7/18/08-7/21/08

Friday 7/18/08 – This morning we went to put the "mail" for the mailman in the mailbox and Lijah started crying because he wanted to hold it rather than put it in the mailbox. He kept looking at the "letter" and opening it, and saying mailman over and over. Then he went and got some other mail, brought it to me, and said mailman again. Just before we left I put the letter in the mailbox without Lijah seeing me. Hopefully later today the mailman will get it. I always did love when the mail came myself, so maybe Lijah picked up this passion for the mail from me.

Saturday 7/19/08 – This morning Lijah and I went to the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden. He was so excited as we walked down the steps to the garden, and he did a great job holding my hand as we went down the stairs. When we got into the garden he was practically pulling me up the path. I noticed that it was a bit buggy, and I did not have any bug spray with me, but I thought we'd be fine – it's usually not too buggy there. We went up to the prairie part first. There was a patch of flowers so we stopped and watched a few bees for awhile (Lijah loves watching the bees in our backyard). I let him pick the directions we went and he wanted to go down to the swampy part. We passed the newer bird watching area and Lijah played in the birdbath for awhile, then we went further down the hill. I got a few cute shots of him on the little bridge, then I started to notice that we were being swarmed by mosquitoes. Lijah wanted to dawdle around, but I was not enjoying the buzzing in my ears and getting bitten up so I finally picked him up and carried him. My walk started to turn into a run – these were the worst bugs I think I have ever experienced – it was insane! Being pregnant I got out of breath right away and was practically panting, and at the same time waving my arms around trying to get the bugs off me, and at the same time saying 'wheeeee' so Lijah would think it was a fun game (which he did). Lijah also thought it was funny to copy me – so he was panting and waving his arms around too! Good thing no one else was there because we were a pretty sad sight. After being carried, Lijah would not walk anymore so we spent some time in the Martha Crone shelter looking at butterfly pictures and the other stuff on display in there. I was very sweaty and hot at this point and all I wanted to do was get back to the car, but then Lijah did not want to leave the shelter. So we stayed a bit longer, but then had to go. I carried him up the big hill while he was squirming and whining. I did manage to get him to sit on a bench with me for a few minutes while it started to sprinkle – but he just kept pointing back to the shelter saying 'go'. When we finally got back to the car he would not get in so I thought we might sit on a nearby bench and have a snack. He did get in a better mood and we played up by the parking lot for awhile before finally leaving (there were very few bugs up there). When I got home I took a nap while Jason played with Lijah, then during Lijah's nap I went to a few garage sales in the neighborhood. I got two pajama outfits for Clark and two polo shirts for Lijah, two cookbooks, and a baby gate – all for $4. At the last sale it started down pouring so that was it for my garage sailing. Then I shaved some old crayon pieces for a craft I had planned for after his nap. When Lijah got up from his nap we were sitting on the porch watching the rain when I suddenly heard what sounded like a really long lightning. I looked up and the tree two houses down had a huge branch that fell. The tree was scheduled to be cut down because it had Dutch Elm disease, and another big branch fell off of it last month. Then we went out to play in the rain and there was a HUGE puddle a few houses down. So I let Lijah get really wet and dirty in it – he had a great time!. Next was the craft – I had planned on making melted crayon sun catchers. We took the crayon shavings, put them between waxed paper and melted it with an iron. Then when it dried we cut out circles. The plan was to string them up to put them in the window, but Lijah decided that he wanted to just put them in a box and carry them around instead. Then I also found an idea for crayon 'cookies' to use up the other old broken crayons. We just put them into a muffin tin and melted it in the oven to make cookie like discs that were multi-colored.

Sunday 7/20/08 – Lijah has finally stopped making me carry him around at church and will hold my hand and walk in (whew!). We sat behind the Ogden's (it was there last week before moving out of the ward). Emmett was touching Lijah's hair so I told Lijah to touch Emmet's hair. He did and he got a very grumpy look from Emmett, and then Lijah was sad because Emmett had such an unhappy look on his face. During Lijah's nap I scrubbed the bathtub, which was getting beyond disgusting….. then I took a half-hour nap before Lijah woke up. Jason went over to his Uncle Lee's during Lijah's nap and invited Celya over – and she came just after Lijah and I woke up. She wanted to see how our garden was doing this year….. Then we decided to go back to her place to whip up some dinner. I brought a veggie burger with to make sure I got my protein, but we made spring rolls as well with avocado, carrots, peppers, green onions, and rappini. They were delicious! While we were finishing prepping the food Lijah played on the piano while Jason played guitar. Lijah was actually pretty good – I was impressed that he was trying to make a melody rather than just bang on the keys. Jared Barnhart bought a 3-wheeler and 4-wheeler and is keeping them over at Lees so Jason spent a good amount of time riding the 3-wheeler around. He took Lijah with for most of the time and Lijah loved it. It was his first time riding on one. Every time they stopped he would frantically sign for more. When we left for the night he was VERY sad and did not want to leave because he had so much fun.

Monday 7/21/08 – When we went up to Duluth last summer, Jason's Aunt Mary gave Lijah a little chair. Since then one of the sides broke off – and the broken side of the chair is what Lijah wanted to drag out to the car this morning. While I was at work the city came to cut down the tree that fell during the rain on Saturday. Jason and Lijah were able to watch the whole thing from the porch. When we got home Lijah jumped out of the car and pointed at the tree and started walking over to it (there is still the main trunk that they have not cut down yet). When we went to walk back to our house I told him to say goodbye to the tree and he got all sad and said 'no bye tree'. Then we decided to rearrange our living room and switch the TV room and play room areas. Jason did all the moving while I sat on the couch. I was too tired and felt too sickly to do anything but just sit on the couch. Lijah had a great time watching dad move all the cords from the TV. He was jumping around dancing and singing the whole time. He wouldn't eat dinner though – even though he told me what he wanted for dinner, and I made it for him! As soon as I brought it to him he politely refused (little stinker!). Then it was bath time for Lijah and it sure was nice giving him a bath in a sparkling clean tub!