when it rains...

IT doesn't rain very often around here... but we have had a little spell of wet weather over the past week of so. Over the weekend - a funny thing happened. Liam picked out his own outfit - which in itself isn't odd... he likes to choose what he wears these days. What is funny, is that he put this fabulous look together including the rain boots... the boots have been in his shoe basket since mid summer, and he has never shown much interest in them, and has never asked to wear them before. Mysteriously - no other shoe would do on this rainy day.

Quite a sense of style this little man has. Afterall... he is his father's son!
Some other observations about this shot... yes - tha is a trader joes sticker on his cheek. He left it on ALL day - and yep - it left a mark. He has a golf ball in one hand - and some Dia De Los Muertos postcard in his other hand (we got that one from the pumpkin festival, and today, he didn't want to let it go???)

Just as cute from the back!

very concerned about his "punkin bucket"

"these boots are hard to walk in!"

Another fun rainy day activity... FORTS! Daddy helped build Liam this really cool fort. He had two entrances, a pitched roof, a lantern to light it up - and it was stocked with snacks. He played in here for hours! (The dogs liked it too - especially the snacks!)

Welcome to my fort!

I think he secretly (or not so secretly) wishes for more rainy days!

punkin' fest

The Calabasas Pumpkin festival was last weekend! We love this event - it is so much fun, and every year - it becomes a little more age-appropriate for Liam... this year was great! It was great because Liam is REALLY into pumpkins - and because the weather was perfect... a little cool - but shouldn't it be a little cool at a FALL festival? Last year when we went - it was over 100 degrees... WAY too hot! Speaking of the year after year thing... something crazy hit me when we went to the festival this year.. It was Liam's THIRD time to the same event. THREE years in a row! Doesn't that make him sound like a kid and NOT a baby? Seriously... THREE years in a row. wow. Sometimes I just want to stop the clock, make it slow down and just enjoy every moment again and again. When they say "these are the days"... I think they are talking about THESE days.... these precious fleeting days of childhood.
slow it down already!

here are the links to pumpkin fest years ONE and TWO... look how much Liam has grown! Oh... and the last two years happened to fall on the 19th of the month... so the blog posts were dedicated to his monthly bday - which I haven't done since he turned two. It just seems like at two - you stop counting the months... maybe i should start it up again?

Liam loved this punkin-man. We could see him from the table we were eating lunch at. At one point the punkin-man had to take a break and Liam became very concerned about where he went. We told him that punkin-man had to take a nap.... which seemed to pacify his curiosity. Needless to say, the minute punkin-man came back out - he rushed to go get a photo with him!

Kurt just LOVES his boy, and the feeling is mutual. Liam LOVES him some Daddy! - and now that Liam is getting a little older - they are really having a blast together!

See... he REALLY is into pumpkins! Here he is kissing one!

I hope I never forget this little smile.
Meeting a bat!

ham

the video below is the kind of video that only a mother or a grandmother could love. its about 45 million (ok 24) photos of liam. just liam in the same spot. just making silly faces. some of the faces are almost exactly the same from frame to frame, and most are slightly (or more than slightly) out of focus... but i had to put them ALL in. we were at the pumpkin festival of calabasas yesterday and while eating lunch, he was in a silly mood and was making funny faces.

speaking of just 24 shots... can you remember the days of film... where 24 was an ENTIRE roll. and each shot was strategically set up - and everyone had to count to three... look at the camera and be sure to say "cheese"! and it was so expensive to develop and print that you MIGHT just maybe process 3-4 rolls a year? wow, how times have changed. at any given event, i could easily snap of hundreds of shots... and maybe, just maybe there are a couple of keepers. thank god for technology! back in the days of 24 shots per roll... i don't think a shot like this would have been possible!

or any from this set!

resting peacefully together

The main reason for the trip to South Bend was not to see Notre Dame play Stanford, and it wasn't to visit Cory Lake, and it certainly wasn't to take a trip to the ER in Granger Indiana... it was to fullfill Kurt's Grandfathers wishes of returning to his "home" in South Bend, IN to be laid to rest by the side of his wife Alice who had died 15 years prior to Grandpas passing earlier this year. Kurt's grandfather was nearly 103 years young when we went to be with Jesus and Kurt's Grandmother. He led a long prosperous life as a tool and die maker - working for Studebaker and even Mattel! His wife was a home maker and care taker. Together they had two girls - Arlene and Helen who each had two children. Kurt's grandpa came to America from Germany - and arrived on US soil October 8th 1926 (i am not exactly sure of the year - but know the day very well).

Here is a photo of William and Alice Finkenbrink on their wedding day.

And here they are together again after all these years... together eternally. I sure hope they are having a great time re-connecting and making up for lost time.

There was a lovely service right here in the spot where they were laid to rest. The pastor was wonderful and the words she said were touching and comforting.


Liam was very busy during the service. Luckily we had some extra arms - Auntie Sherri! Liam kept her busy playing with her keys - and checking out all of the tractors that were in the area.

I thought this was a sweet moment, just after the service wrapped up. Helen and Arlene... the two daughters of William and Alice as they shared a hug and probably some memories of their childhood together with their mom and dad.

I haven't been to a lot of memorial services or funerals - but haven't seen this being done before. They brought out some dirt and asked if anyone would like to take a shovel and put some in the hole. Here is Elaine, Diane and Scott.

The grandsons...

We went back to visit a few days after the memorial service. I love this photo of Arlene. She has the perfect expression on her face. Proud and Strong.

This tree will keep the resting spot company. It was the prettiest tree in the park. And was one of the only ones that was starting to change colors - as if to say "I'm ready for you... welcome home"... I will stay here and stand strong to protect you.

John 14:27
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you asthe world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Notre Dame

After a short break from blogging - I am back with some travel stories. There has been a lot of travel in the last month, so I am likely to forget some things - but I will start with our trip last week to South Bend, IN. Since, this trip was eventful, I am going to break it down into some parts. The first part would be our time spent on the Notre Dame campus. Kurt has always talked about Notre Dame with affection and I never quite understood what the admiration stemmed from until I stepped foot on campus on a game day! First, let me start out by saying that EVERYONE in town is a ND fan... The girls at McDonald's ALL wore ND garb - as did seemingly every person you passed on the street (especially on game day).

Here are some photos of game day.

We rented a Sienna Mini Van while we were there - mostly becuase I am completely obsessed with the awesome marketing of the swagger wagon! And actually, it wasn't half bad for a mini-van. Liam loved it the most - and kept himself entertained during tailgate time!

So did the rest of the gang.. and BEER - the breakfast of champions! What you can't see in this photo is that they are all watching the movie RUDY - the screen is behind Scott. If you haven't seen "Rudy" - watch it (that is unless you don't feel like crying today).

Liam got a lucky ND Shamrock painted on his face, and enjoyed a little Capri-Sun that we bought on campus.
Grammy M, Liam and Daddy posing next to the Knute Rockney statue.

Kurt and the most awesome Sister in Law in the world!

Lima Bean and Uncle Scott (yes.. the BEST Brother in Law in the world)

Proud Papa and his boy strolling campus. Maybe one day Liam will go here and play for the Irish? (Sounds good... but awfully far away!)

The charming couple.

Kurt and his mama - they have this same photo taken nearly ten years ago!

Uncle Scott was teaching Liam how to feed the swans... The swan was very interested in Scott's fingers!

"no smiling"

Grammy M bought Liam a lucky leprechaun at the ND bookstore (which by the way was the most crowded bookstore I have EVER seen. I could stand to be in there about 12 seconds before I planned a speedy escape).

Too tired to stay and watch the football game - which was ok by me.
- ND got crushed
- Liam had a nice and much needed nap
- Sherri and I got some much needed sister time

- Arlene and her boys got some much neeed family time

- we did more than just hang out on campus while we were there... more about Cory Lake, The Finkenbrink memorial, Liam's trip to urgent care and the house Grammy M grew up in (and Great Grandpa built brick by brick soon).