Author: Shannon

During the last storm we had a bit more excitement than we prefer at The Connolly Ranch.  Matt had just arrived home and Liam and I were downstairs working on the laundry.  All of a sudden Matt was yelling at me to stay downstairs and that he was coming down with Paige.  Somewhere in the middle of all of this our neighbor’s tree fell onto (and eventually through the middle of) her house.  Matt ran to the window to see if her car was there (he’d seen her leaving the house as he came in about 10 minutes earlier) he saw that she was gone and ran downstairs to be safe and call her on her cell phone.  The storm passed relatively quickly and thankfully our only casualty was the lawn bags I’d filled with the ex-forsythia and its roots.

This is a video Matt took shortly after the tree fell:

This was taken after the tree people worked (until 11 PM!) to remove it from the roof (our other next-door neighbor helps give a little perspective as to the size of the hole):

Here’s a shot of the back of the house with the base of the tree (after it was pushed back into the ground) more visible:

The rest of us stood around looking at the damage with our mouths open.  Paige was shockingly insensitive and completely lacked neighborly spirit (read: she grinned and shrieked and laughed the entire time we were out there):

She’s lucky she’s adorable…

Liam had a blast on Memorial Day Weekend.  On Sunday night he went to Gran and Granddaddy’s house, on Monday he went with Gran to the pool, and just before she came to pick him up we had “dinner” at the Frosty Caboose.  Is there anything more perfectly Liam than eating chocolate ice cream at the base of an authentic railway caboose?

Allow me to answer that for you…

No.  No there isn’t.

These two pictures, taken within seconds of each other, sum up what’s going on in this house right now (and the reason why posting here has become so sparse).

Exhibit A:  Paige spends the majority of her days either crawling towards one of Liam’s favorite toys, attempting to climb the furniture or the walls (quite literally), eating the furniture (or the walls, or the moldings, or anything else she can reach), or being removed from a dangerous/obnoxious/already-filled-with-too-much-child situation.  Here she is attempting to reach Liam’s Weeble Village while trying to climb his shelf only taking a break from simultaneously chewing the shelf she’s trying to climb for long enough to give me a guilty look (the removal from the situation came shortly thereafter).

Exhibit B:  Liam is a complete nutcase.

I learned another lesson today…are you ready?  This is very important.

IF YOU HEAR YOUR TODDLER GET UP FROM HIS NAP WHILE YOU ARE STILL DOWNSTAIRS DO NOT WAIT TO FIND OUT WHAT HE’S DOING.  GO GET HIM.  IMMEDIATELY.

Otherwise you could open the refrigerator and see this:

Followed by this:

And then this:

You could then have the following conversation:

Shannon:  Liam, what is this?

Liam:  That’s butter, Mama.

Shannon:  Why is it unwrapped?

Liam:  Because I had to take the wrapper off so I could have a snack.

Shannon:  You ate some of it?

Liam:  Yes.  I was hungry.  Now I’m starving.

—————————–

Just learn from my mistakes and go upstairs when you hear your child come out of his room.  Don’t make me tell you what happened to the butter that was all over his hands as a result of his little culinary exploration…

At the end of the year Liam’s teachers gave the parents a disc with pictures from the school year.  Liam was apparently fairly elusive with the lens (not a giant surprise), but I’m including the good, bad, and ugly shots that had Liam in them.  There are actually some pretty good shots of him taken by another boy’s father on the day of the Easter Egg Hunt and they’re included as well.  It’s always fascinating to me to see Liam through other people’s eyes and these are a tiny glimpse of our boy from another angle.  These pictures are in no particular order (after several attempts to do just that), but you’ll have to get over it.

I’ve been trying to figure out what looks strange about this shot and I finally got it: his eyelashes have been photoshopped out to make the silhouette…

St. Jude Trike-A-Thon:

Easter Egg Hunt:

Making play-doh:

Liam’s never been a fan of noise that he isn’t making…

Liam The Conquerer:

He’s always loved a slide!

Music class:

Horseplay:

Halloween:

Two boys who clearly needed a nap…

How strange — Liam’s playing with a train…

Birthday cupcakes:

Masterpiece in progress:

Liam doing a puzzle…another shocker…

More music class (Liam’s in the stripes):

Working on his birdfeeder:

Harper was aware of the camera, Liam was only aware of the cupcake:

Liam The Explorer:

I’m not sure who thought it was a good idea to give a class of three-year-olds giant orange sticks, but here it is nonetheless…

More Trike-A-Thon:

More egg hunt:

Easter Party:

These are the shots taken by Liam’s classmate’s father:

Getting ready to head outside for the hunt:

Aaaaaannnnnnd, he’s off!

Easter Goon:

Showing off his loot (we’re still eating the candy…):

Sharing with Ian:

“Hey Tyler, I bet if we stick these far enough inside our ears we’ll be able to scratch our brains!”

Reading with Ms. Gwen:

Play-doh music notes:

Bubbles!

It was a wonderful year and I CAN’T WAIT for next year.  You know, purely because it was so wonderful for Liam…

On the day before Mother’s Day Matt and Liam headed to Decatur to have brunch with Lynne and help Gillian move.  Paige and I headed to Decatur (separately) to have lunch with Mom, Dad, and Mo.  Here are some pictures from the lunch (which basically boiled down to fantastic food and an opportunity to take hundreds of pictures of Mo and Paige:  Happy Mother’s Day to me!).

Gran’s lookalike sitting in Gran’s highchair:

Why do all babies love tissue paper?

I guess it doesn’t matter.

They do and we all react accordingly.

And it always ends like this…

Time to move on to the card:

Paige finds it hilarious:

Let the cuteness parade begin:

Mo is reminded that wearing jewelry while holding Paige can be very dangerous:

Never fear.  Paige is nothing if not resourceful.

And when you take the necklace away?

Tiny, chokey buttons will suffice.

“Who, me?”

Angelically deceiving:

And so begins the newly invented (and wildly popular) “catch the finger” game…

Four-finger variation:

Paige gets to be the center of attention for once:

Bull face break:

Napkin pee-a-boo:

“I think I see what you’re doing here, Gran.”

“See!  I’ve got you figured out!”

Paige takes a turn:

“Check me out!”

“Where’s Mo?”

“There she is!”

L.O.V.E.

I mean?  Wow.  Just?  Wow.

Moving on to the (also wildly popular) “catch Paige’s toe” game:

“Check it out!  When I touch this thing I feel it in my toe!”

I could have done this all afternoon.  I hope to do it again very soon.

April 30th was a busy day for this family.  Liam and Matt touched trucks and helped plant a garden and when they returned home it was my turn to leave the house for a while to go to Mollie’s tea party (literally, as opposed to politically: actual tea, scones, and clotted cream…oh my, the clotted cream).  Are you starting to get a clear picture of why the posting is scarce these days…?

Lynne asked me to take pictures and although my flash was acting up, I managed to get a small group of pictures.

(Case in point on the flash troubles, but I couldn’t leave this one out…)

Book break:

Grandmom and the goods:

Mollie’s table:

I can’t believe I didn’t take a picture of the food, but at least I got a shot of the flower-filled teapot:

The bride:

The haul:

How appropriate!

Half of the hostesses with the mostestes(?):

And all that’s left is the wedding and the happily ever after!

Immediately after Touch A Truck Day Liam and Matt headed to Gran and Granddaddy’s house to “help” Gran plant her garden.  Here are a few pictures:

“Look, Dad!  Seeds!”

“Look, Dad!  Gloves!”

Annnnnd, he’s done with this guy:

Oh, how fickle three-year-olds can be:

Milk break:

Checking in on the plants:

It’s a good thing his Gran has a green thumb, because his Mama’s is decidedly not!