inside and out

writer, director and actors enjoying some post show R&R. oh yeah, i forgot to mention that i played the part of the owl- wise old gal- and miss octopus, from the deep south-ern sea. she had a drawl and was purportedly a bit... saucy sounding ;)

 and last but not least, at the end of the day when the dust had settled and the guests had gone, presents from mom and dad

a magneting fishing set for the tub, a spiffy new scooter and some nice wooden animals

measuring mr giraffe- still the solid favorite, btw. this guy knows what he likes! no doubt there. very loyal and consistent... just like his dad :) actually the era of an animal in hand at all times is fading.... how many months is that? many i think!! always wondered what to make of that....

                                   HAAPY BDAY LITTLE LIGHT OF OUR LIFE
                                            

 

and the next day- last day of august- was a sunday so off to southern cross we went again for another iteration of dino face paint.
and here direct evidence of how children's play comes from what they are exposed to... the stage had a moment of -short lived- extreme popularity










here is one tidbit i saved from our month's convos:

can you make me a brother?
a little brother?
yeah
he'll always be littler than you. is that ok?
yeah
it might be a sister, a girl
i like boys


and so a wonderful crap weather month ( yes, we got an unusually warm and stunning day for lee's bday :) filled with a lot of decidely uncrap fun.

peace y'all :)