"daddy did it!"

So my mother's big accomplishment for the weekend was to teach Liam that he should say "Daddy did it!" when he burps or passes gas. Apparently she really drilled it into him. I'm working while Mike and the boys are eating in the dining room, and so far I've heard Liam burp and then instantly blame Mike no less than three times. The last time, I also heard Mike tell Liam that he should say "Mommy did it!" instead. I'm pretty sure the rotten blame-tosser doesn't realize that I heard him. Oh, well. On the bright side, Liam isn't quite old enough yet for my mom to teach him how to cross his eyes for his class picture...

Update: Liam's getting creative now. I just heard him burp and then yell "Max did it!" Poor baby.

max is glamorous

the hand that holds the chalk

Have I mentioned that by this point on Sunday night, we're sore and exhausted? No? Well, it's true. My dad loaned us these awesome portable scaffold things that made a lot of the jobs much easier, but still we're using muscles we've forgotten we had. But I'm off topic. My sister Bethany came to see the house and pick up the boys Sunday morning, and she brought the boys a housewarming gift: sidewalk chalk. It got put to good use right away, and of course I took some pictures. I really like the way that this one turned out, with Liam holding the giant piece of chalk. It seems sort of lofty and important here: The sidewalk chalk is mightier than the sword.

four-wheeling!

The boys spent Sunday with my sisters at Bethany's house while Mike and I worked on the house. They played with the dogs (well, mostly just admired the dogs from afar), checked out the new baby pigs, and generally wore themselves out. When we came to pick them up, they were each passed out on an aunt on a couch. But they perked right up at the prospect of a four-wheeler ride with Aunt Bethany over to Yami's for dinner.

Liam went first, along with Klaudia, on the long, long journey to my mom's house. (For those who don't know, it's not exactly over the river and through the woods--though there are woods involved--because she only lives two houses down.)



Once he scoped out the situation for himself and saw that Liam was having fun, Max didn't want to be left out either:



Whee!

wallpaper collection

So far, we've uncovered no less than six different wallpapers in the house. First, the two fine examples from the dining room. See if you can date the remodel by the pattern:




And then there's Liam's room. As previously mentioned, there are four wallpapers layered one atop the other on one section of his ceiling. Why only one section? We'll never know. Even if the architects of all this papering left us a note underneath to explain the madness, we'll never find it, because we can't uncover the actual wall. From the top down, there's a white with blue and green squggily shapes, a lovely rose and blue stripe, a green with a subtle pattern, and one we think may have been pink. You be the judge.

demolition derby!

We spent most of the weekend tearing stuff up at the house. We removed all of the carpet from the upstairs, and check it out! There are wood floors underneath.





Max's room is the one with the big squares of crappy plywood in the middle of it. We're hoping an area rug and some strategically placed furniture will take care of the problem. We also took down the doors upstairs to be refinished. Mike started taking out some of the hideous pink trim in Liam's room so we could refinish it, but that plan came to a crashing halt once he realized that the plaster underneath was disintegrating before his eyes. We also scraped off the textured (cottage cheese) ceiling in Liam's room. All went fine on the ceiling and one side of the dormer, but when we got to the opposite side of the dormer, we found a nasty surprise: no less than four layers of wallpaper under the texture and over the plaster. So the texture's gone, but some of the wallpaper remains. We're hoping we can just sand it smooth and put enough paint over it to cover everything. Oh, and we put the first coat of beautiful blue paint in the front living/family room.

Here's Liam enjoying his first breakfast at the new house:

whirlwind trip

We had our closing on the house Wednesday, so now it's ours, ours, ours. Everything went fine, except that I started getting really sick Wednesday morning, and by the time the closing was over I was done for. I got the flu, and all the fun things that come with it. Then it turned out I have strep throat too. Yikes! But by Sunday morning I was recovered enough for us to make a trip to Indiana to do a "prep day" for the house. First stop, Hamlet, where Mike and my dad retrieved the furniture we had in storage there, and Max took a ride on Papaw's new tractor:



Then we headed to the house, where we unloaded the furniture and the things we managed to fit in the car on this trip. My Gram came over for a tour, and my aunt Janis happened to be driving by, so she stopped in with the kids to check the place out too. Then we adopted a divide-and-conquer approach: Mike and my dad went to Lowe's to get all the manly construction/painting/repair supplies, while my mom and I took the boys to the fabric store, where I ordered some fabulously perfect fabric for the kitchen curtains, and then to K-mart for basic supplies. The boys were great pretty much the whole time, but by the time I got to the checkout at K-mart, Max had had enough. He fell asleep in the cart but was doing the whole head-nod thing and waking himself up every five minutes, so I did what any caring mother would do:



It's the beginning of another busy week, and then the first full weekend of work on the house. We can't wait to get started!

we love daddy

Both boys have been trying to get as much "hold me" time with Mike as possible this weekend. We think they know that something is up from all the strange and unscheduled activities around here lately. Liam definitely knows. Well, sort of. My mom got them an Elmo sprinkler for Easter, and we put it up and told him he could play with it when we move to his new house. So he knows there's a new house, but who knows what that means to a two-year-old? Anyway, we've got three more days until we close on the house, and things are a little hectic on the home front. I'm only catching a chance to post now because the boys are napping and Mike went to the grocery store. So if posting is sparse over the next few weeks, please forgive us in advance: the logistics of moving two adults, two toddlers, and two cats two hours away is taking up most of our time.

happy hunting

Just a few quick pictures from the Easter egg hunt. The boys had a wonderful time, and were both fascinated by the idea of eggs with treats inside. Mostly goldfish crackers and toddler snacks, but still...

happy easter!

Liam spotted their baskets as soon as he woke up, and immediately called Max's attention to them as well. I told them they had to wait until Daddy got up to see what was inside. There was nearly a riot!



Once they finally got to explore their baskets, they were thrilled. They love Easter eggs, especially the ones with chocolate in them. Note Max's chocolate-coated grin--he got his fast little fingers on a Whopper and popped the whole thing in his mouth before we could stop him.



Next stop, Grandma and Grandpa's house, for dinner and a hunt...

easter eve

I've been trying to explain Easter and the Easter bunny to Liam. Not in a religious way--just that it's a special day and that the Easter bunny comes and hides Easter eggs and leaves Easter baskets for good boys and girls. I wasn't sure he was really getting it, but this morning we had the following chat:

H: Liam, tomorrow is Easter! Do you know what that means?

L: Rabbit's coming! Bring me Easter eggs!

The rabbit's coming, indeed.

cast your vote!

some big news

We're buying a house! Not just any house, this house:





My mom wonders if it would look better without the green shutters. I did a little amateur photoshopping to see. What say you, readers of Circus Forticus? Leave a vote for or against the green shutters in the comments.

stay tuned

I know I've been crap at posting lately. A lot's been happening--a whole lot--and I'll post about it all as soon as I get a chance. I'm not being cryptic, just incredibly busy. So stay tuned. In the meantime, check out our beautiful boys in their Easter outfits: