I forgot to mention that we're out of town for a while. Hence the absence of general blog posts and Anna Wednesday and Friday Liam.
Things to talk about when I get back:
Anna's reaction to fishing. Her cousin asking her if she caught any fish. And her polite way of asking me if something was vegan.
Until then...
Friday, July 17, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Monday, July 6, 2009
Anna's 3rd Birthday Party
Anna turns 3 in a few days so we celebrated her birthday on the 4th.
We had it at a park with a zero depth entry wading pool.
It's a wading pool, but Anna still wanted to use her floaty ring.
Our friend Erin made the cupcakes. Cookies and cream. Yum.
Here's a shirtless Liam with his aunt Anne (my sister) and cousin Zach. We intended for this to be the first time taking him in the water, but it never quite happened. Probably a good thing, since the water was reeeeeally cold.
That night we lit off a few fireworks.
Anna went to bed shortly after this photo was taken, only to wake up (or she never went to sleep) about an hour later. We were all still hanging out in the back yard, watching the big fireworks being set off from somewhere not too far away. Mrs. Piggy brought Anna into the back yard to watch. She saw one big explosion and said she wanted to go back inside.
Once she fell asleep Jen (Mrs. Piggy), Jessica (her sister) and I played around with sparklers, spelling names with a ten second exposure.
Anna's favorite birthday present so far (and she's only really explored about 20 percent of her presents) is the swing that we gave her. Yes, we hung it from the tree in our back yard. Also, I tested it with a 50 lb. bag of sand (which I bought to fill up the sand box/water activity table her grandpa gave her) with five continuous minutes of swinging before Anna ever got in it. So it's safe. Unless she suddenly gains a ton of weight ... or the branch starts to die. Then I'll have to reassess the situation.
I suggested to Anna that we name the tree the Giving Tree. No, she said, let's just call it tree.
We had it at a park with a zero depth entry wading pool.
It's a wading pool, but Anna still wanted to use her floaty ring.
Our friend Erin made the cupcakes. Cookies and cream. Yum.
Here's a shirtless Liam with his aunt Anne (my sister) and cousin Zach. We intended for this to be the first time taking him in the water, but it never quite happened. Probably a good thing, since the water was reeeeeally cold.
That night we lit off a few fireworks.
Anna went to bed shortly after this photo was taken, only to wake up (or she never went to sleep) about an hour later. We were all still hanging out in the back yard, watching the big fireworks being set off from somewhere not too far away. Mrs. Piggy brought Anna into the back yard to watch. She saw one big explosion and said she wanted to go back inside.
Once she fell asleep Jen (Mrs. Piggy), Jessica (her sister) and I played around with sparklers, spelling names with a ten second exposure.
Anna's favorite birthday present so far (and she's only really explored about 20 percent of her presents) is the swing that we gave her. Yes, we hung it from the tree in our back yard. Also, I tested it with a 50 lb. bag of sand (which I bought to fill up the sand box/water activity table her grandpa gave her) with five continuous minutes of swinging before Anna ever got in it. So it's safe. Unless she suddenly gains a ton of weight ... or the branch starts to die. Then I'll have to reassess the situation.
I suggested to Anna that we name the tree the Giving Tree. No, she said, let's just call it tree.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Friday Liam #6
The kid loves his feet. I should get video of him sucking on his big toe one of these days.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
The Goode Family - Ep 6: The One With The Freegan
This one's about freegans. Or at least it has a freegan in it (in case you don't know what I'm talking about, here's the Wikipedia article on Freeganism).
A freegan visits Goode Family neighborhood and indicts them as wasteful consumerists. The freegan is a misanthrope, spiteful of everyone he comes into contact with.
A point is sort of made that while we can always do more and be better people than we are, doing so means becoming miserable in the process.
I take issue with this. I think that someone who tries to do good for good reasons usually gets personal satisfaction from the acts of doing good. I'm happy with veganism, for example. I don't see veganism as a sacrifice. I don't know a single miserable vegan. But it's a stereotype that gets promulgated all over the place. I think this happens for two reasons:
1. Ignorance: People don't know about the wonderful foods vegans eat and they don't understand the reasons for going vegan. So they think vegans are self-loathing and masochistic.
2. Wishful Thinking: There are those who hope that vegans are miserable. It makes it easier for them to remain comfortable with their worldview. If a vegan is miserable, unhealthy, sikly, pale, anemic (and again, I don't know a single vegan who fits this bill), then it's easier for them to write off veganism as something that just doesn't work. Something they should never consider.
The same could be said for Freegans, is what I'm getting at.
The creators of the Goode Family, I think, have a case of number 2.
--
Oh, and here's something I've been meaning to do with past reviews and will start now. I'll call it the Vegan Watch, in which I report if there were any veganism-related jokes in the episode.
Vegan Watch: There were no jokes about veganism in this episode.
Well ... that was uneventful.
A freegan visits Goode Family neighborhood and indicts them as wasteful consumerists. The freegan is a misanthrope, spiteful of everyone he comes into contact with.
A point is sort of made that while we can always do more and be better people than we are, doing so means becoming miserable in the process.
I take issue with this. I think that someone who tries to do good for good reasons usually gets personal satisfaction from the acts of doing good. I'm happy with veganism, for example. I don't see veganism as a sacrifice. I don't know a single miserable vegan. But it's a stereotype that gets promulgated all over the place. I think this happens for two reasons:
1. Ignorance: People don't know about the wonderful foods vegans eat and they don't understand the reasons for going vegan. So they think vegans are self-loathing and masochistic.
2. Wishful Thinking: There are those who hope that vegans are miserable. It makes it easier for them to remain comfortable with their worldview. If a vegan is miserable, unhealthy, sikly, pale, anemic (and again, I don't know a single vegan who fits this bill), then it's easier for them to write off veganism as something that just doesn't work. Something they should never consider.
The same could be said for Freegans, is what I'm getting at.
The creators of the Goode Family, I think, have a case of number 2.
--
Oh, and here's something I've been meaning to do with past reviews and will start now. I'll call it the Vegan Watch, in which I report if there were any veganism-related jokes in the episode.
Vegan Watch: There were no jokes about veganism in this episode.
Well ... that was uneventful.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
NOW he jumps.
You can't say you weren't warned. Here's day two of Liam in the jumper:
He was jumping for at least 20 minutes before this video was taken, and for about 20 minutes after.
You could say he's taken a shine to it.
Perhaps coincidentally, but hopefully not, he slept better last night than he has in months. 8:30 to 7:00 with only one wake up at 3:00. Needless to say, he's been in the jumper a lot today.
Also, I swear we're not getting paid by Zappos. (Note to Zappos, I'll put your logo in the background of every video I do if you'll give me fifty dollars per video ... just sayin'.) All joking aside though (I'm serious, Zappos), it's a pretty sweet website for ordering shoes. Free shipping. Free returns. You can narrow your search to look for only vegan shoes.
Ahem.
He was jumping for at least 20 minutes before this video was taken, and for about 20 minutes after.
You could say he's taken a shine to it.
Perhaps coincidentally, but hopefully not, he slept better last night than he has in months. 8:30 to 7:00 with only one wake up at 3:00. Needless to say, he's been in the jumper a lot today.
Also, I swear we're not getting paid by Zappos. (Note to Zappos, I'll put your logo in the background of every video I do if you'll give me fifty dollars per video ... just sayin'.) All joking aside though (I'm serious, Zappos), it's a pretty sweet website for ordering shoes. Free shipping. Free returns. You can narrow your search to look for only vegan shoes.
Ahem.
Anna Wednesday #4
For the purposes of this post, I'm going to need you to pretend it's Wednesday. OK? Great.
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