Fun Weekend

Friday night Liesl slept the evening so I got a chance to pack some of her room up for the "Big Move" Jim and I got a chance to watch The Fantastic Mr Fox. I think he is Mr Fox. Thanks Heather for telling me about it. Good stuff.

Saturday, Swim class was in the morning. Liesl woke up early this week and we had french toast before class and took our time getting ready. It was a very nice change from the usual routine. Later, Oma Gabi, Grady and Grady's Momma and Grandma (Dee and Sandi) came to visit Liesl and I and Dee's new painting. It is always so nerve racking when someone sees my work. Please dont give me a "whatever" anyone. We decided to go for a wagon ride and out to lunch despite the cold. They had a good time sharing Liesl's Abbey and Ernie dolls in the wagon and treats and crayons in the restaurant.

Sunday, Heather, Gavin, Liesl and I decided to run over to Great Lakes Crossing for some "play place" time and lunch at the Rain-forest. Liesl was crazy wound up that the play place and was practically running in circles on the huge food. She loves crawling through the spilled pop, the corn on the cob and the watermelon slide. She aspired to climb the cupcake and be crowned "queen of the hill" but alas she was not yet tall enough for that. We stopped in the Bass Pro Shop for a gander at the fishtanks while waiting for a table at the Rain-forest cafe. They both enjoyed the big fishies in there and the large stuffed moose. In the Rain-forest, Liesl loved the Elephants and made me take her over there every 5 minutes. She was very good in there and sat in her booster and ate her mahi mahi......and yes...her "VOLCANO!" that we absolutely had to get. The kids fell asleep in the car finally at 4.....yeah wow. She slept for 2.5 hours. She woke up a little cranky still though just in time for Kiki and Sydney to come by and play for a little over an hour which was a lot of fun. Sydney is a little younger but not enough to make a difference. They were so cute. Sydney is a like a little clone of Kiki and Liesl of me so it was kinda funny. We topped off the evening with movie night finally at the Perry's house. It has been a long time. Crazy stuff has been happening. Please excuse our long absence from your screen Perrys.

Thanks to all the Babies and Babies Mommas and Grandmas for all the fun this weekend!

Last week Thursday, Melisa and uncle Scott babysat Liesl while Momma and Dadda had a date. We were supposed to have done this for my birthday in October. It took us 6 months to do it! Not a surprise to anyone I am sure. We had a great time, Liesl, Melisa and Scott had a great time. I missed Liesl every minute but it was good for Jim and I to be able to focus on each other for an hour and a half. Thanks for the great present you guys and sorry it took me so long to take you up on it.


We are currently well on our way to buying a house with a closing/move date scheduled for May 25th. Not in time for Daddy's birthday but at least we got this far finally. it has a play set in the backyard and an elementary school right in back as well. We are really looking forward to all having our own space. We have all grown out of our little palace in Rochester.

Liesl visited her Uhr Oma today at the cemetery today. She came dressed to the hilt because she had to attend a funeral earlier in the day. As soon as she saw that grass she kicked off her shoes and went running as her Daddy says "Pall Mell" in the grass in her bare piggies. Afterwards, she and Oma drove down to Warren and tailgated in the parking lot at Momma's work. It was very nice to see the both of them today. Thanks Oma.

Easter Egg Hunt

Monday, Oma and Liesl finished decorating the Easter eggs and the Easter Bunny went out and hid them in the front of Oma's yard. Liesl had a great time hunting for them out there with an "oooohhhhh" every once in a while.

Oma and Grandad have been taking Liesl on bike rides a lot this week to get ready for thier bike tour at the end of the month. She has been liking it calling out Oma when she sees her behind the "bugger". She is very good at wearing her helmet as well...finally! I cant wait to get my bike out. The biking crew drove my our new house Monday and checked out the great route we will all be able to ride to get to Rochester/Stoney and Oma's.

Oma got her some finger-paints and some huge paper to paint on. She had lots of fun with it. Thanks Oma!

Easter Weekend

Friday, Jim watched Liesl because at the last minute at work he got a pardon from the governor. Liesl and Dadda had a really great time with Grampa Jack and Aunt Sarah at Stoney. Liesl loved playing on the swings and running in the grass there. So much so that she didn't take a nap until right before I got home at 6:30.

Needless to say, she slept until the next morning. I had to actually wake her up for "swim class" Saturday morning. I put swim class in quotes because it seems like there is always something with this particular class when it comes to attending. This time, I had to go get Oma so she could watch her in the afterward activities planned and I was running really late. I got Liesl ready in the car and was doing pretty well for time, but when I got to the front desk they gave me the..."swim class? No swim class today. read the book" What book?????? I didn't get a book. It was like the scene from National Lampoon's Vacation "Didn't the moose out front tell you we are closed?" Needless to say I got a little mad because they didn't even mention it in class last week. I will stress to them to please "remind" us about weeks we don't have class as some of us have quite a drive.

After driving down there, we had a little time before going to look at dresses with Melisa. So the 3 of us went to breakfast. Another not so good idea that morning, because by that time, Liesl had been woken up before she wanted to be and drove for 1.5 hours with a "poop stop" at Oma's on the way down. So, this time, she was the one that became a little unhinged in the restaurant.

Well, dress shopping was so much more fun for her. Melisa always makes it for for Liesl. She got to play with some Legos there and a little toy car and she got to run into the dressing rooms and look at herself in the 360 degrees of mirrors all with different women's names on them. The first room she decided to run into was one on the other side of the store from us.......names Elizabeth which I thought was cute. Melisa tried her dress on for us because she has already made up her mind. It was gorgeous and Liesl gave her usual "OHHHHHHH". Oma and I thought it best to find the flower girl dress while we had the chance and she was there and Melisa was there. We found the perfect dress for her there. We tried on 3 there for her. The one that we are definitely going to get echoes Melisa's dress with beading on the waist and the bow in the back. We also found a tiny crown comb for her to wear in her hair. She was very good with trying on the dresses and when she walked over to Melisa to show her she was like a little peacock. She saw herself in the mirror and gave another "OHHHHHHHHH".Later in the day, Daddy and I took her for a walk to the park to play on the playground which she loved as usual especially the swings. Threw a fit, as usual, when we left the playground because she was too cold.

Easter Sunday we all went to Oma's house for some loose activities. We lounged around with Oma and Grandad and Uncle Scott and Melisa for a good part of the afternoon and took pictures out on the lawn of the family. watching out for land mines. Liesl had a good time running around on the lawn in her beautiful Easter dress with matching purse on her arm and little pink bow in her hair. We tried to take a drive past the new house and to Canterberry Village to see the chapel where Uncle Scott and Melisa will be married but it was closed. Liesl was asleep for her nap....finally.... so we drove to Great Lakes to have some Easter dinner at the Rainforest. It is the one restaurant that would be perfect for Liesl but she slept through the whole thing....even the thunderstorm! When we started back out the door she woke up after 2 hours (which are very far and few between) so we walked back in and gave her the tour. She was very wide eyed there. We will have to go back. When we got home we colored some eggs, which she and Oma will finish decorating and Liesl and I will search for when I get home from work. Should be fun.

Sorry this is so long if youre still reading! Have a good week if you made it through!

Another Zoo day

Our Day at the Zoo April 2, 2010

Oma and Grandad took me to the Zoo on yesterday. The weather was so nice that I walked around with short sleeves. We had a great time visiting the animals at the zoo again. The polar bear celebrated the warm weather by jumping into the water while we were watching the seals swim around in the Arctic Ring of life. The gorillas were out wandering in their exhibit as well as some monkeys. Grandad took lots of pictures of the animals while testing his camera. Oma and I sat and ate yogurt and grapes while he putzed with his camera.

I like all the animal sculptures around the zoo and love to climb on them as well. There were so many people there and lots of children. I walked most of the way. I love climbing on the picnic tables and I tried just about everyone in the park. I also fell in the dirt while doing that. The butterflies were abundant as were all the visitors to the butterfly house. We got some very closeup looks at the butterflies since they were not shy at all

My "Artsy" little girl

Liesl has really gotten into her watercolor paints that I bought for her. She is using the "Crayola Beginnings" watercolors which are little balls with paintbrushes on them and the watercolor ink is inside. I think she likes the results better than the crayons. I don't think that they give her enough color for her taste. But she loves to paint. When she sees momma's paintings that I have been working on she taps on it and says painting. She is very respectful of it too and careful.

Yesterday, she really showed her stuff with the Mega blocks. She is a "mad stacker". Very fast and accurate. When she is done they all go back in the bag without prompting from Oma. I was quite impressed.

She has been doing very well also with her utensils at the table. She is still using her hands alot but has been practicing her fork and spoon and getting a lot better at it. I also let her have cups with a little water in them to drink and she does pretty good with them.

Saturdays are swim class and last Saturday was the first since......last November I think? She did a lot better this time around. Not that she was not comfortable last class. She is just able to take direction better this time around and understands things better that I am saying. When I ask her to kick, she kicks and says "kick, kick, kick" as she does it. She also did very well with getting dunked under the water over her head (per the instructor's request of course). This class gets to be in the kiddie pool which is much better and we get to walk around a central island that the instructor stays near. I think my little fish is going to really enjoy class each Saturday.

Staycation at the Zoo

Today Grandad, Oma and I went to the Zoo again. We had a great time. Since it was cold out we spent a lot of time indoors. First we stopped at the Butterfly house and Aviary. There were not too many butterflies flitting about because it was on the cool side. Grandad was spending a lot of time taking pictures. He wanted to check out his camera and lenses. After the Butterfly house we went to Amphibiville. We saw many frogs, fish and turtles there. I really liked watching the turtle and the frogs in the rain-forest. Then we went to my favorite exhibit which is the polar bear and seal exhibit. There I like to sit and watch as the seals swim all around me. Our last stops were at the lions and tigers and red pandas. Three pandas were all out playing on the ground and in the trees. They have beautiful tails which are striped. Grandad took me home after the zoo and I met momma there. Can't wait to see where we go next week.