Labor Day Weekend

My brother, sister-in-law and nephew came to visit us in Louisville on Sunday and Monday. It was fun seeing Fisher and Chandler together even though Fisher wasn't in the best of moods when he woke up from his late Sunday nap to find his toys being played with by another baby.

This is a "Stewie" moment for Fisher as he watches Chandler eat his books....I can only imagine what is running through his head.

The boys sharing toys...until Fisher picked it up and walked away with it. What are we going to do with him?

Too bad this picture is blurry.

The boys chillin' in their strollers with their mohawks while watching the animals.

Chandler had fun trying to grab Fisher's sun glasses.

We had fun playing with Chandler. Fisher has switched into toddler mode so it was fun to have a baby around.

Another blurry picture.

This one was taken after Steve and Katrina were exposed to some of Louisville's finest. We were waiting in line for Fisher to get his picture taken on some animal (I don't remember what the animal was.) After the people in front of us took their picture the daughter proceeded to sit on the animal...and not move. Her dad then stared at the map for what seemed like forever while using the "photo spot" as a resting place. It became a little uncomfortable as the dad would look up at us, make eye contact, and then continue to wander around his daughter (still sitting on the photo-op animal) while he continued to stare at the map. Katrina tried to clue the man and his daughter in by encouraging Fisher to go sit on the pig...he didn't stand a chance against the 12 year old girl. FINALLY the dad must have figured out what direction they were headed, they took off and we started to move in...and then before we knew what happened some random people jumped the little fence off to the side and put their kid on the stupid animal. Needless to say, we moved on without taking the photo, found a different one and this fabulous blurry picture is what we have to show for it.

We took a chance going to the zoo on Labor Day. It was pretty packed with a lot of people like the ones mentioned above. Fisher wasn't able to see all the animals since it was so busy, but this particular bird caught his attention. He would have chased it back and forth all day if we wouldn't have made him leave.

Oooh....penguins!

Magoo is still biting his nails...thankfully this was pre-petting zoo.

He kept touching the goats as he pointed out their "nose" and "toes".

It was a hot day and by the end Fisher was all tuckered out! At least now we can say we have been to the Louisville Zoo!

Fisher may have been tired but Todd wasn't. Here he is posing with the Man Wolf.

And here he is with the giraffe. This was shortly after we watched two giraffes participate in an activity not suitable for an audience of children. While Todd and Steve laughed (and Todd rooted on the male who was chasing down the female) a man standing with his children said "I think we should go check out the lion again." You never now what you are going to see at the zoo.

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Happy Birthday Grandma! We hope you had a great day today and hopefully your dinner was delicious. We love you so much and are thinking of you all the way out here in Kentucky!

Love,

Meagan, Todd & Fisher

Happy Belated Birthday Amy!

Amy,

You've been one of my best friends since we were ten. You've known me through the good, the bad, and the ugly (I can't get the JCPenny's picture out of my head! :) I hope you're birthday was as wonderful as you are! Happy, Happy Birthday!

Love,

Meagan (and Todd wanted me say Happy Birthday to "Amu!")



PS. How is the art work coming along in your new class? Are the pumpkins orange?

Happy Birthday Todd!

Todd,

I hope you had a wonderful birthday (since I am posting this a day late since I didn't want to waste time on the computer on your birthday...oh, and because of those books that I can't seem to put down! Thanks a lot Michele!) You are the love of my life and you are my best friend in the whole world. You are my rock and I am so happy that we have forever together because I could not imagine spending that time with any other person. You are the best father Fisher could have and I love you even more for that. I hope this year is a great one for you!

Happy Birthday, Sweetheart!

Cinci/White Coat/Reno

We went to Cincinnati a couple weeks ago while Todd had a break from school. Fisher decided he didn't want to eat his vegetables while we were up there. (It is weird but up until this point Fisher preferred the jars of veggies over solid...strange kid.)


This is where we spent most of the weekend...Fisher LOVED them! This time they actually would eat treats from his hand.


He couldn't get enough of the birdies, although on that same note I don't think the birdies could be any more ready for Fisher to go home and leave them in peace!



The following weekend Todd had his white coat ceremony for school. This picture and the next one make me laugh. We couldn't get the camera to work with the lighting in the room. This is Todd receiving his coat.

Another fun picture..Todd shaking hands after the coat was put on.

Todd's family had come down for the weekend. This is Fisher with Grandma Church. He wasn't feeling well that day due to teething. That night he ran a fever and I was sitting in the airport on my way to Reno so there was nothing I could do about it! :(

Fisher with Uncle Jedd, Grandma & Grandpa Church. Thanks for coming down for the ceremony!

Fisher and Dad.

Our little family. It was a bittersweet day. Happy for Todd but sad for us as I flew out to Reno following the ceremony for a funeral of a dear family friend. Thanks to my sweet mother-in-law for watching Fisher so I could make it out! I appreciate you so much!

Sunday evening, while in Reno, I went to my Grandma's house for dinner. It reminded me of all the meals we shared with my grandparents growing up :)

Happy belated birthday to BreAnn! It was nice to be able to spend her birthday together even if it was under sad circumstances. Amy and Justin, thank you so much for spending the evening with us! It was nice to visit while watching the meteor shower. (And Nate, thanks for making an appearance at the end of the night :)

It was nice being able to visit with my parents having them all to myself. It was an emotional weekend and it was comforting to share it with them and close friends. Amy, remember that I am always just a phone call away!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy Birthday Mom! You are such a wonderful mom and person and I have always admired you so much. I know you feel guilty about not "giving" me any sisters, but as I have said before, I am okay with it because I have you :) I wish I could be there with you today but it sounds like Dad is taking good care of you! Have fun in San Francisco! I love you!

PS. To all of those whose birthdays I have failed to acknowledge on here...I promise to do better! There is no one better to start with than my own mom!

It's been a while...

Magoo hanging out in our bedroom sporting his Jazz hat. (And Jazz color pj's for that matter.)

Go Jazz!!

One of his "hiding" spots.

Fisher has one of those tongues that always seems to creep out when he is concentrating.

Fisher's smile for the camera while we were visiting with friends.



Fisher eating a quick snack before nap time after church. You can't tell as much in this picture but his hair is getting really long. His faux hawk on Sunday was one of the "higher" ones he has displayed.


We babysit Fisher's friend, Mason, the other night and Todd got "Wagon Duty" since they were going a little stir crazy inside.

The end of the trek. One of the few "blue eyed" photos I have of Fisher. He decided to put aside the laser beams for one picture.

Fisher with his golf bag on his back but no clubs....Mason staring at the crazy lady who wouldn't stop taking pictures.

Mason and Fisher at the end of the night. Fisher's 2 year molars have been coming in and it has been a rough couple of weeks. He has been chewing on his fingers, running fevers, runny nose...the whole works. With his fingers always in his mouth he apparently decided that he might as well become a nail biter as demonstrated in this picture...no joke. We can't believe it! He isn't even quite 2o months old yet! We are bound and determined to fix this...and maybe in the process Todd and I will find a way to quit as well?

ON A DIFFERENT NOTE:

My most recent painting project has been the guest bathroom. As usual, I forgot to take a before picture but thankfully I had one from the prior owner (Thanks Deanna!) so that you can see the change in color.

Before

After

I haven't hung anything up yet as I am still looking for a few things to add but this gives a good idea of the change in color.

If only I was still this flexible...

Fisher never does things the easy way...I hope this isn't a sign of things to come. His new "phase" is playing with this particular toy upside down...literally.

But look Mom, I am sure having fun doing it unconventionally!

There was a time when I could do the splits. I still can barely hang on for dear life on my left side. Fisher, however, uses the position to make himself comfortable while playing. (And now you know our secret that we did not stain/paint the underside of the table.)

Here is a picture of Fisher folding his arms for prayer. He just recently started grasping the concept. He doesn't have the positioning down just quite yet but he gets the idea :) This week he has also learned how to jump. Let me tell you, there is a lot of prep work for a jump 2 inches off the ground.

***

On a side note...Todd and I are going to a Live/Counting Crows/Collective Soul concert tonight and we are so excited!! Thanks to our friends Heather & Jeremy for watching Fisher tonight :) (Even though I know you haven't been recruited to the dark side of blogging yet and probably won't see this.)

Hooray for Harry Potter!

I took Fisher to the water park the other day and he fell asleep in the car on the way home. This is a miracle due to the fact that he NEVER falls asleep in any vehicle/airplane/ stroller...never has. He is strictly a "sleep in the crib" kind of guy. So by the time we made it home he had a power nap fit for any 19 month old and refused to take his nap. I was very upset by this considering it was my first opportunity to read Harry Potter (since I am such a nice wife and let Todd have first dibs on it over the weekend) and was DEPENDING on his nap to give me the chance to read it. Anyway, that night Todd came home with a little war wound on his head where some guy had kicked a locker and Todd just happened to be leaning in to his locker to grab some books...wrong place at the wrong time. That is what the ice is for. The two boys fell asleep together and I was able to fit time in to read the book.


In this picture Fisher was running circles around the car. He is really into running and dancing these days.

We have another neighbor with yet another little dog for Fisher to play with. I swear that almost every single person on the block has one. It works out well for us since Fisher goes crazy with excitement over every little dog he comes into contact with.

The latest task for our sweat shop is learning how to vacuum.

Fisher dancing. We can't decide if he has rhythm or not...sometimes he appears to be as uncoordinated at Steve Martin on The Jerk...His dancing seems to be a mixture of Native American, line dancing, marching band, dirty dancing influence. It makes for good entertainment.

The bruises on his forehead are slowly disappearing. I am hoping we can go a few days without him bumping into anything again. Maybe I should be hoping for a few hours. That seems a little more realistic.

It is a good thing this was the last installment of Harry Potter...I don't think my house would be able to survive another one. I got around to doing the laundry...folding it is a whole different story. Maybe that will be next on my list of things to teach Fisher to do.